Mystic

Wong thinks he’s being sneaky slipping extra books into Tony’s pile but he notices right away. It can’t be helped that he’s so fucking bored he actually decides to try the spells he found most interesting in the pages. Rhodey raises an eyebrow, “a levitation spell?” he asks skeptically. Someone hasn’t been watching Stephen teach his students, who were finally starting to improve. It helped that as soon as he finally saw improvement he actually started encouraging the students, which did wonders for their resolve to actually learn. Stephen had no idea why they were suddenly improving but Tony figured unintentionally teaching better still counted.

“Yeah, I’m getting good at it too,” Tony says, waving his hands in patterns in the air and tapping the design. It shakes for a moment before it moves through the book he had sitting on his lap, lifting it into the air. He grins at Rhodey, who looked more shocked than he should. “You’ve been at a magic school for like two and a half weeks, Rhodey, haven’t you checked Stephen’s magic out?” Tony asks as the book falls back into his lap. The spell was supposed to last way longer than that- Tony thinks a variation of this spell was used on Stephen’s cloak but ten times stronger obviously- but thanks to Tony’s beginner status it only lasted a few moments. It was still pretty cool though.

Rhodey rolls his eyes, “I have no faith in Stephen or Asian Hogwarts,” he says and Tony snorts, wincing as pain shoots through his ribs. “How much do you ignore that? Pain?” Rhodey asks.

He sighs, “obviously more than I should. I swear my ribs hurt more than they did three days ago. Stephen says I’m imagining things but I think he’s just being an ass. Guess getting a little relief and then having to go back to the regularly scheduled program sucks.”

“You shouldn’t do that,” Rhodey says and Tony waves him off.

“I’ve heard it all from Stephen, complete with all the medical risks of my adventures. I don’t need a lecture from you too,” he says. He wished he could get Stephen off his back that easy but he couldn’t given that he actually knew the real risks of Tony’s adventures. And he took great detail to explain all the ways in which Tony’s remaining injuries could have gone wrong, complete with all the cases he’s seen where said bad things have happened. Tony had to remind him that in a hospital he pretty much only saw the worst case scenario, which hadn’t done much but earn him another lecture.

“Still. I should have been paying more attention, no regular person can keep up with a hopped up team of super heroes, obviously you had to be ignoring injuries,” Rhodey says more to himself than Tony but he shakes his head.

“I can assure you with the utmost confidence that you wouldn’t have seen anything I didn’t want you to see. I think you forget sometimes how often I pretend to be all kinds of things I’m not for the benefit of others,” he says. It had gotten to a point, before Afghanistan, when he was so wrapped up in his own imitation of who he thought he needed to be that he accidentally became Howard.

If he ever had the opportunity to go back in time the first thing he’d do is visit himself at twenty five, punch himself in the face, and tell himself to get his fucking shit together. Granted that would change the course of everything but that couldn’t possibly end worse than Ultron. Once he left Afghanistan he left a lot of that behind but there were bits and pieces of his image that were useful to keep around so he did. Point was that Rhodey wasn’t any better at seeing past his walls than anyone else to no fault of his own. He was literally one of five people in Tony’s entire life that have even bothered to try and look past what he shows the world so in his defense he saw more than most.

Rhodey sighs. “I know you hide a lot, but I don’t get why. This lone wolf shit has never done you any good so why do you insist on doing everything on your own?” he asks softly.

A loud snort from the hallway interrupts whatever Tony was about to say. “Rhodes you’ve been with him his whole life basically and it hasn’t occurred to you that you’re one of three people in his life that he’s opened up to that hasn’t tried to kill him later? Come on, with odds like that you’d keep to yourself too,” Stephen says, walking in with an air of confidence. No, arrogance. It practically radiated off Stephen at near all times and Tony knew it annoyed the hell out of Rhodey. Sometimes it annoyed Tony too but Stephen was at least willing to listen to criticisms even if he whined and cried the whole time and sulked about it for three days afterwards. True arrogance meant he wouldn’t listen at all- Tony would know. He’s been there.

“I was the one who pointed that out to you when you whined and cried about me not having much faith in you,” Tony says and Rhodey rolls his eyes so hard Tony’s surprised they didn’t pop out of his sockets and exit the room.

“Well you made a point- one so obvious I don’t see why your best friend of twenty five years didn’t notice,” Stephen says, giving Rhodey a look down the end of his nose. Rhodey bristles immediately and Tony sighs.

“Could you two not? Why do you hate each other so much anyways?” he asks.

“He’s an arrogant prick!” Rhodey says.

“And you’re a sanctimonious do gooder with a complex,” Stephen says, rolling his eyes.

Tony sighs, deciding it was time to sort this now. “Okay you know what- Rhodey you dealt with me in my early twenties, there is zero way Stephen is worse than me at that age. And Stephen, Rhodey might be annoyingly overprotective but he’s hardly a sanctimonious do gooder with a complex. Now stop fighting with each other, I find it annoying and since you’re going to have to deal with each other for as long as I’m alive I’d suggest you make peace with it now,” he tells them.

He swears to god he sees both Rhodey and Stephen consider murdering him to be rid of each other and he rolls his eyes at them. Unbelievable. “Rhodey started this,” Stephen says because of course he had to continue this argument.

“Stephen,” Tony says meaningfully, “I truly do not give two flying coots who started this, you’re both finishing this. Immediately,” he tells them.

“Stop being an arrogant ass,” Rhodey tells Stephen and Tony lets out a deep sigh, something that kind of hurt his ribs so he hopes Stephen and Rhodey knew they were causing him literal pain.

“That’s most of my personality,” Stephen points out.

“Sell your stupid ass cape and go buy yourself a better one then,” Rhodey tells him and Tony snorts, laughing a little and wincing, glaring at Rhodey for his efforts when his poor ribs give him more signals that he sucked as a person. He missed being so used to the dull ache in his ribs that he just ignored it.

“That cape is a priceless artifact!” Stephen says, offended.

“Stop,” Tony tells them both before Rhodey can respond. “Can you please try to not hate each other for five fucking seconds? Your hatred is exhausting to me,” he tells them. He’s learned a thing or two in the last week from Wong. Mostly he has discovered the man was brilliant at manipulation though he only ever used it for the greater good. But Tony had nothing better to do but learn his tricks and so he figured he’d capitalize the only things Rhodey and Stephen had in common- they both loved him and neither wanted to cause him more problems. Telling them they were being a nuisance to his health was bound to get them to shut up and thankfully it worked.

“I still don’t like you,” Rhodey says after a few moments.

“The feeling is mutual,” Stephen tells him, back to looking at Rhodey down his nose.

“Seriously?” Tony asks. “Okay you know what since you apparently started it, Rhodey what is it about Stephen that actually annoys you? Don’t tell me its his arrogance because we’ve established I was a fucking dumpster fire when I was younger and you dealt with that just fine. Stephen is not worse than me at twenty five. Or thirty five for that matter. So what it is that bothers you so much?”

Rhodey looks between Tony and Stephen and throws his hands up, “you’re on his side?”

“I’m on my own side, Team My Soul Mates Need To Stop Annoying Me. So what is it?” he asks.

“He’s jealous,” someone new adds and they all turn to find Hope standing in the doorway. Rhodey looks betrayed and Tony squints at him.

“What?” he asks, not sure how or even where this was coming from.

“Don’t look at me like that Rhodey, I’m tired of you complaining about Stephen too and if Tony is trying to solve the problem I’m here for it. So there it is, Rhodey is jealous because for the first time since Steve left you to die in Siberia you seem less dead inside and he thinks its due to Stephen’s presence in your life and he’s mad that someone he doesn’t like managed to fix you,” Hope tells him.

Tony squints some more because that was the most fucking ridiculous thing he has ever heard in his whole damn life and Steve has asked some stupid questions. Like what happened to bananas. Nothing happened to bananas, they were bananas.

“Well, magic is healing,” Stephen says and Tony throws the nearest paperback at him.

“Stop being an arrogant prick,” he tells Stephen, who easily deflects the book with an annoyed flick of his wrist.

“Its not arrogant if its true,” Stephen tells him, nose pointed at the ceiling.

Tony rolls his eyes again, “okay since Stephen is intent on being an ass, Rhodey, what the fuck? First of all Stephen didn’t fix me, I’m not fixed at all. I’m just… motivated I guess. And sure some of that is Stephen’s doing but Wong did more than he did,” he says and Stephen makes an offended noise. “Even if he did happen to magically cure me of all my problems- which he hasn’t- you’ve been my best friend since I was twelve. You’ve done so much for me over the course of my life, more than I deserved a lot of the time, and it would be pretty easy for Stephen to wonder how he could possibly live up to that,” he points out. It was hard to hold a flame to a wild fire after all and if they were going point for point on who has helped Tony and been there for him more in life Rhodey has done more for Tony in the first year of knowing him than Stephen has in the entire time they’ve known each other. Granted that’s because they haven’t known each other long but still.

“He probably doesn’t worry about it because he’s an arrogant ass,” Rhodey mumbles.

Stephen rolls his eyes, “no you idiot, I don’t worry about it because I’m smart enough to know that I have different things to offer than Tony than you do. So you’ve been his main support system for the majority of his life, so what? I don’t intend to replace you; I want to have my own place in Tony’s life thank you. Some of us are smart enough to know that affection is not a zero sum,” he tells Rhodey.

“Why is ninety eight percent of your personality a character flaw?” Tony asks, shaking his head at him. “Stop being a douche. That said he has a point about having different things to offer. I mean he’d never drop acid and watch Freddy Kruger with me,” he says, grinning.

Rhodey shakes his head, getting a haunted look on his face. “I never should have done that either,” he says.

“But you did. And you’ve probably gone along with way too many of my stupid ideas to make sure I don’t get killed or because you sort of also have a wild streak you hide well. Stephen has none of that, he’s too hung up on all the ways bungee jumping could end up with him dead,” he says.

“There are some serious risks, and who wants to hurtle themselves off a tall object anyways? That is insane,” Stephen says, waving a hand around.

“Who wants to dig around in people’s spines all day?” Rhodey counters.

“People with career ambitions, Rhodes,” Stephen says primly. Rhodey rolls his eyes but that was probably because he had his own career ambitions that involved sometimes jumping out of planes and flying around in high tech metal suits.

“Great, now that you both understand that you have different functions in my life Rhodey you can drop the jealousy and Stephen, you can drop being a giant prick,” Tony tells them, clapping his hands together.

“Make no mistake, just because I serve a different function doesn’t mean I’m not automatically better than you,” Stephen says to Rhodey. Hope and Tony exchange a look, all but telepathically asking the other to murder Stephen. Tony debates on asking Wong to smother him in his sleep later.

*

Practice, Wong told him, made perfect but after a week of trying to get past that initial jolt Tony hadn’t gotten anything out of his meditation. At least until he decided to waste time and energy after Stephen and Rhodey’s spat. He never knew how long he was out but after the initial jolt he feels himself fall and hit the ground. Distantly he’s aware that he’s dead, which he thinks should be unnerving but it isn’t. Instead he feels a distinct air of calm fall over his brain, noting that he can see the stars, which are beautiful in an abstract, disconnected way. That’s when he hears the voice.

“I shall honor our agreement, Kree, if you bring me the orb. Return to me again empty handed and I will bathe the star ways in your blood,” a deep, menacing voice says and Tony jolts back awake to find Stephen there hovering over him, used to this by now.

“More of nothing I suppose?” he asks and Tony shakes his head, finding that he was shaking all over. That’s about when Stephen looks closer and must notice how pale he is. “Tony?” he asks, kneeling down beside his bed. Tony does his best to keep his breathing even, slowly breathing in and letting the breath out just as slow but it was difficult and he was shaky. “Hey, shhh,” Stephen says softly, “I don’t know what you saw but I’m here, I won’t let anything happen to you, you know that,” he says.

So he did, but he had no idea how useful Stephen’s skills were against- he stops the line of thought, knowing it’ll do little more than make him panic more and he didn’t need that. Instead he closes his eyes and focuses on Stephen’s hands running through his hair because that was more pleasant than anything his mind was willing to conjure up at the moment. After a few long moments of letting the sensation of Stephen’s fingers through his hair and the soothing sound of his voice calm him a bit he sighs.

“I never want to do that again,” he says weakly.

“Are you alright?” Stephen asks softly.

Tony carefully sits up, thankful that his ribs didn’t hurt that much anymore. His shoulder still hurt though, but that was normal. “I don’t know,” he says honestly.

Stephen remains quiet for a few moments before he sighs. “I don’t want to aggravate your panic disorder at the moment but… what did you see?” he asks.

See? Not much. It was what he heard that was the problem but as soon as Tony thinks about it he realizes that the snatch of a conversation he got was so out of context it was almost meaningless. That does a little in the way of helping his anxiety. Without context he didn’t know what the information meant and until he figured that out panic could wait. “I… heard someone. I was dead, or whomever I was listening through was dead, but I heard him anyways. Something about a deal with a Kree. The guy wanted some orb thing but I don’t know what that means and I barely even know what a Kree is let alone how this particular Kree fits into things.”

What the fuck was an orb in space villain terms? And if Tony could figure out a way to find out which Kree the mysterious orb guy was talking about he knew a thing or two from some SHIELD files he stole and sifted through and he could probably find a Kree or two to swindle information out of. It wouldn’t be his first choice in the course of action he wanted to take but he’d do it if he needed to.

“That… makes no sense. No offense,” Stephen says but Tony shakes his head.

“No I agree with you. Guess the only way I’ll be able to figure it out is to do that mediation thing again,” he says but Stephen shakes head.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. You should try working on that levitation spell- you’re still pitiful at it,” he tells Tony.

He glares at Stephen, “I’ve gotten good at that, thanks,” he says in his own defense.

Stephen gives him a pitying look that Tony totally resents. “Honey, you can barely keep a book in the air for a minute,” he says.

“Better than the slight shudder I got when I first tried it, that’s improvement,” Tony says.

Stephen pats his shoulder gently. “Sure,” he says, giving Tony a totally fake smile. Asshole.

*

It’s the middle of the night when Tony is shaken awake and he frowns, finding nothing around that would shake him. He almost lies back down to go back to sleep when he shakes again and Tony realizes the building was shaking. For a moment he thinks there’s some kind of earthquake or something but those didn’t stop then start than stop again. Not like that anyways so he gets up to investigate, looking for some kind of explanation for the shaking when he spies the orange glow outside his window. He looks out but doesn’t see much. He didn’t need to in order to know that one of the people throwing orange designs around was Stephen and it didn’t look like this was a training exercise he was running with Wong.