1. Nicodemus West has always been and will always be a hopeless romantic and so if anyone were to ask him when he knew he was in love with Stephen Strange he’d say August 18, 1995, at approximately 10:00 a.m. The first Biology course of his college career had just started and Nic was nervously fidgeting in his lecture hall seat, concerned that his clothes made him look too uppity and his glasses made him look too unapproachable. He had spent his high school years with a handful of close friends that were interested in the same nerdy things he was but none of them had aspirations as high as Columbia University and so Nic was unfortunately starting out fresh. He hadn’t really made friends since grade school and he knew a mutual love of comic books and Lord of the Rings wouldn’t be enough for him to make college friends.
Or find a mate.
There were intensive studies that showed that while betas were more all over the place, alphas and omegas who mated each other normally did so in their early 20s. Nic may have been a small, slightly chubby boy from Stanton Island but he was an alpha. And he had spent the entire summer dreaming of meeting an intelligent omega at college, someone motivated like him. Also it wouldn’t hurt if they were beautiful.
And so he could have choked when he heard a soft, “Is this seat taken?” and turned to see the most beautiful boy in the world standing on the stairs pointing to the seat beside him. He was tall, with longer brown hair swooped to the side. He features seemed to be soft and sharp all at once, with prominent cheekbones but calm blue eyes and full lips. His casual jeans and shirt made Nic uncomfortable in his sweater and khakis. He felt grossly overdressed.
“Um no,” Nic managed to get out even though he was internally screaming.
The boy unslung his backpack from his shoulder and slumped down in the uncomfortable wooden desk. “So you a freshman too?”
“How’d you know?” asked Nic.
“You’re the only one in this 3000 level course who looks like he gives a damn. I mean, over a third of the people in here are in their PJs. Is that the future that awaits us?” Stephen said with a laugh.
“Heh, doesn’t sound that bad.”
They talked easily until the professor came strolling in. Nic found out the boy’s name was Stephen Strange and he had come all the way from Nebraska. Living in New York City was slightly frightening him, but for the most part he was excited. Stephen was absolutely delighted when Nic told him he was a native New Yorker, hoping he could give him some tips. Luckily for them, this one of those professors who gave the syllabus on the first day, told them to read two chapters and then dismissed them.
“My next class isn’t for another two hours,” said Stephen, grabbing his bag. “How about you?”
“Same,” said Nic.
“Coffee?” asked Stephen.
Nic smiled, his college career was getting off on a better start than he thought.
2. The next four years proved very hectic for the two pre-med students. They were the hardest workers in their program, pulling many a caffeine-fueled all-nighter. They also managed many a night out on the town, always ending up drinking beers on the fireplace of their rundown apartment.
Not that Nic was Stephen’s only friend, no. Stephen had other friends, he was charming like that. He had friends that had no interest in the medical fields, guys he invited over to loudly yell about football with.
And of course he had girlfriends, and the occasional boyfriend. He had an illustrious on-again-off-again relationship with a fellow pre-med student, a girl named Christine. Nic had to suffer through their loud fights and even louder sex.
Nic had had his own partners over the years, but none had lasted that long. The last guy had scoffed at him and said, “I wish you looked at me the way you look at your roommate,” before storming out. Nic was never that good at pretending that he wasn’t besotted with his best friend.
Everyone noticed, except Stephen that is.
Stephen, who he found one day at the end of their senior year on the couch with his head in his hands sobbing.
Nic, dropped his bags of groceries and ran to sit beside his friend. He tentatively put his hand on Stephen’s heaving back and asked him what was wrong.
Stephen got his breathing more under control and picked up a letter sitting next to him and pushed it against Nic’s chest. Nic quickly scanned the letter.
“You didn’t get into John Hopkins? Stephen that’s okay, there are other medical schools!” Nic was confused though, John Hopkins may have been one of the best medical schools in the world but Stephen Strange was the top in their class, several professors had proclaimed him a genius, any medical school would be crazy not to accept him.
“Keep reading Nic, look at why they rejected me,” said Stephen, his voice full of despair.
Nic’s eyes flew over the paper and his heart almost stopped when he get to a line further down. ‘…because of your registered omega status we are unable to offer you a place at our institution despite your stellar academic track record…’. Nic’s mind whirled with the new information. Stephen Strange. The man he had been in love with for four years. Was an omega.
“You’re an omega?” asked Nic in disbelief.
“Yep, my secret’s out. And it’s just not John Hopkins that denied me it’s every one of them. My advisor has made it quite clear that it’s hopeless and I should look into other career paths.”
“But, there are omegas who are doctors, my dad works with a couple of them.”
“They are bonded omegas, and as you can see,” Stephen yanked his t-shirt collar down to expose his unmarked neck, “I am not. I’ve been given some bullshit about how medical school is too focused and intense to have unbonded omegas running around. Like I’ll be too busy throwing myself at all the unbonded alphas. Not like it isn’t the other way around normally. I take my suppressants okay? I haven’t had a full blown heat since puberty. This is all just, just-”
“Fucking bullshit,” supplied Nic.
“Exactly.”
Stephen took the letter back from Nic and slowly started to rip it apart. “I thought I could cheat the system you know? I thought I could be so good they wouldn’t care. They’d make an exception for me. They’d rewrite the rules for me. But that’s not how the world works. The medical field is still dominated by alphas and they aren’t gonna let any omega boys from Nebraska steal their thunder.”
“So what are you gonna do? You worked too hard to give up,” said Nic.
Stephen sighed and slouched back into their lumpy couch, his head laying on the back staring up at their stained popcorn ceiling. “My mother thinks I should go find an alpha and get mated. That even if he or she’s a dick it won’t matter because I’ll be a doctor.”
Stephen laughed off the idea like it was ridiculous, but Nic stiffened up. Because that got wheels turning in his head. And he could feel the love he had for the other boy come boiling to the surface. Yes , he loved this boy. And he was an alpha, and the boy he loved was an omega, and in order for his beloved to achieve his dreams he needed a mate. Nic was incredibly willing to help him.
Nic coughed, reaching back to rub his head. “Well okay, just listen okay? You can tell me to fuck off, I promise, but I think I have a solution.”
3. The happiest day of Nic’s life came shortly after they graduated and they had both had been accepted to John Hopkins. The medical school had been happy to reconsider Stephen’s application when he told them he would be mated to an alpha by the time he stepped foot on campus.
That day was slightly rainy and Nic had stood fidgeting in the courthouse in an expensive tailored suit his mother had had made for him. It was a concession because he had been adamant about not having an extravagant wedding and instead keeping everything as low key as possible. His bow tie was making his neck itch. His mother and father stood talking to the Justice in their just as expensive formalwear.
Nic stood up straighter when Stephen came in wearing a too big suit, followed by his nervous looking parents. Stephen hadn’t been immediately gung ho about Nic’s proposal. He had left the apartment that night and Nic hadn’t seen him in few days. Finally one morning he had almost screamed when he awoke to see Stephen hovering above him, his face looking hollow and with rings under his eyes.
“One question before I give you my answer, if I married you, mated with you, are you suggesting we have some sort of mock marriage? With separate beds and celibacy?” asked Stephen in a dull tone.
Nic hadn’t really been explicit in his love and desire for Stephen but now, staring up at the man he still thought the most beautiful thing he’d ever set eyes on despite the stubble on his face, he shook his head. “No, I don’t want that.”
Stephen blinked and nodded, before turning around and leaving the room “Okay, let’s do it then.”
And that’s what led them here. To the Justice proclaiming them married. Their parents each hugging them and bundling up and putting them in a limo that took them to one of the most expensive hotels in New York.
They had spent that night binging on room service and pay per view TV, until finally Stephen had reached over and plucked the remote out of Nic’s slightly shaking hands, turned off the TV and tugged his alpha on top of him.
Neither were virgins, but the experience was still a little awkward, elbows in the wrong place and noses and foreheads knocking. Afterward, they lay under the expensive sheets, Nic on his side facing Stephen who was lying on his back. A good foot between them on the massive king-sized bed. The bite that Nic left on Stephen’s lower neck still slightly bleeding, leaving small red dots on the mattress.
“I didn’t hurt you did I?” asked Nic.
“No,” supplied Stephen in a drowsy voice.
“I still think we should clean it, I don’t want it getting infec--”
“Nic you know it’s your salvia that solidifies the bond. We have to leave it.”
“I tried to bite in the place where it caused the least pain and you can hide it under a dress shirt.”
“I know, Nic. Thank you. For everything.” Stephen’s eyes were closed and he was obviously drifting off.
Nic swallowed and he sat up looking down at the naked omega. Even if this first time was a bit cold and awkward, Nic was incredibly happy. Enough to make him confess his feelings, “Stephen I--”
“Nic, turn off the light,” said Stephen turning over onto his side, facing away from Nic, “I wanna be well rested for our flight to London tomorrow. Gotta start this honeymoon right,” he finished with a yawn.
Nic did as he was told and snuggled back into the covers, staring at the pale elegant back of his friend, no wait, husband, in the darkened hotel room. He smiled, thinking about their future together.
4. Life had a way of not quite living up to his dreams. Their European honeymoon had been a whirlwind of backpacking and train rides, collapsing exhausted in their separate hostel bunks at the end of each night. The only sign that they were married was Stephen shying away from romantic advances from people in bars.
When they were back stateside they had spent the last few months before school moving into their Baltimore apartment. They had both done some extra work gearing up for school which had them working contrasting shifts, so it felt like they just saw each other in passing. Occasionally they would both end up in bed and Stephen would throw a leg over Nic’s hips, tugging off his old ratty sleeping shirt, whispering “I need you” as he started to rock against him.
The years slipped by and they both achieved their dreams to become doctors and to top it off Stephen somehow managed to get his MD and his PhD at the same time. All it took was a photographic memory, a lot of coffee and never seeing his husband except for a few memorable quickies in Stephen’s small office.
Nic thought once they were established it would get better. Stephen and he would slide into a routine and they would have more time. More time for dates and more opportunities for Nic to sweep him off his feet, make him laugh like he used to. It’s just Stephen was just so good with filling up his time with things that didn’t involve his husband.
Stephen just wouldn’t open to him, he was affectionate sure, but he could be cold. In med school they had been known both as Dr. West, the married couple that consisted of the “tall West” and “short West” or more amusingly, “North West” and “South West”, North and South for short. But during their residencies Nic had found out that Stephen had insisted on going by Dr. Strange and Nic was constantly getting surprised looks when he told people they were married. Didn’t help that Stephen’s wedding ring almost permanently lived in a small dish by their bed.
Yes Stephen was cold, but there were moments when Nic saw the boy he had fallen in love with that late summer morning all those years ago. There were moments like Nic’s birthday when Stephen had come home wearing lingerie under his scrubs or when Stephen had completed his first successful surgery and had picked up his husband and swung him around, Nic’s feet not touching the ground.
Then there was one particular moment, one that was ended up being a turning point, when Nic saw his husband’s heart shine through. It was the first time he lost a patient.
He hadn’t been the lead surgeon on the operation but he still had felt responsible when a young wife and mother had died when a blood clot in her brain had bled out mid-procedure. Nic knew this because he had found Stephen in an old stairwell, his arms tight around him as he cried.
“Oh Stephen,” said Nic, subconsciously being reminded of that day Stephen got that letter from John Hopkins. This time Nic was more forthcoming with comfort and he wrapped his husband in his arms and started rocking him. “It’s not your fault.”
“She had such faith in us Nic! She looked at us like we were heroes going to save her world, and we ended it!” Stephen choked out and then pressed his face into Nic’s neck.
“Baby, she would’ve died without the surgery, there was nothing to be done.” Nic didn’t normally use pet names, mostly just in his head, but this time felt appropriate. Nic rubbed Stephen’s back until the omega had sniffed and sat up straight, his crystal blue eyes rimmed with red looking Nic in the eye.
Stephen took a deep breath, “Well I’m letting it happen again.”
“Stephen you’re a brain surgeon, it’s bound to happen occasionally. You can’t be a god.”
Stephen had untangled himself from his husband’s arms, standing up and straightening his scrubs, wiping his face clean from tears. He shot a look to Nic, still sitting on the concrete step, “Just watch me.” He then pushed the heavy door open and was gone.
Nic was confused but seeing the open and private emotions of his husband had made him feel more in love with the man than he had in a while. He knew things were going to change from here on out.
5. And they did change.
Just.
Not for the better.
Stephen’s ego began to grow and grow and he even started to belittle Nic’s own doctoring skills. In front of colleagues. And Stephen didn’t lose another patient, because he stopped taking high risk patients.
He had a wall full of plaques and not a year didn’t go by that he didn’t have at least half a dozen speaking engagements at banquets. Nic stopped tagging along when he realized that Stephen had no interest in paying him any attention. No, these days everything was about the great Stephen Strange.
Nic’s friends and family told him to leave Stephen, to break their bond. He was a sweet guy and a doctor why was he wasting his life with that asshole? He could be married to a nice omega who would give him a family. Not to some jerk who sometimes used him for sex. And he was told over and over again that Stephen would probably be cheating on him if it wasn’t for the bond, which made it so sexual attraction to anyone but your mate wasn’t really feasible. It was reassuring for Nic because Christine Palmer had taken a position at New York General with them and seeing Stephen and her’s still evident chemistry caused a shooting pain through Nic’s chest.
Nic would entertain thoughts of bringing the topic of breaking their bond up but then Stephen would see him in the hallway and throw him a smile or he would randomly lay a kiss on him when he shuffled out to their Manhattan apartment’s kitchen for breakfast. His face all wide smile and crinkled eyes. All thoughts of ending his marriage would get thrown out the window.
Nic had never been loved by Stephen and so he just did what he always did: adjusted.
They probably would’ve continued on their slow stumble to a painful and drawn out divorce had their life not been blown apart one night when Stephen drove his Lamborghini off the side of a cliff and ended his medical career in spectacular fashion. No one could ever say Stephen West (nee Strange) did anything by half.
Nic had been working that night and was talking to a patient when a nurse came running in, telling him to come quickly. Nic excused himself and followed briskly asking if he needed to scrub in and the nurse shook her head, “No sir, it’s your husband, there’s been an accident.”
Nic moved quicker to the ER just in time to be informed about Stephen’s situation. He was stable and hadn’t sustained significant head trauma, thank goodness, and for the most part it was his hands that took the brunt of the impact. They had been crushed, bones and skin absolutely destroyed, but a person could live without his hands. ‘Not my husband though,’ thought Nic.
After the exhaustive surgery, Nic sat by Stephen’s side, wanting very badly to hold his hand. Nic had thought he was losing his husband and he was almost becoming resigned to the fact, but now that he had actually almost lost him he was shaken to the core. He couldn’t lose Stephen, he might as well cut off a limb, he felt that the omega was such a part of him. Even after all these years he loved Stephen so much.
He swore then and there to help his husband through whatever he needed in order to get better. Though from the doctors’ diagnoses, Stephen would probably never perform surgery ever again. He would be left with at best, an acute tremor in his hands. The nerves had just been damaged so much.
Stephen, of course, did not like this answer. When he awoke and Nic had jumped to his feet, his eyes had blearily looked at his husband and then they slid down to his hands, his unswollen eye widening in horror.
Nic didn’t like to see his omega in pain, but a secret, dark, shameful part of himself was a tiny bit pleased with what had happened. His husband would finally need him, they would work together to rebuild Stephen’s career, he’d be just as grand as something else as he was when he was a neurosurgeon. But Stephen would not let go of his surgeon career without a fight and somehow he managed to continue pushing Nic away.
Stephen rushed headlong into researching and scheduling new surgeries in his hopeless crusade to repair his hands. His own bank account quickly drained and Nic started to come home to find pieces of furniture and appliances missing. Stephen justified it by saying that they had bought things partially with his wages.
It was when Stephen wanted to start draining their shared saving account that Nic finally put his foot down and all that built up resentment came rushing out.
“This one could work!”
“Stephen, what makes this one different than the other seven? You’re going to bankrupt us at this point,” said Nic.
“Oh don’t be dramatic, Nicodemus, you’re a surgeon at one of the best hospitals in New York and you come from one of the wealthiest families, we’ll be fine,” shot back Stephen.
Nic shook his head, pacing in front of Stephen in their apartment where there couch used to be. “I can’t go to my father and ask for money Stephen, you know I can’t do that, especially because you and I both know this won’t work. And you can ruin yourself but you can’t drag me down in the process.”
Stephen was obviously infuriated and grit his teeth together, “You know I only married you so I could become a doctor right? Now tell me Nic, if I can’t be a doctor then why am I still here? “
The question was like a punch to the gut and tears pricked at his eyes. “You know you can be a doctor now without an alpha, times have changed. If you wanted to end our bond you could have years ago,” said Nic, the words causing him physical pain to bark out.
Stephen was in front him in a few steps and poked a scarred finger into Nic’s chest. “Maybe I should have,” he said and emphasized each word with a harsh push of his finger.
Nic reflexively pushed Stephen’s hand away and the alpha immediately regretted it when Stephen let out a hiss of pain and clenched his hand against his chest.
Nic tried to reach forward to his omega, but Stephen flinched away, turning back to the windows overlooking the city. “Stephen I’m sorry I didn’t--”
“Just get out Nic! I don’t need you okay, you’ve served your purpose now go!”
Nic didn’t try to argue anymore, his heart couldn’t take it, and he did as he was told.
He spent the next few days at a friend’s house and the next time he came back to their apartment, Stephen was gone.
1. Nic spent a year not knowing anything about where Stephen had gone, he just knew that he was alive and the bond was still intact. There were procedures where he could get it chemically broken, or he could just mate another omega, but in his grief Nic threw his mind into his work and just never got around to it.
His mother was particularly annoyed with him. “Nicky, you’re a successful New York doctor, you’re a huge catch, you deserve someone who makes you happy.”
“My work makes me happy, mother.”
“Your work doesn’t give me grandchildren,” muttered his mother back.
In all honesty Nic wasn’t ready to let Stephen go, their bond was his last connection to the man he had fallen head over heels with. And the thought of entering the dating scene at his age terrified him. With the bond still there, he could at least pretend that Stephen was still with him. His friends and family complained it was like he was living with a ghost.
That was until a very much alive Stephen stumbled down the hallway of the unit he was working in calling his name.
“Nic! Nic! Where is Dr. West?”
Nic turned around from the nurses’ station to see Stephen in odd blue robes and a goatee lurch his way towards Nic.
“Stephen? What happened?”
“No time to explain, we need to get into an operating theater alone!”
And so Nic did what he did best, he took care of Stephen Strange. Even when an unfathomable entity tried to attack them and Nic had to race against time to restart Stephen’s heart. All the while Stephen was having a battle in another layer of reality.
Finally the villain was taken care of and Nic was silently stitching him up.
Stephen sighed, “I guess you have a lot of questions.”
Nic laughed, “You think? You leave without a word and come back like this? Where have you been anyway?”
“Kathmandu.”
“Kathmandu? Nepal? And these robes and all that weird…stuff, did you join a cult?”
Stephen laughed and winced and Nic immediately apologized which made Stephen wince again.
“Nic, no, it’s me that should be begging for your forgiveness. I was an asshole. I was a fucking terrible husband for years and you deserved so much more than me. And the things I said to you were vile.”
Nic kept his eye on the surgical needle but nodded and said, “Yeah I guess you are right.”
“I was just so angry at the world for not letting me make achievements on my own. Forcing me to tie you down with me and to take advantage of your attraction to me. Then when the accident took away my career, I thought: this is it, I’m nothing but that helpless omega society demanded I be, I gotta depend on my alpha. And so I took it out on you and I’m so fucking sorry Nic,” the last bit came out in a choked sob as tears started to stream down either side of Stephen’s face.
Nic hushed him, wanting so much to wipe the tears away but he knew he couldn’t if he wanted keep his gloves sterile. “Shush, Stephen, it’s done with, no point on obsessing over the past.”
But Stephen gulped and managed to look even more miserable, “No it’s not done, because I have something to tell you and I really don’t want to.”
“Why’s that?”
Stephen squeezed his eyes, “Because after I do you won’t love me anymore. If you still do that is.”
Nic laughed, which made Stephen open his eyes and look up at him in bewilderment. “Me not loving you anymore? Impossible. You see Stephen, I know I’m not the greatest doctor, but come on, I’m good at one thing for sure and that’s loving you, okay? So go ahead and tell me, I’ll just go on loving you.”
Stephen nodded and looked off to the side, not being able to meet Nic’s eyes, “The night of the accident, I was pregnant.”
Nic ceased his sewing. Nic recalled that a particularly lusty Stephen had pushed him into their bedroom one night a few weeks before the accident. There had been a renewed sense of passion that had not carried over into their life outside of the bedroom. Stephen must have slipped up on his suppressants and entered into a mini-heart.
“Of course I lost the baby, and with all the trauma and the fact I was only a few weeks along, it wasn’t something the doctors made a big deal of, agreeing that informing you wasn’t necessary… okay and I may have threatened them if they told you too. But anyway, one of the reasons I went out that night was to take my mind off the pregnancy, which I had found out about a few days before. I really was considering aborting it before you could sense the change in my scent. But I saw how you looked at families, I knew how you were around kids. Could I deny you that after the regular life I had already denied you? But I couldn’t even imagine going through a pregnancy and halting my career. And so after I woke up, I was wrecked about my hands, but Nic, a tiny part of myself was happy about the miscarriage. It took the decision away from me. Now how do you feel you about me?”
Nic stripped off the latex gloves and threw them in the trash before leaning down and taking Stephen’s head in his hands, “Look, I love you okay? I love you and nothing will change that. If we never had children I would have been fine and I hate that you went through that alone. But all I ever wanted was you, just you, in any way I could get it. I just wanted you to let me in sometimes. But Stephen I need to know, because I cannot keep kidding myself anymore, how do you feel about me?”
Stephen stared up wide-eyed at the alpha until he said in a whisper, “I love you. God I missed you.” He then surged forward and wrapped his hand around Nic’s head, bringing their mouths together. They kissed like it was the first time.
After they pulled away Stephen was off rapidly explaining what his life had been like for the last year, “I missed your snoring at night, I missed your texts reminding me that it would rain so I should grab an umbrella, I missed that little snort you do sometimes when you laugh. I kept making two cups of coffee and I kept almost making portals to our apartment because I kept thinking of it.” Stephen pulled the top of Nic’s scrub top back down so Nic’s nose was against his bond mark and Stephen could kiss the side of his alpha’s head over and over. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” said the omega with each kiss.
Bonus
Stephen had left Nic at the hospital that day, promising to return once he had saved the world. And a few days later Stephen had shown up in their living room, more bruised, and very shaken, wearing a magical Cloak that somehow was more protective of Stephen than his devoted husband.
They had stayed up the whole night, Stephen explaining in great detail about what he had been trained for the forces he had agreed to fight against. Stephen had been clear that he would work to keep Nic as a part of his life despite his new role as Master of the Mystic Arts. “I’m not letting you go now that I’ve realized how much I was taking you for granted. Things will be different now, I swear to you.”
And they had been different. They had even moved, into some grand crazy house in Greenwich Village filled with old magical relics and portals that led to exotic lands and other dimensions. Nic had come to know Stephen’s new comrades, especially Wong, who understood what it was like dealing with Stephen. He even get to get to know the Avengers. Thor was absolutely in love with the hamantaschen he would make on the occasion.
There were also dark times. Stephen’s hair was a little greyer, and there were more nights where Nic was awoken to find his husband in the midst of a nightmare. Nic had to take less shifts to be on hand to patch up Stephen. Honestly he didn’t have to work at all, it’s not like they had bills to pay and Stephen could pluck food out of the air if he wanted, but he worked so hard to become a doctor he felt like it would be a waste to quit. He got kidnapped a few times, but Stephen had banished each entity to some mystical cosmic prison before he had been hurt. Those kidnappings had led to some spectacular sex.
On this night, they were sleeping in their bed in the Sanctum, Stephen on his side with his back to Nic who had just put his book down and turned off the lamp. Looking at the curve of his husband’s back Nic was reminded of all those years ago on their wedding night when they had been in a similar position. But this time Stephen reached back, patting Nic a couple of times and whining about being cold. Nic laughed and scooted closer, enveloping Stephen in his arms, one hand resting on the growing bump that was Stephen’s stomach.
Yes, Nicodemus West’s love story may not have been ideal or anything near conventional, but it was his and he was quite happy with it.