Archive of Our Own ^beta

Crap. That was fast.

The room was ornate, with detailed moldings lining the ceiling and floor. Several odd murals were splayed along the merlot walls, and peculiar symbols inscribed the glossy mahogany floor below him. The Sanctum’s council sat before him, beyond Stephen, at a curved table.

Dread slowly crept upon him. When he looked up, the masters were studying him carefully. Wong was there, too, eyes narrowed and lips pulled in a tight line. Minoru sat beside him with no emotion on her face, gaze scanning around the table. Tony threw a glance at Stephen, and there was an apologetic look swimming in his eyes.

The sparking portal sealed shut from above him.

“Alright, everyone is present. The meeting can commence.” A man said almost impatiently, his forest green sleeves pooling at his elbows as he lifted his arms against the table.

Tony knew this was inevitable – but the sanctum didn’t have an elevator, let alone decent cell service, so Tony thought he had more time. He slipped on a charismatic mask despite being last to the party. Magicians. They never do tell their secrets.

Nodding slowly, Tony looked once again to where Wong was seated. He’d warned Tony about this meeting. The order had found out about the bond, and they were going to make a decision regarding what to do with Stephen.

God forbid the Sorcerer Supreme tamper with a fate that needed tampering.

He knew that Wong and Minoru had a plan, so Tony bet on it, and hummed through Stephen’s rapidly shifting emotions – none of which were visible across his face.

The soul binding spell saved Tony in his time of need. In many ways, the rope-like channel between them was a two way passage. A road on all that was loved and lost.

Tony would take lost over dead any day.

That warm space beside Stephen called to him. Be it unease or binding spell, Tony approached the sleek podium, tried, then failed not to flicker his concern across his smile. The pair barely brushed arms, but their eyes said it all.

“Master Strange,” the member who’d spoken first tilted their chin towards Stephen, “this is the man you’ve permanently soul bound yourself to, correct?”

“Yes,” Stephen responded, toneless. Tony shivered.

“And you had the chance to sever the bond, but you didn’t?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Stephen paused, and Tony could see the way his jaw clenched. “Because I didn’t want to. Because I love him.”

The engineer’s stomach flipped at the confession, even if he’d heard it before. He desperately wanted to move closer to Stephen, to lean into him and offer support. The masters began to murmur amongst themselves.

“You knew there would be consequences, though.” The man with the green robes said accusingly. “And yet you still allowed it to happen.”

“I wasn’t sure of anything. What I took was a calculated risk.” That was the truth. Tony didn’t need a spell to hear Stephen’s honest confession. It was an emotional crack of blue to an otherwise blank canvas, and it had the engineer aching to fix him back together.

He kept his hands to himself.

Tony wasn’t sure where to insert himself. He was a yapper, after all, and philanthropes weren’t known for sitting on the side lines. Intentionally shy, he raised his hand. Wong pouted at the meek display. “Does it matter that I consented to it? That I love him back?” A beat. “Consent is important. You know.”

Looks passed across the hooked table. “It is unnatural.” Master Wei concluded – like Tony hadn’t the gall to open his mouth. If the situation were any different, this would border on homophobic.

Tony tried not to show his displeasure on his face, hands balling into fists against his back. People kept using that word—unnatural. He didn’t see how something that felt so right could possibly be unnatural. How could something that clicked into place so easily be bad?

“Strange said the bond has been in place for two months.” Minoru piped up. “In that time, even with the soul bond, he restored the sanctum to its former glory. More than eight months’ worth of disrepair was fixed by him alone. How can we so easily discount that?”

“Master Minoru, you can’t possibly think we can allow a Sorcerer Supreme to stay in power after so carelessly disregarding the laws of nature.” someone scoffed.

“He was chosen by the Ancient One!” Minoru argued.

“Are we forgetting the Ancient One herself was drawing power from the dark dimension?” Wong finally spoke.

There was a beat of silence. Tony had no idea who they were referring to, but clearly this ‘Ancient One’ had been an important figure.

“The Ancient One was never at risk of being controlled by someone else.” Wei finally muttered, and wasn’t that just the way it always went, that Tony was the problem.

Anger surged like electricity through the bond, and neither could place whom the current began. Tony spared a worried glance at Stephen, but there was no indication of this anger in his body language or expression. Strange was making him feel so cold. It caused him to shift in place.

“We don’t know what she kept from us.” Wong sighed. “There’s no saying who or what she was in contact with at any time.”

“Unnatural soul bond aside, Tony Stark is far too dangerous to allow so much control over the Sorcerer Supreme. We’ve all seen what occurred between his own group in 2016 – the Civil War, as they called it.” Wei had his arms crossed on the table, lip curling in distaste as he looked at the engineer.

It was one precise point.

Tony winced, and the entire room snapped to attention. A concerningly large jolt came from Stephen, but it wasn’t a feeling. No. It was an expression so forward, it took on a sound of its own. It’s not real.

"Are you alright, Stark?" It was Wong's concern.

Stark hadn’t heard it before, and it caught him by surprise. It's not real. The engineer immediately reached through the connection, willing the other man’s anger away. It’s okay, he tried to say. Everything’s alright. Even if the room was watching in distaste. Even if the universe swore to rip them apart.

“You’re ok, Stephen.”

“See,” The youngest agreed, incredulous. “Even now, Tony tells him what to do.”

It was the stupidest comment of them all, and these idiots were drawn to it like water. Minoru had to have a better plan than civil conversation. This wasn’t working.

It made matters worse when Tony caught sight of that green glowing stone. Wong had the Eye of Aggamotto, which meant that Stephen couldn’t access it. The engineer would have to nanotech their way off of this mountain.

Cold was the trend of old. The look Stephen wore was growing tangible – like dissociation personified had a really ugly cousin. Beyond the swirling rage, the crackling fingers of a restraining Sorcerer Supreme, something new was amiss.

The sun shied away behind clouds that offered no protection. Even in the sanctum, surrounded by benevolent magic and nanotechnology, Tony Stark felt naked. He could feel the breeze of tragedy miles before the strike. It was part of his job description.

Wong sat up in his seat. He sensed it too.

“As much as I hate to admit it, I do agree.” Another man said, shaking his head. “Strange saved my students last month, and I am incredibly grateful for that. If his bond mate were anyone else, I probably wouldn’t care—unnatural or not. However, Stark is simply too risky.”

“Too risky?” Stephen let the bitter syllable click in his throat. His hands fell forward, and the sorcerer let his elbows lock as he gripped the podium. “Of a million possibilities, the best alternative was placing the stones on Tony, Tony Stark, and letting him die.”

Minoru swallowed the gravity of this where others refused. “That would have been risky. Perhaps an even greater risk.”

“We don’t even know if he speaks the truth!” The youngest member complained, hand jutting out in a display of naivety.

Tony felt the echo of those words as they pressed into his sternum. He's not real. He pressed a hand to his chest as the words splintered within him.

“Look me in the eyes, and tell me that again. I dare you.”

Wong tilted forward. A warning, “Watch your tone, Doctor Strange.”

“Is this your influence, Mr. Stark?” The minotaur inquired. It was unmistakably genuine. Tony passed his gaze between Stephen and the table. This vote was among many, but the real decision came down to four old hags. It wasn’t looking great.

Just happy to be included, he shot his hands up in defense. Tony shook his head. “I don’t know exactly what you guys believe in, but I swear on my life, I’m not doing anything.” A beat. Tony tried to find Stephen’s line of sight.

The Sorcerer Supreme refused to look his way. “I promise you. The feelings of betrayal and pain are all mine.”

It’s not real.

Minoru sighed. “The pair have expressed a share pool of emotion – and that doesn’t account for action. If it is true that Tony Stark was the pre-destined savior –”

Wei cut her off. “Then it was his fate to die.” The finality hurt. Maybe Tony screwed up somewhere. It wouldn’t be his first time making a mistake and getting people hurt. Accidents were his calling card.

Sarcasm was his best cover-up. He glared at the man in the green robe. “I’m sorry - but did I hurt you? Have I done something to you specifically?” Wei wasn’t amused, but Doctor Strange was.

His lover pressed his fingertips white into the redwood. “I respect Wong’s formality to bring us together today, but I have duties to the sanctum that the rest of you continue to ignore. Allow me to protect our sanctity in peace.”

More murmuring commenced from this. A quiet exchange of votes leaned away from Minoru’s seat on the far left. Shit. “Doctor Strange,” a member began. “We cannot let you continue with Tony Stark at your side. There are too many variables.” Too many feelings.

“If you would let Minoru continue her work -”

Those pompous sleeves fell as Wei stood to finality. “The decision is final, Stephen.”

“This is the man that I love!” The sorcerer finally snapped. His voice boomed off of the mahogany. Moss burst from Stephen’s hand and shot across the podium. Flowers bloomed over the redwood. “Half of the people in this room have partners, and half of those have families. Master Amon, your daughter is an apprentice here.”

Many were caught watching the unorthodox floral display. From what Tony knew, much of their magic was kinetic. He wasn’t sure how Strange managed to pull that spell off.

Maybe it was his intention. The great big middle finger of, let us live you insufferable assholes. No one was sure.

Tony knew the binding spell between them was now visible. Its permanence floated from behind the podium, a testament to his words that swayed in the draft. For all that it was beautiful, Tony felt the ache from within.

“Enough,” Wei concluded. He had the audacity to offer a semblance of remorse. “I’m sorry.”

And it was then that the flowers began to wither and die. Slow at first, then anxious with momentum. The moss grew black and decayed like sludge down the front of the table. Tony felt something in Stephen wash away. Pain, betrayal, more pain, and then nothing. The ache and alarm slipped into nothingness. Nada.

The sound was back now. The echo of a memory that screamed, this isn’t real, into his eardrum. The war drum pounded in his head, and he watched Strange straighten to his full height. 

Something died inside of him. "Uh, Stephen?" The charmer tried for a whisper.

Tony reached out, and Minoru and Wong were smart enough to study him as he began searching within himself. It grew physical. Like he misplaced Stephen’s emotion in a pocket somewhere. He pressed his palms to his chest, the back of his pants, his stomach. The rope didn’t change. There was no narrowing of the binding spell between them.

Yet Tony felt nothing.

The breeze slowed to a stop. “You’ve said that before.”

This isn’t real. It isn’t real. It isn’t real. He isn’t real.

“This is a bad idea,” Tony muttered. He felt it in his bones. Looking at Wong now, he piped up with additional vigor. He was aiming to be casual here. “Maybe we should put a rain check on this, guys. Pin it to another day.”

“You do not possess the stone. Stephen, don’t fight us on this.” The minotaur followed the others to a stand. “It’s for the good of the Sanctum’s secrecy.”

An orange whip came from nowhere. The only reason Tony didn’t move is because Stephen saw it coming first. Tony imagined a flash of green, but that had to be a trick of the light.

His eye twitched, and he summoned the Seraphim shield to hold out before them. Tony studied it in wonder.

The translucent string between them buzzed now. Tony looked behind himself when he saw it twitching with movement. Yet Stephen Strange wasn’t moving. He was standing right here, just beside him. 

There were moments when the rope disconnected from Strange completely. An NPC with piss poor framerate. Peter would know more about than than Tony.

“Armor,” Stephen commanded, and Tony summoned his nanotech because - ok. They were doing this. Stephen didn’t have to tell him twice.

His head tilted forward into a narrow gaze. “I don’t need the time stone, Wei, to grind your face into the dirt.” The Sorcerer Supreme had been anxious. Apologetic. Tony didn't know where his bravado was leaking in from. It made him antsy.  “This is my final warning. Don’t make me choose between Stark and the sanctum.”

“You made an oath to Tamar-Taj.”

His eyes flickered once to Wong. He was one of two members who remained seated. “I made an oath to protect Earth, and to protect the time stone.” To Wei. “I never vowed to value your life.”

Wong saw it now, however, as did the rest of the sanctum. The colder Stephen grew, the more his visual extension of love began to glitch. The Sorcerer Supreme was the only one nonplussed by the display.

Minoru, unlike the rest, did not pull out a form of defense. She was journaling the event. If Tony had to guess, it was along the nerdy line of; the soul bond follows the soul. The soul can be made visible through the soul bond. The soul can exist independently?

Strange growled as the hooking council took a defensive position.

It wasn’t until the second rope appeared, that the scene pieced together. Tony watched Strange jump the podium and cut off the orange whip in a carving of green. It’s like he knew the spell was coming.

Like this battle wasn’t a first for the Sorcerer Supreme.

Tony took a few steps back as his partner began to move his hands. Tony attempted to reach out with a feeling of reassurance, but it was a one way trip. The closest return Tony had was a protective instinct. That this was how Stephen knew existence. He had to keep Tony safe.

Doctor Strange trenched 20 million realities to keep Tony alive. This was the snippet of one of those realities. Tony couldn’t see it at night, because, if his math was sound, he hadn’t been present. As of this moment, Tony Stark was an anomaly.

It wasn’t real; that was a mantra. Stephen was falling into where his mind needed to be to keep him safe.

More ropes appeared. Over twelve – Tony lost count. The Strange dodged them all in fluid succession. When he stepped backward, his palms came together to create a dark eldritch blast. This wave destroyed every spell in reach. This included the black slimy moss on the table.

More air shifted, then settled, leaving papers ruffled and the room tense.

After the minotaur came one breath too close to swallowing a fly, Tony was sure of it, one of the members rose their magical shield into place. “We don’t want to hurt you.”

Tony heard Stephen snarl at the comment. “You lie.”

“We cannot break them apart. The soul bond has become permanent.” Minoru was the soul mate expert, yet no one listened to her. Tony bet he could pay her a better salary.

“There are other ways to strip someone of power, Minoru.” More mandalas sprouted over the table. “This needs to be done.”

Strange was the force standing between him and a council of petulant magicians. His lover should’ve been nervous, but he wasn’t. Tony watched the murder brew in Stephen’s stance and knew one thing for certain. He’d hate to be those guys.

“Council, you’ll have to tear this relationship from my cold, dead hands.”

The philanthropist had enough, but he was too late. “Wong, he doesn’t – know where he is!"

The mirror dimension was summoned beneath his feet and even in his suit, Tony slipped. The ground broke apart, and the council jumped the table for Doctor Strange.

Tony’s statement was cut short by an explosion of movement. No one here ever listened to him. He found himself ducking away and blasting off from the ricochet of magic – not aimed for him – but for Stephen.

Minoru and Wong jumped away, keeping the stone closely protected as the chaos broke loose. They were flanking towards Tony, and he was flying towards them.

“What’s going on!” Minoru shouted over the noise. The two sprinted towards him. “What are you feeling?!”

The three almost met in the middle, but Stephen’s head snapped towards Tony, and all he saw was Wong’s mandala. He jutted a hand out and pressed his heel into the moving floor. Vines erupted to split the three apart. In the mirror dimension, the vines curved as they ascended into the sky.

Stephen was protecting Tony, so he was trying and failing to grasp at Wong through the makeshift barrier.

“Nothing!” Tony emphasized. His metal fist recoiled away from the expanding foliage. The wall grew into the Sanctum’s ceiling and then some.

Stephen transformed the file on the podium into a small scythe, and he used the floating weapon to cut off the hand of whoever tried to touch him first. This was the youngest councilman.

The kid screamed. His blood floated up and into a circular motion, as opposed to down. The Minotaur caught the scythe before Stephen could strike again.

Demented. Stephen took that bloody, dismembered hand off his shoulder, and he shoved it down the minotaur’s throat. She gagged on it, and Stephen kicked her away to make room for a larger spell. The gloss in his eyes made it apparent that he wasn't all here.

This wasn't the current Doctor Strange. A magic missile came barreling towards him and the floor broke apart to build a wall between Strange and the blast. His eyes were empty. Tony dug deep and found the bond unchanged. They’re not real. That's all he could find. It's not - he's not - they're not real.

Wong watched on in horror. “This isn’t Stephen.”

Tony didn’t disagree. “I’m not getting any emotion from him. Just a mantra.” His eyes locked against the time stone hung around Wong’s chest. “He’s going to kill them, Wong. He thinks we’re in the time stone.”

“But he’s not! He knows that!” It was impossible to assess over the screaming of defendants and the crackling of magic. Tony still glared behind his mask.

“Try telling that to his PTSD, dumbass.” Tony hovered away from the vines. They weren’t going to stop anytime soon. “This is muscle memory, guys, I don’t feel anything. Not a fear. Not a thought. Nada.”

Tony was sorry for ever pressuring his lover to ‘get over’ anything. Stark knew what PTSD was like – and this was worse. Stephen needed him, and Tony didn’t take him seriously.

Strange was catatonic and that was on him. “Keep the stone safe. I’ll figure something out.”

The sanctum was quick to discredit his existence in the midst of an emergency. Iron Man was but a bystander within the chaos. They feared Tony for his influence, but he watched Stephen’s magic wiggle away from him as if it knew better than to graze his skin. Tony was the very man these fools needed to survive the next ten minutes.

Stephen’s soul – the one splitting apart in a green mass, that was the soul he loved. Flaws and all.

It continued as he propelled his way back over. Someone ran forward with a staff in hand, but they faltered when a green appendage stretched out to take and snap it in two. Moments later, Doctor Strange reached out to do the very same thing.

His soul knew what it was doing, but his mind was excluded in the fog. Pieces of him stretched and banded back against his frame, more eldritch than man, but Tony wouldn’t think about it.

He couldn’t think about it.

Tired of the mirror dimension previously summoned, Doctor Strange lifted into the air. Narrowly missing a bright beam of some kind, his hands split into many, his legs crossed, and the mirror dimension absorbed into his closed fist.

The room returned to normal as the terrain reset. Council members jumped around furniture in a frenzy as Strange collected these dimensional shards and sent them soaring out across their material world.

Many were gashed by the glass.

Tony couldn’t think about it. He flew through the air and tackled Stephen to the ground. The pair rolled across the intricate design until Tony could get Stephen's face between his palms.

Humor always helped him during his panic attacks. “Well hey there, come around here often, big guy?” When Stephen looked at his mask, it was apparent his mind was elsewhere. "Don't look at me like that. You're gonna make my sad." He was chastising the magician.

The sorcerer rolled them back over so the Cape of Levitation could help Stephen to his feet. Tony could barely keep track of him. Orange wrapped around one of his wrists, and as soon as he glanced away, Stephen was gone.

His fingers went blue and began to dance. Strange summoned another wall, but this perfect rectangle was a transparent turquoise. Two sorcerers flanked on either side, where as Tony was condemned to breaking free.

He made a motion, as if he were picking a flower, and he brought two invisible ends together. When the two sorcerer's aimed with their magic, they hit each other instead. Ducking under the crossfire, Stephen yanked on a whip and dragged a third person across the ground. He did this in a blue, luminescent death grip – and Tony recognized it as the spell he conjured to steady his hands.

The Sorcerer Supreme tilted his head sharply and his skull narrowly missed the spark shooting toward him from behind. It arched onto the fallen, and a woman’s robe caught on fire.

Wei split the concealing wall in half, where it turned to sand, and spread across the floor. He couldn't see from the other side of the wall, so the sight before Wei left him stuttering. “Stop this!”

Stephen muttered something bitter but unintelligible. Black goo rose, and whoever shot that spark of fire stumbled onto all fours to try and spit it out. It was coming out of his nose, his ears, his mouth. The other two dodged each other's attack, but Strange circled his hand clockwise and sent them tumbling across the other side of the room. He wasn't wearing the ring. Stephen Strange wasn't even wearing the ring.

Tony finally wretched himself free. “You’re killing them, Stephen!”

He scarcely put out the woman’s fire before moving on. The engineer landed with a resounding thud, and his helmet retracted to offer Stephen a look into his eyes.

“Huggy Bear, that’s enough.” Tony laid a hand on the small of his back. He hoped to startle Stephen out with a warm sentiment. If the man slowly choking to his demise meant anything, the words did nothing. “We can fly out of here, Stephen. We can leave.”

Wei lunged through the crumbling wall with bent knees and a fist full of fire.

Tony tried to shield Stephen away from the flames. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

The Cape of Levitation removed itself from Stephen and instead coiled over Tony’s shoulders. It also wanted comfort from the madness, and Tony could bet his life on being the safe haven of this situation. Regardless, the sorcerer never responded. Tony was practically invisible. Almost.

It’s not real.

“You’re real.” He countered aloud. Tony was shoving his truth through their soul bond. “They’re real, Stephen, and you’re killing them.”

Stephen faltered when the pair had a moment to breathe. People came, Stephen blasted them a few new holes, and more returned, but he paused. Strange let his brows twitch down in consideration, and Tony knew it was his first time registering a presence.

For a split nanosecond, Stephen returned to the present.

Tony was the anomaly to his reenactment. He didn’t belong, and Strange felt it. Tony felt the fog, the hurt, the confusion. The pain rightfully struck, an echo of Stephen's experience, but tony swallowed it dry.

The soul barely clinging to him writhed under his care. “What?”

It was someone else’s fault for scorching through Tony’s armor. Rage. He barely had time to close his helmet before the heat burst through the nanoshield. The sentient piece of fabric tugged Tony away from the fire, leaving Strange alone to fend for himself.

It wasn't all bad. Doctor Strange would kick Wei's ass regardless.

He stretched his arms out and brought those scarred hands to his face. Horror. Many watched as the Sorcerer Supreme inhaled the fire through his cupped hands. The spell dispersed into him to suggest that he consumed the fire. This bright light lingered in his eyes, until he inevitably sighed it out in frustration, and searched the terrain for its culprit. The black smoke clouded from his mouth and left a bitter aftertaste.

With the static of his soul, visible and shattered against their bond, Strange was a petrifying sight to behold - let alone fight. The fire left his eyes, and it took the light with it.

Wei – having summoned the ring of fire – floundered. “Where did you get that spell?” He demanded.

It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.

“Shit, will you guys stop being predictable for five seconds?!” Tony stumbled for solid foundation. His hand brushed against the mystic rope, and a feeling of confusion intensified.

“You would know it if you killed the Queen of Hell with your bare hands.”

Confusion fell away. He’s made that statement before. Anytime Stephen repeated something from the time stone, it reinforced his fake reality.

A sorcerer approached from behind, the room heard Stephen crack his own neck, and the man behind him crumbled to the ground, his neck twisting unnaturally.

“You would know if you dedicated multiple lifetimes into saving the world…I’ve met your friends, Wei. I’ve saved your family.” His hands began to twist once more, and Tony breathed in the ghost of his anger. “I studied in Asgard for two of your lifetimes. I know everything.”

Wong and Minoru finally broke through the vineyard cage. Stephen paid them no mind. Wong fixed Tony with a look that clearly conveyed, this isn’t working.

His eyes went wide with impatience. Tony was working on it.

He scrambled and the long translucent cord remained firm as he returned to his feet. The nanotech retracted to add to the contact. “Stephen, stop!” He had to keep yapping. It was the only thing keeping the Supreme grounded to reality.

Sorcerers were weary, many were dying, and Doctor Strange towered above them all like he’d done it at least fifty times over.

“The ancient one was wrong about you.”

The green flickering settled over Stephen’s pupil. He was torn between following along his war path, and giving in to Tony’s white knuckled grip. “She told you I would be the best of them all. I am.” Confidence, power, nothing, nothing.

Wei flinched when Stephen began clicking towards him. His feet broke a long crack into the foundation. Tony instinctively tightened his grip on the transparent rope. When he held it tight enough, color slowly blossomed from the spell. That was a first, and it began acting as a real tangible rope.

Tony had to compartmentalize that information real fucking quick.

He tugged on it and Stephen faltered before trenching his path. “Stephen, turn around!”

Gasps erupted from the fallen, and Minoru all but squealed at whatever Tony was doing, but he kept talking. It fell on deaf ears. Stephen was stalking towards Wei, and it was causing Tony to shuffle along, despite his best effort. He summoned nanotech to assist him, yet it only with held so much force. The bots encircled his feet to give him a solid footing.

“You’re better than him. You don’t kill people, Stephen.”

The bloom on the rope was expanding as Tony reached out for Stephen's tormented soul. The feeling was a warm one. How much did Stephen contain to keep himself sane? How does someone spend over 40 million years in a time stone and find an existence after-the-fact?

The engineer could only guess this was how. All at once or none at all. With a shattered soul, or no soul to bear.

His advance broke deep into the ground as the crack followed the path of his feet. There was an opening off to the side, a balcony of sorts, and the floor began to tilt toward it with every successful step Strange took in the opposite direction. Others were affected by the gravity. Stephen was not.

His nanobots dug holes into the flooring. Wei cried out as he scrambled for purchase on the redwood podium. Falling into Stephen’s clutch was the wrong idea. Other items fell – other people began to fall. Rocks soared off the cliffside, but Tony didn’t look back. He couldn’t.

Wong and Minoru got to work making sure no one fell from Kamar-Taj, but Minoru never took her eyes off of the binding spell.

“I…” A beat. Tony could sense his mind trying to break through the fog. His feet stuttered, but he watched Wei swing uselessly from the tilted podium, and the rage never left him. Confusion, worry, paranoia, fear, it’s not real, it’s not real, he’s not real. “I just want him to live.”

"I need you to see me. I'm right behind you." Tony didn't know if he spoke that in his head or aloud.

A god awful sound left the man as he looked past his feet, and down to Stephen below him. Tony described it as swallowed terror. "Don't you see what you've become? It's too much!"

“Don’t be a fool!” Wong shouted to Wei. His voice was distant.

The internal battle within Stephen broke Tony’s heart. "Don't think about Wei. He's an ugly bastard - so look at me! ” His voice cracked. "Stephen, please." The sorcerer took another step towards the podium and his grip was slipping. “I need you."

His heel froze mid-step. I need you, he heard. Stephen had his priorities regardless of which timeline he resided in. Tony Stark always came first.

Tony was following behind now, battling gravity as he scaled his way toward the Sorcerer Supreme. This pushed the blooming color along, and there was a wave of nausea when the color finally connected them together.

“They’re soul mates!” Minoru’s voice bounced from a wall somewhere. Tony didn't register the discovery. Nothing changed, but maybe that was the point. Maybe this spell was more from the very beginning.

It’s not real, swapped into a sharp alarm. Stephen spun around and his eyes widened at what lay before him. Tony Stark, gripping the rope of their love, and praying for his undivided attention. The nausea struck him as well, and he fell to his knees, right there, hung on the platform. Tony was almost at arms reach.

The Cape of Levitation flew away from Tony as Stephen crashed. When his knees hit the tiled floor, it was like tipping the scale. The entire building jolted back onto its original foundation.

Items and people followed along to crash against the hard tile.

His eyes softened at the reality – and that was it. This was his Stephen. His shoulders relaxed by a fraction, and he shakily came forth, with messy bangs, to the space around him. It was coming to Stephen at the speed of molasses, but Tony took it over the sanctum steamrolling down the mountainside.

Minoru would later discover that it was his soul – the halo of it – performing the magic. That Stephen’s soul was a multitude of its own due to his time traveling escapade. Green moved on its own accord, dismembered shadows expanding out to clear Tony’s path. The cracks in the floor shut with Tony's approach.

Wei cried out a second time as he struck the floor. The guy was fine. He’d shake it off.

The mandala dropped from Stephen’s hand, because now, he watched in curiosity as the green of his soul slowly flickered away beneath his skin. He didn’t see it until now; didn’t feel the darkness of his actions; could barely register the state of the sanctum. This hardship on his soul never quite left his eyes, and Tony wanted to hug him so damn bad. He was still too far away.

Tony was getting there. He was crawling now.

“I lost you there for a second.” A huff. He couldn’t hold it and move, but he nodded to the eternal symbol because their devotion was real. Tony was real.

Making it to his destination now – Jesus, he’s getting too old for that – Tony folded his arms around his slim waist. Wong was making work with the time stone, as Stephen wasn’t in the place to do it himself.

Reversing death took time. Multiple dismembered limbs were left permanent, but necks snapped back into place, and foundation lifted and packed itself back together. It was smart for Wong to activate it ahead of time. Even better that no one took notice.

Tony didn’t let Stephen look at any of it. Regardless, he felt confusion morph into guilt, then to self-loathing. “What happened?” Tony felt Strange shiver to the bone. 

“They didn’t understand. It wasn’t your fault.” Wei shot him a look and Tony almost let Stephen tear him a new one. The destruction, hidden from Tony and the cloak alike, would give the council something new to consider.

A beat of static sung from Stephen's mind. It didn't matter who limped away to lick their wounds. The pain was still his design. "I feel like I've done something wrong."

Tony wasn't going to lie. "It's ok. We're ok. Wong and I can talk about it once you're good and ready to hear it."

Too powerful not to be the Sorcerer Supreme, too unstable to be left unchecked. Tony was now a necessity, and fate agreed. Wei’s glare softened into this realization, and Tony knew the pair won big time.

Wong could be pissed at Stephen, but he redirected it to Wei.

“We will be respecting the fate of the universe.” The man left to choke earlier, came back with a gasp. Wong straightened. He could kill Wei with a glare if he really tried. Unlike Tony's resentment, Wong was high above his impulses.

Out of shaken terror or comfort, those who remained of the council agreed. “Yes,” Wei conceded with a curt nod. “I agree.”

To a sanctum dedicated to natural order, a manufactured soul bond transforming was a pretty big deal. Minoru already had her journal returned to hand. She started a new page.

One of the members groaned out in agonized pain. “Why did it wait until now to tell us?”

Tony didn’t think about how watery his laugh was, he just laughed.

— — — —

Stephen Strange was suspended from duty for 6 months, and Wong took over for the time being.

The two spoke. They became friends. When Wong wasn’t encumbered with rebuilding Tamar-Taj, a task they both knew Stephen would have finished by now, the pair found themselves eating pizza in New York.

As agreed, Minoru was tasked with being their soul bound counselor. It was only fair that the temple finally dug into the properties of soul binding. It saved their lives. It saved Tony Stark from annihilating himself for a guy with testicles strapped to his chin.

Yeah, it turns out Tony-flipping-Stark wasn’t an asshole. Big fucking surprise.

Stephen had to remind him of that on occasion, but Stephen Strange was a hypocrite, and Tony wanted to strangle him when he found him staring off in dismay.

Tony always knew his fiancé was entering before it happened. Stephen’s soul was rebellious after all. It left flowers growing on his workbench simply for the hell of it. One morning, he woke up to coffee falling from the sky and landing into his empty water glass. He’d never have the heart to strangle the Doctor under these conditions.

He didn’t mind.

Pulling away from his latest project – an Iron Man suit that could convert magical energy – Tony picked one of these flowers from his desk.

After numerous attempts to remove it, the small pile of moss starts to grow on a guy. Tony set the flower down on a small platform, where it was disintegrated by the nanobots as opposed to absorbed by them.

A pout. Tony looked at the platform like it killed his dog. “Friday, log that. Attempt one hundred and ninety-nine.”

“What are you working on so late?”

He knew Strange was coming. The flowers never grew at random. Swiveling in his chair, his fiancé greeted him with a cup of herbal tea and a steaming cup of coffee.

“Ugg, marry me. Is that for me?” Stephen offered out the cup of bean water, and Tony took it into greedy hands.

“I don’t think Pepper would let us push the date any further.” He smiled something shy. It was a spectacle for Tony alone, and he wanted to kiss him on the spot for it.

Stephen was patiently awaiting an answer, however, so Tony gave in after a careful sip. “Well, Huggy Bear, if magic is a type of energy, then I figured – Gee Anthony Strange, wouldn’t that come in handy during battle?” He set the coffee mug down to leave an ugly ring stain for later. “Besides, I want to build you some nanotech someday. Maybe not a whole suit, but I think aliens would piss themselves if I pulled it off.”

“You will,” Strange admitted fondly and that was that.

Tony raised his hands in mock praise. “So your all knowing ass has declared…Now can you give me a hint here?” He gave his best doe-eyes. “I’m really struggling.”

His brows rose over a gentle sip of tea. Herbal tea was good for him. It tampered the demons. “You’ll figure it out. No spoilers.”

Despite that being an average excuse, Tony groaned. “Not even a number?” He teased anyway. He always did.

“It won’t be the next attempt.”

“God damn it,” but Stephen was still smiling, so Tony was forced to smile against his will. “Keep giving me butterflies and I’ll never get this done.”

Strange snorted when he picked another flower. It disintegrated on the platform and Stephen gestured to it with his mug. “See?” He tilted his chin. “I didn’t lie.”

“I hate you.” Tony got to his feet shortly after – and shit – his face is hurting.

“No you don’t.”

“No I don’t,” He echoed, but Stephen just kept giggling into his tea cup. “Uhuh, laugh it up, Goliath. Tell your soul to send me more flowers.”

He was joking, but a flower probably sprung to life regardless. He didn’t check, too busy letting Stephen wrap him up into a kiss.

The taller tugged him in for a chaste display, and who was Tony to deny the earnest affection?

Stephen always had to bend down, and Tony cupped his face between his hands to hold them steady. He didn’t wear the Eye of Agamotto tonight, but Tony swore that time froze in these quiet moments. Minutes. Nanoseconds. If Tony made a test out of it, he could covet fifty kisses at a time.

Sex in the lab didn’t sound like a bad idea.

One day, Tony was going to kiss that spark of disbelief straight from his soul. That little ebb of panic that set in every time Stephen couldn’t believe his luck. That would never stop breaking his heart.

That was a problem for tomorrow Tony. Not present. Tonight had a sanctity not even he dared to experiment with.

“Will you come to bed with me – in lets say – three more hours?” A beat. Stephen met his gaze halfway when Tony forgot how to shut his mouth. That fondness was a danger to them both. “You’re supposed to help Peter with his project tomorrow morning.”

The reminder hit Tony like a slap to the face. For the second time since Stephen’s arrival, the engineer groaned in displeasure. His head thunked against the sorcerer’s chest.

“Shut up. That’s tomorrow?” He pointed his blame to the sky. “Friday, why didn’t you tell me?” It was usually his fault. Tony wasn’t sure what compelled him to put the AI under fire.

It bit him in the ass. For the first time that night, Friday made a verbal remark. It was equal parts informational and irritating. “You muted me, sir. You dislike it when I schedule you in for a substantial meal.” Damn.

Friday always found a way to snitch on him. Tony pouted, and that had to be fucking hilarious, because he felt Stephen’s chest rumble beneath his palm.

“Dinner before bed?” His fiancé inquired. It was a false compromise.

Tony rebutted. “Three more trials before dinner.”

“I haven’t eaten either,” Strange supplied, and he knew the bastard did it on purpose. He was just smart enough for Tony's own good.

This would mark his third whine of the night. “Alright, alright, fine.” He packed away the toolkit. “I’m gonna tell Minoru that you’re an asshole.”

“She’s not that type of counselor, Love.” He offered out a shaky hand. Tony loved those hands. “Now let’s go – don’t forget your coffee.”

Stephen Strange spent multiple lifetimes trying to save Tony Stark and the Earth alike. He could stand to hold off on his project for one night. He just didn’t want to.

Tony smiled up at his mutual disaster. Stephen was padding upstairs, Tony in toe, and he was wearing his fuzzy socks. A man of infinite power, but he cursed when his cup of raspberry pomegranate spilled over.

Oh yes, Tony thought, the universe couldn’t stop us if it tried.