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Tony blinked, a bit blindsided by the start of his day and the whirlwind that could be Stephen Strange. It might also have been that Tony was entirely too sleep deprived, but that was never here nor there.
"Here," Stephen was saying, handing him a thick book that looked so ancient Tony was afraid of actually taking it. "I know you're interested in the Multiverse theory. This is an essay on the correlation between the positions of the stars and the difficulty of access between dimensions, written by a Greek master of the mystic arts from Antiquity. It touches on how the stars common between different dimensions might indicates the presence of alternate universe. A couple of the ideas discussed in this has been disproven since, but the author does a good job explaining the subject in a way a neophyte in magic can follow pretty easily and most of the content still holds up. I thought you might like to read it."
Tony blinked, bemused. "Sure, that definitely sounds interesting. But are you sure I should be having it?" His hands hovered near the book uncertainly. "It looks one breeze away from falling apart."
Stephen chuckled. "Don't worry, there's a preservation spell on it. As long as you handle it with care, there shouldn't be any problems."
"That's what I'm worried about." Tony prostested. "You know me and care don't exactly go hand in hand."
Stephen frowned cutely. "You know that's not true. I've seen Dum-E's hardware when you did a maintenance last week. Some of its components are positively tiny. That is not something someone unskilled and careless could built, let alone keep it functioning three decades."
Right. Tony was resolutely not bushing right now. Besides, he was also the sort to mistake a cup of oil from a cup of coffee when he was distracted, though he wasn't keen on disabusing Stephen's high opinion of him. Let Stephen believe he wasn't a disaster half the time.
He hesitated, before gingerly taking it from Stephen's hands. "What about Wong? Did he even agree to this? I feel like that's something he wouldn't."
Stephen's scoffed. "Wong's not the boss of me. And what he doesn't know won't hurt him."
Tony refrained from pointing out that Wong being Sorcerer Supreme did make him Stephen's superior. Stephen was a bit touchy about it. "And when he's gonna know?"
Because Wong would know. There was no question about it. Despite not being the librarian anymore, Wong was still fiercely protective of Kamar-taj's collection. Tony had found out first hand when he'd dropped a book once. That had prompted a lecture and two weeks of silent disapproval -Wong was so very good at judging glares it was unsettling to be its recipient. Tony was not eager to repeat that experience.
"Wong is busy with preparation for a diplomatic trip to some dimension he's going on tomorrow. He won't notice the book is missing for at least three days." Stephen reassured.
"No pressure." Tony drawled. "I'll only be dismembered if I fail to finish the six-hundred-ish pages essay in three days."
"681, to be precise." Stephen corrected unnecesserily, before continuing solemnly. "Don't worry, Wong will come for me first. And I'll never give you up."
"My hero!" Tony swooned sarcastically, one hand on his heart like he was moved.
Stephen grinned. "Anyway, gotta run. I'm supposed to train novices in Wong's stead in exactly," Stephen grimaced while looking at his watch. "Nine minutes. If I'm late again, Wong will skin me." He started making a portal back to the sanctum, before turning around to face Tony again. "Wanna grab dinner tonight? I know this place in Italy that does carbonara to die for."
How could Tony say no to good italian food in even better company? "Careful, you're setting my expectations quite high, so I expect you to deliver. If the food is not exceptional, I'll be disappointed."
Stephen smiled warmly. "We can't have that. Prepare yourself to be wowed." Stephen took a step back towards the portal, still facing Tony. "You can tell me what you think of Epiktetos's theories then."
Tony blinked, suddenly reminded of the book in his hands. "Wait," He realized suddenly. "This is in Ancient Greek. How am I suppose to read it?"
Stephen stopped on the other side of the portal. "I'm sure a man of your talents can figure it out." He winked and closed the portal, leaving behind Tony spluttering and blushing furiously. Seriously, that infuriating wink had no right to be so sexy!
"When are you going to stop turning around each other, friend Tony?"
Tony yelped, almost throwing the book in the air in his surprise. He had entirely forgotten he hadn't been alone when Stephen had barged into the kitchen.
"Damn it, Thor, you know I have a heart condition!" He protested before precautionously putting the book on a corner of the table that he deemed safe and clean enough.
"Apologies, I should have realized that the wizard would make you forget about anyone else." Thor sounded earnest enough, but Tony wasn't buying it.
He squinted his eyes suspiciously and took the cup of coffee he'd originally came for to stop his hands from fidgeting. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Of course." Thor agreed amicably. Yeah, still not buying it. "I meant you obviously like the wizard. When are you going to tell him?"
"What?" Tony spit his coffee out in surprise. Where did that come from? Surely he coudn't have been that obvious? "I don't know what you're talking about." He repeated when his coughing fit stopped.
This time Thor didn't say anything, just kept looking at him patiently. What for, Tony didn't know. It's not like Tony was gonna admit he liked Stephen. He would take his pathetic crush to the grave when there was no way Stephen felt the same way.
Thor frowned sadly. Shit, had he said something out loud? That was the last time he came to the kitchen for a cup of coffee when he was so sleep deprived. Next time he would take his chances with Dum-E's maybe motor oil-filled brew.
"Friend Tony, I don't know why you think the wizard wouldn't like you. Anyone with eyes would tell you that he cherishes you. I mean, I'm no expert at relationships, but even I can clearly see he's courting you." Thor declared like Tony was an idiot.
"What?" Tony repeated, his heart beating just a little bit faster as he tried to keep his hopes down. "What makes you say that?"
"He comes bearing gifts for one. Like right now." Thor pointed out like it was obvious.
"That's just how Stephen is. He's nice. He thought I'd be interested in the subject so he brought me a book about it." Tony denied immediatly, ignoring Thor comment on 'ancien and obscure books'. Pff, like a book was proof of romantic interest! Good thing he didn't let himself get swapped up by Thor's enthusiasm. He'd have set himself up for disappointment.
"Friend Steve told me he saw him give you what looked like precious stones two weeks ago and Lady Natasha mentioned a bouquet of flowers from last week." Thor countered, not bothered by Tony's argument. And dammit, were the entirety of the Avengers gossiping about the two of them?
"The stones possessed rare properties Stephen thought I'd like to study." Tony's rebuttal sounded weaker even to his ears. He deliberatly did not mention the flowers, as Stephen's reason for giving them to Tony had merely been that they made the sorcerer thought of Tony.
"He only ever gave gifts to you." Thor pointed out. "No one else."
"We're the closest out of the Avengers. Maybe he doesn't know them enough or has nothing to offer them?" Tony reasoned, though Thor did not seem convinced by his perfectly sound argument.
"He seeks you out-" Thor started.
"I'm not the only one." Tony quickly pointed out to shut down the subject. "He went to see Steve last week."
"-In a personal capacity." Thor finished with a grin. "Last week, he only asked Steve if he had heard about an object last rumoured to be in Germany during World War II. He thought Hydra might have had taken hold on it and wanted to check."
Wait, really? The conversation had looked serious, but Tony hadn't known what it had been about.
"The beer wizard asks you out on lunch, dinner, for coffee, to see movies or just to spend time with you." Thor enumerated triumphantly.
Tony looked away for a second to hide his longing. How he wished Thor was right. But... "You're mistaken. We're just friends."
There was no way Stephen felt the same. Right?
Thor looked at Tony knowingly, his point made. Tony couldn't allow Thor's words to sow doubt in his heart. The last thing he needed was to have his hopes dashed by the reality of Stephen's feelings not matching his.
He downed the last of his coffee and washed his mug summarily before putting it away. He went to leave the kitchen and this conversation behind, loose himself in inventing for a while, but he stopped on the threshold when Thor addressed him one last time.
"A word of advice, shield brother. A mortal's life is short. A warrior's life like us is even shorter. Don't wait too long."
A pause. "Right."
Tony left with no other words. Thor was just being his boisterous self, he was mistaken. He had to, right?
Tony was absentmindedly eating his carbonara. Stephen had been right, as always. The carbonara really was good, but he couldn't seem to enjoy it to its fullest today.
Thor was mistaken. He couldn't be right. But then why couldn't he shake off this morning's conversation?
Deep down, he knew why he couldn't. Because what if Thor was right? Every time he stopped focusing on what he was doing, every lull in the conversation, thar possibility came back. It kept nagging at him, no matter what he did. It was driving him crazy.
"Are you courting me?" Tony blurted out suddenly. He'd lost track of the conversation a while ago, too deep in his own thoughts.
Stephen merely blinked in confusion. "Sorry?"
Shit, he hadn't actually meant to say it out loud. But in for a penny, in for a pound and all that. And Tony wasn't the sort to back down from any path taken.
"Are you courting me?" Tony repeated, projecting assurance to hide his turmoil. "Thor seems to think so."
Stephen laughed. "Well, courting is a bit of an outdated concept, but the idea is there."
"Courting is not outdated. It's romantic." Tony defended automatically before he even processed what Stephen had said. "Wait, so that's a yes?"
"Of course you're a romantic. I don't know why I'm even surprised." Stephen smiled softly.
"I feel like I should be offended. Should I be offended?"
Stephen laughed, then ignored his comment in favor of answering his previous question. "Yes, I've been courting you the past three months. I thought I was being obvious, but I guess not. I should step up my game." He looked at Tony consideringly. "There's a dimension out there that has purple trees, pink lakes and animals that seem to be made out of blue moss. I've been told it's enchanting, especially at sunset where everything is bathed in red hues."
"What?" Tony so eloquantly said, still stuck at Stephen's confession of courting him.
Stephen chuckled lightly. "Would you do me the honor of coming to a picnic with me to the Emest dimension this evening so that I may properly woo you?"
Tony's brain had started rebooting. Stephen was asking him on a date. Stephen. Date. "Yes, a thousand times yes!"
Stephen's smile bloomed at his enthusiastic answer, lighting up his entire face, and no doubt a mirror of Tony's own face.
Tony had never been happier to have been proven wrong.