Chapter Text
Stephen felt tired, so very tired after his fight against Dormammu. He’d never wanted to lie down and sleep as badly as he did when Wong and he portaled back to the Sanctum.
The moment they stepped through, though, both of them completely froze.
Tony Stark.
Tony Stark was standing in the middle of the Sanctum that he had no way of knowing about, hands casually in the pockets of his jeans and an amused smile on his face.
“Hard day, I guess”, he greeted them and Wong and Stephen exchanged a long, highly irritated glance.
“Who the hell are you?” Stephen asked, but immediately regretted it.
Fuck, who did not know who Tony Stark was?
He expected the man to point that out then, if anything he’d ever heard about Stark was true. But Stark surprised him. He didn’t say a word, just kept looking at him for a moment longer before turning his gaze to Wong.
“Delightful company you have there.” Stephen wanted to hit Wong for not even trying to suppress his snort. “Anyway, I get that you’re tired and so on. But we need to talk.”
“We’ve got absolutely nothing to talk about.”
Instead of answering him, though, Tony pulled one hand out of his pockets and held it up in the air. He breathed visibly before whispering something he couldn’t make out at the distance.
Stephen saw the absolute disbelief on Wong’s face before he even realized what was happening. He glanced down and felt himself freeze once more, his own face mirroring Wong’s perfectly.
The Eye of Agamotto was opening on its own accord and even though he did try, his will was not enough to make it close again.
The both of them watched as the Time Stone appeared, even more incredulous when it simply floated towards Tony, allowing him to hold it right above his hand.
Stephen didn’t understand. And he definitely tried to ignore the part of his brain that tried to tell him that Stark’s eyes were beautiful as the green glow of the stone reflected in them.
Before either of them could react, Tony closed his hand around the stone – and nothing happened. Stephen felt his jaw drop, a quick glance telling him that Wong wasn’t any better. God, if this weren’t so serious it’d be hilarious…
“We need to talk”, Tony repeated and opened his hand again, whisky eyes falling on Stephen. “Whenever you’re free.”
The Time Stone flew back towards Stephen and for a moment he stared at it, wondering…
“Hey, wait”, Wong started, but to Stephen’s horror Stark was already gone. Or, rather, the doors had already opened to let him outside, closing again on their own. Damn, they didn’t even do that for him…