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Who is the better friend?
Stephen Strange considered himself a reasonably good man.
More faults than anyone (save Christine and Wong) cared enough to count, but he liked to think that, at the end of the day, he was a reasonably good man.
That said, his bedside manners were so atrocious that it was really a statement of how skilled a surgeon he was that the best hospitals in America and Europe kept headhunting him just after passing his boards despite his attitude. It was the opposite of the “humanization of medicine”, where the physician and patient should be equal participants and that it was also part of the doctor’s job to reassure them and whatnot.
Stephen knew the theory but hardly bothered to apply it. It wouldn’t be years down the line, even after he lost the use of his hands, that Stephen would come to regret it.
Sometimes protecting civilians meant getting them to calm down, to trust you, so they would follow your instructions to evacuate safely if nothing else. It meant getting them to stop panicking so they would even understand your instructions in the first place. And that base trust was tied in how you presented yourself to the public at large because crowd mentality was not to be underestimated. It was a testament of how far he had come that Stephen didn’t use the term “sheep mentality”.
Through hard work and more experience than perhaps his heart could handle, Stephen learned to be more empathetic and actually use other parts of the training he received as a physician.
That coupled with the fact that he has been spending more time than his common sense felt was needed with the Avengers and Stephen couldn’t help but come to some conclusions.
Stephen tried, he really tried to ignore the bickering… well… one-sided bickering coming closer and closer. He was reading a book as he waited for his scheduled time with Ms. Walters, to finally conclude his part time membership status in the Avengers so he could finally go back to the Sanctum.
He had hoped not to cross paths with any of the members of said team while waiting, but apparently it was not to be.
The scene that just entered the reception area was an unfortunately common one. One that most newcomers have commented with increasing concern and indignation.
Perhaps it was because most, if not all, new members have absurdly busy lives and took offence on Stark’s behalf that some of the full timer members – that were full timers apparently due to lack of any life outside of the Avengers – impose themselves on the man as if they were owed “five minutes” with the owner and one of the directors of a multinational company.
The memory of Carol Danvers murmuring that it was like trying to get five minutes with the president still amused Stephen.
Stephen tried to immerse himself once again in his own thoughts and memories, or even meditate. But Rogers was loud when he went in one of his rants.
“… she is a kid!”
Oh, it was about Maximoff… again. Of all the new Avengers, every single last one of them were confused over that “argument” of Rogers’s but were preemptively warned by Tony not to say anything unless they wanted to get stuck in an endless recycle of “arguments” (if one could call it that) with Rogers.
And watching the poor man get bombarded with yells, they were forced to concede. It was better that the Rogues didn’t know you existed sometimes. Although Stephen could tell that Jessica Jones was reaching her boiling point. He wondered who would be the first to snap, Jones… or Jennifer. Needless to say, neither woman was quite happy to share the same air as Maximoff. Something that the Russian spy quickly caught on while Rogers remained oblivious.
Although for how long their respective teammates would manage to hold both women back was up for debate.
Tony, smart veteran cookie that he was with Rogers, didn’t try to attack the “kid” “argument”.
“You want me to be a sugar daddy.”
The expression flew right over Rogers’ head but not Wilson’s.
“What the hell?”
Tony looked at the Airman. “Tell me if that’s not exactly what this is and try not to attach yourself to technicalities.”
When Rogers looked in confusion at Wilson the Airman refused to meet his eye.
Beginning to feel entertained, Stephen shamelessly closed his book and leaned back to watch. Most didn’t notice even if Rhodey sent him a look but otherwise didn’t comment.
“SI is already partially funding the Avengers. We equip and house you… well… those that seem unwilling to find their own accommodations. What we give are donations, not paychecks.” Potts made it a point not to cross her arms.
Stephen made a note to introduce her to Christine. Their combined ability to deal with people’s bullshit would take over the world.
“Is it too much to ask for you to be a better friend?” Wilson asked rubbing his forehead.
Ok, at that tidbit not even Stephen managed to suppress his scoff. Oh, dammit.
Rogers and Wilson turned to him. Rogers was particularly grumpy since Stephen set wards in the compound so now Maximoff can’t use her more offensive attacks inside the premises. Neither can Stephen, not that the Good Captain attained himself to that detail.
His… well… their childish rant was put to a halt by a very taciturn Wong that took an extreme dislike to how Maximoff tarnished the reputation of both, Telepaths and magic users. “If Miss Maximoff feels uncomfortable in Dr. Stark’s house, then she can always find her own.”
So far, Stephen managed to fight off the headaches in human form by… well… completely ignoring their entire existence. Alas…
“Excuse me, this is a private conversation.” Rogers held his belt in a… very weird pose.
Stephen has seen people putting their hands or fists on their waists but holding their belts was forever associated with western movies for him.
Nevertheless, he raised an eyebrow. “A private conversation in a public area? No wonder you seemed surprised when Sharon Carter was convicted because of the café security cameras.”
Rogers and Wilson winced at that.
Suffice to say that the Black Widow wasn’t the only one to put too much trust in S.H.I.E.L.D tech.
“Still, this doesn’t concern you.”
“Look, can we have the room?” For the first time since… ever, the people in the room got to witness a slightly harder than a glance from Wilson to Rogers.
“Unfortunately, no. I am waiting for Ms. Walters, and this is a public space fittingly called ‘waiting room’. Coincidentally, the closest one to Ms. Walters’s office.” He stapled his hands and watched, somewhat amused, how Rogers turned bright red and Wilson bit his lip.
“Right,” Wilson cleared his throat, “We should—”
“No,” And Stephen rolled his eyes at the way Wilson snapped his mouth shut at Rogers’ word, “he doesn’t have the right to just… interfere like that.”
Yet another scoff, this one Stephen didn’t bother to suppress, “Oh, but you have agendas and they can change, and you are stopping me from doing something that I should.” He mocked.
Tony snorted and Rhodey twisted his lips to hide a smile while Pepper smirked at the way Rogers froze up.
As they all signed their consent to have the Compound monitored and their images used for legal purposes – not that Stephen thought they even read before signing – then Tony was in his right to upload anything he wanted and the beauty is that he just uploaded the whole thing. No edits, no cuts to shorten it so no one could say that he was trying to hide anything. And as Tony didn’t even use it for legal suits nor commented about it in any way, there couldn’t be any lawsuits for misuse of image or libel. He just… put it in the official Avenges website and left it at that.
The world got to see the “meeting” the team had about the Accords. See it and become speechless… or laugh or violently deny it. Stephen saw all kinds of reactions on Twitter. His opinion wasn’t very high after that, needless to say.
Rogers’s one good argument, ‘what if they stop us from going somewhere we should go’ was lost in the ignorance of ‘what if they send us somewhere we shouldn’t go’ and ‘governments have agendas’.
As it was, not even Captain Self-Righteous was immune to the constant mocking. At some point the man had to look up why people were so unimpressed… right?
“That was… uncalled for.” Wilson frowned.
“Was it, now?” Stephen picked his book back up and went right back to reading it. Having lost interest just as fast as he had gotten it.
Tony may cave in to the incessant and ridiculous demands on his time, but Stephen wasn’t as generous. So he barely even noticed when Rogers and Wilson let up on their tirade and left.
~*~
Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there.
If there was a God… with capital “G” and not the Asgardian kind, Stephen will be able to arrange things so he will only have to “touch base” once a month barring any major threats that either side had to be made aware of. For now, as Wong had it with some of the Avengers dancing on his nerves, Stephen was forced to come every other week to either discuss contractual obligations with Jennifer or… ugh… training simulations like the other rotational members.
Stephen couldn’t wait for the time that he could throw some unsuspecting trainee in his stead, so they’d have a “magical consultant” and leave him alone.
He saw the reasoning in these training exercises though. The various teams needed to have at least a light grasp on the members’ general abilities if only not to get in each other’s ways in the team-ups.
What Stephen didn’t appreciate was the before and after.
The chattering, the gossip, the complaints. It was high school all over again.
Usually he managed to avoid those by arriving at the exact time he needed to be there and leaving right after, but sometimes things would run late and here he was…
Brunnhilde was impatiently tapping the flat of her sword on her thigh as they waited for Barton. Most gave the woman a wide berth. Although more even tempered than Jessica Jones, she drank just as heavily and was much stronger. Much more skilled and experienced too. Even Thor, 1,400 years old Thor, admitted that the Valkyrie was much better trained than he was. She came from a time that Odin was still conquering and pillaging whereas Thor and Loki were born in times of relative peace… at least for Asgard. The same couldn’t be said about the “realms” they visited.
Stephen could read between the lines and shared an eye roll in rare moment of camaraderie with Loki.
Proud of his academic achievements and being an overachiever himself, Stephen was used to the posturing of quarterbacks since he could remember.
But back to Brunnhilde, the Asgardian could usually be found with either Dr. Banner or Carol Danvers when not with Thor and Loki. As Maximoff would be participating in today’s exercise, it was just Danvers that Valkyrie was talking to.
“Isn’t Bruce coming? This is the third time I don’t see him in training.” Rogers commented with a frown.
Daredevil and Iron Fist threw an incredulous look towards the other man. A little hidden due to their masks, but the feeling was there for all to see and Stephen shared the sentiment.
Of course, the Hulk wouldn’t be an actual part of it, but Dr. Banner took to watch the training since he came back. It seemed that the Hulk was now able to better communicate and understand how to work more effectively in a team, so these are actually helpful out in the field.
Carol took a deep breath very discreetly before turning to him with much more candor than Stephen thought Rogers deserved for the question, “As Dr. Banner is uncomfortable with Ms. Maximoff, he opted out of any exercises that the Scarlet Witch participates in.”
Which… shouldn’t have been a surprise. If not for the fact that everybody in the room knew of the Rogues’ aversion to read big documents – one of which gives the Avengers member the right to make such requests – then because of the obvious.
Wilson frowned in confusion – and wasn’t that interesting – whereas Maximoff seemed indifferent – and wasn’t that even more interesting – but Rogers sighed, “We need to work together. Bruce should know better.”
From the corner of his eye, Stephen saw the way Iron Fist put a calming hand in an increasingly agitated Daredevil's shoulder. Knowing that Dr. Banner’s objections to be in the same room as Maximoff was the same objection that Jessica Jones and Luke Cage had made it obvious why those two are always the only ones in the Compound when Maximoff was out and about. Jessica and Luke would already have demolished the whole building if they ever heard one of Rogers’ comments, carelessly disregarding Maximoff’s actions.
Carol pursed her lips for the briefest of times before she carefully hid her emotions, “Nevertheless, it is Dr. Banner’s right to choose who to work with. I am surprised to see you arguing against such a measure, Mr. Rogers. I was under the impression that the former General Ross’s involvement in the Accords was one of the reasons for you to disagree with them.”
Rogers blinked, “And it was.”
Carol nodded, “And the subsequent destruction you and your team caused made the Accords concede to let the Avengers members have veto on their potential teammates.”
“We can’t always choose who to work with! The world comes first!” Came the indignant reply.
And for all the times Stephen was slotted to supervise interns, those barely out of med school kids that kept fumbling with gauze, nothing they ever did or asked him came close to the ridiculousness of the situation.
And finally, Carol’s carefully built professional mask broke, “I know, do you?”
Valkyrie lifted a bottle of… something to her lips. A bottle that Stephen was pretty sure wasn’t anywhere in the room a second before and Stephen was tempted to ask her for a sip. So what that the last time a human had a sip of Asgardian alcohol he ended up passed out on the floor a second later?
~*~
With a sigh of complete relief, Stephen signed his Avengers contract and thanked Jennifer for all her work. He knew that his request to be a consultant when the Avengers only had Maximoff as a pseudo magic user gave her a ton of bureaucracy to work out and for that Stephen was forever grateful to the woman.
She scoffed, “For all that the Widow seems to think that being a consultant is somehow worse than being a full-time member…” Jennifer trailed off, not having to complete the phrase.
As the Avengers expanded and more people became aware of the cliques and ingroup thinking, the more the position of consultant was coveted. As it was, you needed to be the very best in your field, to be an expert among the experts to justify the paychecks when the Avengers would only tap you for information and resources instead of being a full or even part timer field member.
People wanted to help, and the Avengers were their best option. But that didn’t mean they had to like what membership seems to entail: some blond behemoth insisting that you had to move your whole life into the Compound and clear your schedule whenever it is convenient to have a “team bonding night”. As if they didn’t have jobs and families and friends outside of Avenging.
For once not giving a flying care that his shaking hands mangled his once neat and elegant signature, Stephen took his copy and almost ran out of the room, much to Jennifer’s amusement and envy. He was finally free! For all that was holy! Tempted to just leave the few possession he took to put in his designated locker, but knowing that Wong would shank him in his sleep if he left one of Kamar Taj’s volumes here, Stephen made the track one last time to the men’s locker room.
“Hey, man! Congratulations!” Luke Cage greeted him as he closed his own locker. It looked like he just got out of training.
“News travel fast. Thank you.” Stephen put the change of clothes and the library’s tome inside a generic duffle bag.
Cage chuckled, “Nah, Jennifer bragged to Murdock. You know how pissed Jennifer got that Matt managed to convince the accessing board that the lawyer Matt Murdock was more valuable outside of search and rescue.”
That was still a sore subject to Jennifer. Although on a purely logical standpoint, Stephen had to agree that an in-complete-control, transforming at will Gama fighter was one hell of a player out in the field, he also could see that Jennifer, much like her cousin, Jessica, Luke and Tony didn’t want to even be in the same building as Maximoff.
Jennifer didn’t ever have to go out on missions with Maximoff, but even being on the same building as the woman couldn’t be good on her blood pressure. The Accords board assigned Karen Page to Rogers and co and gave Jennifer an office on the other side of the enormous Compound for a very good reason, but still…
“I can see the professional appeal.” He settled for.
Cage snorted and accompanied him as made his way through the building towards the exit. It seemed that the other man was also calling it a day with the way he was twirling his car keys in one hand.
They met Jessica leaning against the wall outside of the cafeteria.
“Hey, babe. Been waiting long?”
“Not really.” She shrugged and handed her boyfriend a blueberry muffin…
Stephen took a quick look toward the clock. Six p.m. The kitchen just closed.
“Is it the last one?”
Jessica smirked.
“You’re evil.” Stephen smirked back as Luke chuckled.
Tony’s love for blueberries was well-known. So maybe he didn’t compose poetry to it the way he did to coffee, but people would be hard pressed to find a time that his chosen snack wasn’t blueberries. And apparently, he found the perfect baker that he overpaid for overpriced blueberry muffins to be available at the compound. And yet everybody that had tried it had to agree that they were worth it. Warm, fluffy, not overly sweetened, and just the right size to sate even those with sweet teeth but not have any waste.
The baker makes one last batch of eight that would get ready at precisely a quarter to five and the kitchen would close, and the personnel would leave at six. The same time that Tony himself would finish and leave his office when he came around to the compound.
Which means… the door behind them opened with a bang making them turn and watch as said man stalked to Jessica, probably being told by Friday who bought the last muffin.
“You’re evil.” He hissed.
“Yep.”
Tony sighed sadly and took a morose bite out of a Danish pastry.
They were almost in the parking lot where they would part ways when a shout came from behind them. They turned, tensing and not completely relaxing once they saw who it was.
“Tony, I need to speak with you.” Rogers came running, Wilson and Lang flanking him.
Not long after them, Potts and Rhodes not looking very happy.
Unwilling to let Tony deal with whatever it was this time even with Rhodey and Pepper there, Luke, Jessica and Stephen stayed as well… which… with Rogers’s tendency to bring Maximoff into the conversation and fight her battles may not have been the greatest idea to let Jessica be a part of this.
“Is it something that is even remotely under my purview or you just want to complain?”
And the question was a warranted one too. The number of times any of the people present witnessed as the “Rogues” harassed Tony because of the size of their rooms, because they didn’t have their own bathrooms, because now they had to pay for their food and clothes and what is it about paperwork to live in the Compound for longer than their “shift” was just plain ridiculous.
Tony sold the Compound almost two years before Thanos turned the whole thing into rubble anyways and then the property was still under the UN. The UN designed the new facility, the UN’s Accords Board decided on membership status, they are the ones to finalize the project that included a cafeteria instead of a kitchen with a common area.
And yet, because the Compound used to be a Stark Industries Compound and they are apparently used to being maintained by a billionaire, the Rogues went to Tony with their grievances as if the man even could do anything short of buying the property back and say ‘screw you’ to the UN. But that was more the Rogues’ style.
But the question didn’t seem to register with Rogers, of course.
“It’s about the Binary Autoframing… something. Shuri wanted to have a look at it, she thinks it may help Bucky.”
Ah, so it wasn’t Maximoff’s turn, it was Barnes'. Pretty much the entire world knew that if you wanted to properly push Rogers’s buttons, you only ever have to mention Barnes. The worst of the situation is that even Rogers himself admitted that Barnes was often used as a distraction and yet the man did nothing to rectify that.
Tony raised an eyebrow, “I thought that Princess Panther already got rid of the triggers as per her saying so under oath in front of a jury.”
And ouch. Not that Stephen thought that Tony was digging at the princess’ credibility but having been a part of the medical field, Stephen knew that while brilliant, the B.A.R.F wasn’t exactly FDA approved… not that whatever Princess Shuri did was but it was probably better tested on the human’s psych for treatment purposes than B.A.R.F that was basically a glorified Pensive…
Stephen needed to be really careful not to comment that where anyone could hear it. It would inevitably reach Tony and Stephen would never hear the end of it.
“And it is.” Rogers said in what the man clearly assumed was a reassuring voice, “But she took a look in your project’s… uh… blueprints, specs and she said that it could help recover the memories he lost.”
Which doesn’t really lend credence to ‘he remembers everything’ or the fact that…
“Wasn’t one of the conditions of the pardon for Barnes to reveal the locations of the bodies or at least what happened to his hits so that the families could have closure?” Tony raised an eyebrow.
“I… uh… yes, and this will help.”
As excuses go, and especially considering the man’s historic failures in that department, Stephen had to hand it to Rogers that this was one of his best attempts.
Tony hummed before shrugging. “Can’t help you there.”
“That is actually what I have been trying to s—” Pepper was cut off by Rogers… never a good idea.
“But that technology… you haven’t even mentioned it in a year, so it’s clearly gathering dust somewhere when it could be used to help Bu— so many people.”
Yeah, the man didn’t fool anyone there.
“We can’t use B.A.R.F. No one can use it. Not me, not you, bec—”
“Yeah, we know it’s not approved by professionals. Neither is the Ant-Man suit or the Iron Man suit. If it can help, who cares about permission.” Lang snapped.
Rogers sent him a grateful look. And something finally clicked for Stephen.
Did these idiots think that—
A vein was clearly throbbing in Pott’s forehead, but Tony seemed to be thinking.
“B.A.R.F isn’t mine. It’s not my permission you need, and no, it’s not Ms. Potts’ either, or SI’s. The man you want is called Quentin Beck. Pitched the idea to SI back in 2015, we started to industrialize it and finalized it in 2016. Because of difference in opinions Mr. Beck and SI parted ways. The B.A.R.F is his patent. SI doesn’t have it anymore, we can’t produce it anymore, we can’t touch it anymore. Because it is not my design.” He tilted his head. “Something that I am 100% certain that Ms. Potts tried to tell you and got interrupted at every turn.”
Pepper sighed. “To be fair, I was trying not to break any NDAs.”
Tony shrugged. “I also didn’t. It’s all about how you word it. Anything else that I cannot help you with?”
Jessica snorted.
“Be a better friend, maybe.” Lang mumbled to himself.
Rhodey almost sneered at that. “Oh yeah, next time we should all abandon everybody in our lives to go and break the law because of a threat that never materialized on the word of someone that have been mind controlled for seventy years. Anything else makes us bad friends.”
“As if you would ever disagree with Stark in the first place. This is what I am always talking about.” Wilson took a step forward.
And… uh… at that everybody paused.
“Oh, fuck. You’re serious, Wilson?” Jessica, likewise, took a step forward.
But this… this was too much. After everything in Titan, after Stark surpassed his wildest dreams and managed to find a door number three. Stephen felt guilty and responsible and unable to steer clear even now, that he had the paperwork to walk away and finally having some peace and quiet without this kind of crap…
“As a third party looking in, I will say this much: neither Rogers nor Stark have a good support system.” Was out of his mouth before Stephen could think twice.
Tony winced as not only Wilson and co started to protest but Pepper as well. It was Rhodey’s quiet but intense voice that broke it.
“What?”
Stephen took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. Now that the words were out in the open, he couldn’t just ignore them. But Luke got there first.
“Rogers’ little… cheerleaders, minion followers are the enabling kind of friends. You and Ms. Potts are the ‘me first’ kind of friends.” He shrugged.
“What the hell?” Came from Wilson. Which was a wonder since he abided the ‘language’ rule that Rogers keep barking.
“Hey! They are good friends. They support me, unlike you, Tony.” Rogers turned to Tony.
Luke scoffed. “They are not friends! They are trained dogs that come when you call. I have yet to hear a single opinion from either of them that didn’t come from your white ass first.”
“Ok, that’s a step too far.” Stephen watched as those last comments incensed Wilson.
The subject was probably in his mind and raw because of all the posts and interviews where he (and Lang and, at a times, Barton) were called just that.
Jessica snorted. “Right, yeah. Wilson and Lang are cheerleaders! I don’t know about Barton perhaps he is just after some bedroom action with Maxiwench. That airport shitshow? And then blaming Stark because people dared to treat you like criminals after you committed crimes… yeah, not at all cliché.”
“We did the right thing! We believed in Steve and we stood by his side!” Lang puffed his chest.
Luke actually gawked for a bit. “You’re like the enabling mom. You don’t see anything wrong and you just agree with your kid. She indulges her son and just gives him whatever he wants no matter if it's bad for him. Like keep givig him chocolate and just let him stay in the bathroom for the rest of the day. That's what you're doing, at the end you just make things even worse not only for yourself but for Rogers as well.”
Tony wouldn’t have been able to fight back the snort if he was aware it was coming.
What? Just… what?
He had no idea how Strange managed it, but the man kept a completely straight face at the… comparison Cage just made. Even more than that, the man nodded and agreed.
“I have seen it dozens of times when I was a resident. That’s what we looked out for when there was a chance of major surgery. If the recommendation is not to eat solid foods, we had a talk with relatives and friends to see if the patient was in the kind of right environment for the surgery. If Rogers ever needs one, the doctor needs to be prepared for all sorts of post-surgical complications.”
Lang opened and closed his mouth a few times. “At least we are better friends than them.” He nodded at Pepper and Rhodey.
Luke had a sarcastic look on his face. “Potts and Rhodes are on the other end of the spectrum. They are so concerned over the big picture that they disregard Stark’s personal needs. When Stark came back from Afghanistan, Rhodes was on his side and all worried about his friend until his own career was jeopardized alongside all the other troops that would find themselves without SI weapons, I give him that, still. Interesting timing for your concern to just disappear out of thin air. Then he wouldn’t even hear about it when Stark went to explain what he was doing, and it was about the armor, irony of the decade, that he stole two years later.” Rhodey cringed and averted his eyes.
Luke jabbed a thumb in Pepper’s direction. “Potts had all the right in the world to have safety and to feel safe. I would be pissed to be accosted in my bed, but she still disregarded and ignored an all but diagnosed PTSD. Shit, a ten-year-old did more for Stark’s PTSD than his own friends, than his best friend and his girlfriend. He had a panic attack right in front of Rhodes and even then, you didn’t do anything.” Pepper turned bright red.
“And you still think we are worse friends?” Wilson asked, completely incredulous. “At least we are there for Steve when he needs us. Sure, make all the jokes you want about him whistling and we answering with our tails wagging, but we have his back. Clearly, as you pointed out, something that Potts and Rhodes don’t do to Stark.”
“There is just one tiny flaw there, Wilson.” Jessica rolled her eyes. “What you describe, what Luke and Strange are trying to make your pea-sized brains understand: what you do is not be a friend to Rogers. Doesn’t matter how many times people call you puppies, minions, cheerleader, fanboys or variation does it? You are not getting the point.”
“What is the point then?” Wilson crossed his arms.
“Friends fight.” Tony finally interjected. With a tired sigh and rubbing his eyes. He looked up and saw the darkened sky. What time was it?
“And?” Lang raised an eyebrow.
Tony rolled his eyes. “Friends fight. They butt heads, they tear every argument you make just to make sure that you thought things through when they disagree. Not only because they care but because being a friend is wanting what’s best for you, even when you think you know what that is. Being a friend doesn’t suddenly mean that you have no will and opinions of your own.
When have you and Wilson ever fought with Rogers? Hell, just a different opinion from his. Agreeing with his every decision down to the most miniscule of details just make people think that you are a couple of ‘yes, man’. That’s why people call you fanboys. If you were his friends, you would have your own input to give instead of just going along with whatever Rogers comes up with, it is impossible for friends to agree on literally everything like you do with Rogers.
Pepper and Rhodey are the better friends because they are friends to begin with, equals. Instead of those groupies that follow the popular kid around.”
Wilson scoffed. “So that’s why you didn’t even bother to offer me the deal to sign the Accords in Berlin? Because you thought that I’d just follow Steve? Even if that was true, I think I deserve the basic respect of you at least pretending to think I have my own thoughts.”
Tony rolled his eyes again. “Being completely honest, I didn’t think you were a Captain America fan until Lagos happened. You, a military man, used to showing your face and standing there as the public ripped a strip of your hide when you messed up, just skipped town with Rogers as if the Nigerians didn’t have the right to know what the hell happened.”
Wilson winced at that but rallied. “Not calling you after Berlin was initially my decision, I admit. But I did poke holes at Steve’s reasoning, ok? I told him that we should explore all our options. So why are you people still pushing the whole ‘yes, man’ in my face?”
Stephen raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “Because, Wilson, you don’t bother to talk to anyone else whose name isn’t Steve Rogers. If you ever disagreed with the man it was while no one else was around. I certainly didn’t see your exchange with Rogers in that café as a scenario that you were disagreeing or “poking holes” in his logic. Stark is right, you followed more than just Rogers’ plans, you followed his example of never explaining anything to anyone.
If you never say or explain anything then people are forced to take your actions at face value and the only thing people see, is you following Rogers’ lead… just slower.” He snarked. “So, you’ll have to forgive me if I’m not falling all over myself to feel sympathetic because Stark dared to treat you as an extension of Rogers’ will. It may not have been a nice thing to do, it may have been wrong, but I would do the exact same since… why bother to talk to you at all when your opinion will change in accordance to Rogers’s own?”
~*~
Stephen went about his business as if he didn’t defend Tony’s honor like it was his mission in life. And perhaps he didn’t. Perhaps Tony was just unaccustomed to having people defending him that defending Pepper and Rhodey, if one could call what happened that, it felt like defending him. And wow, Dr. Samson may have a point about his narcissistic depression, even if that wasn’t the exact words he used.
And so he didn’t thank the doctor, didn’t even try to come up with something to say in defense or against Rhodey or Pepper, or even Wilson and Lang. Much less Wilson and Lang, he was still laughing about it, actually.
Tony managed to thank Luke and Jessica without any problems. They waved the whole thing off and Tony knew that for them, it was no big deal, he had seen they do the exact same for Daredevil and Danny. Voicing their grievances against Daredevil and Danny to their faces as well. Tony guessed that he just wasn’t used to straight up common sense with a heavy dose of intolerance of bullshit and good team dynamics.
Crap. And there was the fact that the Defenders didn’t need his help (funding, equipment or otherwise) to do their own thing.
Luke finally huffed to himself before turning to Tony. “Look, man… this is just what teammates do, we look out for each other. I guess you’re just not used to this. We cover your back and you cover ours.”
The sad part was that there was nothing Tony had to say to that. And then there was Strange, and what came out of his mouth to Strange was, “You still have horrible bedside manner.”
The thing not many connected is that Tony did meet Stephen before… before Iron Man, before the Sorcerer Supreme… Before there was shrapnel in his chest and nerve damage in Stephen’s hands.
The Sorcerer scoffed. Because of course he was too posh to snort. “There is a reason I leave diplomacy to Wong.”
“… that doesn’t even make sense.”
Yeah, when one thinks about Wong’s taciturn, reticent, and borderline condescending nature, what Stephen said truly didn’t make sense. They were arguably as bad as each other. The only difference is that Wong is a taciturn asshole and Stephen was a sassy one. People just responded better when they thought they weren’t made fun of, so Wong usually did get tasked with the diplomacy bit, but it still didn’t make sense.
“Ok, you caught me, I just delegate what I don’t want to do.” He returned to his reading.
Tony huffed a laugh. “I just… why go through the trouble of playing Dr. Phil?”
Stephen put his book down and gave the consideration the question deserved. “The not so easy answer is… you deserve respect, Dr. Stark. You earned it. And I believe I have been spoiled by Wong and Christine. My consulting jobs as a former neurosurgeon puts me as one of the very few with a paying job among the Sorcerers, Wong accepts the simple meal here and there but something more extravagant, like when I tried to buy him a cellphone, puts him in one his moods. Once, I tried to gift Christine a, I admit, terribly gaudy sports car… she took deep offence, and not just because she didn’t like it… she didn’t, but that wasn’t the only reason.”
Tony bit his lip. “Uh… usually I just give Pepper access to my credit card and she buys herself a gift for her birthday and other important dates. Something she likes and would wear or use the stuff that is not, and I quote, “Too Tony”.”
Stephen looked up at that. “Do you think Christine would go for it?”
Tony shrugged with a small smirk. But before he left the room, there was just one other thing he was curious about. “What is the easy answer?”
Tony recognized the smirk on Strange’s face. It was the same one Tony himself sported when…
“I guess that when you save someone’s life you kinda want it not to suck.”
There was silence for just two seconds.
“You watch Grey’s Anatomy, I knew it, McDreamy!”
~*~