ᴅᴏᴄᴛᴏʀ sᴛʀᴀɴɢᴇ (mysticism) wrote in valloic, @ 2021-04-29 13:44:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: stephen strange, ₴ inactive: tony stark |
WHO: Tony & Stephen (an IronStrange mashup)
WHAT: Stephen springs for lunch - at the Golden Mecca, McDonalds
WHERE: ...McDonalds
WHEN: Backdated to the 'heat wave,' April 23rd
WARNINGS: Epic Brofessordom
STATUS: Complete
For someone with a near-photographic memory, Stephen really couldn’t recall the last time he’d set foot inside of a McDonald’s. Probably when he was younger - his parents didn’t think that a fast food restaurant was the best place to bring growing children, so visiting those red-roofed meccas only happened as a treat, a special occasion. To him and his sister, this place where the Happy Meal toys flowed like Coke from the fountain and one of the mascots happened to be a bandit who hoarded hamburgers was the best place ever. The indoor jungle gyms were teeming with bacteria but that hadn’t stopped him and Donna from climbing all over things, and diving face first into a ball pit. So quite a bit of nostalgia, sure. He found it amusing that he was meeting Tony Stark here for lunch - they’d rescheduled after a freakish snowstorm ruined the original plans, and maybe it was a good thing because the cold always made the ache in his hands worse. Both cold and rain - he felt every movement, every bit of steel in his joints which seemed to be on fire, burning pain traveling up into his forearms. It wasn’t a great day to be social, though for Stephen, not many days were like that anyway. Still. He was trying. Things felt better with the sudden jump to a heat wave (a perfect day for cold drinks and siestas) and he had on a set of scrubs he always wore when he worked at the clinic, and sneakers, wearing all that to take the lunch break he sorely needed. There were plenty of tables so he’d just sit and wait for Tony to show up before going up to the counter to order. They were actually doing this, huh? Tony’s adjustment period since arriving in Vallo had been….complicated. Not only did he have to re-learn how to live in an actual society again rather than a protective bubble in a desolate, war-torn wasteland. Then there was Pepper. Seeing her alive again came with it’s own set of difficulties and hurdles. Luckily she had her precision ability to maneuver around and help him deal with his guilt. Guilt that was magnified tenfold upon seeing near constant reminders of every friend, ever family member, he’d ever failed. Steve. Tasha. Wanda. And every other person he’d been responsible for once Ultron attacked. Needless to say, he’d spent a lot of time hiding out. With Pepper. With the kids. In his workshop. He couldn’t do it forever, though, and Stephen Strange seems as good a person to start with as any. He’d insisted that they actually meet at McDonald’s. He wanted his overly processed apple pie, damnit. The heat had driven him to abandon some of his usual clothing in favor of a t-shirt and jeans. His white streaked hair was still styled immaculately, however. He removed his sunglasses upon entering the fast food restaurant and was immediately struck by his own sense of nostalgia at the sights and smells of the place. He spotted Strange sitting at a table and made his way over. “I hope you’ve got that coupon ready.” “I’m not that much of a cheapskate, I promise - but don’t worry, I’ve got us covered either way,” Stephen assured with a smirk, rising from the table so they could get themselves to the counter. On the way he actually got a chance to look over this Tony Stark - it was kind of surprising, to see how different he looked from the one Stephen knew. Or had known. Maybe the most striking difference was in coloring - he didn’t think his Tony had blue eyes, not ones that blue (a chemical shade of phthalo, it seemed). Either way, it was good to see him - he had something of a begrudging fondness for any Stark, and hated knowing that one had to come to fruition; he had seen Tony die even before the Snap, following the only victorious timeline to its inevitable conclusion. He’d seen a lot of death and loss. It wore on a person. But now they were here, and it was time for questionable meat and salty fries. For Stephen, he just got the chicken nugget meal (with ranch dipping sauce, so he could be a suitable glutton and simultaneously five years old again when chicken nuggets were all he would eat) and a chocolate milkshake that didn’t actually contain any milk. Oh, and that apple pie - he knew Tony wanted one. “So, what have you been up to?” he asked, pulling out his wallet to pay for everything. “Since arriving here, I mean.” Besides being antisocial which was pretty much Strange’s number one hobby. It never really got less weird, meeting someone from an alternate universe. Not unheard of in Tony’s world, and especially in Vallo, but still just as strange. Speaking of Strange, Tony chuckled and followed the good doctor up to the counter. He ordered a Big Mac meal for himself, along with the pie. He crossed his arms and gave an appreciative nod to the cashier that was ringing up their order. “Mainly spending time with Pep and the kids. Have you met them yet? James and Torunn?” Ever the proud father, Tony rarely missed an opportunity to talk about his children. He got his change and pocketed it, picking up the milkshake when it was handed to him first and the rest of the food was being worked on (quickly - bless the concept of actual fast food and heat lamps and microwaves), because apparently it was a miracle and the ice cream machine was seriously working today. “I haven’t,” Stephen said, thinking back - nope, no James. No Torunn. However, it was possible he’d seen them around on the network, since he tended to troll the forum pretty regularly and didn’t always comment. It was good reading material, sue him. “These are your kids?” he inquired curiously. Huh. Tony Stark with kids. Well. He had Morgan back in the other timeline - and Pepper as well. That seemed to be a constant no matter what. Maybe she was a Nexus being, and the only person who could handle Stark in any ‘verse. “You and Pepper are...married?” “They are. Not biologically, but I raised them. James is actually Steve and Natasha’s son. And Torunn is Thor’s daughter.” He picked up his soda cup and took a swig from the straw as they moved over to the side to await their food order. “There are two others, Azari and Pym, who haven’t made the trip here to Vallo yet.” He quashed down a quick pang of sadness thinking of the two boys they were missing. “How I got put in charge of raising four toddlers will likely be a story for next time.” The thought of regaling Stephen with his personal tragedies in the middle of a loud McDonald’s almost made him start to laugh. “Married soon. Currently engaged. What about you? I’m assuming from the scrubs you’ve been working at the Clinic?” Oh. Stephen nearly choked on a mouthful of chocolate shake but luckily he managed to keep himself together. It was just that four kids was a hell of a lot - he couldn’t even picture raising one. All those diapers. All that crying. Talk about a nightmare - seemed like something from a horror movie. Or maybe he just really wasn’t father material. “Well, congrats on the upcoming nuptials. You two are a good match.” That was true, but marriage was also terrifying. What was the point of it anyway? Getting so comfortable with someone that you just went in and took a shit while they were in the bubble bath? Maybe that was just the cynical side of him. There were probably good parts to it as well. “And yes, I work at the clinic - can’t do surgery anymore, but I do general practitioner things. Consultations and whatnot,” Stephen said, taking the plastic tray with those deep-fried, artery-clogging nugs and fries on it when their numbers were called. “I also sort of...inherited a tea shop? After the original owner disappeared. I didn’t want it to fall into disarray, anyway. Shall we?” He nodded toward the smattering of tables, ready to be claimed. “Lead the way.” Tony grabbed a fry from its cardboard container before following along as they wove a path to an empty table. “Thanks. You’re invited to the wedding, by the way. I told Pepper we could go as big as she wanted- which, let’s be honest, she deserves after putting up with me for as long as she has. Pretty sure she intends to invite the entirety of Vallo.” Claiming a booth style table, Tony slid onto the plastic bench seating. “A tea shop? That’s new. You actually keeping it open? Or just keeping an eye on the place?” A personal wedding invitation, that was sweet. “I’ll be sure to put on the ritz for this affair. Can I bring someone with me?” he asked, making himself comfortable on the vinyl seat of the booth. Stephen didn’t want to assume, but since Tony said Pepper was looking to invite the entirety of Vallo it probably wasn’t a faux pas to inquire about attending with a plus one or whatever the term was. He opened the box of chicken nuggets, then carefully peeled off the top of a little plastic cup of ranch dipping sauce, with hands shaking minutely and all. “Keeping it open,” he confirmed. “I work on new blends in the back, mostly. Though sometimes I’ll come out front and...work with people.” The horror. “Mostly it’s Wanda - she handles a lot of the maintenance and the hiring.” Tony being Tony, took a bite of his apple pie before anything else. It was molten hot inside, and he had to quickly wash it down with some soda before it scalded his tongue off. Having averted the crisis, he swallowed another gulp and nodded. “Absolutely. The more the merrier.” Abandoning his dessert for the moment, he unwrapped his burger instead and took a large bite. He couldn’t help but smirk at Stephen’s expression when he mentioned working with people. “Customer service is never for the faint of heart. But I’ll have to swing by to check it out. Maybe switch out my caffeine intake from coffee and energy drinks to tea. Just to keep things interesting.” He took another bite of his burger before continuing. “How is Wanda? I spoke with her briefly when she turned up, but then went right back to being a recluse again.” Of course Stark nearly scalded his tongue on boiling hot apple pie - of course. Couldn’t even wait the minute for it to cool - it was so predictable, so expected, that it was just a reminder of how time or place really didn’t matter; that people were just going to stay the same, their stupid hearts and souls remained constant, and it actually made Stephen’s chest ache a little. Having to sit on the fact that you knew someone was going to have to die to save the universe, and keep it to yourself - it sucked. He held so much in anyway, and that also sucked. “Definitely try something else besides the energy drinks,” he eyed Tony with a squinty doctor’s gaze, as in, I’m concerned your heart may burst out of your chest. Maybe not the most logical thing to be concerned about while dipping fries into ranch but here they were. “The tea is fantastic though, there are a lot of unique blends. And Wanda is - she’s good.” The retro gaff had been something of a setback, but not in the sense that she’d actively hurt anyone - it was just a lot to be remembering all of a sudden. Remembering how you couldn’t cope with death and were alone in your grief so you lashed out and held a whole town hostage - it was no picnic. Just made them both all the more determined to ensure nothing like that happened here, that Wanda didn’t lose control of her magic. “Our timeline isn’t the best - or at least, everything was a mess at the point we arrived here so Vallo’s actually somewhat of a reprieve for her. For me, it’s - complicated.” He didn’t have the time stone. Or the other Sanctums. Or Kamar-Taj. Didn’t know what the hell Mordo was doing on his quest to play Mystical Arts Police. So yeah - that part was fun. “Don’t give me that look,” Tony said around a mouthful of burger. “I’ve cut down to like two energy drinks a day max. Maybe three depending on the project…” He grinned without an ounce of shame. As the conversation turned toward Wanda and their troubled timelines, Tony could feel the unease. At least he thought he did. Like sensing like. He hadn’t ventured to ask too many questions about their timeline. He knew his counterpart had died in the fight against Thanos, but beyond that it just seemed unnecessary to force the others to dredge up potentially difficult memories. Of course now that there it was, directly in front of him… “You want to talk about it? I’ll trade you. Your complicated story for mine.” Did he want to talk about it? Stephen wasn’t sure. But - he figured he may as well, since they were here (in a goddamn McDonald’s - at least there was no scary clown hovering with weird facepaint and a red wig) and he hadn’t really talked about it much. Because everyone else seemed to have their own problems, piling up like an endless load of dirty laundry. “Yeah, uh - “ He tried to figure out how to phrase it, chewing thoughtfully on another French fry that would never, ever biodegrade. “I’m not sure what ‘other me’ got up to, for your timeline but - for me personally, it was a car accident that destroyed my surgical career and then I came out on the other side having learned the mystic arts during my search to heal my hands. Died a few thousand times after trapping myself in a time loop with Dormammu, ruler of the Dark Dimension, until he got bored of that and begged for it to stop, so I stopped it but made him promise to leave Earth forever. In order to do that I had to break time, basically, which pissed off one of my cohorts so he rage quit and - “ Sluuuuuuurp, he had to pause to suck back some of that fake milkshake. His throat was parched. “The Ancient One died during this debacle so Earth no longer has a Sorcerer Supreme, and after the extra debacle with Thanos the multiverse is breaking and...I think that’s it? Now I’m here. Right. That’s definitely it.” Cool story? Tony listened intently as Stephen regaled him with his backstory. Granted, he and Strange weren’t exactly besties in his home world, but he knew the sorcerer well enough to know that most of their major life events seemed to line up. He nodded along until the story came to a pause. “So now you’re stuck here with the knowledge that things are still a mess back at home. I’d say complicated pretty much covers it.” He took another bite of his burger, which was nearly finished by this point, and wiped a smudge of ketchup from his moustache. “All of that tracks with the Stephen I knew in my timeline. For what it’s worth, Earth does get a new Sorcerer Supreme and he does a pretty damn good job of it.” He wasn’t going to come right out and say it was Strange unless the other man asked. However, as subtlety was never one of Tony’s strong suits, it didn’t take a genius to figure out. He was fairly certain he was on the Sorcerer Supreme track - he’d been guardian of the New York Sanctum, keeper of the time stone, and he knew what was prophesied in the Book of the Vishanti. But he also knew that the future was malleable, like a piece of clay on a potter’s wheel, and it could branch off in many different directions - not to mention that Stephen’s personality held a certain bit of stubbornness, of unpredictability; the Ancient One hadn’t always been able to get a read on him or what his own future would hold. She could have been wrong, after all. “Well, I’m glad it turned out okay in at least one timeline,” he stated after another bit of shake down the hatch. And there another chicken nugget went, into the dipping sauce. “So what about your complicated story?” Likely it involved ending up with those four kids which - that made Stephen’s left eye twitch, it really did. The remainder of Tony’s burger disappeared in a final, oversized bite. He washed it down with some soda and used the few additional moments to find the best way to start. The only time he’d recounted this story was to the kids back home, and even then it has only been framed as a bedtime story. “In my time the Avengers were semi-retired. We’d been fighting together for years and finally decided to take a step back and hand the heavy lifting over to the next generation. So we settled down. Got married, had kids, backyard barbeques...the works. There were quite a few rugrats that came out of that. Steve and Natasha got married and had James. Thor had Torunn, but he wanted her raised on Earth. So Pep and I became her guardians. Clint and Bobbi had Francis. T’Challa and Ororo had Azari, and Hank and Janet had Henry Jr.” His expression was bittersweet as he recounted the times before everything went to hell. “Things were good. Until they weren’t. Ultron attacked, we fought. We lost.” The guilt Tony still carried for this came through very clearly in his tone. As happy as he could ever be in Vallo, he would never forgive himself for the lives lost at the hands of his creation. “We knew there was no getting out alive for us. But someone had to protect the kids. As much as it killed me to do it, yours truly drew the short straw. While the others held Ultron off as long as they could, I escaped with James, Torunn, Azari, and Pym. I got them somewhere safe, but at that point there was nothing left to do. Ultron had fully taken over and wiped out anyone with the potential to stand up to it. So I did the only thing I could. Kept the kids hidden so they couldn’t be seen as a potential threat. Did the best I could to raise them on my own.” Once it was out, Tony felt a strange mix of emotions. The guilt and grief would always be there. But it also felt oddly freeing to get it out. He crammed a handful of french fries in his mouth before he could say anything else. Tony had listened to him, so Stephen listened in turn - and sometimes that was just all you needed to feel a little better. Obviously he couldn’t fix it. He couldn’t change anything - what’s done was done; but when someone shared a story like that, they usually weren’t looking for solutions anyway. They just wanted to let it go. So at the very least, he could be a sounding board for that. Here beneath the good ol’ Golden Arches. He also knew the Stark back in his timeline had carried around a good deal of guilt about Ultron too, and the way the dominoes fell - in a way, he was sort of depressingly looking for redemption and in the end, Stephen believed he found it. As for the guilt, nothing was going to make that better automatically. It was something he needed to work through on his own. However, Stephen at least saw one bright side? “You raised some good kids though,” he pointed out. “Honestly, if it were me, none of us would have survived the child rearing.” Forget about Ultron - toddler vomit and tantrums would have taken out Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme. “You’ve done some good things and some bad things, Stark - we all have. Maybe dysfunction is essential to being a superhero.” In that case, they also all fit the bill. Tony’s chuckle sliced through some of the tension in the air. He could agree on that part, at least. He was endlessly proud of his kids, and despite all of his guilt and misgivings for the way things turned out, that would never change. Tony reached over and grabbed his now cooled dessert. “Cheers to that.” Well, at least the pie was cooled now. No burned tongues - chalk it up to a good thing for that side too. “Indeed,” Stephen concurred - and then swiftly, sneakily stole one of Tony’s fries. He had his own, sure, but he did it just because he could. Snarky friendship. It was a beautiful thing. |