GREEN IS THE COLOUR
27 May 2018
A/N: Y'all should know by now how much I love jealous!Sherlock. And, after the Awesome Facial Hair Bros/Science Bros/Wizard Bros promo clip came out last month, I decided to write a fic where pre-MCU Stephen is a tiny bit jealous of Tony. I know it took me over a month, but it's finally here!
Some of this came from various Doctor Strange comics I've read, particularly Doctor Strange: The Oath (one of my all-time favourites) and the Stephine flashback in Doctor Strange: Mystic Apprentice one-shot. Also, my pre-MCU Stephen was partly inspired by the deleted scene between hobo!Stephen and the Nepalese dog.
The title comes from the Pink Floyd song.
This is my first Stephine fic, so please be gentle with the constructive criticism. But I hope y'all like this one!
Also, happy birthday to me!
I don't own these characters. They belong to Marvel Studios, Marvel Comics, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Kevin Feige, Scott Derrickson, and C. Robert Cargill. If I owned Doctor Strange and Christine Palmer, then they would still be together in the MCU. All mistakes are mine. Reviews and constructive criticism are welcome; I only ask that you'd be mindful of your words.
"I knew we should have gone to my place."
Clad in an unevenly buttoned white dress shirt and nothing else, Christine rolled her eyes and stuck her frosty tongue out at the bare-chested Stephen, who chuckled as he sat back against the pillow. "You decided to come here, not me," she pointed out, setting the small tub on the bedside table before joining him in bed.
"You chose that emerald green dress, not me," he retorted with a cheeky bite on his bottom lip, making her blush and recall how eagerly he divested her of that dress earlier. Frowning a little, he flipped the page of her copy of The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery's newest issue. "I don't know what post-coital ice cream—particularly one named after Tony Stark—says about my skills though."
Settling in bed, she picked up the tub and licked the underside of the spoon clean. "Don't worry; that new thing you did didn't mess up your perfect record with me," she reassured him with a smirk and a glance at his duvet-covered groin. "I've just been waiting all week to eat this, so I grabbed it when I got a bit hungry." She took a spoonful of ice cream and offered it to him. "Want a taste?"
He shook his head and chuckled. "No, thank you. Do you have anything other than Stark's ice cream?"
"Nope, sorry," she replied with a shake of her head, shoving the ice cream that he declined into her mouth. "But if you get hungry later, I have four tubs of Stark Ravin' Hazelnuts left in the freezer."
"I didn't take you for a Tony Stark fan," he said as he turned his attention back to her medical journal.
She shrugged. "I wouldn't call myself a fan. But he makes me laugh with his comebacks when the paparazzi are hounding him about his love life or when talk show hosts criticize him for his lifestyle and his business decisions. And he is an outstanding engineer and industrialist, so I can't help but admire his genius and innovation."
"He invents smarter weapons and sells them to the military, who then uses those weapons to kill innocent civilians all over the world faster and more effectively," he pointed out in a contemptuous tone.
"Yes, that's definitely disturbing, and he should do something about that," she replied. "But he's created technology that would've impressed even his father. I'm sure his mother would've been so proud of him. And it is a lucrative division, which in turn funds their work in advancing medical technology—which, even you can't deny, has helped our patients—and their Intelli-Crops program."
"And why do you think it's so lucrative? He's probably selling his weapons to terrorists as well."
Christine frowned as she considered his words. "God, I hope not. But he doesn't seem to be the type to associate with terrorists. And, even if that were true, he'd be, I don't know, matter-of-fact and unapologetic about it, like with everything else."
"What if he's being straightforward with everyone about seemingly everything, precisely because he's keeping his business dealings with domestic and international terrorists to himself and maybe Obadiah Stane?"
She shook her head. "No, I doubt that. I think he's smart enough and decent enough to stay the hell away from them. I mean, he may be an egotistical genius playboy, but that doesn't mean he's completely devoid of morals." She stared at Stephen as if he had a visible third eye. "And since when did you care about the innocent civilians that Stark is killing with his weapons?"
His lips formed an 'o' at her question before he shut his mouth and frowned. "I may be a tool, Christine, but I am still a doctor," he finally answered in a mildly offended tone. "But I'm also saying Stark would be better off abandoning his pursuit of his father's approval, since Howard Stark is too dead to give it anyway, and he should—"
She let out a shocked gasp and her eyes widened. "Stephen!" She raised an eyebrow at his defensive expression. "That is way too harsh!"
"I really don't think that was harsh," he replied, rolling his eyes. "As I was saying, Stark should forge his own path. I'm sure he's smart enough and decent enough to realize that, while lucrative, his weapons manufacturing division is killing people and ruining people's lives."
"OK, so you think Stark should focus on his pioneering work in medical technology and other humanitarian efforts? Or provide scholarships or-or grants for kids in STEM?"
"Why the hell not? Anything is infinitely better than manufacturing weapons and selling them to the military and to terrorists." He sneered at the ice cream tub in her hand. "And if Ben & Jerry's is going to name an ice cream flavor after anyone, it should be after someone who saves people's lives, not someone that kills people with their 'smarter' weapons."
She turned to him and gave a soft laugh as she realized why Stephen was being more vocal in his disapproval of Tony Stark. "Oh, you mean you, the great and renowned neurosurgeon with a flawless record in the OR?"
He shrugged. "Sure! I'm better-looking anyway."
"I don't think looks have anything to do with how Ben & Jerry's chooses who to name their new flavors after." She shifted to face him. "Or, what the hell, why can't it be literally anyone in the ER department of any hospital? I don't have the statistics off the top of my head, but I'm willing to bet that we save more people than you do every day." She grinned before focusing on her ice cream.
"You may be right. But I'm more famous than any of you," he retorted with a wink.
"Still not as famous as Tony Stark though." He pouted at that, and she burst into giggles. "Oh, my God. Imagine Ben & Jerry's naming their next ice cream flavor Strange Tastin' Strawberry or Strange Avocado or something."
"So, what, you'd rather have Stark Ravin' Hazelnuts?" he asked in an incredulous tone.
She savored the taste in her mouth as she considered his question. "Actually, yeah. I like this one." She took another spoonful and brought it to her mouth.
To her surprise, he turned the spoon toward his mouth before it reached her lips and ate the ice cream despite her objections. He immediately made a face and some disgusted noise. "It's a bit chalky," he declared after he swallowed it.
Annoyed, she rolled her eyes and shoved another spoonful into her mouth. "No, it isn't. It's really yummy. You're just jealous of Tony."
He lifted an eyebrow and clenched his jaw. "So he's Tony to you now, huh?" He folded his arms across his bare chest. "You-you're not one of his conquests, are you?"
She burst into laughter. "Oh, God, no. I've never even met him. And, to be honest, I only have room for one wealthy, egotistical, arrogant, snarky, gorgeous genius in this lifetime. According to a friend that lived in Los Angeles, though, he's really fun in bed."
His frown deepened and he sniffed in irritation as he resumed reading an article on the risk for injuries and deaths associated with BASE jumping. "As a doctor, I know my way around a woman's body."
"I know you do. But remind me to call my friend and ask her for details," she teased.
"Christine!"
She giggled and rolled her eyes at his glare. "I'm just a bit curious! I still don't want to sleep with Tony Stark." She pulled his head down by the nape of his neck and passionately kissed him. "I only want you, Stephen Strange."
His face lit up, his blue-green eyes uncharacteristically soft. "Good," he said in his low baritone that had always quickened her pulse and made her core throb. Then, seizing the spoon from the tub, he fed her the last of the ice cream before claiming her mouth and slipping his tongue inside.
When they broke apart, she took the spoon and dropped it into the tub before getting up. "You staying for the night?" she asked in a husky voice.
He grinned up at her. "Yeah. But I might not be here when you wake up in the morning." He glanced at their scattered clothing. "I fully expected that we'd spend the night at my apartment, so I didn't pack a change of clothes before I left for the gala, so…"
She nodded. "It's fine; don't worry about it." She took a step forward before pausing and turning to him. "You're, uh, welcome to bring a change of clothes next time."
His grin widened. "I'm speaking at the annual meeting of the Neurological Society next month." He turned on his puppy-dog face. "Come with me?"
She giggled. "Want me to wear the green dress again?" she asked, glancing at the aforementioned dress, which lay crumpled on her bedroom floor.
He shook his head. "Please don't. I need to concentrate, and that dress is incredibly distracting. The short-sleeved midnight blue dress should be sexy enough without making me want to leave in the middle of my speech and drag you into an empty room to ravish you."
She lifted her eyebrow and smiled. "I'll wear the burgundy one then." She winked at his smirking face before sashaying out of her room.
He was on the last few pages of her medical journal when she came back from washing up in the kitchen and in the bathroom. He glanced up at her when she joined him in bed, and he did not bother to hide his disappointment that she had changed into a black sleep tank top and teal sleep shorts.
"Leave that on the nightstand when you're done, will you?" she asked in a tired voice before kissing him on the cheek. "Good night, Stephen." Then she lay down and closed her eyes, trying hard not to mind that he did not respond.
As she dozed off, though, she felt his lips on her forehead and heard him speak in a low voice, "Good night, my beautiful Christine."
I hope Christine and Stephen aren't too OOC. Regardless, I hope to write more of them in the future!
Thank God for the Stark Industries, Tony Stark, and Doctor Strange pages on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Marvel Comics wikis. I spent way too much time on these pages this past month just so I can get the character details right.
I actually love Tony Stark, so please don't send me hate or whatever based on what Stephen said about him here. Obviously, at this point, Stephen didn't know Tony as well as he did in Infinity War, plus he's incredibly jealous of Tony, so he's a bit harsh here.
So what do y'all think? Hate it? Like it? Love it?