Science And Magic Miracles
Summary: Oneshots about Stephen and Toni's relationship that led to their happy ending in (Not so) Little Miracles, featuring all their friends and family!
It should have been easy. It was just a social event. Nothing hard or scary about it. Just ... annoyingly dull people conversing with each other, showing off, badgering for more funds, subtly digging jibes at each other while pretending to be nice with fake smiles plastered on their faces. They were all dressed up in their best suits and their prettiest - or most revealing and seductive - dresses, trying to make an impression or prove a point.
Or pick up a desperate date or two, as it would seem. Future Doctor Stephen Strange, young neurosurgeon in training but already way overqualified in his field and bound to become one of the best doctors in the world, grimaced as he himself was subjected to the truth of that last point. Yes, he knew he was handsome - and very arrogant, but he wasn't about to delude himself by saying he wasn't - and and surprisingly successful for his age, but did these girls really have to assume he was so shallow as to be interested in them just because they flashed their breasts at him? Did they think they could impress him like that? He was a doctor in training. Whether he wanted to or not, he had seen plenty of the human body, male and female alike, and he wasn't impressed. Not that he wasn't known for being somewhat of a playboy in the sense that he preferred occasional one night stands as opposed to a serious, long term relationship. Although that usually had to do more with not finding a subtle partner than him not wanting a relationship. He only hooked up when he needed to relieve some tension and only for as long as it was needed. He much preferred to concentrate on his budding career that something as useless as a relationship with a girl who only wanted to profit from his growing fame.
And that's not even mentioning the older women who were interested in him and would fund his research in exchange for ... his services. He shuddered just thinking about it, wanting to hurl but refraining from doing so. He was much too prideful to make such a fool of himself in front of all of these people but it was hard. It was especially hard since he could feel their eyes on his back. He felt like a foal being eyed by several predators and he didn't know which way to escape, if he even had any at this point. It was disturbing how the law of the jungle very much ruled in these circles. He regretted not finding some ditsy date to hang off his arm and be the repellent against all of this unwanted attention. Was this how women felt when men were eying them up?
And speaking of women being eyed up, Stephen wasn't the only one getting some much unwanted attention.
Across the room stood possibly the most beautiful female specimen Stephen had ever laid his eyes on and she was easily the most eye catching person in the room. It didn't even have anything to do with her gold, tight fitting cocktail dress with the long slit up her right leg, showing off the smooth skin for everyone to see, or the topaz jewelry that accompanied it. She was just so breathtaking that every man's eyes in the room would stray to her and stay there for longer than was appropriate. Her presence alone was captivating and demanded attention simply by standing in place as she was now, drinking a martini.
She was Toni Stark and she was commanding the room without needing to say a word.
Now, Stephen didn't want to be like every other guy, drooling over the gorgeous rich girl, but he couldn't help himself. He knew about her, of course. Everyone did. The youngest MIT graduate and a genius who already had three doctorates. She was the talk of the science and educational community, especially since it was rumored the ordinary IQ test can't measure her results. She was around Stephen's age and was said to have a sharp wit and even sharper tongue that Stephen often wondered whether it would stand up to his own. Rumors were one thing, reality was another. It made him want to go over there and see for himself, to test himself against this young woman that the world was practically swooning over, but the amount of men vying for her attention held him back. Some of them were older and successful, scientists in various fields Stephen probably hadn't even heard of, others were as young as him or younger, green, only starting their careers. There were plenty of patrons around, all rich enough to by islands if they wanted, also trying to get a word in with Stark, obviously forgetting her father was probably even richer than them. Now, Stephen hated war profiting, but Howard Stark sure did run a good business. He was also somewhere in the room, getting funds for some long term projects, scouting out talent, making new partners, avoiding Dr Hank Pym who seemed to be glaring at the weapons maker with something a lot like hatred and talking with his business partner, Stane, if Stephen had heard correctly. He'd seen both men with Ms Stark earlier but must have left her to her own devices and to be annoyed by the men there.
If Stephen had to guess, though, he'd say the most annoying ones had to be the men who could be her father or grandfather, twice or thrice her age. They try to cope a feel and she'd have to slap their hand away. Stephen wagered she didn't punch their lights out only because it would create a scandal and might reflect badly for her father's business. They'd press up against her back and whisper in her ear, probably drunk enough to kill a horse, and she appeared to be refraining from throwing her drink in their faces. Whatever form of sweet talk they were attempting was deeply insulting for the genius because her practiced, media smile would twitch the slightest bit before it was put back in place. And when they'd lean in to kiss her, she would have to fluidly side step them, obviously on order to refrain from kneeing them in the groin. Stephen saw her lips moving but had no hope of lip reading or hearing what she was saying, although the indignant expressions most of her ... wanna be 'suitors' wore as they marched off said it all. They had obviously met the sharp, vicious side of her tongue.
Stephen couldn't help but grin, impressed. He had just seen the twentieth guy storm away with a pissed off or embarrassed expression and another one was already going to take his place to be verbally torn apart. You would think these people would learn by now, but nope. They still kept coming. Strange would have shook his head at them but he frowned when he realized this guy, even after Stark snapped at him, wasn't leaving her alone. In fact, he was getting even more handsy and it looked like Stark was actually pushing him away even as he backed her up into the refreshments table. The nearby waiter looked like he wanted to intervene but didn't know how while the old businessman leaned in, as if trying to kiss her. Stephen figured if no one else was going to help her - and indeed, no one seemed to care that a young woman was all but being molested in front of them - he could do it. Taking a deep breath, Stephen quickly crossed the room and cleared his throat, gaining himself the attention of both the harasser and the victim. He nearly froze when those amber eyes landed on him, his breath hitching. Those eyes were dangerous. They could hypnotize a man. He had never seen eyes so beautiful before.
But they were now looking at him with askance for help and that alone was enough to snap him out of his trance, instead focusing on what he had come to do. Right. He could feel the eyes of the whole room on them, taking in the situation, Toni's cornered position, Stephen's straight and proud back and the drunken man trying to force himself on Howard Stark's only daughter. He forced a charming smile to his lips and held out a hand towards Stark. "Excuse me for interrupting, but I was wondering if the lady would like to dance. She looked awfully lonely and bored here, all by herself." Which wasn't really true, as she hadn't been alone for longer than a minute since Stephen saw her, always being annoyed by some suitor or another. And if it wasn't a suitor, it was that annoying Justin Hammer, heir to his father's company that always tried to play rivals with Stark's company but was way inferior, or a paparazzi reporter. Or a waiter who was kind enough to bring her a drink and prevent some other man coming to bother her if only for a short moment. Though she was probably, definitely bored by all those same suitors/Hammer/reporters by now, too.
Before Ms Stark could reply, the drunk man put a hand around her waist and snorted at the doctor-to-be. "She ain't wanna dance with a no one like ya, kid. She ain't lonely or bored, she got me so git lost, ya little bastard."
Anyone else would have probably been cowed by the outburst and knowing this man could buy your house three times over or ruin your career with a single call, but Stephen just arched an eyebrow at him and said in a most bored, bland, sarcastic voice he could manage. "I think if Ms Stark wanted to spend time in your company, she'd visit the old-care home or maybe even the graveyard, so if you would excuse us," he didn't even wait for the response, offering Stark a hand which she took, shoulders shaking with concealed mirth as he took her out of the hold of the flabbergasted drunk man suddenly doused sober with pure rage and led her out to the dance floor. When he got into position, he was surprised by how willingly she fell into the right stance, too, seeing as she had castrated every man so far with words alone. He had honestly expected her to just let him lead her away before saying thanks but no thanks and running off to hide somewhere for the rest of the night. Instead, they started dancing to the music, suddenly the center of attention of everyone there, even the other couples dancing. To be expected. Stephen had been receiving a lot of female attention while Stark had been the center of male attention throughout the night and they had turned down all their would-be suitors before the minute was up. But now they were dancing together and the center of all that pent up envy as they moved to the music.
"Thanks," Stark was the first one to break the silence, Stephen far too mesmerized by her eyes. He had found out she had gold flicks around her irises that made them look to be the color of whiskey but, unlike the drink, were very warm. He snapped out of it when she started talking. "I was getting desperate there. I think I would have resorted to either tazing him or kneeing him in the groin, consequences be damned. I think my dad would have only escalated it if he found out, so thanks. That was ... very sweet of you."
"He's a fucking pervert." Strange groused, glaring over his shoulder at the old businessman being roasted by what must be his wife. Good. "Besides, you really do look bored out of your mind."
Ms Stark rolled her eyes, huffing. "You have no idea. Ugh. I'm only being approached by idiots. I'm pretty sure there are at least twenty ingenious people here - Dr Banner, Dr Selvig, Dr Wu, just to name a couple - and none of them are taking me seriously, just because of my age and, no doubt, my gender. Or maybe it's because of who my father was and what our company makes. It's not fair." Stephen had to concentrate extra hard enough not to stare at the strangely adorable pout he was subjected to. Instead, he snorted.
"I can relate to that. All the doctors here look down at me just because of my age when several hospitals are already fighting over me." At the curious tilt of her head, Stephen puffed up his chest and bragged. Just a little. "I'm still serving out my internship before I can become a legitimate, licensed doctor, let alone surgeon, let alone neurosurgeon. But because of my photographic memory and rather high intelligence and steady hands, I finished my M. D. and PhD in record time and even participated in several major surgeries already. It spread around real quick and now they're trying to hire me since my work is better than anyone's in the past ten years."
"Ah, so you're the medical wonder boy who managed to reconnect that sportsman's sciatic nerve and prevented him from either becoming immobile or losing a leg? I heard the internal bleeding in the area made quite a mess on the operating table and that they had to replace a part of his hip. You were in that surgery?" Stephen nodded, a little stunned that she had heard it and remembered the details of it.
He was even more stunned when she started asking specific questions, starting first with the equipment they used - Strange lost her there for a second because, while he knew how to operate the instruments, he had no idea how they worked from an engineer's perspective and he couldn't begin to hope to follow the engineering jargon she threw down like a pro - and then, much to his surprise, proceeded towards the more medical aspect of the surgery. She didn't have some of the specialized terminology to specify what she meant but she made do, often making analogies between muscles and pistons, veins and nerves and different wires, fuel and blood and managing to impress Stephen with her ideas, asking questions that not even the most sophisticated doctors could think of. It made Stephen want to prove himself to her, to impress her, so he pulled every bit of his knowledge from his memory and answered all of her questions as best as he could. Which wasn't easy, by any means. Ms Stark was a very curious person by nature and for every answer he gave, she had more questions. What was really impressive was her own suggestions and comments, some of which would leave experienced doctors stumped. Stephen just filed away those observations for later, focusing on keeping up the conversation as they had been for the last ... How long were they dancing by now?
As if on cue, someone cleared their throat and Stephen and Toni both snapped out of their rapid-fire conversation and turned as one towards the intruder. There was a middle aged looking man standing in front of them with an amused expression on his face and Stephen was struck by the resemblance between father and daughter as it was none other than Howard Stark standing in front of him. The rich businessman shot a smile and held out a hand towards Antonia. "May I cut in?" Strange's dance partner just rolled her eyes but easily went into her father's arms, sending one last grin at Stephen before the two Starks waltzed away in a twirl of grace and glamor, leaving the future doctor to his own thoughts. He had to physically shake himself of the encounter with Ms Stark in order to anchor himself in the present and the party, looking around with the sudden realization that there were a lot less people present, most of whom remained were awfully drunk and, as he looked down at his watch, that it was considerably late. It was two hours past midnight. Where had the time flown by!? And how come no more girls had pestered him? Or guys Toni?
He shook his head, not believing that the party was practically over. Only he and Ms Stark had still been dancing up until now. How she and her father had enough energy to continue still was incomprehensible to Strange. He actually felt dead on his feet, now that he wasn't basking in Toni's seemingly endless energy. Talk about a captivating presence! He hadn't even realized that the world had ceased to exist as soon as they had started talking.
Sighing, Stephen shot one last look to the dancing and laughing, tireless Stark father-daughter couple before he left. He had had a good time but he had a long shift tomorrow. He'll need his rest so he can continue bettering his career.
And if there has a skip to his step and a wide grin on his face as he saunters around the hospital tomorrow, that was his business.