A/N: I wrote this because the only non-painful thing to come out of Infinity War was the Ironstrange ship, and a gal does what she has to. I tried to get the idea of a City Hall wedding kind of right, but I didn't want including the really specific rules I found to ruin the flow of the fic. I got lines from the wedding officiator online (from 'example wedding scripts') but everything else is my own writing - I assume whoever wrote those was happy for them to be used in weddings without credit, so they shouldn't mind them being used for the wedding between Iron Man and a wizard! I also saw one of the jokes ("Stephen with a 'ph'?) on Twitter but I can't find who came up with it to give credit.
Also, the context of this: it's written in a vaguely AU scenario where they've met before the start of the Infinity War timeline but before the 'donut ship' attacked Earth (basically, the time in which he and Pepper would've gotten engaged in canon).
After that unnecessarily long opening, I hope you enjoy!
"I think we should get married."
The voice was quiet, unceremonious, as they lay on the couch late that evening. Tony reflexively started, and forced himself to wait a couple of moments to see if clarifying words would be added, but no more came. He readjusted himself to look at Stephen, who had his eyes closed and looked utterly relaxed.
"Is this one of those high school jokes where you run off and tell people I was stupid enough to think you were serious?"
"My friends are short on the ground as it stands. I'm not sure Wong's biggest worry is the specifics of our relationship. You haven't given me a response, by the way."
The verbal acknowledgement of what they were shifted the mood a little, even more so than the mention of marriage had. They still felt new to each other.
"Give me the reasons for, and against. You must've thought about them."
Stephen kissed him, his hand around the back of Tony's neck, so slowly and surreally that time seemed to fall away. When they broke apart, they both laughed a little, incredulous.
"That would be a reason for."
As Stephen continued to talk, Tony's mind had already been made up. As he described a story a patient had told him once, about how she had married her husband before going back to her home country for the first time because she knew that if she went home otherwise she would never emotionally be able to come back, but she had known he was the only person she could fathom being with forever, and as he explained how the same applied to them in terms of their packed and conflicting schedules and complex, damning histories, all he was aware of was feeling rather than thinking the answer.
"Let's go right now," he said when Strange finished. There was a pause and genuine shock on his face; Tony laughed, because it was so rare that the Doctor was ever caught off guard.
"It's half nine in the evening! These things take all kinds of planning! There's people I'd like to invite! I don't even have a suit!"
A beat, and then they laughed; it was too ridiculous and joyful not to. Tony took both of his hands, and got down on one knee.
"Get your cloak, open up a portal to City Hall four hours ago, and marry me, Stephen Strange."
It was the kind of day you look back on and still feel nothing but giddiness, long after it's passed and your memory of specific events fades.
Tony looked through his closet and found himself a tux, but his were all too small for Stephen. He found a bigger one that had been left by and never returned to Steve Rogers; they paused, until Stephen said - if we're going to make this terrible mistake, we should at least be happy while we're doing it. Tony noticed Stephen catch him staring as he took off his shirt changing into the dark shirt he'd picked instead, as awestruck if it was his first time seeing him like that, and they grinned at each other. It took willpower to keep getting ready, and he distracted himself by asking Friday where the City Hall actually was, and nearby places where he could buy rings.
"The Hall is closed, sir, it closes at three fifteen."
"Not like you to miss the obvious, Friday - I'm going with Stephen."
A portal and a whirlwind later, Stephen was looking smugly at him at the office - the address he'd found for this place had been for the wrong city (goddamn it, Friday), and Stephen had gotten it right by memory. When Stephen looked worried when they were asked for their ID, and Tony was able to produce two passports, he was able to give a smug look back as he handed them over to the kindly older lady.
"I've called Alistair down to the office to officiate. There are a few forms to fill in, then we can process the marriage licenses now, and then you'll need to go down to the City Clerk's Office for the ceremony. Tomorrow, you need to come and pick up the licenses, and update any ID you have."
It occurred to him that he didn't even know what he would put on his ID, because they hadn't even discussed the name problem. He whispered this to Stephen, who burst out laughing, and the lady gave them a curious look.
"Dr and Mr Strange. It sets quite the tone."
"I have doctorates too! Seven of them!"
"Is that Stephen with a Ph?" the lady interrupted.
"Stephen with a PhD, and he'd never let you forget it," Tony quipped back. That got another laugh (not from the lady, though, who looked nonplussed) - he opted not to admit that he'd gotten that one from Peter, who he was fairly certain had found it on the internet.
"I'm marrying an idiot," Stephen said sadly to the woman.
They took a taxi to the office, which felt more romantic somehow. The driver either didn't recognize them or didn't mention that he did, and they held hands in the back as the glowing lights out the window melted by. They got out in the rain; Tony wildly over-tipped the driver. The building was beautiful, or maybe he was just happy. When they got inside, it was as quiet as they'd expected it to be packed, and Alistair was waiting for them at the desk.
"Do you have your witness?" he asked in a soft, wind-chime like voice. They looked at each other - both of them had forgotten. Alistair smiled, he'd clearly seen this before.
"You're in luck. There's another couple in there right now. They're just finishing up; when they get out, you can ask them to do the honours."
They sat in the waiting room holding hands, stealing glances at each other until the other couple, two women in their late twenties, came down the corridor. They seemed in their own world, and Stephen and Tony exchanged a look, knowing without words that this was how the rest of the world must see them. Tony stopped them and made the request; they were more than enthusiastic. As they waited to be called in, one of the women, who introduced herself as Layla, revealed she was an immunologist and well acquainted with Stephen's work, and she, Tony, Stephen got into a debate about a controversial recent paper while her new wife exchanged an amused glance with the only other couple waiting. The four of them were almost in a cloud of being on a high when their names were called - Anthony Stark and Stephen Strange. The four of them walked down the corridor like kids excited for a school trip.
They had had no opportunity to amend the speech, beyond clarifying that neither of them was religious and they were the same sex. There had been no time to worry about any problems that might arise, which was just as well because none did. Layla and her wife stood at the back of the hall, and they stood side by side, facing the officiator.
"We are here today to celebrate a union, in the eyes of the law and of our society, and to celebrate the choice of two adults to dedicate their lives to one another. Marriage, it can be argued, is not remarkable in itself. It is remarkable in our choosing of it. The love at the foundation of marriage existed between you long before this day, and was most fully realized by you both when you chose each other. Rather than transforming that, this ceremony shall simply affirm the choice you make to stand together as lifemates and partners."
He was aware of Stephen breathing; he could feel the rhythm of a heart beating and didn't know or care which of them it belonged to.
"Will you, Anthony Edward Stark, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
"I will," he said, in that split moment feeling perfectly calm, the racing of his head and heart steadied, his mind a perfect night sky.
"And will you, Stephen Vincent Strange, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
"I will."
"We've come to the point of your ceremony when you're going to say your vows to one another. If you are able to keep the vows you take here today, not because of any religious or civic law, but out of a desire to love and be loved by another person fully and without limitation, then your life will have joy and the home you establish will be a place in which you both will find the direction of your growth, your freedom, your responsibility. Please now read the vows you have prepared."
There was a beat; their eyes met, and they could feel each other trying not to laugh. Neither of them had prepared vows. The magnitude of the moment was not lost, but was rather heightened, as a result of this; it felt to Tony as though he could say anything, or say nothing, and still be watching events from the stratosphere.
"Stephen. I- look. This is ridiculous, what we're doing together. But sometimes I look at you, and it feels like you're only semi-permanent, like some kind of celestial being who walked straight out of a star system and into my life. I don't mean the Peter Quill kind either. I mean the - the kind that doesn't exist in real life.
There are days when I feel like an imposter. On this planet, in my own life, but most of all in your life. You deserve so much more than me. I guess the saving grace is that it feels right. You know those memories that you wish you appreciated at the time, because at the time they felt good but you never knew they wouldn't last? You're that feeling, and I want to live in it.
We haven't said it much, and I know you're not the type to throw this around. I'm not either, but you still need to know. I love you."
Stephen's blue eyes bore into him.
"Tony. I don't know - how to put this into words. In front of anyone. Even to myself. But - the times ahead of us are difficult. I fear for the lives of the people around me daily, and that's in the most peaceful of times. And - wherever you are, in my room or across the universe. Whichever timeline plays out, whichever galaxy we end up in, whichever battle needs to be won. There is no longer a distinction between my life and yours. I will die or kill for you. I will live for you."
The energy was different now. The air between them seemed not to be the regular kind of air. It was harder to breathe but breathing it felt numinous. The pastor spoke but it seemed to come from outside a bubble.
"Anthony, please put this ring on Stephen's finger and repeat after me. I take you for now and for always, for always is always now."
"I take you for now and for always, for always is always now." They repeated their vows to each other without breaking eye contact, no longer smiling outwardly, transfixed by each other.
"I may now pronounce you each husband to the other. You may now kiss and seal your marriage."
As they did, it felt like the room was empty, like the city and world was deserted other than the two of them. He felt Stephen's lips warm against his and was surprised, as he always was, at the solidity and realness of him. When they broke apart, they smiled once again, and hugged one another tightly.
The rest of the evening became blurry in later memory. At quarter past nine, they went back to Stark Tower and stood by the spot where they had first discussed the marriage, at the exact time that they had (9:30pm that same day), and narrated to each other what their past (present?) selves would've been doing at this time.
"Look at the look on Stark's face! He didn't see this coming!"
"There's only one thing he can suggest to throw Strange back off balance - and by Jove, he's done it! Look at that form! Amazing!"
They ended up collapsed in laughter. Then when they grew tired they looked at each other, and Stephen said 'let me take you somewhere', and they helped each other up and stepped through a glowing portal into the unknown. Then, the smell of pines all around them. The forest floor beneath them. Tony looked at Stephen, confused, and Stephen said; look up.
They hiked up together to the highest point they could find - Stephen had slightly miscalculated. And when they made it, Stephen's arms wrapped around Tony's shoulders as they looked up, breathless, at the swirling galaxies of colours in the sky above them. He had always wanted to see the Northern Lights.
"I don't know what I want to look at more, the lights, or you."
"I do know, sap. Are you a rare meteorological phenomenon caused by charged particles from the sun colliding with particles in our atmosphere? Or are you just some jerk I'm watching it with?"
"I'm your jerk of a husband that you're watching it with."
"I love you, Tony Stark."
It was like watching a fire - you never grew tired of it. When they physically grew tired, they sat down, Stephen's arms still around Tony, and they kissed until their lips felt swollen. It was like being intoxicated by a person, and a moment never came when he was not in awe that Stephen was there with him. He thought his life could be divided into three sections - the time before this, in its drudgery and sorrow, the time after this, that mystical unknown, and this moment in which he lived, a timeless unique now stretching out forever, an always in which he hoped to live forever.
He didn't know what the future held, but in that moment, he wasn't so worried about it. Time felt secondary to this.
Another A/N: Some loose ends: after their marriage, Tony starts using the name Dr Stark, as a joke but a kind of sweet one (because he's had the doctorates all along but it sounds like instead of Stephen's surname, he took his prefix). After a while, Dr Strange and Dr Stark become Peter's unofficial guardians, not because Aunt May doesn't do an amazing job, but because my heart is fragile and I, personally, deserve Superfamily 2.0.