Chapter Five: A New Perspective
Stephen groaned and moved to raise his hand, it was pinned under something heavy.
He moved to raise the other and found it in a similar state.
Opening his eyes, he saw Tony on one side, grasping his bandaged hand in his own. Peter was on the other, slumped over with his hand against the bed and hand resting against his other bandaged hand.
"Hello Sleeping Beauty, I missed you," Tony whispers. He gently sets Stephen's hand down and runs his fingers along the sorcerers hairline.
"T-Tony?" Stephen asks, voice hoarse.
"It's me babe, we got your message, sicuro," Tony responds. Stephens eyes shut at the confirmation. He was home, safe.
"Mom!" Peter exclaims, head snapping up from its resting place.
"Hi Spiderling," Stephen says with pure love and warmth. The teen flinches slightly and Stephen quickly notes it.
"A-are you- are you both alright?" Stephen asks, analyzing his family. Aside from his reaction and a haunted look in his eyes, Peter appeared unharmed. Tony, on the other hand, was sporting cuts and bruises along his face. His knuckles were cracked and bruised.
"We're fine, tesoro," Tony promises. Stephen gives him a half-believing look.
"We're more worried about you," Peter sniffs. Stephen winces at the statement and tries to cover it with a convincing smile. By Tony's glare, he fails.
"Pete, give us the room for a minute? I promise you can come back later," Tony requests. Peter gives a puzzled look and waits a moment. Stephen finds the strength to move his fingers, brushing them against Peter's arm.
"Movie night tonight? Okay?" Stephen tempts. Peter's face lightens up and he even smiles a little.
"Okay," he says before leaning over and giving the lightest hug ever to Stephen.
Once he clears the Medbay, Stephen pulls his gaze away to meet Tony's piercing eyes.
"I thought we lost you Stephen. I thought- when we realized-" Tony leaned forward and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I'm okay, Anthony. Okay? I'm alive," Stephen tries to sooth. It backfires.
"But you weren't! You died! You were dead for 2 minutes Stephen! 2 minutes! If Thor hadn't been there to act as a defibrillator and Loki not there with his magic… you would be dead," Tony snaps. This releases a heavy silence.
"I should be dead. I should've been dead ages ago, Tony. But I'm not," Stephen finally says. Tony looks at him, furious.
"I should have died in that car accident. I should've died back with Kaecilius, with Dormammu. I should've died back on Titan, with Thanos. I should've died with Kl'rt. But I didn't die," Stephen says.
"Is that what this is? Some kind of death wish? Because so help me God, Strange, I could kill you myself for being so stupid! You headed into a dangerous environment with a dangerous creature, without any backup or plan! That was a suicide mission and you know it! So, you tell me right now what it is you want. Because I-I can't do this anymore Steph. I can't sit around and wonder if you'll ever come back to me, to us. Because what you're doing, you're doing to Peter too. I can't keep putting him through that either. Both of us? We're a wreck without you. But if you continue to do this, suicide-mission-quest then I can't watch it anymore. I love you too damn much. I love Peter too damn much," Tony cries. Stephen realizes that he wasn't the only one broken.
"Tony, I-I'm so sorry. I know that doesn't even begin to cover it but-but Tony? I promise you, promise you, that I will stop. This encounter with Kl'rt changed everything for me. I was so focused on the future that I lost sight of the present. You're right. I was on a suicide mission. I felt like I didn't deserve this, any of it. I mean- after everything that's happened… how after everything am I the one that's still alive when so many others are dead? I was in a bad place and I shut you out when I should've let you in. Tony, I am so sorry I did that to you. That I did that to Peter," Stephen responds, tears silently falling.
Tony leans forward.
"I want to believe you Steph, I really do," Tony whispers, running a hand along Stephen's cheek.
"I swear to you Tesero. I'll do counseling, I'll leave more duties to Wong, I won't go off anymore… I just want to be home. Really be home. With you and Peter," Stephen promises.
"Okay, I only believe you because you said the 'c' word," Tony pokes. Stephen chuckles.
"Asshole," he says fondly. Tony chuckles at that as well.
"Will we be okay?" Stephen asks after a moment's pause. Tony smiles at him and squeezes his shoulder lightly.
"It's us, we will never be okay. But… yea, we'll be ok," Tony responds. Stephen smiles back at him.
Stephen finds out he had been in a coma for three days after being rescued from Kl'rt's lair. In that time his hands were set into casts that wrapped up to his elbows. His left shoulder had been dislocated and he had a total of 54 stitches that spanned around his upper body. His wounds had caused an infection that Loki was able to heal upon his arrival, however the God of Mischief wasn't entirely in control of his healing magic aside from minor fixes. He was however, the one to thank for mostly fixing Stephen's hands back to their 'regular level of messed up.' Stephen would never admit it, but they hurt worse than ever despite being relatively set and healed.
His body looked like that of a mummy. Wrapped nearly head to toe.
Peter comes back to the infirmary and they talk. They talk about what will be different and what had happened in Stephen's absence. Peter couldn't keep out his pride at knowing something was wrong from the start, or pain in recalling their search for Stephen.
Stephen, however, spared them the details of his torture. He promised to tell when he was ready, and secretly promised Tony to talk in counseling, however he remained tight-lipped about the ordeal. His only falter was when Peter stared past his left shoulder, like looking through the skin, right at the word carved there that would surely scar.
Weak
And Stephen was. He had been weak. But now, after all he's survived and conquered, he felt strong.