Another three hours later Stephen stepped nervously through a portal to the Avengers Compound, Peter and Wong at his side.
To protect Spider-Man's secret identity, they had decided to introduce Peter as a sorcerer from Kamar-Taj and dressed him in the robes of a novice.
Stephen sighed and mumbled, "This is going to be awkward."
"What do you mean?" Wong asked.
"Since I couldn't sleep, I looked into a couple of news sites to find out where this universe differs from ours. It seems like Iron Man and Captain America have not once met since the whole disaster with the Sokovia Accords."
"Yes. Possible. Why is this a Problem?"
"Because that means we are about to witness the first meeting of them since the Avengers split up. You know, fun."
"In our world, they met three months ago for the first time since then, and Stephen is right, it was painful!" Peter summarized.
Stephen clenched his teeth. "I'd prefer not to experience this a second time, especially since my own opinion on the matter is a bit – let's say – complicated."
He led them to the conference room and looked around to see who was present. The room was nearly empty.
Only Nebula stood by the window and looked outside, while Tony and Pepper had taken a seat at the conference table. They looked up when the sorcerers entered the room.
Peter was shocked. "Where is everyone?"
"They're on their way from Wakanda, but the Quinjet is delayed. We expect them any minute now," Pepper told them.
Stephen glanced at Tony and was glad to notice that the billionaire looked much better than the day before: His injuries had been treated, and he wore a dapper dark grey three-piece suit with a red tie and light blue sunglasses.
He didn't look up when they approached the table.
"Hey there, how are you, Tony?" Stephen asked tensely.
"I've been worse," Tony answered quietly and grabbed Pepper's hand.
The doctor felt the need to hug the other man, but he was aware that this would have been utterly inappropriate at this moment. An awkward pause followed.
Thankfully, this was the moment when F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced that the Quinjet asked for permission to land.
"Permission granted. Bring them down on landing platform three. We'll be there to greet them," Tony replied and stood up, without letting go of Pepper's hand.
Outside was it was quite chilly for a summer morning. Tony waited with Pepper hand in hand and gazed at the landing Quinjet. Nebula and the sorcerers remained in the back and observed. As the jet reached its final landing position, Stephen held his breath, not knowing who would step out.
Slowly, the escape hatch opened, and Pepper put her arm around Tony's shoulder, while the last remaining Avengers stepped onto the landing pad:
Steve Rogers, followed by Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, James Rhodes, and a dressed, bipedal raccoon. A girl, who was roughly Peter's age, accompanied them. Judging by her clothes and the dark shade of her skin Stephen assumed she was from Wakanda. She was accompanied by a female warrior with a shaven head and a spear.
To look at this small procession was sobering to Stephen: including Tony, there were only five Avengers left – and every one of them seemed utterly defeated.
Rogers marched over to Tony and stopped right in front of him.
Stephen expected the worst. He remembered the accusations, the screaming and the arguments when his Tony and his Captain America met the first time after Siberia. And the doctor recalled the exact moment when he thought about the oath he had given to cause no harm and just said 'screw it' to himself before he punched Steve Rogers in the face. Of course, this had been a bad idea. His hand had hurt like hell for a week, and he wasn't sure if Rogers had even felt it. Well, sometimes even the Sorcerer Supreme does stupid things out of love. He had felt so hurt on Tony's behalf, even if he understood the motivation behind most of Rogers' actions.
Most. Not all of them.
He braced himself for a storm, but it didn't come. Stark and Rogers stood in front of each other, while nobody dared to make a move until Tony pulled off his sunglasses, threw his arms around Cap and started sobbing. Rogers was taken aback for a moment, then he hugged back, and he too began to cry.
"Steve, I couldn't save them. I failed," the inventor wept.
Stephen's heart broke anew for the man who wasn't his husband. He wanted to be there for Tony, comfort him, or at least take Pepper's hand, or hug Rhodey, who shed silent tears in the back. He wanted to support the people he considered his closest friends, but he couldn't because Stephen was a stranger to them. So he turned to the only person he had left and put his arm around Peter's shoulder.
"I didn't expect this," Wong said in a low voice.
"Neither did I. But let's look at the bright side: Maybe now we can look towards the future instead of fighting over things that cannot be changed. That would be... more efficient."
It took a while, but eventually, Tony and Rogers parted. They looked each other in the eyes, wiped away the tears and led the group into the building to the conference room.