It was almost 4:00 p.m. After Stephen left in the morning, Tony had decided to give himself a day off, even though each day was technically off. Today, that just meant taking things a little slower than usual. But his mind was always in motion, so resting for Tony rarely meant being lazy on his couch. He had spent his morning cogitating in his workshop, looking for an ergonomic and aesthetic solution to stabilize the tremor in Stephen's hands. He had an initial idea, but didn't want to rush into it, after all he didn't even know if it would be welcome. Then, he decided to wander the streets of New York without any specific goal. Since he was away from the tabloids and the spotlight, he was able to pass completely incognito with a few well-placed accessories.

The walk had allowed him to reflect on the budding relationship between himself and Stephen. The sorcerer's words resonated in his head. It was as if the sorcerer had been able to read his thoughts, so many of the words that came out of his mouth at that moment had been the ones Tony desperately wanted to hear. Tony was someone who always questioned himself and too much sometimes. But he really wanted to believe in those words and that's what gave him the courage to take the first step and take his phone.

- I know we said later in the evening, but is it too soon now?

Tony had barely pressed the send button that he wondered if Stephen was going to find it too clingy and waited a little nervous for the answer, which came almost immediately.

-No, that's fine. In which room do you want me to open the portal for you?

-In my living room?

-See you soon

The message had barely arrived that the portal opened in front of him, revealing the sorcerer, who reached out his hand. Tony grabbed it without hesitation and followed him. They met in Stephen's living room. Tony barely had time to look around when he found himself pressed up against the sorcerer who kissed him passionately. As they parted to catch their breath, Tony said with a smile, "Hm...nice way to say hello."

His gaze turned to the sorcerer who had once again swapped his sorcerer's outfit for street clothes. A pair of jeans and a simple burgundy shirt, which had the most beautiful effect on the man. Stephen, on the other hand, was staring at the engineer, enjoying the view of Tony in his apartment.

"Hello," said Stephen in his beautiful deep voice, smiling at Tony because he had seen the way he looked at him.

"Hi," replied Tony, staring at the sorcerer. Stephen looked tired. "Are you okay?" he asked as he ran his fingers over the sorcerer's face. "You look exhausted."

"The council gave me grief once again, they are just a bunch of old backward sorcerers, I'm used to it but some days it's more tiring than others. I am much better now you're here though. Do you want something to drink?" He made a little pause before continuing,"Tony, I know we haven't talked about it, but as you know I've noticed that you don't drink alcohol, and I don't want to be too bold, but is that a habit?" Stephen asked a little hesitantly.

"We decided to be honest so I'm going to tell you the truth, but first I'll have a glass of whatever you have without alcohol, it can just be water," Tony replied.

"Take a seat," said Stephen, showing him the couch in front of the fireplace. "I've got ginger ale, tea, different juices."

"A calming tea would be perfect actually."

"Good."

Tony sat on the couch, admiring the decoration around him. It seemed that Stephen also appreciated a sober space. He had what seemed some master paintings on the wall, a few decorative objects here and there but nothing that overwhelmed the space and to his surprise in a corner there was an old piano, he wondered if Stephen was playing, but he didn't want to embarrass him by asking because of his hands.

The sorcerer came back with their mugs levitating in front of him, and put them gently on the coffee table in front of the sofa before sitting down next to Tony. He sat close, putting no distance between them.

Tony took his mug to give himself composure and started talking, "I don't know what was said or not said in the newspap-"

Stephen put his hand on his forearm, "Tony, I'm not interested in newspapers, I'm interested in what you have to say. You're the one I believe."

Wow. Tony had a hard time getting his head straight.

"Thank you. Hum...You've probably heard about my palladium generator, which kept the shrapnel from reaching my heart after my kidnapping in Afghanistan, right?"

"Yes, I remember, as a surgeon I was impressed with that technique at this time, and the fact that you announced you were Iron Man" Stephen replied.

"Well, palladium was poisoning my blood because of its toxicity. I only had 6 months to live and nobody knew. So I sank into depression, alcoholism and self-destruction. On my birthday that year, knowing that it would be my last, I indulged in a most unbridled debauchery. Totally drunk, I put on my armor and used it to entertain my guests, going as far as peeing in my armor in front of everyone. It is at this moment that, revolted by my behavior, Rhodey put on the original armor of Iron Man and fought me. He left me dead drunk in my living room, taking the armor with him. That was the last time I drank, because I could live without the appreciation of all the people who don't know me but not without Rhodey's respect. The idea to lose it and his friendship made me realize that if I had to die, that's not how I wanted my loved ones to remember me. I give thanks every day that Rhodey was the best friend I could have had at this moment, literally fighting against me to save me. Since then I never touched a drop of alcohol again. Now you know the whole story."

"Thank you for your trust, Tony. You're admirable, you know?"

"How could you say something like that after what I just told you?"

"But Tony, you stopped! After that you went through even harder things and you didn't fall back. I don't know if it's my place to say it, but I'm proud of you."

Tony couldn't help himself and pulled his sorcerer by the neck for a deep kiss. Stephen grabbed Tony's jaw and eagerly kissed him back. Tony wasted no time and began to unbutton Stephen's shirt. Stephen planted kisses on his jaw line while Tony continued undress him.

"Hm Tony...stop...Tony !"

Tony froze, "Am I going too fast?"

"No, no, but this couch is way too uncomfortable for my old bones. We could move to a slightly larger play area, if you don't mind."

Tony smiled, got up and pulled the sorcerer by the arm and said, "Show me the way." Stephen walked backwards dragging Tony with him and kissing him all the time.

"Do you want me? "Stephen asked Tony in a very low voice. Tony swallowed very hard and nodded his head.

"Tell me, Tony, loud and clear, tell me what you want.

"I...want...you...you Stephen. " Tony was breathing heavily. When they arrived in the room, Stephen turned on the lights without breaking eye contact. Tony buried one hand in Stephen's hair and pulled it towards him, so that their lips were only a breath away from each other.

"What about you? What do you want, Stephen?"

"I want you so much, Tony," Stephen whispered.

Tony smiled. He let go of his grip and slipped his hand down Stephen's neck.

"So take me, I'm all yours," Tony purring. But instead of moving towards Stephen's lips, he slowly placed small bites on his neck. Stephen pushed Tony onto the bed. The two men took off their shirts, shoes and socks and found themselves only in their pants, which left no doubt about the state of their arousing. Finally, Stephen climbed on Tony and continued his exploration. He gently bit Tony's nipples and encircled them with his tongue. Tony wiggled deliciously and Stephen felt his own cock pulsating. He began to slide Tony's pants over his toned and muscular legs. He would have liked to take his time with those legs, but first Stephen was dying for a taste of that beautiful cock that held Tony's boxer shorts taut. He slid his hands along Tony's thighs and brushed his lips against the erection contained in the boxer shorts. Stephen loved Tony's reactions, his groans, his grunts, the rhythm of his breathing. In one fell swoop, Stephen ripped off the boxer shorts and Tony's cock came out hard and proudly erect. With the length of his tongue, Stephen tasted it. It had such a delightful smell and taste. Stephen used one hand to stimulate Tony's length while he sucked the red head with his lips. Finally slowly he took it in his mouth and Tony seemed completely lost. Stephen gradually accelerated and began to move his head up and down, taking Tony's full size in his mouth. As he heard Tony's accelerated breathing, Stephen's neglected cock began to shudder.

"Look at me," groaned Tony as he puts his hand through Stephen's hair. He looked up and met Tony's eyes. Then he took it deep into his mouth. and saw exactly the moment when Tony let himself be blown by his climax. Stephen swallowed everything down to the last drop and left his mouth around his cock until he felt it deflate in his mouth, all without breaking eye contact. Tony pulled him towards him to kiss him his hand then slipped into Stephen's pants and began to stroke his cock. Stephen was no longer able to think properly because of Tony's kiss. Then Tony turned him on his back and slipped until he had his head between Stephen's legs and gently pulled his pants and boxer shorts off. Without waiting, Tony took Stephen's cock in his mouth. He tightened his lips and moved his head up and down. Immediately, a heat burst inside Stephen. This pretty mouth sucked him as if there was no tomorrow. Stephen quickly felt a heat spread throughout his body, reaching its peak at his cock. His orgasm was approaching, he knew he couldn't hold on much longer. Stephen looked Tony in the eyes when he came.

They were both breathing quite heavily. Tony was lying on top of Stephen and put his forehead on Stephen's. Stephen liked the weight of Tony on him, their chests pressed together and all the parts of their bodies that were in contact. Tony had his eyes closed and enjoyed the smell of Stephen. The same warmth that he always felt when he was with his sorcerer spread through his chest. He could really get used to it.

Moments later, after showering together - which lasted longer than if they had showered separately - they were sitting on the couch, one against the other, Stephen's arm around Tony's shoulders. Tony glanced at the sorcerer, who was staring at the fire, seemingly lost in thought. The silence between them still had that quality that Tony couldn't find with anyone else. He didn't like silence, because for him it often meant being confronted with his darkest thoughts, the ones he was running away from for fear of drowning in them. And the silences with most other people were often filled with secrets and lies. With Stephen, even more so since they had decided to be completely honest with each other, Tony didn't fear the silence.

"I can hear the wheels of your brain spinning," said Stephen, breaking the silence and continuing, "Regret? Already?"

"Hm? What? Hey no, no, not at all," Tony defended himself.

"Calm down Tony, I'm just teasing you," Stephen smiled. Then he tightened his arm around his shoulders and put a kiss on his temple.

Tony rested on Stephen's shoulder and once again he let himself be overwhelmed by the now familiar scent of his sorcerer.

"I have a question."

"Mmm," Tony answered,"You can ask me anything, you know that."

"Did you plan for our relationship to take this turn?"

"Planned it? Not at all, I'm not that presumptuous. Hoped? Yes maybe, probably if I stop lying to myself," Tony said. "And you?"

"Let's just say that the day I received your message was one of the most bright days of my life."

"I never thought you were so romantic, it's cute," Tony replied.

"Hey, I'm the Sorcerer Supreme, I'm not cute please."

Tony burst out laughing and that laugh was a delight to Stephen's ears. Especially knowing that he was the one who had caused the laughter.

"But seriously, I didn't have a plan, Stephen," Tony said softly, "It's been a long time since I expected anything in this part of my life.

"Oh Tony, you are an extremely good person and I can't believe that no one has seen it."

"Stephen, I've lived most of my life in a world of pretense. A world that has proven to me that everything can be bought with money and power, a world where whoever you think your friends, are stabbing you in the back, a world where even if you have a team, you end up alone in the end, so don't blame me for believing until recently that I will never find the right person who will accept me as I am, including my flaws."

"Until recently? What's changed?"

Tony gave him a little tap on the shoulder, "You, Stephen, of course. You were the first person who when I came up with a strategy, didn't question my word. You didn't lie to me about the outcome of the fight if you had to choose between me, the kid, or protecting the stone. Oh sure we clashed, two egos like ours was obvious. But we fought perfectly together. Even in the early days of the Avengers, I'd never fought alongside someone I totally trusted like that."

Stephen was staring at him, speechless.

"You know Tony, if there is one Avenger whose strategy I will never question, it's you. And that was confirmed to me in the 14 million possible futures. I was able to get an idea of who you were Tony, there was one thing that was recurring in those 14 million times, that was your determination to do everything possible, whatever it takes to save this world. In none of the futures did I see you give up."

It was Tony's turn to be silenced.

"When you said you saw 14 million possible futures, I didn't imagine it like that. But did you experience everything in fast-forward? Because for us you were gone, I don't know, maybe 3 or 4 minutes."

"That's the power of the stone of time Tony, I lived those futures in real time, all of them. But I focused on the one that would bring the victory for us, so fortunately I forgot a lot of them."

Tony looked at him in amazement. "I had no idea of the extend of this power. How did you manage to stay sane?"

"That's why meditation is a big part of our lives as sorcerer. It's the only way to get rid of the lingering effects from this kind of memory."

"I understand. It's really amazing though. And you've never been tempted to use it to regain the usage of your hands?"

"The first time I had the stone in my hands yes, but I realized it meant giving up magic. And I realized that I had lost a lot but I had also gained a lot. So yes, I miss my hands, because even magic won't allow me to do surgery or play the piano. But I gained so much more, so much more." said Stephen, looking at him intensely.

It was the second time tonight that Tony found himself unable to say anything.

"Well, after you've burned off all those calories, how about a little nourishment," said Stephen.

A grunt of stomach answered him.

"My body talks faster than my brain," Tony laughed.

Stephen returned a few minutes later with two steaming plates that he put in front of them.

"It's a reheated stew from the Sanctum's refectory, I unfortunately have no cooking skills, and even less since then," said Stephen, showing his shaky hands.

They ate for a while in silence and put their plates on the coffee table.

"May I ask you something?" Tony said.

"You just did," answered Stephen.

"Aha funny...When was the last time you were with a man?"

Stephen blushed slightly and it was brief, but not brief enough for Tony not to see it.

"Never?"

"I've had sex, of course, but not with men."

"Any reason for that?" Tony was serious.

"Several, first not so many candidates, second bisexuality was frowned upon at the time, and the fear of losing my I put this in the past time because I'm not that man anymore."

"Do people know, or are you keeping it a secret?"

"I don't shout it from the rooftops, but I don't hide it. And if the underlying question is whether I want to hide our relationship, then no. But I don't necessarily want us to be the subject of the next news story."

"Actually, that was my next question," Tony replied, "I agree, we're not going to make an announcement on CNN, but I'm not going to hide either. My question was also if I could talk about it to people who are important to me and who you also know by the way."

"Who are they exactly?"

"Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, Peter, Bruce and Bucky."

"Of course for all those people, I just hope that Pepper and Rhodey will be nice in their shovel talk. However, in your list there is one name I don't know, who is Bucky?"

"Bucky Barnes? The Winter Soldier?"

"Um, no, that doesn't ring a bell."

Tony was silent for a while and then he said, "Well, the story's a little long and quite sad."

"Tell me about it only if you want to."

"I want to, Stephen, I don't want there to be any dark areas between us."

"All right." Stephen said as he took Tony's hand and tapped it nervously on his knee.

And Tony told him the whole story, he told him who Bucky was, Steve Rogers' best friend. He told him how Hydra had brainwashed him by making from him a killing machine, the Winter Soldier. A killing machine that had crossed his parents' path and murdered them because Hydra had asked him to. He told him that Steve Rogers had found out about it but had hidden it from him to defend Bucky, because he thought Tony wouldn't know the difference. It ended up in a fight in Siberia with Iron Man left for dead by Captain America, his shield across his chest. And Tony's face lost its hardness when he told how Bucky had come to him, telling him that he didn't want Steve to react like that. That he was sorry for what he had done by being the Winter Soldier, that he would do anything Tony wanted to make it up to him. But Tony had seen beyond what Rogers thought he was capable of. Rogers' fault was far bigger than Bucky's crimes in the eyes of Tony. Bucky was not aware of his crimes when he acted as the Winter Soldier, but Steve knew exactly what he was doing when he betrayed Tony. And out of this disaster had formed a deep friendship. It hadn't been easy, they were not in a Disney movie, but it was there and it was one of the things that Tony was really proud of.

"The more I get to know you, the more I discover things about you that impress me Tony. How after going through so much, you are still able to move forward, keep going and trust. I swear to you to do everything I can to never betray this gift."

"My instinct tells me that you won't." Tony replied with a kiss.

He looked at his watch, it was already late and he didn't want to impose himself on Stephen knowing the responsibilities he had.

He moved to get up "I'm going to-"

"Stay," Stephen interrupted him.

"Huh?

"Stay, Tony. You don't have to go. I'm going to get up early, but you can just call me when you wake up and I'll open a portal for you to go home."

"Are you sure?"

"Tony, you know me a little now, I would never propose something if I wasn't sure."

"Okay then."

"Tony, don't say things because you think that's what I'd like to hear. Here," Stephen said, pointing to the space between them, "you can say anything and ask for anything, so next time, if you want to stay, ask for it or say it, but don't assume that I want you to leave. Okay?"

"Okay," Tony replied, not being able to believe his luck. Every little or big obstacle Tony saw or put in their way, the sorcerer would erase it like that. It was new, scary, exhilarating, Tony didn't know, but he loved it, oh God, he loved it.

The next morning, Stephen's alarm woke him up. Half asleep, he followed Stephen's noises as the other man entered the bathroom. When he came back into the room to get dressed, Tony took the opportunity to watch him.

"Do you like the show?"

"Hm...let me think...yes. But I prefer when you take your clothes off..."

Stephen looked at him with a lopsided smile as he finished getting dressed. Then he walked over to Tony, kissed him gently and brushed his cheek, whispering, "Go back to sleep, it's still early," before turning to open a portal, where Tony could catch a glimpse of snowy mountains and a blue sky.

"Wherever you go, take care of yourself," Tony said as he watched him leave.

"I promise." Stephen replied as the portal closed on him.

Tony turned in bed took the sorcerer's pillow, buried his head in it and went back to sleep surrounded by the fragrance that had become so familiar.