Warning: Slight whump, angst, inaccurate medical description and treatment, and terrible jokes.

Christine was just about to google how Ms Meyer could possibly encounter sparkly vampires when a familiar golden circle appeared at the corner and Stephen stepped out of the circle. She looked at the time. So he was only gone for 4 minutes. That was quite a record for him.

He immediately slumped onto the table, buried his head, and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he raised his head, drew a deep breath, and ordered, "Friday, if there is any more magical emergency, could you please direct it to Wong and the other sorcerers? In my contact list, I've initialized them with the word sorcerer before their names so it should be easy for you to find. I need to replenish my energy first."

"Duly noted, Doctor Strange. Do you need Wong to bring your replenishment?"

"That's fine. I have it with me."

"Enjoy your date, Doctor Strange."

Christine raised her eyebrows about what nourishment they talked about. Only now she could take note of his appearance. Stephen did follow her advices. He didn't lose any clothing this time—he managed to gain some splotches of sparkles on his face, body, and clothing. At least Sophie was still sparkle-free, she presumed no thanks to him. She had given up the notion that she could find him unattractive tonight, even with sparkles, so the problem was definitely with her, not him.

She covered her nervousness with laughter. "I thought you hate sparkling vampires but why are you sparkling now?"

He looked at his hands and clothes. His disgusted expression was priceless. "I don't know how. Must be the side effect of my spell." He did some intricate hand movements. In a millisecond, all the sparkles were gone. "Better now?"

"Much better." Now she wouldn't need to worry about her hormones. "How could you remove the sparkles so fast?"

"I have a personal history with vampires so I learned everything about them. Out of all those vampires, what I despise the most is the sparkling variety because that's just another level of weird even for me. I invented my own spell to banish them. I guess I could name them…" He couldn't finish his sentence as he gripped both sides of the table, closed his eyes, and rested his head on it.

She noticed that he had grown very pale, not Edward Cullen kind of pale, but Stephen Strange after-the-accident kind of pale. He was also trembling quite violently. She took his pulse at the neck, at least they were steady.

Sophie quickly detached herself from him and attached herself at Christine's hand. One corner of the cloak pointed at his bag under the table.

She didn't speak cloak so she needed to ask someone. "Friday, I think Doctor Strange is experiencing some extreme fatigue and the cloak is trying to ask me to get something from his bag. Do you know what it is?"

"I believe it's the replenishment, Doctor Palmer. He has used too much magic in one night and is paying the price."

She quickly bent down to retrieve his bag. "Do you know how it looks like?"

"I believe it will be a bottle of purple liquid with eyeballs and tentacles."

She scrunched her forehead when she found the bottle. She was an ER doctor, so she didn't get disgusted easily, but this replenishment was too much. She opened the bottle expecting some weird smell but she didn't smell any.

Sophie quickly picked up a straw and put it in the bottle. Christine put the bottle next to Stephen and directed the straw to his mouth. "Just sip it slowly." Sophie flew back to him and her collars massaged his shoulders.

He made an effort to open his mouth and followed her direction. After a few sips, he could lift his body off the table and picked the bottle himself.

She saw that his skin color return slowly. He also didn't tremble as violently as before anymore.

Suddenly he realized that she was looking at him. He stopped drinking. "You don't have to look at this. I'm not proud of it. Should I turn my back to finish this or should I transfigure this drink to look like something else?"

"Stephen, you idiot! Using too much magic is the cause of your current predicament. I've seen the bottle so there is no use to hide it from me. Just finish it."

After a few more sips, all the liquid was gone. Thankfully, for his sake, he didn't need to eat the eyeballs and tentacles. He seemed to have returned to his normal self, at least health-wise. He quickly put the bottle inside his bag. "I'm sorry you need to see this. I didn't plan to drink it in front of you."

"Do you plan to drink it when you step away with some excuse?"

He nodded.

"For a genius with an eidetic memory, you're quite an idiot. I've known you for many years. I know how you could be super rude and annoying to others. But I still remain a friend to you. You shouldn't be ashamed of what you need to eat in order to survive. Besides, you also do that not out of some selfish reasons but to save the world. In fact, you should be proud of it."

"I don't think needing to eat some super weird stuff is something to be proud of. It's my weakness."

"No, it's not. It's the sacrifice you choose to make. Do you have to drink them every day?"

"No, I don't. I can usually recharge myself by meditation but I haven't got the chance." He grinned so at least he was back to his normal self. "I was too busy entertaining you."

"No, you weren't. You were too busy banishing dragons, succubi, and sparkling vampires." She gave a slight shudder at the last one. "I wish I was joking when I said that. I don't think anyone would believe me when I said what I'd to go through going on a date with you. But I accept the fact that it's your new life now. Isn't that the point of going on a date? To know more about your date? I still wish I didn't know all those creatures really exist."

He nodded grimly. "Yes, that's why I tried to protect you from the truth. But the universe seemed to conspire against our first date."

She liked the fact that he mentioned the word "first", which meant there would be subsequent ones. "Well, at least the food here is good. Speaking of food, do you still want your Pad Thai or is your magical food enough?"

"The food here is to die for." He noticed her glare so quickly amended. "Not literally of course."

As if on cue, Albert materialized with his Pad Thai again. "Your dinner, sir. I hope you get to enjoy it this time."

"Thank you, Albert. I hope so too."

After Albert left, he started to pick up his chopsticks.

Christine said, "If there is any more magical being starting to appear while you're eating, I'm coming with you to give them a piece of my mind." She glared at his phone. Thankfully—for his phone sake as she might drown it if it rang—it remained silence.

"Christine, you know so much more about my new life now. Would you like to tell me more about you?"

"Well, it's less exciting than yours without the dragons and succubi. Just my work, my sisters, and some friends." She then told him about her new routine after he was gone. She also told him that she took up painting classes as well. He just listened attentively while eating. It was so unlike him. He used to talk mostly about his work and his idea for new procedures.

When he finished his Pad Thai, Albert quickly materialized with his Mango Pudding. She suspected that either Albert had a secret superpower or this room had cameras. She didn't know which possibility she liked less.

After he finished eating, Albert poured Thai Iced Coffee for them. He said it was on the house because Stephen created the spell to banish sparkling vampires.

She wondered how Albert knew that but Stephen just had that smile as if he knew something about Albert she didn't. "I think it's my turn to ask some questions."

"Sure as long as it's not some secrets I need to keep."

"Is Albert a sorcerer or does he have a superpower?"

He smiled. "That's not really for me to say."

She gritted her teeth. "Is he the owner? He couldn't just decide to give you the coffee if he is merely the waiter."

"Yes. Well, it belongs to him and his wife, who is from Thailand. I asked him not to wait on us but he said he wanted to see the special lady friend I was going to bring because I always came alone."

She felt her cheeks growing warm. "Are you just saying that to make me happy?"

"No. I'm sure Albert could come right away to answer your question if you want to."

"That's fine. Who made the replenishment for you? I don't think you can cook. I'm surprised that your Sanctum hasn't caught on fire."

"I should be insulted by your insinuation. I know some spells to extinguish fire. I can cook simple things like heating soup without burning the kitchen." He looked at her raised eyebrows. "Fine, Wong prepares it for me. He recommends me to eat it every day but I refuse. I only eat it for emergency."

"Will there be any side effects consuming them?"

"Some scrolls said that it could kill me in the long run but some said it wouldn't. Well, cholesterol kills but we don't see people stop consuming it. So yeah, we don't know. Other sorcerers seem to be fine with the magical food."

She closed her eyes as she felt the prickling of tears behind her eyelids. She drew a few deep breaths and opened her eyes. She held his hands. "Oh, Stephen. You've changed so much."

He squeezed her hands reassuringly. "Don't worry. I won't be defeated by some food. Any other questions?"

She rolled her eyes as she knew he purposefully missed her point. "You said you had a personal history with vampires. How?"

He cast his gaze downward. "It's a long story. I don't want to talk about it, at least not now. I'll when I'm ready."

"I understand. OK, the last one. What's the name of your anti sparkling vampire spell?"

He cheered up at that. "Are you sure you want to hear this? You always hate any names I picked."

"It couldn't be that bad, could it?" She regretted as soon as she said it. This was the man well known for his addiction for alliteration.

"Strange's Sparkling Sanguis Sucker Scorn Spell." He beamed. Sophie seemed to shimmer with excitement.

She groaned. Something never changed. Well, at least some of his traits had changed for the better. "Keep making stupids names like that and see if you get to see any action tonight."

He perked up. "What actions? Do you know there are more inter-dimensional activities somewhere?"

"No, in my apartment, you idiot." His eyes seemed to brighten up. Before he got the wrong idea, she quickly added. "For Netflix of course. And it's pure Netflix, not Netflix and Chill."

"Sure. Don't need to get so defensive. You're way scarier than those dragons."

She glared at him.

He raised both hands defensively. "I know, I know. I just dug a bigger hole for myself. I should just stop talking. What're we watching?"

"Stranger Things."

"Do you pick a show with my name on it? That's so cute."

"No, because it's a great show. It's not all about you."

He seemed to sober up at her last sentence. "I'll get the bill."

She realized that he had changed a lot more than what appeared on the surface. She learned more new things about him but he still had some secrets he wasn't willing to share. She wished he would open up a bit more because nobody should carry the burden of the world in his or her shoulders alone.

Stephen had brightened up as he returned to the table. He grinned. "I'm so sorry about the interrupted date. At least I was right about one thing. It's a date to remember."

Well, nobody was going to argue about that. She hoped future dates would be more memorable for the right reasons.

Notes:

-RawringRyu's original prompt "Hey, did you know that comic Stephen isn't able to eat normal food? He has to eat weird tentacles and purple goop that looks like it belongs in lovecraft rather than his bowl in order to replenish his magic. I've seen a few works utilizing this and am wondering if it's canon in your series or if you prefer him eating normal human food as I'd imagine him going out for dinner with Christine would be a disaster or just plain weird if it were so." I hope this story answered your question in a very roundabout way with a lot of obstacles thrown into their date. This prompt actually made me research more about Stephen and I gained some weird knowledge that I wish I could use it somewhere else. You can find some of the facts here:

thrillist dot com/entertainment/nation/doctor-strange-movie-marvel-sorceror-supreme-facts

-From my research, it seems that he needed to eat some weird foods in some comics and not in some others. Not all comics also agree on the side effects. So I just did my reinterpretation. I hope I get the basic facts right. You could correct me if I get them wrong.
-The addiction for the alliteration is from the comics. So is his history with vampires. His poor brother was turned into a vampire.
-Thanks to KarToon12 about her idea that "I think if he gets called away one more time, I'd imagine Christine would come with him and yell at whatever monster it is and tell them their smackdown will have to wait because she's on a date, and the monster would get scared enough of her to patiently wait until they're done." I added a modified line about that.
-I apologize for readers who expected more from their first date. I still think they need to know more about each other after being separated for a while before deciding if they want to proceed. At least they love each other, not that any one of them would admit it.

-Feedback and comments are welcome.