No-One But You (The Mystic Consultant) - Part 2
Chapter 7: The Tiger Striped Cat (Part 7)

Victor Strange still had to look up when his older brother spoke to him.

Stephen seemed, taller. Victor thought his brother towered over him when he finally saw him again. His older brother was dressed casually.

He looked very "human" and un-supreme. Comfortable. Stephenwas even wearing a Stark Industries t-shirt. Victor seemed very amused with it. He smiled at his brother.

"I always knew you were a fan of his."

Victor actually witnessed his brother's growing affection for Tony, long long ago. Stephen held a large smile. He glanced down at his Stark shirt, then he gave a casual shrug. Yeah, he was a fan of Tony. The "real" Sorcerer Supreme didn't plan on denying any of that.

A thunderbird. That is what Tony Stark was and always would be….

Stephen seemed to drift away for a moment. Victor noticed. His mind seemed to have went to another time and another place. Stephen was very aware of what happened to the other version of Tony.

Stephen understood why he was there. He wanted to do what he could to make sure Tony felt safe. Well, plus he wanted to be there, so…

He forced his focus back toward his brother. Victor seemed a bit more mature in that moment. He let Stephen's distracted state slide. The older brother thought Victor was going to call him out, or something.

Victor just held a small smile. They spoke a little bit about their sister and about what life was like for him living in the Dark.

Stephen told him that he eventually adjusted. He said he had to, for Sofia and Clea. A related question about "adjusting" followed pretty quickly.

Victor was asked if he was adjusting. Uhhh, adjusting to what? The baby Strange moved his focus toward the nearest EXIT. Adjusting? Well, yeah. He felt pretty adjusted.

The baby sorcerer wasn't sure how to answer the question. He went through all the motions of moving on. Right? Some, crime-lord … dumped him months ago. Then like always, he disappeared.

Victor started officially dating someone else. He moved on. Adjusted.

Stephen's left eyebrow had the ability to arch dramatically upward. Victor saw it happen after he didn't answer the question. Stephen's eyebrow was so sharp in that moment, it could have cut someone.

"It's fine. Everything's fine and, I've adjusted. He's.."

Victor started looking up. Clint Barton was supposed to be stationed somewhere up above the crowd. Stephen and Victor weren't technically in their designated position at that point, but…

People hadn't even been let into the venue. The Strange brothers were just being early birds. They had a lot to catch up on.

Stephen kept his eyebrow arched and his arms were quickly crossed. Victor had always been terrible at communicating anything relating to his "relationships". Stephen even found himself becoming disappointed with him several times when it came down to Ezekiel Stane.

Victor was horrible toward him. From Stephen's perspective, Victor was very naive and selfish. Stephen kept looking at his baby brother. He was waiting for some sort of truth to finally emerge.

Part of the truth revealed itself when Steve Rogers approached the two of them. Steve asked a simple question, and Victor's inner self began to show.

"Are you sure you're up for this?"

Steve asked Victor the similar question, and he sounded so polite. Stephen Strange had to smile at him. Aww. Sweet Steve. Victor had two unanswered questions to respond to.

He almost got through the first one, then Steve Rogers had to show up and stack on another layer. Up for this? Up for what? Everything was, fine.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Victor was only there as a consultant. A Mystic Consultant. The energy reader. Remember? He was there for Tony, and it wasn't like he was there because of some crime-lord.

Well, Ezekiel picked the team. Victor was aware of that. He was told about that, because his boyfriend was worried. Clint Barton eventually told him he was worried. He said he didn't want them to reunite.

Victor almost coughed. He swallowed some sort of nerves down. His brother seemed kinda bothered. What the fuck? Victor started awkwardly scratching behind his ear.

"We're all going to meet here before we let everyone else in. I wanted to check in on you, and see if you're still up for this."

Steve's face held a genuine smile. He didn't seem worried or anything, but he just knew the history about Ezekiel and Victor better than most.

Steve Rogers was the first person to put together how Victor felt. Steve figured it out before anyone else.

Thoughts about that started sinking in, and feeling pretty heavy. Victor kind of shrugged after Steve said some stuff. He kind of looked over at his pissed off brother.

He was KIND OF registering what everyone around him was alluding to. Maybe? Victor started feeling a little lost for a sec. He thought if Steve wanted to get the rest of the group and some crime-lord, then that was fine.

Cool. So what?

…

"Why are you glaring at me?"

…

Victor had to ask his brother the question with a very rude tone. Stephen was clearly glaring at him, and Victor wanted to punch his older brother in the face.

….

Chapter: END

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