Tether

Part 3

High pitched screaming set his teeth on edge, mandalas forming over his hands before he'd solidified in the room. Looking around for the threat, all he could see was a naked woman, her nails digging into a honey-hued back as she continued screaming.

Tony glanced over his shoulder at him before trying to reassure the girl lying beneath him. 'Hey, it's okay, honey, it's just my...hey, wait a minute! You can see him?' Twisting around, he sat on his ass, paying no attention to the girl shrieking and frantically trying to cover herself with a bedsheet.

'Huh, Rhodey was right, and here I thought he was pulling my leg.'

Stephen stepped aside as the girl shot out of the room, the black sheet billowing behind her. He waited for a moment to make sure she wasn't coming back, listening for the slam of a front door before turning to look at Tony.

The bed he was sitting on was huge, but it was the New York skyline outside the window which commanded his attention. He'd only been in space for a few hours, but this little glimpse of home grounded him, and he took a minute to breathe and recenter himself. The last thing he knew, he'd been chasing after Stark to apologize, and he'd only managed a few steps before he'd been tugged back to the past.

'Not an imaginary friend then?' Tony asked.

'Afraid not. You want me to pass you some pants?'

'I'm good, unless...you're uncomfortable?' Tony waggled his eyebrows, patting the mattress beside him. 'I've never noticed, but you're kind of hot, for an older guy. Not been with an older man before, how about it?'

'Still warm from your last lover and barely legal? Not interested in the slightest,' Stephen deadpanned. He walked around the bedroom, sick with jealousy at the size of the room, the abundance of wealth screaming at him. It had an urban feel, a bare brick wall beside the dark bed, gleaming hardwood floors that creaked under his boots.

Tony shifted on his enormous bed, draping a sheet across his naked lap as he watched Stephen walk around, scrambling up onto his knees when Stephen approached the shelves on the opposite side of the room.

'How old are you?' Stephen asked finally, not drawing attention to the blue eared bear he'd spotted, his discovery of it obviously causing Tony discomfort. Instead, he lifted his hand to pluck at a leaf of a hanging plant, a string of nickels if he wasn't mistaken.

'Twenty, you?'

'I think I'm in my eighties?' Stephen answered truthfully, thinking about the decades he spent fighting Dormammu in a time loop.

'Well, you look good, for an old dude.'

'Don't do that. Not with me,' Stephen snapped.

'Do what?'

'Give me the come-hither eyes, you're a child.' Sitting down in one of the matching leather armchairs, he placed his elbows on his knees, giving Tony his best withering stare.

'I'm legal,' Tony shot back, stretching his arms above his head, preening.

'I'm not going to warn you again,' Stephen threatened, holding his hand out, allowing magic to web between his fingers. 'Stop now, or I'll shove you in another dimension where you can cool your head for thirty minutes.'

Sighing, he let the magic fizzle out when Tony reared back. 'You don't need to sleep with me to get my attention. Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you.'

'I'm not scared of you,' Tony blurted. 'It's just...I thought you were in my imagination you know, actually seeing... you know what, I'm not having this conversation naked. Close your eyes.'