Shine Through [IRONSTRANGE]

Chapter 7

The phone on the table was luring Tony in. Stephen was not home for 5 days now, he was starting to get worried. He hadn't shown up at work either. Tony's anxiety was crawling over his body. Tony was so nervous to even call him, maybe he had felt bad about the party incident.

The phone started to ring, every chime vibrated in his ear, making him more and more scared.

"Hello?" A voice answered, the voice wasn't Stephens.

"Wh-who y is th-this?" Tony asked, his time was shaky and it came out as stuttering.

"This is Christine, Stephen has had an accident. He is slowly recovering." She could hear the Tony on the other end of the line crying.

"Can I s-s-see him?" He looked at floor with tears filling his beautiful, brown eyes.

"We don't normally, but since you are his boyfriend." She sounded frustrated for some reason.

"I'm not his boyfriend." Tony hated saying the words, he wish he was.

"Then why are you labelled 'Boyfriend' in his contact list?" Tony could hear a faint, deep voice that sounded like Stephen, in the background.

The call ended and Tony stayed in silence.

His fingertips ran through his hair, as he scratched his goatee. He was mentally paralysed, not able to speak.

Stephen crossed his mind constantly - it was all he could think about.

Tony had called Steve Rogers and asked if he could drive him to the hospital, he didn't want to use his suit, he was afraid he might crash it. At this period of time, Tony was scared of everything. It seemed like his life had been taken away before he met Stephen, and now it was just a replay of his relationship with Pepper.

Their drive only lasted a few minutes, Tony leaned for the car door and opened it to discover a path leading to the hospital.

He thanked Steve and stared up at the unfamiliar building. Tony had never seen it before, even though he had lived quite close most of his life. The entrance and exit routes were bustling with people which wasn't unusual considering the mass of the hospital.

Even though he was wearing a dark hoodie that shielded most of his face and hair, a few people walked past him, instantly recognising the billionaire and took their phones out to shoot pictures of him. Tony, at this point, still had tears dripping down his face.

"Great they just took awful pictures of me crying. That's going to be on the news." Tony signed and carried on walking, he wanted to Stephen so badly, but wasn't sure he would be mentally stable enough.

Stark was helpfully guided to his destination and saw Strange peacefully sleeping on the hospital bed. His face was covered in dry blood and stitches, and he had crutches beside him.

"Stephen." Tony whispered, he didn't want to wake him from his slumber.

To his amazement Strange answered. "I'm so sorry."

Tony held Stephen's hand and started to massage his delicate fingers with his thumb, hoping it didn't cause Strange any pain.

"I'm the one who should be sorry." Tony felt like crying once again, but he held it together. Tony decided it was time to own up. "Stephen I remember what happened at the party, every single detail."

Stephen's heart sped up and it showed up on the heart monitor. Tony could sense the pain in his beautiful blue eyes.

"But I ruined everything for you, I thought we were going somewhere in our friendship." Stephen tried to get out of his bed and succeeded.

The two were now standing up, Stephen's arms on Tony's shoulders for balance. Strange was limp on one side, which made him smaller than before, but not by much.

"Tony, I'm sorry if this sounds weird but..." Tony put his index finger on Stephen's lips and smiled softly at him.

"I love you too." The words had left Tony's mouth, which filled him with relief.

Stephen stopped and stared in shock, his heart rate beating faster and faster. Strange tugged Tony closer to him and their lips touched once again, he felt the romantic pleasure once again, and love poured over his body.

The kiss was soft and light, but the passion was strong. Stephen has his arms around Stark, slightly leaning his weight onto him.

"Well this isn't what I expected to see." A voice called from behind Tony. There was a woman with a ponytail standing, watching them kiss. She had a look of jealousy on her face, the couple could tell she was angry from just her tone.

"Shit." Stephen muttered under his breath. It was Christine, his ex girlfriend. Christine still had feelings for Stephen, and made her emotions clear, only to be shut down a number of times. She had never thought in a million years that her boyfriend would turn out to be gay.

"Christine, I can explain." Stephen still had grasp of Tony, his palms still on his waist.

"I don't need an explanation. You left me for a rich Tony Stark. Dr Gay!" She laughed.

"Is that supposed to be a cuss?" Tony questioned, a face full of anger and she just walked away without saying a word.

"Stephen, I'm so so sorry for not calling earlier. How did you even get into this mess?" He brushed his fingers across the cuts and bruises on his face.

"I got beaten up, they caught me off guard."

Tony cocked his head slightly and his face turned into a frown. "How?"

"I'll tell you back at the sanctum."