Narrator's POV

"Seriously, you don't have any money?"

"Attachment to the material, is detachment from the spiritual." Wong said, going down down the steps of the Sanctum with Stephen by his side.

"I'll tell the guys at the deli. Maybe they'll make you a metaphysical ham on rye." Stephen said. He was dressed casually. It had been a long, stressful week, and they had just gotten a break.

"Oh. Wait, wait, wait." Wong reached in his robe. "I think I have two hundred." He took out some money from his robe.

"Dollars?" Stephen asked, looking at him.

"Rupees." Wong answered.

"Which is?"

"Uh, buck and a half." Wong said. They continued walking down the staircase.

Stephen sighed. "What do you want?" He asked, walking a little ahead of Wong.

Wong put his hands together and followed Stephen. "I wouldn't say no to a tuna melt." He said.

Then there a loud crash behind them, startling them both. They turned around to see a huge hole in the staircase. Wong summoned his magic shields. Stephen suddenly appeared dressed in his robe and cloak. They approached the hole. There was a loud groan coming from it. It was Bruce.

"Thanos is coming." He said, out of breath. There was fear in his eyes. "He's coming."

Stephen and Wong looked at him, then at each other.

"Who?" Stephen asked.

///0///0

"Slow down, slow down. I'll spell it out for you."

"You're totally rambling."

"No I'm not."

"You lost me."

"Look. There was an experiment with this crazy guy who went to another planet to to look for life, right?" Tony said to Christine.

They were casually taking a walk together at the park, just as friends. Tony was trying to explain to her what had happened to Peter, since they never told her.

"Okay, yes." She nodded. Tony stopped in front of her to keep her from walking away from him.

"And he did. He found some alien forms. They called them symbiotes. They turned out to be extremely dangerous, and one got out. Then it went inside-"

"Of Peter." Christine finished.

"Yes, so Stephen told you?" He asked.

"No. No. You guys are just too predictable." Christine said, laughing a bit.

"Well it wasn't too predictable." Tony said. "We had it surrounded, and Peter just happened to want to help and-"

"And he got himself in trouble." Christine finished his sentence.

"See? You know kids. They do things spontaneously." Tony said.

"Yeah." Christine said.

"Okay." Tony nodded.

Suddenly there was a familiar noise to Tony's ears.

"Tony Stark." That voice, he knew and hadn't heard in months. "I need you to come with me."

Tony turned around to see Stephen, all dressed out in his robe and with Levi, and behind him was an opened portal to the Sanctum.

Stephen saw Christine. "Hey, congrats on your engagement by the way." He said to her.

"I'm sorry. You've been gone for nine months, and you expect me to come with you just like that?" Tony asked, angered.

"We need your help." Stephen said. He was in all maters serious. "It's not over selling it to say that the fate of the universe is at stake." Stephen said.

"And who's "we"?" Tony was angry.

"Hey, Tony." Bruce stepped out from behind Stephen.

Tony could see the fear in his eyes. "Bruce."

Bruce approached Tony, staring at him with fear. He was trembling. "Oh." Bruce suddenly wrapped his arms around him.

"You okay?" Tony asked, he was deeply confused.

///0///0

"At the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then..." Wong explained to Tony, who was sitting down at the Sanctum now. "Boom." Wong displayed an image of a galaxy and stars with his magic. "The Big Bang send six electable crystals..." Small balls began to form in the mess of stars. "...hurtling across the virgin universe." Now there were six colored crystals floating. "These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

The blue one lit up. "Space." Stephen spoke. "Reality. Power. Soul. Mind." Each one lit up one by one as Stephen called them out. "And time." He said, looking down at the Eye of Agamotto. He did motions with his hands, opening it and revealing a green glowing stone.

Tony looked at it, then over at Bruce. "Tell me his name again."

"Thanos." Bruce spoke. He walked closer to Tony. "He's a plague, Tony. He invades planets. He takes what he wants. He wipes out half the population." Tony got up and walked over to Wong's side. "He sent Loki. The attack on New York, that's him."

Tony looked down. "This is it." He said under his breath. "What our timeline?" He asked, walking over to what looked like a very old vase.

"No telling. He was the Power and Space stones. That already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe." Bruce followed Tony. "If he gets his hands on all six stones, Tony..."

"He could destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of." Stephen finished Bruce's sentence.

Tony held onto the vase with one hand and began to stretch his leg with the other. "Did you seriously just say "hitherto undreamt of"?" Tony asked.

"Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of the Cosmos?" Stephen asked.

"Is that what it is?" Tony was interrupted by a smack. He turned around, looking at Stephen with an offended look, he then looked over at Levi. "I am going to allow that." He looked over at Wong. "If Thanos needs all six, they why don't we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?" He asked.

"No can do." Stephen answered him.

"We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone with our lives." Wong explained.

"And I swore off dairy two months ago...but then Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me, so..."

"Stark Raving Hazelnuts." Stephen said.

"It's not bad." Tony shot a glare at Stephen.

"A bit chalky." Stephen snapped back.

"A Hunk of Hulk of Burning Fudge is our favorite." Wong said.

"That's a thing?" Bruce asked.

"Whatever. Point is, things change." Tony answered.

"Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change. And this stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos." Stephen spoke.

"Yeah, so conversely, it may also be his best chance against us." Tony said with an attitude.

"Well, if we don't do our jobs." Stephen said to him.

"What is your job exactly? Besides making balloon animals?" Tony asked, angrily.

"Protecting your reality, douchebag." Stephen answered, he was angry now.

"You have no idea how much pain I went through while you were gone." Tony said. "You left me alone with Peter and Oliver for nine months. I had to deal with so much, without your help. I was worried Stephen. I didn't know why you left without reason. What if you were hurt or dead? You can't even begin to imagine how much I went through while you were over here with your friend, playing patty cake."

"You seriously think I wasn't doing anything while I was here?" Stephen asked. "I had to try and figure this out with Wong, on our own. The temple in Kamar-Taj has been raided, destroyed. I had a lot of pressure on me."

"Then why didn't you ask me for help. I could've helped." Tony said. "You didn't bother to visit me once."

"I thought about you the whole time. You and the kids. I wrote letters to you everyday." Stephen swooshed Levi, revealing hundreds of letter that fell on the floor. "You're all I could think about." Tony looked down at his feet in a sea of white paper. "I couldn't mail them because I did't know the stupid address to your new house." Stephen said. "I was so frustrated. I couldn't use my sling ring either because Wong and I didn't want to risk anyone tracing our magic back here." Stephen said. Tony was only quiet. "I wanted to go back and see you, I did; but I had to keep the city safe. I had to keep you and the kids safe. You have no idea how many moons I stayed-"

Tony pulled him into a suddenly kiss.

Oh god, how he missed this. His husband's soft lips felt amazing. He had missed Stephen. He had missed his kisses, his embrace, his voice. Stephen wrapped his arms around Tony, holding him close. Tony caressed Stephen's cheek, then pulled away.

"Tony-"

"I'm still mad at you, but I will admit: I miss you." Tony said. "A lot."

Stephen gave him a soft smile.