Hooking her master by the arm, Y/N quickly pulls Strange away from the apprentices

following Wong through the sanctum.

“Excuse you?” He asks, looking down at her with unsteady eyes. His brow furrowing
as she places her hand on his forehead.

“I’m taking you to bed,” she states firmly as she leads him toward the stairs.

“At least buy me dinner first,” he mumbles as he leans heavily against the
bannister.

“I- now isn’t the time,” she responds, obviously flustered. “You’re sick and need
to get back in bed.”

“No can do,” he responds shaking his head, making his vision twist around him, the
throbbing in his head growing. “Too much work to do.”

“Wong has the visiting apprentices handled. I checked and redid the seals, went
through the mail, checked with the other masters, and started working on my book
work. You need to rest.”

“When did you meet with the other masters?”

“One of the times you nearly passed out against a bookshelf. Thought you were
looking for a book and came back to you staring into space, barely held up by the
shelf.”

“I’m fine,” he insists, wobbling as he takes a step up the stairs.

“No you’re not, hold onto me,” she demands, slinging his arm across her shoulders.
Grunting with each step she manages to get the sorcerer up the stairs and into his
doorway.

“I really should be…” he begins before she cuts him off.

“Resting Stephen. You should be resting. Trust me, I’ll handle everything else,”
she assures him as she pulls back the covers and pushes him into a sitting position
on the bed.

Dropping down to her knees she quickly tugs his books off, standing back up to pull
the Eye of Agamotto from his neck to place on the bedside table. Lastly she unties
his intricate belt and slings it across the end of the bed.

As she works, his cloak flies off his shoulders and transforms into a scarf around
her neck.

“He likes you,” Stephen says slowly while eying his cloak. “Only other person he
ever touches on his own.”

“Well I like him too,” she says with a smile, laughing as it brushes against her
cheek affectionately.

Standing back up she looks down at him with a frown.

“What have I done to earn such disapproval?” He jokes as he leans back on his hands
on the mattress.

“I was just thinking your robes are probably really uncomfortable to sleep in,” she
mutters. “You have something under them?”
“Taking me to bed, wanting to undress me, you’re rather forward aren’t you?” He
teases, pulling at the many layers of fabric.

She watches him for a moment, mouth agape as he manages to get stuck in his own
robes. Gripping the end of them she helps him out of the many layers to reveal a T-
shirt underneath.

Reaching into her own pocket she pulls out a bottle of cold medicine, measuring it
and handing him the cup as he looks on in disdain. “Drink it.”

“I’m alright.”

“Stephen drink it.”

“Who’s the master here?”

“You’re behaving like a toddler so clearly not you right now.”

“Well then who’s the doctor here?”

“Neither of us are practicing physicians at the moment actually.”

“I still have the title and the degree,” he huffs, crossing his arms.

“Medicine. Now.”

“What do I get if I do?”

“I… what do you want?”

“Stay here with me…?”

“If I agree to stay here with you until you fall asleep, you’ll take the medicine?”

“Yes.”

Sighing heavily, she nods and hands him the cup before reaching down to untie her
own boots and discards them by the door. Going to the other side of the bed, she
waits until she sees him down the medicine before crawling onto the covers on the
other side of the bed. The cloak flying off to rest on a chair

Turning and slipping under the covers himself, he eyes her with a furrowed brow,
“You’re going to lay on the covers?”

“I… figured this was more appropriate?”

“Get under the covers, I’m sick, I won’t bite,” he grumbles, attempting to yank
them down.

Shifting on the bed she finally gets under the covers and lays stiffly still,
staring up at the large canopy above her head.

“I wish I knew you back then,” Stephen mumbles as he also stares up, breaking the
silence between them after a few minutes.

“Knew me when?”

“Before the Hydra crap.”

“I… yes. I know. They ruined me,” she admits trying to choke back the emotion in
her voice.

“They didn’t ruin you,” he insists, glancing over at her. “I just meant… I wish I
could have stopped it. That you could have just been a sorcerer, without having to
go through all that first.”

“I don’t think anyone could have stopped it,” she says with a heavy sigh.

“Maybe, just don’t like that you have to hurt. I know daily pain, I hate that you
deal with it too.”

“You’re being oddly sweet today,” she responds, blinking back the tears in her
eyes.

“I could be sweet to you every day… if you wanted,” he responds, her eyes
flickering to his.

“You’re also doing a lot of flirting.”

“Is it working?”

She laughs at the comment, shaking her head, “Not sure, you may just be delirious.”

“Delirious from your beauty maybe,” he grins as she directs a smile toward him.

Before she can respond, the cloak flies over the bed and spreads across the two,
settling in silently for a moment before wrapping its edges around the two and
forcefully pulling them together with a grunt from Y/N.

“What the hell are you doing?” Stephen asks, frowning as the collar of the fabric
slaps his face toward Y/N, giving him a general idea.

“Why has your cloak mummified us together?” she asks with a raised brow.

“He wants this,” he says as he drapes an arm slowly across her.

“He wants us to cuddle?” she questions, slowly letting herself sink into his
embrace.

“And he wants…” he pauses for a moment cursing the sentient fabric. “He wants me to
admit that I have feelings for you.”

Her head turns up suddenly with a jerk, searching his eyes for signs of a joke, but
finding nothing but embarrassment on his face.

“If you don’t feel the same, I’m sure he’ll let you go,” he adds softly, his arm
lifting from her waist.

She quickly grabs his arm and puts it back, lifting a hand to pull his head to rest
on her shoulder, “No one ever said I didn’t feel the same. Don’t jump to
conclusions Strange.”

“Is that right?” he smiles over at her, pressing a gentle kiss to her temple. “In
that case, I’ll have to take you out to dinner then.”

“Once you’re feeling better you mean,” she adds. “Meaning not tonight.”
“But you’ll stay with me tonight? Not just leave when I fall asleep.”

Twisting in his and the cloak’s grip, she slides up the bed slightly and slings a
leg up over his hip to get comfortable. “I’m sure Wong can handle the rest. I’ll
take care of you.”

Humming approvingly, he lays his head against her chest and moves his hand to run
down her back as his eyes get droopy from the medication starting to kick in.

“Get some sleep,” she whispers as she kisses his forehead. “I’m not going
anywhere.”