Say it Back - [ironstrange]

16: Help each other

May 13th

"Ancient One?" Stephen called. No answer. He called again, "Ancient One?" Still no answer. He sighed and began wandering the sanctum in case she was there but couldn't hear him.

"Hello?" He shouted in annoyance. "HE-LLO!" He shouted again, listening to his voice echoing in the high ceiling. "I always feel like nobody's watching me!" He sang loudly, bordering on shouting. "All I have is privacy!" Lyrical changing!

"I do the same thing I told you that I never wou—"

"Why are you shouting?"

"AHHH!" Stephen jumped at the voice, protecting his chest with his arms tightly pressed to it and to each other. It was Ancient One. "Stop sneaking up on me, I swear to god," he complained and Ancient One apologized.

"Why were you shouting me?" She wondered.

"I thought that maybe we should do something together... you know... take a day off. Even just a few hours." Stephen couldn't look at her while asking. He didn't want to see her remorseful look as she declined something she'd like to do but couldn't because of her responsibilities—

"That sounds nice," she agreed. "Haven't had a day off in years."

"Since I turned up at your door?"

"Oh, no. It was way before that."

&

After they ate some late breakfast together, Ancient One told Stephen to dress nicely. He asked her why and she answered that it's common practice to dress nicely where they were going.

For some reason Ancient One took it upon herself to find somewhere to be for the rest of the day, but she had a plan and knew Stephen would love it. She recommended him some blue since he looked so marvelous in it and to comb his hair, making it fluffy.

Stephen decided to put on a pair of dark washed, blue jeans which were a tad too long for him and wide legged paired with a white t-shirt.

Before trying to find a jacket he stood in the mirror, looking at the shape of his torso. He remembered Steve and Thor, real muscle mountains. Those are the type of guys girls fall for, not scrawny, skeleton boys.

All right, he wasn't that skinny, but skinnier than Tony's football teammates. As one last jab in the self-esteem Stephen tightened the t-shirt around his right arm and saw how big the difference was. How on earth had Thor and Steve gotten so ripped? Their arms seemed to be strangling the fabric of the shirts they were wearing.

On purpose, perhaps? To flaunt their muscles? Whatever... Christine isn't the only girl in the world. She's not even the only person in the world. Who knows who Stephen might come across in the future? Someone who likes Stephen despite his average body and looks.

To cover it up he put on a brown corduroy blazer Tony bought him in a second hand store once. It was three years ago. He hadn't worn it in a while, and he noticed since the arms were shorter. Three years ago Stephen was 180 cm and at present day he was 188 cm. I'm lucky this jacket fits, thought Stephen before getting down the stairs.

He was humming a random melody when he bumped into something that felt like a thick curtain. Stephen jumped slightly afterwards before realizing who it was and sighed while rolling his eyes.

"What?" He asked the cloak floating ominously in front of him, blocking his path to his guardian. The cloak gestured toward the blazer around Stephen's body and flapped offendedly.

"You don't like my clothes?" He said like someone insulted Barack Obama. "I'm not walking around in New York, in a fancy cloak. It's strange, someone will ask what the hell im on and will want a supplier and I don't have a supplier."