And the butterflies that burst from your fingertips

Six: Answers

"Stephen. Stephen. Weakest sorcerer on planet earth."

Stephen's eyes snapped open at this. "First of all, how dare you-"

"Ah, so you're not dead." Wong turned away, looking almost disappointed to see his friend still breathing. "Tony and the other Avengers seemed to think you were, for some reason."

Stephen bolted upright on the bed he'd been lying on to find he was in his room in the Sanctum. "I need to see them. At least Tony. He'll... he needs to know I'm okay."

"I'll portal you over later," Wong said, not looking away from the book he'd opened and probably began reading. "You're much too weak to perform magic yourself."

"Well maybe I wouldn't be if-" Stephen was cut off as two butterflies burst from his hands, gold and red. "-You told me why these are bursting from my hands and how to fix it."

Wong sighed, and rolled his eyes. "You really haven't found it by now? You really are the weakest sorcerer on the planet."

"Hey, stop it. I get enough shit like this from Tony, and I don't need it from you.️"

Wong shot Stephen a shit-eating grin. "Not my fault you can't find the answer to a basic, common magical disease."

"It's common?" Stephen asked in an incredulous tone, and Wong nodded.

"More common than Hanahaki, anyway."

"That disease is fictional!"

"Sorcerers are fictional."

Stephen held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. Can you just tell me where to find the answer?"

Wong turned around to shove the same book Stephen had been reading before the Mordo fight into his hands. "It's here. You'll know it when you see it."

"But I... I was reading through this before going to defend the Compound," Stephen said slowly, confused.

"You obviously didn't get all the way through," Wong replied, already having returned to his book. Stephen rolled his eyes at the other sorcerer.

"Fine. I'll take another look."

It didn't take him long to find what he was looking for. He reread the title over and over, burning the name of the disease into his brain before moving on.

Bursting Butterflies Disease.

His hands were shaking more than usual as he ran them down the pages, reading, reading, reading. There were explanations on why it occurred, and how it worked, and its consequences. Pages upon pages of information upon this disease; statistics that proved how common it really was.

He skimmed through it, just taking in the important parts.

Affects one in every five sorcerers at least once in their lifetime.

Has rendered even the most powerful of sorcerers defenceless.

Makes the butterflies from your personal store of magic, until that runs out; then it begins to use your very essence; the parts of your body.

Occurs when a sorcerer fails to admit his/her/their love to someone.

In rare cases it has been known to be fatal.

The way it works; the buildup of magical energy in the body, the pent up "love", transfers into something physical; in this case, butterflies. After a bit, the butterflies begin to feed off the sorcerer's magic itself in order to keep creating more and more.

All butterflies will stay alive after the sorcerer admits his/her/their love, but the magic they have taken from the sorcerer will be returned.

Stephen leaned back, running his hands through his hair as he exhaled. He didn't understand it; he wasn't in love. Was he? He skimmed the pages again, looking for further explanation.

Then his eyes fell on a single line, and the breath left his lungs.

These butterflies will follow around the person that the sorcerer is in love with.

He sucked in a breath. The butterflies had been following Tony.

And sure, Stephen found him attractive. But in love with him? He took a moment to think. About how Tony made him feel. About how worried he was when he didn't hear back from Tony through the comms.

Oh god, he was in love with him.

One of the lines in the text haunted him, made his breath catch whenever he thought of it. It almost made him want to scream in frustration right then and there.

The only way to cure this disease is to admit your love to that person.

Finally, with a sigh, Stephen closed the book. From there he turned to Wong's wearily tapping him on the shoulder. The other sorcerer turned from his book, carefully placing a bookmark in it.

"I have to... find Stark."

"To admit your love, right?" Wong said, and at Stephen's startled look he laughed. "You thought I didn't know?"

"I didn't even know until just now!"

Wong facepalmed; like actually, literally facepalmed. "You're so oblivious."

Stephen punched Wong in the shoulder, but it wasn't to actually try and hurt him. "I'm doing this to get my magic back."

"Because if it was up to you, you'd never tell him and then get mad when he ends up dating someone else and would rant about it to me, correct?"

Stephen rolled his eyes at Wong. "I'm sure he doesn't feel the same about me."

"And I'm sure you're wrong. Now come on, I'll portal you to the Compound."

Stephen's chest felt tight. "Wait- can we just- maybe the book says something else-"

Wong grabbed Stephen firmly round the wrist and opened a portal. "Now."

Stephen was spluttering and blushing red as Wong dragged him through and into the Compound, dumping him unceremoniously on the floor (right at Tony's feet) before stepped back through and snapping the portal shut behind him.

Tony looked down at Stephen, and smiled. "Oh, good. You're okay. And it's a good thing you're here. Mordo's headed towards a children's hospital."

Stephen didn't think he'd ever let out such a loud groan in his entire life.

The amount of willpower it took me to stop this from happening in the fic:
Stephen: That disease is fictional!
Wong: You're fictional