Forfeiture

always loving you

Tony huffed as the bucket Stephen had conjured earlier poured water down onto his head. It hovered above him and did it every ten minutes since the tub was too small to keep him wet, and as always his boyfriend was working. He was becoming more of some sea creature as more days wore on and now his ears were long and pointed, and crimson scales dotted his skin, not to mention sharper teeth and an appetite for fish. Which is what he wanted. He was tired of waiting and heaved himself out of the water and splashed onto the floor. He had only moments so he wriggled and flopped, dragging himself to the stairs and peered down. “Easy... easy...” but he slipped and tumbled head over fins, crashing onto the tiles and squealing in pain. Always getting hurt. No surprise there…

A portal opened in front of him and Stephen came out with a tired sigh. "Anthony I'm back and- Anthony!" The sorcerer quickly went down and picked the mechanic up. "How on earth did you get down here!?" He said in a panicked voice as he hurried upstairs to the bathroom.

Tony was still pretty dazed from his fall and some of his scales were bent awkwardly. “I-I was hungry...” he said as Stephen quickly placed him down in the bath again, and the wetness soothed his drying skin. “I didn’t mean to fall down the stairs though, I thought I could do it myself...” He sighed heavily and let his tail flop out of the bath. “I don’t mean to worry you so much...”

"It's okay Anthony..." Stephen kissed Tony's forehead, if the mechanic were to see him clearly. He could see how very exhausted the sorcerer looked but yet manages to smile softly at his boyfriend through his tiredness. Strange had been doing all he could to find Loki and look through some books for any spell that could help. No luck so far and Stephen knew he had to hurry, knowing the brunette doesn't like being a merman.

Tony felt his stomach rumbling but tried to hide the fact that he was starving. Not just for fish, but it seemed like it was unhealthy to be out of the ocean for so long, and being cramped up in a cold bath all day wasn’t doing good for his health either. He seemed to have lost a lot of weight and he just hoped that Stephen wouldn’t notice and worry about him. He just hated feeling like all he was to Stephen was a burden. “You look terrible Stephy... go and get some rest, I’ll be okay for a little bit longer...”

Stephen rubbed his eyes a bit and shook his head. "No can do Anthony..." He then opened a portal to the beach and carried Tony back in his arms as he went through. "Right now I'm gonna keep an eye on you, given the fact that your part sea creature now it's not good to have you cramped in the tub" Strange placed the mechanic in the water and sat on the sand. "You need to stretch that tail, swim and feel better..." He looked at the brunette. "Then I'm gonna get you some fish, did you say you were hungry yes? I wouldn't want you to starve Anthony"

Tony felt his whole body get relieved as the salty water rushed around him, and he looked at the foam before turning his Bambi eyes back up to Stephen. “Oh Stephen, thank you...” he said in a quiet voice. How could the sorcerer just trust that his natural merman instincts would cause him to run away again? He pushed himself up onto the sand and took his boyfriend’s hand, still looking up to him. “But really, I can fend for myself for a little while... I really don’t want to be the reason you start getting sleep paralysis or anything...” He leaned up and gave him a soft kiss, hoping he could convince him. “I love you too much to keep you from proper rest...”

Stephen hummed as his eyelids went heavy. "I suppose..." He then tapped on the cloak and it got off from his shoulders. "The cloak will be here if you need him..." Strange then made a small portal and put his hand through it, then brought out some fish in a bowl for Tony and placed it down. "Eat these...don't worry they're clean..." the sorcerer then looked at his cloak. "Keep him safe will you or I'll turn you into a table cloth.." he yawned, "love-" Suddenly he fell back on the sand roughly, having now fallen asleep.