Work Text:
Marvel || StrangeCloak || Marvel || He's a Cloak, Not a Cape || Marvel || StrangeCloak || Marvel
Title: He's a Cloak, Not a Cape – And I'm a Sorcerer, Not a Vampire
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe | Doctor Strange
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Marvel Comics for the creation of some of the most awesome heroes ever. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.
Warnings: shounen-ai, objectophilia, jealousy/possessiveness, groping
Main Pairing: StrangeCloak
Characters: Stephen Strange | Doctor Strange, Cloak of Levitation, Thor, Loki
Summary: After the events of the movie, Stephen is left to reflect on his life and what it has become. Magical powers, two new roommates, a very emotional new piece of clothing...
And if the kids knocking at his door for Trick or Treats would please stop assuming he was dressed up as a vampire, that would be amazing, really. Or: In which Stephen tries to deal with Halloween, being roommates with Thor and Loki and having a very touchy-feely Cloak...
He's a Cloak, Not a Cape
And I'm a Sorcerer, Not a Vampire
Loki Laufeyson was a shitty little brat.
Stephen sighed as he stared out of the window, watching the desert, because no other view was working right now. How boring and irritating. Sighing again, Stephen turned away from the portal-windows and made his way downstairs, steps a bit sluggish. His cloak tightened around his arms, feeling very much like a concerned nudge or a hug. Stephen shook his head.
This was his life now.
He was the proud owner of a magical mansion connected to an ancient magic place, defender of one of the three points of defend against magical or inter-dimensional attacks Earth had. Hong Kong was fine, Wong was taking care of it. London was being rebuilt and as far as Stephen had been informed. Mordo was still in the wind somewhere, but if Stephen was being honest, he hoped the wind would carry his friend to London. He'd prefer to have someone he could trust blindly defending the other temples. There was already enough responsibility on his shoulders as it was.
Stepping into the kitchen, he went to hunt for some food, because he didn't quite remember when he had last eaten. There was too much responsibility, slowly squishing him. Never would he have thought that being a world renowned surgeon was the easy part of his life. Opening a cabinet, he frowned pointedly and closed it with a bit more force than necessary.
Loki Laufeyson was the shittiest little brat.
Taking a deep breath, Stephen took the newspaper and opened it. The cloak tightened at his shoulders – but not just tight, it moved, making it feel as though strong, broad hands were massaging him. A more content sigh left his lips as Stephen finally started relaxing a little while scanning the articles in today's paper. He snorted softly at the content.
Captain America still on the run. And so were half the Avengers.
The Sokovia Accords were still pending.
More news about the DareDevil of Hell's Kitchen. Harlem's Luke Cage. Spider-Man in Queens.
New heroes everywhere. New York was protected. The still brightly glowing "A" on what was by now known as Avengers Tower still a reminder of the heroes who used to reside here. But in the aftermath of the Avengers falling apart, new heroes had risen. And somehow Stephen had ended up being one of them. Something he genuinely never thought would be a thing.
But here he was, a sorcerer, a protector of Earth and a hero, in a sense.
"Why the long face, my dear doctor?"
Loki Laufeyson was the shittiest little brat and he damn well knew it too.
Stephen's eyebrow twitched as his newspaper disappeared, making way for the smugly grinning face with the intense, mischievous eyes. And now Stephen couldn't even read the paper in his own home.
"My cereals, Loki", stated Stephen very calmly and evenly. "This is my house and it is my food and I do not appreciate you turning it into Pop Tarts all the damn time."
Loki feigned surprise and hurt as he grasped at his heart and looked at Stephen wounded. "Why, I merely try to be a good brother. You do know how much Thor loves those disgusting things..."
Stephen scowled. The cloak tightened around him, stopping the massaging movement in favor of a rather possessive – in lack of a better word – touch. Amusement sparked in Stephen's mind and eased him a little. The cloak, for being an 'object', had quite the personality to himself. Shaking his head, Stephen tried to focus on the trickster in front of him again. He didn't believe for a second that Loki was trying to be a good brother. Thor did however, and that was most likely the point. Loki got Thor to trust him to a certain degree – and part of Stephen told him that another reason for Loki doing this surely was to simply annoy Stephen. Sure, thanks to magic, Stephen could turn it back again, but this was about a principal! A point! The New York temple now belonged to Stephen, it was his home and this food, he had bought and had looked forward to eating it, but instead his unwanted house-guest kept messing with him and with it and it agitated the doctor.
Weeks, more like months, ago, Stephen had sat down with Thor. Talking about his personal distaste for having individuals from another dimension on Earth. Thor not so much, but Thor's trickster brother? Him very much. Especially considering that every time Loki had been on Earth in the past, he somehow managed to destroy a lot and endanger a lot of lives. Not on Stephen's watch.
When locating Odin turned out to not be a weekend trip, Stephen had begrudgingly so invited Thor and Loki to stay at the mansion. If Loki was staying on Earth, Stephen at least wanted to make sure the trickster wouldn't try anything funny. And considering the lack of Avengers – Tony Stark had both hands full still dealing with the mess Captain America had made, then there was this curious artificial creature known as Vision of whom Stephen wasn't quite sure what he thought of and a crippled War Machine, according to the news – who else was left to take Thor in...?
Sure, it was not exactly Stephen's responsibility. He had taken this one upon himself willingly, but he'd rather bear it himself than wait for the outcome if things were left to their own devices.
"The next time you turn my food into Pop Tarts, I will make sure you won't be able to perform any kind of magic any time soon", threatened Stephen gravely as he got up.
"You're no fun at all", hummed Loki with a shark-like grin.
The man was unsettling and Stephen was pretty sure he wasn't the only one to feel that way, considering how much his cloak would tighten around him every time they were alone with Loki. Walking out of the room and upstairs to his bedroom, he felt his cloak loosening a little, edges gently caressing his sides in a way that made Stephen smile.
Was it very sad that the one he trusted most, the one he relied on most and the one he was closest to was... a piece of clothing? It probably would seem that way to an outsider's perspective.
But Stephen had never been an overly social guy. Not in a sense where one was gathering true friends. The Ancient One was gone. Wong was in Hong Kong. Mordo was somewhere, wherever.
Christine was... Stephen frowned and tensed. Not much but enough to make the cloak concerned as the cloak's collar gently caressed his cheek in a questioning manner. Stephen forced a smile and shook his head. It was silly to get upset over it, really. Things with Christine were never meant to work out. They hadn't worked out the first time around, they hadn't worked out the second time around when he was too obsessed with his injuries – so why should they work out now that he was not just a sorcerer but also responsible for defending Earth and currently harboring two Asgardians?
They had tried to make it work at first, after Stephen defeated Dormammu. But between her hours as a doctor and his hours as a sorcerer, care-taker of the temple and babysitter of two Asgardians, they didn't exactly spend a lot of time together... And as interested as Christine had been in the whole matter at first, it had grown over her head by now. Stephen couldn't blame her.
"Friend Stephen! Good morning!"
Stephen pulled his shoulders up at the booming voice of his other roommate. He was pulled into a tight hug and lifted off the ground for a long moment. Thor was very affectionate and cheerful. Attitudes Stephen still tried to get used to. The cloak flared up, trying to unwrinkle himself. Okay, maybe he hated it even more than Stephen, which made the sorcerer smile a bit.
"Good morning, Thor", sighed Stephen. "It would be better if I'd get breakfast. Your brother changed everything into Pop Tarts again. Please have a talk with him."
Thor looked happy at the prospect of Pop Tarts, but displeased that his brother was still pulling pranks on Stephen. "Very well, my friend. I shall talk sternly with Loki."
Stephen snorted a bit at that but he nodded nonetheless. "Thank you. If you'd excuse me, I've had a long night. I think I will head back to bed for another few hours..."
"But do not forget that tonight is the night where the young ones dress up and collect treats! I have bought plenty of sweets to hand out!", announced Thor, looking like an excited puppy.
Right. Tonight was Halloween. Maybe Stephen was just going to stay in bed the entire day.
"If you hand out candy, please make sure no one sneaks in. This is a temple filled with dangerous magic", requested Stephen. "...Have fun with it, Thor."
He was sort of fond of Thor, if he was being honest. He was like an oversized Golden Retriever pup, it was ridiculous. Passing Thor, Stephen made his way to his room and locked his bedroom door behind himself, just to make sure he'd have a bit privacy. The cloak fluttered off his shoulders, tilting his collar in a way that looked like a person tilting their head. Stephen chuckled a little as he got out of the shirt and pants, leaving him in his boxers as he simply collapsed face-first on his bed.
He had spent all night helping with the repairs in London. Generally, he spent as much time as he could on rebuilding what had been destroyed, on researching and learning more, on trying to locate Odin. His head ached in that way it only did when he went too many hours without sleep. By now he knew it was better to go to bed himself before his cloak would drag him there.
"Lev, blanket...?", requested Stephen softly.
He had collapsed face-first. On top of the blanket. But getting up and crawling under it? What an awful, awful thought. He'd have to get up again for that. With a little whoosh did his cloak lower himself on top of Stephen like a blanket, cocooning him in a safe way.
Between all the chaos and the big, big mess all of this had brought him, Stephen was probably the most happy about having met the Cloak of Levitation. When Mordo had first told him about magical artifacts and how they had to chose their master and bond to a human, Stephen hadn't quite been able to grasp the concept. Then this cloak levitated into his life and he understood.
At first, he had thought the cloak was like a pet, a dog or something. Eager to follow him around, helpful and a bit protective. But after the months spent with the other, Stephen had to reevaluate that judgment. The Cloak of Levitation was very human in mind, he had strong emotions, made better judgment calls than Stephen in some decisions and he was definitely a caring friend.
Which was the point where Stephen had asked him what to call him, because constantly referring to him as Cloak of Levitation was a bit of a mouth full and only cloak felt so... empty, in a way. Impersonal, even though the cloak had a strong personality. Lev, short for 'Levitation'. It worked.
Loki had started making fun of him about referring to the cloak as male, but – and this was where Stephen's appreciation of Thor started – Thor had defended him in that aspect. After all, Thor referred to his hammer as female. The thing about magical objects such as theirs was that they indeed had a whole lot of personality, a sense of identity too.
"Thanks, Lev", mumbled Stephen sleepily, snuggling up to the cloak.
Lev was so comfortable, it was ridiculous. It probably really was ridiculous, that Stephen felt the safest snuggled up into a magical cloak. There was a buzzing sense of comfort and Stephen knew it wasn't his; it was Lev's. Another thing that had happened over the past months. Their connection had grown decidedly stronger, which was why Stephen knew to identify the cloak as male, also as possessive, prone to over-bearing protectiveness and also not fond of Loki.
Stephen closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Being wrapped in Lev felt so safe and comfortable that even the constant thinking in his mind calmed down enough to allow him to sleep.
/break\
By the time Stephen woke up, he felt very well-rested. Blinking slowly he noticed the distinctive lack of Lev. Frowning, Stephen looked around. It was very rare for his cloak to part with him. In fact, Stephen was pretty sure Lev had some stalkerish tendencies. His possessiveness of Stephen was definitely not healthy, but then again who was to say what was healthy and not when talking about enchanted clothes...? Considering it was very rare for ancient artifacts to even bond with a human, Stephen guessed it was only natural for them to get overly attached to their chosen human.
Stretching, Stephen grabbed his clothes and sluggishly got dressed. His bedroom door opened and Lev floated in, carrying a... pizza-box? Stephen blinked slowly and snorted amused.
Ever since Lev figured out how to use a computer, he tended to order in food for Stephen whenever the doctor forgot about it. And whenever Stephen opened the door to a delivery guy, he got a smug sense coming off of Lev. Really, Lev was more fussing than Christine has ever been...
"Food. Not Pop Tarts. Thank you, Lev", observed Stephen with a pleased smile.
He sat down on the bed cross-legged before Lev lowered the pizza box on said lap. Lev flew around Stephen to attach himself to the human's shoulders, the place the cloak seemed to feel the most content. And truth be told, so did Stephen. He felt more content when Lev was close-by. He had learned the hard way that in a life or death situation, he could trust Lev to save him.
"What do you say, shall we hide out in here or see what the roommates are up to?", joked Stephen dryly as he finished the last of the pizza. "I'm not quite sure if I trust Loki around easily influenced human children... Yes, you're right. We better do make sure he's not corrupting anyone..."
Putting the box aside, Stephen got up and then made his way downstairs. He could hear Thor's voice even before he came close to the stairs. He snorted amused when he saw how genuinely happy and delighted Thor looked as he handed out candy and complimented the children. Lev tried to steer him away from Thor. Rolling his eyes, the doctor very pointedly moved into the direction of the blonde Asgardian. Really, Lev was maybe a lot more possessive than should be healthy, him being a magical artifact and a piece of clothing taken into account here. Perhaps it was time to have a conversation with the cloak. Unsure how that would even work, Stephen put the thought aside and went to join Thor at the door where a new bunch of kids was currently gathering and staring at the real life superhero in total awe. Of course did they recognize Thor and even though Stephen had made it abundantly clear that Thor's and Loki's presence in New York needed to be kept a secret – according to the news, Ross was still looking for the last two members of the Avengers who have not yet been held to account for anything that had happened in the past years; to either be condemned like Captain America or begrudgingly accepted like Iron Man. Stephen would rather not be mixed up in that, thank you very much. He stole a sour drop from the bowl as he stood next to Thor at the door. The only reason he had allowed Thor to hand out candy was because it was Halloween and any excited kid who would tell their parents they had seen Thor, well, the parents would believe it was just someone in a good costume (Stephen had already seen the ridiculous amount of Avengers costumes in shops). Ah, there he even was – a five years old Thor, gaping up at the real Thor like he just met the most amazing person on this planet.
"Oh! Are you also a superhero, sir?", asked one of the excited kids.
"I'm not a superhero", sighed Stephen, inwardly contemplating how true that really was. "I'm a sorcerer."
"But you're wearing a cape!", complained a little girl, pointing at Lev.
The Cloak of Levitation bristled at that, flaring up. Stephen reached out with both hands, smoothing the flattering cloak down with gentle hands. He knew that always calmed Lev. If the cloak would be human, he would probably right now have his arms crossed over his chest and be huffing.
"He is not a cape", corrected Stephen with a very pointed edge to his voice. "He's a cloak."
Thor laughed lightly at that and wrapped one arm around Stephen's shoulders. The guy was really affectionate. Lev swatted at the offending arm, not that Thor minded that at all. The children started giggling and whispering, making Stephen frown.
"Your not-cape is a boy?", giggled one of the girls.
And that was it. Stephen has had officially enough of children, Halloween and his roommates. He could hear Loki cackling in the background. Slipping out of Thor's hold, Stephen made his way back upstairs with agitated force behind his steps. As he entered his bedroom, Lev smacked the door to close it rather forcefully. Stephen just stood there for a long moment, eyes closed tight, before he walked over to his bed and collapsed on it face-first, arms crossed and face buried in them. Lev tightened around Stephen's shoulders in what was the beginning of a massage. Stephen sighed pleased. He has had lovers before who would give him a massage because the former surgeon tended to tense up after too many hours of work, but no one had ever given him a massage like Lev. The cloak knew exactly how to work what muscles and that the force easing out the knots of muscles wasn't bound by the form of a hand or fingers only helped. Stephen groaned blissfully as about two weeks worth of stress were worked out of his system.
"We should talk about this", hummed Stephen sleepily, noticing how his cloak paused. "I'm not too familiar with the bond between a magical artifact and its human, but I have a feeling that the bond we have is not exactly... average, judging by Thor and Mjölnir. I know she is quite protective of Thor too, but you are... Oh, this conversation feels entirely too silly even to me... I'm going crazy."
Lev seemed to hug him tightly at that, pressing close. It was comforting. The only real and helpful comfort he had gotten since the car accident. Even if Christine had tried, Stephen hadn't wanted her pity – because that was what it felt like. With Lev, it felt warmer and so much easier to accept. Lev had helped Stephen through countless nightmares at this time – just because it had been a time-loop and no one else remembered it even happening, every single death had been real to Stephen and every night, they would haunt him. There was a soothing buzz of emotion coming from Lev, the cloak reaching a gentle edge up to caress Stephen's cheek tenderly. It reached down to his lips and gently traced them in a motion that felt entirely too intimate. It made Stephen's cheeks flush. The soft fabric pressed more firmly against his lips in what felt oddly like a kiss. Stephen blinked.
"Are you... is this... Are we...?", asked Stephen, unsure how to even phrase the question.
A pressure ran down the length of the cloak, like a hand caressing Stephen's back, tracing his spine. The doctor stiffened as the Cloak of Levitation tightened very specifically at Stephen's ass, squeezing it very tightly and very possessively. Stephen made a slightly high-pitched sound. He doubted anything could be more of a confirmation as that. Flustered, Stephen turned to look at the cloak doubtfully. This was certified insane. He was being molested by his clothes! No, that wasn't fair. He was being molested by his best friend. By his partner. By the one he trusted the most, in this particular phase of his life. Which was probably more than he could say about any of his past lovers. Any, even including Christine. Sighing, Stephen closed his eyes, leaning into the lover's embrace that Lev offered him. Okay. This was definitely a new level of strange even for him, but if the past months had showed him anything, it was that he was good at adapting to strange.
~*~ The End ~*~