Mike And Will BOTH Get Vecna’d In S5 But Instead Of Showing Them Each Their Worst Memories, They Show

happiness looks good on you | stephen strange

pairing: stephen strange x widow!reader

summary: you and stephen attend christine’s wedding together (based off this request by anon).

warnings: established relationship, fluff, minor spoilers for multiverse of madness

word count: 2.3k

a/n: still getting used to writing for stephen so go easy on me lol

ever since the snap wreaked havoc on your universe, you had stayed behind at the compound while the others went their separate ways, each coping with their grief as they saw fit. just you and natasha were left behind, never giving up hope that a solution would arise so that those who were once lost could finally return to you.

stephen strange, in particular, became somewhat of a priority to you, not only because you had been harboring a small crush on him in the past, you had convinced yourself at the time, but because he had become a sort of friend to you after working together on a few missions.

five long years of fruitless planning and dread led into something more as the remaining team of avengers, you included, finalized a revolutionary idea that would no doubt bring the lost ones back to you.

once everyone had returned, safe and sound, as if the past five years had been put on hold, you decided that you wouldn’t risk another moment of your true feelings toward the sorcerer going unannounced, and the two of you had been inseparable ever since.

still residing at the compound with natasha, and most recently yelena, who had miraculously found her way back to her lost sisters, you were currently accompanied by the two in your bedroom as they assisted you in preparing for the wedding this afternoon. not yours, of course, but that of christine palmer.

your thoughts were interrupted by a lump of fabric being shoved in your direction as yelena urged you to try on her choice of which dress you should wear.

“i think this one would look best,” she insisted, her russian accent strong and so unlike the american one that had coated her tongue when you were younger. “this color suits your complexion. the one you are wearing now washes you out.” you look down at your current dress and frown.

natasha voiced her agreement from her position on the bed.

you rolled your eyes. “fine,” you huffed, “though i didn’t invite you two to help me just for you to criticize me.”

your sisters chuckled to one another as you slipped into the dress, the silk material sliding across your skin and fitting you perfectly. upon viewing your appearance in the mirror, you had to agree that maybe yelena had a point, although the reflection staring back at you seemed unfamiliar. after all, you had been used to strictly wearing the characteristic black uniform of the widows practically your entire life, knowing nothing different. you kind of enjoyed this, getting dressed up in pretty dresses and heels and actually wearing jewelry for a change—would you choose silver, like natasha? or maybe gold, like yelena?

“see?” yelena sidled up next to you, a proud smirk taking over her features.

“yeah, yeah. you were right, whatever.”

natasha rose from the bed to stand behind you, resting her hands on your shoulders and brushing your hair out of your face to gaze at the three of you standing together in the mirror. a soft smile pulled at her lips. “you look beautiful, sestra.”

“yes,” yelena said. “maybe one day we will help you get ready for your own wedding.”

your own wedding. you hadn’t really thought about it, hadn’t even allowed yourself the luxury to think about it, what with your time spent in the red room and then having to save the world over the past several years taking up most of your time. but maybe marriage would be something you could finally have, now that you were free from your past and happy with stephen. “maybe,” you said wistfully.

the moment was interrupted as the telltale golden sparks of a portal materialized in front of you, announcing the presence of none other than your sorcerer boyfriend.

“knock, knock,” a familiar voice echoed from within.

“go, have fun with your lover boy,” natasha teased.

you bid your sisters farewell as you stepped through the portal to find yourself in the cozy space of stephen’s bedroom at the sanctum. you had visited a multitude of times, having familiarized yourself with the magical books lining the library’s shelves and the curious items littered throughout the establishment, hiding in dark corners and behind hollow walls. you had even become well-acquainted with wong and had developed a sort of friendship with the sorcerer during those lonely five years of the snap. somehow, you had managed to annoy him trick him into teaching you a few things about magic, just a few simple spells here and there, and it helped fill the loneliness of stephen’s absence for a while. but you were overjoyed to be together with him now, having him be the one to show you around and share his knowledge of the mystic arts with you.

“well, don’t you look dashing,” you said as you approached your boyfriend, his broad back turned to you as he adjusted his tie in the mirror.

he met your eyes in the reflection and promptly dropped his hands to his sides. “if anyone should be receiving a compliment, it should be you,” he said as he drew closer, drinking in the sight of you from head to toe. “god, you’re breathtaking, honey. let me see.” he reached for your hand and urged you to turn for him like it was your own personal fashion show. you felt silly but did as he asked, giggling nervously as you went.

you returned to your original position, facing him fully now, and the look on his face made your toes curl. “you know what, let’s not go. they won’t even notice our absence.”

you laughed at how serious he sounded. “stephen, don’t be ridiculous. christine is expecting us to be there, and it’s the least we can do. won’t it be nice to see everyone again?”

“not when i could be here alone with you instead.”

heat licked up your skin at what he was insinuating. “stop that,” you admonished lightly, pressing your hands to your warm cheeks.

his smug laugh reached your ears and you swatted at him. “let’s just go, magic man.”

you followed after stephen as he led you to your assigned pew, pulling you in close, thigh to thigh, and holding your hand in his lap.

the man on the other side of him, doctor west, who you had briefly heard stories about and learned that stephen wasn’t a big fan of his, started up conversation about the unfortunate death of his cats upon returning from the snap. stephen grimaced as the unwanted information was forced upon him and as the man continued to fill him in on everything he had missed out on, you stifled a laugh and gently nudged stephen’s arm, urging him to play nice. he peered over at you briefly and winked before returning his attention to doctor west’s tragic story, playing with your fingers distractedly as the man spoke.

the topic of discussion quickly bled into doctor west recounting stephen’s numerous achievements, being a world famous neurosurgeon - turned heroic sorcerer, winning at everything in life, “but you still didn’t get the girl,” you heard him say, not so subtly hinting at stephen’s failed relationship with christine. your stomach dropped as the conversation took an unexpected turn. while you and stephen had been together over the past year and a half since the snap was reversed, you knew of his past history with christine palmer, and however foolish it seemed, you were nervous for him to see her again. the two of you were happy together, of course, but sometimes you feared that you had been somewhat of a replacement for his former coworker and that, upon seeing her again today, he might realize that he didn’t actually like you all that much after all. you cursed the thought, knowing you were being unnecessarily insecure and entirely foolish, but you couldn’t shake the feeling.

stephen tightened his grip on your hand and your eyes jumped to meet his blue ones, open and honest and swimming with unshakable admiration. he brought your hand to his lips and kissed it gently. “you’re mistaken, doctor west,” he said, though he was still looking at you. “i did get the girl.”

your heart stuttered at his admission. you knew he loved you, obviously, but hearing him say this aloud, his love for you unmistakable in the way that he was looking at you now, erased all of your previous doubts.

stephen ignored the other man from that moment on, his attempt at politeness long gone now that he had taken a stab at offending you, whether it was on purpose or not. stephen turned his body toward you, wrapping an arm around your shoulders as if the two of you were in your own little world, protective and secure, and maybe it was also his way of announcing to the room that you were his. you felt giddy at the thought.

he kissed your temple. “don’t listen to a word he said,” stephen insisted, the deep baritone of his voice like music against the shell of your ear. “you’re my girl,” you looked up at him then, “and nothing is ever going to change that.”

“i love you,” you said suddenly.

he grinned, eyes lighting up and crinkling at the corners. “honey, you have no idea how much i love you.”

the ceremony was beautiful and elegant and everything you would hope to have one day. christine was radiating pure joy at this new milestone in her life that she was practically glowing.

everyone made their way to the reception area to socialize, and upon entering with stephen by your side, hand in hand, christine immediately welcomed you and thanked you both for coming.

congratulations and polite small talk were exchanged, but you knew the two needed some time to catch up on things. “i’m going to grab us some drinks,” you said kindly. you patted stephen’s chest as you walked by and he pressed a quick kiss to your cheek before watching you make your way across the room.

“i’m glad that you’re happy,” stephen said and he truly meant it. he and christine had been through a lot together, sure, but it was never going to work out between them, not like that. but knowing what he knew now, and how the relationship with christine led him to you and encouraged him to be better and learn from his mistakes, well, that was certainly worth it.

“i am. i really, really am,” she said, beaming.

“good.”

“are you?”

his gaze was pulled to you from across the room as you milled about, mingling and laughing with other partygoers as you ordered drinks from the open bar, your aura confident and carefree in a way that drew him in, and even if he weren’t already madly in love with you, if he had been a complete stranger having only seen you for the first time here today, he knew he still wouldn’t be able to take his eyes off you.

“i am,” he said, and there wasn’t an ounce of doubt in his tone.

“i’m glad,” christine said as she watched him watching you. “happiness looks good on you, stephen.”

stephen’s eyes were glued to you the entire time, waiting not so patiently for you to return to his side. he already missed having you near him. ever since he returned from the snap, he kept you close to him—physically and emotionally. it was definitely a challenge for him at first, what with not being very approachable or allowing people in for most of his adult life, but he knew he wanted to change that old mindset of his—for you. and you had been with him ever since.

“when are you going to ask her?”

stephen jolted slightly at christine’s sudden question, having forgotten she was standing beside him.

“ask who what?”

she nodded toward you from your place across the room, now with drinks in both hands as you moved gracefully yet swiftly in your heels, not a single drop spilling even as you were jostled from either side as distracted partygoers intercepted your path.

“oh,” he replied dumbly. stephen patted his jacket pocket self-consciously. “well, actually i have a—”

you approached the two now, your sudden appearance causing stephen to forgo completing the rest of his sentence. you offered one of the drinks to him and he pulled you in close, resting his free hand on the small of your back and releasing a comfortable sigh at having you in his arms again.

christine eyed you and stephen with a mischievous glint in her green eyes. “well, i better get going,” she said knowingly. “there are some other guests i should probably say hello to. thank you again for coming, i’m so glad you could make it.” and off she went to the next cluster of people, carrying on with the introductions and congratulations like clockwork.

“so what did you two talk about?” you asked stephen.

he took a sip of his drink and you watched his throat bob as he swallowed. “you.”

you choked. “what about me?”

…

“stephen, what about me?”

…

you leaned back enough so you could catch his eye. “stephen.”

he chuckled warmly and slid his arm further around your waist to bring you closer to him, the sound filling up your lungs and sliding through your veins. it was like his very being consumed every part of you. “nothing, honey.”

you hummed, not quite convinced. “somehow i don’t believe you.”

“somehow you’re just going to have to trust me, then,” he replied.

you eyed him suspiciously. “what aren’t you telling me, doctor strange?”

“i’ll tell you later,” he said, smirking at the use of his professional title. “for now, what do you say we ditch this place and head on home? we’ve stayed long enough.”

you rolled your eyes but agreed anyway, finally growing tired of the way your heels kept pinching your toes and making your every step a living hell. stephen pulled you off to an abandoned corner to create a portal that was far enough away from prying eyes.

“lead the way, magic man,” you said, entwining your hand with his as you stepped through the portal.

Sapnap's lovesick smile for Karl is insane

Bro's in love

this parallel is my lifeline, actually

i'm really curious on what happened to the perception of noah schnapp. why did everyone in the stranger things fandom (especially bylers!!) go from hating him and saying they'll boycott st5 because of him (and other zionist cast members), to calling him "my shaylaaa" and adoring him again?

was the palestine tag not trending long enough for you guys to at least keep up the perfomative activism for a little long to make it look convincing? the people on this tag (and app) are the biggest flakes ever

hey. does anyone want to hear about my totoro sbi au ,

too bad.

anyway techno as totoro, phil as the dad, wilbur as satsuki, and tommy as mae.

Reminder that whatever you’re writing, you shouldn’t give up because no one else can put the puzzle together the same way you can. It’s unique to you, so stop comparing yourselves to others. That completely eliminates the whole purpose. 

She's a 10, but I caught her digging out of the garbage once

all i do anymore is have a cut on my finger

#1230

i am sick of the black phone hashtag. I WANNA SEE COOL BEHIND THE SCENES PHOTOS. NOT SMUT OF THE GRABBER.