CW: Siren Tony, ND Stephen, death of family member, long chapter

~Note: Sirens in this chapter are humanoid beings who have the ability to sway emotion, thought, and physical strength through the power of their songs. They also have bird-like wings they can hide from humans, which I decided to add to pay tribute to what original sirens were.

~~~

"Stephen, if you're not busy in a couple months, can we go to Tony Stark's concert? Pleaseee? I really want to go!"

Stephen sighs, putting his book down and looking over. "Donna, I don't like concerts. They're loud. Overstimulating. There's too many lights and sounds... And people. Besides, I'm really tired from work.."
"Come on! It'll be fun! Besides, he's like, totally hot and he's such a good singer-" Donna prattles, basically jumping up and down. "I'm not going if you're just going to drool over some guy the whole time." Stephen complained.

Donna huffs. "How am I related to you? Tony Stark, world famous pop star, will be performing in OUR CITY two months from now, and you seem less excited about it than someone doing their taxes."

"Fine, whatever. I'll go. But I'm bringing my noise cancelling ear things." Stephen says. "You will? For reals‽ Promise!" Doing squeals, holding her pinky finger out. "Donna, that's a really childish way to-"

"Promise me or you're lying!" Donna interjected. Stephen sighs, linking his pinky with hers. "Alright. Fine. Pinky promise."

~~~

<4 weeks later>

" Christine?" Stephen called one day while he was at work. Christine turned to face him. "Yeah Stephe?" Stephen hesitated for a minute. ".. um... L-look I know we're not dating anymore but.. I... Have two of these and I don't know what do do with them so... Will you go with me?" He asks, holding up the concert tickets.

"You want to go to a concert?" Christine asks in disbelief. "No, I'd rather do anything else. But.. Donna gave these to me. I can't just... Throw them away.." Stephen says. "Oh.. I.. Okay, yeah, if that's what you want to do. As long as you're sure.. I mean, Stephen, that's a recent wound. It's okay if you want to take more time-"

"No, you don't understand, I.. have to. I told her I'd go, I promised. Even if she's not here anymore, I'm... I'm not gonna go back on my word. And.. Well I don't want to go alone." Stephen interrupted.

Christine looks at Stephen for a long moment. ".. Okay. Okay, I'll go with you."

~~~

On the day of the concert, Stephen was already unhappy with all the noise and people, like he thought he'd be.

"Maybe this guy is good, you never know." Christine says, trying to lighten Stephen's mood a bit. Stephen shrugged a little, looking up when the concert started.

And he won't lie, Donna wasn't wrong about this guy; he's attractive. Like, uncannily attractive. Once he started singing, most of the crowd seemed entranced or enchanted, which Stephen noticed.
He looked around at everyone- even Christine seemed spellbound. He then looked up at the singer, Tony, to see that Tony was looking directly back at him. For a moment, Tony seemed intrigued with him before looking to the rest of the crowd.

~~~

<10 years later>

"Happy, I don't know if I can do this anymore; I used to be so in control of my powers, but lately, they've been getting so out of hand that I've accidentally made 6 women and 3 men fall in love with me, I've made an entire audience cry, hell I've even made you all giddy- What the hell is happening??" Tony rants, pacing in his room.

Happy sighs softly. This is the fourth time this week Tony has brought this up. "If you're that worried, why don't you go see a specialist?" He suggests. Tony whips around to look at him.
"Specialist in what‽ It's not exactly like earth has a doctor who knows anything about 'mythical' beings like me!" He shouted anxiously. "... W-well actually-"

~~~

Tony looked at the address on the paper happy have him, then the address of the building in front of him. Seeing that it matched, he knocked on the door. Stephen answered the door, and both he and Tony stared at each other for a moment.
Without saying a word, after a moment of silence, Stephen gestured for Tony to come inside. Tony walked in, looking around a bit.

"So.. It's uh.. Tony, right? Famous singer- what are you doing here?" Stephen asked awkwardly.  "Um... I was told you're something of a witch.. or.." Tony said. "Well, sorcerer, but yes." Stephen corrected.
"And... I was also informed you were a doctor-" Tony continued. Stephen looked a little skeptical. "I was- where are you going with this?" Tony sighs, pacing for a moment. "Um... How much do you know about.. Greek Mythology..?"

"Uh-? Quite a bit? Can you please get to the point? You're confusing me." Stephen says. "Something is wrong with me, and I'm freaking out." Tony blurted. "Okay... And you can't go to.. any other doctor?" Stephen asked.
"... You are not the greatest at picking up hints, are you?" Tony asks. "No. I prefer things are said to me bluntly; minimalizes confusion." Stephen responded. Tony scoffs a little laugh, nodding for a moment. "Okay. Alright, I'll be blunt. I'm a siren, and there's something wrong with my powers."

"A siren?.. That makes a lot of sense, actually. I was wondering why the crowd was so.. collective in their swooning. Anyway-" Stephen teleported them to the library, looking around on his shelves.
Tony looked at all the books. "Woah... Quite the library here.." he said under his breath.

"Could you explain exactly what's going on to me?" Stephen asks, holding a book and looking through the pages. Tony looked over. "Um.. basically, my voice is affecting people when I don't want it to- even outside of me singing. It's like I can't control it anymore."
Stephen thought for a moment before looking up at Tony. "How are your wings doing?" He asks. Tony became confused. "Sorry, why does that have anything to do with this?"

"My theory is that you've been using so much of your magic to keep your appearance concealed, that you're becoming exhausted. Because of that, your body is focusing more on keeping your wings hidden than on you using your voice properly." Stephen explained.
"So, what, I'm some sort of dehydrated?" Tony asks. "No, it's called Magic Deficiency Syndrome. Any being who has or uses magic can get it." Stephen told him. Tony, however, wasn't having it. He crossed his arms, rolling his eyes a little. "My magic isn't deficient; I feel just fine."

Stephen took that as a challenge. "Okay. Then you won't mind if I dissipate your concealment spell?" He asked. Tony shrugged. "Go ahead." He all but challenged.
Stephen deadpans him, snapping his fingers. Immediately after, black feathered wings appeared behind Tony. As for Tony himself, he collapsed to the floor, catching himself on his hands and knees while his wings drooped beside him.

"Wh-what the hell.." he muttered, opting to lay on his back because he was too tired to move. "Believe me now?" Stephen asked, kneeling down next to Tony. "Fine, but.. how come.. I couldn't tell before..?" Tony asks.
"Because you're used to using your magic to hide your true form; it became as mundane as breathing to you. Because of that, you couldn't tell just how much energy you were using to do it." Stephen explained, taking a few feathers in his hand carefully to examine them.

Tony looked over at the wing Stephen was touching. "What're you doin..?" He mumbles. "Basically giving you a checkup. Siren wings are supposed to be somewhat sheened; yours aren't. Probably because you haven't let them in the sunlight for so long." Stephen says, taking his hand out of the feathers.
"... So what do I do about it?" Tony asked. "Rest. Give yourself time to recover. Meaning no singing, and no hiding." Stephen said. "What? C'mon man, first of all, singing is my whole career; I can't just.. stop! And even if I did, what, you expect me to go out with these giant, very noticable wings‽ People are gonna stare- maybe even try and kill me!" Tony complained.

Stephen took that into consideration, thinking to himself for a minute. "Okay. Stay here then." He offered. "No one would see you. And I know singers are allowed to take breaks, anyway. Just call your manager and let him know." He continued.
Tony sighs. "Guess I don't have much of a choice...  By the way, about that concert I saw you at.." he starts. Stephen looks at him. "How do you know I was there?" He asks.

"We made eye contact, and sirens have an incredible memory. We're like ravens. So yeah, you were there. Anyway, you didn't seem affected, which was.. different. How come?" Tony asked.
"Oh. I don't know. I mean, I was wearing earplugs." Stephen said, helping Tony onto a couch. "Earplugs? Why?" Tony asked.

"Large crowds overstimulate my senses."

~~~

Over the next few days, Stephen acted like somewhat of a caretaker to Tony, making sure he rested and all.

Only problem: Stephen is falling for Tony. And he's not sure if it's Tony's powers or not. It feels genuine, but Stephen has also never been under a love spell.

"Stephen?" Tony called, looking around for the wizard. "I'm right here, what's wrong?" Stephen asks. Tony turned around to face him. "Oh- well I was just.. wondering how much longer it would take before I'm better?"
"Oh, well, how are you feeling?" Stephen asked, shifting a little. Tony noticed the movement, and watched Stephen a little more closely. "Well, still a little tired; I wanna sleep all the time. Is that bad?" He asks.

Stephen didn't like making eye contact, so Tony didn't take the lack of it as anything unusual. "It means you're still healing. Anything else you needed?"
Tony looks at him for a moment. "Yeah, actually. You've been acting weird recently, are you okay?" He asks. Stephen's cheeks turned slightly pink. "Weird how? One could argue I'm always weird."

"Well I'm not talking about your neurological differences, I'm talking about how you've been around me lately." Tony clarified. "Wait hang on," he continued before Stephen could respond. "Do you like me?"

Stephen blushed more, biting his lip slightly. Tony's smirk wasn't helping the situation, either. "Oh my god, you do!" Tony teased. Stephen huffs softly. "You're a siren, isn't that like an affect you have on people-?" He deflected.
"Sometimes, when I want it to be. But you're not under my love spell, Stephen." Tony said. Stephen took a minute before responding. "How do you know-?"

Tony rolls his eyes slightly. "Because, even when my powers weren't fully in control, I could still tell if I had someone under a spell. You, Stephen, are not. Soooo, if you like me, that means you actually like me." Stephen's face was red at this point, and all he could manage to say was, "Oh."

Tony paced a little for a moment. ".. I'm actually kinda happy about that." He says. Stephen looks up at him. "Happy that I like you? Why?" He asks.
"Because, Stephen, nobody ever likes me because of me. It's always either because I'm famous, or because I accidentally put them in a love spell. But you.. you just like me. And it's kinda nice." Tony explained.

"I.. heh.. That's nice to say. But honestly what chance would I even-" Stephen started to ramble, very flustered. Tony cut him off, holding up his hand. "More of a chance than you might think." He says, looking at Stephen. "I'm not.. exactly taken, you know."

Stephen got more flustered, putting his hands on his cheeks. He was internally panicked; he's never dealt with this before. "W-well um- would you- would you even want to-?" He stuttered.
"Sure. I mean, you're gonna have to get used to me being a singer but, yeah. I'd make time for you. Hell, if we were dating, you'd be my first concern." Tony said.

"I would?" Stephen asked. Tony looked a little surprised by Stephen's question. "Yes. Being together would mean commiting to you, ergo meaning you're top priority." He said.

"W-well... I mean if you- well I would like- if you're-" Stephen was struggling to find the right words to say. Tony chuckled softly. "A simple 'yes' will do." He says.

"... Yes."