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[starkingenuity]

Tony had planned to run for a very, very long time. After his parents had died and he was no longer under their protection to skip annual screenings, he had started to make plans to leave. The trouble was, having a silver spoon in your mouth at all times made the thought of leave the known world pretty awful and Tony, a creature of comfort by then, did not want to leave his home and his riches and his toys.

Uncle Obi shared his secret and together they kept the Stark Empire afloat. Tony was rich enough to pay off the yearly census. For awhile at least.

But that was before the Chitauri came and did what no one in the world thought was even possible in the days before they attempted to take over. They released bombs to kill Guides, specifically. Just like that, millions of Guides around the world perished.

If it hadn't been for the Iron Man armor, he would have died as well.

He'd only just met Steve Rogers, one of his father's friends during World War II, for mere moments before the hellicarier went to hell. He'd seen the way the Captain had looked at him, had smelled the air... It would have been impossible for a Sentinel to have known what he was outside of heat, but Steve was not just a Sentinel. And Tony knew he was in trouble even while he fought alongside the Captain.

Was it any wonder that Tony Stark was mysteriously gone before Loki was even captured or taken back to Asgard?

Comments

[starkingenuity]

Dodging out of the way wasn't much of a possibility, but Tony did still move back until his skin was against the shockingly cold tile.

"You'll have to keep me in restraints then," Tony growled, which was not something usual for a Guide. "That will just end up killing me too. Maybe not as quick as a glass shard to my throat will, but it'll still do the trick."

He'd be dead inside.

"You've done this before. Other Guides. Other people. And they consented? Try fucking asking me, Rogers! I'm not going to say yes. Not right now. Maybe not ever. But you'd do a better job of convincing me with words instead of actions. I sweat to god if you touch me again I will tear the reactor from my chest and you can watch me die like a gold fish flopping around on the floor."

Not idea. Tony wasn't ready to give up but if this was meant to be a partnership, they were going to have to make this dynamic more equal.

[starspangledspandex]

He advanced until once more, he had Tony trapped up against the wall. His hands were placed on either side of his head. Steve could be terrifying if he wanted to be.

"What's the point in asking if I know the answer?" he demanded. He was angry. He never expected Tony Stark to threaten to kill himself so quickly. It effectively removed his ability to do any of the things he wanted.

His teeth ground together and he added, "Suppose I do put up with this nonsense. am I supposed to do in the meantime? There are no Guides for me to play with. I don't think you understand that I need this."

[starkingenuity]

"Need? Cap, you don't need this. You want this and you're too lazy to change that." Tony didn't back down, not that he could, but he didn't shrink away against the tile. He wouldn't let himself be terrified of his...

Of his Sentinel.

It sucked that the term meant something.

Tony put his hand to the perfect chest of the man he was stuck with for the rest of his life. Steve did this to him without permission but there was no reason to harp on that now.

He took a very long, very deep breath.

"Are you willing to compromise?"

[starspangledspandex]

"You don't understand," he said again, because Tony wasn't getting the picture. It was like an addiction. It clawed at him. Ate him him. Demanded he satisfy it. This wasn't the sort of addiction that was possible to break. Thanks to the serum, it was engrained in his bones. "You'll feel it when it really starts. Maybe then, you'll see my side."

He looked skeptical now. This wasn't how this was supposed to go. His Guide was supposed to be his pet. His plaything. Locked up safe from everyone but the Sentinel.

However, he didn't want it over before it started. There weren't enough Guides left he could sacrifice any to his pain lust.

"Depends on the compromise."

[starkingenuity]

Tony shook his head. He'll feel it? Maybe. If Steve had some sick and twisted desires, it was obvious that they would bleed through the bond eventually. But that wasn't how Tony was going to live his life. He was not going to be some pet. He was not going to be locked away.

"You're going to treat me like a human being. You will stop when I tell you to stop and you're not going to stop me from being able to tell you."

He knew Steve would protest so he got on with it.

"And I'll...submit. When you have an urge. I'll let you do what you need to and I will let it go on as long as I can stand it. I'll go with you on missions. I won't try to hurt myself. And you will trust me not to keep me tied up for days on end. If I want to leave, you'll let me leave. On the condition that I will always come back when I say I will."

Tony sort of hated himself for all this.

"Now...you're going to kiss me. And you're going to help me shower and make sure I'm not too hurt...and then we're going to try a few things you want to do."

[starspangledspandex]

In all fairness to Steve, he had planned to let Tony have his freedoms once the man had started cooperating with him a little more. This is not at all how he had intended this to go.

He does open his mouth to protest but says nothing when Tony continues. He quietly weighs everything in his head. Pros. Cons. Whether this will work longterm and he's not sure, but it might work for now.

"And if I have plans your beautiful mouth?" he asks, because how does that work then? The last thing he wants is teeth sunk into him. He had written it off entirely without a gag of some kind but if Tony cooperates? Hm.

Steve still isn't sure. He doesn't trust the world to leave his Guide alone. It is a compromise for a reason. "Once things calm down, I will let you leave. The world isn't safe for Guides right now, particularly on the East Coast."

How had this gone from him in charge? To Tony? However, if the man will willingly give him what he needs? Steve is willing to try. There's more fun to be had that way.

"Otherwise, I agree."

[starkingenuity]

"You know I literally came packaged in a suit of armor right?" Tony kept his eyes on Steve's. He didn't shy away because...it was nice. He looked up at Steve, Steve looked back at him and there was that feeling of connection again.

It helped that he ignored the plans for your beautiful mouth idiocy. He wasn't looking forward to that, and he was not going to pretend that he was.

But...he did want to be kissed. Steve had let that part of the whole bonding thing go. They had yet to do that and Tony needed the small affections. Steve seemed to forget that too.

He obviously didn't know anything about being bonded.

"You can't treat me like you own me. If you want to pretend and play at it? Okay fine. In here, you can pretend. But anywhere else, I'm my own person. I'm not going to be part of a BDSM round the clock lifestyle. Got it?"

[starspangledspandex]

"The one I dismantled and incapacitated?" Steve asked, wondering how that was supposed to reassure him. Also, it was kind of a mess right now in case Tony forgot. Sure had SHIELD tools but that didn't mean other Sentinels couldn't do it.

He didn't know a single thing about being bonded. These weren't the things the military taught their super soldier. They showed him how to be violent, they fed his dark urges and that was it. He really didn't know how to be anything but a soldier.

"I do own you," he grumbled, because he was serious about the paper. Tony must have missed that part of the news or maybe didn't he realize just what Guide registration meant. Either way.

As often as Tony referenced it, Steve's first goal was going to be to research BDSM when they were finished today. His jaw worked silently for a moment. He wasn't completely thrilled with this.

"I want to be able to touch you whenever I want," Steve liked to fondle Tony. It was fun. It would more fun if he interrupted the man for it. A little groping here and there couldn't possibly kill him. It was an easy way for Steve to feel like he was in charge.

[starkingenuity]

"You've met me. You know my dad. You know I can fix that armor and you know that when I do, no one will be able to take it down the way you did again." Go on. Challenge him.

Tony was back in his element. He wasn't sure if he had control, but he felt like he was back in the boardroom. He liked sparring verbally. He was good at it.

"You have paper on it but you don't own me. I own myself. If you believe otherwise, you're going to come upon me laying in my own blood one day." Yes, he would always use that...always. Steve was not getting off. Sorry Steve. But...to make it softer... "You can touch me whenever you want. You're my Sentinel now. You need to be able to rely on me just like I have to be able to rely on you. And if you really want me to be your Guide...you're going to have to do it softly before we figure out what, exactly, you can warm me up to with all of those hooks and straps hanging around that bedroom."

[starspangledspandex]

Both of those things were true. He did know Tony and Howard. He knew exactly how intelligent the man he was pinning to his shower was and it was working more in his Guide's favor than his.

Steve didn't like Tony threats. It was the one thing he really feared, especially now there was a shortage. They said he would survive it but they never said what kind of life that might be.

He scowled and then said, "In public, you will follow whatever laws they put in place. I won't have you arrested or taken from me because you think you're above them."

Steve wasn't sure Tony quite understood the touching that he meant but well, he wasn't going to argue with free reign. The one thing Tony didn't need to worry about was whether he could count on Steve. He would fight to the death to protect his Guide.

"I have a temper," he said, like Tony didn't already know that. "I will hurt you, sometimes on accident, but definitely on purpose. I can't change that."

[starkingenuity]

It was good that they were talking about this. "You're going to have to let me see the new bylaws," Tony muttered. "I don't want to be arrested either." But he didn't like this new system. And he was going to fight it. A bunch of lawless Sentinels shouldn't get to take America back to the way it was two hundred years ago when Guides had no rights at all.

Tony exhaled through his nose thoughtfully.

"Listen to me carefully, Captain. I can not live with your temper. If you hurt me to the point where you need to call in a doctor--" Something beyond what went into play here, that was, "our agreement will be over. You obviously aren't feeling the effects of what it's like to be bonded but I am. I... All I want right now is to be kissed and held and touched gently. By you. And I hate you all the more for this because you can't give me the one thing I need."

He snorted and held his hand up between them.

"Do we agree to all the terms now?"

[starspangledspandex]

"I will request a full copy of the laws," he agreed and he still didn't like that he didn't feel like he was in charge here. Tony was holding all the cards and it made him angry.

He growled, unhappy with the ultimatum. This was not going how he intended. It wasn't like he could just will it away. They did try fixing it first and when it was clear they couldn't, they fed it instead.

Steve raised his hand and took Tony's, shaking on it. Whether he could keep his word was another thing entirely. He didn't care that Tony hated him. He expected it after forcibly bonding him.

"Maybe you should create a list of things you are willing to try," Steve added, because he couldn't work with nothing. "Positions I can be rough with you in. Toys you will play with, that kind of thing. Then I will have some idea what you will tolerate."

In the meantime, however, "I intended to wash you."

[starkingenuity]

A list? That was actually a good idea. He was going to make a comment about Steve not being so bad after all when he went right into...

"I really don't believe that you're this cold," Tony said, ducking under Steve's arm (who would have thought that possible!?) and stepping out of the shower.

He was still bruised and grimy and his hair was sticking up in all sorts of weird ways.

"I've asked you twice to kiss me. Do you know how to do that? Or so I have to put that on the list?"

[starspangledspandex]

Hold your horses, Tony. Just have a little bit of patience, Steve was just trying to get everything in line here. Yes, he heard the requests for a kiss but he wasn't ready to give them yet.

He sighed heavily, letting the man escape out of the shower and he turns to look at him.

"I know how to kiss," he scowled. "I just wanted to finish our conversation so there weren't anymore interruptions."

[starkingenuity]

"Remember that stuff that you need? Well-- I need this. It's itchy-- I don't know. The bond isn't the way it should be."

That was because they needed to cement it better. Tony didn't want to think too hard about that. He knew what it meant and he didn't like it.

But he did need it. And he might even want it now.

[starspangledspandex]

It made sense the bond didn't feel right. Tony fought Steve up until the bite and he was pretty sure the man didn't really accept it mentally. It was to be expected from a forced bonding. They were still linked together enough that it would have saved the Sentinel which was all he wanted.

See? They both needed something. Maybe this would work out. Maybe.

Steve crossed over to Tony and bent enough to press their lips together. It was smooth and sweet. All the things that the man demanded. He listened, even if he wasn't happy. He would rather shove him up against the wall and force his tongue in his mouth, but he would do this if it meant getting what he needed.

[starkingenuity]

Yes. Good. Sweetness. That was exactly what tony needed and the way he suddenly pressed up against Steve and tangled his fingers in the shaggy bits of blond proved it.

It was in a Guide's nature to be yielding when happy and this did make Tony happy. It was closer to what it should be with s bond. If Steve wanted to do a little shoving, Tony was far more willing now than he had been before.

[starspangledspandex]

The response he received from the kiss was good. He liked feeling his Guide pressed up against him. There wasn't any question there. Tony was still covered in his bruises and smelled like him so the Sentinel was mostly content.

He just couldn't help but twist them so he was pressing Tony's back to the wall beside them. It was probably rougher than necessary but it just felt too good to pass it up. He kept the kiss even as a compromise. It was a start. Teaching him new tricks might not be impossible but they would certainly be fighting his nature. Steve found it was just easier to give into it. Otherwise it always lurked in the back of his mind.

His hands wandered as he kissed the man, dipping into his curves and sliding near sensitive areas. The Sentinel liked to touch.

[starkingenuity]

Tony had mentioned already that he wanted to be touched. Not to be hurt. This was the comfort he had needed after that forced, rough bonding. He could take the little shove against the wall (it was exhilarating) and he could take some of the rougher kisses (those were actually exciting).

Compromise indeed. Maybe they could both learn. Steve ultimately wouldn't want a Guide who hated him and tony couldn't live with a Sentinel who couldn't care for him.

Steve was so much taller than he was that Tony couldn't do much but wrap his arms around him and hold on.

It hadn't taken much to make the Guide pliant. He wouldn't fight the shower or the examination so much now.

[starspangledspandex]

He finally broke the kiss, blue eyes a little wild as he eyed his Guide and then turned toward the shower. "Come on."

They both needed one and he really did intend to wash the man off. It would require plenty of suds, a soft towel and even more touching. The water from the jets was warm when he turned it on and surely Tony could appreciate the 360 degree jets? Spacious shower. Of course, there were no shortage of things in here to play with either but Steve didn't intend to use any of them today.

"Let's get you cleaned up."

[starkingenuity]

Okay. Yes. The shower was nice. And Tony didn't protest at all when Steve ran his hands over him to first slough off sweat and semen from his skin. He didn't protest being sudsed up. He turned to press his hands against the wall do Steve could clean his hair and massage the ache from his back--

He didn't tell the blond no at all from the shower back to the nest, save to stop him from climbing back in.

"Give me five minutes to fix this," Tony said, giving Steve a little treat of getting to watch his Guide build something he would get to use.

It wasn't too romantic, their start, but the next wave of heat was affecting Tony due to Steve's care.

[starspangledspandex]

He did everything he could to show Tony that he listened. There wasn't any reason for the man to hurt himself. Steve didn't know how it was going to go when he really needed to hurt something but for now, this would do. The only thing he did that Tony probably wasn't thrilled about was check for blood and tearing, his fingers exploring carefully just to double check. It was necessary. Tony would have to deal with it.

Steve stopped, waiting and watching as his Guide fixed the nest. There were more supplies in the chest at the foot of the bed if he needed them. He had done his best.

His nostrils flared, smelling Tony and his oncoming heat. He was impatient. He couldn't help it. As much as he liked Tony building the nest, he also just wanted to get on with it. Five minutes was a long time. When it looked like the man was just fussing, he asked, "Are you finished?"

[starkingenuity]

He didn't find that he minded the check in the shower. It was uncomfortable but he was glad to know that he wasn't torn. And Steve had been careful and mindful... He might have been all right with all of it if it had been like this.

Back at the nest, though, he senses Steve's impatience through the bond.

"Let me do this the right way," he muttered. He was not stalling, he was just weaving blankets together until he felt comfortable to crawl inside.

He leaned back against one wall, arm stretched out over it.

"All right. It'll do."

[starspangledspandex]

The Sentinel knew that Guides built nests so they were comfortable. He read all about it while he was trying to figure out how to build one himself. It was instinct for them and he knew well enough about struggling to fight it. So he just watched Tony and organized the water and supplies again while he worked.

Finally!

Steve didn't waste any time at all crawling back into the nest. His hands immediately reached for his Guide, sliding up the outside of the man's thigh and pausing to squeeze his ass. Tony really was perfect. If Tony had any qualms about how things went previously, now would be a good time to bring them up. Otherwise, he was going to get more of the same.

[starkingenuity]

Fighting this would be like fighting the desire to have a proper nest. He could feel this working up through his body and in his blood and Steve alone could cool that heat now.

Everyone just assumed that Sentinels were more sexually aggressive but that wasn't entirely true. Guides set them off, like lighting a fuse. As Steve manhandled him, Tony grabbed his chin and tried to reiterate how important kissing and tasting were. At least right now. He'd be annoyed at himself later he was sure.