Killing Monsters in the Rain

[_wristcutshow_]

“Can we talk alone?” Steve asked, looking from Tony to Natasha. He took another step forwards, and Natasha raised both of her hands in obvious threat.

“No. Let me. I can do this.” Tony nodded sharply. “But stay close, in case he tries to eat me.”

“I’m not going to eat you.” Steve muttered while Jan choked on something that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

“Will everything be alright Steven?” Thor rumbled.

“It will.”

“It will?” Tony echoed.

“Tony?” Pietro asked.

“Collect the parts of my engine, I dropped them somewhere.”

“I am not searching this stupid forest for your engine parts.”

“I will assist friend of Steve’s bonded,” Thor said while Pietro have him a suspicious look.

Steve could sense Natasha lurking on the edge of his senses but chose to ignore her, focusing instead on the man in front of him. Given a chance to look at it properly, the armour shone mutely but unlike any colour he had ever seen before. The edges shone like gold but it looked stronger and harder than gold.

“Your amour is amazing.” Steve began, a little lamely.

Tony laughed at him, looking a little hysterical around the edges. “It’s certainly one of a kind. I created all the alloys myself. This isn’t about my armour is it?”

“No, but you look terrified of me,” Steve admitted softly.

“I’m not scared of anything.” Tony replied with a painful twist of his lips. “Except, explain again this bonding thing. All I got was me, you, sharing lives.”

“How have you never heard about this?” Steve took a tentative step closer, Tony didn’t look like he was about to lash out with his sword but he’d already proved himself to be more than an adept mage. “What pack are you from?”

“I’ve never been a wolf.” Tony hedged frowning.

“But it’s what you are.” Steve’s eyebrows drew together. “You’re a wolf.”

“I’m Tony.” He said instead. “Just Tony. Well, not just Tony. I’m a Lord of the Courts, and a genius too. I was born a werewolf but I don’t let it bother me.”

“Bother you? You’re a wolf Tony.” Steve wasn’t grasping the concept.

“No. I’m an engineer.” Tony snarled at him.

He was so close, close enough that he could smell the wave of pheromones that were pouring off of Tony, could almost taste the metallic sharpness on the back of his throat. Steve pressed his face against the helmet, the metal was warm against his skin. Tony’s body was begging him for this, to glut in eachother’s body until they very souls aligned and they shared scents.

“I don’t. I’m not-this is wrong.”

It took effort to pull away, to stop himself from licking the sweat gathered along the edge of his facial hair.

“Nothing has been right since I woke up,” Steve confessed, ignoring the soft questioning sound that Tony made. “Nothing but this. So I’m going to follow you.”

“You don’t even know me.” Tony replied.

“Doesn’t matter to wolves.” Steve didn’t care, not when he was high on bonding pheromones and Tony was right there.

“Sure as hell matters to men.”

This was an argument that should happen. Tony was the weirdest wolf that Steve had ever met. Instead he shut him up with a kiss. It was like a stream joining a river, being washed away by the sensation of it, of joining something so much bigger than he was. It was like coming home to his pack, running under the moonlight with Bucky and Peggy.

“I’m apparently already consorting with a Blood Mage, I can’t bring in another werewolf--there would be chaos,” Tony said, but he didn’t let go, holding Steve in an awkward sprawl against his chest.

“You don’t strike me as the kind of man to let that stop you.”

Tony quirked a small painful smile at him.

--

Tony wasn’t panicking. He was too smart to be panicking. Still, it was near thing. Steve was literally prowling around him, never straying far as they walked through the forest. He was calming and terrifying in equal measure.

Priorities.

Find the engine. It could be re-built. Get home, the armour had taken damage in the battle with the wolves, his left leg was moving slower because there was an issue with the joint mechanism. Find some way to appease Fury.

“Stark.”

Seriously, how had he not noticed that Natasha was some kind of super ninja mage? It was so obvious. Red hair. Green eyes. Evil.

“Natasha, I had somehow expected you to leave me here.” He gave her a fake smile.

“My orders were to protect you- you just had to make it difficult.” She was filthy and bruised and well Tony could agree with that. He’d been hurt before all the fighting, now he was running on nervous energy and determination.

“You know me, couldn’t resist crash landing in the dangerous werewolf infested forest. It seemed like such a good idea at the time.”

Natasha glared at him. Steve was standing to their left, silent and watching. It still made Tony nervous, the way his senses seemed to periodically fixate on Steve until he was drowning, overwhelmed by the way his pulse echoed behind Tony’s eyes, or the taste of his scent on the air. It would take everything to pull away from that, something was trying to pull him in and it would be so easy to just give in.

“We’ve missed the audience with the emperor by now.” Tony tilted his head to look up at the canopy of foliage like he could figure out the time that way.

“We have.” Natasha agreed. “It will be dark soon.”

“Many spirits run in the forest at night.” Steve rumbled. “The Blood Mage is not welcome at camp, but you and the Elf may come.”

You would have never seen the way that Natasha stiffened had you not been staring at her face. She nodded sharply. “I can take care of myself.”

“No.” Tony said, he knew a little something about being ashamed of something you couldn’t change. “They are animals, what if they decide to eat me? I need you.” Steve said something low and irritated under his breath but Tony didn’t care. “Just because of some war that was big and great? The world has moved on, Natasha is hardly about to lead you to war against the Kingdom.”

Steve’s face was tight and angry, lips pulled back from his teeth aggressively. He looked like an animal wearing a man’s skin.

“Don’t talk about it like that. You weren’t there.” He bit out.

“And you were?” Tony snapped back.

“I was.”

Well that was an unexpected tension breaker.

Steve proceeded to tell him a story so fantastic that Tony wouldn’t have believed him if it wasn’t for the stupidly earnest look in Steve’s bright blue eyes. If he was telling the truth it would take some serious magic to freeze someone for that long, and to keep him alive as well. Who could manage that? That was some super serious mojo.

Well, Steve’s ‘Great Spirit’ certainly had a sense of humour, Tony was only a wolf by the strictest sense of the word while Steve was what? Unstuck in time? What the odd couple they made.

Would make.

Not thinking about it. Very carefully not thinking about it. That way madness lies. Madness shaped like wolves and monsters and the things his father told him lurked in the shows under his bed when he was a child.

While they spoke night had fallen. The eerie silence was broken by Natasha setting a small bush on fire. Tony jumped, gritting his teeth at her while she just quirked her lips at him.

“Fire to keep the monsters away.” Natasha said slowly.

“A bit late for that.” Tony muttered. “We’re surrounded, boxed in on all sides.”

He hadn’t meant it quite like that, but even as he said it Hank and his girl materialized out of the woods. Still, it was amazing timing and foreboding enough.

“Why are you here?” The girl asked.

“Fell out of the sky.” Tony laughed, “I actually fell out of the sky. Landed in the werewolf forest. That’s it.” Brilliant. Of course, he was brilliant, he was a genius. “We’re already here, we’ll find out why the wolves are attacking, stop them, and maybe Fury won’t destroy my life. I mean we’re already here right? They’re here too, it’s like destiny.”

Tony carefully watched everyone’s reactions. Natasha looked furious for a moment, Tony didn’t trust her as far as he could throw her, she might be invested in keeping him alive for now but there was a difference between alive and living. She was Fury’s pawn in the end.

Steve, Jan and Hank all looked some form of shock, which was harder to tell on Jan and Hank’s wolf forms but it was in the tightness in their shoulders and the rise in Jan’s eyebrows. On Steve it was all in the set of his jaw, which also showed his anger pretty well.

Steve was all tight ready to spring and Tony shifted his weight to a lighter stance. Oh big boy, he was so ready to go. He could use a little something to work the tension out. It would be a lot easier to hit him than to deal with the electric thing that hung between them trying to seduce him away from rational thought.

“We didn’t attack anyone- going near the human villages means instant exile and we found Scott. He would have never attacked any villages.” Jan snapped at him, words low and snarled. The fur along her brow ridge was standing up.

“He also wouldn’t have attacked us.” Hank replied. Of course he had attacked them.

“I know that magic,” Natasha said softly after a long considering pause, “but he’s supposed to be dead. The creature reeked of Dr. Doom.”

“The Blood Mage found in Lord Richards’ court?” Tony mused. He liked Lord Richards. His wife and her brother were as stunning as they were deadly, and Richards himself seemed oblivious to the fact that Tony was a werewolf, even if his mountain of an assistant wouldn’t let Tony forget it. He was also possibly the only person in all of York who was smarter than Tony.

Once exposed as a blood mage practicing human sacrifice Dr. Doom had taken Sue, Lady Richards, and tried to use her as a shield to escape. The rumour was that she filleted him, from chin to groin. Tony had been a little in love with her ever since.

“The creature was made of the blackest magic, forbidden arts.” Thor rumbled, joining the conversation and their little huddle around the fire light. “I believe it to be related to the disturbance in the forest.”

“So, not werewolves attacking villages,” Pietro added, dropping Tony’s sack of parts on the forest floor non-too gently.

“Nope, if you trust their word anyways.” Tony said fake-cheerfully. “So then, Dr. Doom is somewhere in the forest?”

“Verily,” Thor rumbled.

“Then I say we pay him a visit and ask him to kindly stop making monsters that kill people.” Tony said and Pietro shrugged, Natasha was quiet for a long moment.

“Fury would be pleased with his head.” She said at last.

“You might even get a promotion out of it, considering you’re going to need it- you’re still fired.” He titled his chin at her and she gave him a tight frown.

“I will assist, I do not like to see the forest spirits unhappy.” Thor said slowly. “If this Dr. Doom is using the dark arts he must be stopped.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” Hank said at the same time Jan said, “If Thor’s in we’re in.” They looked at each other for a long moment, silently battling wills.

Steve stared hard at Tony, “I’ll go where you go.” Like it was that easy to a choice to make. Tony looked away. He was still very carefully not thinking about anything involving bonding and wolves and Steve’s huge blue eyes and clean fresh smell.

“We’re going. This is our forest and we need to help.” Jan said finally and Hank looked uncomfortable but didn’t argue with her assertion.

Hank and Jan devolved into wordless little arguments, Jan biting at Hank’s muzzle while he ducked his head. Tony watched them, and they did smell like each other. Not the way that two things that brushed up against each other smelled, like she’d taken the core essence of her scent and mixed it into his. They smelled like each other and still distinct.

Was that what his body was doing when he breathed too deeply Steve filling the air around him, taking parts of him inside?

Tony turned away from where Steve was speaking low and fast to Thor, crouching down instead by the bag of parts. He hadn’t had time to look at what was recovered very closely yet. He needed to know which parts held up best under the stress of crashing if he was going to re-build.

He lost himself in the task, squinting and using the glow from his fingers to look at the minute detail on the surface better.

“Will you take the armour off?” Steve asked softly. Pietro was patrolling the forest, as was Hank, Tony figured even if Natasha looked like she was sleeping she would somehow still be listening. He’d been hoping Steve had gone to sleep. Thor and Jan were curled together in a way that seemed a little too close, but Hank didn’t seem to notice and Steve didn’t seem to find odd and maybe it was just one of those whacky werewolf things.

Tony laughed, “No.” Not a chance.

“You, really don’t trust me?” Steve ticked his head like this was perplexing. He’d stripped down to the tunic and light under armour as if being so underdressed in the forest was nothing to him. Of course he could also turn into a huge bipedal werewolf at whim, so really not so much an exposure thing.

“I don’t even know you,” Tony said blandly. Steve reacted like Tony hit him. It wasn’t Steve really, Tony didn’t trust easily, nor did he take kindly to a loss of control no matter how chiselled the jaw-line. “To you this is some mystical marriage ceremony, to me this is an attack.”

Steve was quiet for a long time after that and Tony tried his hardest to lose himself in the parts of the engine again. Only it was a puzzle he’d solved before he could tell exactly where it fractured; and he could fix it with magic, but he wanted a prototype isolated from magic (the Emperor didn’t trust the Circle as far as he could throw them-after one mage revolt brought the kingdom to its knees, no one messed around these days). Again, it would run face first into the problem of being too heavy to fly if he re-enforced it.

“I’m not going to apologize,” Steve said long after Tony had begun to think he was done speaking. “But I can’t force you to accept me.” There wasn’t anything he could say to that so he just stayed stubbornly silent. “But I can’t leave you either.”

“I’m not going to stay in the forest you know.” Might as well get that out in the open, wounds that fester and everything potentially necrotic between the two of them. Least of all their relationship problems, quote-unquote.

“I’ll go where you go.” Again he said it like this was a non-thing like he wasn’t devoting himself suddenly to a stranger.

There was that earnest face again, like Steve hadn’t lived through the bloodiest parts of the war and watched people could do to each other. Tony looked sideways at him. The fire-light lit everything in bright orange. Tony believed him in a ‘well, shit’ sort of way.

Tony didn’t pull away when Steve leaned in, his face getting bigger and bigger until it eclipsed the forest. He would have moved but whatever Steve smelled like was flooding his senses until Steve had simply eclipsed the entire world. Tony sort of expected the kiss to be earth-shattering. Maybe it was, but what as a press of lips when all he could hear in his head was the calming rush of blood through Steve’s heart, he could hear the wet catch of Steve’s breath in his mouth.

Kissing was only a tiny drop in the wide stream of sensations. That was, of course, until Steve licked at his parted lips. Taste exploded, strong enough that Tony wanted to flinch away from it and dive in for more at the same time. Rain water and the sharp sting of frost, leaves and grass and life.

Tony couldn’t help the sound he made, shoving in for more. He wasn’t kissing Steve so much as trying to lick the taste of him right out of his mouth. Steve was gripping his face between his hands, trying to pull Tony closer.

“Your armour is in the way.” Steve moaned against his lips.

Tony snapped out of it when Steve’s fingers touched the dented thigh plate, looking for a way to get it off.

“Stop, no.” Tony hissed, shoving Steve away and pulling his wits around him and fighting against the way heat burned inside his stomach, inside his lungs. He needed something, couldn’t say what but he needed something more. Tony bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood. Steve whimpered, tilting his head forward like he wanted more. “No.” Tony said softly, and not nearly as sharply as he meant.

“Down, boys.” Natasha growled from where she was curled up near the fire, a tiny ball of shadows and red hair. “Sleep.”

Tony scowled at Steve, then at Natasha for good measure.

“You heard the lady.” Steve said softly, staring at him with those huge blue eyes and flushed cheeks.

“Natasha is no lady.” Tony replied tartly, letting each word roll in her direction.

Tony fumbled for the gear he had dropped and put it back in the sack with the others. Sleep right. He could sleep. Tony didn’t think he could, not with the way he was buzzing.

Oddly he was wrong.

--

“Seriously, the cutest thing I have ever seen.” Jan teased him. Steve tried to scowl but he couldn’t quite manage it. He’d woken up curled around Tony, pressing his face against Tony’s cheek, the only bare skin. “I’m really happy for you.”

“Thanks,” Steve flushed- this morning he’d put the armour back on because he hoped it might make Tony feel better. Steve would have felt better in his fur, the world was always sharper and more real when he was in his fur. Jan at least understood what this meant. He wondered if Tony ever let himself run around in his wolf form.

In the morning, while Pietro had been cooking some rabbits that Thor brought back, and both Hank and Thor had come over, pressing their muzzles against his shoulder in wordless happiness. Only Tony didn’t look happy about this development. Steve was beginning to think he didn’t like the forest much with the way he was scowling as they walked.

Thor was out in front, ranging ahead. He could feel the currents of the forest better than the rest of them and was trying to find the source.

“I thought Scott had left to find the other packs in the far forests.” Jan said quietly. “He was the runt of his family.”

“Magic is not something to be played with.” Steve said gravely. “All strong magic comes with a price. Natasha has bonded her soul to a demon, if it ever wins it will take over her body and turn her into an abomination.”

“Without magic, you’d be dead.” Jan replied simply.

Steve hadn’t given voice to his fears, as if saying things out loud would make it more true. “I think I was supposed to be the price. Zemo was almost dead, I think he meant for someone to find him quickly, only no one came. When you broke into the sanctuary, he must have escaped somehow.”

“Heavy mojo,” Tony agreed, from up ahead where he was trying hard to look like he wasn’t listening. Jan gave him a small, wicked smile. Steve shook his head with a small smile of his own.

Thor howled, the sound piercing in the daylight and echoing across the forest in Thor’s booming shouts. He’d found something, excitement and bloodlust curling in his howl. Steve’s head snapped up listening to the echo. The only thing he could imagine would make Thor sound that joyful was danger.

Steve rushed ahead, pulling the shield from his back and getting ready for battle.

“It’s a bear.” Natasha said, eyes filmy black with the demon that raged against captivity inside of her. The creature looked like the last one they fought; only it towered up with the trees huge and all-consuming.

“Same plan as last time?” Tony shouted. Jan jumped at it.

Same plan it was.

Of course it didn’t work so well the second time, probably because the thing was monstrous. It eventually went down between Steve and Thor, pinning it to the ground while Tony, landed out of nowhere on its head, sword driven into the back of its neck and a mumbled ‘needs a sword in the face.’

Steve stared at the blank face plate where Tony’s eyes should be. Pride welled fierce in his chest. The first kill with the pack was symbolic of their fledgling bond.

“Good job,” He managed around the dryness in his throat. He meant it - during the fight he kept trying to keep Tony away from the creature; he had been moving slower all day and favourite his right side and Steve didn’t want him hurt. Tony had been having none of that, rushing the thing like he had a death wish.

“Thanks? Let’s keep moving; with luck, this thing was a guard.”

“Abominations,” Natasha spit.

Pietro scowled at it fiercely. There was a story there; the Elf wasn’t a mage but clearly shared their sympathies.

Tony smelled like a wolf, but he didn’t move like a wolf or act like a wolf. Steve wondered how he would look in his animal form (would he be dark like his hair?), or even what he looked like under all the armour. He watched Tony move, too loud and too obvious to be a hunter. Maybe when they found this Dr. Doom character Tony would take him back to his home and they could finish the bond. Tony had to realize that Steve wasn’t able to leave him, he would follow him back to the city and beyond if the need arose.

The odd little group picked up the pace, Thor was certain that they were getting closer to the anomaly, pushing himself as he ran.

Dr. Doom’s house was huge, a rambling wooden affair. As they closed in on the grounds he could smell traces of blood and rot on the air. It was soaked into the very earth, pungent enough to blur all the other scents. Even the sunlight didn’t want to touch it, the light only highlighting the jagged edges of broken wood panelling and gutted windows. The double doors in front hung open like a gaping mouth.

“He’s in there?”

“Something is around here,” Thor growled low in his throat.

“What should we do?” Jan looked to Steve, as did Thor, Steve looked at Tony.

“We’ve got to cover the whole place.” Tony stared hard at it, or Steve assumed he was it was impossible to tell much from the armours blank facade. “Split up and work inwards. Hank and Jan, inside left, Natasha and Thor, right side. Pietro cover the front and be ready to react--you’re the fastest. Steve and I will circle around to the back.”

“You heard him.” Steve said, because Jan was getting ready to respond eyebrows drawn together in a scowl.

“Yes.” She relented.

“Be careful,” Hank warned, “this place smells evil.” A lot like death and bad intentions.

Steve took the left side, circling around where the forest was pushing back against the land that had been cleared to build the house. Bushes and saplings were all but pressed against the walls, greedy to reunite with their dead.

There was nothing interesting, more blank windows, some with glass most without. He half expected more abominations to come reaching out of the darkness for him bring him back to pain and ice. Every sense was tingling, screaming that something wasn’t right. Where it had been a faint impression before he could feel the forest’s anger now, trees screaming completely silently, almost overwhelming.

The side opened into a back garden almost as large as the house itself. The trees were kept at bay by stone walls, ivy and moss slowly creeping across the stone. Details that he had to fixate on lest he stare at the mess that was at the centre it all. Rot was pungent in the air, the sticky sweet smell of bad meat clogged the inside of his nose, seeping into his lungs until he could almost taste it.

Body parts were strewn around like discarded toys, arms here a leg there. No heads, impossible t tell how many people everything was covered in a sticky sheen of drying gore that made it impossible to differentiate one hunk of flesh from the next.

Steve could only stare in horror. At the epicentre of the mess was a man in a long green cloak. “I wasn’t expecting guests,” He said, voice muffled behind a metal mask. “Still, you will make a fine addition to my army.” From inside the house howls began to rise, Hank followed by Thor. “Your friends won’t be so lucky. They will be torn limb from limb by my pets.”

“Victor, how are the burns?” Tony stood on the other corner, and his voice carried sharp and obscenely cheerful across. “The kingdom thinks you’re dead. You never write.”

“Lord Stark, consorting with wild wolves now? Everyone knew you’d snap one day.”

“It appears so. And what have you been doing out here all alone in the forest all these years? It doesn’t look like you’ve taken up needle point.”

“I’m re-kindling the war, what does it look like I’m doing?” Steve grit his teeth snapping a growl in his throat. War helped no one in the long run. “Entire villages could go missing before and everyone would just blame it on the wolves. You should thank me-- I’m giving you back your teeth.”

“Don’t hold your breath.” Tony replied easily.

Steve didn’t know if he should laugh or not- it was sort of cruel to taunt your enemy and if it wasn’t for the muffled skip of Tony’s heart he would think he was every bit as blasé as he was pretending to be.

Inexplicably and completely inappropriately, Steve was charmed.

The flare of magic was so strong and sudden it made the air in his lungs burn and he threw himself to the side on instinct just before lightening crashed to the ground, concussive shock hitting exposed the exposed skin of his face. Steve rolled to his feet holding the shield up in a protective stance. The pale grass where he had been standing was smouldering in a vivid blast radius.

“Now that wasn’t very nice.” Tony said, his palms together, everything flaring blue for a moment as he called on the mix of force and lightening that Steve was beginning to realize was his go-to attack.

Steve threw back his head and howled, a wordless vocalization of ‘danger’ and ‘be careful’. He didn’t have time to stop and listen for a response Dr. Doom had summoned a large spider with a flick of his fingers and together they were rushing Tony.

Steve jumped and landed on the spider as it scuttled, shoving it into the ground as Tony crashed into Doom with the sound of metal hitting metal ringing loud in the air. The spider was at least up to his thighs, distended body covered in a thick almost-fur, the longer hairs tickling his knees as he tried to grapple it to the ground. It screamed, trying to twist its legs back to throw him off. Steve grabbed it around the joints of the legs, digging his fingers in to the cuticle and letting his claws grow.

It had taken him years to master this, trapping himself half-way between states. The open helmet allowed his muzzle to grow out and the loose fit of his armour accounted for the changing angles of joints. He hadn’t wanted to do this, just the remembered agony of waking up, of thinking he was trapped between states forever.

Still, he was faster this way, stronger. He needed the advantage.

Steve dug his claws into the spider’s joints, pushing through the hardened skin and into the stickiness inside. It burned under his claws, mild acid trying to eat away at his skin while it screeched, mouth parts clacking together desperately. He couldn’t hold on any longer, hands screaming with pain. Steve rode the next buck, letting it toss him off. He rolled through the grass, already looking for the shield he dropped.

It caught the sun and shone dull just off to his left.

“Move,” Tony yelled and Steve reacted to the command before he could think about it, pushing himself backwards as a sword spun through the air, slicing past where he had been and embedded in the wall with enough force to sink the blade in deep.

Tony was without weapon now, relying on his magic. Steve couldn’t afford to keep an eye on him, the spider spit something globby and white at him, Steve dodged but caught the end of it on his boot. All his forward momentum stopped, pulling him back like a rubber band and Steve pin-wheeled for a long breathless moment, just barely holding onto the edge of balance before he hit the ground hard. All the air whooshed out of him and he didn’t have the time to get it back because while he’d been startled by the webbing that stuck him to the ground. The spider limped as fast as its damaged joints could pull it, and jumped on top of him.

Steve snarled and snapped his teeth back at it, pulling at the one arm that wasn’t pinned next to his body and hitting it hard right in the mass of eyes. It spit all over his throat, the same mildly stinging acid and Steve shouted, pain sizzling fast and bright. Everything went pale blue for a moment, wrapping around the rounded body of the spider and lifting it high off Steve’s chest. His eyes burned and watered from the fumes of the acid, but he watched it’s legs twitch and flail looking for a purchase where there was nothing but magic.

It cut off suddenly, the sound of metal hitting something solid ringing too loud, Steve rocked himself forward, pushing the webbing sticking his feet to the ground the other way so that the spider landed stunned on the ground, legs curling protectively over its stomach. Not that it helped, Steve didn’t have his shield, but he had claws. He tore at its stomach, vicious with cold intent even as its blood bit his hands raw.

Tony was down, crumpled against the wall where Doom had thrown him while he’d been distracted lifting the spider off of Steve, and Steve was going to tear them all apart andthen Tony for being such a massive idiot.

Steve pulled hard until his ankle hurt with the strain he was putting on it, shoving his claws into the webbing until it gave. He jumped, rolling over the steaming body of the spider to where his shield was. Tony was stirring instead of playing dead and Dr. Doom was standing over him, face impossible to read behind his metal mask, but the hand raised was an obvious sign.

Heart in his throat, Steve threw the shield even as he was moving. He’d never prayed his aim was true before, always just knew the path of his shield like he knew his own hands but in that moment he prayed. Hoped it would be fast enough, straight enough. It flew just past Doom startling him into turning, hit the wall hard enough for the sound to be audible like the beat of a gong and bounced perfectly so that it hit him right in the centre of his back shoving him forward with the force of it.

Steve was going to follow through but Pietro literally melted out of thin air, mid-way from a jump from the top of the wall Steve had to assume.

He landed soundlessly on Doom’s back teeth bared and didn’t hesitate to drive his knife down, going for a kill shot. Just as the knife was going to hit its mark Dr. Doom exploded with energy. Pietro’s aim would have been true, inside it sank into the meat of his shoulder instead of straight through his heart.

Pietro jumped off just as Tony hit him with another blast, this one was all force and it threw Dr. Doom half way across the yard.

“Give it up,” Tony called out, getting to his feet. The suit was dented and Steve could smell fresh blood.

“I am a master of the dark arts,” Dr. Doom boomed, raising his arms into the air and calling a misty white wind to his palms. Steve couldn’t tell what it was made of but it made his blood shiver cold. He’d had enough of earth shattering magic to last a life-time.

Flames wrapped around it, racing down invisible lines to his outstretched arms.

Natasha was standing in one of the blown out windows, arms out and haloed in demon-fire. “Victor,” she said, voice soft and somehow echoing across the garden. “Those are forbidden spells for a reason.”

“Magic cannot be limited, cannot be contained,” he replied, widening his stance, the white mist pushing back against the fire. The whole thing twisted in the air, hissing and spitting and crackling as they fought for control of it.

The doors burst open and Jan came flying through, hunched over to run on all four legs for maximum speed, Hank was right on her tail.

“This is not the last of me you will see,” Dr. Doom proclaimed before the white mist vanished. He turned and flew, vaulting over the wall, green cape trailing behind him. Steve would have followed, but Thor roared, coming tumbling out with one of those dark shadow creatures.

Four more followed the tussle through the broken doorway. Steve bared his teeth at them, feeling the skin of the acid burns stretch and ache.

“Sorry, we brought the fun with us.” Jan panted. Hank was covered in shallow gashes and he was breathing hard.

“Dr. Doom is going to get away,” Pietro said sharply, but his knives were raised, held even with the enemy.

“Do what you want.” Tony replied, kicking the edge of Steve’s shield so it flipped up into his hands. He tossed it towards Steve almost carelessly and Steve caught it by the rim as it spin end over end through the air. Pietro shrugged absently.

“Might as well kill these.”

Natasha crawled down the wall, sliding along the cracks until she dropped, completing the loose circle they had formed around the creatures. She did this wordlessly, already burning and ready to fight. Thor pulled himself to his feet standing huge in the middle of their circle. “The abominations will pay in blood.”

--

Tony pretended to listen to Fury. He was good at that, looking an acceptable mix between bland and interested because if Tony treated people like a game, he could win everything it kept life with that sharp edge of interest, after all if it was a game he could win.

Fury had arrived at his house shortly after they crashed through the door in a mess of leaves and mud. Probably because of the procession they made through the main street. Somewhere along the way back Tony had found his sack again, and dragged it all the way back with grim determination. He was obviously limping now. Natasha was scruffy, hair devolved into a bird’s nest and face covered in soot and dirt. Pietro didn’t look any better off- scowling at people and stomping his feet loudly with each step. Steve was still all red from the burns and covered in spider-goo and blood.

Pepper had put up a valiant fight but Tony had agreed to speak with Fury.

Tony Stark was a brilliant man, and he was well aware that the armour was half as much psychological defence as it was physical defence. He was a wolf, he could heal faster than humans could. Short of decapitation, little was going to stop him but the armour made him feel safe.

“You missed the meeting,” Fury started. He was sitting in Tony’s sitting room sipping from a cup of tea Jarvis must have brought for him.

“There was a minor glitch,” Tony said, tipping his head like they were talking about the rain and not the fact that his prototype blew up landing them in the woods and he was sort-of-married to a werewolf time-traveller now. One problem at a time. “You know what? You should probably ask Natasha about that, rumour is you two are tight.”

“Oh?” Fury’s mouth tightened, it had to sting to have his little inside lady exposed for what she was (and yes, she’d saved Tony’s life a number of times but that was what he paid her to do, that and balance the accounts with Pepper so he was going to overlook that for a little).

“The prototype isn’t going to be ready again, not for another two months.” Tony said firmly.

“You don’t have that kind of time.”

“I do. The prototype is going to be ready in two months. Because we found the werewolves, talked to them, and solved everything without rekindling a war. No one else has to die.”

“And what did you say to make them stop?”

“It wasn’t them, it was Dr. Doom’s abomination experiments.” Obviously.

Fury simply looked at him, staring like he could see through him, “Victor Doom is dead.”

“Not so much these days.”

Fury scowled at him but Tony couldn’t be bothered to care, he was tired and sore and filthy. Under the suit it felt grimy and thick with sweat and the heat of bruises. He had to admit it was a slightly ludicrous story, and he left the bit out about being mated to Steve because what he didn’t need was another public vulnerability.

Tony wrapped the narrative up succinctly. “And then I came home, and I would really like a bath.”

“One month Stark.” Fury rolled his shoulders with a sharp smile that said that Tony may have won this battle but neither of them would ever concede the war. “It’s good to see you didn’t die in a burning ball of fire.”

“Right back at you.”

Tony wasn’t going to waste any more time.

Well except for Steve. Tony wasn’t sure if he went in the time wasting category. Certainly not, not when Tony was so tired and Steve smelled so good. Even under the slightly rancid scent of old sweat and blood Steve smelled amazing. Thick against Tony’s tongue.

“You’re doing that thing again.”

“What thing?” Steve murmured. He was down to a loose tunic stained with unidentified splotches looking decidedly out of place in Tony’s chic minimalist house. Had his shoulders always been that broad and his waist always that narrow? Tony let his gaze flow up across the strong lines of his legs, back up to his face.

“That thing where you’re so,” pause for Tony to find a word and give up the search, “there and it’s hard to focus on other things.”

“That’s not me, that’s you.” Steve rumbled. He wanted to protest that, it couldn’t be him when this was something he never asked for. Something he didn’t need. Wanted to protest that he didn’t want this, not really. But it was getting so hard to keep fighting it constantly.

Tony was a little breathless, like Steve was making a home in his lungs, that smell of him filling up all the space and Tony couldn’t find it in him to miss it. Oh later he would be furious that this thing was taking his control. Right now Steve’s hand was curving over the still-dented hip of the armour.

“I was about to go clean off.” Tony grinned at him. “Come with me?” If he was stuck with Steve he could at least be smart enough to take advantage of the fringe benefits. They could fight about it tomorrow. In fact Tony was going to have Pepper pencil it into his diary. After lunch, negotiate with Steve.

Steve’s fingers tightened, barely a pressure pulling Tony closer, his cheeks flushing fetchingly. “I’ve wanted to get you out of that armour.”

“Now is your chance.”

Jarvis. Jarvis was a miracle. The bath was steaming faintly the waters swirling with the faintly scented oils that Tony liked (just because the city stank of shit and humanity didn’t mean that Tony had too).

“How does it work?” Steve sprawled across the tiled floor watching him, his limbs were in a lazy sprawl but his eyes were focused and intent on Tony. “I’ve never seen anything like your armour before.”

“Not surprising, you’re not exactly up to date on current affairs. Of course no one has armour like mine either so it wouldn’t make a difference. I made the alloys myself nothing like it exists in all of York. The design is lighter than the usual mail too, specified to my magic specifically. It would take too long to explain the mechanics behind the whole thing.”

“I’m suitably impressed.” Steve said slowly and later Tony would be irritated that he wasn’t making the face people normally did when they beheld the power and grace of his armour. The fasteners were coated with the grime of their jaunt through the woods and his fingers slipped over them. He wasn’t as graceful as he could have been, exhausted and barely standing. Still, Tony Stark was a sight to behold when he was getting undressed.

It was made of many smaller pieces, it kept the tensile strength high and the weight low. Tony just normally needed a certain amount of time to get into it.

“Looks complicated.” Steve’s eyes were thick and dark as if just this was enough to get him hot.

“Unimaginably so.” Tony replied easily. The shoulder guards buckled under his arms, catches just hidden by the lines of his breast plate. He twisted around lifting his arm so he could snag both the catches, wiggling he managed to unlatch it, after the second one it was easier. The breastplate hid most of the other straps, and the shoulder guards held the breast plate in place.

Tony peeled off the thin under-armour, it would need to be burned. He couldn’t even tell by looking what was bruise, soot or mud his skin mottled here and there.

“You going to get in with me?” Tony said. His skin was heating up again and Steve’s hands on him would feel even better.

“Can I wash you?”

Tony shrugged. He wasn’t ready to fight this whole bonded thing right now, tomorrow yes because things don’t happen easy not if they mean something.

Tony slid into the bath with a hiss while Steve kneeled over the edge watching him. Curious fingers touched his shoulder rubbing until the soot washed away leaving just his pale skin. The hot water felt like a dream, and Steve was pressing in close making a needy noise in his throat. He was half over the edge getting his shirt all damp as he pressed his mouth against Tony’s. He wasn’t doing a very good job of washing.

It was like in the woods all over again, every sense slowly spiralling inward until everything was obliterated, just gone and replaced by the need to try and lick Steve everywhere. They were making a mess of the floor, Tony pushing up against Steve water spilling over the edge as Steve tried to wrestle him closer.

“Fuck.” Tony whispered, biting at Steve’s mouth. “How is this happening?”

“You want it.” Steve kissed the corner of his mouth, and then a sloppy line across his cheek, tracing the line of his beard with his nose. “The wolf wants it.”

Tony was having trouble arguing with that.

He found a towel, and only because Steve wouldn’t let him leave the bathing chamber without it. Tony wrapped himself in the linen loosely, he was already more interested in the way that Steve’s hands could fit around his hips. There were a million uses for a man with hands like that, and not all of them involved using him as a prop for welding (a few of them did).

So many things to think about later, the fact that they looked like idiots stumbling down the hall, refusing to let go longer than needed and getting tangled in ways ruthless hunters really shouldn’t be. Tony was soaked, and Steve was all damp, pulling him closer, harder, needing more. He bit off words that made no sense against Tony’s neck. Steve’s back hit a wall, and Tony used that to pin him there with hands wrapped around his elbows. Tony nibbled on the edge of his exposed shoulder, nosing aside his shirt and Steve’s skin tasted just like it smelled. He was faintly disturbed about the urge to just roll in it.

“Your house it too big.” Steve mumbled, arching his neck so that Tony could hide his whole face there and just breathe.

“Over-compensating.” Tony mumbled around a little smile.

They were kissing again before he could make a proper joke out of it, Steve’s tongue pressing into his mouth and Tony let him take both of their weight. Steve was built all over, one long line of solid muscle, god, why hadn’t that been Tony’s thing before? It was hot, amazingly so. He couldn’t stop wiggling, rubbing himself against his hip like an over-eager teen and delighting in the way that Steve’s dick was pressing into his stomach.

“Seems fine to me.”

“Mm?”

Steve’s hands swept down the line of his back, rough against the smoother skin there. Tony yelped when Steve managed to dislodge the towel, clutching at it and hitting Tony with his shoulder which caused him to stumble, pulling on the towel more.

Tony tried not to laugh, but it was ridiculous. Steve just gave him a sheepish little grin. “Probably find somewhere to lie down.”

“I’ve got a bed. It’s great.” Tony agreed shamelessly.

Steve moaned wordlessly and Tony figured now would be a good time to lead the charge.

Tony’s bedroom was cavernous and sparse, a place to rest his eyes between being the madcap sessions of invention and the slick public life of being a Lord of the house Stark. Now it was a place to shove Steve down hard on the bed. He kicked the towel away, Steve’s hands felt better on his skin, catching at his nape where it was still damp, the other resting scandalously low on his back.

“You should wear less.” Tony mumbled, dragging his chest along the rough scrape of Steve’s clothes. He did it again, moaning against Steve’s mouth.

“Need to get off me first.” That would be logical but Tony didn’t want to move, he could rub his cock against the smooth stretch of Steve where his shirt had ridden up. He could feel the slick catch of dry skin against the slick cockhead each a tiny jolt of pleasure.

Everything went sideways, he wasn’t entirely sure how it happened only that one moment he’d been on top of Steve and more than willing to rut against his stomach and leave him a sticky mess. Steve had him on his back, blinking up at him and the sudden 180 that the world decided on. Tony huffed out a hollow laugh. Christ.

Steve reared back, pulling his shirt over his head and letting it drop off the edge of the bed. Tony touched his abs a little reverently; people just weren’t made that way. Tony wasn’t even sure wolves were built that way or if it was something in the water each muscle was shaded in sharp relief and perfect. Steve let him touch, chin resting against his chest and just watching Tony watch Steve. The trousers did little to hide the sharp rise of his cock and Tony palmed the weight of it, feeling out the edges with his fingers and feeling his mouth flood with saliva.

“Come on.”

Steve needed to scramble off of him for a moment to tangle with the ties holding his trousers on. Tony used the moment to roll off the bed. He had some, there. The vial of oil was slick and would be perfect because Tony desperately wanted.

“You’re perfect.” He hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but Steve really was, strong thighs a tight narrow waist and dick curving towards his stomach as if in invitation. Steve made a soft embarrassed sound, crawling towards Tony.

Tony met him half way, and he had to concede that Steve had a point this was so much better now that he was rubbing shamelessly skin against skin. The feeling was heady, cloying. Tony kissed Steve, barely stopping to breathe as Steve tried to press him into the bed all weight and bulk. “Want to fuck me?” Tony mumbled into the kiss, “or I could do you.” Never pass up a good time.

“Yes.” Steve hissed, drawing out the sibilant so that it tickled against Tony’s mouth. Tony wrapped his legs around Steve’s waist, pulling him in closer as to obliterate the last sliver of space between them.

“Here.” Tony opened the vial and let the oil spill thick all over his hands. He tangled their fingers together getting Steve’s hand all wet and messy.

The first press of a wet finger made his breath catch. Steve didn’t waste time, pushing Tony to his limits like he knew exactly where they were, as if he was aiming for that perfect spot where the burn of being stretched made everything go sharp and perfect. Tony sobbed something against Steve’s shoulder, biting his teeth in on instinct.

Steve swore a fervent oath, face flushed and mouth swollen and red from Tony’s less than gentle kisses. Tony grabbed at Steve’s dick getting it nice and slick while Steve’s eyes went unfocused, clumsy fingers pushing sharp and deep inside and Tony moaned kicking Steve in the back at the sudden stab of pleasure.

It was almost a game, Steve pushed another finger inside of him and Tony would moan, rolling Steve’s balls between his fingers. Desperately trying to one-up each other at every turn and resulting only in pushing each other faster and harder.

“Now.” Nownownownow. Tony chanted under his breath digging his fingers into Steve’s shoulders.

“Yeah, okay. Good. Roll over.”

Tony rolled onto his front lifting himself onto his hands and knees, head between his forearms. Steve’s hands swept across his sides, down to where he was already slick and more than ready, Tony mumbling empty threats against the sheets if he didn’t do something now. Steve’s thumb pressed against the rim, sinking inside him just a little and Tony snarled wordlessly.

“Fuck you.”

Steve just made a sound caught somewhere between a laugh and a huff. Then he was pushing inside and Tony’s whole world was rearranging, everything falling away but the stretch of his ass around Steve’s cock and the prevailing smell of sex in the air. In and in, fuck, Tony could feel the thickness of it with each breath trying to shatter him apart. Steve’s chest pressed against his back where he could feel the thunder of his heart and the rasp of his breathing like Steve was barely holding himself together too.

Then Steve was moving, one hand curled around the inside of his thigh to pull him back into it and the other on his hip to hold him steady and Tony was going to come apart. The thick drag out and the shove back in. He whined, just breathing through it. It seemed impossible to be fucked like this, so perfect that Tony could only make wordless pleas for more, harder, so greedy for the slick push.

Steve wasn’t gentle with him (Tony might have hurt him if he was), setting a fast and almost brutal pace. Tony arched his back and tried to snap his hips back into it. Steve wrapped a hand, just a shade too dry, around his dick and Tony was gone, humping into it and back on Steve’s cock. He moaned loudly into the sheets.

He came so hard that it made everything blank for a moment, one long daze stretch of time spreading out endlessly until it snapped like a rope pulled too taut. Steve was still fucking him, making him shiver with the shock of it drawing out each wave of pleasure as he shot all over the sheets groaning deep and wordlessly.

Steve just held him up when Tony’s knees left like rubber, holding him right where he wanted him, nails biting into his skin. Tony whined, trying to push back against the hold to help but he felt wrung out and still floating on the aftermath of a really good orgasm. Steve was making these amazing little sounds, chewed off words and half growls.

He pushed in deep holding there; deep enough that Tony moaned, feeling it echo inside. Steve held him steady, moaning shamelessly, and it seemed to go on and on, little jerks of his hips.

Tony began to feel tight, hot and stretched and he started. “What-“ He tried to pull away but Steve snarled, pushed him down into the bed and pinned him down with his weight while Tony struggled. “What the hell?”

“It’s normal.” Steve said between grit teeth against Tony’s hair.

He was so full he ached with it, it felt like Steve was getting bigger, stretching out his ass with his dick. “Not fucking normal.” Tony hissed, pressing his eyes closed tight. He breathed shallow through it and it felt so weirdgoodmoreyesnofuck.

“It’s part of bonding, now please be quiet.” Steve was nosing at the back of his neck panting quick and high making these little whining sounds.

Tony pushed his face into the bedding and just breathed until he didn’t feel like he was going to shatter any more. He still felt so full, but he was also Tony Stark so he curled his toes into the bedding and carefully tightened up around it. Like fireworks going off behind his eyes. Steve let out a pathetic almost-tortured sound. Tony did it again and Steve was digging his teeth into the meat of Tony’s shoulder shivering and whining.

“Tony.” He whimpered and Tony smirked to himself.

They stayed like that, pressed together so close it seemed impossible they would ever separate again.

Eventually Steve was able to calm down enough that they could move and Tony winced as he rolled onto his side. He was going to need another bath; his thighs were a slick mess he was so sloppy covered in oil and Steve’s come. Steve was going to have to carry him back to the bath. He mumbled as much and Steve pressed a kiss against his temple. “Still not going to apologize.”

“I don’t want you to apologize, I want you to clean up your mess.” Tony huffed.

Steve pushed a finger inside him loose and sloppy- Tony groaned trying to resist the urge to spread his legs like a whore. It sparked along his nervous system hitting him in the stomach.

“Fuck.” Tony breathed and Steve drew with a smug little smile.

Well, he might not like it, but he could certainly get used to it.

--

Steve ran through the woods, fast and hard pushing his body until his lungs burned and all the muscles in his legs ached. It felt good to be free.

Steve threw back his head and howled. It carried far out into the dusk. He knew the neighbours could probably hear it carried on the wind. It scared them and Steve couldn’t find it in himself to feel bad about it. He was beginning to see why Tony was the way he was, everyone was so scared all the time. So fragile and human, Steve spent a lot of time just trying to be nice enough to make up for the fact that he was a werewolf.

Over the forest another voice answered him, the deep rumbling howl of Thor. Steve smiled to himself.

He liked Tony’s new home. It was a sprawling estate right on the edge of Manhattan almost half eaten by the East River forest where Steve could run and Tony could hide in his basement building dreams out of magic and metal.

“Steven it is good to see you well.” Thor’s golden fur glowed in the dying daylight.

“How is everything?” Hank had come to see him once looking nervous about being that close to so many people. It was taboo in the village but Thor was a creature from a far flung place and Steve was a man out of place (he knew his place now and if Tony wouldn’t move to the forest well at least he moved the forest to Steve).

“Troubled.” Thor frowned. “I was investigating the ruins where you were discovered, there were traces of new magic, dark magic.”

Steve frowned. He’d been half expecting something like this for some time now.

“My brother is troubled and I believe he has found this Zemo of yours, I fear that no good can come of this.” Thor stared at a tree looking impossibly sad for a moment.

Steve smiled sharply. He had some unfinished business with Zemo.

“I’ll get Tony, we’ll meet you at the ruins?”

“I knew we could count on you Steven, Jan and Hank are already there.” Thor clapped him on the shoulder.