Archive of Our Own

Tony’s heart was beating wildly in his chest, ready to escape away from his ribcage at any second. Adrenaline pumped into his veins. He was prepared to tear down the house, this stupidly ancient-looking house in the middle of Greenwich Village—what kind of ridiculous house was that, anyway? The new ARC reactor hummed over his sternum, ready to deploy his suit. Yet, Tony was more than willing to take out his claws and his fangs, and shred to a million pieces the asshole who dared to touch his pup, his Peter.

“Friday?” he asked softly.

“I can’t read any signals coming from the house. But based on my calculations, Peter should indeed be in there,” she confirmed.

That was all Tony needed.

The first surprise happened when the doors simply opened themselves to Tony when he was ready to basically destroy them to get to Peter. As weird as it was, Tony was too full of fury and anxiety to notice.

The second surprise was Peter himself. Tony fully expected to find his sweet little pup—not so little now, he had to remind himself—chained and beaten up, locked in a silver cage, incapacitated and traumatized. Instead, Peter was sitting on what seemed to be a comfortable sofa, wrapped in a thick blanket, with a freaking juice box in his hands.

“Oh, hey Mr. Stark!” he said, all smiles when he noticed Tony in the entryway. “What you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? Are you kidding me? I came to save you! You just disappeared, I was worried sick!”

“Stephen saved me!” the kid blurted out, all too happy.

Who the fuck was Stephen?

Well, it didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that Peter was safe. Tony was on him in an instant, checking for any injury. The kid seemed fine. The only proof of trouble was the little bandaid on his forehead, but who knew what that cover might be hiding from Tony’s view. Good thing was he didn’t detect any distressing pheromone, except his own.

Good.

A deep and sultry voice interrupted Tony’s frantic checking of Peter.

“Well, well, Peter. You didn’t tell me you were from Tony Stark’s pack.”

Tony’s head whipped up. There was a man, coming from the shadows of that stupidly ancient mansion. A tall, deliciously looking man, with perfectly styled dark hair, sharp cheekbones, and mesmerizing eyes. He held two cups in his hands. With his heightened sense of smell, Tony could pick up the scent of spiced tea and hot cocoa—who the fuck drank tea instead of coffee? That was a criminal offense if Tony could say so.

And then, he picked up another scent entirely. A disturbing, appalling scent.

Death.

Or rather, undeath.

Vampire.

In a primal, animal instinct, Tony was on his feet in a second, positioning himself between the bloodsucker and Peter. A menacing growl escaped him. The other simply smiled, revealing a sharp fang, behind his full lips.

“Wait, no, Mr. Stark! Don’t hurt him,” Peter said suddenly, trying to free himself from the tightly wrapped blanket around him. “This is Stephen. He helped me. Don’t hurt him, please.”

Did the bloodsucker bewitch Peter with his weird vampire’s power? There was no way his pup was friends with a vampire.

“Who are you?” Tony growled.

“Didn’t you hear the pup? I’m Stephen.” The vampire smirked.

“He’s a doctor,” the kid added with too much enthusiasm. “He patched me up.”

“Not that your extraordinary abilities couldn’t have taken care of that,” the vampire said and he handed the cup of cocoa to the kid.

Tony snatched it before Peter could drink from it, and sniffed it. The vampire sighed loudly.

“I’m not trying to poison him,” he said.

Tony doubted that. And one couldn’t ever be too careful with these night creatures.

“How do you even know how to make food and drinks, you bloodsucker?”

The vampire—Tony refused to call him by a name as innocuous as Stephen, never let your guard down around a vampire—arched an eyebrow.

“An insult, really?” he drawled. “After I just saved your pup? You should work on your manners, Stark.”

“Fuck you!”

The other eyebrow rose on the vampire’s forehead.

“Is that an invitation?” he said in his deep, deep, voice.

Was that flirting? Ew, these creatures really were disgusting! Tony would never.

“No, it was not.”

“Too bad,” he heard the vampire mutter.

Tony suppressed a shudder. A werewolf and a vampire? Ew! That wouldn’t happen in a million years. This bloodsucker was weird.

After another careful sniff over the mug of cocoa, he handed it back to Peter.

“It’s okay.”

“Of course, it’s okay. Stephen’s my friend,” Peter beamed, sipping at his drink happily.

“Yeah, as if,” Tony scoffed. But Stephen didn’t contradict him and simply sat on a big armchair near the sofa Peter and Tony were in, nursing his own cup of tea.

“Coffee?” he offered to Tony.

As suspicious as the guy was in Tony’s eyes, he had helped his pup, offered him a beverage without trying to poison him or turn him into a fucking undead. Tony could at least accept a cup of coffee.

“Sure.”

And that was how Tony met Dr. Stephen Strange.

After the Peter incident, they developed an odd relationship. They were not allies, mind you. Definitely not friends, thank you very much. But as peculiar as it sounded, Peter was quite fond of the guy (he called Stephen his new undead best friend, but Tony doubted it was really true for the vampire). And Tony, ever the protective mentor, had to keep an eye on them.

And so, they occasionally met. For a cup of coffee (Tony brought his own after that first time, because, yeah, the vampire could brew a cup of tea and cocoa without trying to poison them, but his cooking skills were truly atrocious). For a post patrol movie night. For Peter’s homework (Stephen was actually a doctor, even though Tony scoffed when he first heard it, and knew a lot about biology. He strangely liked to help Peter get better grades).

They weren’t friends, no. But Stephen wasn’t so bad.

For a vampire.

When the doors to the Sanctum Sanctorum (what a weird name for an even weirder place, it was fitting) opened for Tony, he didn’t notice, so used to it, by now. Stephen wasn’t his friend. That was a lie he told himself and his pack. If they ever heard he was friends with a vampire, they would never let him hear the end of it.

But no, they weren’t friends. So that wasn’t a problem. Right?

“Hey, Doc. You there?” Tony called into the silence of the Sanctum Sanctorum.

No answer.

Tony shrugged and wandered around for a moment, before climbing the grand staircase to the upper levels, where he knew he would probably find Stephen, meditating—or doing something else as stupidly boring. Yeah, no, they absolutely weren’t friends. It was just luck that he perfectly knew Stephen’s habits.

“You in there, Doc?” Tony called when he got to the relics room.

A shiver ran through him at all the dangerously exposed (and more often than not deadly) ancient relics. He could practically smell the scent of threat and power in this room.

Fortunately, Stephen wasn’t in there. Tony continued his exploration.

“I know you’re home,” Tony said, almost sure Stephen could hear him from wherever he was hiding in his haunted manor. “Your house wouldn’t have let me come in otherwise.”

Another flight of stairs.

“Anyway,” he went on. “You know how you sometimes say werewolves are dumb? Well, guess what? You’re right. And Rogers is the dumbest of them all. I probably shouldn’t say that about my pack Alpha, but damn, I just can’t help it.”

Once Tony started complaining, he couldn’t be stopped.

“It’s not that he is dumb, per se. But we butt heads on every fucking thing. It’s unbearable and…”

He trailed off. He had reached a corridor he was almost certain led to private rooms (Stephen’s room, and no, his heart didn’t flutter imagining Stephen’s bedroom). But he stopped.

There was blood.

On the floor.

In a long and harrowing trail, leading to a door left ajar.

“Stephen!”

Tony didn’t think. Claws and fangs out, suit at the ready, he ran to the room and pushed the door open. The stench of blood permeated the air, clogging his lungs. He barely registered it, too focused on the prone and wounded form of Stephen, curled up on the bed covers.

“Stephen!”

He rushed to the vampire, his heart beating wildly in his chest, sick with worry. Yeah, there was no way he could hide the fact he cared about this stupidly handsome bloodsucker (and that wasn’t even an insult anymore).

He cared way too much.

“Stephen?” he cried out. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Forgetting he was actually dealing with a vampire, a creature of the night with fangs and deadly powers, Tony reached for him. Careful, he put a hand on Stephen’s shoulder. He felt a shudder under his palm, heard a sharp and painful hiss.

“Get out,” Stephen groaned between clenched teeth.

Tony could detect the threat under Stephen’s words, yet he didn’t budge.

“Are you hurt?” he asked.

“Yes,” Stephen grumbled with another pained hiss. “That’s why you shouldn’t be here. Get out.”

“What? No. I’m not leaving you. What happened? What can I do?”

One moment, Stephen’s form trembled on the bed, fragile and bloodied. The next, he was up and on Tony. With a strength that even Tony’s werewolf capacities couldn’t counter, Stephen pinned him to the wall, holding his wrists up above his head with one hand, the other tightening on Tony’s chin. Angling his face and neck just right. Just so he could aim for his jugular.

His whole body trembling, Stephen stopped. His fangs grazed Tony’s skin, not enough to draw blood (yet) but just enough so that Tony could feel the sting.

“What you can do,” Stephen articulated slowly, “is leave before I go feral, drain you of your blood and kill you.”

A hiss and the vampire’s fangs hike up higher on Tony’s neck. He shuddered.

But he didn’t move.

“Are you deaf?” Stephen hissed.

“No.”

“Why aren’t you leaving?”

Tony didn’t hesitate.

“You need blood,” he said. “Take it.”

A groan.

“Don’t tempt me.”

“I am tempting you. Take my blood. You obviously need it and I’m strong enough to endure your bite. Take it.”

Truth be told, Tony didn’t know if his body would survive a vampire’s bite. In theory, it could. But even with all his self-destructive tendencies, he never tested that theory. Well. There was a first for everything.

Stephen pressed closer to him, and Tony shivered again.

“I could kill you,” the vampire said.

“I trust you.”

“Why? Because we’re friends?” Stephen spat out. “Get over yourself, Stark! We barely know each other.”

“Well, first, ouch. I really thought we were friends,” Tony said, deflecting with humor before turning serious again. “Second, I trust you because you still haven’t bitten me. You can control yourself.”

A pained whimper escaped Stephen’s lips. Tony could feel a wet tongue on his neck, and this time, when he shuddered, he wasn’t sure it was from fear.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

Stephen slumped against Tony, barely able to hold himself. He really needed this.

“You won’t,” Tony reassured—how fucked up his life had to be that he was the one to reassure the vampire about to bite him? “Come on, you idiot. Bite me.”

Stephen growled and suddenly pain exploded in Tony’s neck, a blinding fire in his vein, a suffering like nothing he experienced before. It only lasted a second. Then the piercing pain decreased to a dull throb in his nape. The burn subsided to a warmth spreading all over his body.

Tony felt hot and unexpectedly turned on. Stephen’s frame pressed deliciously against him and he could feel all the hard muscles and perfect skin. His cock throbbed in the confines of his pants, and he felt a little light-headed.

“Stephen,” he whimpered. “Please.”

Was he asking Stephen to stop? To keep going? He didn’t know.

Stephen’s answering growled reverberated through Tony’s skin, his blood, his entire body. His cock, the traitor, twitched in interest.

“Stephen.”

The grip on his wrists loosened, freeing his hands, and Tony almost fell. He was too weak, too hot, too mesmerized by what was happening. At the last second, he caught himself, flinging his arms around Stephen’s neck to stay upright. His fingers dug into Stephen’s shoulder blades.

In the haze of pleasure and blood loss, Tony realized how intimate their position was. Their bodies intertwined, their hands gripping at each other’s clothes—and the fleeting thought that it would have been so much better if they had been naked crossed his mind—, Stephen’s lips on his neck, their blood mixing, their life force mingling.

He never wanted to leave Stephen’s embrace. Was it bad to fantasize about a vampire?

“Enough,” Stephen growled.

He detached himself from Tony’s neck and the werewolf whined. No, he wanted more. More Stephen. More, more, more.

“That’s quite enough,” Stephen said as if reading Tony’s mind. Or maybe Tony was so out of it, he talked aloud. He couldn’t tell anymore.

As Stephen let go of him, his legs couldn’t hold him anymore and he tipped forward, planting right on Stephen’s chest. In his cold and magical scent. The vampire felt warmer and livelier than before.

“Let’s get you to bed,” Stephen said in his deep velvety voice Tony was starting to adore a little bit too much.

Yes, bed. Please. To do sexy things. He wanted him. Was it wrong that he wanted a vampire so bad right now? Was it bad that he wanted his sort of friend-but-not-really-a-friend-friend as something else?

“To rest,” Stephen growled. Shit, Tony was still thinking out loud. “You’re an idiot.”

In a swift move, the vampire took Tony in his arms, bridal style, and carried him to the bed. He put him down on the mattress and wrapped him in the cover. Tony could smell the faint scent of Stephen on it. I liked it.

“You’re an idiot,” Stephen repeated. “Don’t move, I’ll be back.” And he vanished.

Tony would have followed him but his limbs felt like they were made of lead, and his eyelids began to droop. He burrowed deeper in the blanket, sniffed the pillow. Stephen’s pillow. Among the cold and disgusting scent of the undead, he could smell something else. Something that was Stephen only. A fragrance he started to like a little bit too much.

“Are you nesting?” Stephen mocked when he came back, but his voice was too gentle.

“No,” Tony slurred. “Asshole.”

Stephen chuckled and sat down on the mattress, next to Tony.

“Here.”

He delicately removed the blanket from Tony’s face and handed him a bottle of water, and a snack. Suddenly, Tony’s belly was growling. He was hungry.

“Food.”

He sat up too quickly and got dizzy. Stephen caught him before he could fall over, and he rearranged him on the pillows.

“Eat, you stupid werewolf.”

“’M not stupid,” he mumbled but he hungrily took what was offered to him and wolfed it down in an instant. He washed it down with the entire bottle of water and, as he settled down on the pillows, he could already feel better. The wave of dizziness had passed. He still felt tired and sleepy, though. He didn’t want to move in the least.

And what if his heart fluttered thinking he was in Stephen’s bed?

They were sort of friends, right? That was okay, right?

Oh god, he was crushing on Stephen, wasn’t he?

“How are you feeling?” Stephen asked.

Tony finally gazed up at him, seeing the careful worry in Stephen’s beautiful and mesmerizing eyes. His high cheekbones were back to a more normal color (as normal as a vampire could get). Except for all the blood that covered his clothes, he looked pretty healthy (or as healthy as a vampire could be). And very pretty.

Damn, Tony really had a crush on him. He was so screwed.

He cleared his throat.

“I should be the one asking you that,” he said. “You looked dead on your feet when I found you.”

Stephen arched an eyebrow.

“I mean, deader than usual,” Tony amended. “Are you okay?”

“I am now. Thank you.”

Stephen bowed his head and offered him a small and genuine smile. Tony’s heart fluttered. Yep. He was completely screwed.

“What happened to you?” he asked not so subtly changing the subject.

Stephen sighed.

“Let’s just say I stopped one of our vampires from destroying our clan in his quest for power. Kaecilius didn’t take the change of leadership very well.”

“Uh huh. And he beat the shit out of you in the process?”

“Well, you should have seen him.”

Stephen grinned, fangs bared. A clear threat and yet, a big turn on for Tony.

Shit. He was so so screwed.

“So, you were saying something about your pack Alpha?” Stephen said.

“Oh yeah, yeah. Rogers is a dick, what else is new?”

Stephen chuckled and Tony felt himself getting warmer and, his heart melting.

“Tell me about it.”

And as he talked, and laughed with Stephen, until he finally fell asleep in the vampire’s bed, a warm feeling settled in his heart.

Warm and oh so lovely.

He was definitely screwed.

Despite everything, Tony kept coming back to the Sanctum. He knew it was a bad idea.

If he fought with Rogers before, it would be nothing compared to what would happen if his pack Alpha discovered he was dwelling with a vampire.

But he couldn’t help it. He was too far gone for said vampire.

Stephen was addictive, amazing, and way too good-looking to stay away. Tony liked being around him. He liked his wicked sense of humor and his wit. He liked his sharp cheekbones and mesmerizing eyes and the fangs that poked out of his mouth when he was thirsty. He liked his scent, the undead thing that had been so repugnant to him at first and was now familiar and warm and so arousing Tony thought something was seriously wrong with him.

But how could he resist Stephen’s flirty smiles, and his hot gaze on him, and the way he always moved closer to Tony’s body, cold hand straying and brushing against his arm, his shoulder, his waist, the small of his back?

Seriously, how was he supposed not to get a boner every fucking time?

So he kept coming back.

Until he couldn’t.

Because he was a little bit preoccupied.

Because those stupid Accords tore a rift in his makeshift pack that he dared to consider his family. Because Rogers couldn’t hear reason. Because everything fell apart.

“I’m trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart.”

“You did that when you signed.”

And he thought Rogers was bad before? Damn it!

As Tony flew over the airport, he felt the blow of the fight tear at his very core. Not only the physical blows and punches he got. But the deep and horrible feeling of his pack falling apart. His family torn to pieces. And his heart blown to smithereens.

It was all falling apart.

“Hey so, you hungry? I would kill for the greasiest cheeseburger, right now?” Tony said as he entered the Sanctum.

Stephen eyed him suspiciously from the grand staircase. The vampire couldn’t miss Tony’s arm carefully tucked in a sling and plastered against his torso, or the deep bruises on his face. The black was only just the tip of the iceberg of injuries he hid under his clothes.

“You’re hurt,” Stephen said.

“Yeah, well. Occupational hazard, what can you do? So, cheeseburgers?” Tony clumsily got out his phone with his only valid hand. “I’ll order some. You can drink one of your disgusting blood bags if you’re not up for real food.”

But before he could call anyone, Stephen was right beside him, a palm covering his own.

“Tony,” the vampire said in a strained voice. “You are hurt.”

A cold hand went to Tony’s face, gently moving his chin from left to right, to examine the bruises. Stephen’s nostrils flared, probably smelling all the hidden injuries on Tony’s body. Careful fingers touched his sore eye, making him hiss, but before Stephen could remove his hand, Tony grabbed it and leaned his cheek into it. The cold was good.

“Who did this to you?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Tony didn’t want to think about Steve, ever again.

“Who?” Stephen growled.

His eyes scanned Tony’s face, his brows furrowed. He looked angry. No, he looked furious. Was he mad against Tony? What did he do wrong this time?

“Rogers,” he finally answered.

Stephen hissed and bared his teeth, fangs at the ready.

“You stay here, Tony,” he said with a barely controlled voice and a careful stroke over Tony’s cheek. Then he turned to the doors. “I’m gonna kill Steve Rogers.”

“What? No!”

Tony caught the vampire by the wrist. His phone dropped to the floor. He couldn’t care less.

“Don’t.”

“He hurt you.”

“Stephen, don’t,” Tony pleaded, voice small. “Can we just order food and spend the evening with a bad movie or something? Please?”

It took a long moment for Stephen to unclench his fists and retract his fangs. Then finally, his murderous glare vanished, replaced with worry. He inhaled deeply.

“I’m not smelling any disinfectant or medical products on you. Did you go to the hospital to get your wounds checked up?”

“Don’t like hospitals,” Tony mumbled.

“Of course you don’t,” Stephen said softly and he carefully cradled Tony’s face in his cold hand again. “Go sit on the couch, I’ll be back with the first aid kit.”

Tony didn’t have the strength to refuse. So he went to a little corner of the Sanctum he liked, with an old but comfortable sofa that smelled like Stephen. They gathered here often for movie marathons and pizza nights. Tony desperately needed those soft and warm memories when all the other parts of his life were falling apart.

What was he going to do without a pack?

“How’s Peter?” Stephen asked when he returned.

He sat beside Tony on the couch, taking some medical supplies out of a box. The werewolf followed the movement of his hands, as Stephen grabbed some cotton balls and disinfectant and turned to him.

“Oh, you know,” Tony said in a small voice. “A bit shook, but he’s young. And he heals pretty fast.”

Stephen carefully dabbed a cut on Tony’s cheek. He hissed.

“Is he safe?”

“Yeah, yeah, he’s safe. I made sure of that. But he doesn’t really have a pack anymore. We don’t…”

Tony’s throat tightened and the rest of his words couldn’t get through the lump lodged there. He didn’t have a pack anymore. Werewolves were supposed to have a pack. What was he going to do now?

“I don’t have a pack,” he said in a small voice.

Stephen grabbed his chin again, forced him gently to look up at him.

“Shh, Anthony. We’ll talk about that later,” he whispered in a soothing tone. If he tried to mesmerize Tony with his strange vampire powers, Tony didn’t care anymore. “Now take off your shirt.”

That got Tony away from his dark thoughts of his inexistent pack or the threat that a vampire could represent. He quirked his lips in a seductive smile. He hoped it was seductive. His heart wasn’t really feeling it.

“Well, Doc. If you want me to take my clothes off, maybe you should buy me dinner first.”

Stephen rolled his eyes, but Tony could swear he saw a flitting smile on his lips.

“I need to check your wounds, you insufferable wolf.”

“And now you’re calling me names? Wow, wait until we’re in the bedroom for the dirty talk.”

This time, Stephen did smile.

“Take off your shirt, douchebag.”

“Alright, alright. Just don’t go all thirsty on me when you see all my delicious blood exposed to your hungry vampy eyes. And also, my perfectly sculpted body.”

He lifted his shirt, revealing a deep cut on his flank he did a very poor job to treat. The flirty mood suddenly disappeared and Stephen furrowed his brows, all serious again.

“You’re an idiot, Stark,” he sighed.

He scooted a little bit closer, grabbed the hem of Tony’s shirt in one hand and gauze from the first aid kit in the other. Tony didn’t look down as Stephen tended to him. He focused on his eyes, his brows furrowed in concentration, his lips pressed in a tight line.

Tony could feel his cold fingertips on his skin, raising goosebumps all over his flesh. He leaned closer, sniffing discretely at the air, smelling Stephen’s distinct scent.

They were close, so very close. Closer than they had ever been. And it was … intimate. It felt right, somehow. Tony showed up at his lowest at the Sanctum’s doors, he bared all his vulnerabilities to Stephen’s eyes. And yet, it felt right.

He felt safe in Stephen’s care.

Warm and comfortable and safe with Stephen. As if they were pack. They were not, not technically—was that even possible with a vampire? And yet, that was what a pack should be: safe. That was what Tony wanted, what he craved.

Maybe…

Maybe he could have all of that with Stephen.

The desire for Stephen churned deep and fast in his stomach, in his heart. He wanted him, now. More than ever. More than anything.

“Here we go,” Stephen said softly, finishing up the bandage on his wound, and carefully putting Tony’s t-shirt back down.

Before he could retreat, Tony lunged forward and pressed his lips against Stephen’s. He wanted him. A growl vibrated against his mouth. Then a surprised gasp. And finally, the vampire moved away.

Tony clutched the collar of his shirt before he could get too far.

“Tony,” Stephen sighed.

“Don’t,” Tony stopped him, closing his eyes. “Don’t reject me. Not you too.”

“I don’t…”

“Don’t tell me you don’t want this,” Tony cut him again. He felt so raw and vulnerable in front of this vampire, this endearing and too adorable and too sexy of a bloodsucker. He couldn’t bear the idea of rejection. Not from him. Not again. Not after Rogers. “You’ve been eye-fucking me since we’ve met. Don’t tell me you don’t want me.”

Despite his plea, Stephen still pushed him away gently. It hurt. Gosh, it hurt so bad. The broken pieces of his heart refused to mend, again and again, and again. This was torture.

But Stephen didn’t flee. He didn’t ask Tony to get out. Didn’t even get angry or anything.

He carefully cupped Tony’s jaw again, then pulled him close to him, cradled his head against his chest. Tony let him, nestling his big frame against Stephen’s torso. He couldn’t hear any heartbeat, even this close to him. He was a vampire after all. An undead. He didn’t have a heartbeat.

But he could smell his beautiful scent, his firm chest, and his powerful arms closing around him. Wrapping him in the embrace he had dreamed of for so long.

His throat tightened, his heart skipped a beat or two. He couldn’t speak. Tony, the hyperverbal genius werewolf, rendered speechless by a simple hug.

Or maybe it was all the shit that he’d been through these last couple of days. You know? With his pack dying and all?

Shit. He was so fucked up.

“I am not telling you I don’t want you,” Stephen’s voice rumbled against his ear, and that he could feel. “I’m not rejecting you, you douchebag.” There was a smile in his words, Tony could hear it.

He burrowed himself deeper and closer to Stephen.

“But you are vulnerable and more susceptible than ever to my powers of enchantment.”

“’M not,” Tony mumbled.

Stephen chuckled softly, and Tony felt the vibration of it against his ear and his head.

“You’re not on your right mind, Tony. And I’m not taking advantage of you. I’m not doing anything you might regret later.”

Despite his words, Stephen cradled him closer. Cold fingers threaded into his hair. Tony could have purred.

“As much as I would love to bed you,” Stephen said, “you’re too precious to me to ruin what we have for a single night of carnal pleasure.”

Tony’s fist closed on Stephen’s shirt, bunching the fabric. The vampire didn’t care, pulling Tony even closer. He didn’t want to let go.

“Shh. I’m here, darling.”

The endearment pierced right through Tony’s desperate lust, staking him into the heart. It was just so sweet, so familiar and perfect. It was what a pack should be. What he always dreamed of but never had. And he lost his opportunity at a family with Rogers.

Suddenly, it all came crashing down on him. The loss and the heartbreak. The exhaustion of the fight. The concern for his future. The tears welled up in his eyes, rolled down his cheeks, dampening Stephen’s shirt. Pitiful sobs racked his frame.

“I’m here for you, darling.”

Tony couldn’t keep it in anymore. And so he let his pain wash down on him, crying his heart out, pouring everything he felt onto Stephen’s shirt, and Stephen’s still heart. And through it all, the vampire held him close, cradled him carefully.

Lovingly.

Until Tony fell asleep in his arms.

Tony woke up in a bed that smelled of something new yet familiar and it took him a moment to realize where he was. He stretched a bit and winced. His flank pulsed with a dull pain, his face hurt with his yawn and he could barely move his left arm. And yet, he was content.

Because he was in Stephen’s bed.

He had slept with Stephen.

Well. He didn’t sleep sleep with him. They shared a bed, but no funny business happened. Too bad. Tony would have loved to get a glass of that tall dark and handsome vampire.

He turned in the soft sheet. The other side of the mattress looked back at him, and a pang of disappointment seized his heart.

Empty.

Stephen wasn’t here.

He sighed, rolled back carefully, stretching his sore muscles and all over aching body. Finally, he got up with a painful wince and a groan. He noticed his glasses, discarded on the bedside table, and grabbed them.

“Hey, Fri,” he called while putting them on. “Talk to me, baby girl. Any news?”

“No sightings of the fugitive Avengers, boss. But you received a package from an anonymous source I suspect to be Steve Rogers, back at the Compound.”

Tony’s face twisted in disgust. His throat tightened in fear and his heart pulsed with hope. Damn, he really was a mess after all that chaos. He wanted so much to have his pack again. And yet, the very idea of being in the same room with the man who protected his parent’s murderer and drove a vibranium shield in Tony’s chest? No thank you. Just thinking about it hurt more than all the terrible injuries that now adorned his body.

Alright. Time to dwell on something else. Time to move on.

“Any news on our Rhodey bear?”

“The calculations for the leg braces are done.”

Now that was good news. Tony felt like he could breathe again.

“Good. Move on to the next phase, Fri.”

“On it, boss.”

“Good,” he said again. Maybe if he said it enough, things would be good for real. Nothing felt right, now. “And Peter?”

“The spiderling seems to be well enough. He is currently in the Sanctum’s kitchen.”

“Wait, what?”

Any lingering sleepiness suddenly disappeared from Tony’s body. He quickly grabbed a sweater from the back of a chair, and his heart squeezed with happiness and excitement when he smelled Stephen’s scent all over it. Putting it on was weirdly intimate. He felt himself blush like a teenager. Damn, Tony really had a crush on that freaking vampire.

But first, Peter.

He left the cozy bedroom and crossed the entire Sanctum (with all its haunted corridors and halls of cursed relics) to find the kitchen. And a very familiar scent and voice.

“It was the most amazing thing! Mr. Stark was like, ‘Hey, Underoos!’ And I just sorta flipped in and stole Cap’s shield. I was like, ‘What’s up, everybody?’ And… Oh hey, Mr. Stark? You want pancakes?”

The Sanctum’s kitchen was a small room with not old but downright ancient appliances and some otherworldly relics here and there. Yet Tony liked it. Mostly because of the coffee grains, directly imported from all over the world via mystic portals. Stephen made sure they were well stocked after seeing Tony bring his own coffee one too many times. Magic could be good sometimes.

In the middle of the small room, Peter sat on a squeaky chair at the table with an enormous pile of pancakes in front of him. Stephen sat opposite him, with a mug that Tony suspected of being filled with blood and not coffee or tea. And by the stove, the Cloak handled a pan with its hem, flipping the pancakes expertly.

The picture screamed domesticity and familiarity. Warmth bubbled in Tony’s heart, and his lips curled in a small smile.

“Sure. Pancakes.”

He went to make his coffee before he took a seat at the table, with his mug. All the while, Peter kept talking excitedly about Avengers business and school and that girl he crushed on and that guy that bullied him, and more and more.

“What are you doing here, Pete?”

“Oh, Mr. Strange came by this morning with his fancy yellow sparkling portals. That was so cool! He wanted to see if I was okay, and he invited me for breakfast. The Cloak is great with pancakes, did you know? So good! You should try them!” the teen said excitedly. “Anyway, I have to go to school now. Bye!”

He was gone before Tony could utter another word. The kitchen fell silent, utterly still after the enthusiasm that was Peter.

Tony turned to Stephen. The vampire looked back at him, intense eyes fixed on him.

“How are …?”

“You went to check on Peter?” Tony blurted out.

Stephen stayed perfectly still and composed. An eyebrow arched on his forehead. Why did he always look so collected and confident and damn near flawless while Tony felt all bubbly and fuzzy inside? The idea that Stephen could care about Peter? That made Tony feel all warm and fuck, he wanted that stupidly perfect vampire now.

“Yes,” Stephen answered. “Is that so hard to imagine?”

Tony shrugged then winced from the pain shooting up his arm. In a blur of movement, Stephen was standing by his side, steadying him, carefully probing at Tony’s limb for any more discomfort or injuries.

“I don’t know,” Tony finally answered in a hoarse voice. He strangely liked Stephen fretting over him. It was nice. “I guess I thought vampires were cold bastards with hearts of ice, lone creatures of the night.”

Those stereotypes were erased since he met Stephen.

“You’re not wrong on the cold part,” the vampire chuckled lightly, still checking on Tony’s body. And maybe there was more than just a clinical doctor's look in his eyes. Maybe a bit of … hunger too.

“But we do have clans, makeshift families that are sometimes closer together than you would imagine. Packs, of sorts.”

A bitter laugh escaped Tony’s lips.

“Good for you,” he muttered in a barely audible voice. He didn’t want to think of a pack, right now.

“And even though my heart doesn’t beat anymore,” Stephen said, ignoring Tony’s grumble. “I truly and deeply care about you and Peter.”

Contrary to Stephen’s still heart, Tony’s fluttered in his chest wildly. His eyes went to Stephen’s, mesmerized by their ethereal color, the slight wrinkles at the edges from his soft smiles.

Tony wanted him, in all his deadly beauty and fantastic tenderness.

“I really wanna kiss you right now.”

Stephen opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Tony found him infinitely cute. Seriously, how could a vampire be this adorable?

But for the first time, his collected appearance crumbled and Tony wasn’t the only one feeling out of his depth. Who could blame them? A relationship between a vampire and a werewolf was a highly unconventional occurrence.

“You are serious,” Stephen finally said.

A sweet pink colored his cheek. Even though he didn’t have a functioning heart, per se, he could still blush close to a blood-drinking session, Tony discovered. It made him smile.

“Yes, I’m serious. I thought I made my intentions and desires pretty clear last night.”

Stephen’s eyes couldn’t stay on him, the pink on his high cheekbones getting darker by the second. He looked adorable. Then Tony’s smile vanished.

Did he read this wrong? They somewhat flirted on a regular basis, since their first meeting. Stephen with his suave vampiric ways, Tony in his unsubtle blurt-all-your-thoughts-in-a-moment kinda way. Did he misread Stephen’s signals? Did Stephen not like him? At least a little bit?

“I…” Stephen stammered. “I wasn’t sure you were serious. I thought you might latch on to the first person to show you a modicum of decency, after what happened with Rogers. I was hoping but I…”

Oh for fuck’s sake!

“Come on, Stephen. You were way more than decent to me. You’ve always been kind. You took care of me, you took care of Peter when you could have so easily closed your magical doors on our snoots instead.”

Stephen looked so lost, it was endearing.

“I’m a doctor, I take care of people,” he mumbled.

“Oh come on! You don’t invite anyone into your bed! Or do you?”

Christ. The idea of someone else in Stephen’s bed actually made him growl in jealousy and anger. Stephen didn’t hiss back at him to rein in his misplaced feelings. He just stared back at him, in awe.

“And if all your damn flirting was unintentional, I have to admit it was fucking effective on me,” Tony added with a chuckle.

The situation truly was ridiculous, and yet so much like them. They were pretty damn unconventional, the two of them together. A werewolf and a vampire. There was no model for that sort of relationship.

“So yeah,” Tony sighed. “I’m sorry if I read you all wrong. But at least now, you know what I want. No secrets.”

Tony resisted the urge to bite his lip, to grab Stephen by the shoulders and shake him furiously for an answer. But the vampire stayed silent, looking at him with an unreadable expression. Was that pity in his mesmerizing blue-green eyes? Or maybe a little awe and envy? Was Tony projecting when he thought he was seeing adoration in Stephen’s face?

Finally, the vampire drew a long and heavy breath.

“You didn’t misinterpret my signals and I was hoping…”

Tony’s heart fluttered, beating wildly in his chest with desire.

“But,” Stephen said all serious again and Tony’s heart deflated. He was going to get rejected. Again. Damn, that fucking hurt. “You went through a very traumatic experience, Tony. I’d rather you take care of yourself right now. Focus on me later. If that’s okay?”

“Sure.”

“I don’t want you to make any rash decision you might regret,” Stephen said. Tony doubted he would regret pursuing Stephen. Ever. “I care too much about you.”

Christ. The vampire was giving him whiplash, gently rejecting him then saying shit like that in the same breath. How could Tony resist?

“You’re very welcome to stay here,” Stephen offered.

“That won’t help me much to keep my feelings under control, you know?” Tony chuckled lightly. It felt awkward and yet liberating to talk openly about his desires for once. He liked it.

He always very much adored the small smiles that grazed Stephen’s lips, the shy look suited him. Damn, Tony might be falling in love a little bit more.

“I just wanna make sure I’m not taking advantage of you, that’s all. Let’s talk about it when you feel better, okay?”

Tony couldn’t really say no.

“Okay.”

Tony stayed at the Sanctum for a couple of weeks after the incident.

As he predicted, living with Stephen did nothing to quell his feelings and raging desires. If it was even possible, he just fell in love deeper with Stephen.

The vampire was just … everything Tony wanted: caring and loving, but a damn asshole at times, with his witty comebacks and his flirty quips, a badass sorcerer, a mother hen of a doctor always fussing over him and his injuries… Actually, Tony made a tremendously quick recovery, thanks to all the fussing.

In just a couple of days, he fell into a rhythm with Stephen. The domesticity of it all soothed his broken heart better than any other remedy. He almost forgot he didn’t have a pack anymore, because … well because it felt like he did have a new pack: a little strange family with Stephen and Peter.

What an unexpected turn of events, uh?

After a couple of weeks and his full recovery, Tony didn’t have a good enough reason to stay at the Sanctum Sanctorum so he went back to his empty Compound. To his Rhodey-bear and the leg braces he specifically designed for him. To the fuckton of paperwork and discussion with the UN, with Ross, with everyone that he needed to get to.

Life moved on and he had work to do.

Still, he flew by the Sanctum as often as possible. Because now that he was feeling better, it was time to put the moves on Stephen. Tony was kinda glad Stephen rejected him at first, giving him time to recover. But baby, that time was over and Tony was about to get himself a pretty vampire.

Also, the Compound was lonely as fuck.

So that was how Tony found himself in the Sanctum Sanctorum’s kitchen again, a cup of coffee in his hands, and a very tired Stephen in front of him.

“Short night, Doc?”

The vampire grumbled.

“Been there,” Tony said sympathetically, smiling. Stephen truly looked adorable. “No pancakes today, Cloakie? I thought you loved to cook?”

The red cape halfheartedly waved at him, and a twinge of worry needled into his heart.

“What happened? Went out partying all night?”

“If you’d call hunting fire demons all over Manhattan a party,” Stephen grumbled.

“Sounds like a party to me.”

“It was not,” Stephen deadpanned, burying his face in his hands. “I need blood.”

Tony smiled and sipped his coffee while Stephen grumbled some more, tiredly got up, and went to the fridge. He had seen the vampire pour himself a creepy mug of burgundy liquid often enough not to be spooked by the process anymore. Besides, Stephen always sported a lovely pink color on his cheeks after a good blood-drinking, and Tony adored that look on him.

He was still daydreaming about his flushed and pretty vampire when Stephen slammed the fridge door closed and returned to the table, empty-handed with a curse.

“Damn it.”

“Something wrong?”

Stephen reached for Tony’s cup of coffee, stole it from him, and gulped it down before Tony could say anything. With a little shake of his hand, he sent the Cloak brew some more.

“Stephen?”

“I’m out of blood.”

Oh.

Tony looked closer at him (not that he was not already paying too much attention to the pretty vampire he adored). Stephen’s beautiful eyes seemed a little less vibrant and duller than usual, red rimmed and shadowed. His skin appeared even paler than usual and drained of all color and life. He truly looked tired as hell.

Tony wanted to reach and engulf him in a comforting hug.

Nope, that was a dangerous thought. Think about something else.

“How do you even get all your blood?” he asked before he could do something stupid.

Sure, he wanted Stephen. That was not a reason to pounce on him.

“Donors, mostly,” Stephen grumbled.

“So you take from hospitals? That doesn’t sound like something you would do.”

“We have our ways.”

“Oh god!” Tony shouted. “Do you drain out people in dark alleys?!”

That seemed to wake Stephen, at least a little.

“No!” he protested. “Consenting donors, you douchebag. People who want to donate to vampires. There are clubs and… Christ, you’re impossible.”

Tony almost chuckled, then paused.

“Clubs, huh?” he said. “Didn’t think that existed.”

Stephen tiredly arched an eyebrow.

“You’d be surprised how many people volunteer.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

But…

“Why?”

Stephen’s brow arched a little bit higher on his forehead. His lips curled in a predatory smile. Stephen was lucky Tony was completely in love with him. That tired smile would not have worked otherwise.

Still. Tony’s heart fluttered and he gulped.

“The bite,” Stephen articulated slowly, “is said to be quite pleasurable and a strong aphrodisiac.”

Tony almost forgot how to breathe.

“Is it?”

Stephen only smiled more, uncovering a sharp fang.

Suddenly, Tony had a vivid picture of beautiful men and women in a dark club, succumbing to vampires, blood running down their necks, turning the vampire’s lips red. A vampire that looked a lot like Stephen in his head. And a volunteering donor that suspiciously resembled Tony.

He tore himself away from his fantasy, only to fall harder on a memory. He remembered quite vividly the only time Stephen bit him. After the initial pain, a brief thing, adrenaline, and endorphin had rushed through his veins, clouded his vision, build up a need for more. A craving. Ecstasy.

If it truly was like that, no wonder people volunteered.

“So,” Tony said, voice hoarse from desire. “Do you go to clubs, too?”

“Not anymore. I don’t really have time for the after-bite.”

“The after-bite?”

“Yes.”

“What’s that?”

Stephen smirked.

“Do I have to spell it for you? You’re a genius, Tony, make an educated guess.”

And boy oh boy, did he have a guess. He just didn’t know if it was more wishful thinking or a real hypothesis.

“Sex,” he finally said in a croak of a voice.

Stephen only smiled some more. Tony was getting more and more turned on by the second, lost in his fantasies, and the asshole was only smirking. Gosh, he hoped he could wipe that smug smile off his face. Preferably with his lips. And his tongue. And…

Fuck. He wanted him so bad.

“Do vampires have sex?” he blurted out, not sure if he was asking for the conversation they were having or for himself.

Stephen chuckled lightly. The Cloak reappeared, mugs of coffee ready in its hems for them both and put them on the table. Stephen immediately took his, sipping with a relived hum. Tony was still fidgeting with his empty cup. He wasn’t sure he would swallow anything with his throat so tight.

“Yes,” Stephen said after a gulp or two.

“How?”

Stephen fully laughed this time. Colors were back on his cheek, a light pink dusting his alabaster skin. Not from blood, obviously. But the warmth of the drink was good for him.

“Do you really want me to explain to you how sex works?”

“No.” Tony felt himself blush. “Actually, yes. Not how sex works, asshole,” he added quickly when Stephen laughed some more. “How sex works for vampires. I’m sorry but a good fucking involves body parts and physiological reactions that don’t seem as enjoyable with a dead body.”

“Undead,” Stephen corrected.

“Still. Your body lacks certain blood flows.”

It was a nice way to say that he should not be able to have an erection. Which was unfortunate. But eh, Tony could work with that. Given the state of his pants right now, he was clearly hard enough for both of them.

“Oh, rest assured that blood flows very well after a bite.”

A new picture came to Tony’s mind: Stephen, cheeks flushed, fangs out, the tip dripping with blood, red smeared all over his lips … and a raging boner in his pants.

Fuck.

“Is that so?”

“Yep,” Stephen simply replied, before getting up and adding: “Now, if you’ll excuse me, as we just thoroughly discussed, I need to go get some blood.”

A new emotion pierced Tony’s heart and his whole body: a deep and sharp pang of jealousy, as sharp as Stephen’s pointy and mostly deadly fangs. The club’s image was back in his head. Except this time, the human under Stephen’s fangs did not look like Tony, but some random stranger with no name and no face.

Tony couldn’t repress his growl.

No.

He jumped to his feet.

“If you need blood, why don’t you take mine?”

Stephen stopped. His eyes snapped back to Tony, piercing him in their intensity.

“What?”

“You did it once, before. And I gotta admit, it wasn’t all that bad.”

“Tony…”

“It was quite pleasurable, actually.”

A step or two, and Tony was facing Stephen, an arm’s length away.

“I would love to volunteer.”

“Tony,” Stephen sighed. “I almost drained you last time.”

“You were hurt, and desperate. And yet, you kept control. I trust you. Look at you, you’re not even growling or hissing. You’re just a bit tired and thirsty. Okay, you look dead on your feet. Which I guess you kinda are, but you know what I mean. And…”

“Tony,” Stephen cut him and Tony’s nervous ramble died on his lips. “Are you sure?”

He could admit that he was a bit scared but…

“I want you,” he answered truthfully.

It wasn’t what Stephen was asking, and they both knew it. But it was the truth and that was all that mattered.

“Okay.”

Stephen crossed the small distance between them, held out his arm, and reached for Tony. Disappointment flooded him when the vampire grabbed his wrist instead of his neck like he hoped for. He would have loved to recreate their proximity and intimacy from last time.

Then Stephen bared his fangs and Tony’s brain short-circuited, all thoughts fleeing him.

Slowly, he lowered his head to Tony’s wrists. His lips grazed the tender flesh there for an instant then softly kissed the apparent vein under his skin. Tony shuddered.

“Stephen…”

“Yes,” Stephen whispered, eliciting more goosebumps along his arm. Fuck that was hot!

“Please.”

“Please what?”

His lips moved against Tony’s skin, like a tender kiss on his wrist instead of his mouth. Tony wanted so bad to kiss him for real.

“Bite me. Please.”

Stephen hummed in the back of his throat, and opened his lips. A sharp fang glinted in the low light of the Sanctum’s kitchen. Then the vampire closed his mouth around Tony’s wrist and pain pierced through his arm. For a brief second only.

Then.

Ecstasy.

A fire of pleasure ran up his arm, spread through his heart and his entire body. Warmth engulfed him, churned in his guts. Desire was building in his core. His pants tightened around his growing erection.

He gasped, feeling a little light-headed and knees weak already. The sensation wasn’t as powerful as last time. He felt himself fall in Stephen’s magnetic aura, his desire building. But he was still in control, still strong enough to resist the bite, to endure the blood loss. His robust werewolf physiology helped.

He lowered his gaze to Stephen’s face and…

Fuck!

A pearl of blood tinted the corner of Stephen’s mouth in red. The vampire erased it with a swift swipe of his tongue that made Tony’s heart flutter. Damn, that was hot. Stephen swallowed carefully, his Adam’s apple bobbing around mouthfuls of Tony’s blood. Fuck! Colors came back to his skin and cheeks. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He was hot as hell.

Even hotter, when he released Tony’s wrist and straightened up. His eyes glinted with power and life (Tony’s life) and lust and everything. A faint trace of blood smeared on his lips.

With a slightly trembling hand, Tony reached up, cupped Stephen’s jaw, delicately stroking his thumb over Stephen’s mouth. To clean the blood there. To feel the plump lips under his fingertips. To mimic what he really wanted to do.

“I wanna kiss you so bad right now,” he said, his voice hoarse.

Stephen smirked, stepped closer, plastering himself to Tony’s torso. He could feel the vampire’s whole body against him, the hardness of his erection pressed against his hip through their clothes. Fuck, he wanted to strip him bare, take that cock into his hand, his mouth, his ass. He wanted him so much.

“How are you feeling?” Stephen asked in a velvety voice, so deep it sank right into Tony’s loins. Fuck, how did he do that? He was sex incarnate.

“Like I could die if you don’t take me to bed to ravish me, right now,” Tony croaked and Stephen chuckled lightly at that. “Also, I can definitely understand why people volunteer as blood banks.”

“Yeah, it’s quite thrilling,” Stephen answered softly. Then he inhaled deeply. “The same could be said for the vampire. You are delicious.”

“All humans are delicious? That sounds wrong.”

“You are delicious to me.”

The fire ignited in Tony’s loins, brighter and hotter and hungrier than it had been during the bite. It wasn’t because of the endorphins released with the vampire’s fangs. It wasn’t because he felt a little light-headed and disconnected with blood loss. It was because it was Stephen, and Stephen only, and fuck!

“Stephen, please. I want you.”

The vampire paused, just for a second.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m more than freaking sure. Now take me to bed or I will literally die there.”

Stephen chuckled.

“You have the worst flirting lines.”

“Yeah? But it’s working, isn’t it?”

Tony moved his hips just a tad, pressing on the hardness of Stephen’s erection, and smiled wickedly when he heard the vampire hiss.

“You’re a menace,” Stephen growled.

“I want you,” Tony countered.

A deep inhale, a quiet gasp. What did Stephen pick up in Tony’s scent? His arousal? Probably. His hunger for more, more, more? He hoped so. His unwillingness to let the vampire go now that he had him so close to him? Maybe.

Stephen must have picked up on the right scent because he finally asked:

“Can I kiss you?”

Tony didn’t answer in words. He lunged forward, grabbed Stephen by the nape of his neck, and crushed their lips together. He put everything into that kiss, his desires, his passion, his loneliness, and his longing for a family, for someone, for Stephen. After all this time dancing around each other, he would have loved to take his time, to carefully ease into it, but he couldn’t wait one fucking second longer. He was deathly afraid Stephen would push him away. But fuck it, he would take every crumb of affection the vampire would grant him.

Stephen did not push him back. He tensed, then gasped and finally melted his mouth to Tony’s. He wrapped his arms around Tony’s waist, moved their bodies closer, pressed their hard cocks together through their clothes.

“Hmm, yes. Stephen please.”

Daring, Tony darted his tongue out, followed the seam of Stephen’s lips with the tip of it until they parted. He could feel Stephen’s wet and cold tongue, his fangs, and their sharp, sharp, tips. He could devour him

“Careful,” Stephen growled, closing his mouth to Tony’s exploration and potential injury.

“Fuck, Stephen.”

Tony’s head fell in the crook of Stephen’s neck, his lips finding the perfectly smooth and snowy flesh of the vampire there, his teeth nibbling at it. He was weirdly tempted to bite him, but he knew it wouldn’t work—he wasn’t a vampire. So instead, he sucked on the skin, leaving a red mark behind.

Stephen moaned.

Fuck.

“What do you want, Tony?”

He tore away from that tempting neck and looked into Stephen’s eyes.

“Take me to bed. Fuck me,” he growled. “Fuck Stephen, please.”

After all the rejection (some from Stephen, a lot from his old pack), Tony almost expected him to say no. But…

“Yes.”

A spark of golden magic appeared on the periphery of his vision, the kitchen vanished and suddenly they stood in Stephen’s room in the Sanctum, next to Stephen’s bed and the alluring possibility of more.

Tony groaned with want, the more primal and animal side of him coming out, overwhelmed by the instinct to mark, to possess, to claim.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He pushed Stephen and they both fell on the bed, Tony above him, caging his face between his arms, a possessive growl on his lips. The vampire only smirked.

“Well,” he drawled, absolutely unfazed by the fact he was pinned down by a freaking werewolf. Maybe it was because he was a deadly creature too. “You wanted me to fuck you, but I have no problem in switching that premise and being the one fucked by you.”

Tony growled again, his cock going impossibly hard in his pants.

“If I go into rut,” he groaned in a warning that sounded more like a promise, “it’s because you’re just too damn sexy. Fuck, I can barely control myself.” A bitter laugh escaped his lips. “Fuck. You always protected me from your vampiric ways while you should have been the one protected from my stupid animal brain.”

Unafraid, Stephen raised his hand and cupped Tony’s jaw in his palm.

“It’s okay, Tony. I want that too,” he whispered. “I want you.”

And damn, that vampire would be the death of him, that was for sure.

“And I want you out of these damn clothes. Now,” Tony groaned.

Stephen chuckled.

“Not a bad idea.”

Tony tried to take his time, tried to be careful. He really, really tried. But as soon as he had his hands on Stephen, he could barely control himself anymore. He tore the fabric of his clothes while taking them off him. A button or two—or all of them—popped. His claws ripped the garment in different places. He didn’t care. And judging by Stephen’s chuckle, he didn’t mind either.

Tony finally stopped his frantic undressing when Stephen was sprawled under him, fully naked, in all his glory. He had to take a breath, to take a good look at him. And looking good he did.

He didn’t have the bulky muscles most werewolves had, the kind of bodies Tony was used to. He was lean, very pale, and oh so delicious. His eyes glinted more than usual. A light pink covered his cheeks, his upper chest, from excitement and the blood he just drank from Tony.

And as promised, his erection stood hard between his legs. Tony’s mouth watered at the sight.

“Fuck.”

“That’s what we’re about to do, isn’t it?” Stephen chuckled.

“Smartass.”

Another laugh. Tony loved that laugh, the curve of Stephen’s lips, the mirth in his eyes, the pink on his cheeks, his disheveled hair. He couldn’t wait to ruffle them even more, to see pleasure and lust and everything in the beautiful blue-green eyes.

Taking his silence for hesitation, Stephen got up on his elbows.

“As I said before, I would be very much happy to take…”

“Oh no,” Tony cut him. He had to stop drooling all over Stephen’s body. Well. That wouldn’t be such a bad idea either. “I’m taking your perfectly delicious dick in me. Preferably as soon as possible. Do you have…?”

“Yes.”

A golden mandala appeared on Stephen’s palm, and out of nowhere a bottle of lube dropped on the mattress.

“That’s handy,” Tony mumbled.

He grabbed the bottle of lube, and lowered himself to kiss Stephen, capturing his mouth, his breathless gasp. For a man who shouldn’t be alive, he breathed a lot. Tony wasn’t complaining.

He briefly bit on Stephen’s lips, eliciting a groan from the vampire, then dropped to his neck, peppering his skin with soft kisses. On his jaw, the column of his neck, his collarbone, his peck. He lightly sucked on a nipple, getting another low moan.

“Tony…”’ Stephen whispered, his hands grabbing Tony’s head, his fingers threading in his hair, gripping his scalp.

“Will you feel it if I suck you?” Tony asked against Stephen’s abs, slowly moving lower and lower and lower. Reaching Stephen’s cock. But not touching.

“Yes,” Stephen hissed, his fingers flexing in Tony’s hair just at the thought of a blow job from him, and damn that was a big ego boost he probably didn’t need. “Vampires feel, especially after a bite. Though you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”

“Oh I want to,” Tony whispered and his breath ghosted over Stephen’s cock. “Remember? I told you I want your dick in me. I wasn’t joking.”

He glanced up at Stephen’s eyes.

“Yes, please.”

Tony didn’t need more incentive. He stuck out his tongue, teased the head of Stephen’s cock with it. Stephen shivered then outright moaned when Tony finally took him in his mouth. Finally.

Stephen’s body was cold, but his prick felt a bit warmer in Tony’s mouth, and oh so hard and delicious. So close to the most intimate part of him, he could smell his characteristic fragrance of undead and magic and Stephen.

He loved it.

“Mmmh… Tony… Yes…”

Tony could have purred.

Slowly bobbing his head on Stephen’s cock, tasting his most intimate scent and flesh, Tony opened the bottle of lube with one hand. He poured some on his fingers and reached for his own ass to prepare himself for that magnificent dick. Gosh, he was so eager, it was almost ridiculous.

“Are you …?” Stephen huffed between moans and groans of pleasure. “Are you prepping yourself?”

“Mmh hmm.”

“God, Tony,” Stephen whimpered. “You’re amazing.”

He sucked a little harder, stretched his hole a little wider, and Stephen hissed.

“You’re gonna be the death of me,” he breathed out. “You’re too good for my own health. If you keep going… Ah! If you keep going, this is going to be over way too soon and I’ll have to bite you again.”

Tony let go of Stephen’s cock, leaving a trail of saliva behind, to look at the vampire’s eyes.

“If you need or want to bite me again,” he said in a hoarse voice, “you have my full consent.”

And he absolutely meant it.

“Fuck, Tony.”

Stephen suddenly sat up, cupped Tony’s jaw between his palms, and kissed his wet mouth with force, tasting his own scent on Tony’s lips. He groaned.

“You are impossibly enticing, you know that?”

“I can’t say that I was ever called that.”

“Truly impossible.”

Stephen pulled at him until Tony lay down over him, their bodies pressed together, and Stephen’s wet cock sliding over Tony’s. Tony was pretty sure he was leaking precum all over Stephen’s abs. He was so damned turned on. Fuck, Stephen was so hot. He wanted him.

“Are you ready?” Stephen asked against his lips.

“More than ready,” Tony answered, feeling his loose and lubed hole with his fingers. He needed a cock in him, like, yesterday.

“Are you sure?”

“Fuck, Stephen. Yes, yes! Fuck me.”

Stephen paused for a second, looking Tony in the eyes. He bit his lower lip with one of his fangs, and looked so damn delectable, Tony might come from this.

“Please.”

“Okay,” Stephen finally said in a breathless voice. “Okay, let’s do this. Lie down over there, just like that. Yes darling, come here, just like that.”

Stephen pulled at Tony’s wrist and shoulder, gently guiding him to lie down beside him on the mattress. Their lips met again, their hands traveled down the other’s body, learning every inch of smooth skin and divinely muscled body.

Then Stephen gripped him by the waist and pushed at him.

“Turn around,” he whispered in a sultry voice that Tony could do nothing but obey.

He moved, grumbling just a tad for the show.

“Are you afraid to break your great stoic vampire’s aesthetic if I see you come?”

“No,” Stephen’s voice rumbled close to Tony’s ear and a shudder ran through him. “This is the most comfortable position to fuck you and bite you at the same time.”

“Oh come on! I’m a big werewolf. I can go for the more risky stuff.”

“The bite can be quite powerful. You don’t know how your body will react. Like this, I can assure your safety.”

“I’m just saying,” Tony protested lightly, “I could… Oh!”

Stephen plastered himself to Tony’s back, his whole body molding itself against Tony’s, wrapping an arm around Tony’s waist.

“You’re gonna love it. I promise,” Stephen whispered right into Tony’s ear.

His breath ghosted over Tony’s ear shell and neck. The sharp tip of a fang grazed his skin.

Tony shuddered. Fuck.

“Oh, okay. This isn’t bad.”

Stephen softly groaned and pushed his fangs a little closer to Tony’s neck. He tightened his arm and pressed Tony’s body closer to him. His cock fitted perfectly between Tony’s butt cheeks, and this time, it was his turn to moan.

“Not bad at all,” he whimpered more than said. “Please, Stephen. I need you.”

“Yes.”

Stephen bit his neck, just enough to make him shudder but not enough to pierce his skin and drink his blood. Not yet.

“Please…”

Tony couldn’t see him, but as close as they were, he could feel almost everything Stephen was doing. How his arm left Tony’s waist to snake between their bodies, and grab his dick. How he angled it just right to nudge at Tony’s lubed entrance. Fuck, he wanted him.

“Please, Stephen.”

He couldn’t wait anymore. He pushed himself back onto Stephen’s cock and felt it breach him with a lewd squelching sound.

“Fuck, yes!”

Stephen hissed between his teeth, grabbed Tony by the waist, and guided him as he fully sank inside him. He felt so big and deep, knocking Tony’s breath out of his lungs.

“You’re so fucking hot.”

“I know,” Tony said in a breathless voice. “Now move, before I die of frustration.”

He was vibrating with need, his dick hard and leaking precum all over his abs and the sheets. He didn’t care. He just wanted Stephen to move.

“I’ve got you, love,” the vampire said in his deep voice.

He slowly pulled away, leaving Tony feeling empty and desperate for more. Then he pushed back in. A little faster. A little deeper.

“Yes,” Tony moaned. “Like this, just like this.”

Behind him, Stephen was thrusting into him, harder and faster, starting up a pace. Tony could feel his big dick brushing against his prostate and building pleasure in his belly.

“Yes, fuck yes,” he groaned. “More.”

Stephen tightened his arm around Tony, pulled them closer together as he kept rocking in and out of him.

“Tony…” Stephen moaned right into his ear and damn, that was almost hotter than the pounding in his ass. That wrecked voice was a sin. “You feel so good. Wanna taste you again,” he almost slurred. “Drink your sweet blood.”

Tony whined and gripped the sheets tightly in his fists.

“Do it,” he pleaded. “Bite me.”

Without missing a beat, still moving in and out of him at a fuckingly delicious pace, Stephen found his jugular and bit him.

“Ah! Fuck, yes!”

The pain didn’t even have time to register or to abate his pleasure. The fangs pierced his skin, and ecstasy tingled in his veins. He could feel the blood leaving his body, sucked by Stephen.

His head felt light with bliss, his eyes rolled back in his head. Stephen’s lips clamped on his neck. His hips kept moving, his dick pushing in and out of Tony in delicious thrusts. The bite made everything brighter, fuller, deeper. Amazing.

Yes, more, more more moremoremoremore.

“Yes! Stephen please, yes. Yes, yes, yes…”

Stephen took Tony’s cock in his cold hand, and it was too much. Too much. The bite heightened his sensation. He could feel every delicious thrust of Stephen and the brush against his prostate making him see stars. Stephen’s whole body plastered against him; from head to toe. His mouth sucking at his neck.

A pearl of blood escaped from the puncture wound and from Stephen’s hungry mouth, trickled down Tony’s neck and onto the bedsheet. He couldn’t care less.

“Stephen…”

Stephen’s hand on Tony’s cock followed the pace of his hips, stroking his painfully hard prick while simultaneously hitting his prostate with every thrust. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Yes, yes, ’m close. So close,” he slurred.

Stephen suddenly detached himself from Tony’s neck. In a haze, Tony blindly reached behind himself, threaded his fingers through Stephen’s hair, pulling his face closer, pulling his lips back to his neck, to keep going, to keep drinking more moremoremore.

“’M so close. Again.”

He turned his head and twisted his body just enough to see him, to see the red on Stephen’s lips, his pupils dilated with thirst and lust.

“Come here.”

Dizzy with stars of pleasure and blood loss, Tony pulled at his hair, crashed their lips together, tasted the coppery tinge of his blood on Stephen’s mouth.

“Fuck,” Stephen groaned, still pounding into Tony. “You’re too good for me, Tony. You’re amazing. You’re doing so well, love.”

It wasn’t the ecstasy of the bite still lingering in his veins, the big dick in him hitting his prostate, or the firm hand stroking him at a maddening pace.

It was that simple praise, full of affection and love, that unraveled him in the end, that pushed him over the edge. Tony cried out in pleasure, Stephen’s name on his lips, and succumbed to his orgasm, seeing white and sparkling stars, pleasure coursing through his whole body like never before.

He closed his eyes, floating away in the euphoria of it all.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when he came to again. He slowly regained consciousness of his mind and body. He felt warm and protected and safe in Stephen’s arms, in Stephen’s blankets, in Stephen’s bed.

He was lying over Stephen’s chest, in his arms, surrounded by his sweet scent. His body felt like jelly and his mind a little fuzzy, more relaxed than he had been in years, maybe in forever.

“Hey.” Stephen’s chest rumbled softly with his deep voice and Tony almost purred. Fuck, he loved that vampire too much. “You okay?”

“M more than okay,” Tony mumbled. “It was amazing.”

“You were amazing,” Stephen answered, tightening his arms around Tony. One of his cold hands came up his back and down, in a soothing pattern over his spine. “You should drink something.”

“Nuh uh. Don’t wanna leave the bed,” Tony said burrowing himself deeper into Stephen’s embrace.

A soft chuckle answered him.

“I could get you something.”

“Nah, don’t want you to leave either.”

Tony’s limbs seemed to weigh a ton but he mustered enough strength to throw them around Stephen’s neck and keep him close to him. The familiar scent of safe and family and pack hit his nose.

“Okay,” Stephen chuckled lightly. “You know we’ll still have to get up eventually. You really should eat something. I took a lot of your blood.”

“That was sexy.”

“And exhausting for you.”

Tony huffed.

“Am a big werewolf. I can take it.”

Actually, his stronger werewolf physiology was the only reason he hadn’t passed out from blood loss (and mind-blowing sex) just yet. He theoretically could take it. But Stephen also was right and he should eat something. He just absolutely didn’t want to leave this bed. Ever.

“Sure you can.”

He buried his nose in Tony’s hair, planted a kiss on the crown of his head.

“Can I sleep with you?” Tony mumbled. Sleep was already claiming his body back.

“That would be lovely,” Stephen answered with another soft kiss. “You can sleep. I’m here, love.”

Love. The word resonated in Tony as he fell asleep, safe in Stephen’s arms, in his new mate’s arms and heart.

“You said you wouldn’t leave,” Tony grumbled when he woke up the next morning and was greeted by a too alert Stephen—did that fucking bloodsucker even sleep?—crouching beside the bed with a tall glass of water.

“I also said you needed to drink something. Your health is precious to me. I’m a doctor, remember?”

“Asshole.”

“Douchebag.”

Tony grumbled some more but extricated himself from the covers and sat up to finally take that stupid drink. His whole body protested, reminding him acutely of exactly what they did the night before (and yeah, how much blood he lost to Stephen’s thirst. He wasn’t even sorry.)

It reminded him of another day, some time ago, when he woke in Stephen’s bed for the first time, after a good old beating from his previous pack and teammates. Good riddance.

This felt just as painful, and yeah, maybe Stephen was right about that blood loss thing and dehydration. But it was also so much better, Tony wouldn’t complain. He drained down the glass then put it on the nightstand.

“Come here.”

Stephen smiled softly, sat down on the edge of the bed, and let Tony throw his arms around his neck to pull him closer.

“Are feeling okay?” he couldn’t help but ask, a hint of worry in his beautiful eyes.

“Better than ever.”

“Good.”

Tony planted a kiss on Stephen’s lips, relishing in the fact that he could do that now. They were … lovers? Boyfriends? Mates? They probably needed to talk about their relationship soon, but judging by Stephen’s smile and sweet scent, he was feeling the same. They could bask in it a little bit more before playing grownups and having a serious conversation about where this was all going.

“Didn’t think having sex with a vampire would be so fucking exhausting,” Tony said.

“You’ll get used to it,” Stephen replied before realizing what he just said and stammering: “I mean… If you want to. You don’t have to, of course. But if you want…”

“I want to.”

Stephen exhaled in relief.

“I want you too.”

Maybe it wasn’t, but to Tony’s ear (and heart), this sounded like a declaration of love, like the sweetest unsaid I love you. It was all over Stephen’s scent.

“Sooooo,” Tony said with a smile in his voice to hide how serious he was. “Does that mean my free trial period at the Sanctum is extended to something more … permanent?”

A smile tugged at Stephen’s lips.

“This is your home as much as you want it to be.”

“Good thing, because I’m not leaving. You’re my pack now.”

And he meant it. He just didn’t think he was going to say it this soon. Damn, they really needed to have a serious conversation about their relationship, their strange little pack they were creating (the pack Tony was craving, the one he wanted, and the one he felt he had with Stephen). But they should talk about it, at least, and not blurt it out, out of nowhere. Stephen was going to think he was crazy and reject him.

But Stephen didn’t correct him, didn’t reject him. He smiled sweetly, leaned closer to drop a soft kiss on Tony’s lips.

“Of course I am.”

Then he stood up, leaving the poor werewolf a bit dazed by all of it.

“You should get dressed,” Stephen said like he hadn’t broken Tony’s mind in the most beautiful way ever. “Peter is here with some friends. They want breakfast way too early for a Sunday morning, but the pup is too adorable to refuse.”

At the mention of Peter, Tony recovered quickly.

“Did he use his big puppy eyes on you?”

“Maybe…”

Tony burst out laughing and Stephen almost blushed.

“Shut up,” he said with no hate whatsoever in his words. “I should get back out there before they destroy the Sanctum with the Cloak’s help. Come join us in the kitchen when you’re ready, love.”

The vampire left the bedroom, but left a beaming smile on Tony’s lips. Now that he was a little bit more awake, he could pick out the delighted sounds from the Sanctum, the laughter from the pups, the familiar scent of warmth and home and family lingering in the air.

Yes, they needed to talk about it but they were already a big family. A pack, now. Tony’s heart soared.

He was happy.