A Bond Must be Stroked
Your fingers softly danced along the single unmarked shoulder of his sleeping figure, endlessly tracing over the contours of your name dripping across his skin.
It's silly, truly, how often you find yourself enamored with the precise script looping into his pale, toned flesh.
You had grimaced the first time you'd seen it, your name penned down against his skin as if it had always been there, simply waiting for your pale (E/C) eyes to find it somewhere between a dream and reality, and he had tried to hide it from you with a claim that it meant nothing.
You felt a prickle of hurt dance under your skin at the remark, but you let it be, doing your best to deflect as the name seared into your inner forearm burned with pain.
But of course, you would happen upon your soul bonded mate only to discover that he did not want you the same way you had been searching for him the entire morbid time.
"Tony Stark."
Such an insufferable man of genius, dishonesty, and above all else, too much pride.
His name was written into your skin with a quick scrawl and it reminded you of just how much it suited him.
His brain tended to work ten times faster than any else you had ever met, even your own, and he was quickly moving from one project to the next.
It was hard to believe that this idol, this man, was initially assumed to be your bonded.
You'd always wanted someone sweet and kind, gentle with you the way a florist handles a bouquet of delicate roses- Tony was not the gentle kind.
In fact, he'd ignored you the moment he was aware that your souls were meant to be together.
He had defied fate and death time and time again, of course he could defeat this- this- what was this?
As much as you tried your best to contain yourself in his presence, it was hard when his bond was subconsciously calling out to you, reaching into the fissure he created to try and coil around your soul.
You kept yourself back, time and time again, keeping your heart fettered to the ground as tiny fingers typed away on the keypad at over 100 words a minute.
Why Shield felt you'd make a good handler for Iron Man was beyond you, but there was an inkling of suspicion that Nick Fury knew.
Your skin crawled as you spoke into the intercom pressed and hidden firmly in your ear, the coffee cup beside you long since cold as you inconspicuously spoke into the mic.
"Tony, what are you doing- you need to come back now. I don't think it's safe."
The concern flooded through you due to the bond and not of your own volition, but of course it was.
You cared for him, hurt for him, would take a bullet to save him if need be.
He spoke again, a wry smirk in his tone before the explosion occurred and the signal became lost.
The day Tony was taken was the day your heart cracked under the weight of unexpressed emotions.
You'd never tell him how broken you were when you felt your bond momentarily sever itself to save you from feeling his pain, but you were sure that Steve had given him the information eventually.
Even now, you kept that part of you as tucked away and out of sight as possible, trying to keep hidden the agony that wrecked you for weeks until he was found.
Tony never spoke on it, but his bond would turn soothing and wrap around you the same way his arms would.
You stroke his arms then, much as you are now, your index transfixed on the fact that as scarred as he was from battles, Tony's shoulder remained smooth and untouched safe for your magnificent signature.
" 'sstop... tickles.." He grumbled childishly and crinkled his nose, his beard slightly shaved down with his deep brunette locks messily brushing against the bed when he moved his head.
A grin flitted across your lips before you brushed your fingers across his shoulder and up along his Adam's Apple, your eyes crinkling up the moment his opened.
He groggily groaned out a few unintelligible words before reaching to snatch at your wrist.
You let him, not a doubt in your mind that he would do nothing but love and cherish you now that you had both relinquished the fear of the unknown.
He caressed along your vein before softly tugging you closer to him, his lips puckering up slightly.
You rolled your eyes and smiled, ducking down to peck at his lips and nudge your noses together.
"Mm.. sweet like cherries." Such a silly man you had grown to love, your bond trembling pleasantly under the affection.
You kissed him again and snuggled in closer to his chest, your free hand gently tracing over the arch reactor.
A quiet sigh rumbled in his chest as he released your wrist to reach in further, calloused fingers brushing over his name etched into your soft skin.
You couldn't help the quiet moan that escaped you.
Stroking a bond is the quickest way to quelling any tension, easing any pain, and you enjoyed it wholeheartedly.