IronHawk (Three)
MASTERLIST HERE
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“So doc, what's the verdict? Can I go back on my pills yet?”
Tony sat in his doctor's office, ankle crossed over knee, fingers tapping anxiously. The last few weeks had been… trying. It seemed like every day he became more sensitive to everything. Smells that never bothered him now made him sneeze. Certain fabrics irritated his skin. He couldn't remember the last time he slept more than an hour or two, because his bed felt big and empty and foreign.
And he was overly...aware. Of everything.
The way Natasha smelled of satisfaction and pride after a night with Pepper sent longing zinging through his body. The way the Witch's hips moved as she tried to catch Bruce's attention made him want to do the same to-NOPE don't think that. Even the way the Captain couldn't quite stop the red in his eyes after a battle made Tony ache for the presence of an Alpha.
And that was the whole issue. While on suppressants, everything had been muted, even if he hadn't realized it. The dynamics between any couple, much less alpha/omega pairs had been something he couldn't care less about. But now it was all he could think about.
And Clint had persisted in basically ignoring Tony. Their easy, teasing friendship from before had disappeared since Tony's-let's just call it an incident. Since the incident- and it didn't help that Tony was feeling like he was hard wired to Clint’s presence.
Every time the archer entered a room, Tony wanted to sit up, straighten his clothes, bare his neck. And Hawkeye had ignored it all. To the point where other people were starting to notice. Natasha had asked twice if everything was okay between them, and so had Steve. Hawkeye had simply shrugged and ignored the questions.
Tony wanted to cry every time.
It was… god it was annoying. So annoying in fact, he had consulted a doctor who specialized in male omegas to see if it was normal. After learning that he had been on suppressants since shortly after his fourteenth birthday, she had immediately ordered a battery of tests, and told him to return in a week to discuss them.
“So?!” He asked again, feeling yet another migraine coming on. They had been a daily companion since his incident.
“Tony.” Dr. Leizl sat back in her chair and watched him sympathetically. “You will need to be off suppressants for a while. Possibly forever. The tests are showing-”
Tony closed his eyes. Please god no.
“-extensive damage from the suppressants.” She opened the file on her desk. “In fact, you started taking them so young, I am actually surprised you developed completely. When young omegas take suppressants before puberty has run it's course, it can lead to stunted growth, mental impairment and psychological unbalance. The fact that you are as brilliant, successful, and-” here her eyes slid over him in appreciation- “well formed, is in itself an amazing anomaly.”
“Yes well, I've always been amazing.” His tone didn't hide his nervousness and she smiled gently.
“Tony. I know the last few weeks haven't been easy. Your body is basically going through what it should have gone through at fourteen. It can take a full year before an omegas body has adjusted. Sometimes longer. You will notice a high sensitivity to almost everything at once. Noises will bother you. Sleeping patterns will be off. I'm sure you have already noticed how emotional you can be. That's all normal. That being said, however.” She leaned across the desk. “Tony, your omega is automatically going to seek out an Alpha, even if it's just a friend. And the urge to bond is going to be… very very strong. I can't stress enough how slowly you need to take that step.”
“I don't need a bondmate.” He said with a sigh and the Doctor shook her head sympathetically.
“But your omega does. You've spent your whole life living on your own and you are fine with it. But biologically wise your omega is still brand new. The drive to find a mate is strong. Just… take it slow.”
“I'll try to restrain myself.” He scoffed.
“Fine then. Moving on. Instead of one heat a year-” Tony visibly flinched and she pursed her lips- “you will probably have three or four, but as many as six or seven in the next six months until things even out.”
“What?” She couldn't possible be serious. “I have to go through that every few weeks for the next SIX MONTHS?!?”
“Of course that number could be drastically shortened if you have an Alpha help you through them. Not a mate, mind you, just an unattached Alpha.”
“An alpha.” Shit, his headache was full blown now. “I don't have an Alpha.” Clint is not my alpha.
“I understand that.” With a perfectly neutral expression she slid a few pamphlets his way. “There are places that can help with that. Omega friendly hotels and the like. I understand that emotionally, a bonded mate will make a heat a thousand times easier, but at the risk of being crude, any knot will do. Even an anonymous one. And actually, most omegas that use an Alpha consistently only have a heat that lasts a day or two. Heat is your body's way of trying to be-”
“If you say bred I am leaving.” Tony snapped, crossing his arms and turning away.
“Then I won't. But heat exists for the purpose of conceiving. That's why a dildo won't get the job done.” She shrugged, but not with malice. “Of course you can be on birth control and use condoms to avoid anything unfortunate , but a heat will always be easier with an Alpha.”
“Ok.” Tony took a deep breath. “Thank you, for… this.”
“Tony.” She reached across and took his hand, and he hated himself for leaning in towards the touch. “I know this is difficult. Call me with any questions or if you just need a safe place to vent.” And then with a completely unprofessional smirk, “and after your heats pass, call me for a date.”
Tony laughed out loud. Omega or not, at least he could still pull pussy all day long.
******* “How was your doctor appointment?” Pepper handed Tony a bottle of water before dropping onto the couch next to him. Needing to be touched, he held his hand out, and she obliged by linking their fingers together, scooting closer so their sides touched.
He took a long drink before answering. “She thinks I might never be able to be on suppressants again. Said that I'm lucky that I'm not… deformed or something because I started taking them so young.”
“Oh Tony.” Pepper murmured, rubbing her cheek on his shoulder.
“And also, I could have as many as six or seven heats in the next six months, as my body tried to adjust and catch up.”
“Wow, six or seven? I only have two a year!”
“Two? She said most omegas have one.”
“I am overly fertile.” Pepper replied with a wink. “And older than most omegas who have never been pregnant. My biology is trying to force breed me.” She chuckled, and Tony just stared at her in horror. “What? Tony we can talk about this now!” She moved even closer, slotting herself against his body in a way that made him want to purr. “In fact, we could have always talked about this. You were always just so closed off about it.”
Tony made a sound of agreement, snuggling into her and closing his eyes. Her heartbeat soothed him, quieted his mind, and before he knew it, he was very nearly asleep.
Pepper sat quietly beside him, fingers and arms entwined, her long legs crossed over his lap.
She had watched Tony for many many years, watched him push himself to the brink physically with his Iron Man suits, mentally with his inventions and designs. She had never seen him so emotional though. He was touch starved, after so many years of being standoffish. Touch starved and lonely and confused, feeling like his body was betraying him. She ran her fingers through his spiky hair and frowned.
“Poor Tony.” She whispered.
“I'm not asleep. Please save your condescending tone for when I am officially unconscious.” he mumbled and she squeezed him a little.
“Do you want to move to your room?”
“Why Pepper, are you coming on to me? I feel like Natasha wouldn't approve. Doesn't mean I'm going to say no.” She chuckled. Even with the sarcastically hopeful reply, Tony hadn't lifted his head from her shoulder, the words slightly muffled.
“I just mean that maybe being in your own space might help relax you. You don't want someone walking in while you are feeling cuddly and insecure so you?”
“Now why would anyone assume I'm feeling cuddly and insecure?” He grumbled back and she laughed again.
“Do you want me to call Nat? Sometimes an Alpha can-”
“Call me for what?” The redhead entered the room, taking in the scene with a raised eyebrow.
“Hi.” Pepper smiled and tilted her head up for a kiss from her mate.
“Yes, call Nat for what?” Tony repeated, still not lifting his head. “But the way, I just want to say that Pepper instigated this not me. So don't tear me apart or bite me and carry me back to your web or something.”
Natasha didn't even crack a smile, just grabbed some more water, and sat on the other side of Tony, pressing the bottle into the hand that wasn't wrapped around Pepper.
“I already have a bottle of water.”
“Then drink both.” Both women were still mothering him, and as much as Tony wanted to be annoyed, he actually loved it. Natasha had never had any patience for someone who needed help, and after years of being his assistant, Pepper just had no patience where Tony was concerned at all. It was a nice change from their usual exasperation, so Tony saluted a little and cracked the second water bottle, taking a long drink.
Natasha smiled and slid her arm around Tony's back and shifted him towards her, leaning back as she did, until they were both lying sideways on the couch. Pepper switched sides, moving so Natasha could lay her head in her lap. Tony ended up with his nose and mouth pressed right into the groove of her neck.
“You know, I feel like this isn't what most guys want when they think threesome-”
“Shut up Tony.” Came the mild reply, and with one more shift of her curvy frame, Nat settled against the back of the couch, Tony held firmly against her. “Now breathe.”
“I am breathing-”
“Breathe.” She repeated patiently. Tony rolled his eyes, and took a deep breath in through his nose.
The effect was instantaneous. His muscles unlocked and relaxed, and Tony nearly melted against her. Burrowing closer to her neck he breathed in again, getting a lungful of pure alpha scent. Nat smelled like… licorice? And something dark and thick that made him want to disappear into her. The omega in him seemed to quiet, and for the first time in weeks he didn't feel like he was going crazy.
“Can I sleep here?” He mumbled against her neck and felt her nod. Peppers hand stroked down his back gently.
“Sleep Tony. We are right here.”
****** It was still daylight when he woke up, still being held tight against Natasha, with Pepper running gentle fingers through his hair.
“How are you feeling?” Pepper asked, her pretty eyes concerned.
“Like I've slept all night for the first time in a month.” He yawned and stretched, raising an eyebrow when his chest connected with Natasha’s. “Is this going to be a thing now? Because I am just completely on board with it. Not complaining, can't even tell you how much I- Ooph!”
He stopped talking, breathing out a laugh from where he now lay on the floor. Natasha had calmly and easily pushed him right off the couch, and with very little effort put Pepper in his spot.
“Don't push your luck Stark. I'm not a cuddly type person.” She said dryly, and Peppers soft giggle made him laugh again.
“Well thank you anyway, ladies. What was that anyway? Some Russian voodoo? Was I drugged again?” Tony dragged himself to a recliner and stretched back out.
“You just needed to be held. And an Alpha's scent is very calming, to any omega but especially to an unbonded one. That’s why I asked if you wanted me to call my mate.”
“Interesting. Can I bottle that and just spritz it on when I need a boost?”
Pepper sat up abruptly, pulling Natasha with her. “Get your own, Tony!” She sniped, but winked, and led her mate from the room.
“What is wrong, love?” Came Nat’s low voice as they left, and Pepper just giggled again.
“I just spent an hour watching you hold another omega. And now you have to make it up to me!”
Tony could hear Natasha's growl from where he sat, and had to smile as the two women started running.
When all was quiet again, he decided to head down to the lab. It had been weeks since he had been able to concentrate enough to work, and he had some making up to do. *******
“Hi Dum-E.” he called to his favorite robot. The hapless machine whirred and clicked in robotic excitement and Tony grinned.
“Stark.” Bruce Banners soft voice greeted him from behind one of the computer desks. “It's good to see you up and about.” The genius’s light brown eyes looked him over quickly. “How are you feeling?”
“Better now.” Tony grabbed a screwdriver , tapping it on his palm and deciding which one of the cars he felt like tinkering with. Or maybe one of his suits. “Say Brucie-bear, did you know Alphas have a specific scent just to calm omegas?”
Bruce blinked in surprise. Tony had always been completely unwilling to even talk in general terms about the alpha/omega biology, much less in relation to his own recently rediscovered omega-ness.
“I have heard that each Alpha's scent is generically comforting, but that it is especially effective in bonded pairs. How did you stumble across that factoid?”
“Natasha let me sleep on her.” Tony tossed the screwdriver down, realizing with a disgusted sigh that working on his suit would take him clear across the lab, and he really wanted to be close to the Alpha right now. Really really close to him.
Bruce nearly had to pick his jaw off the floor at Tony's blasé statement. “Sorry, that was Natasha. As in the Black Widow? Let you…what, catnap on her?”
“Yep.” Tony popped the “p” of the word, hopping on the Bruce's desk to sit. “She and Pepper have really… well ever since everything… they've just…” running out of words, and not willing to elaborate, he just shrugged.
“Ah.” Bruce removed his glasses, wiping them on his shirt. “Yes I could imagine that a couple such as them would be invaluable while navigating this new… turn of events. I would imagine you have questions that an Alpha/omega couple would be able to answer easily and truthfully.”
“Brucie.” Tony cocked his head. “You are awfully tactful and diplomatic for someone who, you know, has inspired his own verb.”
“My own verb?” Bruce raised an eyebrow.
“Well yeah. You know… ‘hulking out’.”
A soft laugh. “I wasn't aware that that was a thing.”
“Oh it totally is. We used to call it roid rage but I think you might win the battle for best freak out verb.”
“Ah Tony.” Bruce put a hand on Tony's thigh. “I am very glad you are back to yourself.”
Tony glanced down and smirked. “Why is everyone touching me today?”
“Sorry.” He snatched his hand back, mortified, but Tony caught it before he could pull away completely.
“No, it's fine. Pepper used the phrase ‘touch starved’ to describe me and I have to say, I am understanding what she means. I feel like I must be giving off this vibe that has everybody running to touch or hold me.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “I can't say I mind. Really I don't. So, you know…”
He put the hand back on his thigh, and opened his tablet, quickly losing himself in the schematics for a new suit design. Bruce watched him for a minute, then went back to taking notes, fingers tracing a pattern into Tony's thigh.
The lab was silent for nearly ten minutes before Tony spoke again. “It is surprisingly easy to talk to you about this.”
“Well when I'm not hulking out,” came the deadpan reply. “I consider myself a pretty rational, stable, easy going guy.”
Tony actually laughed at that, and Bruce squeezed his thigh. “Hey Could we switch? Can you play with my hair maybe?” Tony dropped off the desk and onto the floor, crossing his legs. Without skipping a beat, Bruce began running his fingers through the dark hair, disrupting the perfect spikes, nails scratching a little. “Damn Bruce, If I could purr, I totally would.”
Bruce grinned, since Tony was already basically purring, and just quietly enjoyed the contact, and if his eyes flashed green when the billionaire leaned his head closer and hummed contentedly…. well. His Alpha was certainly pleased as well. ******
Clint came looking for Bruce a few hours later, having discovered a glitch in his new bow that caused it to pull to the right when he fired too quickly and for an extended period of time. It had taken an hour of solid shooting before he noticed it, and by then he couldn't be sure that the strain wasn't just his shoulders protesting. Either way, it wasn't a huge deal, but it had the potential to be if a battle was raging and his aim was off by the slightest bit.
Of course he could just compensate for the slight lean, but why would he do that, when the Avengers Tower boasted two of the world's most brilliant men, who could fix the problem and probably add some ridiculous new feature at the same time?
He had, however, been going out of his way to avoid Tony, which is why he was hoping to find Bruce.
Ever since Tony's heat, and Tony's treatment after, Clint had taken his wounded Alpha pride and surprisingly hurt feelings and retreated. Tried hard to avoid common areas. Purposefully took more solo missions than usual. It had always been difficult for him to keep their teasing just on this side of flirty, and his lingering looks just short enough to not make Tony uncomfortable. But now just being around the temperamental omega made him anxious. Half of him wanted to flare his wings, beat his chest and carry Tony off to some mountain cabin to claim him properly. The other half still wanted to cry just a little over the whole shitty deal.
He absofuckinglutely refused to cry, and going Alpha on Tony would only end badly, so he had opted for the third, cowardly, option.
Running and hiding. And it was working fairly well.
With a soft swish the doors to the lab slid open, and he stepped through, pulling the folding bow from the quiver on his back.
“Hey Banner? Listen I was practicing today and noticed-” The words stuck in his chest when he came around the corner and saw Bruce and Tony together.
Jesus.
Bruce was sitting on the floor of the lab, typing one handed on a virtual keyboard, his notes being projected onto a far wall. His other hand was settled comfortably on Tony's chest, directly below the Arc Reactor. Tony's head was in Bruce's lap, his hand resting over the one of his chest, the other pointing out various things on the 3D hologram suspended above his head. Bruce was nodding in agreement at whatever Tony was saying, obviously taking notes, or writing code or whatever geniuses did, and the two looked...cozy.
It hurt. It physically hurt to see that.
Walking through the living room earlier, Clint had caught a whiff of both Natasha and Pepper, and then the now stronger but still so familiar scent of Tony blended in. It had been enough for him to reach for a beer, and finish it before he even got to the bottom of the stairs in an attempt to calm his nerves.
And now this.
“Oh Hawkeye.” Bruce spoke up, jarring Clint from his shocked silence. “I was just thinking about you earlier. You know that new bow I gave you, I was worried that maybe the heavier metal might warp it a little, and cause it to lean, have you---oh look at that.” he smiled. “You already figured it out.”
“Yeah.” Clint managed, but couldn't make himself move another step closer to the pair.
“Well toss it here and let me look at it.” Bruce was speaking perfectly normally, as if his hand wasn’t drawing circles on Tony's chest. As if Tony didn't have his eyes closed and look wonderfully content. “Clint?” Bruce repeated, louder, and Clint realized he had zoned out, been staring without saying anything.
“Oh sorry, yeah, um, I'll just leave it here. You look...busy.”
“Busy?” Bruce looked like he didn't understand, and an impatient sigh came from Tony, who sat up quickly, Bruce's arm resettling around his waist.
“He doesn't want to come closer because I'm here, and now that I'm a fully functioning omega, things are weird between us.” he was challenging Clint, daring him to deny it, or maybe daring him to acknowledge... anything.
“That's ridiculous.” Bruce argued, but then took another look, noticing Hawkeyes stiff posture and distance. “Wait, really? Clint, Tony is still the same person he was two months ago. Being a different sub-gender or going off suppressants doesn't change anything.”
“I think we all know that's bullshit. Things have definitely changed.” came Tony's snorted comment. “But either way, Robin Hood over there is uncomfortable around me now. Which is just like the tiniest bit hypocritical, because when he grew those freakish wings none of us started acting weird. At least my biology was always a part of me. He's now part bird. Literally part bird.”
It was a low blow, calling out Hawk's wings. It's not like he could have refused the gift from the gods, and if Tony was being honest, not only did he think they were gorgeous, he was also fairly jealous. Clint had always been handsome in a rugged, wild kind of way, and Tony's eyes had strayed more than once to his strong form. The wings just.. added to everything about Clint that drove his libido crazy.
But right now he was just hurting, and petty, and Clint needed to leave because for some reason, being in the same room made Tony feel caged in. Caged in and terrified, and damn if he wasn't just the littlest bit turned on staring at those wings, and those shoulders and those blue eyes.
Christ he's looking at me. Tony jerked himself from his thoughts, meeting Clint’s gaze defiantly.
The archer didn't say anything at all, but while Tony and Bruce watched, slowly pulled his wings in, feathers blending together and squeezing behind him until they were gone. It was fairly impressive, the way they were larger than life one moment, and nonexistent the other. Hawkeye didn't look any less intimidating without them, either.
“That really is amazing, Hawk.” Banner said, raising his eyebrows. “I would love the chance to design some armour for-”
Clint set his bow down carefully on a table and walked out the door.
“Clint?” Bruce called, worried, but the man didn't stop, and the door swished shut behind him.
Tony huffed out a breath and went to lay back down, but Bruce shifted away. “Tony, is there something you need to talk about? Did something happen with you and Clint? Does it really have something to do with you being off your suppressants?” his voice was soft, but his questions were serious.
“No. Can you go back to rubbing my chest or something?” Tony inched closer. “I really need to be--just right now-- can you please-” he took a deep shaky breath, feeling something like a panic attack coming on. “Bruce I need--”
“Hey. Hey!” Bruce cupped his jaw, and slid one hand to the back of Tony's neck, grounding him against the wave of panic. “Focus. I won't stop touching you, but we need to talk about this.”
“Ok.” Tony panted, his heart rate slowing down now that Bruce was touching him again. “Ok. Lets talk.” he took a deep breath, in through his mouth, out through his nose, in through his mouth, out through his nose.
“So...Clint helped me through my heat last month.”
“WHAT?!”
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