Sentinel/Guide AU for starkingenuity

[starspangledspandex]

Things have been going remarkably well between them. Even if the beginning was somewhat rocky, their compatibility was obvious and not just to them. Steve was old-fashioned and though his instincts made it clear what they wanted, he did things the "right" way. There were dates and gifts and just general wooing. They talked about it and they were ready.

He smiled at Tony, watching him as he worked and couldn't stand it anymore. "Tonight," he said, then added, for clarity, "We should bond tonight."

Maybe not the most romantic proposal but he figured he shouldn't smother Tony in it anyway or the man would get sick of it. No the rarity made it special.

Comments

[starkingenuity]

Oh Tony didn't mind the wooing inwardly though he did have to bust on the Captain every time he brought him flowers or left him a card when he was busy beating out the dents in his suit (or some other piece of metal that had gotten crunched during the attack on New York) and was too busy for lunch. He had never expected to meet a Sentinel he was so compatible with while saving the world, while he was seriously dating someone he loved, or just before they both almost died but science and biology didn't really have rules for that.

He still remembered, almost fondly, how they had been yelling at one another on the bridge of the helicarrier, male posturing and chest thumping one moment, and the next, eyes locked, they both just knew.

In Steve's day, there would be courting, marriage and then bonding. In the twenty-first century there was usually less circumstance. You can't fight biology and compatibility like that and most Guides and Sentinels got to it pretty quickly wherever they could make a nest and the details were hashed out later.

At least this dating thing allowed Tony to break it off cleanly with Pepper. She understood how it was, or said she did, but normals didn't really get it. How could they when there was no feral, biological imperative to find your other half?

So things had been going slow. Tony was pretty much all blue balls all the time but he liked Steve and kept liking him each and every dinner or movie they went to. It was probably strange for Guides these days to like the Sentinels they bond with first but hey, why not be old fashioned for once?

He was in the middle of welding when Steve decided that tonight, on their six month anniversary (JARVIS reminded him that morning) that it was the night. He almost welded his leg in surprise and turned to look fully at the blond.

"Is bond old man speak for bumper bowling or mini golf? Or do you mean actual bonding?"

New Thread line!

[starkingenuity]

"They won't do anything," Tony countered, sitting up immediately to try and stand. That was a lot harder than he thought it might be and his mind swam behind his eyes as he leaned heavily on the back of the couch. "Not if you stay here with me. They'll never touch you...or your bondmate...again."

The others would have been alerted by now. Bucky couldn't stop them all and he wouldn't leave his Sentinel. Probably.

His programming might allow him to in ways that Steve's could not. Tony wasn't really sure how that all worked, Banner was their go man on that one. "You belong with me, Steve Rogers! I've been waiting half a century for you!"