Steve was sure he’d died and in heaven.
He was on his back, with Tony straddling his lap, shirtless and gorgeous. Steve’s hands wandered feverishly over his skin, mapping the dips and curves of his shoulders and arms, needing more, more, more.
”God, you’re gorgeous,” Tony said in a low, hoarse voice. His cheeks were flushed and he was panting, just like Steve.
This thing between them had been brewing for ages until one time, instead of yelling at Tony about his stupid, self-sacrificing tendencies, Steve had let out a frustrated growl and kissed him. Hard. To his eternal relief, Tony had kissed back. What had followed, was a couple of surprisingly sweet dates and now they were here. In Tony’s bedroom. In their underwear. And more than a little turned on.
He could hardly believe it. The infamous genius Tony Stark was writhing on his lap like he couldn’t get enough of him. It was like a dream come true—Tony was here, with him.
So, if this was all he’d been dreaming about, where did this sense of impending doom come from?
”What’s wrong?” Tony asked, pushing himself to sit up. His hands kept moving slowly but it felt gentler, comforting.
To his mortification, Steve felt his cheeks flush. ”It’s… uh…”
Tony cocked his head. ”What?” He raised a brow. ”Are you a virgin? Is that it?”
Steve winced.
Tony’s eyes widened. ”Holy shit,” he whispered and his hands stilled.
”I’m not,” Steve snapped and turned his head to avoid Tony’s gaze. He felt his erection wilt and all of a sudden, Tony’s weight didn’t feel such a turn-on anymore. Instead, it was confining, almost claustrophobic.
”Hey,” Tony said softly. ”Steve, look at me. Please.” His fingers touched Steve’s cheek carefully and Steve leaned on the touch, closing his eyes. ”I’m sorry, honey. That was inconsiderate of me,” Tony said seriously. ”I absolutely didn’t mean it to sound like I was making fun of you but it failed. I’m sorry.”
Steve bit his lip and took a deep breath. He could to this. Yeah.
He swallowed and faced Tony again.
”Hi,” Tony said and gave him a small smile.
Steve huffed, feeling stupid. ”Hi.”
”Okay, so, we’re not doing this like… this,” Tony said, waving his arms between them. ”Not that I don’t enjoy sitting on your lap—because trust me, I do enjoy it—but I don’t want to have this conversation when I’m looming over you. I don’t want you to feel crowded.” Then he paused and rolled his eyes at himself. ”Even though I know that you could remove me with your left pinky, it’s the thought that counts.” He moved to kneel on the bed beside Steve. ”Now. Chop chop, soldier, sit up.”
Slightly bemused, Steve sat up and then scooted back until his back hit the headboard. ”Um, okay?”
Tony watched him for a moment. ”Are we moving too fast? Because if Little Captain was anything to go by, I thought we were moving at an excellent pace. But sometimes our downstairs isn’t up to speed with our upstairs—or vice versa, whatever—which can lead to unpleasant moments in the near future. And I’d rather not have those. Unpleasant moments, I mean, not if I can do something to avoid them.” He stopped, looking at Steve expectantly.
Steve blinked a couple of times and then said, ”Please never call my dick ’Little Captain’ ever again.”
Tony pursed his lips, fighting back a smile. ”But? I’m sensing a but here.”
Steve shrugged, feeling the strange need to cover his lap. ”I just…” He dropped his gaze to his hands and mumbled, ”What if I’m bad at it and you’ll be disappointed?”
For a moment, Tony didn’t say anything. Steve didn’t want to look at him, fearing he’d see exasperation or even worse, pity in his eyes. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he almost jumped when Tony reached out and twined their fingers together. He looked up to meet Tony’s eyes and saw only patience.
”I don’t think anyone is bad at sex,” Tony said slowly. ”I mean, sure, some people might know more tricks than others but they’re just tricks.” He shrugged. ”Without feelings, they don’t mean much. Oh, right, and then there’s that whole thing where the other party is totally into it and the other isn’t but that’s not sex, that’s rape.” He fell silent for a moment, then squeezed Steve’s hand and gave him a lopsided grin. ”I’m gonna take a guess here, so bear with me, okay? So, I can’t be sure, of course, because despite all my genius I haven’t mastered the art of mind-reading yet, but I bet you were thinking something along the lines of me having a go with half of New York and you… not so much—which is totally fine, by the way, I don’t care—but anyway, it made you believe you’d need to know at least half as much as I do for me to have a good time. But, Steve, honey, that’s not how it works.
”Everyone is bad at sex at first. Because you just can’t know everything about a new partner at the first go. Which, by the way, goes to yourself, too. You can’t know what you like and you can’t tell your partner unless you find out.”
Steve’s cheeks were burning but he ignored it and cleared his throat. ”Are you ordering me to masturbate?”
Tony let out a delighted laugh. ”Sure I am,” he said with a wink, raised their joined hands to his lips, and pressed a kiss on Steve’s knuckles.
”But what I’m saying is this: you don’t have to try to impress me, Steve. I don’t need that. All I’m asking is that you let me be close to you at the pace you feel comfortable with. If it’s just making out for now, that’s okay. If it’s more, then that’s okay too.”
Steve stared at him, then at their joined hands. Then he decided his lap felt empty and cold. ”Come here,” he said and tugged Tony until he was once again in his lap and Steve’s hands rested on his hips.
”How is it possible that your lap is more comfortable than my handcrafted, custom-made mattress?” Tony complained but his eyes were tender and a small smile played on his lips.
Steve closed the distance and kissed him, feeling how Tony melted to his touch. Somehow, it was even better than the heated making out just moments before.
When he finally came up for air, he buried his face in the crook of Tony’s neck. ”Thank you,” he mumbled and felt Tony’s answering smile against his skin.
Neither of them was hard anymore but it didn’t matter. They’d have time to get back to that later.