Warnings: Swearing, Refrence to previous chapters light smut,
Waking up after my short nap, was one of THE most wonderful and peaceful experiences that I had ever experienced in my life. I was aware of my surroundings, but I kept my eyes closed and breathing even, as I laid on my human pillow in complete bliss. All of my muscles were fully relaxed for the first time since Clint and Steve had left on their mission. I can say with full honesty that I was happy.
There were large fingers gently carding through my hair, which caused me to hum in contentment. My one weakness had been found. Having my hair played with was my kryptonite. I would agree to anything if my hair was being played with. The hard muscles underneath my cheek were firm and warm, as they rose and fell in time with my own breathing. Not only that, but the body heat that Steve was radiating was keeping me plenty warm. So much so in fact, that even in my state of partial undress I didn't need a blanket. Which was a usual must for me. I loved being surrounded by blankets, and their coziness. It was like being wrapped in a perpetual hug.
I remembered every wonderful moment that led up to me falling asleep. So I knew that it was Steve who I was currently laying on top of. He didn't seem to mind it though. If the way he was playing with my hair, and the quiet song he was humming was anything to go by, I would say he actually enjoyed having me laying atop him. Slowly I opened my eyes, and was greeted to the splendidly flawless sight of a shirtless Steve Rogers. Granted I was still in my bra and underwear, and not looking nearly as sexy as that hunk of man flesh (in my own opinion). But at least I wasn't alone in my state of undress.
His muscles were beyond compare. I mean they were large, firm, and somehow unmarred by the test of time. They made my mouth water. I stared at them wistfully for a moment, because sadly, I didn't have time to touch them to my hearts content right now. When I turned my head so that my chin was resting on his chest. Our eyes made contact, my brown to his blue. It was as if the world stopped spinning, as I gazed into the bottomless depths of his irises. They showed all of the kindness and love that he held in his heart and soul. I don't know what I did to deserve this man, but I was selfish, and would do anything to keep him.
"Hey doll, how was your nap?." He asked me with a warm hearted smile on his face. I almost purred like a kitten, as he continued to run his fingers through my hair.
"Hey honey, it was wonderful." I replied honestly. I blinked my eyes a few times to adjust to the light, and being awake.
You would think I had just awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize with the way he was smiling down at me. "What?" I questioned him as I blushed. To distract myself from his intense stare, I started to use my finger to draw little designs on his chest. Looking into that thousand watt smile for prolonged periods of time had to be either really bad for my health, or really good for it.
"I like that." He simply said.
"Like what?" I was so confused. Me, when I've just woken up, is not a very smart me. It usually takes me about thirty minutes to really get my brain going, and to become the smart and witty person that most people love to hate.
Instead of being aggravated that I wasn't following his train of thought, he simply looked endeared. "Honey. I liked it when you called me honey."
"Oh!" I blushed. "Well you are. My honey that is. Right?" I gazed into his eyes waiting for his answer. Though deep down I felt I knew it. His verbal confirmation would make me feel a lot more secure in our budding relationship.
He sat up and pulled me with him, so that I was sitting next to him. Now that I wasn't pressed up against his body, the air was starting to make me feel cold. I started to reach behind me for my red throw blanket that was currently on the back of the couch, but he beat me to it. With precise movements, I was soon in a cocoon of warmth once again.
"Oh yes doll. I'm all yours, NEVER doubt that." He kissed my forehead lovingly, before he got up off the couch.
"What are you doing?" I tried to get up to follow him, but he shot me a look that was so, "I'm Captain America, you had better do as I say," that I stopped moving immediately. I decided not to fight him on the whole getting up thing. Especially when he had that look on his face. Instead, I simply settled back into the couch cushions and got comfy.
He didn't answer me at first, but I watched him as he walked around the room. Every few feet he would stop to pick up a discarded clothing item. A shirt here, a sock there, my pants from behind the TV, until he had all of our clothes in his arms.
"I thought you might want to get dressed?" He asked me. This man was so different from the dominant one I had encountered a few hours ago. This Steve was sweet, caring, and gentle. All he wanted to do was take care of me and make me comfortable. The Steve from before, wasn't the side of Steve I was seeing now. That side was more like the Captain part of him. He was firm, demanding, commanding, and possessive. But he also took care of me. I didn't fear that side of him. Oh no. I liked it, maybe I liked it a little too much. But it didn't matter to me. Steve, Captain, Captain Steve, Captain America. I liked all sides of him so far.
"That would be nice. Thank you." I said honestly as I took my clothes from him. "I just need to get a new change of underwear. Will you be alright out here for a few minutes?"
He smiled at me indulgently, as I stood before him shuffling from one foot to the other. "I'll be fine sweetheart. You go get comfortable." With a nod, I turned around and scurried to my bedroom. It was easy enough to pretend not to hear the groan and mumbled "fuck" from behind me as I walked away.
Once I was in my room, I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding. Hastily, I dropped my clothes from earlier to the floor, before walking over to my dresser. From there, I pulled out a new set of underwear, my favorite AC/DC T-shirt, and a pair of black leggings. Getting dressed was the easy part. Now I had to deal with all the thoughts that were swirling around in my mind.
I know that I wanted the second bonding to happen between Steve and I. As well as between Tony and I eventually. I was just surprised that Steve was willing to do it so easily. What with coming from the forties, I thought he would want to do things the old fashioned way. I guess when it comes to bonding with your mate(s), some things never change. I definitely want to talk to Steve about his thoughts on everything though. In fact, I would probably bring it up today, if not tomorrow if he didn't say something first.
As I walked back out to the living room, I heard music playing. I tried to stifle my laughter when I realized what it was. Somehow Steve had found my iPod and turned on my Classic Rock playlist. This was my everything playlist. If I was having a bad day, cleaning, working, or even going for a long drive. No matter what mood I was in, this playlist always made my day go from better to AWESOME, or from bad to Great!
I leaned against the wall that led to my living room and simply watched Steve as he tried to figure out my sound system. I had everything from modern rock to older rock on there, and he seemed curious about the whole thing. "Black Betty" came blaring through the speakers a second later, and I couldn't help but laugh when he jumped a bit.
"Here, let me." I told him, as I walked over to him, and turned my iPod off.
"I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting that." He said as we walked over to the couch. I swiftly claimed my corner seat so that I could curl my feet underneath me, then wrapped my red blanket around me. Steve took the other corner, and we both angled our bodies so that we were facing each other. "You and Tony have the same taste in music."
"Really?" I was happy about this. I should have been surprised. But I wasn't. I had seen him wear a Black Sabbath T-shirt after all.
"Oh yes. He blasts it in all of the labs, all the time, and if you try to turn it down. . ." He fake shuddered. "It's your funeral."
"It can't be that bad." I said while giggling.
"Oh it is." Steve was making an exaggerated horror face. "I made the mistake of turning it down once, and I'll never do it again."
"What happened?"
"It rained down hellfire." He said with such a serious face, that I couldn't help but laugh. "I'm not joking! He loves his rock music! It's like his child or something! "
"Somehow I can definitely see that." I said with a smile on my face.
A comfortable silence fell around us as I laid my head back against the backrest of the couch. Steve was looking at me and I was looking at him. Thankfully it wasn't an awkward silence. We both had a smile on our face, and the silence was a comfortable one. Not one that you felt the need to fill with noise or unnecessary chatter.
"I wanted to you know." Steve spoke up suddenly, jolting me out of my peaceful thoughts.
"I'm sorry?" I asked him ineliquently.
"Why don't I just start from the beginning?" Steve moved closer to me, and grabbed one of my hands to hold in his own. I hadn't paid it any attention before, but my hand was dwarfed by his. By dwarfed, I mean completely and utterly covered. To me, in a way, it was reassuring. Like his hands and mine together were the embodiment of our relationship. He would always protect me, and I would always be there to hold him.
"Okay. That sounds good, since I'm still as confused as a crayon in a colored pencil box about what you are talking about." I told him. I figured after he told me what he wanted to tell me, I could bring up the second bonding, and my thoughts on it.
"When Clint told me that he had done the second bonding with you, I was furious at first." I was genuinely surprised. I honestly thought that I would be the one to bring up our second bonding, not Steve. "But after he explained that he gave you pleasure and you didn't reciprocate, I was fine with it. After all, only half of the bonding was complete. I just didn't want him to take advantage of you after the whole J.A.R.V.I.S. disaster. He explained that he 'simply wanted to be able to tell if you were in danger', and I could understand that. When we were on our mission and had a spare moment, I would look at the texts you would send me. They not only made me smile, but I would wonder about you and how you were doing. Just like I hoped you were doing with me. Is she safe? Did she get enough sleep? How was her work day? Has she had enough to eat? These thoughts practically drove me mad. I couldn't respond to your messages, neither could Clint, and it was the worst form of torture imaginable. Being away from you with no contact." He took a deep breath as he relived his time away from me. When I looked at his face, he looked sad, and his eyes were far away and unseeing. He may be talking to me, but at the moment, he had one foot in his memories, and the other in the present with me.
"On our way home, Clint pulled me to the side and we talked shop for a bit. I'm sure you can guess that talk of our work didn't last very long. Soon we were talking about you. I asked him what bonding with you was like, and he refused to give me any details. Saying it was 'just between the two of you'. However he did tell me one thing. He told me that 'seeing you in the throws of passion was one of the most beautiful things in the world'. After that, not only was I missing you, just like I had been the whole time I was gone. But I decided that as soon as I got back, I wanted to do part of the second bonding with you. As long as you consented of course." He said while blushing. I don't know how this man could blush after the things we did, but it just made him all the more cute and perfect.
"I wanted to bond with you too Steve." I said quietly. Like he was coming out of a fog, he shook his head and smiled at me. "I decided that I wanted to be connected to you like I am with Clint, almost as soon as you had left. I know I want to bond with Tony soon as well, but right here, right now. I'm happy to be with you." I was blushing like crazy, and he was just grinning at me with a twinkle in his eye.
"I'm happy to be with you too doll." Steve placed a kiss on my forehead, and I leaned my body into his. "Did you enjoy it?"
"Oh yes, I enjoyed it very much. What about you honey?"
"I could listen to you call me that all day. You don't even have to ask, yes. I enjoyed pleasuring you very much." I blushed as he said this. He could definitely sweet talk the ladies that's for sure.
"Do you want to stay for a bit and watch a movie with me? I can make us some popcorn and we can just relax until you have to go?" It was like I had jinxed it, because right at that second his phone went off. "You could ignore it?" I said hopefully, but even as I was saying it, I knew he couldn't. He was a Super Hero, and when the world needs saving. My soulmates are called. I wasn't upset, just sad that our time for the day was coming to a close.
With a tender look at me, he got up off the couch, and grabbed his cell phone. I hadn't even noticed that he had set it on my coffee table earlier. He walked to the corner of my living room to have some privacy for his call, so I laid back on the couch and closed my eyes. I had no clue why I was so tired, but it felt wonderful to rest my eyes again. Some time passed with Steve talking in the background, and when it went silent, I knew that my time with him was up.
"You have to go huh?" I looked at him, and he came over to me, and took what was becoming a very familiar position. He was knelt on the ground so his head was level with mine. Then he reached out to cup one of my cheeks with his hand.
"Unfortunately. A rookie messed up some of their paperwork, so I have to go and give a full debrief, as well as check the whole STRIKE teams mission reports. Trust me doll, I would rather be here with you any day."
"Let me walk you out." I started to get up off the couch, but was halted in my progress by a hand pressing down on my shoulder.
"Don't you worry about it doll, I can show myself out. You get some rest. Your body is still adjusting to the first half of the second bondings." He spoke so compassionately, and looked at me so fondly that I couldn't find it in me to argue.
"Only if you're sure." I worried my bottom lip as I looked slightly up at him.
"Don't worry doll, I'm sure."
"When will I see you again?" I asked him. What with Tony going M.I.A. for a few days with Bruce, and him and Clint having only just gotten back. I wanted to make sure that I would see him again soon. Hopefully I would be seeing Clint soon as well.
"Don't worry doll, you'll be seeing me again real soon. I promise." With a kiss to my forehead, he pulled the blankets around me tighter. "Good-bye for today doll. Get some rest."
"Bye honey." I called after him sadly, as I watched him walk to my front door and leave. With thoughts of blue eyes and firm pecs in my mind, I closed my eyes to get a little shut eye. My body needed to adjust to having partially bonded with another one of my mates, and some rest was just what I needed.
Thanks to everyone who is reading and voting on my story! You are the muses that inspire me!