Chapter Text
“Tony!” The cry echoes through the dark, lonely house, and Tony’s head jerks up. Hurriedly, he slams shut the book he had been reading, and rolls off the bed he had been reading on. Kneeling on the ground,, he lifts the mattress from the bedframe and slides the book underneath. Tony lets the mattress fall to cover it just as he hears footsteps reach the top of the stairs.
He jumps to his feet and is walking towards the door when it opens with enough force to slam into the opposite wall.
“There you are, boy.” Howard Stark looks down at his fifteen-year-old son with a faint sneer on his features.
Tony looks down at the ground, knowing better than to meet his Alpha father’s gaze.
“You are to come when I call you, is that understood?” Howard snaps as he reaches out to grab Tony’s chin in a vicious grip, tilting it upwards.
Tony winces at the painful grip, then nods as well as he can. Howard’s eyes narrow for a second, then he abruptly drops his hand, releasing Tony’s chin, and looks around the room. Tony returns his gaze to the floor, which is why he is taken by surprise when Howard suddenly raises his hand and brings it down in a vicious slap.
Tony rocks backward from the force of the blow, only just managing to remain on his feet, as Howard snarls, "Is that understood?!"
"Yes." Tony replies quickly, then cringes at his mistake, even as Howard brings up his hand for another slap. Tony falls to the ground this time, on his hands and knees.
"Yes, sir." Howard growls.
"Yes, sir." Tony corrects himself quietly, remaining on the floor with his eyes downcast.
Howard continues to look around the bedroom, which contains only the barest minimums- a bed, chest of drawers, and a side-table, along with a door leading to a small bathroom. Tony has to force himself not to look over at the bed, knowing that Howard would become suspicious. The last thing Tony needs is for Howard to find the books he had hidden under the mattress. The punishment he would receive for having learned to read, not to mention stealing his father’s books, would make any other beating Tony had received look gentle.
Finally, Howard completes his examination of the room, and looks down at Tony contemptuously.
"Come along, then." He says as he turns and leaves the room.
Tony scrambles to his feet and hurries out the door after Howard.
Howard doesn't even glance back as he starts down the stairs, but that's no surprise. In fact, Tony would have been surprised if he had acknowledged Tony's presence. After all, one does not acknowledge objects.
Tony is careful to stay three steps behind his father, as is expected of any Omega, but doesn't fall too far back, as that would infuriate Howard.
Howard reaches the end of the stairs and turns down a corriddor. His shoes clack against polished wood floors as he passes dull oil prints and locked wooden doors.
Tony follows, still three feet back with his eyes downcast. He looks up in surprise, however, when Howard addresses him.
“There’s someone I want you to meet.” Howard says, without turning.
Howard often has visitors, because of his work, but only rarely has Tony met them. And then, usually, it’s by accident. They go into the wrong room, or they bump into Tony on one of his excursions to the kitchen for food or to the West Wing to visit with the other Omegas that Howard owns. The punishments for such accidents had been severe. Howard didn’t want his son’s Omega status broadcasted, not unless it served a purpose, that is.
Tony begins to get nervous as he wonders what reason Howard has to introduce him to his visitors.
So lost in his thoughts is he that Tony barely realizes that Howard had continued.
“… business partner. Or rather, potential business partner.” Howard is saying when Tony returns his attention to the man, as well as his gaze to the floor. “That’s where you come in.”
Oh. Okay. That makes more sense. It is not uncommon for the marrying off of an Omega to be part of a business deal. In fact, it is very common.
This knowledge does nothing to ease Tony’s worry. If anything, he becomes even more nervous.
Is this it, then?
He had only turned 15 a week ago, and his mating cycle would begin any day now. This was usually when Omegas were ‘married’ to the Alphas they would belong to for the rest of their lives.
Tony knew this, and he had realized, distantly, that Howard was probably finding an Alpha for him, but the actual event was something else entirely.
‘I wonder what they’re like?' Tony thinks nervously. ‘Are they young? Old? Male? Female? Male is more likely, but who knows? How will they act? How will they treat me?’
Before Tony has too long to freak out about what his new Alpha would be like, Howard comes to a stop in front of a door that Tony knows leads to the living room. Howard turns to face Tony, his expression deadly serious. “If you make me look like an idiot, I will make you regret the day you were born.” He hisses, before whirling around and opening the door. Howard strides in, and Tony follows.
He follows a ways back from Howard, trying to catch a glimpse of the man sitting in the armchair without taking his gaze away from the floor. The man stands up to shake Howard’s hand, so all that Tony can see is very expensive-looking shoes.
Howard sits down on the other armchair, and Tony comes to stand behind and a little to the right of the chair.
“Mr. Stane!” Howard says, and Tony recognizes the faux cheerfulness of his tone.
“Please, please, call me Obadiah.” The man replies in a deep voice, and now Tony has a name.
Obadiah Stane.
If only he had a face to match it with.
“This is my son, an Omega, as you can tell.” Tony resists the urge to look up as Howard draws attention to him.
“So I see. May I examine him?”
Tony bristles inwardly at the indifferent tone and contemptuous words, but remains outwardly calm as Howard gives his assent.
Tony steps the few feet forward to the side of the chair that Stane is sitting in and kneels next to it, all while keeping his eyes downcast. A big hand grasps his chin, and he looks up.
The man has cropped brown hair, thick eyebrows and intelligent eyes. Tony looks him over just as he looks over Tony. It’s hard to tell when he’s sitting down, but Tony thinks that Obadiah would be tall, taller than Howard and way taller than him.
Stane's eyes flick over his face, before coming to rest on Tony's eyes. Tony gazes back evenly, making sure that now emotion shows in his features. Whatever Obadiah sees, he must like, because a grin breaks out over his face.
"He will do. I'll take him." Stane turns back to face Howard, releasing Tony, and Tony looks down again.
He studies the polished wood below him and thinks furiously as the men above him talk business.
'Do I like him?" He wonders, but can't answer his own question. 'Time will tell, I guess. He's older than I expected, though.'
His thoughts are interrupted when the two men stand up to shake hands again. Both are grinning, and Tony knows that both of them think they got the better deal.
'Howard finally gets to get rid of me.' He thinks bitterly. 'Of course he'd be happy. And Stane gets an Omega.
"Come along, boy." Obadiah instructs, and Tony stands. His knees are sore from kneeling for so long, but he doesn't complain.
Stane begins walking towards the door, and Tony hesitates. 'We're leaving already?' He thinks, a bit alarmed. 'But what about all my stuff? And I want to say goodbye to Alex and Jarvis and Maria...'
Stane, noticing that Tony is not following, turns to face the two Starks. "Well?" He asks impatiently. "I said to come, boy!"
"B-but what about my stuff?" Tony stammers nervously.
Obadiah rolls his eyes and turns to look at Howard.
"Jarvis packed all your things already. They're by the front door." Howard replies gruffly, without turning to look at his son.
Obadiah nods, then turns and starts walking towards the door. Again, Tony doesn't follow.
Stane whirls around with a growl to glare at Tony. Tony glances over at Howard, and Obadiah switches his glare to Howard.
"I thought you trained your son to follow orders." He snaps.
Howard, looking very embarrassed, turns to glare at Tony. "Go with your new Alpha, boy." He hisses.
"Um... I wanted to say good-bye to a few people?" Tony says hesitantly.
"Who?" Howard snaps impatiently, and when Tony looks uncertain, he rolls his eyes. "I'll pass on your farewells. Now, who?"
"Maria." Tony names his mother, the Beta who had a child, despite most Betas being unfertile, "And Jarvis," - Edwin Jarvis, the Stark families butler, a Beta who also watched over Howard's other Omegas-"And Alex." - Alex Johnson, the youngest of the Omegas, is two years older than Tony, and Tony views him as the older brother he never had.
"Fine, fine, I'll tell them." Howard says impatiently, and Tony turns to face Stane.
"Come." Obadiah says for the final time, then turns and walks away.
This time, Tony follows.