Chapter Text
Tony coughed and winced, trying to sit up. His ribs and back protested violently and he collapsed back onto the hard surface he was laying on.
“No.”
Tony froze at the command in the voice, then silently cursed his omega instincts begging him to obey. Normally it was easy to resist with suppressants. There was no way he’d been without them long enough to work them out of his system, but injuries or illness always sent his hormones into overdrive and sometimes overrode some of the effects the suppressants had on him. Tony frowned and managed to blink his eyes open slowly. His stomach lurched when he spotted the Winter Soldier leaning against a wall, arms crossed and glaring at him. Tony tried to sit up again in a panic, but the soldier growled.
“No,” he repeated.
“Oh, you mean no sitting up,” Tony said, surprised. “Where am I?”
The soldier didn’t answer, just continuing to stare at Tony coldly. Detached. Like a robot.
Actually, not like a robot. DUM-E had more emotion than this guy was displaying.
Tony looked around for any clues to his whereabouts or why he might be there, but the room was completely empty except for the two of them. “Look, Hydra has fallen,” Tony tried again. “Well, mostly. There’s some stragglers, but your bestie has been working pretty strenuously on that. You don’t have to do… whatever it is you’re going to do. I can leave. I won’t even tell Capcicle where to find you, if you’re still avoiding him.”
The soldier stared, unmoving.
“Come on, man, the silence is killing me,” Tony whined. “I’ll fill the void if I have to, and trust me, you don’t want me to do that. Don’t tempt me; I’ll do it.”
The man grunted and walked out the door. Tony groaned, letting his head fall against the floor. So much for that.
Being in an entirely empty room was torture. The soldier would reappear once every few hours to check on him and bring him food or water. One of the times when the man appeared, Tony finally couldn’t hold back one particular necessity. “Hey, I need to go to the bathroom,” Tony said. “There’s not exactly a toilet in here.”
The soldier stared at Tony for a moment, then walked out of the room.
“Hey!” Tony yelled after him. “That’s not helpful!”
Tony huffed. He really didn’t want to have an accident, but if he had to wait much longer, it was going to be pretty unavoidable.
And then the soldier returned, but this time, he was holding a bucket.
“What’s that for?” Tony had asked.
“Waste,” the man grunted.
“Waste? What waste? I don’t… oh, you have got to be kidding me.”
He wasn’t kidding.
Tony tried to sit up, but the pain in his ribs – no, his arms – back? Legs? Hell, the pain everywhere erupted violently and Tony gasped, collapsing again. “I can’t,” he gasped, tears springing to his eyes. “I need to, but I can’t...”
The soldier placed the bucket down and then walked over to Tony. He crouched down and extended a hand – the metal one. “This will hurt,” the soldier grunted as he wrapped his arm under Tony and picked him up. Tony barely managed to bite back a scream.
“Hush,” the soldier said, shifting Tony so that his nose was pressed against the soldier’s chest.
Beneath the scent of leather, there was something else, and something clicked in Tony’s mind – something he was kicking himself for not recognizing earlier when he instantly obeyed the soldier’s command.
Alpha.
Tony breathed in the scent. It was heavenly and somehow being in the alpha’s arms sucked the pain right out of him.
It didn’t stop the embarrassment and mortification while the man helped him go to the bathroom in a bucket, but what could he do?
The soldier put him back in the corner Tony had claimed for himself when they were finished. Tony whimpered at the loss of contact, as well as a rush of returning pain.
The alpha paused and stared at him for a moment, hesitating, before he finally picked up the bucket and left the room again.
In terms of embarrassing moments, that was probably number one on Tony’s list. And he’d done a lot of embarrassing things.
The next time the soldier returned, he had medical supplies with him, along with a pillow. The soldier made him sit up so he could wrap Tony’s ribs before finally relinquishing the pillow. The minute his head hit the pillow, the most wonderful scent hit him and he was out like a light.
It was embarrassing how long it took for him to realize it was because the pillow was covered in the alpha’s scent.
The pattern continued. Tony lost track of time, but he had to have been there for about a week. He was still in pain, but his injuries had healed enough for him to at least be able to function on his own even if it was incredibly slow. The soldier’s eyes weren’t filled with as much hatred as the had been in the beginning, which was interesting, but he still didn’t talk much.
“Can I at least have a crayon? Even kids get crayons,” Tony whined the next time he saw the soldier. “Seriously, I’m so bored I’m going to explode. I need something to do or I’m going to die.”
That time, it almost looked like the soldier was fighting back a laugh. He left, however, without a sound.
The next time he returned, he tossed Tony a red crayon.
Things continued like that, the soldier occasionally sneaking in a crayon here and there. One of the walls was covered with random doodles or old schematics – nothing new, of course. He didn’t want HYDRA (or whoever was holding him, but logically it had to be HYDRA) to get their hands on new technology. Tony started talking to the man every time he came in and while he never said anything back, it didn’t escape Tony that the man stayed longer and longer each time.
He was secretly grateful. With his suppressants working their way out of his system, Tony needed something to keep him grounded. There was something incredibly comforting about the other man’s scent. The closest Tony had ever come to finding something like that was with Rhodey or Pepper, but there had always been something off about their scents. He loved them, sure, and they comforted him, but there was always something missing.
Of course, he’d find that something with a super assassin.
Granted, he could be wrong. Scent was a significant factor in recognizing soulmates, but it was only an indicator of the possibility. Lots of people could be potential matches, but everyone had only one person they were meant for. Tony had never met someone who even seemed like a potential mate until the Winter Soldier appeared in front of him.
There was one way to find out for sure, but there were so many reasons why that wasn’t going to happen.
“So why am I here?” Tony asked the soldier the next time he appeared. “Since you’re here, I know it’s HYDRA that has me. I’m usually kidnapped so I can build or design something deadly. I figured that’s what it was this time, but I’ve been here for weeks and so far, nothing. It’s just so weird that I haven’t seen anyone besides you.”
“You’ve been here nine days, and they are waiting for you to heal properly,” the soldier grunted.
“And then?”
“The Asset is only given information when necessary. My mission is to care for you. I see to your needs and your safety; that is all.”
“Yeah, but how can you do that when you don’t even know what they have planned for me?” Tony asked, causing the soldier to pause.
“I will see what I can find,” the soldier agreed.