Title: Every Step You Take
Author: desolate butterfly
Fandom: Blood Ties (book 'verse)
Pairing/Characters: Henry/Tony
Rating/Category: R / slash
Spoilers: none
Summary: Now that he and Henry have separated, Tony's taking his independence for a test drive. However, there are just some things that can't be gotten rid of so easily.
Notes: Takes place soon after Blood Debt.
The club scene was louder than he'd remembered it. Or maybe what Victory said about not being able to take music at decibel levels higher than eighty-five once you've passed your twenty-first birthday was true. Either way, the thumping beat emanating from the floor speakers was loud enough to feel through his skin down to the bone, making the vodka he'd already consumed settle uneasily in his stomach.
A few months earlier, Tony wouldn't have come to a club like this. The nights would have been spent at the theater or at the video store, or more likely at the condo feeding a hungry vampire. A few months earlier, Tony only needed teeth sinking into his skin to find release. Now it was back to clubbing and picking up the occasional one night stand.
Which was fine. It was what he wanted.
He'd left Henry in order to gain his independence and he had it now. No vampire babysitter telling him when it was time to go home, no one correcting his grammar or telling him not to slouch, no faintly disapproving eyes watching him down a shot or two.
Tony'd gotten exactly what he wanted and now he was going to live his life. And part of that, he reflected—as his gaze connected with another pair of dark brown eyes—was getting laid by someone who only wanted to eat him metaphorically.
He smiled cautiously and the owner of the eyes smiled back and lifted his beer bottle in a half-salute. White-teeth, dark hair, and what looked like a pretty nice chest from here, although with the darkness of the club it was hard to tell.
Tony lifted a shoulder and inclined his chin in a gesture that had meant a bit more when his neck was an essential part of the arousal process. Brown-Eyes seemed to get the point though.
He dropped his gaze from Tony's eyes to his neck, then down his chest, then lower…and started to walk over.
Score.
Tony shoved a hand in his pocket to do a quick check. A condom, pre-lubricated, and hopefully the alcohol he had would be enough to ease things along.
As Brown-Eyes got within arms length Tony licked the last of the vodka from his shot glass and hooked a finger into the other man's belt loop.
There was no way he was going home alone.
--
Wiping his mouth delicately, Henry Fitzroy brushed the woman's hair away from her cheek and smiled as he told her that she'd had a lovely walk by herself but it was time to go home now. The woman nodded absently and wandered off down the street, her hair covering the small, mostly healed bite marks on her neck.
Henry knew she'd forget him as soon as she turned the corner and felt a brief pang of regret that once again he was back to feeding from people who had no idea what he was, and who would never remember his face.
He'd become spoiled, that was the problem. Spoiled with Vicki, and spoiled again with Tony, who had fed him and loved him and saw him for what he was. For who he was.
Now he was back to roaming the streets for his meals and hiding in shadow.
He didn't begrudge Tony his independence. In fact, a large part of him was proud of the boy for being able to break away from him and insisting on standing on his own two feet. Tony was truly a remarkable young man and deserved to…
Henry paused and narrowed his eyes as a familiar scent caught his attention. He followed it to the doors of a club, pulsing life and obscenely loud music. Henry winced as a blast of sound accompanied the opening of the doors and wondered just when humans had decided to destroy their ear drums as recreation.
Even more distracting than the music was the throb of elevated pulses. Henry had just fed so the stimulating wasn't overwhelming, but the sound of so much blood rushing through young veins still pricked the edges of the Hunger.
It was still absurdly easy to pick out Tony's heartbeat from the rest. The young man's blood still ran through Henry's body, and he would know its song anywhere.
'I just want to see how he's doing,' Henry told himself as he stepped forward into the throng of people on the dance floor. 'So I can tell Vicki he's eating right.'
With that excuse firmly in mind, Henry followed the scent further into the club.
--
It turned out that Brown-Eyes' name was Kevin. Or maybe Ken. It was hard to tell with the music turned up so loud, and Tony wasn't that good at reading lips. He was, however, good at reading body language and from the looks of things, Kevin was almost ready to cut to the chase.
They had been dancing for about fifteen minutes now, enough to work up a mild sweat that Tony could feel through the thin fabric of the other man's t-shirt. Damp skin at the back of his neck where Tony's hand rested.
Kevin or Ken or whoever it was—Tony didn't much care—wasn't the best dancer in the universe but he did have nicely toned arms, and a rather well-muscled thigh which he was now pushing slightly against Tony's…mmm yeah, that was nice.
Tony moved in a little closer, smelling alcohol and sweat and arousal and something intrinsically masculine on the other man's skin. He tightened his grip on a bared shoulder and moved his hips in a way that would be pretty damn hard to mistake for anything besides a blatant invitation.
A hand came down to squeeze his ass and then Tony found himself being escorted across the floor to the exit.
'Looks like someone got the message.'
--
Henry watched the strange man lead Tony outside with a mixture of jealousy and concern.
Mostly concern, he told himself. After all, this club was known for less than savory activities and less than savory patrons, and really what did the boy think he was doing picking up strangers?
And it was a stranger. Henry knew who Tony's friends and co-workers were, knew their faces and smells, but not this one. Nostrils flared, Henry stepped out into the night air in the direction of Tony's apartment, following the couple.
It was merely a matter of concerned friendship for the younger man. He would make sure Tony and his…date for the evening made it to the abode safely. At this time of night all kinds of muggers and—
Henry frowned as he caught sight of the two men ducking into an alley a block away. Tony had always been an adventurous lover, but he wasn't one for public sex. Considering how reminiscent back-alley sex was of his former profession…
Lip curling, Henry melded into the pools of shadow between the street lamps and moved towards the alley.
--
Tony felt the weight of the other man's body press him into the rough stone of the building and tugged a bit more firmly on his handful of fabric.
A mouth opened against his in surprise, but as Tony changed the angle and leaned into the kiss, surprise turned to enthusiasm. As fingers fumbled at the button on his jeans, Tony rested a chin on K-Whoever's shoulder and peered into the darkness surrounding them, wondering which patch of shadow Henry was hiding in.
He knew the vampire was there. He'd felt the weight of Henry's disapproving stare on him in the club, and again as he'd stepped out into the street.
At first, he'd thought about confronting Henry, calling him out for spying and having an unsatisfying yelling match in which he tried, once again, to impress on his supernatural babysitter that he didn't need to be followed everywhere he went. He could take care of himself, dammit.
But giving Henry something to spy on seemed like a much more satisfying option.
'You wanna be a mother-hen-of-the-night? Watch this, then.'
Tony groaned as his jeans were finally opened and long, tanned fingers grasped him inside his boxers. He quickly reached down to return the favour and then pushed his hips forward, hooking a leg around the other man's to get some leverage.
As they strained together, Tony felt hot lips trace over the vein in his neck and squeezed his eyes shut, knowing that superior vampire senses would be picking up on each breathless gasp he made.
'See,' Tony projected silently, 'I can do this with anyone. I don't belong to you.'
--
The scent of sex and sweat started to overpower the more unpleasant scent of sour garbage and metal in the alley. Henry still couldn't force himself to turn away, to walk back down the street and return to his nightly hunting and leave Tony to his exploits.
He watched the unknown young man grope inexpertly at Tony's buttocks, the sloppy quickness in the movement of their bodies, and snarled wordlessly.
The Hunger rose and Henry struggled to keep himself in check. It was only the fact that he had fed already that night that kept him from emerging from the shadows, pushing that presumptuous little fool off of his human, and taking what rightfully belonged to him.
Tony's hands moved up to clutch at the other man's shoulders and Henry's eyes narrowed. He knew the half-lidded, open-mouthed expression on Tony's face meant he was about to come. He saw the younger man's lips move and he leaned forward in anticipation.
--
"Just like that," Tony groaned, straining further against the body pressing against him.
He'd abandoned the hand-job in favour of a rough dry-hump and his partner didn't seem to object to the change of plans. In fact, the fast sliding motion between them was almost enough…
Tony thought of Henry's eyes on him, that imperious mouth sneering in haughty disapproval, the fangs just barely visible under the curve of his lips as he saw and smelled the blood pumping through his body, the rising flush to his skin.
He clutched wildly at strong shoulders and gasped out loud.
"Bite me."
"What?" The other man sounded confused. Tony didn't really care. He needed something to push him over the edge.
"Bite me, now. Please," he managed to moan between breaths, and K-Whoever of the brown eyes seemed to get the message as he lowered his mouth to the juncture between Tony's shoulder and neck.
As teeth attached to his skin Tony arched, shuddered, and came, a cry dropping from his lips as he rode the aftershocks. He was barely aware of the other body writhing against his. He stared out into the shadows blindly.
When he finally came back down from the high of orgasm, Tony looked into the flushed face of his partner and kissed him briefly.
"Thanks," he said. "That was great."
Brown eyes looked down at him curiously, the mouth he'd just kissed curved in amusement.
"Yeah, it was," the other man said. "One question though; who's Henry?"
--
Tony's blush in the darkness was the last thing Henry saw before he turned, smirking, and fled the alley.
He would read the young man the riot act for having spur-of-the-moment sex in an alleyway another night. For now, he needed to find someone to ease his renewed appetite.
Perhaps he would find some Italian.
--
Fin.
--