Author's Note: Turns out it doesn't take an awful lot of encouragement for me to expand a one-shot into something longer. Thanks to everyone who's shown support so far, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter...(there's swearing, and more whump!Loki, as well as more FostIron smut 'n' fluff)
Harsh hands gripping his neck...his body being violated painfully by the man he thinks is his father...the cold of the dungeon floor...
"Loki, Loki wake up,"
Who's voice was that? Odin's? Another Alpha?
"Loki. Wake. Up," an Alpha Command this time, his body jerked awake, pulling his mind along with it.
"Shhhh, it's Ok, it's Ok Loki!" Tony's arms were wrapped around him, stilling his trembling limbs.
"Stark...? How did I...?" Loki muttered weakly, trying to free himself from the Alpha's grip and then settling back, defeated, "Why...?"
"You're in heat," Tony told him gently.
Heat. His heat. That's right...there were men in the alley...and then...Tony and Thor...but the men in the alley...and Odin...
"Hey! Hey Lokes!" Tony yelped, raising a hand to Loki's face. Loki flinched but let the Alpha run his fingers over the Omega's cheekbones, his skin briefly turning a gentle form of ice-giant blue, "Don't cry!" Tony pleaded, pulling him in closer.
Waves of Alpha hormones filled Loki's nostrils, the scent dancing about his lips, sedating his panic but further awakening the growing yearning in him...and the yearning brought the pain of the heat along with it. The pain of not being filled...
"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh."
"Lo-" Tony stopped as the wave of heat-scent hit him, "Oh..."
Loki whimpered, snuggling closer, his pyjamas betraying both his growing discomfort and a small patch where the slick had seeped through the cotton.
"You're ready to go again, huh?" Tony sighed, "Poor thing, you got - what? Three hours between? Baby, that's just not fair."
Loki didn't answer, just wept freely, shoulders shaking uncontrollably. Tony looked down at the raven-haired head lying on his chest, his arc reactor picking out the colour of Loki's tresses in the dim dawn light. Sweat was clinging to Loki's skin, coating it in a way which almost shone. His face was drawn, and in the gathering light Tony could see the damage that Loki's ordeal in the alley had caused – the bruises, the scratches, the fear.
Carefully, Tony started undoing the buttons at the front of Loki's pyjama shirt, then hesitated for a moment, "You ready?" he asked gently, looking into Loki's heat-soaked eyes, and becoming aware once more that Loki had reached the point of no-return, where the heat was in control.
"PLEASE!" Loki shrieked hoarsely, thin hands tearing the pyjamas open where Tony had halted.
Tony needed no more confirmation to know that Loki's heat was bad. He helped Loki with the rest of the buttons, and with the draw-string pants, throwing each across the room as he freed Loki's sweat-drenched frame. He yanked his own jeans down, shucking them along with his boxers down to his ankles beneath the sheets. The Alpha in Tony was roaring, and his own erection was oh-so obvious and oh-so ready, brought to fullness by the hormones and pheromones bouncing around the room.
Tony took a deep breath and mentally recited two or three lines of 'Three Blind Mice,' just to calm himself a little. He wanted to make sure that he was safe to be with Loki – he didn't want to be that kind of Alpha.
He positioned himself above the beautiful man in his bed, pulling Loki's milky-white and bruise-patterned legs onto his own shoulders, starting with a finger and then gently pushing his tip into the Omega's slicked entrance, letting Loki unfold slowly beneath him. With infinite care, he slowly filled the Asgardian with more of his length, responding to the way Loki wriggled with pleasure and sweet relief. Tony fell again into that sense of connection; that sense that he and Loki were sharing their essence through their intimacy. He moved slow but steady, conscious of the brittle frailty of the warm flesh as he plunged warmly into it again and again, conscious too of the brittle but oh-so beautiful smile on Loki's soft lips and the far-away glaze of his half-lidded eyes.
Tony felt his knot start to form, the sweet release anticipated but not quite upon them. He saw Loki's eyes open wide beneath him as the knot moved into the Omega, saw a hint of...fear?
"To...ny..." Loki gasped, the knot stretching him uncomfortably, painfully.
Tony reached out, grasping the Omega's hand, worried by this second painful knotting but keeping it buried, absent from his face, "It's Ok," he smiled gently, squeezing Loki's fingers and hoping that the contact would add more Alpha hormones to the mix and ease Loki's discomfort, "Phew! Almost there Lokes!"
Their thoughts were lost in a blaze of bliss and biology. Loki spilled over his stomach as Tony filled him, leaving part of himself inside the Omega to satisfy the craving of the other man's body. Tears trailed down Loki's beautiful face, his smile tired and happy. Tony felt that thing in his chest pluck again before he fell into a sweaty dose, fingers still interlocked with Loki's.
"Tony?" a voice said, small, bleary.
"Mmm?" he answered.
"I need to...get cleaned up."
"You need my help?"
"Well...I...I can't get up, Stark, Ok? The useless fucking Omega can't get up!"
"Hey!" Tony protested, voice sleepy, "None of that!" he hauled himself up in all his naked glory and moved to Loki's side of the bed, "You're in the middle of a fucking heat Loki," he lifted Loki, such a slender body in his arms, "don't be so hard on yourself," he surprised both of them by planting a gentle kiss on Loki's pale cheek, "...hormones..." he muttered, eyes cast downwards, as he carried Loki to the guest suite's bathroom.
"Man of Iron!" Thor bellowed on opening the door, "Surely my brother's heat is not yet over?!"
"He's sleeping," Tony reassured, running a hand through his hair, "I told Jarvis to let me know if he wakes up before I get back. Loki told me to go stretch my legs...which I have to admit I needed."
"The Captain and the Widow of Darkest Hue are also here," Thor grinned, "please, my friend, accept my invitation to my suite," he moved aside to let Tony pass.
"Tony!" Steve yelped from the breakfast table. Widow just grinned lazily over her morning coffee.
"Have you eaten?" Thor asked, gesturing to his array of cereals and toaster-treats. Dude had a thing about breakfast.
"Plenty," Tony murmured, helping himself to some coffee, "I had Jarvis send some stuff up along with some contraceptive p-"
He was cut off by Steve choking on his cereal. Natasha gave him friendly whacks to the back until the coughing subsided.
"Jesus Cap'n Crunch," Tony smirked, "I am being responsible y'know."
"How fares he?" Thor asked earnestly, his eyes doing that wide-and-round thing again.
"Ok," Tony murmured, not quite meeting Thor's puppy-dog eyes, "Maybe we should have a talk about some stuff though Thor."
"Hey! You can say whatever it is in front of us!" Widow jumped in.
Tony looked pointedly at Steve, "You Ok to hear some purely-medical details there old-timer?"
Steve looked a little queasy and put his spoon down, but nodded, "If it's important," he said, "It's better that we all know what's going on."
Tony took a deep breath and paced around a little, "Ok," he said, "Ok," again, "We've had some...knotting issues."
Silence. Then, "You mean you have not...?" Thor asked, blushing a little.
Tony scowled, "Yes," he snapped, "I have. It's me Thor. But...Loki's..." he trailed off, suddenly it didn't feel right, explaining Loki's pain to the others, it was too personal.
Thor caught on to the train of thought, "But that can happen on the first coupling of the heat," he stated, all false good humour, "It's not that uncommon."
Steve and Natasha had that lost look again, not quite sure what the Alphas were talking about.
"We've...it was...twice," Tony muttered, "Three hours apart Thor."
"And...both...?" Thor asked, his face suddenly a lot paler.
"Both," Tony nodded grimly.
"Um...clarification?" Nat asked, looking from one Alpha to the other.
"My brother..." Thor paused, sighed, "My brother may have a few more...health issues than we imagined."
"Like flu?" Steve asked bemused.
Tony let out a long and impatient sigh and plonked down on a chair, "Alright," he announced, "seems I have to be giving the talk this morning."
"Is that necessary?" Steve asked, looking totally mortified.
"Clearly," Tony stated, "It is. Or else you're gonna think Loki has leprosy or something. So, I'm going to explain to Captain America and a hot Russian assassin about the-birds-and-the-bees Omega-style. Honestly, what do they teach in Beta sex ed?
Steve raised his hand like a little boy in class, "I didn't have sex ed," he said. "Back in the day we didn't talk about that sort of thing unless an Omega went into heat on the street, and then their family came and collected them and took them inside. Beta heats just meant ladies had to make sure they didn't drink too much so that no one took advantage."
Tony rolled his eyes, "Duly noted," he quipped.
"I just ditched school a lot," Widow contributed.
"Makes sense," Tony conceded, "So kiddies today we're gonna learn the facts of life. As you know, when an Omega goes into heat it fucking hurts – the pain can actually kill them. Their bodies have developed to crave the chemicals that Alpha's can provide during the act of...well, y'know, 'The Act.' The main dose, so to speak, comes with the knotting. Like with Betas, knotting can make a baby, but with an Alpha/Omega relationship it is literally helping the Omega to live a healthy life, and easing the pain of the heat. Omega's are designed to have children – so their biology tries to force them to do so with a Catch-22 choice: have sex with an Alpha whether you like it or not – and your heat-scent will call them to you, all hot and horny," Steve shifted uncomfortably in his chair, "– or suffer a week or two of excruciating pain and possibly eventual sickness and death."
"Nice," Widow muttered.
"So," Tony continued, "the knotting is vital. To the Alpha who can't...retreat...without it, and to the Omega, who needs the...beneficial substances...that the Alpha provides." Tony let out a long breath, he wasn't usually a prude, but then, he didn't normally have to go into such personal levels of detail, "Loki...Loki...look, sometimes in the first coupling of the heat, there's some...unpleasantness when the Alpha passes the knot through to the Omega – it's uncomfortable or painful for them because their body is in such a state of hormonal imbalance. It's not all that common, but it happens. I've had a couple of partners who had difficulty with the first knot. Loki...Loki had problems accepting the knot the second time around as well. That shouldn't happen. And the second time was only three hours after the first...that's not a healthy space of time, it should be a lot longer."
"Which means...?" Natasha asked.
"That something is wrong with my brother," Thor answered grimly, "maybe because of the... suppression... or the trauma of his first heat, or the fact that he is Jotun. Maybe a combination of all of this. But something is not right. His biology is out of balance. And...it's possible that he has some physical condition which will make knotting permanently painful...despite the fact that to not receive the knot may kill him."
"Tony...?" Steve asked, looking over at him in concern.
Tony sniffed, blinked, and swallowed a bit, "Full of damned hormones," he grunted, "it's practically sauteed in them up there. Speaking of which...how many Alphas have turned up here?"
Widow chuckled, "Don't know," she said, "but Thor left a recorded message at the front door – something along the lines of 'keep it in your pants or I cut it off,' we haven't had anyone who still wanted to come in after hearing that."
Tony smirked, "Well done Hammer-head," he laughed.
Thor smiled, "He is my brother," he replied, "and I felt...I felt I owed him much for... not protecting him from my father."
Loki woke when Tony got back to the suite, despite the Alpha's attempts to be quiet, "You're back," he murmured fuzzily, the hint of a smile touching his lips.
"Sure I am Lokes," Tony answered gently, settling down on the bed next to Loki and curling them both into an embrace, Loki's back to Tony's front,"You get any sleep?"
Loki nodded gently, "Nice walk Stark?" he muttered.
"Not bad all-in," Tony replied.
They stayed for a moment or two in silence, Tony running his fingers through Loki's hair absent-mindedly.
"Stark?" Loki asked.
"Yeh?"
"Why are you being so good to me? I thought you all hated me."
Tony's fingers paused mid-way through Loki's tresses, "No," he whispered, "we never hated you Loki, we hated what you were doing. And besides, I have to figure that everyone deserves a chance – or two – or three...Lord knows I've done some bad crap in my life."
"Is this my chance at some fairytale redemption?" Loki sneered half-heartedly, too tired to add more sarcasm to something he was afraid for his heart to believe.
"No," Tony said again, "This is your chance for a clean slate. No judgement, just understanding."
"It still doesn't explain why you're being so...gentle and so thoughtful."he said the words as if he'd just learnt them from some foreign language, "I would understand if you just fucked, knotted, and left 'til the next round. No sentiment, and no need to put up with me for longer than necessary."
"I'm gonna see you through this Lokes. You need someone in your corner for once. You're not alone this time."
Loki was quiet for a while, and Tony thought he'd gone back to sleep, but he turned over and curled himself into Tony, throwing an arm gently around the Alpha and pressing his face to Tony's chest so that the glow of the arc reactor skimmed his face through Tony's t-shirt. Tony took it as a compliment.