My eyes sleepily fluttered open, fell upon the dormant form aside me, and fixated themselves on the natural rise-and-fall of his body that accompanied pure, blissful, uninterrupted REM sleep. The windows were still open from the night before and a gentle breeze welcomely graced its way into the room. I deeply inhaled the coastal air and relaxed into the down pillows, allowing my hand to mingle down my lover's bare back gently enough to not wake him, though firmly enough to not tickle.

So far, operation Get Bruce the Hell Away from Work for Once had worked marvelously; mostly due to the fact that I had taken him and moved him essentially to the exact opposite end of the country from where his (my) R&D labs all were and made sure JARVIS didn't give him access to my workshop in my Miami home. Really, though, once he got over the initial shock of not boarding the jet for an overnight stay in Boston and instead for a weeklong getaway, he hadn't complained once.

I had gone the whole nine yards; dinner at prestigious restaurants, personal surfing lessons courtesy of yours truly, walks on the beach that may or may not have ended with making out until the tide began to catch up with us, serenading him with the acoustic guitar I used to keep to reel the women who played hard-to-get by the fire. ("All I packed was a toothbrush!") By the end of the third night, we were so wiped out that we hadn't bothered putting clothes on after our evening removal-of-sand ritual/shower, instead opting to towel off and collapse on the bed, our limbs naturally intertwining and the gently-crashing ocean singing us to sleep.

The sun's rays seeped through the windows and lit the room up with a warm glow. I thought to tell JARVIS to shut the windows and tint them, but knew Bruce waking up was inevitable and chose to instead continue caressing his back and watching him sleep. Sure enough, a few moments into my decision I heard a quiet gasp of breath and let the man beside me roll over onto his side to look at me.

"Morning, Dr. Banner," I whispered, smiling.

The corner of his mouth twitched up into a grin. "Good morning, Mr. Stark. What time is it?" His sleepy voice was even more intoxicating than his normal, soft spoken voice.

"Nevermind that-"

"It's 10:37 a.m., Doctor," JARVIS interrupted, startling us both.

"Shut up, JARVIS! Now, as I was saying. Time's irrelevant this week, my love. You wanna sleep til two in the afternoon? You've earned it. You wanna go drop cesium into the ocean at three in the morning? I've got some downstairs, just let me grab a maglight. Whatever you want, Bruce, this is the time to do it."

He chuckled. "Well, I don't know about any of that, though the latter is definitely going on my list since I haven't done that since college."

I let my hand go to his hair, brushing the curls to the side from his face. "Well, Dr. Banner, what is it that you would like to do this lovely California morning?"

A tranquil smile spread across his face and his vibrant brown eyes had a gleam of mischief. I felt a hand come to grip my side and gesture me closer. "Would you really like to know?"

He nudged his knee between my legs and moved his hand up to splay across my neck and pull me in for a kiss that I melted into instinctively. I nodded and wrapped my arm around his back to hold him closer and slip my tongue into his mouth, to which I received no protest but a quiet moan.

I let him push me onto my back and continue placing meticulous kisses upon my lips. I had almost forgotten we were still naked from the night before until a subtly-muscled thigh brushed against my already-present erection, eliciting a gasp from me. He let out a brief "heh" in response as he let a hand trail down my chest; while he skipped over the arc reactor as if it hardly even existed, he paused momentarily to let his index finger flick at my nipple so he could hear me gasp again.

He pulled his mouth from mine to trail small kisses from the corner of my mouth to my collarbone. "Tony, I've done a lot of thinking and you've done a lot of waiting…" he trailed, beginning to nibble at a particularly sensitive spot on the side of my neck.

"Nnngh, what do you mean?" I gasped a little and grasped the sheets with my free hand that wasn't in his hair. His thigh brushed against my groin in a slow rhythm as his mouth worked to leave yet another mark on me. I could hardly complain; for all I cared, I already was his.

I felt Bruce grin into my neck. "You've been so patient with me as a person and stuck around without wanting anything in return." His hand moved down to my erection to grasp it and make me shudder momentarily. "I wanna give you everything I've got, Tony."

My hips were impulsively drawn to his hand as he alleviated his grip. "Bruce, you mean…?"

For Bruce, I'd made many exceptions. I ceased my frequent parties and opted for quiet walks and stargazing. My liquor cabinet began collecting dust since I no longer felt the real need to numb myself when the only thing I'd felt the past few months was curiosity and excitement.

However, the most surprising thing of all was that, while we'd fooled around plenty of times, I'd completely abstained from penetrative sex since we'd gotten together. It wasn't that we were waiting for marriage or anything that asinine. Bruce had simply been paranoid of his ability to control himself and prevent an incident if we got too carried away, according to him. While I'd suspected more behind his motive to put things off, I felt no need to protest. I trusted him with everything I had. Everything we had was enough for me.

He nodded. "I'm afraid we'll still have to take things slow, but I've kind of been experimenting when you've been away and…" he trailed for a moment.

"And?" I asked softly.

He hesitated. "...and I think I can keep this under control if we're careful. I think I owe you that much." The guilt was reflected in his eyes and I shook my head.

"Bruce, everything I could possibly require is everything you've given me to begin with. I want to make you feel happy and safe, nothing more." My hand tenderly pressed into his lower back assuringly as my other went to graze his cheek.

Apparently, that was reassurance enough because Bruce had no further protest. "If you insist, Mr. Stark," he uttered softly against my lips before coming in for another kiss. He placed his right hand above my shoulder and let his left show no more restraint as it trailed down my body, this time with no real hesitation. From my neck, to my collarbone, to my sternum, to rub his palm over my right pectoral and pause to flick at my nipple and elicit a gasp that made him chuckle lowly.

"Can't believe you find me worth your while sometimes, y'know that?" he muttered as he let his mouth come back to my neck and his hand travel lower down my torso. His hips met mine and I groaned a little at the sudden contact of his cock against mine. Without warning, his hand grasped our erections together and I threw my head back, inhaling sharply through my nose as he slowly began to pump us together.

"Bruce..." I susurrated. "You're one to talk, you know that?" I grasped at his upper back. "I could go on and on about how you've changed my life for the better and how you complete me, but you're smart enough to already know that."

"Mmhmm," he let his tongue lap at what had to have been the most obvious bruise on my neck. "Well, you've certainly kept me guessing."

He lifted himself off of me to reach into the bedside drawer and pull out the bottle of lubricant I'd totally not kept the past several months just for the occasion. I'd propped my knees up and spread my legs enough to let him kneel between them. I sat forward on my elbows to get a good view, taking time to savor the sight of the man before me.

His dark, curly hair was disheveled as per usual and his brown eyes were half-lidded and apparently staring me down in a reciprocating manner. His toned shoulders rose and fell with his chest, like he had just caught his breath. He idly pumped his erection and I caught his tongue flicking out against his lips for a split second. The sun lit up his freshly-tanned skin and gave him a minor halo - my Apollo. His mouth quirked at the corner and he chuckled. "You're staring, Tony."

I nodded, allowing myself to stroke myself slowly, deliberately. "It's a pastime of mine that I cherish greatly, Dr. Banner."

He coated his middle finger in the liquid substance and carefully circled my entrance, making me gasp in surprise at the initial sensation. His other hand swatted mine away from my erection and he replaced it with his own, twisting his wrist as he worked his hand along my shaft. "Relax, Tony. You can trust me."

I nodded and rested my back against the bed, shutting my eyes to focus on the sensation solely. He began slowly working his finger inside me, making sure not to rush into things and allowing me a moment to adjust to the initial burn. My hands balled into fists into the sheets and I took another deep breath as I was willingly invaded. "This is gonna hurt, isn't it?"

I heard him chuckle again. "At first, yeah. Probably. But I know you can handle it and you'll tell me if you can't."

I nodded and relaxed a little more. "Keep going."

He began moving his finger slowly in and out of me, allowing me to get used to the sensation of movement inside me. As soon as I thought his finger would leave me, he'd circle it slowly around my entrance to stretch it ever-so-slightly as I began to gradually relax. "Are you ready for another, Tony?"

"Mmhmm," I sighed. "This better get good really soon."

"Heh, would I hurt you for anything but?" he said low, maintaining his ministrations on my cock as he not-so-subtly moved his second finger alongside his first.

"Aah!" I gasped. It wasn't necessarily an unbearable pain, but it wasn't comfortable at first either. Bruce simply kept his movements slow and gentle, yet almost clinically stretching me at the same time. I peeked an eye open for a moment to note that he was still incredibly aroused and his eyes remained on my face, studying my expressions inquisitively to see what would hurt too much.

As my body began to relax a bit, he began to read my body language and aim for the spot I'd learned about courtesy of several google searches. As I felt his fingers graze my prostate for the first time, I couldn't help but moan louder than I had ever done for any woman in my entire life. It was almost a certain tension in my pelvis that also shot completely through my dick, unlike anything I'd ever felt before. "God, Bruce. Do it again."

He kindly obliged, withdrawing his fingers almost completely before scissoring them into me once more, stimulating my spot in the process. He continued this for several moments until I was a moaning, panting mess before adding another finger into the bundle and making me clutch the sheets in pleasure and miniscule pain.

"Tony, you have no idea how you look right now."

I noticed that my body had begun impulsively thrusting itself gently onto his fingers, craving more of the sweet pleasure while still keening for his hand around my cock. "I'd rather find out how you'd look inside me at this point, Bruce."

I heard him gasp quietly. "Yeah? You really think you're ready?"

I nodded. "Yeah," I opened my eyes and sat up to reach for the back of his neck and pull him in for a kiss. "For you, yes."

"Mhm," he mumbled into my mouth and pulled away to coat his erection with the lubricant before tossing it aside and sitting up on his heels. I let him pull me by the thighs closer to him and lifted my hips upward to meet his. I watched as he grasped his erection to press it against my entrance. "Tony, I want you to promise me you'll tell me to stop if you want to stop. "

I rolled my eyes at his cautiousness. "You have to start for me to even think of telling you to stop. Please?" I could feel him pressing against me, the head easing its way in slowly.

He stopped himself when I know he was buried to the hilt. By the virtue of what I had considered his over-preparation, I wasn't necessarily in as much pain as I had expected. However, it still took a moment to adjust to the sudden unfamiliar fullness.

"You're trembling," his gentle voice snapped me out of my daze.

I snorted. "Don't get cocky."

He shook his head. "It's actually pretty adorable. Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Just take it slow, I'm being deflowered."

I had my eyes shut at this point, but could feel him rolling his eyes and as he slowly pulled out. Before he withdrew himself completely, he began pushing back in and the stretch and burn made itself more apparent, even with a supplemental amount of lubricant. I hissed and dug my nails into his shoulders and he didn't so much as utter a complaint, instead opting to press kisses into my neck and shoulder. I didn't have a smartass remark for that.

He continued slowly, incrementally repeating himself as I began to adjust gradually. I'd handled quite a bit of pain over the span of my existence (hello, open heart surgery while I was fully conscious in a God damned cave), so it was less comparable to that of which I'd already experienced. Still, I caught myself gasping and crying out every so often as I adjusted to a completely foreign intrusion on my part.

I decided that maybe this kind of discomfort was only solvable using the band-aid method. "You can go a little faster, Bruce. I can handle it."

He groaned ever-so-quietly and nodded into my neck, picking up the pace enough to establish a slow, steady, yet gentle rhythm. "You're so tight, Tony. I thought you'd be a little more bearable. Fuck," he mumbled. His fingers dug into my hips a little more. "How are you feeling?"

I let myself get acquainted with the sensation. "I think I'm all right," I said. "Please, Bruce, I know you know what to do. Just make it good, baby. I trust you."

I felt a pair of hands grasp my hips and lift them ever-so higher and his cock slide into me a touch faster, pressing against that spot and sending a jolt of sensation from my fingertips to my toes to the head of my own cock.

"Oh, God, Bruce! Again!"

He kindly obliged, his hips meeting mine in a swift rhythm we began to establish. My legs unconsciously wrapped around him, drawing him as close as humanly possible and producing friction to its fullest potential. As soon as he had familiarized himself with the angle of which to make my back arch the most, the proceeded to use the technique repeatedly; until I was reduced to a moaning, scratching, flexing mess beneath him.

The sounds. Oh, god, the sounds that came from this man were the very definition of intoxicating. And as I let my eyes flutter open once more to see his beautiful face contorted in pleasure and physical restraint, I knew then and there that that was the face I could die seeing. His eyes fell on mine and he kissed me ravenously, consuming what he could to maintain stability in his libido and hamartia. We were both close to falling over the edge and it was hard to tell who would be first to let go.

Well...that was until his hand wrapped around my erection to pump in time with his thrusts. "Tony, it's okay. Let go, I wanna see you let go..."

"Bruce...oh, god, Bruce...fuck," I groaned as my groin tightened and I felt myself release all over his hand and our stomachs. My nerves were heightened in their sensitivity and it made every ragged thrust feel even more intense. His grip on my hips tightened and he moved so fast it was almost inhuman.

"Tony, baby, oh my god..." he gasped. "I'm cumming, you feel so good and I'm cumming and I love you so much and I'm cumming."

I felt him tense up and pulsate within me, clutching me against him as if shielding me from the sheer intensity, like a vice. He trembled as he steadied himself against me, letting his orgasm wash over him, long-awaited.

After a minute or so, he lowered himself beside me as we both attempted to catch our breath. "You all right?" he whispered.

I nodded. "Never better, Doctor Banner." I laid my hand atop of his and entwined my fingers with his. "I'd offer breakfast after all that cardio, but I think I'm just gonna lay here a few hours or days unless you had better plans."

He shook his head. "Actually, that sounds absolutely perfect." He lay flat on his back and leaned his head towards me for a small, languid kiss as he soon drifted off once more.

That crooked, relaxed grin that I loved and cherished so dearly didn't leave his face.

I discovered almost instantaneously that it was contagious.