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Tony was beyond confused. He'd walked into this speed dating room expecting to meet Bucky, the kind, sassy, sexy alpha who'd been breaking hearts all over the agency for months by not asking to take home any of the omegas he'd charmed during their ten-minute meetings.
Instead, Tony got Bucky the murder-faced knothead who tried to intimidate him the minute he walked in (nice try, asshole), spouted designationist bullshit (Tony immediately and scathingly shut that down), and even scared the shit out of Tony by getting violently angry, shoving the table between their chairs so hard it crashed into wall, getting right in Tony's face—and raising his hand to strike.
Tony knew it would hurt more than even the worst of his father's abuse; Bucky had bigger fists and bigger muscles than Tony's father ever had.
Nevertheless, Tony stood his ground. He could take it. Like hell would he let an alpha force him to submit like this. He raised his arms defensively and braced himself…
But the hit never came.
Instead, Bucky's air of menace vanished. "Thank fuck," he said with a groan of relief, swiftly backing out of Tony's personal space to stand a respectable distance away. "Finally! God, Tony, where have you been all my life?"
Bucky's gorgeous, excited smile stunned Tony's rabbiting heart into hammering for a different reason. This must be the charmer Tony'd heard so much about.
Bucky gently moved the table back between them and slumped into his seat opposite Tony's. "I'm so sorry for the violent knothead act," he said, sounding genuinely contrite. "It's just… I've come here every Saturday for three months looking for an omega like you."
Tony warily sat back down, confused and thrown off-kilter enough by Bucky's Jekyll and Hyde personality shift that his verbal filter suffered a temporary breakdown. "A shitty one?" he asked.
Bucky scoffed. "Whoever told you that is an idiot. You are the whole package, Tony. You stand up for yourself, you have opinions and interests and passions—and even though I'm a big alpha whose job is to look terrifying, you didn't let me intimidate you; you called me out when I was wrong. Add being smart and funny and gorgeous to the mix, and…" He shrugged helplessly. "Who could resist?"
Tony reeled. He could tell that Bucky wasn't lying; he actually believed Tony was a catch. He looked smitten! It did not compute. "You do realize that's exactly why I'm a Problem Omega, right?" Tony couldn't help asking.
He'd been called a Problem Omega his whole life. Despite riding this agency's speed dating rodeo for the past year, not a single alpha had liked him enough to offer him food and ask to take him home. The agency had learned not to send him to meet wealthy, high-profile alphas they hoped to impress, lest he piss them off and they take their business elsewhere. It was only a fluke that he'd met Bucky; Pepper should be meeting him now, but she'd chosen to stay with the alpha from her last speed-date, a man enamored enough that he wanted to keep her, take her home.
She'd eaten his offered food and said yes, so now, here Tony was, meeting Bucky instead of the next alpha on his list, since that was the guy who'd swept Pepper off her feet.
The matchmakers would pitch a fit if they knew Tony snuck a speed-date with Bucky. They really wanted to impress and match him—though Tony had yet to find out why a guy dressed in casual, off-the-rack clothing was given the agency's VIP treatment.
Bucky wrinkled his nose in adorable disgust at the term Problem Omega. "There's no such thing as a Problem Omega," he insisted, "just omegas who won't lobotomize their brains and personalities just so they won't intimidate the knothead alpha moron they got shackled with. Anyone would be a problem in that situation, not just omegas. What's wrong is how we socialize people, not you."
Tony leaned back. "Huh," he muttered in surprise. "You're smarter than you look." Then he blanched. He'd just insulted the first alpha in ages who might actually be worth his time.
But Bucky laughed. "I'll try not to let it go to my head," he said with a playful grin, instead of arguing or getting defensive.
Tony couldn't help catching Bucky's infectious grin. The scent of happy alpha made something in Tony preen. He did that. He pleased an alpha he was actually starting to like.
Starting to want to go home with.
But he shouldn't think like that. Bucky hadn't offered him food, hadn't asked to take him home. Tony needed to get ahold of himself. If you have no expectations, you can't be disappointed.
"There's something I need you to do if you decide to be my omega," Bucky said seriously.
"Okay, shoot," Tony said, feigning confidence to veil his anxiety. Here it comes. This was the catch.
"I need you to take self-defense lessons," Bucky said.
"What?" Were those even a thing? Tony was pretty sure those weren't a thing. Teaching omegas to fight just wasn't done. Was it even legal?
"You should've kicked my ass for getting in your face like that," Bucky explained, gesturing at the wall where he'd boxed Tony in, "not let me hit you. I've got friends who can teach you to take down an alpha, if you don't want to learn it from me, but you will learn to protect yourself. Could you agree to that?"
After a pause, Tony asked the obvious question. "So, you want me to learn to hurt alphas?"
"Yes."
"You do realize you're an alpha, right?"
Bucky grinned at Tony's sass. "I'm aware."
"So, you're not afraid I'll use all that to hurt you?"
"Tony, if I ever tried to hit you, I'd deserve it," Bucky said firmly. "Nothing you do makes it okay for someone to hurt you, and being an omega doesn't mean you should stand there and take it. You have the right to protect yourself. I expect you to use it."
Bucky's conviction lanced Tony's insides, somewhere soft and vulnerable. His chest ached, even as part of him exalted. Bucky's words felt like absolution—like an old wound finally being cleaned, or a deep knot massaged out of his back. "Even if it's you?" Tony asked nervously.
"Even if it's me," Bucky agreed.
Tony sucked in a shaky breath. "Okay. Done deal. I'm in."
Bucky's smiled. "Yeah?" He smelled proud.
It settled the ache in Tony's chest.
Until Bucky traipsed right on into Tony's personal minefield. "Tony," he said gently, "I get the feeling this isn't what you're used to, but I need you to know: I'm never going to hit you."
Tony looked away from Bucky's earnest expression. Tony didn't know the alpha well enough to believe him, but he wanted to.
They were quiet for a few moments, Tony letting Bucky's quiet compassion soothe him while Bucky let him process.
Then Bucky smirked. "Well, I guess I'd hit you if you asked real nice and we talked about it first," he conceded. "Some people like a little pain in the bedroom."
Tony blushed at that, stomach churning with a curious heat, but before he could embarrass himself, the speaker in the corner of the room chimed the one-minute warning. It was time to wrap up.
Bucky startled at the sound. "Aw, hell. Has it been that long already?"
"Apparently. You gonna feed me or throw me back?" It was bold to ask, but time was a tickin'. Bucky was the first alpha Tony'd met who he actually wanted, so if this meeting was a bust, he wanted time to bury his disappointment before his speed-date with the next alpha on his dance card.
Bucky's eyes widened at Tony's forward question, but in panic, not judgment. "Shit! You're right! Food! One sec—" He looked around frantically, zeroed in on a container on its side near the wall where he'd shoved the table, and lunged for it. "I hope you like chocolate chip cookies," he said, hurriedly setting the tin on the table. He opened it and nudged it in front of Tony with hopeful eyes. "I made them last night. Will you do me the honor of accepting them?" He glanced down at them, winced, and added, chagrined, "Even though I broke them when I shoved the table like an asshole?"
Tony laughed—amused, awash with relief, and also a little shocked. Bucky chose him!
Bucky chose him!
Bucky met Tony's eyes and smiled at his delight. "Tony," Bucky said, sweet and serious, "I'd love to take you home. Will you be my omega?"
Tony pulled out a broken piece of cookie and took a bite just as the bell chimed to switch partners.
Bucky's jubilant expression when Tony bit down eased the last of Tony's anxiety. Almost a year of coming here—of being repeatedly rejected by alphas disgusted that he was more than just a pretty face, and constantly told no self-respecting alpha would ever want him... Now, here was an incredible alpha, a catch according to every omega at the matchmaking agency, and he not only chose Tony, but seemed to think himself the luckiest of alphas because Tony chose him back.
After swallowing the bite of what turned out to be a truly delicious confection (damn! His alpha could bake!), Tony replied, nonchalance belied by his wide smile, "You know, I actually think I'd like that. Let's do it, Bucky. Take me home."