You snuffled and opened your eyes to an unpleasant soreness. Your sleep-clouded brain wasn't providing you with context for the soreness, but you were wrapped up in Steve's strong arms. It couldn't be that bad. Nothing was that bad when you were blanketed by your favorite super soldier. You groaned when additional soreness registered when you shifted slightly.

Your memories trickled back, and a sick feeling fell in the pit of your stomach. You were pretty sure he was going to freak out. After taking a deep breath, you broke the silence, wondering how bad it was going to be this time. "Hey, are you sleeping?"

"No," he replied against your neck. "I hurt you."

"I'm fine, and I mean that. No regrets here, not with how hard you made me come. It's normally good, but that was...wow," you admitted.

"But I hurt you, and we didn't even talk about...what I did, we should have talked about it before." You could feel his frown against your skin.

"If I didn't want to, I would have told you no. I’ve said no to you before when I haven’t wanted to do something.” Although those somethings had never been in bed, or the shower, or on the couch, or the gym, or anywhere else you’d been at least partially naked together. “You just took me by surprise. I didn't know you did that kind of research on the internet. I saw you blushing at nude models you used as references for sketching." You chuckled at the memory.

"Well, it was Tony's fault really. He makes all these lewd remarks and won't tell me about what he's referring to. Sometimes the curiosity gets to me. One page led to another, and before I knew it, I'd spent hours researching."

Tony jumped a few notches away from your list of people you weren’t fond of. You weren’t quite to the point of thanking him yet, though. Your curiosity was too much to bear. "Did you watch any videos?"

His face flushed warm against your skin. "I couldn't quite imagine people actually doing some of those things I read about, and Tony had mentioned something called redtube once when he was trying to embarrass me. I looked it up."

He really watched porn, kinky porn at that, and probably had no idea how truly sexy it was to think of America’s golden boy, sweet and pure as apple pie and vanilla ice cream, with his eyes glued to something so deliciously sinful. That’s half the fantasy come true. You couldn’t resist your next question. "Did you touch yourself?"

"I thought of being with you like that, and you told me you were working late, and I couldn't wait that long," he replied, barely above a whisper.

"Tell me what you were thinking about doing with me," you urged. It didn't matter that you were sore. Want still surged through you.

“Well, what I did in the shower, all of that. I think part of me is sort of a...dom. But only for you. I haven’t wanted this with anyone else, and I don’t want it all the time. Just sometimes, you do these...things to me, you make me need... I don’t know how to explain it,” he finally finished.

“I know. You do those things to me, too, make me need, need so much.” Your heart was pounding at the thought. “This is new for me. I know I’m usually your teacher, but if you’d like to do this, we’ll have to learn together.”

“I read, well, you need a safeword, if we decide to do this again. You don’t have to. I couldn’t forgive myself if I ever did anything you weren’t fully okay with, if I really hurt you, if I made you scared of me. I want to make you happy.” He nuzzled your neck affectionately.

“I know.” You intertwined your fingers with his and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “I’ve...researched some, too.” If you could call having a date with some x-rated videos and your favorite battery operated appliance while Steve was away on missions, ‘researching.’ It wasn’t something you’d told him about. “I think it would probably be easiest if we went with red, yellow, green. You’ll have to tell or show me what you liked enough to touch yourself to.”

“I will,” he agreed and paused. “We could watch it together, if you want.”

“Could I watch you?” The fantasies weren’t enough when you knew it had happened in reality.

“Watch me...touch myself?” His breath hitched, and he rested his forehead against your shoulder.

“Yeah. I want to see, if you’ll let me. You can watch me, too, sometime if you want,” you offered. It wasn’t an offer you’d made before, or would make to anyone else, but it was Steve. He made it impossible to feel uncomfortably self-conscious with the way he looked at you, like you were the most beautiful and precious thing he’d ever laid his eyes on. Deep down, you couldn’t get enough of the warm feeling that look made fill your chest until your heart almost overflowed with it.

“Do you do that often?” he asked, growing arousal evident in his voice.

“When you’re away on Avengers business for more than a few days. Otherwise, you’re here, and it’s a lot better with you than it is by myself.” Even your most experienced past lover hadn’t held a candle to what Steve could do to you. You chose not to think about what it would be like when he found a nice girl to settle down with and put what he learned with you to use.

“I’m glad I make it good for you. When Clint was talking about women faking it, I asked him what I meant, and I was kind of worried you were doing that for me, to make me feel better,” he admitted.

"I’ve never done that. You’re just a natural and a quick learner.” You craned your neck around to press a kiss to his lips, then his flushed cheeks. “There’s something else, though. We also need to talk about..." You searched for a way to put it that wouldn't further embarrass him before deciding to put it technically. "Your newfound interest in anal. Unless that was a heat of the moment thing."

He audibly swallowed. "It wasn't."

"Well, this is another learning experience. I haven't trusted anyone enough before you to consider it. I'm not completely opposed, but we'll need to take it very, very slow. And I’d rather you be your normal self without any role playing, at least the first time."

"I'll be gentle and take good care of you," he promised. "When I did that, in the shower, how did it feel?"

"Intense, more intense than normal. It felt forbidden, so naughty, and that really turned me on. When did you want to try it?" You were torn about what you wanted his reply to be. Soon would help you get over your nerves while later on would be like an extended session of foreplay.

“When the time is right. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything without asking you first,” he reassured you, turning your body over carefully to press against his, face to face.

You noticed he was half-hard against you and rolled your hips against him. "Did you want any help with that?"

"You can help me out with that later, after we stop for the night. We should head out, or we'll never start our trip." He kissed you, gentle and chaste.