Chapter Text
After receiving two dozen new subs, Stephen wasn’t going to pass on the opportunity to make some money. He announced the auction two weeks ahead and then began a hectic two weeks of preparing and getting the fresh subs to remember what they are supposed to do on stage. Stephen oversaw the whole process personally, but did let his personal assistant, Christine, deal with some of it too so that Stephen could get himself at least one drink before the show started.
After finishing his drink, Stephen headed to the dressing rooms to check that his subs were all ready for the stage, or at least starting to.
All the other subs seemed to know what they were doing as they moved around the changing room, but Peter was in the corner on a tiny, velvet-topped stool with his leg bouncing with nervous energy. Maybe if he stayed here, and stayed still enough, Mr. Strange would forget that he was here and then he wouldn’t have to go out on stage.
Almost like the man could sense when people were thinking about him, Strange appeared at the dressing room door and subs immediately flocked to him, asking him questions about the auction, the doms outside and what they had to do on stage.
Peter, meanwhile, stayed exactly where he was.
”Please, settle down everyone!” Stephen tried kindly, despite being a Dom himself.
Unlike most Doms, Stephen believed most of all in manners and kindness, even when addressing subs. And if you asked Stephen, it paid off and all the subs stopped talking and fell quiet, taking a step back to let the Dom pass.
”We’ll be starting in 30 minutes. Is everyone dressed? Any issues? I’d rather have you tell me now than 2 minutes before stage.” The Dom chuckled and then went to tend to some subs who needed to change the size of their collar. After calling for someone to fix the collars, everyone seemed content, but nervous, but that was to be expected.
This wasn’t Stephen’s first auction after all.
Scanning over the dressing room, Stephen’s eyes fell upon one sub in the back who seemed very quiet, and not ready yet. The boy wasn’t even wearing the black standard leather collar that Stephen made all his subs wear until they were passed onto another Dom. “Hey, you all right?” Stephen asked, placing a hand at the back of the boy’s neck before moving to stand in front of him where he was sat on the stool.
Peter had looked down at the floor when Strange addressed the other subs in the room, but noticed that soon after he finished talking, a shadow seemed to loom over him. He looked up to see the man gazing at him with a heavy hand on the back of his neck, and he blinked a couple of times. “I- It- I’m…” Peter looked around at the other subs who seemed to be ready. “I-I’ve never done this before, I’m just- I’m just nervous, sir.” He said quietly, his hands fumbling in his lap.
”That’s all right, it’s okay to be nervous. So are all the others, they just try to hide it.” Stephen explained with a kind tone. ”Some of them are back to be auctions off again, but most are also doing this for the first time.” He added and reached for the collar, fixing it on the boy as they talked. ”So, which agency trained you?” The Dom asked to make some small talk.
Peter flinched a little when Strange reached for the collar, but tilted his chin up to allow the man to put it on him. “Uhm… I was trained by B-Beck? Quentin… Mr. Beck, sorry.” He said, his voice wavering a little when he mentioned his trainer by name. His eyes darted all over the room, watching the other subs excitedly discuss who they thought would be outside.
Stephen clenched his jaw at the mention of Quentin Beck. Subconsciously, Stephen even scanned Peter with his eyes for any signs of obvious abuse. The Dom hoped that the boy’s timid and skittish nature was only a temporary state inflicted by the nerves of the upcoming auction, and not something caused by Beck’s infamous training methods. This boy wouldn’t be the bad sub coming from Beck’s sub training agency.
“And what’s your name and number?” Stephen asked, changing the subject as he didn’t know what to say about Beck at the moment.
“’m Peter, sir. Peter Parker, number 13.” Peter replied, sitting back on the stool once Strange had finished fixing up his collar. He brought a hand up to fiddle with it, feeling how tight it was against his throat and how the leather slid smoothly between his fingertips. He didn’t wear a collar when he was being trained, so the feeling of it was new to him.
”13, then you’ll be one of the first right after the girls. I always do girls first.” Stephen continued to talk as he fixed Peter’s wild curls a bit. ”Stand up for me.” The Dom requested, using his hand to gesture for Peter to stand so that he could check the boy’s body. Some subs needed some bruises or cuts covered up before getting on stage. ”So, what kind of Dom do you wish for?”
Peter stumbled off the stool and held still for Strange to look over him. His hands trembled by his sides, but he clenched them into fists so that they didn’t shake so much. “Uhm…” He chewed down on his bottom lip in thought. “I dunno. This is, uhm, this is my first auction, so… I’m not sure. I think it’ll be nice to have a Dom at all. I hope they’ll be nice.”
”Most of them are, yeah.” Stephen mused as he removed the simple black gown that all his subs wore when not on stage. He checked the boy over for any big bruises or marks and was almost a little surprised to find none. He helped the boy back into the gown. “It’s not just subs who receive training, but Doms as well.” Although, subs went to institutions for that while most Doms only went to courses, so it wasn’t exactly fair. ”Some of them out there are good friends of mine who’d love to get a pretty one like you.”
Peter blushed at that. “Pretty? You… I’ve never been called pretty. Do you think they’ll think ‘m pretty?” He asked, glancing over to see that a couple of subs were now watching him as Strange checked him over. He blushed again and looked back down at the floor, the attention making him nervous already.
”Course they will.” Stephen chuckled and patted Peter’s shoulder once he was sure that the boy was in good enough condition to be put up for auction. ”Now, if there anything else you need?” The Dom asked, although he could see Christine out of the corner of his eye. She clearly had something urgent for him, but Stephen wouldn’t leave Peter’s side until he was sure the sub was okay.
“Uhm… no, ‘m okay. Thanks, Mr. Strange.” Peter replied, finally looking up at the man when he addressed him. He forgot just how tall Strange was, and so was a little intimidated at how he had to almost crane his neck to look up at him. He imagined that it would probably be like that with his new Dom, if he got one, and that thought sent shivers down the boys spine.
“All right. I’ll see you out there in a bit.” Stephen smiled before heading over to Christine and tending to whatever matter she had brought to him. Heading out of the dressing room, Stephen came face to face with an old friend of his, Tony Stark.
Peter watched as Strange left, and with nothing better to do he decided to also get up and walk around a bit. Technically he wasn’t allowed to leave the dressing room until the auction began and his number was called, but he couldn’t resist taking a look outside. Nobody seemed to be paying much attention to him, all of the other subs too busy fixing their appearances and having their own conversations, so Peter dared to peek out of the dressing room door, only to see Strange and another man stood a couple of feet away having a conversation.
Stephen extended his hand to shake Tony’s. ”Stark, back so soon already. What happened to the Keener boy?” Stephen asked, remembering that he had sold Tony a sub just last month during the last auction.
“Dumped him. He could hardly take a beating.” Tony replied, unimpressed. ”So, I heard you got a dozen new subs to show off tonight.” He added and Stephen nodded.
”Two dozen actually, and a good amount of twinks too.” Stephen replied, already imagining the satisfying electronic beeps of the successful transactions after the show on stage.
Peter narrowed his eyes and leaned forward a little more, to try and hear what they were saying a little better. He could only see a bit of the unknown man’s face, what with Strange blocking his view, but what he saw made his heart do an odd skip. He was attractive. When Strange mentioned ‘twinks’, which Peter recognised as a word that Beck often used to describe him, he got excited. Maybe this Dom was into that type of sub? He bit down on his lower lip and watched as the two men conversed.
”This better be good, Strange.” Tony said a little sharply before turning on his heel to head out from backstage. ”And get me a scotch, will you?” At that, Stephen laughed out before taking a clipboard that Christine was showing him.
”I’m not your sub, Stark, but I will provide you with one.” Stephen promised before heading off. Tony did the same after scoffing a little and straightening his suit jacket.
Peter squeaked in surprise when he saw the two men heading off in different directions, and ducked back into the dressing room. He headed back to his corner and sat back on his stool, nervous to see whether anyone had seen him snooping. He kept his head down and looked intently at his hands in his lap, and soon there was an announcement that the auction was starting.
After fixing himself up as well, Stephen headed to the stage where he would be entering, letting his employees fix his microphone. Once everything was ready, Stephen headed to the stage to start the auction. As always, he started out with the girls and took each of the subs’ hand as he presented them to the audience filled with eager Doms. Taking the subs hand was very much a conscious choice, as Stephen knew that it would spark some jealousy, which would make the Doms more likely to buy his subs. Some of the girls were sold for 40k and Stephen was quite gleeful when he moved onto the boys.
“Number 13!” The call was loud and sudden, and Peter nearly fell off his stool at how violently he flinched. He got off the chair and headed out of the dressing room, in the general direction that one of the staff members pointed him in. He eventually found Strange, and he couldn’t even speak out of nerves.
“This one’s a bit nervous, but the sweetest ever.” Stephen said, getting some laughs from the audience as he took Peter’s hand and brought him on stage. Checking his cue cards at the opposite side of the room, Stephen started reading out some of the basic information that the subs came with. ”This sweetheart is Peter Parker, just turned 19.” Stephen said, stressing the boy’s age just a bit because he knew many Doms wanted them young.
Peter gulped around the huge lump in his throat, but let Strange lead him on stage by his hand. He desperately wanted to cover himself up with the other hand, but he knew from Beck’s training that Doms wouldn’t want to see modesty, so he simply clenched his fist by his side and stayed still. The spotlight on him made him blink a couple of times and squint to adjust his vision, but he couldn’t see much anyway as the rest of the room seemed to be in darkness. Suddenly, he heard a gruff voice call out an offer, and he could barely recognise it as the man he had seen having the conversation with Strange earlier.
”20k already! Do I hear 25k?” Stephen called out and almost instantly got another offer. ”30k, how about 35k in the back?” To edge his two potential customers on, Stephen made Peter do a spin on stage, showing his body off even more.
”45!” Came a shout from the back and with no immediate challenge, Stephen came to a decision.
”Sold to Mr Stark! Good to have you with us here tonight, old friend.” Stephen smirked while the audience applauded.
Having to do a 360 turn on stage was slightly mortifying, but Peter held it together as best he could. When the sale ended at 45,000, Peter’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. 45 thousand dollars for him? That was insane! He gulped as Strange ushered him gently off stage, and he was accompanied back to the dressing room to put his black gown back on so that he could meet the Dom who bought him. Everything seemed to be moving past him in a haze, but soon he was stood waiting for his new Dom.
”Now, who’s next? Ah! Our raven-haired boy! This is a feisty one.” Stephen drawled as he brought the next sub onto the stage, letting someone else take over with Peter. An hour or so later, the Doms were asked to make their transactions backstage and then collect their subs.
“Transaction successful, sir.” Wong, another of his assistants said when the money was transferred successfully by Tony.
“All yours, Stark, enjoy.” Stephen smiled as he handed Peter over to Tony before moving onto the next Dom and sub.
Peter almost didn’t want Strange to leave, as his hand went from Strange’s to his new Dom. He chewed on his lip as he stared down at the floor, unsure as to what to do or say now that he and his Dom were stood face to face. All of his ‘training’ by Beck seemed to fly out of the window, and he trembled where he stood as he avoided the Dom’s hard gaze on him.
Stepping aside a bit for some privacy, Tony studied the sub who’s hand he was holding. Soft. That’s the first thing he noticed, but the second thing he frowned about. The boy’s posture was terrible. ”What’s your name, boy?” Tony asked, wanting them to be introduced properly, even though he knew the boy’s name.
When the Dom spoke, Peter was snapped out of his daze. “Uhm, P-Peter, sir. Peter Parker.” He said. At the back of his mind, he wondered whether the Dom had even heard his name when he had been up on stage, but didn’t think much of it. His gaze shifted from the floor to his hand, where it was almost engulfed by the man’s much larger, much more calloused hand.
”I’m Tony Stark, but you will refer to me as Mr Stark at all times. Understood?” Tony asked and when Peter said that he understood, the Dom added. ”Good, now let’s see if you’re trained at all. Undress and present.” The Dom commanded, letting go of the boy’s hand.
Peter blanked out at that. “Wh- Right… right here?” He asked, glancing around the place. Although Mr. Stark had taken him off to the side a bit, away from the other subs, there were still people walking around and passing them every so often, so they weren’t in complete privacy.
Tony was a little dumbfounded by the response as he was hardly expecting a sub to question him. He clenched his jaw as he gestured to the boy to undress. ”Yes, right here! Who’s in charge, huh?” Tony snapped with a raised voice. ”Christ, who trained you?”
The sudden raised voice made Peter flinch, but it also made him follow the order. He quickly shrugged off the black gown and folded it, placing it to one side as he got into position by standing with his legs shoulder-width apart and his arms raised to intertwine his fingers behind his head. “M-Mr. Beck trained me, Mr. Stark.” He said, trying his best to hold the position as his Dom stared at him.
After being a Dom most of his life and having at least a dozen different subs in his life, Tony can recognise a good posture and submissive nature in an instant. And this boy is horrendous, but also stunning, so the Dom cannot help but be drawn to him despite his bad posture. Circling the sub, Tony started correcting Peter, raising his arms higher, tipping his chin further down and straightening his back more.
Peter flinched almost violently when Mr. Stark touched him, but quickly recovered. He was a little embarrassed that Mr. Stark was correcting his posture, but tried his best to follow the corrections and hold them. He couldn’t help being hyperaware of his surroundings, and the weight of the leather collar on his throat as his Dom inspected him.
Getting a tissues from his suit jacket, Tony began to grope at Peter’s exposed cock and balls, inspecting them as well. The sub was on the smaller side, but that was exactly how he wanted his subs, so Tony had nothing to complain about with the subs body. Pulling back, Tony threw away the tissue. ”I heard that Beck’s subs are the worst around here.” Tony mused.
Peter’s eyes widened when Mr. Stark suddenly examined his cock and balls, and tried his best to hold position even as a group of subs walked past. When Mr. Stark spoke about Beck, Peter bit down on his lower lip. What Mr. Stark said didn’t seem to be a question directed at him, so he kept quiet.
”But, you’re such a pretty thing that I guess I’ll have to give you a chance.” Tony added after a beat, thinking that the sub perhaps wasn’t so hopeless after all. The Dom snapped his fingers and then pointed at the silk gown on the floor. ”Get dressed. We’re going home.”
Peter relaxed a little at the compliment, but immediately straightened up again when he realised his mistake. He blushed a light pink at the amused look that his Dom gave him, and dropped position when he was instructed to get dressed. He grabbed the gown off the floor and hurriedly put it on, before falling in step behind Mr. Stark as he was lead out of the auction house and to the man’s car.