At The World's Edge

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Flying was freedom. That was one of the truths that remained in their prison.

Tony Stark was no longer forcing his limbs into the suit, nor was he weighed down with fear of its imminent failure or the pain of maintaining it through will power and little else. No, it once again became his second skin. His thrusters propelled him on high as he approached the altitude of the barrier. Its dimensions were well documented and he had no fear of crashing into it. There wasn't even the lingering anxiety of tracking Thor to the ends of the fishbowl--the man had taken his tent, and Tony had taken care to install trackers well ahead of time in anticipation of this exact scenario. He could have found him at once, had he been so inclined. But three days was three days, and the time he had been granted on his own was time he could return in kind.

After all, time spent to oneself was sometimes the only medicine. But Tony wouldn't let too much time pass without at least checking in. So was his duty as Thor's friend and, well, everything he was to the man.

His resolve, his triumph, it all equaled out to a baseline of contentment that he indulged in to watch the scenery unfold with new eyes. When had the dry, cracked earth evolved into slopes of grass backlit by a distant, gleaming shore? Cedarwoods and cypresses were laid out in a patchwork of somber greens. As the water approached, so did the faint mists, muting the scenery. The clouds had rolled in, lingering and promising rain. Tony's contentment became sobriety.

As Tony descended upon a pointed cliffside, there he was. At the crest sat the lonely figure he sought meters away. Quietly, Tony's armor re-formed into a thick jacket. He looked at the distance behind him--the silhouettes of hills utterly obscured any sign of the hotel. He turned back ahead and approached in no particular hurry. His footsteps were made soft by the grass and the sounds of winds and crashing waves. Coming up on Thor's side, he took in the sight of his meditative profile and simply lowered to sit beside him.

Comments

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Tony Stark has a healthy appreciation for validation." Jaw setting in a stubborn show, he tilted his head into the scritching fingers.

[st_ormbreaker]

"You are my favorite," Thor reassures him, and he presses his lips against the side of Tony's head. "And for the record, it's okay if you are insecure. I was, a lot, when I was younger. The whole probably going to be king, must live up to my father's expectations thing."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Thanks." He replied in his typical dry fashion to Thor's reassurances. "While we're talking and waiting, Big Guy..."

[st_ormbreaker]

"Mm?"

Thor gives Tony a curious look.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"...Hm. Never mind." Shrugging his blanket hood back over the crown of his wind-blown hair, Tony huddled. "Nothing big."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor bumps Tony arm-to-shoulder again. "You don't get to say that and then how out."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"A hypothetical." Tipping to the side, Tony fell as a pile of blankets wound around his smaller form. "That's all. If there was no way to pop the bubble we're afloat in. This being it. The end."

[st_ormbreaker]

"You want to know what I think?"

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony sniffed, warming his nose. "S'why I brought it up."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor pauses, thinking. Not of how to answer because he already knows the answer -- but of how best to phrase it.

"It's not a popular opinion, but I'd be fine if we all remained here. There's considerably less chance of anyone dying. And I'd rather that none of you have to live through Thanos."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony rolled towards Thor's sitting form, peering out at him from within the burrow. "Yeah...?"

[st_ormbreaker]

"Yeah," Thor confirms. "I like my brother and my Tony better alive. And Peter. I would prefer it if the moron were alive, too."

He almost says something about Bucky, but looks down at Tony, so incredibly cute beneath his blanket and offers him a small smile.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony exhaled a soft breath in distant amusement, and perhaps something else.

"You." Tony inched closer. "Calling me by my first name for the rest of our days."

[st_ormbreaker]

"Is that a request or a demand?"

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Just imagining. If that were the case." Tony propped his ear on Thor's thigh. "Nothing to avenge, nowhere to be. Just you, me, and the rest. Living however we see fit while Tony Stark and Thor of some other timeline see things through."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor rubs a hand along the length of Tony's upper arm.

"Is that what you want?" he asks. "I can't make any promise to everything else, but I can at least make it habit of calling you Tony."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony merely smiled for a moment. He let the question to unanswered.

"Call me whatever you like. Thor."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor notices that Tony doesn't give him an answer, but this time he doesn't push for one. He's pretty sure he knows the answer, anyway. Instead, he runs a finger along the curve of Tony's exposed earlobe very lightly.

Thor looks down at the man resting on his thigh and smiles. says his name like a mantra, over and over again. "Tony. Tony. Tony. Tony." He says his name over and over again as if he is reciting a mantra or casting a spell.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Anthony. Maybe. Because I like you. And only on special occasions. Like at my funeral." Tony stretched his legs out under the mounds of blankets.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor's finger briefly stops stroking Tony's earlobe before he continues running it back along its path.

"Noted," he says.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Pressing a kiss to the fabric above the inside of his thigh, Tony rose slowly. "I am glad about one thing. Won't have to ask you not to leave anymore."

[st_ormbreaker]

"There is that," Thor says. "Except for those times when I go camping without you."

Thor leans down to give Tony a kiss right where his jaw meets his ear. "But I get the feeling this will be the last time for awhile."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Grown man. You can do what you want." Tony did his best to keep the petulance out of his voice, rubbing his own shoulders. "Don't worry, Sailor. I'll wait for you when you leave me at the port. Keep the bed warm, kids changed, a fresh cauldron of chicken mull going. Speaking of."

The low buzz of his hand-crafted drone drew closer outside the tent, and Tony pushed to his feet. "Take a breather and leave dinner to me."

[st_ormbreaker]

As Tony makes his way out of the tent, Thor takes a breath.

"Thank you."

Thor himself isn't entirely sure what in particular he's thanking Tony for. Dinner, showing up here, keeping him company? There were so many things he could conceivably be grateful for that it is impossible for him to point at one and to that's it!

But after years of traveling out in the far, distant reaches of space, far from Earth and Asgard, it was nice to have something of a home again, even if this place was no Earth and no Asgard.

And perhaps even nicer than that was having someone waiting for him again.

Thor lays back, hands beneath his head and stares up at the ceiling of the tent.

And before long, he manages to doze off.