December 18th, 2012

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Following the Battle of New York, Tony Stark and his brand were becoming many things. The days of being a no-accountability war profiteer were already well behind him, but he hardly anticipated playing landlord to a ragtag team of honest-to-god superheros. In the aftermath, that was one the first things he set about doing with Pepper. With her blessing, Tony had thrown himself into it. Never one to half-ass things, he oversaw the extensive remodeling to accommodate the specific needs of each and every Avenger. Several were essentially homeless and there was no initiative for the superpowerly-abled, even in a place as progressive as New York.

Including Steve. Even if he called Stark Tower ugly and immediately found an apartment somewhere in Brooklyn. Even though Tony set aside one of the top 12 floors for him like everyone else. Fine.

Today was all about adding that personal touch. He was giving free room and board, might as well be a gracious sugar daddy about it. Besides, who wanted to thwart crime with a guy or gal whose liquor of choice you couldn't name? Just bad form.

Stopping outside the luxury suite dedicated to the arguably most unique new friendly friend, Tony bounced on his heels. He contemplated just walking in for a split second, but he liked having his cranium hammer-free. And it was still about being gracious--as much as he could be. "JARVIS? Ping Point Break for me." Tony didn't feel like knocking. This was a compromise.

"Mr. Odinson, you have a visitor." JARVIS dutifully announced from within Thor's quarters.

Comments

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony blinked, but he didn't miss a beat. "You have. All of them. Ginger ale, JARVIS. Please."

"Before your stomach ails as well, Sir."

"You know me so well." Tony reached into the cooler that popped open in the center of the cabin, pouring himself a glass. He hadn't been hungry, and his stomach had been uneasy as of the last few months. Watching Thor eat did more to dissuade his appetite than anything, but it was clenching from hunger. "Yeah, some of them should be old enough to have left the nest but what can you do? I'm a provider. There's Natasha with her endless wig collection and Banner with his wardrobe casualties, for example."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor blinks.

Then he gestures to himself.

"You think us your children?" Thor can't decide whether or not to feel amused or insulted. Instead, he settles on surprised.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Talking a slow sip of the carbonated drink, Tony waited for it to settle in his stomach before speaking. "Yeah. You're under my care. You're my babies. The Avengers. I gotta nuture you all, see you grow up strong."

[st_ormbreaker]

"I'm already strong," Thor protests. Strongest Avenger. "And older than you by well over 1400 years. I say that you are my charge."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Hey you come in my house, eat my food, go ice skating on my dime--" Tony took another sip, "That makes you my sugar baby."

[st_ormbreaker]

"They don't accept Asgardian coin," Thor points out. It's true. "If you were to come to Asgard, you'd be dressed in the finest garb the realm has to offer and treated to delicacies so succulent you'll think you've died and gone to Valhalla."

He gives Tony a slap on the back.

"So promise you'll come to visit and I'll return the favor."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

The ginger ale started out on his lips and ended up down his front as Thor showed his goodwill. Though Tony took it in stride.

"Promise." Tony stripped off his jacket and laid it to the side, leaving him in his ugly Christmas sweater and jeans pair he'd chosen from Value Village. "Pinky swear. Here." He extended his digit.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor knows of this pinky promise. Jane's nephew and niece had once made him promise he would bring them something from Asgard and made it official with this. He thought human rituals were strange, but this one was just strangely endearing.

Thor hooks his finger around Tony's.

"A sacred agreement."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony held a steady countenance, firmly grasping Thor's larger pinky in his own with as much earnestness as he would signing a major business deal and then--

"Ha...!" Yelping in laughter, Tony broke and fell back against the cushion.

Maybe the hypoglycemia was getting to him but the absurdity of the day capped off with a goddamn pinky promise was too much to handle.

"I got you wrong."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor turns and looks at Tony, utterly perplexed by his reaction.

"Got what wrong?" he asks, brows furrowed. There were many things in the universe he knew and understood, but right now, he couldn't even begin to comprehend the reasoning behind Tony's laughter.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

“You’re a better sport than I gave you credit for.” Tony tossed himself back before he could roll off the seat. “That’s all.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor sits back with a huff. What's that supposed to mean? He's still not certain. He decides it's best for the both of him if he just accepts it as a compliment, backhanded or no.

"You were saying something earlier," he says finally. "But you got cut off." Thor hadn't forgotten.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Wiping a tear from his eye, Tony gave Thor a puzzled look and tilted his head.

[st_ormbreaker]

"I said something about you wearing a bigger jacket next time, then you started to say something, but you got cut off." Or stopped. It was nearly the same difference to Thor.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

A lightbulb went off in Tony’s head but he played it off with a shrug. He suddenly felt very foolish for even entertaining the idea of saying it. He blamed the highs of flying.

“Doessssn’t ring a bell.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"Only if," Thor repeats. He turns to look at Tony, his gaze intense. "Only if what?"

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

“Only if...?” Tony repeated, as if Thor was the one posing the question.

[st_ormbreaker]

"Only if," Thor repeats back at him. Tony's lack of an answer only serves to fuel his curiosity.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

“Yeah?” Tony lounged back with what remained of his ginger ale, sipping it as if he was sitting pretty and it hadn’t spilled at all. “Don’t keep me in suspense, Big Guy.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"Only if you stop feigning ignorance," Thor says. He pulls the glass out of Tony's hand, tilts it towards him, and drinks the very little of the ginger ale left at the bottom of the glass.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony blinked, his fingers pinching empty air.

Of everything Tony felt in that moment of watching Thor unceremoniously claim his cup and drink the last few drops just to put him in his place...

Clearing his throat and eliminating the chance of a cracking voice, Tony folded his arms with little else to do. “Okay. Uh. You know it wasn’t that important.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor reaches into the cooler and fills the glass with ginger ale. He overfills it, the beverage threatening to spill over the rim of the glass.

Thor leans over to suck down just enough of the beverage that it can be held without issue.

"I seriously doubt that. People generally don't find it difficult to talk about the unimportant."

Thor offers the freshly-poured drink to Tony.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony robotically accepted the cup back, his eyes following a drop making its way down Thor’s lips and into the bristles of his chin.

“You’ve got a little...” He trailed off, sipping from the rim. “Well. Why don’t we discuss this next time? There’ll be a next time, right?”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor looks down with and wipes at his mouth with his fingers.

"If you want there to be, there will be a next time." No one had ever asked for a second ride on Mjölnir before and he hadn't expected Tony to express an interest. In hindsight, maybe he should have. Tony was the only other Avenger capable of flight. To him, flying was probably considerably less scary.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Only 'f y'--d't l've." Tony spoke through the carbonated drink, his stomach now doing an annoying little mambo number.