Perfectly Suited

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony Stark was too old to play games. Every time he ran hot and cold with his partner was never a calculated power play so much as a deeply embedded habit built around mitigating whatever anxiety he’d built up. Even the old days full of ninja crawling out of bed just to avoid the morning after spiel were motivated by the intimidation (in part) of having them at all.

He’d gotten better at that part, though. Far better. Tony was curled up on the side of the long-suffering pink couch that wasn’t bearing a warped arm rest caused by some make-up rapporto sessuale from earlier in the evening, followed by a shower and the ceremonial poptart.

“You know—“ Tony brushed off some crumbs from his dark sweater, “You are terrible for my diet.”

Comments

[st_ormbreaker]

"I know," Thor says. As enigmatic and unreadable as Tony Stark could be at times, he should have known that no amount of explanation would be enough to let Tony take more than a few moments to breathe.

In an ideal world, Thor would want everyone to put an end to it long before Thanos arrived on Earth. A part of him desperately clung to the hope that by simply knowing what was to come that they could avert disaster.

Tony didn't seem to share his confidence; he never seemed to want to let a moment go to waste, even when he knew there were others working alongside him, even when there were others with contingency plans of their own.

"You seemed determined to do it all alone," he says, resting a hand on Tony's chest. "No one's going to win like that."

That Thor knows.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony said nothing. How could he brush off Thor’s words with his own truth that, in the end, all he had was himself?

People failed each other, and often, even with the best of intentions. A plan that relied solely on others with the highest stakes imaginable...

He took Thor’s hand and brought it to his lips, giving it a long kiss. The thoughts lingered but he shook them. “I can’t do it alone.” He reminded himself. “I need you.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"I need you, too," Thor says in turn, giving Tony's hand a squeeze. He feels that there's something else he should say, but when he searches for them, the right words simply don't come.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"And I need Rogers." Tony forced himself to say it, tapping his finger on the back of Thor's hand slowly. "And I can't forgive him."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor finds some strange comfort in the feel of Tony's fingers on his hand.

"I wish I could say I could help you, but I've been told I forgive too easily." That became second nature when you had a brother like Loki.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony kept his mouth shut on the next bitter thought that nearly made it past his throat. He had noticed what was shifting within Steve in regards to this supposed paramour. Tony paid attention. Maybe a little too much where it regarded Captain America--not something he was proud of.

Even if he tried to say it aloud, it would have been a losing effort. He didn't have the words to express the sheer levels of contempt (was it contempt?) it spawned. Whatever he felt, it was a mishmash of the ugliest thoughts and urges he'd ever had to be privy to. It was always followed by a keen shame chaser. He didn't have the gumption to even acknowledge it aloud. There was no way to voice them without sounding petulant or worse--jealous. Maybe a protracted scream would do.

"I'll try."

[st_ormbreaker]

"You don't have to forgive him, you know," he says, turning his hand around so he can catch Tony's fingers in it. "You can still work with him without forgiving him."

Thor had done as much with Loki after the Battle of New York; he had still been furious with his brother when he released him from his cell, but found in their attempt to work together that he was capable of forgiving Loki for what he had done.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony was caught between a nod and a frantic shake of his head. His body language was as frustrated and confused as the rest of him. "I can't live like this. Even when times are good, I just wanna wrap my fingers around his neck and..."

[st_ormbreaker]

"It seems to me you've got two choices," Thor says, giving Tony's hand a squeeze. "Either you figure out how to live like this or you change things so you don't have to."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony's body shook minutely, and he reached well over for that box of blueberries, balancing it on his lap. "It's settled. Brain surgery."

[st_ormbreaker]

"No surgeons here," Thor says. He reaches up and taps a finger against Tony's forehead. "So you'll have to figure out something else."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Well that's where you come in, Hon." Tony's hand whipped up to grip Thor's wrist and hold it right against the layers of skin and bone separating it from his gray matter. "Electroconvulsive therapy. Tickle my vagus nerve and one little seizure later and I should be right as rain."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor pulls his wrist away from Tony's grip.

"No," he tells him. He daintily presses a finger lightly against Tony's nose, giving it a little static shock.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony jumped, scrunching his shoulders up. "I'll program the procedure into WALL-E." The robot in his room was more like a coat rack than a companion lately. Make it worth the effort of building it.

[st_ormbreaker]

"I won't fry your brain, but if you figure something else out that requires my help, you know where to find me."

He may say it lightly enough, but Thor means what he says.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Shoving a few blueberries past his lips, Tony stood and was at once engulfed in his familiar armor. "A flight around the block."

[st_ormbreaker]

"All right." Thor pushes himself up from their couch and holds out his arm. Stormbreaker launches from where it lay across the room and snaps into his hand.

"Let's go."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

At once, Tony was out the door and into the brisk night air. He hopped over the railing to hover in mid-air. "Too late to propose eloping, yeah?"

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor follows out and soars up to meet him.

"You think there's anyone around to marry us last minute?" Thor isn't sure if there is even someone who could marry them period.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Can't we just--I dunno..." Tony angled himself and took off westward. "Get you a jar, get me a jar, head to the beach and exchange sand or something? Quiet. Symbolic. We enjoy cranberry juice and peach schnapps after."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor follows afterward, lips curled up in a slight smile.

"I didn't realize you were so eager."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Nine years, Odinson. Nine years." Tony's voice projected clear over the wind. "That's how long I've been waiting to tie the knot. That's an eighth of my lifespan--if I'm even that lucky!"

[st_ormbreaker]

Nine years wasn't even one-eightieth of Thor's current lifespan. Nine years felt like nothing to Thor, though he knew it is a tremendously long time for humans.

"What were you waiting for before that?"

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Nothing. Thought I knew exactly where I was headed. Just floated from one thrill to the next. Nothing to work for, nothing to wait for." Tony Stark, in his previous life wanted for nothing and had nothing to lose. He really believed that, anyway. Slowing down, he aligned himself with Thor's body and soared parallel.

"Now? I've got no clue where I'm going."

[st_ormbreaker]

There is something about flying that always manages to put him at ease. He wonders if it's the same for Tony.

"I don't think most people do," Thor says with a grin. "But that's what's so exciting about living, right?"