Traditionals

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

The interior of Tony's lair had seen a few makeovers as of recent. Wherever he'd set up his workspace had been the most intimate space possible--a macrocosm of his mental world where everything was happening at once, decipherable to only him. However, the space had undergone a shift ever since he opened it up to the littler ones. He suddenly found himself having to make the space accessible to other people. Inviting, even. It was...exhausting.

And this next venture was, too. But the exhaustion brought the promise of reward. It always did.

Tony lounged on the sofa (the one piece of the room he still had the most affection for) as he awaited Thor's knock. He nursed a cup of warm rum as he lounged about in a robe, having indulged in the longest bath in ages. The snow was exciting, but it sucked the life out of him.

Comments

[st_ormbreaker]

"Is there?"

Thor allows himself to to be pulled along by Tony. He'd said it before, but there were few people in his life that he trusted enough to go with their flow without question. Tony had not always been one of them, but he was now.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Right before Tony tipped off the edge, he held on to Thor and pulled himself back in for an honest hug. Kisses, stray hands, even the occasional tackle—but hugs were extraordinarily rare from Tony Stark.

“Stay like this.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor returns the hug, his arms tightly wound around Tony's body. He doesn't know the next time he will get one.

"I'll stay wherever you need me."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony swayed against him, bouncing up to cup his cheeks to get drunk on the nostalgia of seeing Thor in a proper cape. It felt like--like home. Where he was meant to be. The way they were meant to be. There was an outpouring of overwhelming adoration from somewhere within him and it was all he could do to stand still.

[st_ormbreaker]

Tony's hands are cool against his cheeks. Thor presses his hands over them, holding Tony's hands in place and warming them up at the same time.

Thor gives them a quick squeeze and looks straight into Tony's large, glossy brown eyes.

"I love you."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

“You complete me!” Tony tipped right back at his admission, falling back off the roof as his armor swept over him, taking off in flight to circle the inn.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor laughs, his shoulders shaking as he watches as Tony circles the inn; Thor spins, watching in amusement and appreciation as Tony moves fluidly through the night. The clouds he summoned from earlier have moved on or otherwise evaporated, leaving his partner on display against a dark blanket of stars.

That was one of the things Thor loved about this place. Far from any civilization to speak of, the stars in the night sky were almost as brilliant as they were when he traveled through space.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Iron Man blazed a golden trail across the sky, shooting glimmering golden vermillion streams of sparks from his foot propulsors. He carved sharp trails above Thor’s head, finishing off with a flourish as he dove towards land. In his wake was the shimmering outline of a hammer against the hazy violet hues of the Milky Way.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor decides that there's no way any mix tape is likely to eclipse Tony's offerings tonight.

And for once in his life, he finds that he's okay with losing for a change.

"Get down here!"

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony descended before Thor, hovering just feet above. His face plate vanished, revealing a grin large enough to mirror Thor's. "A weapon to make the universe tremble."

[st_ormbreaker]

"I prefer 'a weapon to protect'," Thor says. That might have been a good descriptor for Mjolnir -- at least of how she was in the last ten years of her life. It probably wasn't the best descriptor for Stormbreaker now, though; the weapon had been built with one purpose and one purpose only: to kill Thanos.

Things had changed since then, but it came too late. Thor holds out a hand to Tony.

"Be with me."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony accepted it, clearing himself of his armor as his feet touched snow.

"A cape standing at the pinnacle of haute couture." He curled his clever fingers in over Thor's, turning their grip over to press a kiss to Thor's knuckles, his warm breath creating mist. "And a smile that takes the winter and makes it summer."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor has always been remarkably shameless, much to the exasperation and occasional embarrassment of the other members of his family. He can count the number of times he's found himself embarrassed in the last thousand years on less than one hand and two of those times have been courtesy of Tony Stark here at the inn.

Thor has no idea how he does it.

"Do you mean to flatter me?"

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"What I mean--" Tony tugged Thor's hand towards him, circling his waist with his other hand. "--Is to leave anything that isn't you or me at the door." Tony gazed up at the other man with bright eyes full of intent, of pure affection.

"If I disappear tomorrow, it won't be without showing you what it means to wear my ring."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor didn't imagine wearing Tony's ring would be anything like this; then again, he didn't entertain the slightest idea of ever wearing it until Tony's proposal.

"Promise me you won't disappear tomorrow."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony merely smiled, coaxing Thor down to touch foreheads. He swayed slightly, as if moving to some unseen rhythm.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor's head taps against Tony's far lighter than it had when their heads first connected a decade before.

"I'm serious," he says.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Their togetherness wasn't forever. It wasn't meant to be. It could be as long as as the rest of Tony's life or until morning. There was no way to tell.

But it wasn't meant to end here. Not yet.

"Promise."

[st_ormbreaker]

A simple thank you wouldn't be enough for Thor to adequately express his appreciation, so he presses his lips against Tony's; it is warm, but short-lived, as Thor pulls his face away.

"This has truly been the best Christmas I've had in..." Thor has to think about it, but all the years blend together after awhile. "...in a long time."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"You haven't seen how good it gets. Not just because you've got the hammer made of starstuff, the nanoparticle fashion, or the laughing face no angel could replace." Tony slid his hand around Thor's waist up to the back of his broad neck, bunting their heads eagerly.

"You've got me." He slid back down, nodding in the direction of his room. "And my room. But that's a tonight thing."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor's gaze follows Tony's nod towards his room. "You're the most humble man I know," he says, grinning. "But you're not wrong."