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]

Thor takes the present, looks down at it, and then looks up at Tony.

"But it's not Christmas yet," he says.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

“In some places it’s tradition to give one gift away early, saving the rest for Christmas Day.” Tony crosses his legs, looking from the box to Thor. “Traditionals.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor looks down at the gift and it's obvious from a glance that like a child, he's eager to open it. He hasn't finished Tony's gift yet, and that guilt's the only thing stopping him from immediately opening the package.

Then, hesitatingly, he slowly pulls at the ribbon, then lifts open the lid to reveal two circular broaches.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

The broaches sat, one on top of the other. They were a regal silver—striking but not at all overstated. There were faint carvings within of twisting runes.

“May I?” Tony offered, nodding from them to Thor.

[st_ormbreaker]

They're beautiful. Thor gazes down at them appreciatively and only looks up when Tony speaks.

"Certainly."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

The brooches were backed by two study pin clasps, and Tony methodically pierced Thor’s loose sweater near his shoulders, setting them symmetrically to rest comfortably against his pronounced clavicle. Tony sat back to appraise the look of them—somewhat out of place, given his casual apparel, but he felt confident that would be forgotten in short time.

“Come on.” He smirked, rising as his robe shifted back into his warm peacoat. “The best part awaits.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor looks down at them as best as he can as Tony pins them on, then resists the urge to touch them as much as he wants to run his fingers over the grooves of the runes. He doesn't want to immediately smudge his new gift right out of the package.

Instead, he rises to his feet after Tony.

"What's the best part?"

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony took Thor by the hand, leading him out into the hall and out the nearest door leading to the outside. It was dark, and the remnant snow sat in a thick layer on the grounds. The wind howled in the distance, and Tony summoned a scarf to guard his sensitive throat against the chill that followed.

After orienting himself, he nodded upwards and took off towards the midpoint of the long stretch of flat roof.

[st_ormbreaker]

Tony doesn't give him an answer. Thor allows himself to be led by Tony, enjoying the weight of the other man's hand in his own. His grip on it tightens as they step outside into the cold, hoping to share a little bit of his warmth. Thor might be impervious to winter chill, but Tony is sensitive to cold. If he could, he'd bundle the man up in a half-dozen blankets every time he got cold and wrap his arms around him until Tony was warmed to his satisfaction.

There are no blankets here, though -- just Tony, his newly-materialized scarf, Thor, and his newly-gifted pendants.

Thor wordlessly follows after Tony, up to that fixed point on the roof and wonders -- knowing he'll never guess -- what Tony Stark has planned this time.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony hummed, feeling the wind soften in its fervor. Not yet. Instead, he drew back in close to Thor's front and ran his gloved hands up his stomach, to his chest, back to his shoulders--avoiding jostling the silver pieces as he brought them back in to warm the man's firm neck.

"I can't stand being one-upped." He admitted with a remnant of a chuckle in his voice. "I give you the starry sky, you give me the snow, and now I've gotta up the ante."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor sets a hand against the side of Tony's head and runs a thumb along the outer lobe of his ear. "This isn't a competition, you know."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"It's not?" Tony feigned surprise, drawing Thor down into a long and slow continuation of their earlier kiss.

[st_ormbreaker]

When Thor finally parts to answer, he's still close enough to feel Tony's breath on his face.

"Not unless we want to continue going to ridiculous extremes to attempt to one-up the other."

It would probably happen.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Yeah?" Tony whispered with a slight rasp, licking his bottom lip. His fingers curled as another gust swept through and picking up the top, loose layers of snow. He swiftly brought his hands back down, giving both brooches a firm pat as he stepped back.

The runes sparked to life in a shock of electric blue, pulsing through Thor's clothing and forming a billowing cape of dark crimson.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor is so caught off-guard by the sudden pull of the cape manifesting behind him that he staggers a half-step back in surprise. He turns and reaches for the cape, then holds it in his hand.

It's thick and textured and real.

He lets go of it, letting it drape heavily behind him, then spins around, as if testing it. When he finally stops, he's facing Tony.

Thor didn't think anyone would understand why he was so moved by the gesture. He's pretty sure if he had tried, he couldn't explain it to anyone's satisfaction. He'd started losing things one after the other when he started dreaming of Ragnarok: his father who dissolved into Odinforce, Mjölnir which had been destroyed by his sister, his cape which had been torn moments after he landed in Sakaar, his hair which was shorn off, his eye, his friends, brother, Asgard, most of its people, half of those that survived Hela's culling, and half again when Thanos snapped his fingers.

He had been given replacements for some of what he'd lost: Rocket had gifted him with an eye and with Eitri helped him to forge Stormbreaker. Though he appreciated both of them, neither could replace what had been taken from him. If given the choice between a synthetic eye and a real one, he'd choose having his own eye without hesitation; Stormbreaker, for all its strength was no Mjölnir and had not been his steadfast companion in over 1000 years of battles across the Nine Realms and beyond.

This, though --

This was the first thing that was better than the original it intended to replace.

"Thank you."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony gave his own chest a meaningful pat, though glow of his arc reactor brightening in response.

“I want you to think of me.” Tony’s throat caught for a moment, saying the words before his mind could cull them. “If, universe permitting, you take anything back with you than just memories. I want you to take a piece of me.”

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor leans down and presses his lips against the arc reactor. When he straightens, he reaches for Tony's hand and holds it tightly for a moment before eventually letting it go.

"I will carry you with me for as long as the universe permits me to."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

The arc reactor wasn't sensitive to touch, but the rest of him reacted as if it was--perhaps even more than if Thor had simply kissed him anywhere else. Of everywhere he'd been touched, his chest was treated as off-limits (or a distraction). If Tony was ever given to blushing, he might have started and then thanked the dark it wasn't visible, brushing a few fingers over his chest.

"Good. It suits you."

[st_ormbreaker]

"I'd be worried if it didn't," Thor says. "I've been wearing capes since I was 12, 14 years old."

That was a really long time to be a walking fashion faux pas.

"It's good to have one again."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony gave it one brooch a firm pat, watching the nanites recede back into their silver housing units. "No AI interface, so it takes a touch." Tony shrugged apologetically. "This one's been on the burner for...four months? At first it was a side project, but with Christmas rolling in..."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor presses his palm against one of the brooches, same as Tony, and the cape unfurls behind him again. He'd done it just to test the thing out, but now that he has, he thinks he'll keep the cape right where it is.

"I prefer simplicity," he says. "Probably doesn't explain why I'm in love with one of the most complex men the universe has ever known."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

“It’s a Gemini thing.” Tony chirped glibly before relenting, his cool expression breaking into a momentary grin. Seeing Thor this pleased was all the gift he needed. “Thank my cute little nanites. They’re yours, now. Take care of them.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"I'll care for them as if they were my own children." Thor says, giving Tony a reassuring pat on the side of one arm. He turns and looks out at the horizon, feeling out the barometric pressure. Thor supposes if he were Midgardian, he'd probably make a decent weatherman.

He turns back to Tony. "You mind if I give a test drive?"

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"I'd be insulted if you didn't." Tony stepped back, summoning his glasses so as not to lose a moment of the visuals.

[st_ormbreaker]

"You might want to," Thor gestures vaguely, "put on the suit." After one womans' response to their fun little adventure in weather manipulation, he's giving himself only one go at it.

He needs to make it count.