st_ormbreaker | (no subject)

(no subject)

Thor idly throws Mjölnir up in the air with a spin, then catches it easily in one hand. He always tends to play with his hammer whenever he's feeling restless and for some reason, he feels restless now. Going home suddenly feels incredibly important, even though the only thing waiting for them there is the festival and accompanying feast for Walpurgis. The holiday might have felt important when he was much younger, the same way Yule was important to him when he was very small, but 1500 years of celebrating and feasting had drained his excitement for it. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy it (he did) -- at this point, it felt more ritual than anything else.

Still, there was something that felt important about it this time in ways it hadn't before. He couldn't help but think it was because Tony was accompanying him. None of the other Avengers had ever had the chance to visit his homeworld, and it was difficult for him not to feel excited and proud to show it all to someone.

"You will want to stay close," he says, before he lifts Mjölnir. "You do not want to fall off of it."

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"When you say things like that, I can not tell if you are being serious or not."

He gives Tony's hair an affectionate scritch and Thor's grin eventually and naturally fades, even though his warm feelings do not.

"I am serious." Tony tightened his core and lifted his legs together a few times. "About getting back in shape. I'm no super soldier, but snapping in half in a stiff breeze is unacceptable."

Thor doesn't disagree, but he'd prefer that Tony weren't in a position to be snapped in half to begin with. He might have managed to push it away, but his dream is still hovering there in the back of his mind. It'll take some time for him to shrug it off completely.

"You remember that last chat we had the night before I left?" he asks.

"Mostly." Tony had to think for a moment on that one. Beyond the drink, the evening was colored by the regret of Thor making himself scarce in the aftermath of Sokovia. He suppressed it admirably enough on the spot, but he had gotten more than a few remarks about sulking afterwards.

Mostly. Tony had drunk a lot that night. Thor wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't remember everything they'd discussed.

"You give any real thought to retiring?"

"You mean before I decided not to? Yeah." Tony used his abdominal strength to sit up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

Thor's eyes narrow slightly as Tony pushes himself up; his arm, once draped over his partner shifts with his movement and lands right in Thor's lap.

"You actually retired?" he asks. He didn't quite expect for Tony to say he'd actually taken the advice. "Why did you change your mind?"

"Infinity Stones? Thanos?" Tony stood and rotated his shoulders, wandering to the window. "That convo went by quickly, but I didn't just forget."

Thor adds Tony's explanation to his mental checklist of reasons why he should have kept his brother's death to himself.

"It wasn't much of one," he says, feeling somewhat remorseful. He leans over his thighs, letting his forearms lay comfortably atop them as he leans slightly over. Thor looks at Tony, whose feet have drawn him comfortably to the windows' edge. "Sorry."

Tony glanced at Thor's reflection quizzically. "For?"

"Not... letting you talk things out."

"We worked it out, right? Boinking is a tried and true method of negotiation." Tony leaned against the windowsill, hooking his fingers around his ankle to stretch his quadricep.

"If this is about Loki, I am very committed to making nice before making him into a nice pâté. Besides, it's hard to nuture a hate-on for the guy that kept you from coming out of a fight a vegetable."

Thor blinks. "Did you really just call it boinking?" he asks with a growing smile.

"What do you prefer? Gland-to-gland combat?" Tony turned with a wink and a smile.

That draws a laugh from Thor.

"We usually just called it fucking," he says. "Or love-making. It varies with context."

"I think we strike a decent balance." Unable to cleanly stretch his other leg, Tony settled for perching proudly on Thor's lap.

Thor hums appreciatively. "I think so, too."

He sets a hand to Tony's back, and looks out at the window. "I'm really glad you're okay," he says, finally. Tony's not okay -- or at least he's not yet, but somehow it seems easier to say than I'm really glad you're alive.

"I'm glad you're not fussing anymore." Tony rolled his eyes, bringing his legs back around to perch sideways. "You never did in the old days."

Thor idly drums a few fingers against Tony's back.

"I think anyone would fuss after you after the blow you took."

"Yeah but you? Thor Odinson, God of Thunder? Isn't dying a warriors death an instant ticket to Valhalla anyway?" Tony pressed back with his abdomen, testing the iron strength of the man's arm.

"I don't want anyone going to Valhalla before I do." Thor stops drumming on Tony's back and lays it flat against its surface; his hand holds steady against his weight.

He sets his chin down on Tony's good shoulder.

"I'm a selfish god."

"Wait, wait, I've been practicing." Tony cleared his throat.

"Ósnjallr maðr hyggsk munu ey lifa, ef hann við víg varask, en elli gefr hánum engi frið, þótt hánum geirar gefi."

Of the many odds and ends the library kept, Hávamál was one of them. While Tony was proficient in Latin-style languages, a Old Norse was an interesting beast to tackle.

"Your pronunciation can use a little work, but if you're trying to say something about our current topic of conversation --"

Thor drums a few fingers along Tony's spine again, as if tapping out a melody on his vertebrae like they were the keys of a piano.

"-- the foolish man has done nothing his entire life, and is unfulfilled. You have done a great deal in yours."

"That's not a proverb." Tony's smirk fell. "And this isn't a debate. Whatever reason you have for keeping me out of a fight for half the life in the universe? Speak now or hold your peace."

Thor's fingers stop playing their song.

"I don't get why there has to be a reason," he says, suddenly bristling irritably for reasons he can't fully understand. "You don't think after losing my brother, after losing my father that I wouldn't want to keep the few other people left in my life safe?"