st_ormbreaker | In Tents

In Tents

Thor hasn't gone camping in a few years.

The last time he went camping, it was with Jane Foster, Darcy, and Darcy's intern, who Thor was pretty convinced was her boyfriend. For most of the trip, Darcy and her intern were fighting loudly; Jane was constantly on her cellular phone because her calls kept dropping and there was some emergency at a conference she was guest speaking at; Thor spent much of that first evening casually eating a bag and a half of marshmallows at the fire before Darcy voiced her protest and he was barred from eating more for the rest of the trip, much to Thor's dismay.

Thor might have overpacked for the trip, but Thor was of the mind that it was better to be overprepared than under -- and that it was better to have too many marshmallows than not enough. When four hours had passed and they reached their destination, he set down their belongings and began to set up camp.

"I never pegged you for the camping type," Thor says, pulling the tent poles out of their sheath. Maybe he was, and Thor had just never known it. It just always seemed like Tony was into tech so much that he couldn't stand to be without it.

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"Yeah. My water. We can share." Tony nosed the top of his head.

"Thank you."

Thor doesn't say anything for a moment, just taking in the warmth of Tony's body against his own.

"I'll tell him," he says, finally.

Tony pushed his body weight against Thor's back, resting his chin on the blonde bristles.

"Not tonight, at least. Right?" He massaged the larger man's jaw to make his not-so-subtle point.

"Not tonight," he says. Probably not tomorrow night, either. He was dreading that particular conversation. He suspects that Loki will just be glib about the whole thing. He's not sure if that's worse than him being upset.

Thor reaches for Tony's hand and pulls it away from his jaw just long enough to kiss the tips of his fingers.

He sets Tony's hand back against his jaw and briefly sets his hand over it.

"We made up, by the way," he says. "I don't think I told you that."

Tony's chest warmed. Clearly, the walk had been a good strategic move on his part.

"Good." Leaving it at that, Tony cracked a small smile. His satisfaction was a simple sort--just knowing that Thor was given some peace in whatever way he could find it.

"I'm really glad you're here," he says. "There was a time where all I could do was think about the last thing I said to everyone who was gone. I don't remember the last thing I said to you and Rogers, but I remember it being flippant. I wish I had done a better job of saying goodbye."

Now, at least, he gets to say it to Tony. Even if there might be a chance that they'll change his timeline, or they'll go back and not remember anything at all. He's just glad that he got to say something.

"But... I'm not just glad because of that."

Tony brought himself around to Thor's lap for a second go--he had scooted off prematurely the last time, after all. He remained loosely clinging to Thor's neck.

"Yeah?"

"You know," he says, tracing a line from Tony's ear down to his chin. "Tell you how much you meant to me. You and our little excursions. You were one of the first Midgardian friends I made." Jane and Darcy and Selvig had been the first. "One of the only Midgardian friends I made. You and Rogers. Banner and Romanoff. Barton and Rhodey."

Some of them he was closer to than others, but still he considered all of them his friends.

"Don't feel bad. I've been Midgardian my entire life and I consider only two of the people you listed my friends." It wasn't always so, but it was now. Rhodey was the sole friend he had left out of all of them--Banner still considered among the ranks due to the sheer fact he was too MIA to disagree with him anymore.

Still, it wasn't important. Not right now. He tugged himself up and brought their mouths together in another restless showing. "Still on another little excursion, last time I checked. I'm at your whim."

And of course, he's the third.

"You know, Stark," he says, his lips tugging into the slightest of smiles. "I'd really like to know what you'd like me to do to you."

"Put a ring on it?" His lungs pushed out a little laugh, first in what felt like ages following their half-argument. "Kidding. Just...smile for me or something like that." He pushed up the sides of Thor's mouth with his two index fingers.

That isn't quite what he meant, but Thor doesn't mind. He catches Tony's fingers in his hand and holds them there.

"You are truly ridiculous."

But still, Thor smiles.

"Lord have mercy." Tony feigned a swoon in a theatrical manner, kicking his legs up. "Smiling? Severely underrated form of foreplay, so says I."

Thor releases his grip on Tony's fingers. "You could just ask," he says. "No fingers necessary."

"Less fun."

A chill swept through the sands and cracked earth, kicking up dust. Tony huddled.

"Gonna take shelter soon, Big Guy. Rain check the s'mores for me."

Thor's hand finds its way into the tangle or Tony's growing hair. It's growing out far quicker than his own. A small part of Thor is jealous.

"Maybe tomorrow," he says amiably. Thor doesn't fault him for wanting to make it an early night. It felt like a lot has happened.

Thor's hand shifts from Tony's hair and down to his back. He gives him a few light pats, which might have been normal pats for basically anyone else.

"Go get some sleep. I'll clean things up here."

"Cleaned up the food while you weren't looking. Left out the marshmallows." To make his point, Tony reached into his pocket and pulled out a fluffy piece, shoving it between Thor's lips before tucking the entire bag under his broad arm. "Water's by the tent. I'm not tired, for the record, just wanting to cocoon a little, so feel free to bug me."

He had given his self-fashioned portable heater some time to do its thing, so the cocooning likely wouldn't have even been necessary. There were heating mats lining the tent floors, voice-activating LED lighting woven into the seams (with some adjustments made for mood, in this case), cup holders, and many additional pockets to obsessively organize his effects.

Of course he made Thor carry it.

"In fact, I'll be a little insulted if you don't."

Thor chews away on the marshmallow and watches as Tony stuffs the rest of them under his arm. Thor's fairly certain he ate more marshmallows than Tony ate noodles (which was to say, not many), and his sweet tooth refused to be satisfied with this paltry offering.

Still, it doesn't take much to draw Thor's attention away from the marshmallows, at least when Tony is involved.

"I'm sure your ego would survive the insult," he says.

"'Bug.'" Tony ran his palm up Thor's chest and gave him a look. "I didn't go through the trouble of air purifiers in that thing for nothing."

True to his hedonism, a lot of modifications had to do with establishing "mood." Sharing the tent on occasion with Peter meant explaining away the essential oils or body lotion. The chronic inflammation excuse seemed to do the trick.

"Just saying. Also..." He straightened Thor's vest. "Just saying one more thing."

Thor has a hard time not preening when Tony runs his hand up his chest and then straightens his vest. Thor is also a man of ego, and Tony seems to know exactly how to appeal to it.

"Mm?" he asks, trying to seem decidedly less interested in what Tony has to say than he is, but failing horribly at it.

For the (perhaps final, perhaps not) time that night, Tony pulled himself up and claimed Thor's mouth. The kiss was soft but insistent. For him, it was more biting than the whiskey and sent a deeper, fuller surge of warmth through him than liquor ever could. He sat back to look Thor in his mismatched eyes.

"You're my partner. In...every way possible, at this point. And this is your fight."

The talk with Loki, Thor's crosses to bear, whatever future he'd have to face when they got home.

"But I'm in your corner."

Thor would almost be embarrassed by how touched he felt if he weren't so moved by it. And Thor, who almost always wore his heart on his sleeve, found couldn't hide those feelings if he tried.

"And I'm in yours," he says, smiling. He presses a hand to the side of Tony's face, enjoying to coarseness of his facial hair against his palm.

"So just let me know if there's ever anyone's ass you need kicked."

"I kick ass. You smite it. Deal?" A grin and some rapid alternating winks, and Tony rose from his lap.

"Well, you know where to find me." He disappeared into the tent, zipping up the vaguely transparent flap behind him and not-so-discreetly unzipped his jacket followed by the rest.

"You're a tease, Stark," Thor calls out as Tony strips down. He heads towards the tent, and for a second, it might look like he's about to join him; instead he grabs the water and drowns the campfire. He picks up one of the unused pieces of firewood and mixes the ashes and embers, then douses the fire again.

By the time he looks back at the tent flaps, Tony's silhouette is gone. He drops the water back down at the tent, then unzips the flaps and joins him.

"Thought it might be a good time for me to cocoon as well," he says, using Tony's word for it.

"Cocoon with me? Maybe I'll become a beautiful butterfly afterwards." Tony was lying on his stomach and studying a rather large book, hugged loosely by his sleeping bag.

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