In Tents

[st_ormbreaker]

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.

Comments

[st_ormbreaker]

"Why not?" Thor pops another marshmallow into his mouth.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Same reasons most aren't. Checkered past, lovely attitude, ectcetera." Tony meter shrugged, matter-of-fact about the whole thing.

[st_ormbreaker]

"I find your stories of the past entertaining. Plus, I like your smart mouth."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Yeah?"

Tony leaned right over just before Thor's mouth could fully engulf another large puffball--plucking it out with his lips and sitting back with a smirk.

[st_ormbreaker]

"The bag's right here." Thor gives the bag a helpful little shake, though he has no real problem with Tony stealing his food if he's doing it that way.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"T'wasn't the confectionary I had mine gaze upon." Tony licked his lips of the remnant bits of sugar before settling on the less coy route (why did he bother? Thor unreliably caught on)--tugging him into a lip lock.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor would never get tired of Tony's mouth on his. There was something aggressive about the way he kissed, but it wasn't the bad sort of aggressive, that ended with forceful tongue(s) lodged in his mouth or damn near down his throat. Thor wondered, sometimes, it in some other world, people found that appealing. Thor, personally, did not. He wasn't sure he ever would.

Tony's kisses, on the other hand, were purposeful. And when his tongue did find its way into Thor's mouth, it knew exactly what it was doing.

Maybe aggressive wasn't quite the right word. Maybe assertive was a better way to describe it.

Right now, though, Tony's kiss tasted pleasantly sweet and salty. And Thor found himself wanting more of it.

When he finally pulls away, his lips naturally curl up into a smile. "You know, if you wanted a kiss, you could have asked for one," he says. "If you asked nicely enough, I might have even given you one."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"I don't like people handing me stuff." Tony scooted closer, drawn to the Asgardian's warmth. "You looked hungry."

[st_ormbreaker]

"Did I now?" Thor sets down the bottle to free up one of his hands, then wraps an arm around Tony, drawing the other man even closer.

Truthfully, he was hungry, and he always had a weakness for sweets. Which probably comes as no surprise when he reaches for another marshmallow and pops it into his mouth before Tony can get a taste of it.

"When you were younger, did you ever do things like this?" he asks. "Camping, not kissing other men." A beat. "Maybe kissing other men, too."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony didn't fight his grip as he was drawn in, setting his bowl by the fire. "Way more of the latter than the former, I'll say that right now. Can you fault me for seeking out something familiar?"

[st_ormbreaker]

"Not really," Thor says. "I like being with someone like this. It's been awhile since I've been this intimiate with anyone. There were a few one-offs after Jane, but nothing that came close to cuddling with your boyfriend in front of a fire."

Maybe it was strange for him to think that more intimiate than actual sexual intercourse, but it truly felt that way.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

The "boyfriend" label attached to him was still surreal, but it felt good to hear. In confirmation of this thought, he leaned against Thor's side.

Another thought followed. He fought with himself over saying it, but the combination of the spirits and the calming flame drew it out. In Vino Veritas.

"I've kissed plenty in my life, I'll grant that." Tony's eyes drifted shut. "There was never anyone else but Pepper. Or you."

[st_ormbreaker]

It's strange, being even put remotely on the same level with Pepper. The two of them once went on about Jane and Pepper, trying to one-up one another until Maria made some comment about testosterone.

And it's that comparison that makes him ask it.

"When did you --" Thor uncharacteristically hesitates for a moment, not sure, entirely of what words he should be using. "-- realize you had feelings for me?"

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Besides the night I challenged you to hold me and you did?" Tony recalled that moment. It had been a total bluff that lead to a follow through he had no idea he wanted.

Coming up on his lowest low, and there Thor was. Smacking into the hard sky with him like a pair of perfectly good morons while their song played them off.

"You and Pepper--you wrestle with the doors I shut but you both make me want to let you in. That's all."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor press his face against Tony's neck.

"I'm used to getting what I want," Thor says. He plants a kiss on the little space beneath Tony's perfectly-shaped ear. "But even if I wasn't --" Thor pulls his face away. "-- I'd still end up giving you a hard time."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Squirming at a snail's pace, the vague tickling sensation brought a grin forth.

"Same question, while we're being honest..."

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor doesn't need any time to think about it.

"The night before I left," Thor says. "He next day when you said that thing about me not leaving, I wanted to ask you to come with me."

He didn't, though, for the same reasons he didn't ask Jane to come with him, either.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"That long?" Tony couldn't keep the hint of genuine surprise out of his voice. True, they spent time together in their off hours. The trips around NY that started out as group outings turned into a lot of one-on-ones for them, as he took a special kind of joy in tossing a literal alien into the New York brand of craziness and watching them mix.

After Thor left, Tony sulked like a child. There were plenty reasons for that, but those outings disappearing was definitely a reason.

"Not gonna lie. I always thought you preferred Rogers to me." Iron Man was a popular hero, but not a popular man with those who knew him. He had accepted that.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor genuinely looks perplexed at that assertion.

"Rogers and I never went out together. Not the way you and I did. He's a good man and a valiant man, but he's no Tony Stark."

He gives the other man a squeeze, bringing him impossibly closer to him for a moment before he finally loosens his hold. And when he turns to look at Tony, the smile he gives him is full of affection.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"That's me. Traded in my good and valiant card for a ticket to a good time." Tony reclaimed his lips for a moment. "They were fun. All our--our little dates."

[st_ormbreaker]

"They were," Thor says, smiling. "I learned much about Earth from you that I didn't learn from Jane."

In some ways, Jane and Tony were both similar and very different people.

"We could have had one of those dates if you'd arrived a few weeks sooner. The last portal that opened up led to Europe. Would have been nice to explore it with somebody else."

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Scoffing, Tony knocked the side of his head into Thor's arm.

"Europe? Could've blown your mind with that one." Tony was a frequent flier. "Didn't go with anyone else, Big Guy?"

[st_ormbreaker]

"I showed up about a week or two before the portal opened." THor thinks it might have been. It's hard to tell; all the days sort of blur in together here. Thor picks up the bottle, takes another swig, sets it down. "I had a few people I made friendly with, but we weren't close enough to vacation together." Clarice and Alec and River Song to begin with.

"I met up with the moron once and Rabbit a few times for drinks, but the moron is threatened by my existence, and Rabbit and I haven't met yet in his timeline, so we didn't exactly act like boon companions." He and Rabbit had become closer in the following months, but Thor believed he felt closer to Rabbit than Rabbit felt to him because Rabbit hadn't let lived everything he and Thor had done together.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony hummed as he listened. He was paying attention, whatever Thor had to say was important, but so were his arms and their firmness and the way their felt beneath his lips when he kissed or nibbled the skin. The same went for the bristles beginning on his neck and the lobe of his ear.

"Go on." He murmured.

[st_ormbreaker]

Thor's mind briefly swims as Tony's lips abruptly work their way up his arm. He can't help but feel a little like a schoolboy. It normally took a lot more than this to draw a reaction out of him, but already goosebumps were rising up from the skin of his arms.

Thor swallows, his Adam's apple bobbing just as Tony's lips make it to his neck. He tries to ignore the man's nibbles and searches for something intelligible to say. It takes a moment before the neurons short-circuiting in his head manage to reboot themselves into a working state and he's able to find something else to keep the conversation going.

Because who was he to refuse Tony's request?

"I'm sure you met them," Thor continues. "The Guardians of the Galaxy." Thor at least remembered the name of their ragtag group, despite his disinclination to use their actual name when addressing them directly. "Met them in space. Told them about the Avengers. They asked if Kevin Bacon was a member of the team."