Gold Revels and Revelations

[stopmjolnirtime]

© CODE BY TESSISAMESS

As much as Thor would like to simply sweep Tony away to Asgard for the entirety of his celebratory revelry- there are public appearances to maintain, obligations to the Avengers and to Stark Industries, and smaller celebrations with his family of Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy on Midgard. It would have been impossible to find a time when he could abscond with his lover for any amount of time without reaching to the Lady Potts and attempting, to the best of his ability, subterfuge. Secrecy is not something Thor is well skilled in, but after the parties public and private, a light skirmish and a round of meetings and developments in his lab, Pepper helped coordinate a 'conference' that Tony needed to attend.

The normal round of 'you'll be emailed the details' and 'the car will get you where you need to go' is intended to follow, not that Thor is at all present for these moments. He is, instead, standing out in a wide field, eyes on the clear sky, waiting after having kept himself away for the duration of the usual obligations of the month. He'd kept in contact- busy making arrangements for Tony's visit in Asgard, in warning the court, his family, his friends to be mindful and be kind- but the work to make ready for the week long feast and festivities in Asgard kept him from spending this special day with Tony. The only gift he'd managed to send was another card, and five more billets of Mythril for his use.

So watching the car arrive is something of a delight. Thor is unable to hide his smile as the driver rolls to a stop, holding the door open for Tony, Jet nowhere in sight.

There is no plane, jet, or ship that will take them where they need to travel, after all.

"Tony!" Thor's arms are open, eyes alight, dressed in the usual adorned leather customary to time spent in Asgard. At least the weather will be pleasant, he cannot imagine forcing Tony to endure one of their winters without forewarning. "I've a promise I made to you that I intend to keep."

Comments

[hottestofmesses]

Most often every year, especially the ones after announcing to the world he was Iron Man, Tony forgets his birthday. Tony forgets a lot of personal data, really. Other people's birthdays are often on that list, too. There's just too much going on in his brain for most of that stuff to matter. He's lucky, though, because other people will remember it for him. It used to be that personal assistants would remind him so that he could throw one of those parties that lasted way too long, had too much alcohol, and too much sex. Now, as the years go by, those parties have gotten smaller and smaller. Which fits his current life just fine.

So when May rolls around and people start giving him things and also the usual well what do you get for the guy that has everything and he has a few personal dinners interspersed with some friendly company, that's enough. More than enough. Even Thor, absent, though no longer mysteriously as their so-called courtship has progressed, not being around isn't a big deal to him.

...it might be, but not because it's his birthday. More so that he's trying to tread a very thin line between being overly invested and playing it cool. Unfortunately, it's already too late, he certainly is overinvested, and more than that, he's pretty sure he took a hard turn out of the gate and went and fell in love. Such is life. He thought it probably wouldn't happen again, after Pepper and all his mistakes there. That life would be easier if he just ran the rest solo with good friends. But. Well. Then there was Thor. With not just sweet words but honest ones, kind ones, ones that saw through him and drew him in over and over. One might say he has it bad. But he's not trying to be that guy.

Thor's a traveler. He has things to do and attend to, like all of them. Just on a much bigger scale. So Tony doesn't let it get to him that there are often absences which span more time apart than he'd like. Because it's always enough, when he returns. Or they text or call- which was a fun problem to solve in and of itself. So it's fine that he's not around, Tony's birthday isn't special. But it is nice when a card and some more special material shows up and Tony thinks maybe he'll spend the rest of the month, if having to do so alone, working on his new suit design.

But then Pepper tells him there's something important he needs to go do. Generally when she reaches out like that he doesn't argue. Many lessons learned over that one. Though he's not CEO anymore, and that was one of the better decisions he'd ever made regardless of the fact that he'd done it while believing he was dying, he still has duties to the company. Sometimes, unfortunately, those are in a personal capacity. Showing up. He'd much rather be in his lab, which he lets her know in more playful terms and she doesn't answer to that, smart woman that she will always be, and instead sets him up to be on his way to this conference that he already knows he doesn't want to be at. Such is life. His, especially.

He figures he can still work. Which is why his head is down, back of the personal car he's being toted around in filled with soft blue light as he works on some schematics and engineering blueprints for the thing he'd rather be doing. Lost in that to the point that he doesn't realize he's not being driven to a tarmac until the very last second when the car rolls to a stop and his door is being open. Tablet in hand he gets out of the car, dressed in a very sharp three piece suit- headed to a conference, he thought- and there's only a very minor moment of confusion. They're not where he's supposed to be which should be a big red flag. But.

Considering there's a warm thundering voice beckoning him a few steps away, he might let that go. It's immediate and he can't quite hide the smile that blossoms across his features. Bright and sunny. He purports to not be one for surprises, but clearly this was a very good one. Tablet locked and tucked under his arm he tries not to seem like he's in a rush as he makes his way from the car to where Thor's standing with such welcoming open arms. "Is that right?" He can't even hide the cheeriness in his tone. "Does that promise include getting Ms. Potts on board with unusual duplicitousness? Not that I mind, by the way. I'm very impressed."

Genuinely so, and he buries a wordless message of how much he missed Thor when he finally gets to him fully and doesn't really wait or ask permission to put his arms around him. Miss might be an understatement. But again. There's that thing about not wanting to appear clingy. That's not a thing he can be in this relationship and he's happy the way things are. Really. More time with Thor wouldn't hurt but he's not going to make demands Thor can't promise. He's here now, besides. Once he lets go, "Does that promise include an all expenses paid getaway for a week? I suddenly find myself with some booked out time," teasing, as always.