Snap Decisions - for asgardhero

[starkingenuity]

Fun fact.  Turns out that you can't actually find a crazed super genius overnight.  As hard as Tony tries, bruises and a dented suit and all, he just can't.  It's a sticking point and he snaps at Bruce for no good reason at all before apologizing with a hit of scotch...and three doubles after he leaves

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[starkingenuity]

There's just no fight in Tony at the moment, though the shock of water and heated breath against his face are enough to remind him that he's human and not some robotic monkey scrawling the secrets of quantum mechanics into the soft skin of his inner thighs. The recognition that had been there before in the workshop when Thor first roused him from his maniacal stupor becomes clearer at the touch of the man. Thor's the lighting rod and Tony the ground. The engineer knows who it is that has him and that tugging song that runs through his aching fingertips won't let him fight it.

Such eyes could not be a shade darker than they are and almost the exact opposite of Thor's brother's eyes. Crisp, cool spring green at one end of the spectrum. Brown the color of soft, fertile soil at the other. The similarities outweigh the differences and it seems as if Stark has been made and fashioned simply to torment Thor with that which he can not have.

Even if Tony does not know he is a runner up in the grand scheme of things, Thor certainly does.

Fingers with bloodies nail beds lift to stroke water through a course blond beard and Tony sucks in a breath. The bath and the steam has been enough to at least allow him to croak out an intelligible string of words finally. "How long's it been this time?"

[asgardhero]

This time.

Thor focuses on the man before him, the dark, bright eyes that are clear for this moment, the feel of the damp touch, the echoing pulse of the thin blood that he can feel at this proximity--Thor focuses on all of that, and not how much like his brother Tony Stark may be. In this moment, at least, he is his own man and not some ghost that Thor will chase for eternity.

"Four days." The words are a murmur.

[starkingenuity]

Four days. Right at the very end of the limit he'd set for Jarvis to get him some help. All right, he'll need to tweak Jarvis' common sense again. Tony's eyes don't leave the grip that Thor has on them, even as his breathing evens out. Is it proximity to the electrical feedback loop that calms him? The heat on his skin? Maybe it's just that it's taking him awhile to snap out of all of this considering the amount of alcohol in his system...and little else.

"I'm all right." Tony's saying it for his own benefit more than Thor's as he drops his hand to the blond's broad shoulder where the ends of his hair drip and stick to his skin.

[asgardhero]

"You are not all right." Thor moves his own hands then, sliding fingers into the water to lightly grip a visible thigh through already murky water. "I do not understand all of this. You have paper. You have machines that translate your thought into screens and life. What is this?"

No, he does not like it and no, he will not go along with it and pretend he does.

[starkingenuity]

Thor's willingness to be close to him when he smells of frantic desperation and sweated out, stale alcohol is partially disturbing and gut clenching at the same time. It's worse when Tony does not mind the touch, given so casually, with such feeling that he aches for it to linger. He should care. He should recoil. He does from everyone else unless he initiations the action.

With Thor's eyes otherwise occupied, Tony feels free to drop his gaze and bow his head.

"Paper can get lost. Harddrives can be corrupted." He doesn't expect Thor to understand the use of his body for a canvas. He's written on his toes and the crooks of his elbows too. There's no reason for it. Or for the slow dip of his head to Thor's chest. "Ink can be washed off. I didn't even think to... It doesn't matter."

He'd going to lose all of this and in a way, he ought to if he wants to heal from it.

[asgardhero]

It does matter. It quite obviously matters. And perhaps that is the only reason hands do linger, keeping their positions just for a moment before they finally find an new endeavor.

Tony's head may be jostled slightly, but Thor's motion is smooth enough. A washcloth. Soap that smells far too much like some odd perfume but far better than the bitter sting of old alcohol and sweat. Then even as Tony lingers on his shoulder he is beginning to scrub what he can. The strokes are hard. Rough. They pinken skin but the ink clears, leaving only the red lines where pen cut flesh. "Some things are meant to be lost," he says as he works at the skin accessible without having to move Tony. "They are more precious, have more meaning, when they are gone."

[starkingenuity]

He doesn't want to be taken care of. It's a little bit humiliating and it feels too good to like. Tony is pushing forty years old. He's his own man and has been since long before his parents died. He's not trying to angst here, he's trying not to get angry. The desire to push Thor away ebbs and flows but never breaks through the barricade between the teammates.

If Thor is chasing a substitute brother -- let's leave out the sex and the consequences of that -- then what could Tony be after? He watches Thor scrub the pen marks from his skin, listens to his strong, proud voice wax philosophical and draws back to present his hands for Thor to continue with his work.

Towards the end, when Tony looks like a drowned rat criss crossed with raised, bruised lines that will disappear after a good night's rest, he figures it out.

He wants a counterpart. He wants a constant. And he wants one that is warm and not just a programmed voice.

Tony beads water down the lengths of his forearms as they leave the bath and his eyes close as he learns to get use to the feel of wet beard against the smooth skin not covered by his own facial hair. The reactor presses to Thor's chest and that happy euphoria edges off the ache.

[asgardhero]

Thor is pushing nine-thousand. He knows how very hard it is to break a habit.

Ink is finally sloughed from skin to Thor's satisfaction and he stands Stark only to catch him as he stumbles out of the bath. Thor's own shirt had been soaked and stripped; while his jeans are not much better off, they've stayed on. When the reactor sings to him his chin drops to a bare shoulder and he lets his nose trace the soft skin behind Tony's ear before he steps back. Addiction is nothing to be indulged. "You are unsettling when you are quiet," he says, a lopsided sort of smile on his face.

"In Asgard we would make you fight, or drink, until you passed out." But there's a quick gleam in those blue eyes and Thor shakes his head. "But I have a feeling you are too stubborn to pass out, so I will go by Darcy's advice."

There should be pants in Tony's bedroom somewhere. "Pancakes and coffee." The wisdom is imparted as he digs thought Iron Man's drawers.

[starkingenuity]

Addiction is meant to be indulged. Tony might be offended to think himself an addiction, but it is incredibly fitting when he's lived his life going from one fixation to the next. That's not to say that he's not exceptionally glad when Thor's stopped touching him because he has vague recollections of tenderness and affection from the bath... And not so vague recollections of that single, somewhat stunted kiss that likely left Thor with a bad taste in his mouth. Literally. Four days worth of morning breath is not something you share a first kiss on.

First and only kiss, Tony reprimands himself. The sex was bad enough. He doesn't need to get sentimental here.

Even with Thor playing Mother Hen and setting out clothing for him and mentioning breakfast and--

"You are not cooking." He snatches the soft sweat pants from Thor's grasp and covers himself, hand moving protectively over his reactor. That's what's started all of this trouble. Damn thing. "And as much as I like explaining to waitresses why you need ten helpings-- Yeah not today."

[asgardhero]

Being over-affectionate with Stark now would be a disservice to the man as he is. Vulnerabilities are only something Thor takes advantage of when he has Mjolnir in his hand.

And yes, his breath is quite intolerable.

"You flatter yourself, Stark. I would not take you out in this state--I think you would draw far more attention than my appetite." Thor crosses his arms over his chest. "I am sure that I should be able to make food, but if you are against the idea then are there not places that we could call to make them bring food to us? Your city is founded on convenience, after all." He makes a motion to hurry the man along, into his pants.

Then he'll find the wonderful little tube of disinfectant that Jane employs so well. Humans are fragile, after all, and while Tony is clean, he has wounds.

[starkingenuity]

Within the hour, Tony has been mended, though he fought the entire time with ham-hock hands and growled and was as insufferable as possible to save face, food has been delivered from an over priced coffee shop whose answering counter-minion had seemed amused at the order of two dozen egg and cheese sandwiches, and is dressed and quite full.  One socked foot rests on the coffee table and Thor, a good distance away, amuses him by licking the paper that had wrapped each and every sandwich. Even Tony's.  It's probably an achievement that Thor hadn't eaten the paper...

Tony is on his second cup of black coffee and it balances on his knee in a paper cup provided by the cafe along with the large boxed coffee dispenser that had been sent over. Content and back to feeling human again, Tony invariable shifts the conversation to something they both have interest in:

Doctor von Doom.

What else could they discuss?  The women they were both supposedly involved with and yet never got around to seeing?

"Any luck on finding him at all?  Calling cards?  Giant robot bugs...?"

If its been quiet for four days...  That really does not bode well. What's he waiting for?

[asgardhero]

"He has not left us his phone number," Thor says as he searches for any sandwiches that perhaps have been missed in the sea of wrappers before sitting back and lacing his hands over his stomach. At least there is still coffee. "The incidence of more machines has been few and random. Dr Banner has been picking apart the one that we recovered but it does not seem as if he has found anything more than what you did."

Thor closes his eyes and exhales. Fed and dried off, he feels better himself. The mess of Tony's workroom has not been forgotten, but it is out of sight for the time being, and out of mind. Stark will have to be addressed but, like Thor's brother, now is not the time for it.

Thor is still a little disappointed that Tony refused to be covered in the small, sticky bandages that help humans heal.

[starkingenuity]

The humor is enough to make Stark grin and he stands up slowly, all aches and pains, and bypasses the bar for once to fill his blood stream with pain killers of the more standard variety from the pharmacy. He clicks the lid back onto the aspirin and leans, bandage free, against the wall for a moment, back to Thor, before he seems to freeze and straighten suddenly.

This is never a good sign. When Tony is being brilliant, the sensible thing to do is run away.

"Jarvis, get my suit ready."

The AI, sounding as tired as Tony had looked moments ago answered with a near sigh: "Sir, it's still undergoing repairs. Estimated time to completetion is two hours."

Tony rolls his eyes and flicks the bodiless butler away before plunking down on the coffee table across from Thor.

"Go back to SHIELD. Get Banner. I don't want to transmit these frequencies even over secured channels, so bring him this paper..." He's already scribbling on a piece of magazine he ruthlessly tore into. Looking up again, his eyes lock purposefully onto Thor's entirely too blue gaze. "Banner only, all right? Tell him to listen for the feedback."

[asgardhero]

Thor takes the paper; of course the scrawl in the margins mean nothing to him. He nods, however, and Tony's seriousness is returned in kind. "I will tell him." He doesn't particularly enjoy feeling like a messenger but Stark needs to sit for a while longer and the trip is not a difficult one.

Mjolnir slides into Thor's hand as he stands and folds the paper into his pocket. "Clean your teeth while I am gone." It is not really a suggestion.

[starkingenuity]

Tony cups his hand over his mouth and exhales into his palm. His nose immediately wrinkles and he glances up just in time to see Thor's cape move out of view of the window. Tony sighs. He hates being out of the loop but this can't wait. He uses the time it takes for his suit to repair to enlist his robots to help with the mess. He checks in with Pepper only to get her voice mail -- harsh. And he finds a sandwich under a couch cushion he hadn't even planned on moving. It's tucked into his shirt just before Iron Man forms around him.

It's been six hours since Thor left his home when Tony drops out of the sky and strides into Avengers HQ. Steve gets a nod because the man is always polite and greeting everyone, even when he's busy, but Banner is Tony's target.

The physicist has not disappointed him. "I don't know how you thought of it, Stark," he says, adjusting his glasses over his nose, "But that series led us to a signal source. I'm just cleaning it up now."

Tony grins at Banner and pats him harshly on the back just to make his glasses tumble off. Only Tony incites the beast like that. "Good. Let's get the gang together. Thor around?"

What?  He brought his favorite thunder god a treat. 

[asgardhero]

Bruce snorts and resets his glasses against the bridge of his nose. "Check in the gym."

And Thor is there, has been there, for the last hour. He had spent some time around the laboratory but it is not quite the same without Stark. Dr Banner is a nice man but a... boring one. When he is not large and green. And no doubt Thor had annoyed Banner in his own way, though he hardly understands how a healthy curiosity can be counted against him. He truly had not realized how fragile some of the things were.

This is better, sparing with Natasha. She is nimble and clever and it evens many of the odds between them. Thor may not be breaking a sweat but he is entertained.

"Stark!"

His divided attention when Tony shows lets Natasha land a kick that might have broken another man's sternum--Thor stumbles back with a laugh and a hand to his chest.