Something Akin to...Love?
Disclaimer: NOPE!
Author's Note: this is a crack pairing that I came up with out of nowhere. (Don't shoot me! I needs an entire fleet, not just a ship.) {Plus the |plot bunnies| were relentless}
Let's play a love game,
Play a love game
Do you want love or you want fame?
Are you in the game?
Dans le love game?
- Lady Gaga
November 27th, 2014 – Thanksgiving Day
Thor had decided to get acquainted with Midgardian traditions such as their holidays. And what better way to do that than to invite Lady Sif & the Warriors Three and Heimdall (Odin didn't trust them alone) to a Day-of-Thanks party hosted by Tony Stark, himself?
Walking into the common area with his comrades, he met up with the rest of the team. Tony and Bruce were, for once, out of Tony's lab and talking on the couch by the windows. Steve, Clint and Darcy were huddled in front of the large television, playing some zombie shooting game. Natasha and Pepper were sitting at the bar on the far side of the room talking business, as usual. And Thor had just caught sight of Jane leaving the kitchen, reading over the papers she had in one hand and sipping coffee from the mug in the other.
Using his booming voice to grab their attentions, he called out in joy. "My fellow Avenger brothers, and sister," he nodded over to Natasha, "I would like to introduce you to my friends from home, Lady Sif, the Warriors Three: Fandral the Dashing, Hogun the Grim and Volstagg the Valiant, and Heimdall the guardian." He presented each member in turn.
Everyone had turned their heads at the sound of his voice to look at his guests. They were all put off except for Darcy and Jane, who had already met them New Mexico.
Without so much as pausing her game, Darcy dropped her controller and ran over to Sif to give her a hug. The two had developed a fond friendship with each other; Sif considered Darcy a warrior if she could bring down Thor without any assistance. The rest followed her lead to greet the Aesirs.
While they were in the middle of chatting Tony pulled Thor away from the group.
"Hey, Thor, why didn't you tell me you were gonna bring your band of merry men?" He whispered.
"Are they not permitted?" Thor's voice was tinted with slight anger and Tony did not miss it one bit.
"It's nothing like that... it's just that Pepper changed the party to a black tie affair at the last minute." He gave a short pause to think over the dilemma. "Y'know what...? Never mind, I can get them situated before the party, thank god you came early rather than late." He muttered the last part.
For the rest of the day the Aesirs were taken out to go shopping with the others. The girls took Sif with them to look for a dress and get her hair and makeup done. Tony had the Warriors Three and Heimdall go to have their suits tailor-made.
\|Time for the party|/
The party started off with a bang at the dance hall. The Avengers and Aesirs arrived by limousine, they were greeted with the paparazzi, flashing cameras and a red carpet. All the top dog celebrities, big wigs and political figures from around the country were all in attendance, as well. Inside there was a long buffet, music was provided by a DJ and the drinks were flowing like the Nile river.
While everyone was in the full swing of things Heimdall decided to hang out on the roof and stand watch. The nighttime air felt so good when a breeze blew by that he almost didn't hear the door to the roof opening. Following on instinct, he swung he blade (he came prepared) around to come face to face with a young man who didn't even bother to flinch at the action.
Heimdall retracted his sword then proceeded to evaluate the man standing before him with his golden eyes set in a glare. The man before him had short blond hair, cobalt blue eyes and chiseled features set in a stoic expression.
He was a tad bit surprised, this man must have been a brave soul (or really, incredibly stupid), any normal man would have flinched under his condescending glare. The man just tilted his head to the side a bit and blink a couple of times.
"Forgive me for the intrusion and surprise, Sir Guardian" the man spoke in a British accent. "I was merely wondering if you required any refreshments or something to eat?" He raised his hands so Heimdall could see a flute of champagne in one hand and a plate full of a variety of meats in the other.
"My apologies for my earlier action." Turning his back on the strange man to look at the city, he said: "I do not require sustenance...".
He knew the man was still standing in that same spot, but he couldn't care less if he stayed or left. Then a thought suddenly came to him, turning to look at the man, he raised one eyebrow and ask: "How do you know of me?"
The man's face seemed to show clarity, albeit briefly. "Forgive me again for the slight confusion," He sat his contents down on the roof railing then turned to give Heimdall a deep bow. "My name is JARVIS, I work for Sir Stark." His face held a small smile when he came upright.
The name rang a bit of familiarity in his mind. "You are the companion that Prince Thor speaks of... tell me, why is it that I have not seen you at the tower? He inquired.
"This appearance that you see me as now is but a mere android, or empty body, that my master built for me to download my mind into, so that I may travel with him when he is not fighting. My true form is rather artificial, ethereal and incorporeal. I am programmed into the tower's mainframe, set up defenses and watch over the Avengers. You could say that I am their guardian, in some ways, like you." He said with a slight laughter.
That seemed to make sense and Heimdall found found himself smiling along with him. They were silent for a moment, not looking at anything in particular as they stared at the city lights, until JARVIS broke the silence.
"Do you mind if I stay out here with you? They do not appear to have any need of me at this very moment, so I am, as it stands, indisposed of." He was straightening his suit jacket as he said all of this.
"I believe the midgardian saying is 'It's a free country.'" Heimdall deadpanned.
"Not as free as you would think, Sir Guardian."
"Heimdall..." he clipped.
"I beg you pardon?" His face was still stoic, but he sounded confused as he look at him.
"If you are a friend of my Prince and a fellow guardian to his friends, then we are officially brothers in arms... you may call me Heimdall."
"Sir Heimdall." JARVIS spoke his name quietly as if to taste it on his tongue, then averted his gaze when he noticed Heimdall staring at him. At this, it was Heimdall's turn to lightly chuckle.
A couple of minutes passed by in complete, and comfortable, silence when JARVIS suggested they play a game.
"A... game?" The guardian's expression was of complete confusion and curiosity.
"Yes, Miss Lewis –that would be Lady Darcy, by the way- and I have played several games together. The one I think might pique your interest would be I spy."
"This sounds interesting enough, explain."
For the first time all night he saw JARVIS' face light up in pure delight as he explained the break down of the game and the rules. Heimdall felt a slight pang that he was not the cause of such glee; 'weird,' he thought.
"It it basically a game based on finding and guessing; for instance you would find an object and I would have to guess what that object is. The rules are fairly simple:
Rule 1: You must start off by saying 'I spy with my little eye', then find the object.
Rule 2: We will go in turns.
Rule 3: Because I am at a great disadvantage, you are only permitted to find said object, or objects, on Midgard only.
Please tell me if it is in the city or not.
Rule 4: You may ask for hints, but only up to three per turn, otherwise that counts as a forfeit.
And
Rule 5: Because you probably you do not know the names of some of the objects on Earth, I will provide pictures for when I am guessing and satellite image scenes for when I want you to guess the object."
JARVIS managed to pull out a tablet from his jacket and displayed a picture of a crowded room for an example.
"Since this is your first time, why don't you start off first?" He made a flourished gesture at the city.
"Very well, then. I spy with my little eye..."
the game continued into the night for many hours. The both of them sharing laughs and trading point for point as they went back and forth.
They were interrupted several times when Sif and Thor wanted to check up on them, or when Tony came to get his cue cards from JARVIS for his speech, but they didn't mind in the slightest. They were having fun and didn't care who saw.
The night unfortunately had to end earlier than planned when Doctor Doom decided to blow up several city block not far form them. Hearing the loud bang, they turned their heads towards the direction it came from and Heimdall gave a discontented sigh of aggravation.
"Time to go warn my master of this threat." JARVIS made a move to the door and gave one last look at Heimdall before heading back inside.
It took some time to get rid of all the doom bots and calm Banner down, but they got the job done with help from the asgardians. Deciding to call it a night, they made their way back to Avengers Tower.
With everyone feeling tired, they decided to go to bed. JARVIS was on his way to Tony's lab with Heimdall staring at his retreating form. And Thor was about to send Jane to bed then take his friends back home when Darcy stopped them.
"Wait guys," All heads snapped in hear direction. "During all the hustle and bustle, we forgot to mention what we were thankful for."
"She's right," Rogers agreed. "We still have a couple of minutes 'til midnight... so how 'bout it?"
They looked around the room at each other until Pepper stepped forward. "Well, I'm thankful for the fun evening – even if Doom showed up to ruin it at the end."
They all nodded in agreement and Bruce gave a silent 'here-here'.
"I am most thankful for the food that was provided; most exquisite." The typical reply came from Volstagg.
The rest also took their turn to say what they were thankful for. When it got to Heimdall, he took a minute to think about it.
"I think I am thankful for... a brief moment away from my duties."
For some reason, JARVIS felt a lead ball drop in the pit of his stomach; he'll have Tony take a look at his android body at a later date.
He noticed that everyone was staring at him to say what he was thankful for. "I am thankful for... being able to still be of use and serve you all." He gave them a brief smile then heading back to the lab without waiting to hear their reply to store away his body. They all failed to notice the frown on Heimdall's otherwise calm face.
November 28th, 2014 – The day after Thanksgiving
"So JARVIS," Tony spoke from the screen he was looking at.
"Yes sir, you called?"
"Yeah... so, a little birdie told me you were on the roof laughing with a certain guardian during the party."
"..." he was surprisingly silent for a moment. "Your point is, sir?" JARVIS replied indifferently.
"You feeling happy you made a new friend last night?"
JARVIS knew his master was fishing, so he had no other choice than to tell him the truth.
"To be honest, sir..."
.
.
.
Thor came back to the tower later in the afternoon to see a fuming Tony, Steve and Banner trying to calm him down, all while them and the rest of the Avengers were trying to suppress their laughter. He looked confused at his comrades and decided to just ask: "What is going on, my fellow brothers and sister?"
"I'll tell you what's going on... that damn guardian of yours was putting the moves on my computer system."
That did nothing to stamp out his confusion on the situation. Over in the corner, Clint stage-whispered to Natasha, "This is like a father finding out his daughter has a boyfriend."
"...and pregnant!" Darcy quipped.
"Maybe he might do a shot gun wedding...?" Jane supplied
They all got a mental image of a very pregnant JARVIS and a very fuming Tony with a shot gun pointed at Heimdall's head, at a church alter. At that mental image, they suddenly lost it and started laughing at Tony's expense.
"I still do not understand what the problem at hand has anything to do with Heimdall. By the way, Sir JARVIS, Heimdall told me to say that he 'wishes to challenge you to a rematch soon'."
"...thank you, Prince Thor."
The blush that was evident in his voice only fueled Tony's rage and he screamed in frustration.
"Will someone please tell me what ails the Man of Iron."
Pepper controlled her laughter enough to get out: "Tell him, JARVIS."
He gave out a sigh before speaking, "Sir asked how I felt about being with Sir Heimdall last night,"
Thor nodded for him to continue. "and I told him that I felt something akin to..."
"...To?"
"To...love."
Thor suddenly fell on the floor laughing.
_.::On Asgard::._
Heimdall watched as the Avengers and Thor were laughing at Tony hysterically. He chose not to bother wondering what it was about, and returned his attention back to the memory of the night he had with JARVIS.
'I promise to come back and see you again, my fellow guardian, and friend.' He thought with fondness. 'Perhaps the All-Father would allow them to visit us.'
~HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!~
P.S.: I pictured JARVIS to look like his voice actor Paul Bettany. (perfect match)!