It was a couple of months after the battle of Manhattan and Thor came to Earth. He also brought his friends – the Warriors Three and Lady Sif. He wanted them to see Midgard without any giant robots this time.
Jane, with the help of Pepper and Tony, planned a huge cross-country trip and was already talking about taking them to Europe next time. But the first evening of their visit was meant to be a quiet movie night in the Stark Tower with the Avengers.
Pepper was in charge of picking the movie and she brought The Princess Bride. She brushed aside Tony's Mission Impossible, a pile of documentaries from Bruce, and Steve's The Adventures of Robin Hood. She claimed that they wouldn't have to pause The Princess Bride every five minutes to explain the pop culture references to the Asgardians.
After about five minutes there was the scene where Westley was saying goodbye to Buttercup and said:
"This is true love. You think this happens every day?"
At this point many people thought about their own love lives. What was true love anyway?
Bruce saw love as doing what was right. Love was protecting at all costs, it was sacrificing your own happiness for love's sake. It was the only thing powerful enough to beat any other emotion, the only voice you can't stop hearing. In the right circumstances it was overwhelmingly beautiful. In the wrong ones it was heartbreakingly painful.
Sif believed that love was looking up to someone. And it didn't really matter whether he bothered to look back. Love was not asking for anything in return, it was giving and being happy for every smile, every kind word. It was standing silently by his side, fighting with him, for him, and never giving up hope.
Clint and Natasha thought that love was partnership. It was guarding each other's back and it was letting the other one do what was necessary. It was absolute trust and that included standing aside and doing nothing from time to time. But when there was trouble, love was storming in like a tornado and stopping at nothing until the trouble was dealt with.
For Thor love was opening hidden doors for each other and teaching each other to walk the earth and the sky. Being in love meant trying to understand things you have never heard of before. It was bigger than the Nine Realms and smaller than a little notebook full of equations. Love wasn't worth destroying the world, but it was worth creating one.
Jane Foster imagined love as a journey. It was hard and full of obstacles one could not overcome on her own. It was falling over and over again and getting up every time to continue. Love was a path through the darkness and you can't see where it takes you. It can lead anywhere, as long as there were two people willing to walk there.
Pepper Potts defined love as looking beneath the mask. When you peel off the many layers of carefully designed image, you find the human and you decide if he's worth loving. But once you see him and decide he is worth it, you don't believe the mask again. You look past the raised eyebrows and chuckles of other people, because you see and love someone completely different.
Tony Stark knew love was the only thing keeping people sane in this insane world. It was a net to catch you when you fall. It was a rock to lean on when you can barely stand. It kept the weight of the world from crushing you. It was the last thought before the lights go out. And yes, it could very well look like haggling about the 12% credit.
The story of Westley and Buttercup continued. Nobody said a word until Buttercup finally realized that the Man in Black is in fact Westley. As they were tumbling down the hill, Tony got up and said:
"Popcorn, anyone?"