Chapter 6 – The Perfect Tree
The doorbell rang and Loki moved through his apartment so that he could see the door. It was fairly early, few people made calls at this time, especially on a saturday. Loki reached the door and then remembered he was only wearing a towel.
"Who is it?" he called through the door even as he checked the peephole, surprised to find Tony standing on his doorstep.
"Are you going to let me in?" he asked, and Loki could've laughed.
"Just a moment." he moved back to his bedroom, pulling on a pair of slacks and reaching for a shirt. He walked back towards the door as he pulled the shirt on, unlocking it between buttons. "You caught me just as I was getting ready," he said as the door swung open, doing up all but the last few buttons. Tony just stared at him a moment before stepping inside, clearing his throat and handing him a box.
"Saw these on the way."
Curious, Loki accepted the box and realized almost instantly what it contained.
"Candycanes!" he looked up at Tony with a pleased smile spread across his face, and Tony didn't respond immediately, caught in the image of this man, always so lonely, barely out of bed, hair tousled, and a smile just for him. The image was arousing and led to far too many other images of morning smiles and tousled hair. "Thank you."
Tony shook the images from his head and returned his smile.
"Still want to help decorate that tree?"
Loki paused where he stood at his entry table where he'd set the box of candy down.
"Do you always get up this early to get your tree?"
Tony shrugged. "Never gotten my own before. Usually Pepper arranges it."
"Pepper?"
"She sorta runs everything. So that I can gallivant. Uh. Tall redhead? Well dressed."
"I may have seen her on television." Loki said, though Tony couldn't see a television in the bits of the apartment he could see.
"Would you like some coffee first?" Loki asked, "I've yet to have mine this morning."
"We can get one on the way," Tony declined with a shake of his head, afraid he would be too tempted to try other things meant for Saturday mornings with this man. Loki shrugged, moving to get his coat, shrugging into it and looking expectantly at Tony.
"Shall we?"
"How do we know which tree to choose?" Loki asked after an hour of wandering the rows of evergreens, and Tony shrugged.
"No idea." Loki cast him an exasperated look.
"How high are your ceilings?" Loki asked and Tony paused to look around.
"In which room?"
Now Loki just laughed instead of expressing his exasperation, and Tony didn't mind sounding foolish if he got to hear that sound.
"The room in which you wish to have your christmas tree."
"Oh about thirty feet high."
"Thirty feet?" He said in surprise, and Tony nodded.
"So it doesn't really matter what sized tree we get."
Loki looked around, a look of concentration on his face as he began to wander again.
"What are you looking for?" Tony asked in amusement as he followed.
"Well since size doesn't matter, I'm going to pick the perfect tree."
Tony followed Loki through the tree farm until he finally stopped before what really did look like the perfect christmas tree. It was fifteen feet high, came to a perfect point and seemed to be shaped in a perfect cone, with no bare spots or lopsidedness. It was perfectly symmetrical and full at the bottom.
"This one." Loki said decidedly, and Tony moved up beside him, tilting his head to one side then the other.
"Looks good to me."
The smile Loki turned on him was nearly a beam, and Tony wanted to kiss his again. Instead, he looked around for one of the volunteers.
"Better find someone to cut it down." he said, and Loki glanced around, not seeing anyone.
"Couldn't we do it ourselves?"
Tony turned back to Loki, taking in the tall slim appearance, wondering if he thought he could do it himself.
"Do you have an axe?"
Loki rolled his eyes, but shook his shook his head. "No."
"Then we'll need help," Tony chuckled, and headed off towards where he'd seen the volunteers earlier. Loki watched Tony wander away and then turned back to the tree. Tony was right, he needed an axe to make it a clean cut, but he didn't want to have to wait on the normal humans to do it. He looked around searching for any sort of sharp object, and saw an axe a few rows over behind a volunteer busy flirting with a woman also looking for a tree. With a roll of his eyes, Loki walked over and picked up the axe, moving back to his tree. With a single swing of the axe the tree fell and Loki returned the axe to where he'd found it. Then he stood the tree so that it wouldn't become ruined on the ground, waiting for Tony to return. Tony returned with a volunteer two minutes later and stopped in surprise.
"Is this the tree you wanted?" the volunteer asked nervously, obviously not wanting to get between a pair of customers who may begin to disagree, and Tony nodded.
"Yeah, but this is the man I was with." he turned back to Loki, "Did someone come by while you were waiting?" he asked, and Loki nodded, deciding that was the easier answer.
"Well – okay. Let's get it out of here then."
Amused, Loki decided against lifting the tree on his own and let the other two help carry it to the cash and then tie it to the top of the car.
"Will you be alright driving with it on the roof?" Loki asked skeptically and Tony just grinned.
"Get in."
They made it back to Tony's in record time and the two of them carried the tree in together, setting it in the stand Pepper had already put out. When they'd set up the tree and shed their coats as well as the extra needles that had attached themselves to their clothes, Tony led the way to where the boxes of decorations were kept.
"Well. You certainly won't ever run out," Loki noted, staring at the piles of boxes stacked in the back of one of the many side rooms.
"What kind of decorations do you want?" Tony asked, and Loki crossed his arm in thought.
"White lights, gold and red christmas balls. Do you put an angel or a star on the top of your tree?"
"A star usually. I think. Hmm." Tony moved towards the boxes, starting to rifle through them. "Here, this one has lights, this one has tinsel, and this one, over here has actual ornaments." he lifted the first two he'd pointed at, and Loki took the third and followed Tony back into the other room.
They spent the rest of the afternoon decorating the tree, or Loki did, arranging and rearranging the decorations while Tony watched, amused and entertained by the focus Loki put into the decorating.
"There." When Loki stepped back it looked like a tree from an exhibit and Loki turned triumphantly. His sleeves were rolled up to above his elbows, shirt rumpled.
"Looks fantastic." Tony said, coming over and handing Loki a mug.
"What is it?"
"To you it should taste like heaven." Tony said, and Loki took a sip, and then another, and another.
"Peppermint hot chocolate. People actually make this? Or is this a special addition to Tony Stark's pantry alone?"
"Lots of the big chain stores make it." he said as Loki moved to settle onto the couch, facing both Tony and the tree. Tony moved to sit beside him, and grinned as he looked at the tree.
"I have the best tree, hands down." Tony said and Loki looked pleased with himself, taking another sip of his drink.
"I think this calls for a christmas movie?" Tony asked, and though Loki smiled, he shook his head.
"I think food may be the best bet."
Tony glanced between Loki lounging on his couch to the door, to the phone, then back to Loki.
"Order in?"
"I like Chinese."
Pepper Potts came up the stairs to the sound of another Christmas movie. It was nearly three in the morning and she couldn't believe that Tony would still be watching Christmas movies. It was more likely that he'd just forgotten to turn it off. She stopped short when she reached the top of the stairs, and saw not only Tony, but another man, the man she knew Tony had been seeing for the last few months. They were both asleep, the lights from the tree shining over them. Tony was propped in the corner, head resting on the back of the couch, his arm hooked around the other man whose head was pillowed on Tony's chest. It didn't look like they'd fallen asleep like that, but more like they'd moved towards each other once asleep. Pepper moved into the room and turned off the movie before getting a blanket out of the closet and draping it over them. As much as she'd distrusted this dark haired man she'd yet to properly meet, it was hard to deny the stunning picture they made at rest. With a shake of her head, Pepper flipped off the tree so that it wouldn't wake them and left them to sleep.