Director Fury didn't know what to do with the two men who stared at him with wide eyes. He had sent everybody out, and stood now on his own next to the twosome, that still sat on the ground.
"What. The. Fuck. Is going on here!?"
Loki winced, and Tony glared at Fury while pulling the god closer in his embrace. He finally answered.
"I don't know. It has never been this bad before."
"Wait. Are you saying this is not the first time something like this happens?"
"Well… I think I can speak for Loki too in this matter; we've been having a hard time being apart for quite some time now."
"Stark, are you fucking messing with me?"
"Do I look like it?"
Tony gave the director his graveyard face, which made Fury sigh.
"What stopped you from contacting SHIELD imme- fuck, leave it. You solve this, and you solve this now. You are of no use to SHIELD, the Avengers or the world when you're clinging to each other like two attention depraved Romanian orphans! That goes for both of you."
Loki said something, softly.
"Frigga. S-she… she must know more about this. She ensured me… she told me you felt the same way, as if she knew..."
Fury's one eye widened.
"Are you telling me Thor's mother is here too? How do we not know about this?"
Tony nodded and smirked.
"Remarkable isn't it, how inconspicuous Asgardians can be when they're not keen on ruling the world?"
"She barely ever leaves the kitchen, if you really want to know."
Being close to Tony did wonders for Loki's mental capacities. He was embarrassed, yes, but not for all the pride in the nine realms he would let go of Tony. It simply hurt too much not to be with him...
"She must come here immediately!"
"The Allmother is summoned by no one, mortal!"
It was the first time Loki actually talked back at someone, and Tony found himself grinning. Fury wasn't so pleased.
"You two… you solve this by tomorrow or I have your tower confiscated as a homeless shelter, Stark!"
With that Fury left them on the cold floor of the hallway.
"So… Homewards we go?"
(Pagebreak)
In the tower, Frigga was having a serious conversation with Thor. The thunder god had avoided Loki and Hela completely, and although Frigga was quite sure he was still as eager to see his brother as always. She wanted to know what was behind her son's behavior…
"You know why I sent for you, don't you son?"
"Yes, mother."
"Do you want a cup of hot cocoa?"
Thor smiled at his mother, who prepared a cup and handed it to him with an encouraging smile.
"Thank you mother…" Thor studied his cup. "Loki does not consider me his brother anymore."
"You know as well as I do that him saying that didn't stop you from following him around in the past…"
"Lately… Lately I've been thinking, mother, about why Loki does no longer wish to be my brother. I didn't understand it at first, I thought it was jealousy or madness perhaps that led him to such lengths… But now as I recall our youth…"
Thor looks guiltily at his mother.
"I wasn't the best brother, was I? Perhaps Loki is right to rather wish for no brother than one such as myself…"
Frigga looks sad at her son and puts a hand on his shoulder.
"My dear son, how I wish I could deny your words. But yes, you haven't been the best brother. Yet, that is in the past now. You are a different man from the one you were back in the days, and so is Loki. A lot has happened on a very short time for us gods…"
Frigga sighed and said, determined.
"I don't believe there is no hope for you and Loki. I refuse to believe it. As he accepted me as his mother again, so he will accept you as his brother again. Perhaps –no, most likely- not immediately, perhaps it will take even longer than these humans we live with can witness to mend the cracks, but there is hope."
Thor bent his head.
"I have been insensitive towards Loki's children. So terribly insensitive... It wouldn't surprise me if Hela erased my name from the Book of Fated Dead simply out of spite."
Frigga smiled a little wider now and hugged her son.
"Hela is a curious young soul, Thor, but she is not spiteful. If anything, she accepts her fate with the grace of a true queen. It will do you good to reconcile with her though. She might not immediately forgive you, but trust me that her friendship is worth the effort. Hela has the strong and loyal heart of a warrior…"
"How have I not seen this before? I have been so blind…"
"We all have been blind, Thor. We all have been blind."
(Pagebreak)
Steve had ordered a Christmas tree. He had correctly supposed that Tony would forget it, and therefor he had made JARVIS place the order. When the tree was delivered, Hela came to tell Justin and Peter. They two boys sat on the floor, both armed with a Starkpad, giggling and laughing.
"Err… What are you doing?"
Peter immediately went red when he saw Hela, Justin just grinned.
"We're comparing Thor's stunts to your dad's kiss, to see who made the front page more often!"
"And?"
"As we can see so far… your dad wins this one."
Peter nodded.
"If the journalists that have been sieging the Tower for a week now are any indication… Definitely."
"Well, I just came to say that someone has ordered a huge tree for some reason, which is now standing in the hallway and blocking the journalist's view."
"A Christmas tree? Awesome!"
Hela looked a bit confused.
"Christmas? What is that?"
The boy's mouths fell open. Justin exclaimed.
"Christmas is awesome! How can you not know that! It's like… the best feast ever! There is tons of food and booze and gifts and pretty lights and parties and Christmas trees and skating at the Rockefeller and so much more!"
Peter poked him.
"She's not from around here, remember?"
"Oh. Yes. I see."
Hela felt awkward. First the unexplainable pine tree in the hallway, then being reminded of her father's… relations, and now this unknown feast Justin seemed so excited about…
"I hope my lack of knowledge will not be disruptive to the proceedings of your feast."
Justin shook his head.
"Hela, me and Peter will teach you all about Christmas! Starting with the decoration of the Christmas tree! Come on, let's go see where the others are and we'll have them bring the tree to the living room!"
Justin speeded away, leaving Peter and Hela together. Peter carefully took Hela's hand. The goddess' look softened as Peter pressed a kiss on her lips.
"Justin tends to go overboard a bit with Christmas it seems… don't be surprised if he insists on wear a Santa hat or elves ears all month from now on…"
"Elves? Do you have elves on Midgard?"
"It's a mythology thing. I don't really know what the origins of the whole thing are; it's rather commercialized. It used to be religious in nature, but these days everyone celebrates it I think."
"Is it fun?"
Peter nodded.
"It is. And now you're here to celebrate it with us I think it will be even better."
Hela leaned against him and smiled.
"You are too kind, Peter…"
"You deserve all kindness."
They just stood there in an embrace, until Justin's voice resounded again.
"Guys! Where are you? Steve carried the tree into the living room but you have to come help decorating! There is GLITTER!"
Hela laughed and chuckled.
"Something with glitter can't possibly be bad…"
"I wholeheartedly agree my dear…"
(Pagebreak)
Tony and Loki now sat next to each other in Frigga's kitchen, looking like punished children. The mother goddess had listened to their story and sighed deeply.
"I hoped the situation would solve itself naturally… Of course, that was without reckoning the pride and stubbornness of you two."
Tony looked up, raised eyebrows.
"But what IS this? It's not that I in any way mind being close to Loki, but why is it so painful to be apart?"
Frigga sighed again.
"I tried to explain it in covert terms to Loki once, but… well…"
"Why covert terms, mother? You… you told me that there is a connection between us two, but you never explained why or what this entails!"
Frigga looked conflicted.
"In my short period here on Midgard I have learned a lot of the relationships that can exist between people, and I was afraid that unveiling the true nature of this bond might cause… damage."
"No offence, but I think not telling it has caused quite a lot of damage as well already."
Tony looked slightly annoyed. He had already realized that whatever it was, it was something magical, and as a man of science those things always made him nervous. Frigga laughed nervously as well.
"You have a soul bond. The events have entangled your very souls, the threads of your fate, and that has… "activated" a special type of very old magic. I suppose that because Loki's magic is so strong, and he was in a very vulnerable state when you first met, you were more susceptible to it."
Loki's eyes widened at his mother's words. He softly whispered a word.
"Ekteskap…"
"What?"
Tony looked uncomprehending at his lover, and Frigga slowly nodded.
"I hoped it wouldn't be necessary to tell you out straight, but yes. Your souls have –unbeknownst to you- sealed the ceremony of Ekteskap. You are married."
Tony's mouth fell open. Of all things he had imagined, accidental marriage had been the very last thing on his mind. He looked at Loki, who looked embarrassed. The god whispered.
"I'm sorry Tony… It's my fault."
"How…"
"My magic… my magic understood before me that I… needed… you to survive. I didn't know, but it… it tied you to me."
Frigga shook her head.
"No, Loki. Ekteskap cannot exist unless two souls are convinced they need each other to the bottom of their very core. It is never forced. I…" She smiled now. "I always thought you would never seal such a bond, even though I hoped for it. You were always so proud; you prided yourself in never needing anybody…"
Loki frowned at his mother.
"Why did you hope for such a thing as this? What… what good comes from this, as I do nothing but cause inconvenience and pain to the person I care for?"
Frigga softly smiled.
"The bond you and the man of iron share is the same as the one I share with Odin. It is a strong connection that protects and strengthens both parties."
Tony looked skeptically at the Allmother.
"But if it' the same, how can you be here without being in pain?"
Now Frigga blushed violently.
"As I said, I hoped this explanation would not be needed… But just like your Midgardian marriages, to be fulfilled the Ekteskap requires… consummation."
Now Tony and Loki both blushed as well. Consummation… It had played in both their minds, a desire stronger than anything they had ever felt that grew with every kiss, every touch, and every night they spent in each other's arms without taking things further. Loki pinched his eyes and mumbled.
"Mother…"
Frigga held up her hands.
"This is something I have never needed to do with Thor, you know… more likely the opposite. If it's really that hard to give in to it, try to see it as a necessary evil, a cure for the inconveniences of the magic. You'll have to do it, the magic is as such that your symptoms will only get worse until you have no choice anymore but to copulate."
"Mother!"
Loki looked terribly embarrassed, and Tony could easily understand why. The mere thought of having his own mother sort of oblige him to have sex would have made his cheeks explode in shame… Frigga looked sternly at the twosome and then said.
"I'm going to make use of the facilities. I hope you'll both have found the way out by the time I get back."
With that she left the kitchen to go to the toilet. Loki didn't dare to look at Tony, too embarrassed to point his eyes at anything but the tips of his shoes. Tony didn't want to see him like that… He softly kissed the god's neck and whispered in his ear.
"Don't be ashamed. Please. It's not your fault."
"I am obliging you to… to…"
"To do something I have longed to do ever since you kissed me in that dream."
Loki looked up, eyes wide in surprise.
"You… really?"
Tony gave him his patented "you didn't seriously doubt that did you" look.
"Yes Loki, really."
The next moment they were kissing, and Tony seriously contemplated the advantages of the kitchen table over those of the bed…
(Pagebreak)
The Christmas tree decorating had coaxed everyone to the living room, minus Tony, Loki and Frigga. Justin was –as had been expected- wearing a Santa hat and jumping around in pure Christmas frenzy. His uncurbed enthusiasm worked contagious, because soon they were all going through the tons of Christmas decoration Barton had found in the attic. Apparently Tony had bought new decorations every year, for years, because he was too lazy to take out the old ones. Thor was all excited about the fairy lights and angel's hair, and before they knew it they were all covered in the stuff.
"GLITTER!"
"Yes, Justin. We know it by now."
"Don't be such a killjoy Tasha, this is awesome! Look, I can shoot decorations into the tree!"
"Oh my, did Tony actually buy Ironman action figures for the tree? That's so vain!"
"And you're surprised there?"
Hela looked at it all with the wide eyes of a small child seeing the first snow. Peter laughingly draped a string of fairy lights over her shoulders and lit them.
"Let there be light!"
Hela laughed, and made her fingers dance in the sky. The fairy lights flew up, and draped themselves over the Christmas tree. The other lights followed that example. Soon there were more glittery lights than places in the tree… Everyone stared open-mouthed at the now very luminous tree. Even Justin held his mouth for a second. Clint was the first to speak again.
"Now that was impressive."
Hela giggled.
"Thank you."
"Where can we hang the ornaments now? There's no more place in the tree…"
Bruce rolled his eyes.
"We can always decorate Thor, he has enough Angel's hair on him to pass for a tree himself…"
That gave Hela an idea. With another elegant gesture of her hand a few superfluous strings of lights unwrapped themselves from the tree and wound up around Thor, who almost tripped in the progress. She nodded and gave them all a cheeky grin.
"Much more realistic now."
It was clear that even though Hela didn't know Christmas, she had already taken a liking to it. JARVIS started playing Christmas music, all by himself –that AI was way too smart for his own good- and soon they were all childishly hanging ornaments not only in the tree, but also mostly on himself. Steve held up a glittery cupid figure for Clint.
"Look, I found an ornament of you!"
Clint responded by aiming an arrow at the ornament. When it hit the thing exploded, covering Steve in glitter. The stupefied look on the super soldier's face was enough to make everyone laugh.
Natasha hung garlands around Justin and tried to decorate Thor with red and silver baubles –that matched his armor-, Bruce tried to add some method to the madness by putting the decorations in order –and failed royally-, and Steve put a Christmas Crib in place. That caught Hela's eye.
"What is that?"
"The Christmas Crib. This is the holy family, with Mary, John, baby Jesus, the animals and the shepherds and the angels and the three kings…"
"What does it mean?"
Steve wanted to start explaining, but Clint interrupted him.
"It's an old-fashioned religion thing. Actually we should totally put our own figures there, with all the gods here we're practically a holy family too…"
That earned him a glare from Steve. An Avengers Christmas Crib, the idea…
(Author's Notes)
So, Tony and Loki ACCIDENTALLY got married. The idea originated in my ridiculous brain when checking my blog search terms and spotting the line "accidental anal". That made me ponder on other unlikely things to happen accidentally. Just so you know. xD
Anyway, it's been a while, I promise I won't keep you waiting this long again! (well perhaps I will, exams and stuff, but I'll certainly try)
PLEASE REVIEW! I live on your reviews, they make me epic happy! Over 60 reviews and I will write you a silly gift snippet! (you can pick what it will feature, besides our favorite chars...)