It started small, with things like strange rocks that Tony was pretty sure were from somewhere in outer space, artifacts with engraved runes and words in alien languages, weapons embellished with beautiful jewels, and a snack now and then. Of course, Tony could have asked where they had come from, and JARVIS would have told him, but scanning and playing with these gifts was far more interesting. Then he had seen the God of Thunder, who had probably not seen him enter the lab, leaving a rock on the desk. The God had swiftly turned around and boomed with a smile at the sight of the genius.

"Anthony! How have you been?"

"It's Tony, Thor," he answered, with a small and quick smile. "And I'm fine, Point Break. Care to tell what you are doing?" answered Tony, taking a blueberry to his mouth.

To this, Thor looked confused, frowning like a puppy.

"I do not understand the question. I'm leaving my present as I have been doing for the last few weeks."

"Oh, so it was you who left the toys on my table. Thank you, Thor," he said, approaching the table with a quick smile, ready to inspect the new item.

Thor frowned a little deeper.

"They are not toys, they are trinkets of affection. Did the voice in the ceiling not tell you about it?" asked the blond, as he looked up.

"Master Odinson said to tell Sir if he asked where the gifts came from, and Sir never asked."

"Trinket of affection? What does it mean? Like warrior buddy gifts? Is it an Asgardian thing?" said the brunet, dismissing the last exchange.

"It is! But not meant for friendship!"

"Oh?"

"These are for wooing," added Thor with a proud smile.

"Oh sorry, buddy. I thought they were for me. But you should leave them where you know the person will see them, I'll give them back to you.

Thor shook his head, with a smile still on his face. "I have been doing that. These are for you, Anthony."

"But I thought you said they were for wooing. Does it mean something different in Asgard? Because here it means you want to date the person. You know, romantic stuff, but with marrying in mind."

"It does not! They are for wooing you!"

Tony was speechless for five full seconds, ayes wide. The first thing to escape his mouth was "Oh". The second was "Why?"

"Because it's customary to give our beloved things they would appreciate. Some things, like the Midgardian food, I had to ask the voice in the ceiling, but I was sure you would love to discover new things that the others couldn't get you."

"I, um…" Tony had to admit that the God of Thunder was attractive, but he hadn't thought of him as anything other than a friend, and that had been hard after the God had choked him. They had reached this point and Tony was happy, as the blond had turned out to be a good friend. "I don't really see you that way, Thor, but I'm flattered that you think of me like that."

The god deflated after hearing this. "I understand Anthony, then I shall stop right away."

Stopping. Right. No more gifts. "Thank you for understanding, buddy." Said the genius with an 'I'm sorry' smile. Thor left the lab and Tony started to analyze the rock Thor had left on the table, his last gift.

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After the incident in the lab, Tony started to look at Thor more often. He found that the thunder god was more frequently present in rooms than he thought. He also began to notice details about Thor. How he smiled, laughed, and scrunched up his nose when Cap cooked something he didn't particularly enjoy such as veggie stirfry; what type of fabric and style of shirt he preferred to use; how he sat during movie nights, where he most enjoyed sitting, and what kind of snacks he preferred to eat in each situation; the different smiles of content, excitement, enjoyment, and he even noticed that the god had a special smile for him. These were all small things that Tony had caught himself noticing.

Thor had noticed the stares but decided to not say anything for the moment. That is until the genius started to look anxious every time he entered a room, and sometimes even left said room. He wasn't dumb, he knew Tony was avoiding him, and he didn't like it at all. Trying to court the brunet had been a bad idea and now he was paying the price. He decided that he'd rather have Stark as a friend than lose him because of his feelings, so he decided to seek him out as friendly as he could. The engineer had disliked that too, he declined every invite to spar, watch a movie together, or even sit near him during group dinners. This was exhausting him. Thus, one day, he decided to stop trying. He decided he wouldn't seek out Tony; he wouldn't invite him to watch a movie; he wouldn't sit near him during group dinners, even if there were seats available next to him; and if there was nothing that he needed to do in a room Tony entered, he left without saying a word.

Steve was the unsaid self-proclaimed mother hen of the group, so when his little chicks had a fight or didn't get along, he had a sixth sense for it. He had waited for the two of them to figure out whatever they had by themselves, but now Tony looked every day closer to having an anxiety attack in front of everyone, and Thor looked as if someone had killed his puppy, so maybe he had to do something about it himself. Knowing Tony wouldn't open up easily, he decided to try first with the god of thunder.

He found said god munching on some pop-tarts, crying while he watched the Titanic sink in one of Tony's 8k TVs. How such a monstrous thing came to be, Steve had no idea, but give it to Tony for inventing something twice as fancy as the last available technology.

"Thor, are you okay?" He asked, softly, to not startle the blond.

"Yes, Captain," he answered, cleaning his nose with a box tissue, "I just hope Rose and Jack can live happily and free after this experience." He looked at Steve, whose lips looked thin pressed together for a moment, and then came back to normal.

"Can I talk with you for a minute?"

"Of course," he answered, pausing the movie, "about what?"

"Well, you've been looking sad lately, and I feel it has something to do with Tony. Has he done anything to you? Because if he's not following team rules of behavior I can lecture him for you," huffed Steve, only half joking.

Thor sighed and wiped a few tears with the tissue in his hand.

"I'm afraid I have caused friend Anthony to drift away from me," he started, shaking his head, "I started to woo him without explicit consent, and when he found out, he rejected my feelings. I tried to keep our friendship as it was, but it seems he already felt too… uncomfortable with me. I have read that your Midgardian culture sometimes finds same-sex attraction to be particularly uncomfortable, so maybe I have crossed a line without knowing."

"I don't think that's the case, Thor," said the captain, crossing his arms over his chest, "I've seen Tony being flirtatious with both men and women." he looked pensive for a moment and then thanked Thor for sharing, promised to find an answer to the situation, and then left the god of thunder with his movie and his tissues alone.

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This was Tony's fifteenth cup of coffee in the past 53 hours and he was starting to think that he was tired enough to ignore anyone he could encounter on his way from his lab to his bedroom, and not feel guilty. Anyone he had been trying to avoid at least.

Thor. He was avoiding Thor, and who was he trying to trick by avoiding his feelings like this? He couldn't just tell the blond, though. What type of person rejects an alien prince and god that is trying to woo them, and then starts to fall in love with said alien prince-god? An asshole, that is.

Natasha had come sometime in the first 48 hours to try to make him come to sense.

"You're worrying Steve, you know?" said the slender and built figure that leaned on the frame of the lab's door with her arms crossed a bit lower than her chest. "By behaving like a hermit."

"I'm always a hermit," tried to joke Tony.

"More than usual," answered the redhead, without a trace of humor. "You also should tell Thor how you feel, котенок*. It's bad for you to keep all that in," she added, getting closer to him, "and I think he would appreciate you returning his feelings."

"I already rejected him, Nat. The man will think I'm just playing with him." said the brunet, hands on his working table, one of them gripping a screwdriver he was using to tinker.

"Or maybe he won't. Thor is smarter than you think-"

"I know he's smart."

"Then why do you treat him as if he couldn't make this decision by himself?" she asked, gently but determined to make him see her point.

Tony clenched his fist around the screwdriver. "That's not what I'm worried about." He thought for a moment and then added "I don't think he really knows me, Nat. I don't think he knows what it's like to date me, to have to deal with my anxiety attacks, with my panic attacks… The nightmares never stopped, you know? I still wake up in cold sweat believing I'm in that fucking cave, plugged to that car battery." Tony shook his head "I'm not easy to take care of. Plus, what can I give him? What could I possibly give to a King and God of Thunder? I'm just too broken, Tasha. I can't let him take care of that."

"Why do you think he would take care of you by himself?"

"Nat-"

"We all love you, Tones. Even if you hate yourself. He just loves you in a different way. I really think you should give him a chance. Please take care of yourself, котенок, and eat something," she added, kissing his head, before leaving the lab.

That had been around a day before. Now there was a good ol' captain with a plate of mini sandwiches and a bowl of blueberries standing next to him. Tony jumped a bit when he realized that the blond was right next to him, and started to think that yeah, he definitely could ignore people on his way out of the lab because his senses were shit at this point.

"Jesus, Steve," he said, hand on his chest, " I have a heart condition."

"I called out your name a few times," said the super soldier leaving the plate and bowl on the work table. "When you didn't answer, JARVIS said to come in." He looked at the sleepless genius's eyes. "Can we talk, Tony?"

With a hand still on his chest, the brunet looked at the blonde, to the fruit bowl sitting on his work table, back at Steve, and let out a soft but quick 'sure' before picking up the blueberry and putting it in his mouth.

"If this is about my sleeping habits, I was just about to head to bed."

"Tony."

"Hey, I'm a grown man, I get to set my bedtime."

"Tony."

"I know it doesn't sound healthy, but I have been snacking. Sort of." Blueberries kept going in with every pause.

"Tony, stop. This is not about your sleeping habits. Which are horribly unhealthy by the way, you really need to stop pulling over three days of no sleep."

"You just said it wasn't about my sleeping habits." This earned a frowning stare from the super soldier. "Fine. What is it about?"

"I talked to Thor."

With that, the brunet paused for a split second while taking a fistful of blueberries to his mouth. He ate the blueberries and asked, only briefly looking into Steve's eyes, while pretending to be invested in counting mini sandwiches, "Yeah? What have you two been chatting about?"

"Don't play dumb, Tony. I wanna know the real reason for you to be treating him so badly."

"I'm not treating him badly-"

"You're ignoring him."

"Which is like not treating him at all, so if I don't interact with him I can't possibly treat him badly."

"Tony," said the Captain with a worried frown on his face. This was the reason for which he tried to talk to the god of thunder first. "I know you rejected his flirting, and now you're ignoring him, that's why Thor is miserable. What I want to know is why you are miserable."

Tony looked at the project he was currently working on and then let out a sigh. "Didn't Nat talk to you already?" He asked, a bit too roughly.

Steve watched Tony closely, waiting for him to open up. After a moment of silence, Tony finally spoke, his voice tinged with vulnerability.

"Steve, you know I rejected Thor because I didn't want him to get caught up in all my issues. I've got a lot of baggage, and I didn't think it would be fair to drag him into it."

Steve nodded in understanding. "Tony, I get where you're coming from, but you can't make decisions for Thor. He's a grown man, and he's made it clear he cares about you. Besides, everyone has their own issues and insecurities. That doesn't mean they're not deserving of love and happiness."

Tony sighed, looking down at the blueberries in his hand. "I know you're right, Steve. I just... I'm scared, okay? I've been hurt before, and I don't want to get hurt again. Even Pepper got tired of being woken up in the middle of the night by my screaming."

Steve moved closer to Tony and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I understand your fear, Tony, but sometimes taking a chance on love is worth it. Thor is a good man, and he genuinely cares about you. Give him a chance to show you that he's willing to be there for you, baggage and all."

Tony looked up at Steve, his eyes reflecting a mixture of fear and longing. "What if I mess it up, Steve? What if I can't be what he needs?"

Steve smiled warmly. "Tony, you're an amazing person, and you have a big heart. You've been through a lot, but that doesn't make you any less deserving of love. Just be yourself, and if Thor truly cares about you, he'll understand and support you."

Tony took a deep breath, his shoulders relaxing slightly. "Okay, Steve, I'll... I'll talk to Thor. I'll give him a chance."

Steve patted Tony's back reassuringly. "That's the spirit, Tony. And remember, we're all here for you, too. You don't have to go through this alone."

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After Steve left the lab, Tony decided to have an honest conversation with Thor. He found the god in his favorite spot in the common area, enjoying a movie.

"Thor," Tony began, a hint of nervousness in his voice, "we need to talk."

Thor looked up from his book, his expression a mix of hope and uncertainty. "Of course, Anthony. What would you like to discuss?"

"I've been distancing myself from you, Thor," Tony admitted, his voice carrying the weight of his emotions. "I was afraid, afraid of getting hurt once more, afraid of letting someone in. But I've come to realize that I can't keep evading my feelings, and I can't continue pushing you away."

Thor's face lit up with a hopeful soft smile. "Anthony, I understand your fear, and I respect your decision. But I want you to know that I care about you deeply. I'm willing to be patient and work through whatever challenges may come our way."

Tony nodded, his smile forming, though there were still signs of pain on his face. "I appreciate that, Thor. And I want to give this a chance, too, but I just…I'm not worthy."

Thor rose from the sofa and walked up to Tony, raising a hand to his cheek to caress it, only to have Tony's face lean the re. "Anthony, what would make you say that? Thor rose from the sofa and walked up to Tony, raising a hand to his cheek to caress it, only to have Tony's face lean the re. "Anthony, what would make you say that? You are not just a mighty warrior; you possess a valor that shines in the face of adversity. Your brilliance, your inventive mind, it is unparalleled. I would be honored to stand alongside you in any battle, knowing the unmatched ingenuity you bring to our team."

Thor's thumb gently brushed over Tony's cheekbone, his gaze unwavering. "I find myself in awe of your resilience, your unwavering determination, and your boundless compassion. I see a man of immeasurable worth, one who has faced the darkest of storms and emerged stronger, not defined by his past, but shaped by it into someone extraordinary." A soft smile graced Tony's lips as Thor continued, his words like a soothing balm. "I would be proud, more than proud, to call you mine, Anthony. To have you by my side is not just an honor, but a privilege. You bring light to my world, and I am grateful for every moment we share."

The brunet's insecurities were killing him, but he desperately wanted to feel that love Thor was showing him "Okay," he breathed out, "but take it slowly," he added, earning a soft smile and a kiss on top of his hand from the god. Thor agreed, and from that moment, their relationship began to blossom.

As days turned into weeks, Tony and Thor's relationship continued to evolve. They spent valuable time together, learning about each other's worlds and cultures. Tony began to immerse himself in Asgardian customs, and Thor eagerly absorbed the nuances of Earth's way of life. They also found out that gift-giving was both Tony's and Thor's love language. To Tony, was great because he could actually gift Thor everything he wanted to give him, as Thor was royalty and wasn't fazed by the monetary value of things, so the god saw every detail for what it was.

However, beneath the surface, Tony still carried the weight of his past wounds. He wrestled with his own insecurities, unsure if he could fully embrace the happiness that Thor offered. There were moments of doubt, nights when he would silently contemplate his own worthiness. Thor, ever patient and understanding, noticed Tony's inner turmoil. He could sense the hesitations and the quiet battles Tony fought within himself. Yet, he chose to remain steadfast, never pushing too hard but always there to support Tony when needed.

Their love continued to grow, a delicate dance between vulnerability and acceptance. Tony slowly let down his walls, allowing himself to be vulnerable in Thor's presence. And Thor, with unwavering devotion, offered reassurance, reminding Tony that he was cherished and valued. And so, against all odds, Tony and Thor found their happiness, proving that sometimes, the best things in life come when you let go of your fears and open your heart to love, or in this case, when you open the window to let Asgardian ravens bring you treasures.

A/N: *котенок is Russian for kitten according to Google Translate. Pronounced kotenok.

I have no idea how to write more about this story. If you guys are interested, I can write more chapters with drabbles/ficlets as a follow-up.