The Gala
Precisely 9pm. Thor, after spending the time since Strange left getting ready and reading books on Midgardian etiquette, heard a knock at the door. He immediately rushed over to open it, fixing his hair as he did so.
“Strange! Hey-“
Thor looked the man in front of him up and down appreciatively, taking in the sight of his perfectly tailored tuxedo, adorned with pale green cufflinks and a navy blue tie, highlighting his ..wow, perfect eyes. Those blue eyes were ocean-strong, swimming with warm sun-lit currents… The god realised he was staring.
“You look uh- nice, sorcerer.”
Strange chuckled gently, discreetly admiring the Asgardian as well, very much enjoying the creaseless pitch black suit and crimson tie combination clinging to the pristinely toned body.
“Likewise. Shall we go?”
Thor gave a gentle nod and followed Strange through the portal that had opened up on his left.
On the other side of the road, a grand building stood proudly, marble steps building up to the great mahogany door; the location of the night’s event.
Despite Strange’s experience with galas such as this, the butterflies fluttering around his stomach gave him a nervous, but not uneasy feeling, like the first time he had been with Christine. Weird.
They both managed to make their way in through the crowd of doctors and nurses in smart dress, all present to celebrate Strange’s most recent surgical success.
Strange sat down at one of the small table booths dotted around the hall, gesturing for Thor to take the seat opposite, which was done without hesitation.
It didn’t take long for the god to discover that Strange didn’t particularly thrive in social situations, though giving his friend the occasional smile, or comforting comment seemed to calm his nerves for a while after. It was nice for the sorcerer to be looked after for once, instead of being the one doing the checking up on Christine.
The next few hours of the gala felt much shorter than usual. Strange was comfortable with Thor by his side, and particularly enjoyed the god’s excitement when the details of his surgery, the cause of the night’s celebrations, were acknowledged. Thor clapped and cheered the loudest out of the hundreds of doctors, the widest grin in the room spread across his face.
The man who was usually the first to leave the galas found himself laughing well into the night, only leaving with Thor in the early hours of the morning, somewhere between 2 and 4am.
The streets were far more serene at this time, but despite this, Thor was insistent that he walked Strange back to his apartment so he knew that he “got home safely”. Great excuse. Neither of them minded, though, and the sorcerer’s mind went as far as feeling disappointed when they finally reached his house again. For a moment they stood on the street outside, facing each other, their faces lit up by nothing but a lonely streetlamp above.
It was Thor who broke the silence, stepping a little closer to Strange.
“We should do this again, sorcerer.”
“Yeah..”
Strange nodded. A small smile, unnoticeable to most, the type of one that didn’t see the light of day often, spread across his face.
“..Yeah, we should.”
The sorcerer took Thor’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before heading inside, not looking back. Quite frankly, the other man had no issues with him not glancing at him again, if anything feeling grateful for it, so the crimson blush crawling up the sides of his neck remained a secret. He sprinted off, going back to his house in New Asgard to work through his emotions, uncontrollably grinning. Just wait until Korg and Valkyrie heard this. They’d go mad.