Chapter 3
Thor had never minded Tony Stark, the Avengers seemingly most challenging villain.
Of course, Thor had always enjoyed a challenge.
So whenever Stark was brought up in a conversation or was told that was who the Avengers were going into battle with, Thor would instantly perk up. He enjoyed engaging the mortal in battle. Besides the Captain, Stark was one of the few mortals that could best him in a fight which both astonished and thrilled Thor.
Especially since Tony was so...small.
However, the one time Thor had called the Man of Iron such, he hadn't taken it very well and had proceeded not to fight Thor but to completely ignore him. For a week.
It was simply killing Thor. He enjoyed the battles with Stark but now he was being ignored by the man and he didn't know what to do. He had complained to his Avenging friends and seek some advice but all he had gotten were confused stares. They seemed to not understand why he would want to have Tony fight him.
Eventually, Thor couldn't take it anymore. On the next mission he was told Stark was causing chaos down in central park. Something about robotic birds pooping vanilla ice cream on civilians.
Thor took off before Steve had managed to finish his sentence and headed for the park.
There, Tony was in his iron suit, faceplate up with a smirk on his face as he watched the people scramble for cover, silver birds flapping around, diving at unsuspecting mortals and leaving droppings on their clothes or in their hair.
Thor landed on the grass hard before marching towards Tony who didn't look up at him, instead surveying the chaos with that smug smile.
"Stark!" Thor yelled, lighting crackling around him. He decided the only way he would gain any attention was to go for it and lunged at the man—
—and smack face first into a tree.
Thor groaned as he stood, leaning against the offending tree for support as he looked around, the illusion of the Man of Iron having disappeared without a trace.
"Anthony does not wish to speak to you, Brother Dearest."
Thor froze at the sound of his voice, slowly turning on the spot to see the lean figure watching him with amused green eyes.
"Loki," Thor growled.
The Mischief god smirked. "Do you like the entertainment? Mortals are so gullible. So easy to torment."
"Where is the Man of Iron?!" Thor demanded, blue eyes flashing with withheld rage. If Loki did anything to him…
"I told you. He does not wish to speak to you. You should know how sensitive Anthony is about his height," Loki said, examining his nails. "He's very upset."
"He...he is?" Thor said, guilt crashing over him in a wave.
"Oh yes, very. He came running to me, telling me all about how you made fun of his height, how you told him how surprised you were that a man of his stature managed to compete against you," Loki stated, setting a light glare on Thor. "I know your mouth doesn't have much of a filter but please do try to think before you speak."
"I-I did not mean it as an insult. I only meant it as a compliment. A man who is much more than he seems. I was trying to say that size does not equal power and Anthony proves that," Thor said, realizing he'd never called Stark by his first name. But hearing Loki say it made it feel...right he supposed. It felt right coming from his lips.
"You did?"
Thor blinked and suddenly there was Anthony, standing right beside Loki. He wore his Ironman suit and as the illusion had, his faceplate was up to show the vulnerability that was so out of place on Anthony's usually confident face. It made Thor's heart clench, knowing he had hurt Anthony so badly.
"Of course. I did not mean to hurt you," Thor promised, eyes wide and pleading for Anthony to understand. "If I had known it would hurt you so I wouldn't have said anything. It was foolish of me."
Tony huffed, trying to appear annoyed but not quite managing it as the vulnerability kept slipping through. "Yeah well, like Loki said. You should get a filter for that mouth of yours. It's...it's not easy for other villains or heroes to take me seriously as it is. I don't need a reminder of how short and powerless I look."
"It is not such a bad thing," Thor admitted. "If they underestimate you they'll be getting a very harsh wake up call. I know I did."
Anthony looked as if he was fighting a smile. "Hopefully you know better now. Though it was funny to see the look on your face that time. But I can still blast you into next week."
Thor grinned. "And I would be delighted to have that chance again! If you forgive me, that is?"
Tony glanced at Loki who was barely paying attention though he nodded just slightly. Tony turned back to Thor and grinned before the faceplate came down and took a fighting stance. "Come and get me, Point Break."
Thor did exactly that.
"Should we help?" Clint asked from where the other Avenger's were watching the fight from across the park. They had only just arrived and the scene before them was...intriguing to say the least.
Steve watched as Thor tackled the suit to the ground, Tony blasting out from under him before he was pinned while Loki (when had Loki gotten there?) nimbly got out of the pairs path. Metal birds swooped around them, pooping white substance on civilians and the pair fighting though neither of them seemed to take any notice. All the while, Thor had a large smile plastered on his, laughing whenever he or Stark got a particularly good blow in.
"Nah, let them fight it out. We'll deal with the birds," Steve decided, just as said birds pooped on his head, melted vanilla ice cream drifting between his eyes as he sighed.
Loki cackled across the park, flashing a devious smile as all the metal birds turned their beady eyes on them.
"I just washed this suit!" Clint complained as the birds dived for them. He was then promptly pooped on, splattering the shoulder of his suit with ice cream droppings.
They got to work. It was one of the stickiest but yummiest missions they'd ever done.