Merry Christmas, basched!

[ultra_fic]

basched - My wonderful mate, who I feel like I have known forever, I'm glad you're still around and still awesome! *hugs* Hope this fic pleases you. It's as close to the slash line as I was willing to sail ;)

Title: Missing You
Fandom(s): MCU
Prompt: Steve/Thor, Steve missing Thor, who is away at Christmas. He sets up a little shrine for Thor who comes back the next day and is quite... humbled by the offerings
Timeline: a post-Avengers Christmas
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Any and all recognisable characters do not belong to me.

Steve couldn’t remember ever feeling like this before. It was different to the last time he had a best friend, and he couldn’t really have explained why. Bucky was like a brother to Steve, they grew up together, had each other’s backs, at least until the end. Remembering the sight of Sergeant James Barnes plummeting to his death still tore at Steve’s heart, vivid in his mind as if it were yesterday, even though decades had passed. There was a new world to face now, to protect, to avenge, and so he had. Steve Rogers put on his Captain America stars and stripes and stepped out into the fray, taking on whatever missions were given to him. He fought with his brothers in arms, the Avengers, and he fought with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents at his side too. His work was his life because there was nothing and no-one else left, everyone he had ever known were either decades older than he or long dead. Perhaps it wasn’t so curious then, that the one he missed most was even older than Steve himself, having lived many centuries already.

Thor was such an anomaly, as all The Avengers were in there different ways, but Steve looked at Thor and saw a best friend, not a replacement for Bucky, not a substitute by any means, but a best friend none the less, perhaps even something more than that, though he couldn’t have given it a name.

They were fellow soldiers, both out of their comfort zone, out of their own time and in a world they could not entirely understand. It had caused a bond between them, something unshakeable, unbreakable. Perhaps it was not so very strange then that when Thor was gone, Steve missed him terribly.

Perhaps it would not have been so bad if he had other things to occupy his mind. Out on missions, concentrating on tactics, staying alive, keeping others safe, Steve was okay then. It was the time alone that got to him, that reminded him how very alone in the world he was these days.

Fury insisted he deserved a break, a little R and R as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. had called it. Christmas time in the city, Steve couldn’t deny it all looked beautiful, with the pretty coloured lights and store windows all cheerily decorated. Walking amongst the crowds of happy faces and laughing children was hard though. Christmas was necessary, a celebration Steve believed in, but it wasn’t fun and joyful for those that walked alone.

From what he understood, Tony and Pepper were having Christmas together at Stark Tower, and Bruce, who lived there still, was joining them. They had told Steve he was welcome, but he politely declined, feeling he would be intruding. Besides, as much as he and Tony could get along when they had to, one too many mistimed supposedly harmless jibes on Stark’s part would only make Steve feel worse right now.

As for his fellow soldiers, Romanoff and Barton were currently off the grid, whether together or apart, Steve wasn’t certain, though he suspected together. There was more to those two than met the eye, he was sure on that. He actually kind of hoped they were together. Being the lonely soldier, it was a tough life.

Thor would understand, that was what got to Steve the most. If he were here he would completely get where Steve was coming from. They walked through worlds that were far beyond their understanding, though they were older than any man should really be. Steve had started out a mortal human, which sometimes he thought was worse. At least an Asgardian expected to live as long as Thor had and probably would yet, but when he tried to fit in on Earth, or Midgard as he called it, he found himself too strong, too old, too much. Steve knew how that felt. They had so many similarities, greatness thrust upon them that they appreciated and yet would like to perhaps live just a little while as normal men, being who they wanted to be, just themselves.

Thor was out of reach right now. Steve wasn’t sure if he had gone back to Asgard or was just elsewhere in the world. Either way he was gone, and Steve was alone on a cold Christmas Day in New York.

Dinner for one was cooking in the kitchen, and the one gift he had thought to give was carefully wrapped and under the tree, but it seemed it would not get to its giftee today. They might’ve spent the day together, somehow Steve had just kind of expected they would, and yet he was alone, and Thor could be anywhere. Perhaps he was a fool to think of the other man so fondly, to expect such feelings to be reciprocated. It was probably too much to ask.

Shaking his head, Steve headed into the kitchen to check on his food. He flipped on the radio for the sake of background noise and Fairytale of New York was just starting. Steve frowned a little at the durge like sound and the dreary lyrics. It really wasn’t helping his mood and he was about to turn it off again when a knock at the door startled him, and he turned warily towards the sound. Though he lived in a regular apartment in a fairly normal block on an average looking street, Steve Rogers still had a face that people recognised, and an identity that could be tracked. He edged towards the door, battle-ready as ever, and got a hell of a surprise when he opened it and found a familiar face on the other side.

Dressed in civilian clothes but wearing an unmistakable broad smile was Thor.

“Greetings, Rogers,” he said, stepping forward to hug his friend and comrade.

“You’re here,” said Steve pointlessly even as he returned the manly embrace. “I was just... Doesn’t matter,” he shook off what he was going to say as they faced each other again.

There was no way Thor was here through sheer will of Steve alone, though it sure did seem like it. Steve did not believe Thor was a god, that went against everything he had always held to be true. There was only one God, and on Christmas of all days, he would like to think the Lord was listening particularly carefully and felt that the man who fought as Captain America, for God and country, deserved a friend, at least for today.

“Though this world’s holidays and celebrations hold little meaning to an Asgardian such as myself,” Thor was explaining as he wandered further into the apartment. “I do understand it is a time for family, for friends and loved ones. Of all those who I might call upon this night, it was Steve Rogers whose name first struck my mind. Am I welcome, Captain?” he smiled slightly.

Steve grinned, unable to help it.

“More than welcome,” he assured him, gesturing that his friend should take a seat. “Er, I do have food cooking. Not much, I was expecting to be alone, but we can still share.”

“You are a good man, Rogers, this much I have always known to be true,” said Thor happily.

Steve went back to the kitchen to finish checking on the dinner. There was always going to be leftovers if it were just him eating alone, but now not so much, now he had someone to share with, and it felt good. He faltered as he turned back to the living room and eyed the small tree in the corner. Weighing up options in his mind, he eventually strode over and pulled out the present he had bought for Thor. He felt like a stupid kid when he walked over to the couch on which Thor was now sat and held out the carefully wrapped gift to him. The Asgardian eyed the prettily wrapped parcel with confusion. Steve cleared his throat and shifted all the more awkwardly, forcing the box into Thor’s hands.

“It’s a tradition for Christmas, to buy gifts for those we love... Our friends and family,” Steve corrected himself, coughing to cover what he might have implied. “Er, It’s nothing special but it was bought with you in mind.”

“And I am an ass for not knowing of this tradition,” said Thor awkwardly, even as he took the gift into his hands. “I have nothing for you.”

“You’re here,” said Steve with a smile as he sat down next to him. “That’s enough.”

Thor returned the look and knew he meant every word; he was doubly glad he had come here now, he had missed Steve so much.

The End