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They were celebrating their second christmas together, and Tony couldn't really get his head around the fact that that much time had already passed. More than a year and a half, longer than he had even imagined he would ever spend with one and the same person, and if someone had asked him before he met Loki if he could still be this deeply, warmly, intensely in love after that long, he would have laughed in their face and told them to grow up, because shit like that only happened in fairytales. But then again, maybe he would have been right too, because Tony wouldn't actually be surprised if this turned out to be a fairytale.
This year they didn't spend the holiday with Loki's family, though. Tony had only been able to get three days off before he had to attend a whole damn row of meetings before the end of the year. So they had opted for spending those days alone, at Loki's place.
Still, after traveling early from New York to make it there on time, it felt a bit odd for Tony to celebrate christmas on Christmas Eve, but that was the way Loki wanted it, and since Tony didn't actually care, he let Loki have his way without a fuss. And when they were now snuggled up on the couch, in just sweatpants and knit sweaters against the chill in the tiny apartment, the coffee table nearly covered in burning candles to help the temperature up at least a bit, Tony was sure he wouldn't have had in any other way, at all. Because in the light from the candles, Loki was even more gorgeous than ever, especially when he had a little smile on his lips and a hopeful glint in his green eyes, holding a rather large christmas gift in his lap.
”This is for you, love.” Loki lifted the box, golden with a bright red bow, and placed it in Tony's hands. ”I know we said no gifts last year, and maybe we shouldn't give any this year either, but I just had to.”
”I am so not complaining, gorgeous”, Tony said, smiling back. He didn't say it yet, but he had also gone against last years no-gifts-policy.
The size, shape and weight of the paper box somehow felt familiar as Tony untied the wide, silk ribbon holding it closed. When he was done and opened it, he understood why.
Hidden under a layer of thin, protective paper was a suit, elegantly and expertly folded to show off the cut and colours. It was a three piece suit. The pants and the vest, the last looking to be made to reach pretty high up on his chest, were a dark, graphite gray. But the jacket was red. A deep, rich shade of red that he knew would go perfectly with his own dark colours. It was just right, and just perfect.
Tony ran his fingers over the smooth fabrics and swallowed. For once, he felt completely lost for anything to say.
For what felt like a long time, Tony just sat still and stared at the suit, and Loki felt himself tense up, until he shifted in his seat. He hadn't been sure Tony would approve that he'd gotten him a gift at all, but he had just loved the suit and the colours he had picked out too much not to buy it. It was more money than he had spent on anything in, well, probably forever. It had just felt so very worth it, when he had imagined Tony wearing it.
”I managed to find your tailor in New York”, he murmured, when he couldn't keep quiet anymore. ”Miss Potts helped me. It's made to your measurements, so it should fit, if that's what you're worried about?” He heard his voice go more unsteady with every word.
Tony was still not looking up, and Loki was becoming more sure by the second that he had made some sort of mistake here. Maybe Tony absolutely didn't want another suit? Didn't want the reminder of work? Was he so disappointed in the gift he just didn't know how to tell Loki it was a crappy thing to give someone? Loki was just starting to feel his hands turn into hard fists, to keep off the nervous shaking, when Tony finally raised his head and looked up from the box. His dark eyes were wide and looked very liquid in the light from the candles.
”You bought this from my tailor?” Disbelief filled his voice.
Had that somehow been a mistake? Loki moved his eyes to the curled up hands in his lap. ”Yes.” The word sounded so small he wasn't sure Tony would even hear him.
Suddenly, Tony's hand came into view and settled over his, moving to catch one of his wrists in a gentle grip. Loki blinked and looked up again, just in time to have his lips covered by a warm, lingering kiss. He made a shaky little exhale through his nose, and leaned into it.
”Thank you”, Tony mumbled into him when he left a sliver of air between them. ”It's just as gorgeous as you, Loki. I love it.”
”Really? You're sure?” Now Loki dared try a hint of a smile.
”Absolutely sure.” Tony leaned back and gave him one back, wide and bright. Eyes still a bit bright with tears, too. ”All the ones I have are gray and black and navy and well, you know. Pretty boring. This one is much more... me. It's perfect.” He looked down, and ran his fingers over the red lapel of the jacket again, before turning that smile on Loki once more. ”And yeah, I might have bought you something too.”
Tony carefully closed the box and put it on the floor under the table, out of the way, before turning away, moving one of the cushions to the side, and pulling out an envelope he must have hidden there before. The paper was thick, creamcoloured and slightly textured under Loki's fingertips when he accepted it. A bow around it, made from a green, velvet ribbon.
Curious about what sort of gift might come in an envelope, Loki pulled the bow off, opened it, and three different pieces of paper came out in his hand. The top one was a printed picture, showing what had to be some sort of bedroom, but one taken out of a strange fairytale. It was all white and icy blue, because that was what it was made of, ice and snow. The bed in the center was covered in furs, and behind it was a carving in the ice, showing a huge tree, and a band of what had to be runes across it. It was beautiful, but...?
”What is it?” Loki took his eyes from the picture, and looked at Tony's face.
”That is the place we'll be living on our vacation this winter.” Tony's face split into a grin as he reached out to put the picture to the side, showing Loki what was under it. A brochure in a language Loki didn't understand, and a ticket for a flight, two weeks away. ”It's a hotel, in the north of Sweden, built all out of ice and snow. I found that and, well, I thought you might like it.”
His mouth dropping open, Loki looked down at the picture again, and suddenly he could just see the two of them there, on the furs, surrounded by nothing but ice. And snow...
”Tony”, he whispered, ”this is... this is amazing.” Loki blinked, tried to hold back tears, completely failed, and then gave up hiding them and threw himself around Tony's neck instead, tipping them both over on the green couch. ”Thank you, love!” He barely got it out, but the way Tony hugged him tighter made him sure he had heard him.
”You're really welcome, gorgeous.” Then Tony chuckled a bit and moved Loki back, hands cupping his face, until he could see him. ”Although, to be honest, it's also a bit of a gift for myself, because I have this sort of feeling that I'll be getting my fair share of hotel room sex that week.”
”Oh, you have no idea...” Loki heard the husky promise in his own voice in a way he rarely did, and was delighted when he saw Tony's eyes widen and darken. ”But, I guess, while we're at it, I might as well confess that your gift was partly for me as well.” He felt a grin sneak out through the joyous tears.
”You don't say?” Laughing, Tony pulled him down to rest Loki's forehead against his own. ”I'd never have guessed. Not that I mind, though. That just makes me love it more, because I know it'll drive you nuts when I wear it to...” His voice trailed off a bit there, and he suddenly focused his eyes on something behind Loki's head. ”Gorgeous?”
”Yes?” Knowing what he had seen, and trying hard to hold back a wide grin, Loki had to struggle to keep his own voice steady.
”Did you by any chance hang mistletoe above the couch before I got here?” Tony was grinning too when his eyes moved back to Loki's.
”Maybe I did.”
”You going to let it hang there for nothing, then?”
”Not if I can help it.”
Loki barely noticed when the envelope, ribbon and papers fell on the floor next to the box with the suit as he tilted his head to the side, met Tony's lips in a deep kiss. At the same time, strong hands ran up in his hair, fingers curling to catch the long tresses and pull gently at them. The moan he made against Tony's mouth might have meant 'merry christmas'.
The chill in the apartment seemed very far away when Loki was pressed this tight against him, so Tony thought it felt right to slip his hands in under the knit sweater the man on top of him and eagerly started pulling it off. And Loki didn't protest it, he just curled his back up and then pulled te garment off his arms to throw it behind the couch before he leaned back and caught the hem of Tony's own sweater to do the same. Then he was back down in the warmth they shared, and Tony quickly closed his arms around the smooth, lean back. It wasn't long before his hands then trailed down to find their way into Loki's favourite old, worn sweatpants. The way the tired elastic easily let him in was so familiar by now.
He pulled back from the kiss they had once more been locked in, and panted against Loki's lips. ”Get up. I need you naked, like, ten minutes ago.”
Loki grinned and placed one last kiss on the corner of his mouth and slid off the seat, and at once Tony was sitting up and getting to his feet as well. Pressing just as close as when they had been on the couch, Tony got his fingers under the pants again and slipped them off Loki's hips; that was all it took for them to fall off and pool around Loki's feet, together with his underwear. He felt goosebumps form on the soft skin of Loki's lower back, so Tony shifted him around, turned him, and pushed him against the couch again.
”Get down there, gorgeous, and I'll make sure you're warm in a minute.”
Glancing at him over his shoulder, Loki got back down, stretching out on his front along the seats. The glint in his green eyes had turned expectant, something that wasn't lost on Tony.
With Loki still watching, Tony slowly pulled his own sweatpants off, stepped out of them, and went to get down on the seat too. But then he caught a glimpse of something red under the table, and changed his mind. He gave Loki a steady look. ”Hands behind your back.”
Not sparing a moment for hesitation, Loki took his arms from where he had been resting his head on them, and placed them at the small of his back.
Pleased, Tony leaned down, gripped the wide ribbon that had been around the box with his suit, and then he sat to straddle Loki's thighs on the seat that was just wide enough to let him. He placed the slim hands and wrists the way he wanted them, then slipped the ribbon around them and tied them securely together. Finishing, of course, with a bow. Smile widening, he leaned back on his heels and studied the result. The bright, red colour look really nice against Loki's pale skin, and with the bow like that, right above his perfect, smooth ass... well...
”Now you look like a christmas gift.”
Loki turned his head on the cushion to smile back. ”Maybe I am?”
”Not to take anything away from the suit, but in that case you are my favourite gift.” Tony ran a hand over the soft skin in front of him, glowing in the candlelight. ”Probably the best gift I have ever been given.”
Loki's face turned a bit more serious at that, and Tony saw him shake his head against the green fabric under his cheek. ”I wasn't really given to you though, was I?” His voice was softer, but filled with thought and emotion. ”You helped make me.”
Again, Tony swallowed, feeling lost for words. He knew it was true. He had never set out to change Loki, he had never wanted him to become anything he wasn't. All he had wanted was to reach inside the shell of fears and insecurities Loki had been hidden in when they had first met, and see what was behind it. If anything, he had wanted Loki to be himself.
Now he was. And it was beautiful.
”I guess I did”, Tony murmured, smiling still while he turned, reached out and picked one of the burning candles from the table. ”And now, I'll help make you warm.”
