fossilised | It's AU time

Loren scarcely looked up from his phone. He was curled up in the armchair nearest the wall so that he could keep his screen concealed and was typing like only someone who had grown up with this sort of technology could, thumbs flying at speed over the smooth touchscreen. He hadn't touched his eggnog and his voice was as lightly amused as it was sardonic.

"I would not advise that you listen to my brother. Attempt to take my phone, and I shall have to kill you both."

Bucky chuckled, still a bit embarrassed from having to sing, and pulled Steve to the couch to sit with him there. He was determined to make this a good day. These were Steve's friends and he really wanted to impress them, and that meant being on his best behaviour. He just hoped that Loren really had made a mistake in the store and wasn't in the habit of deliberately making loud noises.

"Jesus-- what the hell is in this?" He muttered, before draining his glass. "It tastes like a mixture of petrol and eggs."

The mix of accents in the room was interesting. Russian with it's full mouth words, the singsong of Norwegian and the harder Brooklyn made for interesting conversations and gave the place a merriment that Steve hadn't experienced before. It was usually just Nat and himself. She rarely kept a boyfriend around the holidays. Steve liked Thor though. And he was still amused that his long time barista was his brother. And gay. If only Thor and Nat had known, they might have tried to set him up with Loren!

But that wouldn't have worked. Loren's tastes seemed to trend older. And hairier. Steve laughed, which coincided with Bucky's General assessment of the alcohol content of the glasses they were given, even if it was for his own internal assessment.

Steve offered Thor a card, and then leaned over Bucky to give Loren two. The older blond did not seem pleased. "I am not good enough for two cards?" It was mostly a jest but he was also confused.

Steve blinked. "Well. Only one is for him if that helps?"

"He's lying to spare your feelings, buddy," Bucky said gravely, as if he were telling the complete truth and not being a shit to get Steve into trouble. "It's an American thing, the more cards you give someone, the more you like them. Steve just likes Loren more than you, sorry."

Loren, who had been wondering how to stave off any questions about who the card was for, immediately took to this with a far more convincing smile. He was a natural liar, settling into the deception with no issues.

"I have heard this custom, brother," he said, nodding. "Thank you, Steven, your gesture of affection has not gone unnoticed."

Thor looked skeptical. "How is it that I've failed you? How can I prove my friendship to you-- and Natalia-- you've given me no cards." It didn't matter that he and Loren had been in America for years now and that he'd never been made aware of the card situation. "Does this mean you don't want to carry on with our relationship?"

He looked -- and was -- so very downtrodden. His eyes dropped towards his girlfriend's, despondent.

Steve looked between brothers and then scooted over to rest inside of the nook thst Bucky's chest and arm made. "I'm not getting involved," he decided out loud. "But you're all cruel."

"Wait here and I will get for you a thousand cards," Thor declared, holding Nat's hands.

Oh. Oh. Bucky decided all of a sudden that he liked Thor, the man seemed utterly sincere and sweet, but was also a complete idiot on top of it. He would have a lot of fun messing with him. So he just watched the scene unfold with an amused grin on his face and his arm around Steve.

Nat struggled to keep a straight face, but she managed to make out that her trembling lip was from sorrow and not because she was struggling not to laugh.

"You really mean it? I am thinking you did not like me any more. I have many cards for you, but I could not give them to you when you gave me none."

Loren had finally put his phone down to better watch this utter humiliation of his brother. It was high entertainment for a Christmas morning.

"You must forgive him, Natalia, such is not the custom in Norway. He has presented me no cards either."

"Thor, stores are closed," Steve said gently as the blond rushed to get his scarf to head out into the brisk chill for his stash of cards. He didn't want to see Thor spend his money at expensive bodegas that might be open to cater to the desperate. The poor man! "But I have plenty of card making materials--"

He couldn't help but join in on the fun. Especially because he felt guilty about Thor even noticing the cards to begin with. He should have given Loren's boyfriend to him later. Alas.

The phone on the table vibrated and Steve saw the message from an Anthony Stark (a very formal version of the name to put in one's contacts) that read simply: 'It's a good thing that you're beautiful but you should still be with me today.'

It was just so sweet. Steve felt bad for the older man but rushed out to get Thor some markers and a pad of paper.

Loren snapped up the phone at once, expression softening slightly, before he texted back in a message meant only for Anthony's eyes: "I will be with you tonight and you may take all the time you wish in unwrapping your present. By the way, you present might involve stocking suspenders and high heels."

He would have liked to have been with Anthony this day, but he was still not quite ready to tell Thor about his relationship. He did not have many friends, Thor was the only one he truly trusted, and having a second person to that roster was a much larger deal to him than to others. Also he feared that Anthony would like Thor better, everyone liked Thor better with his blond muscled looks and his affable honest charm. He did not want to lose Anthony.

He slipped his phone back in his pocket and watched as Steve presented Thor with paper and coloured markers, and his adult brother beaming over them as though they were the best thing ever. The only true stranger in the room, the soldier who had melted down in his coffee shop, sat quietly on the sidelines watching like him. But he watched Steve with a fond expression that nobody could miss.

With Thor sufficiently busy with his art project, Steve returned to Nat and Bucky, taking another cookie because why not? He was safe here. This space and these people (maybe minus Loren) were just safe. He kicked off his shoes and propped his feet up on the arm rest as Natalia unwrapped her present.

He'd gotten her new leg warmers with matching ballet shoe cozies. He had no idea they existed but evidently they kept toe shoes from being scuffed up and made walking in them when not on point a little easier. The gift and the drawings got him a pleased Russian in his lap, taking the total to three in the puppy pile on the sofa. He was perfectly content, though, whatever mellowing drug in the cookies and the abundance of alcohol in the nog left Steve warm and happy.

Thor and Bucky did most of the cooking when everyone decided that they were getting hungrier than the cookie part of the pot cookies could help and though Thor had already done most of the cooking at home, he had a massive spread to heat up. They ended up using all three ovens in all three apartments that afternoon.

Nat took a nap in the pile of cards Thor made for her and that left Loren and Steve to set up a series of tables in Steve's living room to hold everyone for dinner.

And Steve had to poke his nose in.

"You should invite him to dinner," he told Loren, almost wary. "He seemed really nice."

Bucky had been trying to moderate himself on the cookies and eggnog, but by the time he started cooking with Thor he was a little tipsy and he got more and more drunk as they continued to run up and down the stairs and across the hall in the oddly complex heating of the feast.

Loren had been quite sociable that morning. Aside from sending the occasional text, he had proven himself to have a razor sharp wit and a quick mind, keeping most of them entertained with stories of Thor's various stupid exploits and his own pranks in childhood. None of his stories ever went back further than his early teens, for he had been adopted at ten and the first few years had not been plain sailing. He did not wish any to know he had not always been Thor's natural brother.

"I do not recall asking for advice," he said, voice decidedly unimpressed. "My brother does not yet know, now I hardly the time to spring it on him."

"It looked serious though," Steve pressed. "Like you guys are really an item." Did people still say that? It sounded like what his older neighbors might say. "It's not fair to Thor or Tony. You should just tell him. I'm sure they'd get along...?" He didn't know about Loren's insecurity. He wouldn't have thought that to be possible. Loren was beautiful and vivacious and dark and brooding and he had everything that Steve didn't.

He probably had a lot of partners. Maybe that was the issue? Maybe Tony was a piece on the side? That was sad. Loren had looked genuinely worried when Tony had been injured. And Tony seemed genuinely into him.

All of those babies... People didn't coo that unless they were in love.

Probably.

"It's Christmas. That's a great time to introduce people."

"Your advice was not asked for," Loren repeated, much more firmly and with a look in his eye that suggested he would find a way to make Steve regret pushing his nose in if he didn't shut up soon.

He quite liked Steve. He was polite, kind, generally quiet, and had a nice easy order to fill when he came into the shop. That did not mean that they were bosom friends and he would not tolerate having his personal life dug into. He hated that beyond all things, which made it amazing that he had struck up such a closeness with Anthony Stark, of all people, who didn't understand personal boundaries at all.

The two of them had met when Loren's car had broken down and he had taken it in to the nearest garage, the mechanic on duty had happened to be Anthony who had immediately barrelled into questions about his accent, if his eyes were actually that green or if they were contacts, and why hadn't he already given over his phone number? It had taken a long time for Loren to be comfortable with him, but now they had been together a long time and he was reluctant to share him.

"My relationship with Anthony does not concern you, nor any other here, so I would advise keeping your thoughts to yourself."

Unfortunately for Loren, Bucky was even now spilling the beans. It was the alcohol, it made him far too loose-lipped, and he was leaning over Thor with a big plate of turkey, slightly flushed and grinning.

"S'kinda stupid, but I think I love him. Like-- is that crazy? I've only known him a few months and we've only been dating like two days. Fuck, it is crazy. I should-- I should ask Loren how long it took for him to fall in love with his boyfriend, right?"

"Oh, friend Bucky, it is never too soon to fall in love. I loved Natalia the moment she knocked me out!" Thor was wide open and honest, and handling his drink ten times better than Bucky. "You are better off asking that question of me. My brother has no interest in any person. I believe the term in America is none-sexual?" He was r too far off and set the bird down to rest while he very thoroughly and mightily mashed the potatoes by hand. "I have attempted to set him up with many of the people I know. He has never once come out to join the date."

Some of his friends from the fire house had hot and bookish sisters. Of their wives or husbands did. He'd tried to set Loren up with a man once but that had gone badly so he assumed he was perhaps a little homophobic.

In reality, it was the same man that he'd tried to set Steve up with that immediately tried to bench press them both. It hadn't gone well on either. Strangely!

"He is so not asexual, he's got-- he has a boyfriend, we've met him." Some part of Bucky's brain perhaps knew that he really shouldn't be telling this to Thor, but he just couldn't stop his stupid mouth. It was his curse when he got drunk, it always was, he just lost his filter and blurted out whatever was on his mind. "He bought us scones and coffee, s'name was-- uh, Tony. I think."

He had quite like what little he had seen of the older man, he at least seemed apologetic when he realised how badly out of it Bucky had been. Like he was an asshole on the surface, but not actually one underneath.

How had Bucky met Loren's boyfriend before Thor? The hulking fire fighter turned to look over his shoulder at where Loren and Steve were whispering as they spread out a tablecloth across the I never surfaced of the small tables cobbled together to make a larger one. A darkness crossed blue eyes before he made a determination.

Loren didn't trust him. They had been family since Loren was just a child (and Thor had been too), and the older of the two thought the world of his little brother. He was fiercely protective and loyal of him. That was why when Loren said he'd be going to America to open up a book store, Thor had come too. He couldn't leave him fend for himself! Loren was not technically his blood but he was part of his soul.

It was easy for Thor to overpower his brother. Easy to pull the phone out of his pocket and keep him from snatching it away. He clicked the voice to text feature on Tony's latest reply (Those green heels that match your eyes? Count me in!) and shouted up at the device what the address of this building was.

Now it didn't turn out perfectly and his shouting to stay down also was translated to text, but it was sent off before Loren could manage to say anything. "Your boyfriend will join us. I will decide if he is good enough for you," Thor scowled.

Bucky had not been expecting Thor to react quite that way, and he was left staring as poor Loren had his phone snatched and his boyfriend invited to the gathering against his wishes. He couldn't help the flare of guilt that nearly suffocated him when he saw how angry and how frightened Loren looked for a few moments, before he recovered himself and pretended he wasn't as affected as he was.

"Sorry," he mumbled, stepping forwards. "I told him. I didn't think, I'm really-- sorry."

Loren glared over at the soldier, and inwardly vowed to make sure his life became just as ruined as Loren's would be by the time this day was over. He had not wanted Thor to meet Anthony, and it had little to do with trust or love. There was nobody in this world that he loved and trustd more than his older brother, and yet-- Thor was so very Thor. Everyone loved him, precious few loved Loren.

"You do not have the power to make that choice," snarled Loren, snatching for his phone. "You are not my keeper, and I do not require your permission or approval for my social life."

He switched into a smooth, but no less angry, stream or Norwegian so that only Thor could understand him.

"You will take him from me, Thor, and I will not permit that. You have always taken all that is mine and I will stand for it no longer, if you take him from me then I will never speak to you again. Do you understand me? I will have no brother."

Thor was taken aback. His brother's thick bokmal accent, different from his own, was almost frantic in its anger and Thor was patient at least until the rant was finished. "I have not now," he replied in Norwegian, "nor ever have tried to take anyone from you. I am happy with Natalia. She is all I want."

The name did have Steve looking concerned. He wasn't sure what they were discussing, but he tried to think the best.

"I only want you to be happy. And if he must be worthy of you."

Luckily, Tony and Thor wouldn't exactly be fast friends. Tony was too brash and needing to exert his masculinity. He didn't care for competition the way that Thor did. He just wanted to immediately be the best.

They would be oil and water.

Steve left the table prep to see to Bucky, sliding under his arm to lightly kiss the corner to his mouth. "Enough drinking for you, dump truck."

"His worth is not for you to decide. Do you think me incapable of caring for myself or judging the character of those around me, do you doubt my intelligence? If no, then why do you give yourself the right to judge on my behalf in this matter? He is mine, Thor, and he was never intended to be yours too."

No matter what Thor said, Loren feared down to his soul that he would lose Anthony. He did not get attached easily, but he became fiercely attached once he allowed himself to become so. He loved Anthony, much more than he usually let himself show, and he did not ever want to lose him. The age difference didn't matter, the cultural difference didn't matter, he was just what Loren wanted.

Bucky tried to ignore the argument going on and leaned into Steve, putting his head on one slender shoulder in utter mortification. "I was talking about being in love with you," he said, once again letting his stupid drunk mouth get away with him. "Thought Loren could tell me if it was dumb to be in love that fast, and then I sort of told Thor. I didn't mean to. Jesus Christ, I'm an idiot."

"Drunk you is a massive idiot," Steve said quietly, not sure if he should hold onto what Bucky said or not. He figured that Not was the best phrase and so he exhaled slowly and lightly patted Bucky's chest with his hand. "I'm going to forget you said that and act surprised when Sober Bucky tells me he loves me, deal?" He did wrap an arm around his waist and hug Bucky thought. Tightly. His head rested on his shoulder.

Thor and Loren seemed to be at odds, now, but Steve hoped that a little Christmas magic would happen. Especially when Loren's boyfriend got here. Whenever they would be.

It turned out that the hum of a motorcycle pulling into the alley ten minutes later, just after Thor angrily mashed the peas and the corn along with the potatoes to get out his frustration, would signal the arrival of a certain someone not yet cleared by his doctor to ride his motorcycle. Or drive his car. But Tony wasn't going to be waiting around for a Lyft or an Uber. On Christmas. Nat arrived with one of Thor's cards stuck to her cheek to tell them they someone was intercomning her apartment.

"Do we know a... Hic! A Tony?"

Loren didn't care that Thor had fallen into a sulking anger, his older brother just did not see some things that were so clear to him, and it put them at odds. Not often, and not vehemently, but this was a larger point of contention than before. He could see that Thor was genuinely hurt that he had not been introduced to Anthony before now, and would be more so if he found out how long they had been together. But he could not and would not apologise.

When Natalia returned, Loren simply swept out of the apartment and took the stairs two at a time down to street level to open the door personally rather than have him buzzed in. At least Anthony would know him well enough to see that today's scowl was genuine rather than feigned.

"It was my brother who invited you," he said shortly, not greeting Anthony though he did step close to press a quick kiss to his lips. "You should not have driven, you are not yet capable."

"You have a brother...?" Tony glanced up at the building. He'd never been to Loren's place before. They always ended up at his. At first, Tony just assumed that he was married or seeing someone else but then the fling turned far less into a fling and far more into a romance.... And Tony stopped wondering and stopped asking. He didn't want to know. "Oh-- Oh, he did the inviting huh-- okay. Do you want me to go?"

Tony was never this understanding. But having driven over here on his bike without his sling and in a suit jacket since he had been in a rush to get over here, he was feeling a little bit bent out of shape that someone else had invited him to a holiday he ought to have been spending with the man he loved.

There was a defiance in his eyes, the sort that said that his heart would still break if Loren turned him away but he'd manage like he always did.

Loren didn't want to hurt Anthony, and this whole situation was a way to prevent any good outcome. Either he told Anthony to go, which would hurt him and likely cause severe arguments down the road, or he could invite him in and lose him to the charms of Thor. He sighed and muttered a curse in Norwegian, before coming to wind his arms around Anthony's waist out on the sidewalk.

"My brother is not like me, he is loud and hearty and all who meet him love him."

Anthony was perceptive, it was one of the reasons they got on so well, he would surely catch the slight bitterness in his voice that told of friends past who had decided they liked Thor more than Loren.

"You are mine, Anthony, and I wished to keep you that way. I have few things that belong only to me."

Tony was simultaneously touched and a little disheartened. Trust wasn't one of his big issues, he just happened to think that people in relationships for as long as they were in one should trust each other with little things like staying faithful. He lifted his uninjured hand to Loren's cheek and cracked half a smile. "For a minute there, I thought you were going to say that I embarrassed you. I might have my own business and can tune a clunker to purring but I'm just a mechanic. I'm not like you with your books and your stupidly hot accent. But if it's just that you think I'll like your brother better-- Okay. I got this."

He was still so battered and bruised (it had been only two evenings ago that he and Loren had seen each other since his accident), but Tony held himself with enough confidence to kill a horse. It was impressive and terrible at the same time.

"Unless he's exactly like you, I can guarantee you that I'm going to like you better. I don't usually go for men. So he's got to have an impressive rack for me to even notice him." It wasn't the first time that Tony said he was Loren-sexual. Tony took Loren's band and lightly kissed his knuckles. "Show me to the egg nog. It better be spiked. I didn't take my pain killers."

Loren so wanted to believe that what Anthony said was true, but he could not. He had lost so many things that were meant to be irrevocably his own throughout his life, sometimes to Thor and sometimes to other things, that he no longer had the capability for much trust in anyone. Still, he would see where the chips fell after this, for he could no longer deny Anthony entry.

"You are a fool, and I shall have them refuse you eggnog. If you cannot recall your own medication then you deserve to be in pain."

He nevertheless tugged Anthony inside and up the stairs, and into Natalia's apartment where the others were trying to pretend the atmosphere wasn't awkward. If Anthony had not already met Steven and Bucky (and what kind of name was Bucky?) in the coffee shop, then he might have been forgiven for thinking Bucky was Loren's brother, for they at least shared the same colouring.

"Anthony Stark, this is Natalia Romanova, this is her apartment. Steven Rogers, a neighbour, and his partner Bucky Barnes. And that, in the kitchen, is my brother, Thor."

Partner was a strong word. They'd only just started dating! Steve didn't correct him though, he just lifted a hand and half smiled. "Hey, nice to see you again and Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas. Don't I feel overdressed," he said, going around to shake hands, left arm limp and in pain at his side. "Don't worry I don't always look like this," he joked. "I pissdd off a car lift--"

"Ah! That is where I know you from!" Natalia said, offering Tony the eggnog that Loren had previously denied him. "You are on the billboards for the garage by the water. Stsrk!"

Tony grinned. "Guilty."

He was about to head over to shake Thor's hand when the man who had always been so puppy-like with his meatheadedness came to stand over him. Tony didn't shrink back but he did have to tilt up his head to gaze at him. "You are short."

Tony arched an eyebrow. "I'm average. You're just behemoth," Tony snarked back.

"Your beard is strange," Thor continued, frowning.

Tony rubbed across it. "Is it? Do you think so, Lore?"

Thor was trying not to be likeable. Tony saw right through that.

Loren saw what Thor was doing too, for his brother was not well practised at either meanness or subterfuge, and he both loved and hated him for it. He loved Thor that he cared enough, even without truly understanding, to try and make sure Loren did not lose the man he had never even introduced him to. He hated that he might only keep Anthony through pity.

"Do not do this, my brother," warned Loren in Norwegian, though it was without the sharpness he had used before. He just sounded tired now, like he saw the inevitable coming. "Be yourself."

Switching back to English, Loren pretended to look Anthony over speculatively, and shrugged.

"It is very strange, but it also suits you well. I would not care for you clean shaven."

"Uh..." Bucky had held back, unsure how hated he was right then for having caused all of this, but not wanting to be rude. "Hey, Merry Christmas, nice to meet you. I don't think I actually thanked you for the coffee before and apologised for-- that."

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