Without Thor even noticing it, it felt like their roles had suddenly shifted.
Thor was moved by Tony's insistence -- his willingness to traverse the universe with him in search of a man who could possibly kill them both. Tony had far more to lose and far more to risk. Thor had survived so much and from what he pieced together, he'd almost been killed by Thanos once already. Even if Tony managed to live through it all, there was the possibility that Thor wouldn't, and Tony would be trapped out in space, alone, with no way to return home.
It pained him to think of Tony like that: dead or half-dead or drifting out in space. He preferred to imagine Tony, happy with Pepper (who like Gamora, he had hoped had survived), with a daughter of his own. Far from Earth, he could imagine this possibility and have no evidence to prove him wrong.
He didn't want to entertain the idea that any of his dreams might come true. That Tony might be used against him, just as Thor was used against Loki; that Tony might die and he die with him, with no one to ever know what became of the Man of Iron; that Tony might stop him from making a choice that needed to be made.
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Thor was moved by Tony's insistence -- his willingness to traverse the universe with him in search of a man who could possibly kill them both. Tony had far more to lose and far more to risk. Thor had survived so much and from what he pieced together, he'd almost been killed by Thanos once already. Even if Tony managed to live through it all, there was the possibility that Thor wouldn't, and Tony would be trapped out in space, alone, with no way to return home.
It pained him to think of Tony like that: dead or half-dead or drifting out in space. He preferred to imagine Tony, happy with Pepper (who like Gamora, he had hoped had survived), with a daughter of his own. Far from Earth, he could imagine this possibility and have no evidence to prove him wrong.
He didn't want to entertain the idea that any of his dreams might come true. That Tony might be used against him, just as Thor was used against Loki; that Tony might die and he die with him, with no one to ever know what became of the Man of Iron; that Tony might stop him from making a choice that needed to be made.
Thor presses a hand against Tony's cheek.
"How would Earth fare without its best defender?"