Title: Little One
Paring: Thor X Reader
Warnings: anxiety attacks, fear of change, loads of fluff
Spoilers: none!
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There was a possibility that you were afraid of change. It was what made you human; you loved your coffee machine, and the way the birds outside the house chirruped in the mornings, you admired the persistence that the junk mail deliverer had, and would ignore your sticker; you liked that you had somehow managed to catch the eye of the Avenger and Asgardian prince, Thor, in your simple day job as a crime reporter for The Daily Globe. It didn't define you, this fear; it made you just the person who you were.
This person was the one who chased on foot after the Dr. Doom, and fought squirrels in the park who snuck up on you and stole your muffin, and generally, bumped shoulders time to time with noticeable faces within the Avenger tower, and the town hall.
But in your relationship with the muscled, blonde Avenger, there was an expected amount of change. He would teach you the origins and names of the constellations in the sky instead of watching the nightly news. You would sleep in his bed at the Avengers Tower, and gradually, the Avengers Facility in upstate New York. You learned the sounds of the birds in the mornings that resided out there, slowly forgetting the noises the ones you had grown accustomed to had sung. Thor would go off for long periods of time, you would ignore the world around you as the superheroes tore up your city trying to halt the bad guys, bringing your column big business.
But, to be honest, when Thor returned to Earth, to your apartment and asked you to visit his home planet - no, that wasn't how he phrased it, he called it, his father's kingdom, Asgard - that brought the panic to you.
You'd never left...Earth before.
Not many people really, on the planet had. But once on the rainbow bridge of the Bifrost, you were already in, and surrounded with the newness of it all. It wasn't long until you met his family; the beautiful blonde Frigga, the one-eyed Allfather Odin, his brother Loki. It was Loki you knew of, who you had studied closely before, having written many pieces of him around the Battle of New York. You met his friends from his childhood, broke bread and drank mead with his people. It seemed like a fairy tale, one you never thought yourself to find yourself in. The simple-rooted woman, an intellectual in a place like...this.
You travelled back and forth, between Earth and Asgard. It wasn't a thing popular with your work; your bosses gradually had to let you go, and Thor gradually came forward with enough courage to propose to you. No, it wasn't courage, more like he had no idea how to ask you. But it was a beautiful affair, and happened in his wing of the Avenger Facility, quietly and peacefully under a full moon. His answer was accompanied with kisses peppered over his beard, and tears of happiness in your eyes.
Change was a part of being human. Thus, when you found yourself moving from Earth, to Asgard, to live in his rooms in the Asgardian palace, it all seemed to hit you all at once. There was to be a feast that night, and you had excused yourself from being a part of it, persuading Thor to go alone to have fun, and drink with his friends. While the eating and jesting took place, you could find no strength in your bones to do a thing but stay in the bed, curled like a babe unborn in a stomach. You held yourself together in more ways than one, with all the unfamiliar smells and people and sights and -
"_______, my love, please, tell me why you are crying?" You feel the blankets peel from over your face, the large hands of your fiancé turning you to look you in the eyes.
You shake your head, and turn from his gaze. "Nothing is wrong, Thor. Go back -,"
"________, speak to me," he urged, placing hands beside you, his arms like pillars leading to the handsome face you had fallen in love with back on Earth. "I have been worried sick of your behaviour, nigh of a week, and - tonight, I cannot be clueless for its reasons anymore." His voice is strong, as always, but there is a gentle softness to it, which makes the tears welling in your eyes slip out.
Taking a sharp breath, you move to sit up. "I am fine, Thor, I am just...I am just frightened. I suppose you felt like this the night your father...when he sent you to Earth, and you had to learn of a whole new planet all on your own," you whisper, unable to meet the sky-blue eyes of the man you love. "All of my life, I have been adverse to change, but I fell for you, and here I am, in a world where people don't know about Back to the Future and speak like Shakespearean plays," you lament. "Please, don't take notice, this is just silly -,"
Thor shakes his mane, pressing his forehead toward yours. As they connect, you cannot help but gaze into his eyes, as do his. "There is nothing silly about what you are feeling, _______, my love. I wish I was a man of more wit to have known this was happening within you, this war in your mind, to aid you." He whispers. "I am to be your husband, the man you shall be with for all eternity, your best friend, and I cannot help but feel I have let you down by coming to this state."
You inhale, gazing at Thor's lips, so close to yours, but instead of kissing, you whisper, "I don't think I can be a queen of a land I don't know."
Thor's eyes widen, and he retracts his proximity from you. "______, I -,"
You shake your head. "I'm sorry, Thor, but...I'm a reporter. I love thinking on my feet, my job, I love being out, the danger, the thrill of writing a piece that makes it to the front page, starting a phenomenon, and staring old J. Jonah Jameson from the Daily Bugle straight in the eye and battling for the best story." You gush, unable once again to meet Thor's eyes, "I'm afraid of change, and it hasn't been until today I've had a moment to realise what change I've been through."
Thor nods. "It has been quite hasty, I agree. A whirlwind."
You hum, shifting in the sheets to stand before him. You, in your height and size, were never any comparison to Thor. He was as all ancient paintings by the Norse depicted him to be; a burly man, with his long hair, which flowed in the breeze, his scruff that was turning into a beard slowly but surely. He was a brick wall, and beside him, you were almost waif-like, a small figure blotted in his shadow. But the way his hands, the 'meaty clubs', as Loki would call them, held yours, steadied you while dancing to no music, they cradled you on nights where it was hard to sleep, he was but a man with no heart.
"But the reason we are here, is not to accept the crown and become the new royalty of Asgard," he adds, the timbre of his voice low, like the brontide that haunted your dreams. "I am here as a guest, not a resident, to formally refuse and revoke the privileges that come from being the heir to the throne."
Your throat is dry. "Thor..." you reach for his arm, another tear falling from your eyes. "Oh, Thor, what have you done? I'm just a human, I'll not live as long as you, and you...you are refusing the throne, for me?"
He nods. "But you are not just a human, _______. I love you, for all of my heart, and little one, know this: you are my world, my life. I have always been known as the storm god, the god to protect mankind, but, few know me to be the god of fertility, and I," his hand encircles yours, burying it within his large fingers, "I know ways for a Midgardian to live well beyond their years; it has been done before."
The breath is caught from your throat. "Thor, what are you saying?" you whisper.
"I am saying," he cradles your face, eyes wide, loving, "that you can be my wife, and I your husband, and whenever my parents see fit that my brother, Balder, or Loki, be fit to take the throne, they shall pass it to those men, and not I. We can live wherever you wish, be it on Knowhere, or New York, I will be by your side," he proposes.
You nod. "I'm so sorry I cried," you mutter. "They were useless tears."
He shakes his mane. "No, I am sorry I withheld this information from you. I wished it to be a surprise, but knowing what I do know, I wish also that I had not wished that." He states, and takes his other hand to cup your face. "I will always love you, ______. Never forget that."
He beams, laying a kiss onto your forehead as you bob your head. "I promise, Thor." you smile, and kiss his cheek in return. "And I you," you vow.