Summary: Sparks of jealousy fly, and new decisions are made.

Thor quite liked the Man of Iron.

Really, he did. Always had. Tony Stark was quite refreshing for a human; he never hesitated to speak his mind, was exceptionally clever and openminded, and displayed a true bravery fit for warriors of Valhalla. Tony could be a bit petty or vulgar sometimes, but so could the rest of Thor's friends, so the Asgardian wasn't going to hold that against him.

Ellie liked Tony, too. The two got along rather swimmingly, actually.

Which was fine, obviously.

Ellie was the brightest soul Thor had ever met; she was sweet and kind and seemed to attract people to her. All of the Avengers had immediately taken to her upon meeting her, but none more so than Tony. When Ellie wasn't by Thor's side, she could almost always be found with Tony. She was clever, and liked to help Tony and Bruce out in their lab. She was also sociable and always enjoyed taking trips around the city with Tony to try new things. They also had the same taste in music and films (two things Thor hadn't understood the meaning of until Ellie explained them to him), so Ellie and Tony could often be found in the main living room watching a film or listening to music and debating things which Thor struggled to grasp.

And that was all fine. Obviously. Thor was absolutely, totally, 100% fine with Ellie and Tony's abnormally close friendship.

Except that actually- he really fucking wasn't.

Sure, Thor quite liked Tony Stark, but the more time Tony spent with his soulmate, the more Thor thought that he'd quite like to wring his throat.

Thor took to wondering if perhaps Soulmates didn't mean the same thing on Earth as they did on Asgard. On Thor's home world, there was no higher regard given than that to the Soulmate bond. Loyalty to Soulmates was prized just as highly as loyalty to the Allfather. Even in battles, it was known that Soulmates were off limits; to injure a Soulmate was unquestionably punished by death.

Perhaps Earth did not hold the Soulmate bond in similarly high regard. Thor admitted that he was unfamiliar, and often confused, with all the customs of Midgard; perhaps Soulmates acted more freely and less loyally on this planet.

Thor considered asking Ellie about it, but he didn't see any way of framing his question that wouldn't come across as a bit offensive. He tried a number of different tactics in his head, but they all ended up something similar to "hello, my eternal love, do humans not respect their Soulmate bond as highly as Asgardians do?" and he knew that sounded rather accusatory. Thor didn't want to accuse Ellie; the very last thing that he would ever want to do would be to hurt her feelings and make her think that he was unsatisfied in some way with her as his Soulmate. Because he wasn't! Far from it, actually; Thor adored Ellie. She utterly amazed him every single day, and he thought that it was hardly possible that anyone in all of the nine realms could possibly feel anything stronger than what he felt for his Ellie.

But frankly, finding ones Soulmate was a real learning curve. Thor had found Ellie about five months ago, and he'd spent more than half of that time parted from her, dealing with the destruction of the Bifrost and the ensuing chaos. Things were still relatively chaotic back on Asgard, which meant that he was forced away from her far more often than he liked.

He just wanted to make her happy. He really, desperately, just wanted Ellie to be happy. But, you know, with him… not with Tony bloody Stark.

Thor decided to seek out assistance from Steve Rogers. Of all the Avengers, Thor had formed the closest friendship with the Captain, and felt comfortable asking him for advice on human customs which he as of yet didn't want to broach with Ellie.

"Soulmate customs on Earth and Asgard sound pretty similar. Soulmate bonds are extremely important here; they're very rarely broken, and when they are it's not done lightly. Honestly, Thor, it just sounds like you're a little jealous," Steve told him.

Thor scoffed. Jealous? Him?! Ha! Laughable. This was not jealousy, this green, envious beast which seemed to crawl up his throat whenever he saw Tony and Ellie together.

Or… perhaps it was jealousy. Thor wouldn't really know; he'd never experienced such an emotion before. He'd never really needed to; as Prince of Asgard he knew how coveted a prize he would make any woman. Besides, he'd never felt any other woman he'd courted was important enough to feel jealous over. They'd never mattered, because in the grand scheme of things he'd been waiting for this woman, for Ellie.

Steve took in Thor's silence before powering on, his voice amused this time. "Thor, you've got nothing to worry about, believe me. Tony isn't a threat; the guy is totally happy with Pepper, and if you haven't noticed, Ellie is completely head over heels mad about you," he said in amusement. "She lights up the entire tower when you're here, and mopes about when you're not here. You're never not on her mind, buddy."

Thor knew that this was supposed to cheer him up, so he tried to smile at the Captain, despite how strained it felt. He'd come to Steve in an attempt to feel better, but it had depressed him more than ever to learn that she noticeably moped when he was away on Asgard- where he constantly seemed to be.

Allfather, this woman… she deserved so much better.

So, speaking with Steve hadn't really helped in the slightest. In fact, it had made things innumerably worse. The next few days, Thor felt terrible; a sense of guilt pervaded his every moment with Ellie, and watching her with Tony made his stomach broil worse than ever.

Thor didn't think that Ellie would ever truly leave him for Tony. But in moments when he was left alone with his thoughts, usually at night when he would lay in the darkness beside Ellie and run his fingers over her Soulmark, he couldn't help but think… perhaps she'd be better off.

It was only a matter of time before others begun picking up on his foul mood, particularly the unwitting focus: Tony and Ellie.

Thor didn't mean to be so obvious. Really, he didn't. He really did like Tony and never wanted to burden Ellie with these thoughts, but he couldn't help but be more snappish whenever the Man of Iron was around. And to her credit, Ellie truly was very clever and very perceptive, so it hardly took her long at all to notice that something was amiss.

"Honey," Ellie prompted quietly one day, when the two of them were alone at the Tower. "Can I ask you something?"

"Always?"

There was a long pause as Ellie considered her words. And then, she just blatantly asked, "Why are you jealous of Tony?"

"I am not!" The boisterousness of Thor's scoff immediately alerted Ellie to the fact that she really was right on the mark.

Gaze softening, Ellie reached for him. Instinctively, Thor opened his arms to her as she stepped into his embrace. He always felt better with her close.

"I like Tony. He's a wonderful friend," Ellie admitted, before shifting her gaze up to meet his. Then, she slowly raised her arm to bring her Soulmark up to his eye level. "But Tony's name isn't the one permanently on my body. Yours is, Thor, and that means the world to me. You mean the world to me. Don't you know that?"

Suddenly desperate to feel her lips against his own, Thor swooped down to press a kiss against her waiting mouth. "You're everything- you've been everything to me for nearly a millennia," he admitted against her lips. "But after all this time, after finally finding you… I fear that I'm not good enough for you."

Ellie's head pulled back from his, her mouth dropping open as she stared up at him in shock. "What in the world would make you think that?!"

"I'm never here- I'm always gone, in another realm-"

"You have to be," Ellie interrupted. "Thor, you have so many responsibilities resting on your shoulders. You're the protector of the nine realms- I know that- you have to be present in all of them."

"But my heart remains in this one," he returned quietly, brokenly. "I should be here, with you."

Ellie's gaze softened at this admission. Reaching both hands up to cup his cheeks, Ellie forced Thor's gaze to meet hers. Leaning into her touch, Thor brought his hands up to cup her own, trying to pull her closer. For a moment they remained this way, merely soaking up each other's closeness. Eventually, Ellie found the words she sought and began to speak.

"I know that I'm important to you, you show me that, every single day," she said softly. Thor's eyes drifted closed at her words, his forehead dropping to rest against her own. "And I would hope that you know how important you are to me, too. But you're a Prince, and that comes with a lot of responsibilities. I know that I have to share you."

Thor's head shook slightly against where it remained resting against her own. "I don't want you to," he whispered.

Ellie brushed the pad of her thumb gently against the skin beneath Thor's eye, where dark purple bags signalling his complete exhaustion had become a near permanent feature of his handsome face. "I see how worn down you are every time you come to me," she admitted quietly. "It breaks my heart, Thor. You're a Prince, I know how many responsibilities you have and how they weigh on your shoulders…"

"I only know true peace when I'm with you," Thor replied, his quiet tone nothing but honest. "I feel as though the only time when I can truly relax is when I'm with you. When I'm away from you, everything inside of me feels… wrong."

Brushing her fingers over his cheek once more, Ellie shook her head slightly. "And yet to see me, you need to leave your responsibilities and make a special trip to a realm which otherwise holds nothing for you," she said. "I should be easing your burden, not adding to it."

They drifted into an intimate silence, both contemplating the limbo they currently existed in. Thor's eyes fluttered open as an idea struck him, and before he could reconsider he blurted out "you could come to Asgard. You could stay there… with me."

Ellie's gaze betrayed her shock. And then slowly, a soft smile flitted across her face. "You… want me to live on Asgard with you?"

"More than anything," Thor immediately defended fiercely. "I know that I ask too much of you and I will fully understand-"

"Okay."

"-if you decide to say no and- wait… what?"

Ellie grinned broadly. "I said, okay. Yes."

"Yes?" Thor repeatedly blankly.

Giggling slightly, Ellie ducked forward and pressed a kiss against his jaw. "Yes."

"Are you sure?" Thor asked. "You'd be giving up so much-"

"-but gaining so much more," Ellie interrupted softly. "I'd give up everything for you."

Thor was dumbstruck for a long moment.

"Do you remember that night when we went to Tony's favourite bar? And you told me that one day I was going to be the Queen of Asgard?"

Thor nodded.

"Well, after that night, I did some self-reflecting. I thought about it a lot, and I came to accept that my life here is in the past. You, Thor, are my future. And you're a Prince on a different planet. If I want to keep you, I'm going to have to make some changes."

"Your job- your family-" Thor stuttered out.

"I'll come back to visit my family," Ellie shrugged. "And I'm a scholar on Norse myths. Seeing them all up close and personal is hardly the worst thing in the world; it's every scholars dream!"

Thor wanted to keep protesting, to make sure that she really had considered this in depth before making such a huge choice. He wanted to make sure that she was truly, completely sure of her choice. But another part of him wanted to shut up, to not question this wonderful gift.

But he couldn't in good faith drag her from everything she'd ever known to satisfy his own whims. If Odin didn't put so much pressure on him, if he didn't have so many responsibilities in Asgard, he would move to Earth in a heartbeat to be with her, so she never had to change a thing. But he could not. "Ellie, are you sure?" he implored.

And with the most beautiful smile he'd ever seen, Ellie said simply, "I've never been more sure about anything than I am about you."