(Translation of the homonymic fic I started a few days ago in French)
So, yup. This story will probably be short, fluffy, cute (if I can make it so) and will just show Loki and Tony as they decide to make their relation legitimate for both Realms. I plan it to have between 3 and 5 chapters that will be rather short. It's just to start the summer with something light to make me write.
I'm not a native english speaker, by the way. I do my best, but feel free to point out (kindly. Please? I am an author, I have a tiny little heart) any mistakes I did!
« This plottwist doesn't make any sense. »
The words sounded as annoyed as they were vaguely amused, naturally piercing through the silence of the living room, that had only been disturbed by the muffled sound of the TV until now.
« What is it this time? » Tony asked, looking up from the hologram he had been working on for a few minutes, curious to see what was bothering the god, this time.
« The way the parents of this prince are reacting », Loki precised with a gesture to the TV screen, on which played a romantic comedy JARVIS had suggested earlier.
A few months earlier, Tony would probably have taken advantage of the situation to mock Loki as much as he could. To his own defense, there was something deeply amusing in the sight of the god of destruction, sitting down cross-legged in his couch, watching cheesy movies with all the analytic serious in the world, commenting and meditating every soapy remarks of the characters.
The human, though, knew better than to dare say anything about it.
The last time he had, snickering in amusement while Loki protested about 'whoever was stupid enough to seriously imagine sparkly and vegetarian vampires', he had ended up with very obvious bite marks in his neck. They had lasted for nearly three weeks, in which he had never managed to hide them from the press or from Fury. Which, really, had been more distracting than anything else. But still.
« Their son just broke a visibly very important political alliance between their Realm and the land of Spain », the god continued, frowning. « All that, just to go back with the servant he fell for. Such a promise betrayed would never be welcomed with a laugh by any king with a bit of sense in his mind.»
« It's a fairy tale, Loki », the human mumbled, trying to hide his amusement. « I really doubt that the real Francis the First accepted to marry his son to a servant, no matter how cute she was. Though, who knows, with these French guys », he added for himself. « I'm kind of sure that one of them died by hitting his head against a doorframe, so, yeah, I guess that abandoning a Spanish princess to wed a girl who'll welcome him by throwing apples to his face...»
« There's nothing wrong with imaginating realistic and romantic stories », the god mumbled without listening to him. « I really don't see what the problem of these human writers is.
« Oh, yeah. Coming from a space viking who gave up on his titles to court a mortal engineer, I must admit that I can only agree with you », Tony confirmed with irony. « Do you have arranged marriages in Asgard, by the way? »
« There were some in the past », Loki answered after a small pause.
The tone was calmer than before, suddenly less grumpy, and Tony raised an eyebrow, giving up on his Starkpad for now to study the pale, expressionless face.
« ...Am I still unaware of the existence of a bothering ex-wife? » He asked tentatively.
« Two. Minor unions, for which Thor's status of heir to the throne were too importante. But they were fortunately short. »
« Did you love them? » The mortal asked, turning back to look at the screen, even if his attention was entirely focussed on the god to his side, who shrugged for all answer.
« Sigyn was a noble from Vanheim, a great witch, I must admit. A friend, if not a lover I specially loved. Angrbrodr was a dark elf, whose presence was never so pleasant to my eyes. There is little to say about them. I didn't try to know them so much. »
Tony nodded slowly, not asking for more details. Silvertongue or not, the tone used by the god hid nothing of the tired bitterness of its owner to the memory, and that was all he needed to know.
Through the months they had spent together, since Loki had finished his punishment on Earth by repairing every single crack in the sidewalks, and every broken windows of Manhattan (the construction industrie had held a protest for two weeks after they had lost their most profiteering contract in the last twenty years, but the USA government had refused to argue further with Asgard, especially after Loki had offered -reluctantly- to use his powers to slow down the global warming by freezing back miles of melted pack ice), Tony had had more than the time he needed to start understanding what the silences in the other's words meant.
If the god spoke more and more freely around him, his most unstable and uncomfortable emotions were almost always hidden behind a calm tone and a lack of expression that told a lot. Loki was betraying himself by hiding only the most important, while the rest was starting to be said carelessly.
It was the same bored tone that had announced to Tony that the god had given up on his royal titles and considered to live on Earth, and the same indifferent expression that had explained that, maybe, eventually, he wasn't mad that the mortal had « accidentally » kissed him.
So, Tony understood, the wives (or was it a wife and a husband?) were a delicate subject. Either Loki realised how much he let his lover know, or not, he didn't insist further, his eyes on the screen while the film ended and he sneered once more, mockingly, about humanity's poor writers, all while he smiled discreetly when the servant appeared, wearing a crown, and the movie was over with a happy ending.
Tony didn't insist either, just rolling his eyes at Loki's comments, but an idea had appeared in the back of his mind, and refused to move from there. The kind of idea that would make JARVIS sigh when he would hear it, like only the AI could to do it, by a metallic sound of annoyance.
The kind of idea that made JARVIS, half an hour later, when the engineer locked himself up in his lab and ordered him to find the most powerful laser he could, the rest of the metal he had created for his last heart, and pure gold. Lots of pure gold.
« Loki? If you're done polishing your nails, can I talk to you for a second? »
No, he wasn't even mocking his lover.
Loki had actually gotten used to paint his fingernails once a week, very cautiously, always in black, sitting in front of the huge window of the Tower. He had started as soon as he had known how Pepper changed the color of her nails repeatedly, without magic. Tony had tried his best to explain that the habit was mostly feminine, before they went to the SHIELD on that week, Loki had refused to hear anything. Tony knew when a fight was lost before it began and he had given up. And since Loki did whatever he wanted, he had given up.
« What is it? » The god asked without looking up from his left hand, that he was finishing to dry with a range and with a lot of concentration.
« Dinner is ready, and I'd like to talk to you », the human explained with a vague gesture of his hand, more nervous than he'd admit.
« Did I commit some mistakes again? » Loki's voice was openly annoyed when he continued : « If it's about what I did to the little bird's breakfast yesterday, I would like to insist that he asked for it. »
« No, no, no mistake. I think. Just -take your time, but I'm waiting, okay? »
« Just a minute », Loki promised while testing the polish on his nails, curious to hear what his mortal wanted.
« You... You probably noticed that I spent a lot of time in my lab in the last few days. I mean -no, you did notice, since you refused to talk to me when I joined you to bed this morning. And when I kissed Mark XXIII instead of you in the living yesterday. But- Well, no, I mean, I know you're angry about it- »
« Tony. Stick to the facts », the god sighed, rubbing his forehead in an exasperated gesture, visibly more concerned with his not-entirely dry fingernails than with the human who sat cross-legged before him and stammered uncomfortably. « I do not plan to apologise. »
« No, I mean- I didn't plan to ask you to. I -I just, I guess that I should apologise, but the moment isn't good to crawl, and -actually, I should maybe just wait for you not to be mad at me, but then you'd know that I waited and you'd probably call me a hypocrit- »
« Tony », Loki insisted, raising an eyebrow.
- « Yeah, yeah -so, er, so, what I want to say -I -that, that's what I made in the last few days, and I know that it took a while, but I thought that you would like that more than something classic, and, -er, yeah, that's it, mostly », the human concluded, awkwardly opening the small cheese box in which he had installed his creation, looking at the god with something that looed like hope in his eyes.
Loki leaned in a little to see what the box contained, slightly perplexed to find a long ring, almost a claw, in it. The quality was undeniable, and he took the jewel cautiously between his fingers, noticing it had the exact lenght of his index. It was made of three distinct parts, tied together by a delicate black leather thread. A few pictures had been carved in the metal, in a remarkable imitation of the style that covered his armor; but instead of representing his children, these looked like a technological suit, drawn in an Asgardian style.
It was... Well, it was extremely pretentious from the mortal.
The drawings were a gift from the person wearing it to the one who was reprsented. Not the contrary.
But now that he thought about it, had he ever said so to the human? He had allowed him to trace the drawings on his armor from the tips of his fingers, but had he ever bothered to tell him what they represented?
Tony kept watching him with shiny, hopefilled eyes. The god held back a sigh and smiled tenderly instead, placing the ring on his index and leaning in to kiss the human on the cheek as a thanks.
It was only when he noticed the human's miserable pout that he realised it probably hadn't been the good reaction.
« ...What is it? Am I forgetting a mortal tradition again? » He asked, frowning a little.
« Y-you don't do that, in Asgard?
« Do what? » Loki insisted, perplexed. »
« T...the proposal? With a ring? No? »
Loki's eyes widened in disbelief, and the mortal's face crumbled miserably. The silence went on for a few long, long seconds, before Tony looked down pathetically to rub the back of his neck, searching for an excuse to evade the situation; Loki knelt at the same moment, pulling the human in a tight embrace and to kiss him deeply.
« When will we have the ceremony, my adorable and stupid human? » He whispered in a smile against Tony's skin.
For those curious, the movie Loki was criticizing was 'Ever After', which is a fairy tale that I love, a lot. Also, in the comics, he paint his nails black. Well, we never see him painting them, I think, but he has to at some point, I guess. Oh, and his children really are all over his armor! Anyway, Fenrir the Wolf and Jörmungandr the snake are. That's good parenting. Can I have reviews?
