Hello! Real quick: this story has a prequel (This Is How I Disappear) and I highly recommend that you read it first, just because it clarifies a lot of things. You would probably be fine without reading it, though, if you don't feel like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel but oh my god, if I did...

Tony Stark knew it was going to be a bad day as soon as he woke up to the blaring sound of alarms. Tragically disoriented and with limp limbs, the inventor crashed onto the floor in his attempt to leap out of bed. The only pro to being sprawled next to his bed and tangled in his bedsheets was the fact that the violent alarm had ceased. The silence left behind was deafening and Tony couldn't help but let out a groan of defeat. As lethargic as he felt, he was certainly awake now.

"JARVIS what the hell was that about?" he asked, pulling himself up with the bed being used for support.

Sir, you have been asleep for over 26 hours and your guests have need of you, the artificial intelligence replied dutifully.

Right, Tony thought, guests.

It had been a week now since he had begrudgingly welcomed the two Æsir into his home. Thor had pretty much forced his hand when he refused to allow his younger brother to be taken into SHIELD custody. The former God of Mischief was sentenced by their father and king to be banished to Earth and live life as a mortal. Knowing how much Fury and Barton wanted to smash him like and ant under their boot, he was pretty sure he made the right Stark would never be okay with torture.

Plus, in all honesty, Loki had yet to be a problem at all. The guy kept to himself and still had yet to speak. At this point he was out of sight and out of mind. Aside from Thor coming up every so often to socialize and complain about his brother's indifference, it was as if there were no extra residents currently in his building. In the past week Tony had managed to finish up the blueprints for a reactor powered defense satellite, read through a large amount of 'top secret' SHIELD files, drink a substantial amount of alcohol, and apparently sleep for over a day after weeks of forcing himself to stay awake. Despite his rude awakening, his nightmare still clung to him as he untangled himself and made his way to the adjoining bathroom.

"Tell 'em I'll be down soon," Tony grumbled, shedding his clothes and stepping

into the shower. If JARVIS replied he hadn't paid attention, letting his body relax under the hot spray and trying to get his mind to do the same.

For once the genius' thoughts were not on Pepper, his past, his failures, or the charade that was his life. Instead they were of nothing but the void. Every since the Battle of Manhattan, nightmares of the dark, suffocating space had plagued him every time he allowed himself a moment of rest. Tony regretted not telling Pepper - or anyone else, for that matter - about them. He knew she had been worried about him. At first he would wake up screaming, but that was less often now. They still, however, managed to jolt him awake with a pounding heart and a cold sweat. He tried futilely to wash away all of the horrors his mind had produced, but even he could recognize a lost cause when he saw one. With great reluctance, he turned off the water and proceeded to dry off.

"Hey JARVIS, did Thor say what he wanted?" Tony asked, tossing his towel onto the floor and pulling on the pair of pants he had been wearing the past few days. Keeping up appearances was the least of his concerns, and a very immature part of him wanted to make his home messier than ever just to spite Pepper...even though a part of him knew that she likely wound't be returning to ever see it.

He did not specify, sir.

"That's what I figured."

There was no way Tony was dealing with whatever semi-emergency the god had forced him out of bed for without coffee...or something stronger. In a half-assed, obviously feeble attempt at seeming sober, Tony downed two glasses of brandy as his coffee brewed in lieu of adding the beverage straight into the mug. It annoyed him when Thor gave him those pitying concerned looks, or tried to get him to open up. Hopefully this wasn't going to last long - he had a satellite to build. Once his coffee was finished, Tony took the elevator down to the dysfunctional family's own floor.

The first thing Tony noticed after stepping out of the elevator and into the wide, modern living room that mirrored his own on a smaller scale, was that Loki was in the same room as Thor. Sure, they were on opposite sides and Loki looked like he would rather be anywhere else, but usually as soon as Thor entered a room he occupied the ex-god would strive to make the quickest exit possible. Tony let out a barely audible sigh. There is no way I'm drunk enough for whatever the fuck this is.

"Well if it isn't the Brady Bunch! Mind explaining to me why JARVIS woke me up from the first sleep I've had in weeks with what I can only imagine is the most loud and annoying alarm on the planet?" he asked, surprisingly trying not to be too mean about it. Compared to what he wanted to say, Tony was being a great host.

"Man of Iron, I apologize for your rude awakening. I was unaware of the significance of your slumber," apologized the thunder god as he stood up from his seat on the couch, where he had apparently been eating the better part of a box of pop-tarts.

As much as he wanted to focus on being bitter for being forced to be in the same room as his 'brother', Loki always found it impossible to not be interested, almost captivatingly so, in the words and actions of the mortal - Anthony Stark. He was not sure if it was due to the rapt attention he gave the man while in his presence or because Thor was truly an idiotic buffoon, but it seemed almost impossible to him for anyone to not notice Stark's insomnia.

"Well, no harm done. What can I do for ya?" Lies.

"Ah, yes. I have a favour I must ask of you, friend," Thor replied a little sheepishly.

"Why do I have a feeling that this has something to do with your mute brother over there? Not sure how I feel about agreeing to your last favour."

Loki sighed inaudibly and tried to focus his gaze elsewhere. Whatever the emotion - probably negative - Loki knew that the man must have a very distinct opinion on the situation. Though his magic may be kept frightfully out of his grasp, an empty hole left in it's wake, they could not take away his ability to know lie from truth.

"I know I have asked a lot of you Stark-son, but please hear me out. It has been near a fortnight since our return to Midgard, but it has been years since I was first banished here. I would be forever in your debt if you would allow me to depart for no longer than a week, in which I may visit the Lady Jane."

To say that Loki was uninterested in this useless endeavor was an understatement. Resting his head on one hand, he stifled a yawn with the other. How Thor could possibly think that a fellow Avenger, one who had fought to protect their realm from Loki's rule, would ever allow him to roam about their home without Thor's supervision was laughable.

"What about him?" Anthony replied, face carefully blank as he pointed at the fallen god. The man's eyes betrayed nothing of his thoughts, giving Loki a bizarre urge to grin. Stark was a mortal steeped in lies and deceit. It was rather simple to understand why the organization - SHIELD - had trouble in their dealings with him.

"My brother will be no burden, I can assure you. He seems to wish for nothing but to be left alone, and without his magic he could not be called a threat. Though Loki is not unskilled in hand to hand combat and the wielding of various weapons, the power which your armour commands could easily stop him. I assure you, though, it shall not come to that."

For a moment the trickster considered standing up and leaving. He could no longer stand the way in which Thor spoke of him. It was as if he wasn't even in the room, yet his 'brother' had pleaded with him and begged for him to be there. The whole thing was ridiculous and pathetic, the only thing stopping him from fleeing the room was the need to remain as unnoticed as possible.

"I don't know," frowned the Man of Iron.

"I swear to the Allfather that all will be well. Would you not wish the same should you be in my place and the Lady Pepper so far from you?"

It only lasted a moment, but Loki grew wary as he saw the man's eyes darken in a mixture of pain and rage.

As difficult as it was, Tony tried to school his expression. How fucking dare he bring up Pepper? What gave him the right?! The logical part of his brain tried to calm him down, Thor had been on Asgard since the invasion so how would he know about anything going on in his fellow teammates personal lives? Unfortunately this logic was having a hard time battling it out with the much larger more animalistic part of his brain that wanted to punch the Æsir in the face, god or not. Tony clenched his fists and ground his teeth before looking away from Thor's pleading blue eyes, releasing a rather defeated sigh. At least giving into his request would get the asshole out of his tower in case the billionaire ended up changing his mind, putting on his suit, and trying to beat the crap out of the guy before SHIELD arrived to stop him.

"I suppose I could up security for a week," he huffed. It wasn't even that he cared that much about Loki or his own safety while in Loki's presence. What did he have to lose if the trickster decided to go insane again? Tony's real intention with those words was to guilt Thor...and possibly convincing JARVIS that he wasn't as suicidal as he really was, well that was always a good thing too.

"Thank you, friend! You will not regret this!" Thor exclaimed, before surprising Tony with a bone-crushing embrace. The inventor immediately tensed up, once again digging his nails into his fists before hesitantly patting the god's shoulder.

"Alright, big guy, trying to breath here," he choked out.

"Oh!" Thor immediately released him and tony took a deep breath before plastering on a press-worthy smile.

"I'll be up in my lab, I'll let you know what the new security'll be later," he said before making a hasty retreat to the elevator, ignoring Thor's continued statements of gratitude.

When Tony entered his lab he immediately grabbed a half empty bottle of alcohol - he no longer cared about which kind - and filled his used coffee mug with it. So much for working on the satellite. The level of drunkenness he intended to achieve was not conducive to any type of work. It was actually a miracle that he had gotten this far without anyone ignorantly mentioning his former girlfriend. Then again maybe it wasn't so miraculous - he didn't really give anyone a chance to step on that land mine, holed up as he was in his tower.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, collapsing into a desk chair and ignoring it as the contents of his mug spilled over and onto his wife beater. As he drank, his hand absent-mindedly went up to cover his arc reactor. Sometimes when he spent more time thinking than drinking, he found it ironic how he had this hole in his chest to match the metaphorical one created by his life. The major difference, though, was that the one taken up by the arc reactor couldn't grow. There seemed to be an endless amount of things tearing at the non-existent one, and as soon as part of it would even begin to scar over someone found a way to rip it back open again.

Once Tony finished the mug, he gave up on the unnecessary pretense of controlled drinking and grabbed the bottle. Sometimes he wondered how much more of this his body could take. Sometimes he wondered what would be so bad if Loki just flipped out and killed him. Sometimes he wondered who would really care if he wasn't around anymore. Sure, he had made an astonishing amount of technological advancements, but the world would go on. Also, it wasn't as if he was the only superhero. Hell, the Avengers would probably function better without him on the team. There was Bruce, though. Bruce might care...but was that enough?

"JARVIS, distract me," Tony commanded, not liking where his thoughts were heading.

Is there something you had in mind, sir?

"No...fuck, just think of something," he practically begged after taking the last swig and all but slamming the bottle onto his workbench.

Might I suggest cleaning up and perhaps having some company?

"Not exactly what I was going for there, Jarv. Don't really feel like talking to anyone. If I did, I'd try to get tongue-tied downstairs to have a conversation."

If memory recalls, you and these guests did not do a lot of talking, sir.

Tony raised an eyebrow and actually laughed for the first time in weeks without it being forced or bitter. "Seems a little soon, but that would certainly be distracting," he mused.

Though I advise you to inform the Odinsons of tomorrow's arrangements before you become to inebriated or otherwise involved.

"JARVIS, you really are a genius," Tony admitted, standing up and beginning to adjust the security schematics that his AI had pulled up.

One of us has to be.

"Hey now," Tony muttered halfheartedly.

Loki glared rather pathetically at the blank wall in front of him. He had spent the past hour this way, ever since Stark had come down and quickly ran through the next week's change of security. The man had looked clean and presentable for the first time in weeks - even Thor had noticed the difference. Oddly the amount of lies in the mortal's words and actions had only increased.

After their hosts departure, Thor had tried to help Loki 'pack', as he was required to stay in one of the guest rooms in Anthony's penthouse. It was one of the many wonderful new changes that had to be made to accommodate the hammer-wielding buffoon's ridiculous love life. Needless to say, Loki had slammed the door in Thor's face and had been brooding ever since. It was becoming ridiculous. Since the end of his failed invasion, Loki had felt nothing but sorrow, regret, and a bitter but passive rage. He had been nothing but cooperative throughout his imprisonment, trial, sentencing, and now his punishment. Had he been more forthcoming with information things could have gone much differently, but pride had kept him from spilling his story to Asgard's court. Guilt was also a very real and ever present motivator. Loki felt he truly did deserve this punishment. What he did not feel he needed was the strong security.

Without his powers, what was he going to do? Where was he going to go?

Sighing, he finally let his eyes leave the wall as he fell back onto the bed. The ceiling was no more interesting. Packing did not seem like a necessary activity, though. Loki had not brought any personal possessions from Asgard. The only things he had were a few outfits of midgardian clothing and some toiletries, all of which had been bought for him by the Man of Iron on the second official day of his banishment. Since changing into a green dress shirt and black pants that afternoon he had not seen the casual asgardian-wear he had arrived in. His meager amount of possessions hardly warranted packing of any kind.

He loved mischief and craved chaos, but where had it gotten him? It was ironic, though, that they seem to have placed him in the care of one of the most chaotic midgardians he had ever met.

It couldn't have been later than 2am when Tony stumbled into Stark tower, brunette arm candy in tow. He couldn't remember her name, didn't even know if he had asked, and really couldn't care less. He felt like he had drank an entire liquor store. Once they were inside the elevator, he had the girl pressed up against the glass. Their kisses were less than gentle, Tony pushing things just to try to get himself to feel something. Before leaving the last bar, he had carefully selected this girl - she looked nothing like Pepper. But that didn't stop the fact that her lips felt soft like Pepper's when he kissed her, that her hair tickled his face like Pepper's had...the list was quickly becoming endless.

When they reached his floor he deposited her into his bedroom, promising to be right back. He needed a drink. Terror ensued as he found his bar and kitchen depleted. A check in the lab revealed it to be alcohol free as well.

"Dammit JARVIS, when did I drink the fucking place dry?" Tony slurred, looking at the ceiling as if it was a direct line with God.

Before you left for the evening, you drank a substantial amount and proceeded to, against my advisement, attempt to build a robot that runs on alcohol.

"Did it work?"

Surprisingly, yes.

"Awesome...is there any liquor in the tower?" he asked.

There seems to be a few bottles on the Odinson's floor, sir.

That was all the prompting the drunken genius needed before he was back in the elevator, and before he knew it, stepping into the dark apartment. Despite his attempts, he tripped over almost every piece of furniture possible before reaching the liquor cabinet. Tony had thought he'd gotten away without being noticed - Thor's snores seemed like they could drown out anything - when the living room lights came on, effectively causing him temporary blindness. Once his eyes adjusted, he turned around to see the God of Mischief standing at the entryway looking a mix of mocking and confused. He almost felt guilty, standing there, drunk off his ass, holding two bottles of scotch. Almost.

"Hey there Loki-doki. I was just," he gestures with his bottle-filled hands toward the open liquor cabinet, "and you know...stuff to do. I'd ask you not to mention this toward your not-brother, but since you seem to have had a run in with Ursula I think we're good."

Loki's only response was to raise an eyebrow.

"Oh shit man, you've never seen the Little Mermaid...or any Disney movies! Or any movies! What do they even do for fun up there in viking land? We've got to watch the Little Mermaid. JARVIS, remind me about the Little Mermaid later."

Of course.

"Okay so we'll do that then. I just...fuckin' whatever...long legs like ridiculous," he trailed off, having gotten one of the bottles open as he was talking. For all of his problems getting into the room, his exit - walking backwards into the elevator while chugging a bottle of scotch and waving - contradicted all of that. As soon as the sliding doors shut on the disbelieving god, the whole conversation was instantly forgotten. When Tony finally made it back to his room he was blackout drunk. If you had asked him who Pepper was he wouldn't have had any idea what or who you were talking about.

Please let me know what you think! This is the first frostiron fic I've written (though I'm writing multiple ones at once but I digress).