Disclaimer: I. Own. Nothing.

It started rather simply, really. It was a small decision, the kind people didn't think about until after the events had already been set in motion. With Tony Stark, his whole life was composed of these types of decisions. It made his life more interesting, faster too, and like any other ten year old, Tony appreciated speed.

He remembered that it was around six o'clock on a fair Tuesday afternoon (or was it evening? Tony couldn't find it in him to care about some ambiguous time slot) and by this time, parents had already ushered their kids home so the park was devoid of any human life. Or it was supposed to be.

There was a young boy on the swing set, grasping the metal chains with too tight fists. The kid was a bit on the slim side, not too thin, but obviously nowhere near pudgy. He had pale skin, accentuated by the black hair framing his head and the dark grey sweater he was wearing. It was a miracle that the kid hadn't burnt into a crisp from the sun yet.

What grabbed his attention though, was his eyes. They were the colour of liquid emeralds and from what he knew, green eyes were rare and to see a pair so bright and vivid was a nice surprise.

Tony couldn't pinpoint the kid's age, but he put him around four or five considering the tiny body, swinging idly back and forth without much enthusiasm. For a kid that young to be out here, this late and (Tony looked around, no one else was with them) with no parent supervision...

Well, curiosity had ways been a near and dear friend to Tony.

"Hello there," Tony greeted, a smile on his face as he walked up to the mystery child.

"...Mommy says I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," came the soft reply. The kid looked up and at him with weary eyes, narrowing them slightly as they evaluated Tony with a look he was certain little ones shouldn't have

Never one to be a little bit snarky, Tony couldn't help but point out, "Uh, hate to break it to you, but you just did."

"Mommy says that doesn't count."

"C'mon kid, look at me. I'm ten years old, you can't seriously think I'm one of those creepy men with vans, right?" And wasn't that a mental image? Sad thing was, Tony could imagine himself driving around in a cool, fast car (vans were lame) while trying to pick kids off the street via tantalizing offering them candy. He was six years away from getting a driver's licence, so that image might very well become a reality. Tony already had his sights set on a car.

"Mommy says-"

"Forget what your mommy says!" Tony cried, cutting the kid off, "She isn't here right now, is she? So -"

In hindsight, that was one of his worst ideas yet. He was such an idiot.

When Tony saw those big, baby greens water up, he lost it. He was an only child and generally, he shied away from the young ones. He wasn't equipped with the proper training to deal with crying kids and since he was the one who caused it, he probably never would be.

A gold star for trying though.

"Oh no kid, don't cry. Look. I'm sorry, I tend to have a big mouth and sometimes I don't quite think before I talk," Tony stopped himself from rambling further and took a deep breath, holding out his hand, "Let's start over. I'm Tony Stark, ten year old genius extraordinaire."

The kid paused and Tony held his breath. There was water clinging at the corners of those green eyes and if they dripped...

"...Loki." It was so quiet, barely a whisper, and he would have missed it if it wasn't for the wind. They shook hands and Tony couldn't keep the grin off his face. It was an odd name, but who was he to judge? Oh yeah, he was Tony Stark.

"Have a last name, Lokes? It's a nickname." he added at Loki's look of confusion.

"...Loki Laufeyson."

Tony had never heard that before. The kid must've been new in Marvel City. Well, he was always up for making new friends and wouldn't hurt him take little Loki under his wing. The raven looked so lost and Tony couldn't exactly abandon a kid with the most unfair looking kicked-puppy expression known to humanity. If his old man saw this look, maybe Tony could use it to coax him out of the lab so that one Howard Stark could finally spend some quality time with his own son.

Tony mentally slapped himself. One, that was a depressing train of thoughts and he didn't feel up to boarding it. Two, he couldn't use Loki like that.

"Nice to meet you Loki. Now, can you tell me why you're all alone? Where's your mom or dad?"

What was considered impossible was now possible as the sad, forlorn look on Loki's face grew even sadder. Alarm bells rang in his head and Tony mind-slapped himself again. He had to pt a leash or something on his mouth, this was getting ridiculous.

"Mommy and Daddy are gone..."

Tony's breath hitched.

"Fu- Darn. Gone? What do you mean gone?"

And then Loki snapped.

He broke out into a high-pitched cry, tears streaming down his cheeks, small body trembling as it was wracked with heart-clenching sobs. It was a horrible, scratchy sound that smothered Tony right in the gut. Loki's tiny hands balled up into fists as the kid stubbornly clawed at his eyes, wiping the wet droplets away in vain.

"I don't know!" Loki wailed and Tony winced at the sound, "I-I just woke up a-a-and they were gone!"

Tony panicked as Loki kept crying and crying. He patted Loki's back as comfortingly as he could, trying his best to soothe the troubled child. Suffice to say, he wasn't doing a whole lot of good on the 'comfort' part of the deal. He cursed under his breath and filtered his good-for-nothing brain for a solution of some sort.

Get Pepper came to mind, but he had to leave Loki in order to do that. That wasn't an option.

"Aw, no, don't cry. It's okay. It's okay," Tony cooed, wiping a couple tears away. "Um, hey, do you have any siblings? I bet they'll be right here and you can go right on home in no time."

"They're gone too!" the kid moaned, "Daddy, Mommy, Hel, By - everyone left me!"

By the name of the may-or-may-not-be-there deity in the sky.

The next few minutes are then filled with choked sobs and watery words as Tony held the shaking kid in a tight hug. At some point, he managed to heft Loki off of the swing, only to have him latch onto him life a lifeline. Tony sighed. His heart went out to Loki and his situation. While his father was a terrible one, at least he and his somewhat less horrible wife stayed. With Loki, he had no one.

Tony couldn't even wrap his head around being abandoned like that. To be left behind while everyone moved on without you - he hugged Loki that much tighter.

Eventually, the sobs petered off into silence, only the occasional hiccup interrupting the quiet stillness of the evening. Tony ran a hand through his short brown hair and gave Loki a small smile. Loki sniffled. He knew he should be heading home by now, but Loki needed him.

"Alright, Lokes. I got a question or two for you. Think you can answer them?"

The small haired head currently burrowed in his chest nodded and Tony ruffled the kid's hair.

"Awesome. First, how old are you?"

The mumbled reply of 'Six' made Tony tense. He felt anger bubble inside his stomach at the injustice of it all. It was a disgusting thought. Loki was only six years old and he had already lost everything that was anything to him.

"So young..." Tony mumbled to himself, filing away a reminder to track down Loki's family and murder them all, "Now two, do you have anyone to take care of you? A home to go back to? Anything?"

"That's four questions."

"Oops."

Loki giggled. It was soft and quiet and filled with water, but it was the happiest noise the kid had made so far. It was beautiful. Tony's chest flushed with pride.

"Haha, right. My mistake. But do you have an answer to any of them?" Tony prodded, feeling slightly guilty at ruining the light atmosphere, but he needed to know. Someone had to be out there looking out for the little guy.

There was a pause as Loki thought about his answer and Tony furrowed his brow.

"T-There's one person..."

The heir to the Stark corporation sighed in relief and he felt Loki's frown turn upside down. It was a glorious moment that left Tony reeling from just how good he was feeling.

"I'm glad."

When his phone rang, his mom calling to tell him to high-tail it back home, he didn't care. As long as Loki had one person to take care of him, he could leave the kid in good faith that he will be okay at least until they meet again at the park.

"Bye Lokes, see you tomorrow." Tony grinned brightly and rested his hand on top of Loki's slicked back hair before letting it drop by his side. Loki smiled back tentatively, eyes puffy and red, but smiling as well.

"Bye-bye Tony."

And Tony was off.

As Loki stared at the ten year old's retreating back, he saw the single person who he somehow knew would take care of him go as well.

"Come back..."

I know I shouldn't be starting another story, but this one wouldn't leave my head. Since I have another one in the works, this will be put in the backseat while I work on the main one.

Right, so, this is obviously an AU and a Kidfic. I have a soft spots for both so might as well combine them. I do have a plot, though I might just leave this to be a one-shot since I kind of like where it ends?

Testing out a simpler, light hearted writing style. I really like it.

Anywho, happy reading!