It wasn't supposed to happen like this.
In all honesty, he couldn't believe that it had.
They were supposed to grow old together. They were supposed to live a long, happy life together and hold each-other in their arms as they star-gazed as they did when they were young. The two of them had so many plans to do before they could physically no longer do them anymore. Sky-diving, a ski-trip holiday, scuba diving, visiting the Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China… Their bucket list was endless, and they had already ticked some of the things off that they wanted to do. Work had often gotten in the way for him, though, as he often had to spend days on end in his workshop finishing off projects for the company. Now, he was regretting those days he was cooped up, covered in grease, being complained at to take a break when he couldn't afford to rest. All of that time… He could've spent with his beloved. The time that he could now no longer get back.
What had happened?
Loki had gone out, had gone to the store to get some things for their dinner. He was making a favourite of theirs – Chicken Stir Fry – But didn't have all of the necessary ingredients. As they both had their hearts settled on that specific meal for their anniversary, the man decided to walk down to the store at the end of the street, something that only should've taken twenty minutes tops, insisting that Tony did not have to go with him and that he should relax after the meeting he had earlier on. Not wanting to argue with his other half as he wanted to have a peaceful night with him, he waited. Twenty minutes went by, which was fair enough. Perhaps there was a queue in the store, perhaps they didn't have all of the ingredients that he needed and so he had to go to a different one. These thoughts were perfectly reasonable… At-least they were until the time continued to tick. Forty minutes… One hour. It was by this point that Tony was beginning to worry. He had called Loki's cell-phone a few times, now, with no avail. Each and every time it continued ringing until the answer-phone sounded.
It was on the twelfth call that somebody answered, and the all too familiar voice of his fiancé was not heard. Instead of a smooth, low toned voice, it was a female. A woman. Sirens could be heard in the background which immediately made the alarm bells in his brain ring. Something was wrong. He had known that for a while, ever since Loki didn't return on time or answer his first call, but he had decided to ignore it and hope for the best. Sometimes you had to face reality, though, and this was one of those times. Tony often learnt those times the hard way.
The woman on the phone was a paramedic that had just gotten to the site. She had tried to check Loki's phone for anybody close to him to call as they loaded him into the ambulance to take to the hospital. Of course, when she saw the missed calls she assumed that he was one of those people, one of those closest to him, and if she watched the TV at all she'd know just who they were and how close they were (they weren't exactly unknown to the world, after all, due to the success of his company). Apparently there had been a car chase. Whoever the cops were going after must've been bad, bad enough for them to chase so desperately. They had gone through a red light and had swerved out of the way of a lorry coming up the street… At-least, that's what the witnesses had been saying. The vehicle swerved out of control and crashed into the sidewalk, knocking a couple of pedestrians over in the process that didn't manage to get out of the way in time. He assumed that Loki was one of these people… As the accident had just happened, however, all of the details were still indefinite.
Forgetting dinner, or even the fact that he had previously been starving, Tony hadn't even waited for the phone call to end before he grabbed his car keys to go to the hospital. He all but demanded to know where Loki was as soon as he had gotten there, the concern and panic evident in his voice. As he was in surgery, he had to wait for a good hour or so whilst they tended to Loki's wounds and ensured he wasn't going to die from the injuries he had received. He had over-heard doctors telling each-other that it wasn't looking good, that they were doing their best to do what they could; hell, they had even come out to tell him that face to face as they knew exactly who he was waiting for due to their fame. All he could do was pace up and down the goddamn waiting room for what felt like an eternity, feeling more helpless than he had done in his entire life. He had sworn to protect the man, to keep him safe, that he wouldn't let any danger come to him… And now? Loki was on the brink of death. His promise had gone out of the window.
After what felt like a millennia, Loki was wheeled out on a bed. Unconscious, of course, and looking terrible. Tony had already paid for his medical fees, a private room and anything he may possibly need in order to get him better. He followed the doctors through into the private room supplied for his other half, sitting down by the bed, refusing to leave Loki's side. Even Tony wasn't going to deny it. The man's injuries were bad. Real bad… And as he continuously looked over the features of his face, his neck, his arms… Every bit of pale skin that he could see, the more it pained him. Previous ivory, smooth skin had blue, purple and even near black patches across it. Not all of it, of course, but every single bruise was one bruise too many. There were small cuts, large cuts. A broken arm, several broken ribs. Internal bleeding in his stomach, though they had managed to sort that out. He bet that if you lifted his hospital gown, his stomach would be black and blue too.
As he had done ever since Loki had gone out to get those ingredients for their meal, he waited. He held his hand tightly, hoping that even though Loki was unconscious, he would subconsciously feel the comfort and know that he was there for him as he promised he always would be. The seconds ticked by, and those seconds turned to minutes and then those minutes turned to hours. Every so often he found his eyes drooping and his head lowering as he drifted off, though as soon as he caught himself doing it he forced himself to stay awake again. For the majority of the time, he was spaced out. Thinking over every happy memory they had, he even thought of the terrible memories too that were usually resolved through angry, passionate sex. Once every few hours he needed to use the bathroom, and at those times he got himself a cup of water or some coffee to help keep him awake. Even though the whole trip only took five minutes tops, he ensured to rush and quickly make his way back to Loki's private room in-case he had missed anything.
He hadn't.
The continuous beeping of the heart-monitor was but a mere background noise to Tony by this point. He was exhausted, he needed sleep, but he wasn't going to leave Loki's side. Beep, beep, beep. It was sending him off to sleep. It probably didn't help that he had been up since five in the morning. Beep, beep, beep… He closed his eyes briefly. The sounds were getting further away. Beep, beep, beep. The unconsciousness was tugging at his barely conscious mind, tempting him to delve into the darkness and fall asleep then and there. It was tempting, oh so very tempting… Beep, beep, beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-
Wait. That wasn't right.
Opening his eyes, he was suddenly more alert. More awake. Standing up, he looked up at the source of the continuous noise instead of the frequent beeping. The heart-rate monitor. "Shit, no, no, this can't be happening…" He muttered to himself in panic. It was as if his body was on auto-pilot. It all seemed surreal. He had ran to the door and had shouted for the nurse, had gotten doctors in to try and revive Loki. They had used the defibrillator on his chest, had tried to bring him back to life, all whilst Tony was screaming at them and demanding to know what the fuck was going on and what had caused it all. They had to get additional doctors to get him out of the room so that they could concentrate fully on bringing the man back. Among the demands he had shouted at them that he had given them the money necessary for everything, that they had better sort him out otherwise they wouldn't know what's coming for them. Of course, it wasn't the hospital's fault, it was simply things he was shouting in the midst of his panic and hysteria, not caring if everybody else in the goddamn waiting room was looking at him like he was a mad-man. This was his husband's life on the line and he wanted to know what was HAPPENING.
Again, it took ages. It felt like a lifetime. He knew that they were doing everything they could to save his Loki, yet he was going crazy just thinking about it all and it was obvious. Holding his head in his hands, he tried his hardest not to cry, especially not in front of the other patients around him in the same room. But then again, he didn't care. Not when it came to Loki. For any other matter he would care because he's Tony Stark and Tony Stark was invincible.
Invincible. Hah. What a joke. He wasn't very invincible now, was he?
Eventually, a doctor emerged from the room and approached him. He saw the same look in his eyes that he saw when he was waiting for his parents' recovery. His heart skipped a beat, and not in the good way. He swallowed hard as he looked up at the doc, barely registering the words that left the man's mouth. Of course, he had heard them, but he could barely believe it, no matter how logical it was, no matter that he had just seen it first-hand not too long ago.
Loki was dead.
The injuries had been too severe for his body to cope with. Tony had all but demanded to see him, demanded to see his husband and confirm it with his very own eyes. They allowed him, of course, and upon reaching him… Upon holding his now freezing hands, seeing his unnaturally pale skin and seeing that there was no longer a pulse in his body, something inside of him broke.
It had been twelve hours since Loki had been rushed to hospital. It was just after midday that his death had been confirmed.
The day that he had been in the accident, that he had been rushed to hospital, had been their twelfth anniversary. They had been married for twelve years.
Loki was dead, and something had died inside of Tony that day too.