I am sorry. I am truly sorry. I know I should be working on CTB, but I havent had time, and i felt really stressed one day and wrote this and...
I'm sorry.
But chapter 5 of CTB is halway done, so yeah!
(Crappy title, I know, but I couldn't come up with anything else)
Any ways, enjoy!
"Well that sucked."
Jarvis, ever loyal, responded with a dry, "Certainly, sir."
He stared up at the sky, panting heavily and tried very hard not to pay attention to the sounds of fighting and hissing that surrounded him.
He also tried to ignore it when the sounds became muffled, almost non-existent.
"Told you. No one can resist my charm."
A deep chuckle sounds behind him (he is currently immobilized by the Ironman suit, and too much coffee with too little sleep are great for exhaustion, so he thinks he'll just wait here until the guys are done) before heavy footsteps approach him.
"I see you learned nothing from our last encounter." A face comes into view, though it looks blurry. Why does it look blurry- Oh right, concussion, not great with hangovers.
"Besides the fact that you can't get enough of me?" He attempts to wiggle his eyebrows but fails miserably, seeing as it feels like someone is stabbing him in the brain.
"Only a person as arrogant as you would deem himself worthy of a God." The face disappears and he hears the sound of someone laying down beside him. He manages to move his head enough to find that Loki has stretched out beside him, arms folded behind his head serving as a pillow.
He was going to say something more but found that breathing was too much of a hassle already, so instead he looked back at the sky.
They stay like that for what feels like an eternity, but Jarvis informs him was actually half an hour, which, granted, for him is an eternity. Then the silence is broken by Loki:
"I really hope you are not about to vomit yourself. You are looking a rather unhealthy shade of green."
"You are such a flatterer. But unlike in your stupid Utopia, in Earth this is something that happens to us puny little humans when the world won't stop spinning."
And the bastard laughed at him.
"Don't laugh! I forbid you from laughing! You have no right to laugh at me!"
"Were you not the one who said I do not laugh enough?"
He was about to respond (though really, what could he respond to that?) when a frantic, almost squeaky voice interrupted him:
"Stark! Where are you?"
"Oh you know, just here, probably bleeding out of my skull, you?"
"We need you man!" He frowned.
"I thought there were only, like, ten of those things left."
"Well yeah, but what if more come? We don't know where the portal is or how to close it-"
"The portal has been closed, Agent Barton."
Silence. Absolute, terrifying silence.
"Tony, where are you?"
"I told you, bleeding from my skull. Those things aren't very nice, right Jarvis?"
"Indeed, sir."
"Wha-"
"Well, Agent Barton, this has been very nice, but I'm afraid your Man of Iron will be indisposed for the next hour or so." With that Loki took his helmet and threw it behind him, like it was some kind of doll or something.
"Hey! Don't do that! Do you have any idea how hard it was to repair it after that time you hit me?"
"Fret not Stark. It has been transported to your Tower. As the rest of it will be as well." The God did not stop moving for a second, getting the armor off and apparently sending it to whatever location he sent the helmet to.
Now, he, Tony Stark, was suspicious by nature...Ok, no, but since Afghanistan and Stane, he was suspicious of everything and normally he wouldn't let anyone touch his armor.
However a whole year of being a tentative acquaintance with Loki had made him let his guard down, just enough to know that Loki will, indeed, transport the armor back to the workshop.
But he will work to change the location of the emergency release. Loki seriously shouldn't know where it is.
Once the God is finished and he is left limp on the ground with his long-sleeved t-shirt and his soft jeans and fuzzy pink socks (he was feeling cold, okay?) Loki sits back and stares down at him.
"So...Any reason why I'm going to be busy?"
Loki nods but says nothing, instead helping Tony to his feet (which, to be fair, wasn't so much helping as manhandling; exhaustion, hangovers and being thrown around like a piñata weren't good for his physical strength).
"Is there anything you would like to retrieve from your Tower?" Tony blinks.
"Well...My phone, probably. I need to be in contact with Jarvis-" His drifts off when Loki hold up a sleek red frame.
"...Ok." Loki puts it into the front pocket of his jeans, ignoring Tony's outstretched hand.
"Are you going to tell me where we're going?" Loki straightens and wraps an arm around his waist.
"No." Tony looks up at him and blinks, expression melting into a frown.
"Wonderful."
"Indeed."
And then the feeling of being weightless overcomes him.
"Where are we?" Tony looks around him, turning his head as fast as he can without jarring his head too much, but all he can see are hills and the night sky.
"You need not concern yourself with our location." Loki responds as he maneuvers Tony into a sitting position, back against a large tree that seems to be the only one there is for miles. He realizes that although his surroundings are dark, the spot where he and Loki are now seated isn't, and looks up to find a couple of lanterns hanging from the lowest branches on the tree, bathing them in a soft yellow glow.
He then looks at the sky and is unable to contain a gasp of awe. The night sky is a mixture of blues, whites, yellows and even pinks. Silvery stars dance along everywhere and a cool breeze ruffles his hair.
Tony has never been very appreciative of landscapes, but even he can admit that this place is breathtakingly beautiful.
He looks back down when he catches movement from the corner of his eye and watches as Loki does this strange motion with his hands, and literally pulls a basket out of the air.
A picnic basket.
"What?"
Loki looks at him.
"What is this?"
"I would assume you were familiar with this ritual, seeing as it is Midgardian in nature."
Tony blinks and stares as Loki starts pulling food out of the basket; honest to God food.
There are sandwiches and plastic bowls full of fruit salad. There are three thermos that Tony can see, as well as a cardboard box that opens to reveal cupcakes, donuts and miniature cakes (he doesn't care what people say, cupcakes and mini cakes are not the same).
He is jerked out of it when Loki asks him something.
"What?"
Loki blinks slowly, "What would you want? Juice, tea or water?"
"J-Juice. Yeah, I, I could use some juice..."
Loki nods and pours him what looks like apple juice in a plastic red cup that he then hands to him.
"Thanks..." He blinks again. He's been doing a lot of blinking lately. He continues watching as Loki pours some tea for himself, and then takes a sandwich, which he then hands to Tony.
"Thanks...again." He looks down at it and shrugs. He hadn't eaten in...he hadn't eaten, so he might as well do so now. Loki looks strangely satisfied when he takes a bite out of the sandwich and settles down to eat his own.
"So...what have you been up to lately?" Not very good, as far as small talk goes, but he's hurt and tired, with what is probably a mild concussion and several cuts and bruises on the making. He's allowed to not be as coherent as he normally is.
Loki looks down at him curiously (and seriously why is he taller than him even while sitting? life is not fair) for a moment.
"Nothing of great importance, to be honest. Though I have found a number of places where we can go next time I...'drop by'." Tony nods sagely before looking up in surprise.
"Wait what? You 'found'? Have-Have you been vacationing? Like a tourist?" He tries really, really hard not to laugh at the God's expression. He looks offended by the term.
"I thought it practical to...'explore' the planet I am currently staying in."
"Oh." Loki looks up at the sky, the glow from the lantern illuminating his features and Tony can't help but realize how...how relaxed he seems.
Where before a slight frown was always present on his face, Tony can see a slight smile. The God looks at ease, maybe even content.
Which, granted Tony isn't exactly a threat, out here in the wilderness with nothing but his phone and the Arc Reactor, but still confuses him slightly. Until he remembers the last conversation they had.
"Wait, is this a date?"
Loki pulls off this impressive bitch face that would make him crack up if it weren't for the implications of this whole thing.
"Was it meant to be something else?" Loki raises an eyebrow, like he can't believe Tony is so stupid.
"W-Well...this came out of nowhere-"
"You did give me permission to take you somewhere."
"Well yeah, but not, not like..." And then he thinks, 'Why exactly am I arguing this?'.
He relaxes back into the tree.
"Ok. This, okay. We can do this. We can totally do this." And, yeah, concussions? Not a good way to deal with confusion.
And this makes him laugh until his sides hurt (okay, his sides already hurt, he may have a cracked rib or two) and Loki is looking at him like he's the crazy one.
"Only you would take a person out on a date while they are injured." He explains.
Loki laughs.
They eat the sandwiches and the fruit salad. Tony eats more fruit salad than Loki, because the God would not stop glaring at him and talking about how human and weak he is and how not eating properly is going to make him die a really undignified and embarrassing death that Loki will mock him for in eternity. Tony finds it endearing.
They finish the tea, the juice and even the water, which Tony is not very fond off, and then pack up. Or well, Loki moves his hands and everything disappears.
After Loki has helped him stand up and transported them to the balcony of Stark Tower, Tony stands in front of the God, looking into his eyes curiously, thinking about how the evening had gone.
It had been nice, if he was honest with himself.
He hadn't been in a picnic in...well, he doesn't know if sneaking out to eat his peanut butter and jam sandwich could count as a picnic.
Also, the fact that for once he wasn't the one who had to plan and orchestrate the whole thing had been really, really pleasant.
And they hadn't even talked that much! Well, okay, Tony talked a lot, and Loki listened, but it was about things that he was actually interested in with the added bonus of not being afraid to insult him. It was just natural to be sarcastic and an asshole to him, so it was nice to know that Loki, instead of being offended and leaving him stranded, would give back as good as he got.
"Well, this was very enjoyable."
"Indeed." Loki continued to stare down at him, before taking his right hand and kissing the back of it. Some where a voice inside of his head was shouting about telling Loki that he wasn't a woman, but his head started hurting too much to want to actually listen to it.
He did listen, however, when he heard a strangled 'Stark!' behind him, and he blinked again.
"Good night." With that Loki made a bow and then stepped over the ledge, disappearing instantly.
"Sir, you might want to go inside. You have a concussion and it would be very awful of you to fall over the edge."
'Huh.' He thought.
'This will certainly change things.'
So, tell me, did you like it? Was it bad? Good? Comments are always appreciated!