The static crackled loudly in his ear as Fury shouted orders to the other men in his jet. "Shoot him down." Tony heard him order in a steely voice. His heart jumped into his throat, his reactor glowing brighter as the adrenaline pumped into his veins.

"NO!" he shouted louder than he'd intended. "Fury—Fury please!" he begged. Fury made a sound somewhere between exasperation and disbelief; the great and proud Anthony Stark didn't beg. "Just give me five minutes with him."

"We haven't got five minutes—"

"Please." he interrupted, letting his desperation leak into his voice. "Just let me try!" He wasn't going to give up on him, not now. Tony waited for a long time as Fury breathed heavily, debating with himself whether or not to give in to his pleading. "Just five minutes. That's all I ask for."

From his copilot seat next to Natasha Steve turned to meet Tony's eye. He'd been the one most vehemently against his relationship with the God, but after seeing how much Loki had changed just by being with Tony, he—after Thor, of course—began to support him the most. He reached up to press the call button on his earpiece.

"Director?" he asked pointedly. His gaze never left Tony.

Fury heaved a final sigh. "Let him go." Tony closed his eyes for a moment, thanking any and every deity that may or may not exist. "You got five minutes, Stark."

Steve stood to stand by Tony as the jet lowered itself; Natasha's hands on the controls were tight, pale fingers clenched stiffly. Tony looked over to the Captain. "Give me a lift down? I'm not allowed my suit…"

As soon as Tony stepped down Loki unleashed a swirling ball of blue energy at him. Or, just above him. It exploded into a flame whose heat Tony could feel. He would swear his skin had begun to sizzle just by standing near it. He took slow, tentative steps toward the angry God. "…Loki?"

Loki glared at him, his emerald eyes narrowed dangerously. His hand shook around the golden scepter. "So this is the Avenger's mighty plan. Sending their weakest member to 'talk.'" He practically spat the words at him, each hitting his ears and heart like daggers. Tony ignored the venom in his voice, despite his heart's heavy pounding. It almost hurt they way it beat against his ribcage, as if it were trying to break free.

"Will you come down from there?" he asked. Loki snarled from his vantage point. Instead of speaking, however, he hurled another fireball of magic at him. This time it was perfectly aimed; Tony yelped and dropped himself to his stomach. It passed over him in a quick flash of heat. "Is that a no?" he asked cheekily. Loki's eyes flashed dangerously as he climbed back to his feet. "Okay. Then I'll talk up to you."

Loki scoffed. "Do what you wish. My daughter's demons are merely seconds from entering your realm." His mouth twitched into a ghost of a smile. "There's not one of you that will survive their wrath."

Tony's earpiece crackled. "Stark…" Fury said carefully. "If you've got something, now's the time."

Loki said nothing, turning away from him to overlook the city once more.

Tony took a deep breath. he was about to get emotional, and that was a weird feeling for him. "The first time I met you, I aimed a bunch of guns at you." Loki didn't turn to face him, but his eyes were trained on his face. "And then the next time we were alone you threw me out of a window." Tony could see him clench his jaws to keep from smiling. Tony shrugged casually, "Not exactly the basis for a healthy relationship but I've never been one for taking care of my health in the first place."

Loki looked away from him, almost as if he was refusing to hear any more. He held out his free hand and began to chant words in a language that Tony didn't recognize.

Tony shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and took a careful step forward. "We've come pretty far for such a disastrous-sounding partnership. And look at you now, you've come pretty far to basically bringing about the end of the world." As he moved closer Loki kept an eye on him, his lips still forming the spell words. "Just like your dad said you would."

Loki flinched, ceasing his spellcasting. His expression quickly masked the pain of those words, turning colder than his Jötun flesh. "…Is this the part where you claim your undying love for me in the hopes I will calm down enough to stop this?" he sneered. Tony surprised even himself by letting out a small chuckle and a smile. Faking humor was an immediate defense for him.

"Well, I do love you. Undying?" he asked, and let the word hang in the air a moment. "I don't know yet. But I'm willing to go there. With you. I don't know what set this off. I don't know if it was me. But I do love you. You." Loki's hard expression softened; he clearly was not expecting such an admittance from Tony Stark, of all people. "Not this. Not the you that doesn't care and just wants to kill people, because that isn't the you I know."

"I've come too far to just stop." Loki whispered. Tony could see his weakness, his pain, flitting just behind the cruelty in his eyes.

"No, you haven't. But if you're going to kill the world…then start with me." He could hear the stiff gasps of his teammates. Damn, he'd forgotten about the hearing device tucked neatly into the curve of his ear. He continued anyway, ignoring them. "Because I don't want the first death to be you."

"You think me incapable of killing you?" There was a challenge in his voice, all softness and weakness gone from his demeanor.

"It doesn't matter either way." Tony took one more step before standing still with his feet apart and raised his arms out, palms facing. "I'll always love you."

"Tony—!" Steve shouted in his ear as Loki raised his staff. The next glowing ball of magic hit him square in the chest. The fire burned his clothes, his skin. He gasped in pain, but he remained standing, his hands reaching inwards towards his wounds. "God—!"

"Come any closer and the next will kill you." Loki warned. Sweat beaded his brow. Tony was in too much pain to utter more of a reply than a pained grunt from the back of his throat. The listening device in his ear crackled loudly, dangerously.

"Stark." he snapped. "Whatever you're thinking…don't." he finally said, for once unable to come up with a proper threat. Tony challenged both Fury and Loki by taking a shaky step.

"Get back!" Loki screamed, his voice echoing across the darkened sky. He looks closed to panicking. "I swear Tony, I'll—" He stopped, staring in disbelief as Tony continued to approach him. His mouth was wide open in a desperate gape. "You think I won't shoot you? I will!" His threats did nothing to stop Tony's advance. "Now STOP it!"

"No." Tony, despite his pain and Loki's desperate pleas, climbed up until he was on the same ledge as Loki, who was trembling from head to foot, looking at the damage, the charred skin and blood that once was Tony's chest and stomach. "You stop." Loki shot another blast of energy at Tony, keeping a stream of burning pain going until Tony dropped to his knees. His lips were pulled back in a feral grimace, teeth clenched together. "Come on." he gasped, his voice barely above a wheezing whisper. "You can—you can do it, Loki." He looked up at the conflicted man. Many emotions warred for control over his face. Shock and pain were the most prominent. "You can do—anything—you want to—" He coughed again, tasting hot copper in his mouth. "That's what I love about you…"

There was silence. Loki didn't move, and neither did Tony.

"Stark. Get outta there." Fury shouted into his ear. "We're ready to shoot."

"Please," Tony looked up at Loki, ignoring anyone outside the two of them. "Please don't let me—watch you die."

Loki's staff clattered to the ground as it fell from his limp fingers. He let only a single sob break from his throat. He covered his face with his hands to hide his tears. "Why can't I hurt you?" His legs seemed unable to support his weight, and he fell to his knees beside the man he'd hurt. Tony strained to push himself up. "Why can't I—?"

Tony managed to get into a sitting position and held Loki against him. Loki's defenses fell, and he began to cry. "I can't—why can't I—just—"

"Shh." Tony shushed him, running his fingers through Loki's soft raven hair. "It's okay, it's okay. You've done enough. It's okay. We're okay." The words took with them a heavy weight off of his chest and mind. He said them again. "We're okay."

Fury heard the exchange between the corporation president and the angry God, and sighed heavily. Some part of him wasn't surprised. Tony was known for having an open bed, but the freaking God of Chaos? He wondered if Tony Stark even had standards.

"Director," Dr. Banner said, coming up from behind him. "My readings show that the portal has closed. We're scanning the skies for the third time, but so far no demons have shown up on our radar."

The Director sighed again as the blackened sky cleared and bright yellow sun illuminated the city once more. For now, Stark could get away with this odd relationship. For now, at least.

A/N: Tease here! I don't normally do author's note, but for this specific fic (and a few others to come in the future) a few things need to be said. All of this wasn't completely written by me; this was inspired by dialogue written by frostironistheperfectotp on Tumblr (if you like FrostIron and you have a blog, go follow her! her scripts are genius!). You can think of this as a sort of collaboration between us. So, the following will be a regular thing to see on oneshots like these:

Dialogue belongs to frostironistheperfectotp; fic belongs to me; characters belong to Marvel.