Classified under: Just Another Day in the House of Stark
Series: 2
Relation to others: None
Clint raises his brow in question as Loki works with Tony for improvements on his arrows. It isn't a scene unfamiliar to him, not since Stark got himself acquainted with the God of Thunder's little brother. What was he the God of again?
Ah, Lies.
Don't blame Clint for getting skeptical when the apparent God of Lies tells Tony to remove parts of his ammunition, because who knows what does he have up his sleeves? The thing is, Tony trusts this guy, loves him even. And while Loki says the same, Clint was never fully convinced.
It wasn't his fault. He was compromised once, and it was enough to change him. Loki had proven himself worthy of the team, he didn't have to, he was a God for, well, all Gods' sake. Yet, he went out of his character to show his potential, to gain approval. To say once more, a God didn't have to to anything of sorts. Yet, Loki did. All these for Tony.
It wasn't difficult to see where Loki's loyalty lay. And Clint probably made the worst mistake in his short mortal life when he halted Tony in his progress to ask if they should really believe the statements of 'the God of Lies!' as quoted in his proclaim.
That was when Loki set down the screwdriver and the newest arrow he and Tony had been upgrading to glare at Clint, then at Tony. His lips pulls into a straight line, barely visible as he waits for Tony to speak something in his favor.
He doesn't. He doesn't say a word.
Loki breathes deeply, if this was any attempt to calm himself, it doesn't work. Because for the fourth time this morning, Clint turns to him, hand outstretched and finger pointing right at him, and mouths the words 'God of Lies' to Tony. He doesn't care if Clint was playing, or if it was habit, or simply because he had disapproved of Loki since New York.
Loki strides towards the men, collecting his thoughts as he does so and pins both of them down with his stare. Quite literally so when they flinched from Loki's seething aura.
"Lo-"
"Don't." Loki interrupts Tony before turning to Clint and jabbing his long finger into Clint's chest. "Mischief!"
Of course the dull mortal doesn't understand.
"I am the God of Mischief! Not Lies!"
Tony breaks out a quivering laugh from his tense state, "so this is what it's all about."
"Stark." Loki warns. "You think this is funny."
It isn't a question, but Tony answers anyway. "Hell yeah. What's the difference anyway? Lies, mischief, they're all somewhat the same."
The look on Loki's face says none of it and Tony instantly shuts his mouth. And when Loki smiles and says it's fine, Tony knows it's not. Not with that twinkle in his eyes, it's not. Loki is plotting, Tony just doesn't know what of yet.
Nothing happened in the next couple of hours, not to Tony anyway, while he works on the upgrades. Clint had politely excused himself from the lab after the confrontation with Loki and Tony is thankful. He had been a great distraction and not to mention, added possible strain to his current relationship with Loki.
Don't get him wrong, loving the God of Li- Mischief isn't always fluffy and filled with rainbows. There were many obstacles they had to overcome, and Tony loves the challenge. At the end of it all, their relationship had been nothing but strong.
So Tony thinks nothing of it when Loki occasionally smiles to himself and apologises when he chuckles out loud once. Tony thinks nothing of it. He is trying not to ponder on it. He glances over to Loki, who has full concentration on their mini project, but when he catches that subtle pull on Loki's lips, Tony's curiosity got the better of him.
"What is it?"
Loki raises his brow in question.
"Cut your pretense, something's up."
Loki raises both hands then points them to himself in an innocent gesture. "What? You think it's me?"
Before Tony could reply, a knock on his glass door catches his attention. More so, the troubled man behind the glass door did.
"Bruce!"
The man looked wrecked; he signals for Tony with his free hand, the other clutching a mug of what Tony assumes to be coffee. He notices that Bruce shoots Loki a few skeptical glances and Tony follows, more confident than before that Loki had indeed done something that he was unaware of.
"Tony."
"Brucie! What brings you here?"
He fiddles with his mug, as if unsure of why he had called on Tony in the first place or contemplating whether if he should actually bring the matter up. Tony reckons it's the latter.
"Maybe it's better if you see it." Bruce wrinkles his nose as he looks back down on his drink. "Fancy a cup of coffee?"
Tony says no and proceeds to the common room. That's what he was supposed to say right? If anything is amiss at all, the correct answer should be to say 'no', it's common knowledge.
Tony only thought that he was prepared for what greeted him in the common room; turns out Bruce isn't the only one who's having a bad day.
Natasha's has her hair standing straight up, and as she combs her hair down with her fingers, her red locks shoots up straighter than before. Tony involuntarily gulps when she glares at him.
It isn't his fault she's having a bad hair day.
"Nat's got that out of the blue." Bruce whispers besides him. "Been bugging her ever since."
"Huh." Tony doesn't know what to say. In fact, he doesn't think he should be saying anything at all.
"Maybe you should take this cup of coffee." Bruce offers.
Tony eyes Bruce down before staring blankly at the beverage. He takes the mug from Bruce. Is he doubtful? Yes. Is he paranoid? Hell yes. Regardless, Tony braces himself as he sips the drink, and winces. It is… Coffee. Tony is confused; the whole time Bruce was just trying to get him to drink coffee? Was there no meaning to this? Yeah, it maybe be overly sweet, but that is how he has his coffee all the time; so what's this about?
"Thanks?"
"Don't mention it." Bruce says with defeat. Now Tony has his senses on overdrive. Something is definitely up with Bruce. Forget Bruce for two seconds, because something is up with everybody!
Thor throws a box of poptarts into the common room and sighs heavily. And Tony hasn't noticed it before, but the floor is covered with pieces of poptarts. He glares at Thor, who is grumbling to himself before spitting another mouthful of pastry onto the floor.
"Hey Point Break! I have a bin for that!" Tony shouts. "What's up, poptarts are suddenly not to your liking?"
"They taste horrendous." Thor replies. "It's earwax for that. And vomit for this . I think it was fart for that one." He points to the piles of half eaten tarts on the floor and grimaces. "Is it even possible to test fart?"
Tony blinks once. Then twice. "Fuck."
There is ruffling and a sudden gust of cold air against his calves. Tony looks down, his face burning and yells when he confirms that he'd been pantsed in front of his teammates.
"What did you do that for?" Thor questions.
"What?! You think this was me?!" Tony half screams as he pulls up his pants and almost immediately halts to slap himself in his mind. Of course, who else will it be?
"LOKI!"
All eyes fall on Tony as he turns around to yell for his partner once more. "I swear to God if this is another fucking joke." Another sharp pull of his pants right down to his ankles. "What the fuck?!"
Tony's hands grip tightly onto his boxers when he felt an experimental tug by the invisible force. "Don't. You. Dare."
"That isn't just coffee for you, is it Bruce?"
"No."
They look at each other; Tony waiting for a reply and Bruce probably just wishing for things to go back to normal.
Then again, what is normal in the Stark Tower?
"It's salty. Seems like only I get the privilege of tasting sugar as salt." Bruce mumbles to himself. "Great."
Tony grits his teeth and stomps off in search of Loki. His feet leads him to the room he had been minutes before. Swinging open the glass door to his lab, he sees the man in question sitting in his chair, one leg over the other as he pretends to read.
Loki peers over his book to look at the commotion Tony's making. There is a twinkle of mischief in his eyes that affirms Tony's suspicions.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Tony growls.
"Reading."
"Don't give me that shit." His hands instinctively snakes down to secure his pants, just in case Loki thinks 'shit' is a bad word. Nothing happens.
Loki grins as he book disappears with a wave of his hand. "I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Yeah right. You cursed Bruce's coffee, and the poptarts, and Nat's hair. Don't try to deny it!"
"Curse? Such a foul word. I won't deny it." Loki folds his arms and looks down at Tony, "besides, you haven't seen the best of it."
Tony involuntarily shivers as the words hit his ears. He breathes loudly to calm himself down, certainly there is a point to prove. Understanding Loki is like decoding the criminal mind, except that you put two brilliant minds together and add a couple of scrutinized layering of plots covered up with partial truths and half , beneath it all, Loki does things for a purpose. Or so Tony has led himself to believe.
"What have you done?"
"Something of pleasurable, no doubt."
"This," Tony waves to the room around him, as if all this troubles were laid plainly in front of him, "none of it is pleasurable."
"Oh no, I was referring to myself." Loki smirks.
"Fuck you."
The pants drop.
"Fuck you again." Tony says as he pulls on his pants before he left. For now, he'd need something sturdy to secure his pants to his hips, something more than a belt. Though Tony doubts that the effort to do so is necessary. Or maybe he should omit the pants. No pants means not getting pantsed right? Tony is a problem solver.
The day doesn't turn for the better. In a short few hours, Loki had successfully turned the residents of the Stark Tower edgy. Tony should probably give him an award for it, his talents in unnerving anyone goes far beyond. Loki flashes a grin, maybe later.
Tony had found Steve and Clint down in the gymnasium, exhausted, covered in sweat and splayed out on the floor. Steve doesn't try to get up as he shoots Tony a greeting. And Clint, well, he doesn't say a word.
Tony knew he was giving them awkward glances. What is he supposed to say? "Is there anything wrong with you today? My psychomaniac boyfriend decides it's fun to prank the team."
Tony hears Steve sigh and he realizes that he'd been mumbling out loud. "So?"
Steve stares at him blankly. "So… What?"
OK, he hasn't heard all of it. Tony half wishes that they did so he doesn't have to explain. "Uh, Loki kinda decided it was fun to… well, how are you guys doing?"
Clint reaches over to grab a half filled bottle and flings it at Tony. Not great then, Tony thinks.
"We suspected as much." Steve replies, glancing between Clint and Tony as he sits up. "Care to give me a hand?"
Clint scrambles to his feet and takes one of Steve's outstretched hand and waits for Tony to grab the other. While Tony simply looks at them, Clint throws another bottle at his face.
Steve doesn't stay well on his feet; it's a wonder he doesn't have to be carried into the medical bay - conscious or not. Loki had curse his feet to be as slippery as ice. Tony mentally gives Loki a bonus point for making Steve's feet cold to the touch as well, a fine detail. After all, Loki is a God, and Tony will expect nothing less than perfection even with his tricks.
And, Tony realizes, Clint had not said a word. That's twice as many times Tony had noticed Clint's unwillingness to speak. Tony almost wondered if Loki had muted the poor guy. Especially after the stunt he pulled earlier today on framing Loki for lies, it wasn't surprising for Loki to prevent the guy from speaking at all.
That was until Clint grumbled for something in annoyance.
"What?!"
Tony exclaims, mostly due to shock. "Say that again."
Clint only sighs in frustration and flips him off.
"Ok, first of all that was rude. Second," Tony pauses momentarily, "you were the one who fucking pissed him off." Tony only mouthed the cuss in hopes of cheating the transparent rules Loki laid out for them. It seems to work, until he got pantsed. Again. Tony grumbles in frustration as Clint scoffs at his predicament.
Tony had wondered why did Loki take away Clinton voice instead of having his lips sewn shut as he had always threatened. Given Loki's character, or at least what Tony believed Loki would do, he would have pleasantly snapped his fingers and have anyone's lips sewn shut by magic. It wouldn't hurt, Tony thinks it wouldn't hurt unless Loki intentionally wants it to; now that he thought about it, Loki probably will have it hurt just because.
But the next string of words that came out from Clinton mouth made Tony actually wish for sewn lips, and that would be mercy. Comparing humiliation over humiliation, still, Tony would rather grovel at Loki's feet than to get by the day like this.
"We need to get you fixed."
"Sheorbakwe dhisowebla." Clint mumbled,which Tony guessed as 'no shit' or maybe it was a 'fuck you'. He suppresses a laughter that earns him a punch to his shoulder.
Clint was skeptical about re-entering Loki's space the second time today. The first time got him cursed, the second may not let him out alive. He knows that he's exaggerating, for one, Tony wouldn't let Loki kill him. Right?
The God still had the decency to smirk at him as he passed through the glass doors. Could be worse. Clint thinks.
"I see you're having fun."
"No doubt." Loki replies. "I see you've picked up on a new interest."
Tony glances behind him where Clint stood. "Yeah, about that." He noticed Loki's brow rise briefly as he grabs Clint's arm and pulls him forward. "He's a little broken."
"And?"
"I want you to fix him." Tony says. "I want you to fix everything."
"Repairing broken stuff is your job, Tony." Loki says, "you're the engineer. You fix stuff. "
"Well, yeah. But if you haven't noticed, I can't fix myself."
The smile Loki gave sent chills down Tony's back. Something screamed at the back of his mind that Loki is crazy, and Tony shouldn't do crazy. That must be your conscience. Said a voice. Don't listen to him! Said another.
Tony rolls his eyes and mumbles. "Great, I've been with the crazy for too long. Now I'm hearing voices in my head."
"But I don't want you fixed." Loki drawls, "you're broken, self-absorbed and so much of a handful."
Loki smirks at Tony's appalled look and leans forward, his clenched fist loosens up as he lays his index finger below his lips and his thumb on his chin. Loki is far too amused, Tony thinks, he's enjoying himself way too much.
You need to stop him! Said a voice in his head. He's getting out of control!
You are the one getting yourself into this mess. A second voice said. Besides, you crave for the attention and now he has given it to you.
Did he now? Said the first voice. Don't listen to him, Tony.
Tony grasps his head lightly and shakes off the thoughts. Maybe later, he'll have to sort them out. Logically speaking, the voices weren't wrong, they are different personalities within him screaming for action anyways; ultimately Tony is still Tony regardless of his choice.
"Yeah and what?" Tony spits. "You'll dump me when you get bored?"
The anger that flashes across Loki's eyes made Tony mentally slap himself. Now you've gone and pissed him off.
"You are a handful." Loki says blankly. "But you are my burden to carry, Stark. I thought I had made myself clear."
Tony falls silent as Loki says those words. Clint stomps his feet to remind the two of them of his presence and his annoyance regarding his current situation, earning a glare from Loki.
"Yeah, and I am going to add load to this burden," Tony says, pointing to himself. "And ask you to lift your curse or whatsoever on everybody."
Clint nods his head vigorously.
Loki clicks his tongue and smiles softly; Tony's heart beats faster as Loki stands up and looks down on them. Geez! That's cheating, for using his height; and Tony stands his ground.
"I will." Loki explains. "After he apologises."
"All this for an apology?" Tony exclaims.
"And recognition." Loki adds. "A correction to the title I am to be referred by."
Clint grits his teeth and looks away.
"Say it Barton." Loki pushes. "Say it, and remember it."
"Shaewry."
"I didn't get that." Loki says, ignoring that Tony is hanging off his arm, yelling at how dumb he was to demand Clint to speak when he had taken that ability away from him.
"I'm sorry!"
"That wasn't so hard now was it?" Loki smirks. "And to think it took all of your almost a full day to come to terms with your silly little mistake."
"So what? We're good now?" Tony asks, tugging at his pants. Loki simply grins in response before turning his back on both of them. Tony got Clint to speak a few more words to ensure that the spell had been thoroughly lifted before scooting out to check on the team. If there was anything to be learnt, it was that Loki holds grudges. And that Loki's pride means more than anything to him.
In the end, they will always be just mere mortals as compared to a God. They'll never understand, but they'll learn. Loki is not to be remembered anymore as the God of Thunder's little brother. Definitely not the God of Lies! Loki snorts from just thinking about it.
Loki watches the busy street from Tony's window, funny how his feet led him there subconsciously; his lips pull into a sharp grin as he shouts behind the glass. "I am the God of Mischief!"
"You know no one can hear you from behind the glass right?"
"Shut up, Tony. I had a moment of glory."
"Yeah fine whatever. Do what you want. Just don't take over the world again or something."
A/N: Reviews are always welcomed