So much had happened in the past year.
Loki had been sent back to Midgard, stripped of all power and left to live as a mortal among the humans.
That hadn't been fun. He'd had to rely on quick thinking to get himself out of numerous bad situations. The humans were still upset about Germany and New York and all of that. And, of course, there had been a few times when he hadn't been able to escape and had been left, bloody, on the streets.
Then things changed. Tony Stark had caught wind of Loki's arrival and had managed to get the ex-god into Stark Tower. At first, Stark viewed him as a possible threat. But, as time went by, Loki managed to gain his trust as well as the trust of some of the other Avengers. He and Stark also began a relationship, both having been attracted to the other's intellect and wit. Each day, their bond had grown deeper, and now they trusted each other entirely.
None of that mattered right then, though. No. While the whole relationship thing was great, Loki was much more focused on the agony that he was currently feeling.
"I think I'm going to die," he whispered.
He was curled up on a couch, head resting on Tony's lap. Tony's big screen television droned on in the background, showing that 'Pawn Stars' show that Tony was so fond of, but Loki wasn't paying attention.
Despite the several blankets wrapped around him, Loki still cold. Tony frowned and gently ran his fingers through Loki's hair.
"You're not going to die."
Loki didn't respond. Instead, he shivered.
Tony calmly wrapped the blankets a little tighter.
"So… cold…" Loki mumbled.
Tony wanted to roll his eyes. Loki had the flu. The ex-god always had a flair for the dramatic, though, and he'd spent the entire day making it sound like he had one foot in the coffin.
"...Cold," Loki repeated, a second later.
"You've got three blankets on, Loki," Tony reminded him.
"Hopefully it'll be over… soon…" Loki rasped out.
Now Tony really did roll his eyes. Then, Loki caught him off-guard.
Loki sat up, threw the blankets off, reached for a nearby waste basket and promptly began to retch into it.
Instantly, Tony felt terrible.
"Oh, jeez, I'm sorry," Tony mumbled. He rubbed Loki's back softly, moving his hand in circles. He used his other hand to hold Loki's hair back.
Tony glanced at the wastebasket and noted that Loki seemed to be throwing up mostly bile. His lover hadn't been eating much, feeling too sick to do anything more than lie around in misery.
After a couple of minutes, Loki started to dry heave. Then, he finally stopped.
Tony carefully placed the basket down and pushed it away, just so that neither of them had to see it.
Right then, Loki turned to look at him. The sight made Tony feel even worse. Poor Loki had tears in his eyes.
Loki rarely ever cried. In the past year, Tony had seen it happen maybe twice, and both times involved discussions about Loki's various memories and the causes of some of his emotional issues. Even then, in the midst of the deepest discussions, Loki took pains not to show too much weakness. A single tear would fall before he would turn away and force himself to be stoic once again. Seeing him openly crying hurt Tony, and if he was being honest, made him slightly nervous. Clearly, Loki felt very sick if he wasn't bothering to put up any shields.
"I know it hurts," Tony whispered, wiping one of the tears away. "You'll feel better soon."
Loki sniffled and allowed Tony to pull him close. He rested his head on Tony's chest. Soon he felt Tony's arms wrap around him.
Now that Loki was directly on top of him, with no blankets in the way, Tony could truly feel the heat radiating off of him. He wondered if he should ask JARVIS to get Bruce. Maybe Bruce could give him something else to reduce the fever or help Loki's nausea. The other stuff that Loki had taken earlier hadn't helped.
Thankfully, Loki and Bruce got along fairly well. Bruce had forgiven Loki when he found out how the Chitauri had at least partially controlled Loki's actions.
Bruce had been nice enough to ensure that Loki was caught up as far as immunizations went. Since Loki was stuck in human form, he needed such protection. Bruce had even given Loki a flu shot. Unfortunately, Loki managed to get one of the strains that the shot didn't cover. So there they were.
The sound of Loki's voice broke Tony's train of thought.
"I'm sorry?" he asked. He could barely make out what Loki was saying.
Loki moved so that his face wasn't pressed into Tony's shirt anymore.
"I said that you're going to get sick, too. It just occurred to me."
"What, me?" Tony smiled, enjoying the fact that Loki was concerned about him. "Nah, I'll be fine."
Loki mumbled something to the effect of "I'm contagious", but Tony brushed him off again.
"I'm telling you, Loki, my immune system is like, super strong. Don't worry."
Loki simply shrugged, and went back to nuzzling Tony's chest. It felt good to be so close to Tony, to be held by him. It made him feel safe. He really had thought that he was dying when he'd woken up feeling achy, especially so when it became apparent that he was too dizzy to walk for more than a short distance.
He had never felt anything like this before. When he was a god, he could be injured, but he also healed extremely quickly. Sickness almost never happened. It tended to occur only if one was poisoned, or something to that extent. To become ill randomly was frightening to him.
Bruce had explained everything, and Loki understood that logically, he was unlikely to actually die from this. Still, the fact that the sickness didn't seem to be relenting kept him on edge.
Loki sighed as he felt Tony's hands rub up and down on his back, slowly massaging him.
"It'll be okay," Tony reminded him, softly.
Loki nodded and closed his eyes. He was so tired. Hopefully he would feel better in the morning, but if not, at least he had Tony by his side.