When they met first time, Loki was a lady with perfect hourglass body, and Doom was intrigued. Later, when Loki was back in his male body, Doom realized that it didn't really made any difference. Male of female, Loki was still Loki, wit and green eyes and mischievous smile and magic dancing in his fingertips.

Back then he never called Loki his friend. Doom had long since left behind any thoughts about friendship and love and all those warm, fuzzy things that could make a lesser man to hesitate to do what had to be done. Doom had no time for them. Doom did not NEED them.

Still, he did tolerate Loki and his sometimes very irrational behavior far better than any other allies he had made over the years. Loki flirted at him and he allowed it, sometimes even flirted back. It was kinda refreshing, really. Doom didn't cajole himself by thinking that there would be something deeper meaning behind Loki's coquetry. Loki flirted with him, because he didn't know any other way to deal with people. Doom could only imagine about how much of Loki's reputation as a God of Mischief was the result of lacking social skills.

Now, Loki was sitting opposite him, smiling and talking and gesturing with his hands. Every now and then he stopped talking to took a little sip of wine.

They had just finished eating. Food had been very expensive and Loki had liked it, but Doom himself couldn't even remember, whether the meat he just eat had been beef or chicken. What a waste of good food and money.

"I'm happy you were able to come", Doom said conversationally.

"So am I, dear Victor! And I'm really sorry for being so late."

"And here I was just thinking, should I come to the Stark tower and ask you to let down your hair so I could climb up to you and get you out of there."

Loki smirked. "So is Tony like a bad witch to you, then?"

"More like a dragon", Doom said, "with the way he's guarding you." Loki started to giggle, and Doom took sip of wine to hide his smile. It felt good to hear Loki laugh like this, happy and carefree and so different than any laughs Loki had made before. Too bad that he had to be grateful for this to Stark and his band of misfits…

Meanwhile Loki had got his giggles under control and took quickly few sips of wine, smirking at Doom over the rim of his wine glass. "You should not tempt him, Victor. Poor darling is having jealousy issues."

"I must say that I'm impressed he let you come at all." Wrong thing to say, he knew that even before the words had left from his mouth.

There was poison in the green of Loki's eyes. "It's not his place to tell me if I can go or not. I'm Loki, and I DO WHAT I WANT."

Behind his mask, Doom smirked. "Oh, don't you think that I should know that by now, my dear?" He had used to see how Loki's mood varies from mirth to ire and back in a blink of an eye, and he was pleased to see that his old acquaintance had not lost all his edge. "Now, is there any possibility here that I could tempt you to give me a little counsel for this new spell I'm working on with…?"

Loki pretended to be shocked. "Oh, Victor, here I thought you wanted to see me, and all you talk is about you job!" Then his smirked. "But honestly, you know that if I help you with things like that, it will not take long till Fury hears about it and then he'll bite my head off."

Doom shrugged. "Well, it's always worth of trying."

After that, their conversation continued little longer, and then Loki left, and suddenly the whole room looked little duller than it was only seconds before.

Telling the truth, Doom had of course sometimes played with the idea of taking Loki as his lover. After all, god was smart and bright and very pleasant to look at, and he seemed really like Doom for whatever reason for. He knew that, back then, he would had only needed to ask, and Loki would had been his.

And somehow that was exactly the reason why he had never done it. Doom had chosen his way by himself (even thought he sometimes wanted to blame Reed Richards for it), he knew what he was doing and there was nothing he would let come to his way until the very end. But Loki… who still loved his brother so much, no matter how fierce was his denial… Loki, who was like a child, trapped inside of the dark room built from lies and rage and insecurity… who still waited someone to reach out for him and pull him back to the light.

That's why Doom had never asked, and that's why he'd let him go.

And sometimes, when Doom let himself think about it, he realize that he had really loved his little trickster back then.

Sometimes it makes him wonder.