The idea for this story was inspired by Rob Dougan's "Nothing At All" which is an amazing and inspirational song. It's also inspired by my love of Loki/Tony~ ^^ It may seem confusing at first, but it should make sense in due time.

I want to be still
I want to walk into your grave
Where I can shudder in peace
'Till all our cares have blown away
Yeah

Let the whole world fall away
And fall into my arms
Stay with me
I don't know how long we've got left
And so, I'm asking you to forgive me

The pounding wouldn't stop. The air just felt so, so heavy and he couldn't stop the pounding.

Was it in his head? No. It couldn't be. It felt like it was all over his body.

Pounding and pounding and pounding and pounding.

There was something wet on his cheeks, between his fingers, in his boots and on his forehead.

POUNDING.

What had happened? Why had it happened? Dammit, WHY?

He moved, or so he thought he had. The air shifted ever so slightly but still hung heavy on his shoulders. Was he floating? He felt so light despite gravity just wearing him down.

His eyes were shut, he realized, but he didn't dare open them. Instead, he tried to lift his head up just slightly. The air was too heavy, and instead he felt his chin hit his chest. It was then he realized his heart was contributing to the pounding. He could feel it vibrate under his ribs.

Ow.

His teeth chattered.

Pounding and pounding and pounding.

Something touched him—did something touch him?—and he felt the wetness on his cheeks dry ever so slightly.

"Ca-….-ki…"

What? Was someone speaking?

He suddenly felt himself gag, and his eyes open just enough for him to see the ground get closer. Wait, ground? Wasn't he floating? His lips which had been so warm were suddenly so cold, and yet they felt free and wet. The ground came so close to his eyes but something prevented them from sinking through the concrete below.

He heard that same voice. He felt something warm on his head.

Suddenly the air didn't feel as heavy. The pounding subsided just enough for him to raise his head, raise his eyes into a blank stare. There, a bush of brown and tan, some dark thing reflecting himself.

The pounding returned and he heard another sound before he realized that this time the sound came from him. A groan, was it? The pounding returned full scale, and he could have sworn he made another noise despite being so deaf to anything but that pounding.

"LOKI!"

It was clear as day now, and it took the man a few long seconds to realize that this person was calling him. This warmth he felt around him, this voice, all from one person.

His senses were returning, ever so slightly. Just enough for him to feel his body lurch and tremble as something sticky and warm flowed from his mouth with a quick and fragile force. He realized his eyes were still open, glassed over from having not blinked, but he couldn't really register what had happened.

The air felt that much heavier now, but something was keeping him from crashing through the concrete.

There were so many more sounds now. Other animals, insects, gasps, chatter. It was as rhythmatic as the pounding. They became deafening, so deafening, that he couldn't even hear the scream that erupted from his lungs. He could only feel the scratching on his throat from the effort, could only feel the twitching in his fingers.

That was all he felt, and then nothing more but that same

Pounding and pounding and pounding and pounding.

The glass in his hand was lighter than it should have been, Tony realized slowly as he took a sip. It was starting to get late, even for him, but he found himself unable to make the effort to get up to head home. He looked around, his eyes trailing over the heads of the drunken business associates, celebrating their advancements. Tony had been hoping to pick someone up, get his mind off of things, but instead had found himself sitting at the bar just cradling his drink.

Footsteps approached him and Tony turned his head, noticing a stern looking Pepper Potts. A goofy grin appeared on Tony's face, and he extended a hand out to her. She didn't bother taking it, didn't even look at it, and instead crossed her arms.

"Really, Tony, I know you care enough for your staff to through them a party, but you didn't need to drink so much." The smell of alcohol wafted off of him and he hadn't even opened his mouth.

Tony chuckled and shook his head just barely. "You have to let off steam sometime, Pepper. Come on, now."

Again Pepper remained where she was, but her arms tightened. "Tony." She warned. "You have three meetings in the morning, one of which is with the city of New York. You know, to pay for all the damage you guys caused?"

"Hm, nope, don't recall." Tony laughed. Actually, how could he forget? It was only weeks prior that they had been fighting Loki and those weird ass aliens.

"Well I remembered. You have to get up early, and I don't want you so hung over. Besides, your employees have work tomorrow, too. So end this party and let's get going." With that, Pepper turned on her heel. She glanced back to see Tony was unmoving, and she frowned at him. "If you don't end it I will."

"Fine, go ahead." Tony shrugged. He smirked at her before turning back to his drink, downing the remaining contents. It stung his throat as it slid down into this stomach, but he sighed contently. That hit the spot.

Moments later, the lights had turned on, and Pepper was by the DJ, taking the microphone from him. Tony looked up and rolled his eyes. Really? He thought she was joking. He stood up and stumbled over towards where she was.

"Thanks everyone, but the party is now over. Please, remember not to drink and drive—"

Tony grabbed the mic from Pepper's hand, snatched it, really, and grinned at the party goers who had stopped to look at them. "Watch out, guys, check point on 12th Street!"

"Tony." Pepper insisted, trying to grab the mic again. He handed it back to her with ease before turning around. Pepper watched him as he walked towards the door, but she didn't worry. Thankfully her job was done, at least until the morning. She said a few more words to the employees and thanked them before handing the mic back to the DJ. She found herself tracing Tony's footprints, heading for the same exit.

Her eyes widened in surprise when she noticed that the car was still where she had left it. Happy stood there, leaning against the frame. "Ma'am, are you all set to go?"

"Where's Tony?" Pepper asked. Her eyes went left and right but she could find no trace of her boss.

"He told me he was taking his own car." Happy explained cautiously. Had Tony not informed Pepper of this? "He told me to take you home…"

"Happy, Tony is drunk." The girl replied quickly. She took off in a brisk walk, hoping she would be able to catch Tony. She felt dread in her heart, and it intensified as she heard the loud roar of the engine. Before she knew it, before she could react, Tony Stark was speeding by them, a crooked smile plastered on his face.

"Sir, should you really be driving?"

"Oh, Jarvis, don't start."

"It's just that you seem to be going over 100 miles per hour, sir."

"So?"

"It's a 25 zone…by the cliffs to the ocean."

"Again…so?"

Tony looked up in the rear view mirror even though he knew he wouldn't see anything of interest. Things swayed ever so slightly. But Tony wasn't drunk, or at least he told himself. Tipsy, maybe buzzed, but not drunk. Tony would never do something as foolish as drunk driving.

Until he looked back at the road and saw something in his path. A figure, familiar and yet foreign. Blurry.

He heard the loudest noise ever and his car made a groaning noise after feeling a strong impact. Steam began to erupt from his engine. His front driver's tire blew out.

Tony's hands gripped the steering wheel and he quickly and desperately swerved. Jarvis seemed to sense to urgency and applied the emergency brakes, but also stabilized the car. Instead of twisting over the car just drifted until it came to a stop.

Tony got out of the car quickly, his heart beating more than ever before. It was hard to see, being so dark, and Tony didn't even realize he had his sunglasses still on his face. He looked at his car first, reflexively, before remembering he had hit something. No, not something. Someone.

His eyes looked up towards the road, and there, standing there, was a person—no, a god—all too familiar.

Decked out in green and black stood Loki, god of mischief. But it was strange, Tony realized as he rapidly tried to blink away the dots in his vision. The man still had his mouth gagged, his hands bound. He was soaking wet. He was standing there, breathing and existing but nothing else.

"H-Hey…"

His voice didn't seem to gain any reaction. Then, suddenly, Loki's head lifted just barely before falling, chin against chest. His teeth began to chatter.

Tony took an unsure step forward. He didn't know what was going on. Was this even real? Did he pass out drunk in the bathtub again and perhaps was just imagining this? He reached out, his fingers grazing Loki's cheek, taking off some of that strange wetness. Blood, he realized. Had he done this by hitting him with the car? It was too dark to see any cuts.

"Can you hear me, Loki?"

Green eyes opened just barely. Tony barely had time to react as he watched Loki's legs buckle under him. He grabbed Loki's shoulders, his warm hands supporting the god as he allowed the other to take a seat over his legs. He didn't hesitate to take the gag off of Loki's mouth, hoping for some sort of reaction in words if nothing else.

Loki's head raised just barely, his eyes staring out with a blank nothingness. They met Tony's eyes, or so it seemed, until Tony realized Loki was looking at himself in the reflection of his sun glasses.

A groan reached Tony's ears, and relief filled his body. Wait, relief? This guy was his enemy—was the EARTH's enemy. Even still…

Loki made an even louder moan, the pain in his voice unmatched by even Tony's worst headaches.

"LOKI!" Tony suddenly called as he noticed Loki tremble. The god's body lurched and before he knew it there was vomit spewing out of his mouth. It hung on Loki's lips, dripping slowly to the ground. Loki's eyes never blinked, and Tony didn't even know if the trickster had registered throwing up.

Jarvis's voice came from the car and Tony looked up. "Jarvis, can I still drive?" he asked with so much urgency in his voice. He hadn't even remembered his computer servant until the persona had spoke up.

He looked down at Loki, seeing the pain in the god's face. Jarvis was saying something but Tony couldn't even concentrate on it. His breathing intensified as he noticed Loki's eyes slowly lowering.

Suddenly, the loudest and most piercing scream he had ever heard. The trees shook. All the animals and insects went silent. Even the birds had stopped flapping their wings. Silence.

Terror was in Tony's eyes, but they quickly changed to concern and worry. "Hey, HEY! Stay with me!"

But Loki, perhaps subconsciously defying Tony just for fun, lowered his head. His body grew heavy—well, as heavy as it could for a skinny god. Not that Tony was actually registering it, but Loki was much lighter than he could have ever thought.

It took a few moments for Tony to realize what had happened, for him to go through the events in his head and figured it all out. He had hit Loki. But why was Loki there? Why was the god just standing there in the middle of the street? Why was he all wet?

"Sir, time is of the essence."

The voice jarred him back to reality. Tony got to his feet, taking Loki with him. He scooped Loki's arms over his own and began to drag the man towards his car.

"Engine has been repaired. Current project is repairing the tire, sir. Estimated time of completion is two minutes."

"Fine, fine. Uh, get a light, would ya?" Tony asked. The dash and interior light popped on, the glow brightening to the max setting. Tony used what energy he had now that his adrenaline was slowly fading to get Loki into the back seat. Thankfully the god didn't seem to have any neck or back problems, but even if he did Tony doubted it would have made much of a difference.

With the light on and Loki lying on the seat, Tony was finally able to get a good look at the trickster. He was wet alright. His hair was damp with blood, his armor spotted with it. A few cuts and nicks were made known by the light, and Tony identified those as the result of hitting him with his car. But there were other things, too, things that Tony couldn't have been responsible for. For one, the blood that covered Loki's body didn't seem to be coming from Loki. It was more like he had been dunked into a bath of blood or something.

His neck was cut thinly, and his arms had the most precise cuts, going across the arm. They looked self made, considering how cut wrists were usually a call for help, but it seemed impossible for it to have actually been Loki considering his hands were chained together. Speaking of, Tony realized, the cuffs had dug into Loki's skin.

All in all, Loki did not look good. In fact, he looked like he had gone through hell.

"Sir, we're ready to go."

Tony nodded. "R-Right." He mumbled. "Um, Jarvis. Keep an eye on his vitals. I'm gonna take him home."

"Of course, sir."

It was then Tony even brought up the question of why he was helping Loki. This man had killed Coulson… he couldn't help him after that, right?

Whatever alcohol had been in his system had now completely disappeared. Tony realized he was far too sober to be dealing with this, but he needed to be clear in the head to figure out what to do. Who could he call on?

Tony had made it home in no time but it still felt like hours. He had rushed into his garage and asked his various machines to assist in getting Loki into a bedroom. He didn't even bother with a sheet over the bed or anything, knowing he could replace whatever got blood soaked later. As he looked on at Loki's even paler than normal face, all Tony could think about what who would help him. He couldn't do this alone.

For one, he had hit Loki with his car.

For two, Loki was a super villain.

If Tony called Fury, no doubt the director would insist on taking Loki into custody. Tony considered Bruce Banner, but didn't know if that would do any good. Well, didn't the man do doctoral work in…well, whatever third world country he was hiding in?

Hmm, but maybe there were others to ask for help. Steve Rogers would probably keep the secret, but at the same time would be useless. Barton and Romanov was just a NO. Thor, maybe, but Tony didn't know how to even get a hold of the god. Oh yes, and also he didn't want to explain that he had ran his brother over.

Speaking of Thor, though, was he here, too? Last he remembered seeing of them was when the two departed from the park, Tesserect in hand. Loki was bound and gagged like he was when Tony found him only an hour ago, although his chains were much tighter.

Maybe Pepper?

..On second thought, no. She'd probably find out soon enough, anyway.

"Just you an' me I guess." Tony mumbled, watching Loki sleep.

Minutes passed before Loki even stirred, and all that showed he was awake was a quiet exhale of breath and his green eyes opening in slits. There was no recognition in those eyes, no focus. But it was enough to show he was awake.

"Oh, uh…hey." Tony whispered, unsure. "You okay?"

There was no response, no answer. All that Loki did was blink.

Tony gingerly reached out. He barely touched Loki's arm when the trickster's eyes suddenly settled on the iron man. Blank, deep, dead eyes.

But at least it was something.

"I have to clean you up, Loki. I can't help you if I can't even find where you're bleeding from." Maybe Loki didn't even know that Tony had hit him with his car.

Again, as Tony suspected, there was no reaction.

"Can you walk?"

He didn't know why he bothered to ask when he knew he wasn't going to get anything in return. Tony sighed a bit before he grabbed Loki's arm and swung it gently over his shoulder. Loki was jut dead weight, his feet barely moving as Tony half-carried and half-dragged Loki into the bathroom. He position Loki on the toilet, and the man just leaned back onto the porcelain, hands on his lap.

"Gotta get rid of that chain…" mumbled the playboy. "Stay here, okay?"

Like you really need to worry about him moving around, Tony.

The playboy millionaire moved himself quickly to his basement, his feet echoing loudly on the cold floor. He looked around for some pliers and smiled when he had their familiar weight in his hand. He returned to Loki, the smile drifting off his face when he saw the man in the same position.

Carefully, Tony took the pliers and cut the metal strip between Loki's hands. He didn't bother with the cuffs, however, knowing they neutralized Loki's power. Sure, it would probably help Loki heal faster if he took them off, but who knew what would happen after that. Loki could kill him.

With a commanding voice, Tony asked Jarvis to fill the tub.

Returning to the god, the playboy took a deep breath. "Sorry, dude." Tony mumbled as he began to remove some of Loki's clothing. Taking off even Loki's boots revealed that they were weighted down with blood in the inside. Loki's feet were completely red, only the barest of ivory skin shining through. Stark tried not to gasp, biting the inside of his cheek. "Okay…um…." Moving on, Tony decided. He got Loki's coat off and his layers of leather. Soon Loki sat there, naked except for the towel that Tony had placed over his groin for privacy. A quick peek showed there wasn't anything wrong with that, anyway.

Carefully Tony got Loki into the tub. The clear water instantly became red as the blood on Loki's skin began to wash away. Taking a washcloth, Stark began to clean Loki's skin and hair. It was soon revealed that beside the small nicks and cuts from getting hit, there were no other open wounds. Nothing to cause such massive bleeding, anyway. Tony's prior thoughts about Loki getting drenched in blood seemed to be true.

All the while, Tony realized, Loki didn't do anything but stare. His shoulders sagged, hunched over slightly, and he seemed like dead weight. At least he was clean now.

"Alright, man…" whispered Stark, helping Loki from the tub. He wrapped a robe around the naked god as best he could since he was trying to support him. He led Loki back to the bed and tore off the bloody sheets before lying Loki upon the mattress. "Get some sleep."

Relief overcame Tony when he saw Loki's eyes slowly shut. The god fell into a calm sleep.

Tan hands placed a blanket over Loki's sleeping form.

"Night, buddy."

A/N: I know it may be a bit confusing right now, but it should get clearer later. ^^