I'm warning you now, if you haven't read the others, especially the most recent one, you're not gonna know what's going on at all. I'd say if you want to get to this and read the minimum to understand: read the first one, third one bc i like that one, and the fourth and fifth one since those are fairly important as well. So read all but the second I guess, it's not that crucial I don't think.
The twang of a live guitar somewhere in the distance was almost overpowered by the sound of a bustling crowd. Hundreds of white tents, all set up with colorful overflowing displays lined the streets.
A rack of novelty sunglasses caught Loki's eye.
"Hey, how do I look?"
The group ground to a halt as Loki snatched a pair of heart shaped sunglasses from the stand, flashing a smile at the attendee working it, and spun around, wearing them.
Tony sipped his drink and smirked.
"Classy."
"You're the one drinking a bacon bloody mary."
Clutching his drink close to his chest, Tony gasped dramatically.
"How dare you, it's delicious!"
Loki grinned, turning back around to inspect what they looked like in the small mirror by the display.
To avoid unwanted attention Loki had provided everyone with a glamour, as even after intense deliberation the rest of them were unwilling to have Loki actually physically alter their bodies. Leaving Loki the only one to do so.
Silky dark hair fell across Loki's face, the red frames popped against both their hair and pale skin. The sunglasses, despite their ridiculousness, though possibly because of it, Loki was charmed by them. It certainly helped that they covered the dark eye bags that were practically a permanent addition to his features in the last few months.
The shop owner tapped her fingers nervously against the table.
"Ma'am, I think you look wonderful in them."
At her words, Loki let out a light laugh, a bell like tinkle with their changed voice.
"Well, I'm sold."
Before Loki could pay; Natasha gasped and stepped up to the stall. She picked out a pair of red, white, and blue glasses, grinning with impish glee.
"We're getting these too."
Loki snickered and glanced back at Steve; who was hiding his face in his hands, looking like he was trying his best to disappear.
Despite that, they left the stall plus two novelty sunglasses, both being worn.
The day passed with nothing more eventful than Thor accidentally breaking the "Test Your Strength" game, which led to profuse apologies and Tony having to pay off the owner handsomely to avoid them getting reported and kicked out of the fair, and Clint easily winning a giant stuffed bear from a ring toss, which he refused to give up.
Dusk began to fall across the festival as an autumn chill settled over the town.
Loki fidgeted with the sunglasses as they listened to the last performance of the night.
This had been a nice distraction, however; the gem… his gem.
A prickling sensation alerted Loki to Tony, who was watching him, eyes narrowed. Loki met his gaze, silently daring him to speak his mind. Tony simply shook his head and turned back to watch the band on stage. A tight muscle in his jaw conveyed to Loki clearly enough what Tony felt about what he had previously described as: "an obsession".
00000
A dull boom from somewhere above rattled the loose bolts on the table and startled Tony enough for him to drop the repulsor he was tinkering with.
"Shit!"
He winced sympathetically as he picked the repulsor up, attempting to buff out the newly acquired scuff with his sleeve and muttering as he did so.
"Sorry, babe. I'm gonna fix you up right after I kick the ass of whoever did that."
As he gingerly set the repulsor down Tony's phone buzzed. It was Steve. Tony answered it as he walked towards the elevator.
"No it wasn't me."
From the other side Tony heard Steve sigh with exasperation.
"Okay. Well, I'm with Clint and Nat and it wasn't us."
"I have a feeling I know who's fault it is, but can you check up with Thor and Bruce just to make sure? What are you guys doing anyway?"
"Netflix. But, yeah, I can check with them."
The line dropped as Tony stepped into the elevator. A few long moments of silence later his phone buzzed, Steve again, this time a text.
Wasn't them either. Good luck.
Tony groaned, he'd been putting off confronting Loki about his obsession for months.
Ever since Loki had discovered the yellow gem at the core of his scepter he'd been little more than a recluse. At first Tony had hoped that Loki would figure it out quickly and things could go back to as close to normal as their lives got, but as the weeks had turned into months the situation seemed to have no end in sight. And Loki's fidgeting, ticks that had started as minor, mostly unnoticeable, had become topic of many a quiet, unsettled conversation.
Whenever confronted, be it by a very concerned Thor or a diplomatic Natasha, Loki had merely brushed off the accusations. Usually before secluding himself for another few days before the need for food drove him to whatever meal pleased him.
At this point Tony was at the end of his rope, he had promised Loki not to tell anyone about the gem, but he had never thought it would get this bad.
He now stood outside of Loki's door. With a deep breath he sucked in all of his concerns and banged his fist on the door, adopting a less somber tone than his thoughts.
"Stop blowing up my building, asshole! I'm opening this door and if I find a crater in my floor again-"
Tony walked in to find Loki grinning at him, room seemingly flawless, though the faint smell of singed cloth was unmistakable. Tony's eyes were instantly drawn to the glowing stone, floating bubbled in the middle of the room.
Likely picking up on his distaste for the object, Loki stepped between it and Tony; easy grin gone, practically bristling.
"I fixed what I broke and it won't happen again. You can go back to whatever you were doing."
Digging his heels in, Tony didn't move, a low hum in his ears he barely noticed as he became immediately frustrated with Loki's standoffishness.
"No, I can't leave, we need to talk about this."
"Tony, I still have such a limited understanding of this thing. I do know, however, that it's clearly an incredibly volatile object. I'm simply trying to learn more about it to keep us sa-"
Anger flared inside Tony.
"No! Don't pull that shit! You're not "helping us", you're obsessed… you're… addicted to this thing! You're not thinking of anyone but yourself! Hell, you're not even thinking of yourself, you look terrible!"
For a quick second Loki drew back, appearing surprised by the intensity in Tony's voice. Though he quickly beared down on Tony, anger redoubled.
"You have no idea what you're talking about! You haven't felt its power! Yet you stand here and accuse me of obsessing-"
"Because you are!"
"-over this gem! You come into my room and-"
Tony scoffed, cutting Loki off again.
"It's my building, I let you live here!"
The Trickster bared his teeth, towering over Tony. The air crackled, the temperature dropped.
"I could leave!"
Tony was about to snap back a reply when something in his brain jerked to awareness.
This situation… this anger, it all felt oddly familiar. Why was he so angry? This is not how he wanted this to go. Of course he didn't want Loki to leave, what was wrong with him? Why couldn't he think straight? What was that buzzing in his ears?
He hastily backed off, attempting to diffuse the situation.
"No! No-I- stay! Loki, I'm… we'll talk about this later."
He scrambled from the room, leaving the god still angry behind him.
The door closed and Tony slumped down in the hallway as his thoughts began to clear. He had felt like that before, when he was arguing with Fury and the others years ago, before they were officially the Avengers, on that doomed helicarrier, in the presence of the scepter.
"It's that damn gem, I'm such an idiot, of course it's that thing."
It it could mess with his head after only minimal exposure and the slightest provocation it was no wonder Loki was so changed. He was exposed to it for months, with direct contact.
"How could I have forgotten about that? I've- I've got to tell someone."
AN: I've been laughing about the title to this fic since I thought it up two weeks ago. I'm posting the second chapter right away so there's nothing else to say except I love this title.