Hi! So, this is my very first fanfiction. It's a Loki fanfic, although he doesn't talk in this chapter. I'll explain all at the bottom.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own the Avengers!
Pepper and Tony Stark sat together on the croissant shaped sofa in the Stark lounge, sipping dark wine from tapered glasses, and watching late night TV with half-lidded, somnolent eyes.
Tony reached for the remote, desperate for a cure to end the null void that the show they were watching was, of a nun smoothing her crinkled papers, preparing to give a speech. What the hell? He flipped through the channels at lightning speed, squinting to see if he could make out a fragment of anything worthwhile.
"Tony, how can you tell if there's anything on?" Pepper asked, amused, watching his elongated antics.
"There's nothing on, " Tony groaned, and took his thumb off the channel switch to show what he meant.
"And so, like, I was so upset because no guy likes meee," Kim Kardashian whined.
"Never mind, change the channel, change the channel!" Pepper yelled.
"Nah, I want to watch some rich whores whine about their love lives," Tony declared, crisscrossing his fingers behind his head.
Pepper stared at him for a brief moment, an eyebrow twitching.
"I'm kidding, lighten up," he chuckled, and placed a kiss to Pepper's forehead. He grabbed the remote once again, and clicked off the TV.
"You didn't have to do that," Pepper smiled.
"Well, there's no entertaining things on tonight, so, I guess we have to talk to each other now."
"What!" Pepper laughed, and playfully swatted him on the shoulder. He leaned in to kiss her, his hands on her hips. As he began to trail kisses down her jawline, he suddenly heard his cell- phone ring, blurting the outmoded song, 'Hips don't lie.'
Pepper burst out laughing, her serious composure broken through.
Tony rolled his eyes. "Don't judge me. Thor picked this ringtone, he's obsessed with Shakira."
"I didn't even know he had a phone," Pepper said.
"Banner taught him how to use it, and he's been obsessed ever since. He's always texting me about random shit." Tony hit ignore on the phone, looked back at Pepper, and said, "Now, where were we?" He was about to grace Pepper's lips with his once more, when 'Hips don't lie' started to blast, again.
"Shakespeare doesn't give up, does he?" Tony grumbled, and picked up the phone.
"MAN OF METAL, I MUST SPEAK WITH YOU."
"Jesus Christ, Thor, have you ever heard of an inside voice?"
"I HAVE NO TIME FOR YOUR MIDGARDIAN WORDPLAY. THIS IS EXTREMELY URGENT, WE MUST TALK AT ONCE."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Why does it have to be urgent now? Why can't it be urgent later?"
"I AM CURRENTLY AT YOUR FRONT DOOR. LET ME IN."
Tony hung up, and looked at Pepper, disappointment written all over his face. She smirked. "We'll have plenty of time for that later, answer the door."
They traveled down the gilded elevator, and Tony traced the keys with an eager finger, hoping to end the meeting as quickly as possible. When they reached the appropriate floor, Tony stepped out with Pepper in tow, and called for Jarvis to unlock the entrance. A voice projected through the intercom obliged Thor to enter the residence. Thor pushed open the iron-cast door, showing only half of his form. Then, he stepped into the room fully, revealing some guy draped over his bulbous shoulder. Thor was panting, his face flushed with scarcely hidden anguish.
"Greetings, friends!" Thor boomed, his voice at an aural-deteriorating decibel.
"What the fuck?!" Pepper yelled, her eyebrows raised to their pinnacle.
"Uh, Thor, you know, you could've told me that-" Tony stuttered.
Before he could finish, Natasha, Bruce, Steve, and Clint sauntered into the room, filling the air with palpable tension.
"Is this some sort of surprise party for me? My birthday was two months ago, though, and I'm not a big fan of unconscious strangers at parties. They're no fun," Tony protested. "And you guys have no party spirit either," he pointed out, shaking his head mockingly.
"Uh, that's no stranger," Bruce said, his eyes narrowing at Tony over his round glasses.
Thor threw the man down on a forest green chair that boarded a granite coffee table. The man's head dangled over the side of the metallic arm of the chair.
Tony walked over to reveal the man's identity, and after one quick look at him, he promptly turned around, and faced Pepper. "I'm dreaming...I have to be dreaming, because this is bat-shit crazy."
The man on the couch, after all, was none other than Loki. He was swathed in the identical formal garb he donned on the day he tried to subjugate the people of Stuttgart. Loki looked twice as unhealthy as he did on his prior visit to Midgard. His face was drained of obligatory color, and had a slight tint of pale gray on the sheen of his brow. A gargantuan bruise, that was the color of a dark violet, rudely stretched upon right side of his forehead. Sacks of plum sagged beneath his closed eyes, adding to his gaunt appearance.
It was given that Loki was probably mentally insane, but, he looked rather peaceful asleep, despite his various injuries, and his stagnant aura of abysmal health.
"Can someone explain?" Tony said. "Or is this twenty questions?"
Thor sighed. "When I brought Loki back to Asgard, Odin declared that for his punishment, he must spend time with me on Earth to achieve appreciation for the mortals. That visit I paid to Midgard so long ago changed my outlook on life forever," Thor said proudly.
"He's been to Midgard before. He tried to enslave the entire human race," Tony pointed out.
Pepper added, "I agree. I seriously doubt that a trip here would make him penitent."
The rest of the Avengers appeared to be in agreement (aside from Thor). Clint just glared at the unconscious man on the couch, remembering how Loki took advantage of his mind, with anger still fresh in his heart.
Steve said, "I do not think that he is necessarily evil, per se. It's just that he has a lot of inner turmoil, and believes that exercising power over harmless beings will grant him the acceptance he never had. Change could be possible."
"Change?!" blurted Clint, who then turned to Thor. "You should have put up a better fight with Odin. We spent the longest time being Loki's bitches, and fighting his alien army. Why the hell is he back here!"
"I thought we talked this through," Natasha said, glaring at Clint.
Voices began rising on all sides, with Steve trying to be the peacemaker.
"ENOUGH!" yelled Thor. "He has been stripped of his magic, his powers. He is nothing more than a mortal now."
"You could have told us that from the beginning," Bruce said.
Tony watched this all with amusement. "Okay, your fighting has been all in all hilarious, but in all seriousness, why the hell did you bring Loki here?"
"He needs to be under constant watch and care. You, metal man, operate a facility which will provide the correct tools for my brother to redeem himself. We shall all live here and keep watch."
Tony stared at Thor, unbelieving. "That's not your call, buddy."
Pepper added, "You can't just barge into our home, and demand residence here."
"Yeah, and dude, didn't Odin say that it was your responsibility, not ours?" Tony said, crossing his arms.
"Fury ordered us all to keep watch on Loki, and help him," Natasha said, tucking a lock of bright red hair behind her ear.
"This isn't Delusional Gods Anonymous, it's not our job," Tony argued.
"I really need your help," Thor begged.
"Why are none of you arguing?" Tony said, gesturing towards his friends, who were dutifully taciturn, save for Clint, who Natasha was talking quietly to. On note of Tony's statement, Natasha looked up at him.
"Cause we already did," she said, and rubbed her eyes. "It's pointless. Thor doesn't give up."
"Whatever. There's a lot of room. Guest rooms are on the tenth floor," Tony said, rolling his eyes, and ultimately sick of arguing with his friends. He also did not wish to deal with Fury.
Clint opened the front door, and walked out.
Thor scooped up his brother gently.
"Oh, how did Loki get that bruise, by the way?" Pepper asked.
"He was not overly fond of visiting Stark Tower," Thor replied.
Pepper gave him a questioning look.
"He broke all the windows in Thor's house, and set Thor's car on fire," Natasha said, looking bored. "So Thor knocked him out, and we drove them here."
The front door swung open at that moment, and Clint came in, carrying several suitcases. "Anyone wanna help?"
Tony now had a blinding headache. Not only was he stuck with Reindeer Games, but also the rest of the crazy Avengers, trying to redeem someone who seemed past the point of no return.
Author's note:
This was incredibly fun to write, and I hope people will enjoy this story. I immediately began shipping Natasha and Loki after the scene in the cage. It will be a slow progression, as I cannot see them jumping into bed right away...I mean, it's the freaking Black Widow.
~Also~ Natasha will NOT get pregnant in this fanfic, or any other fanfics I may write about her. I'm saying this because there's a plethora of Natasha/Loki stories where she gets pregnant. I don't know if this just bothers me, or...
Oh, and I rated this story M for some violence, swears, and later on, sexual situations.
Feel free to review- I love 'em! I'm also totally open to criticism, as I believe it helps every aspiring writer develop their skills...as long as it's constructive. :)
-skywriter23
xoxo
