Do you feel cold and lost in desperation?
You build up hope, but failure's all you've known.
Nine months ago...
After Tony's break up with Pepper, he had gone downhill fast, falling into the old cycle of too much alcohol and partying. Loki had been hiding in New York after being sent down to make reparation, having served his prison sentence in Asgard. He stumbled upon the billionaire retching his guts out in an alley, suffering from from what was clearly too much alcohol in the mans system
Using a wisp of magic to find out what was wrong, Loki couldn't help but lift an eyebrow at the extent of the damage to the mans liver and kidneys. He contemplated the sad excuse for a man just as Stark lifted his head and saw the god watching him, swaying drunkenly as he stumbled over to peer at his face.
Loki's face twisted at the fumes being emitted from the man. "Stark, you stink like a week old carcass. Step back before you harm yourself even more than you already have." His gaze swept contemptuously over the man weaving before him.
"It is you... Loki, right?" The man's breath was rank, and Loki's eyes watered.
"Of course it's me, you bumbling idiot! Do you know what you're doing to yourself?"
Stark's breath caught as he gagged, falling to his knees, he tried to get air into his lungs, proof that he indeed must know. "I couldn't do it..." He whispered when he finally sucked in a large enough intake of air to form a coherent sentence. Loki eyed him, contemplating the little mortal who was becoming more and more interesting by the second. There was obviously more to the story then he thought there was.
"Couldn't do what?" He finally asked, unable to help himself from poking and prodding, taking apart the puzzle to experience the thrill of seeing the lifeblood, feeling the beating embers of life at his fingertips. Not that he wanted to do anything harmful to the man for the time being, but he made an intriguing puzzle with which to pass the time.
Stark looked up at Loki, and the god stumbled back, shaken to his core at the broken look in his eyes. It was one he was all too familiar within himself, one he had seen when he glanced into mirrors, one he tried to avoid.
"I couldn't give Pepper what she wanted... especially not after seeing it. The portal... I woke up screaming every night for six months after that... if I even bothered to sleep. If I didn't, it would still whisper to me, making me think I was going mad, or more so than I already am." Tony's smile was bitter, self-deprecating as his mind checked out of the building for a moment.
Against his wanting to Loki found himself feeling pity for the mortal. Having fallen through the portal himself, he knew the nightmares of which the man spoke of. More often than not he would live in a waking dream, not sleeping for days or weeks on end. The whispers of which he spoke of were stronger within Loki, having been connected to their master as he had been.
Loki sighed and reached out, shaking the mortal slightly when his mind seemed trapped within the universe that he had seen oh so briefly.
"Stark, you're not helping anything by dying of alcohol poisoning." The god told him sharply. Because that's exactly what was happening... his body was slowly succumbing to the amount of alcohol that ran through it daily. Tony's breathing was ragged, his heart rate erratic, and Loki didn't miss the little catches of breath that almost became gags. Seemingly Stark had outdone himself and had drank too much too fast, his body refused to put up with it.
"I just want... peace." Stark practically begged, eyes suddenly snapping to the gods, trying to find something there. Something Loki was almost uncomfortable with him looking for. Why look at him to provide peace when he still searched for it himself?
With a sigh, he reached for the mortal, grabbing his arms and hauling him up before teleporting them to his place of residence. Stark stumbled against the god with a gasp of surprise, before coughing and stumbling over to the nearest garbage to heave over it. A voice greeted them both, but Stark was used to it and Loki paid it no mind knowing it wasn't an actual human being. He watched with a critical eye as the man vomited blood instead of alcohol or half digested food. Tony stared at the blood once his stomach quieted, obviously knowing what it meant.
"Stark. You will be dead within the next three months if you continue like this. You all know I am here to repair damages. I am rather surprised you haven't attacked me yet, but given your condition I think a pass is free of charge this time."
Tony waved weakly at him, not even bothering to look up as he shuffled around the kitchen looking for a glass to get water to rinse his mouth out with. Loki waited until he had done so, then suddenly appeared in front of him, holding a feather light touch to his forehead. Catching the man as he began to fall, Loki determined that the only way to get the man to be still and accept his services was for Stark to be unconscious.
He found the bedroom with the help of the disembodied voice he now knew was called Jarvis for some reason. Laying the mortal on the bed the god sat down next to him, watching him sleep. Relaxed in sleep, Tony appeared carefree, younger and with fewer disappointments sitting on his chest then when he was awake. The man grunted with a pained expression, clutching the object emitting light in his chest before relaxing as Loki found himself speaking a few soothing words.
Loki found himself curious as to why the man had an object of such power in his chest, but figured whatever reason there was behind it, it would be a sore subject for Stark. Shaking his head he made himself comfortable on the bed beside the unconscious man beside him and placing one hand on the man's stomach, the other on his liver. There was a lot of damage, and years worth of alcohol abuse wasn't going to totally disappear in one healing session.
Wondering how far he should take the healing, he made sure the immediate threat was cleared away, seeing to it that the man wouldn't die in his sleep from the alcohol running rampant in his veins. It would take several days, and a lesson or two, to get the mortal to stop drinking like he was, but with a spell or two-
Loki suddenly frowned, wondering why he was thinking of going that far for Stark. He did what he wanted, and right now he just wanted to stay under the radar of the Avengers. They knew he was on Earth. No doubt SHIELD knew exactly where he was most of the time, but this was getting directly involved with a member of the team. Loki glanced back at the mortals face, finding it twisted into a grimace.
Stark suddenly screamed, bolting upright in bed, eyes wide open, pupils blown with fear and panic. Tears were streaming unnoticed down his face, and he was gasping for air as if there wasn't enough in the room to fill his lungs completely. Loki reacted quickly, grabbing Tony's shoulders, and shook him while talking in an even tone to get his attention.
"Stark! You're fine, you're at your home in the Tower. With JARVIS." He added, slightly helpless as to what would bring the man back from the abyss of pain and fear he had succumbed to while dreaming.
Tony looked up at him, the fog from the dream slipping away, clarity returning. "Loki... I thought you were a dream, or hallucination."
The god smirked. "No, I'm not a dream or hallucination. Perhaps you would prefer it if I were?"
It was a loaded question, Tony could tell that with a glance at the light gleaming in the gods eyes. He shook his head and regretted it immediately afterwards, clutching his temples with a groan. There was a smirk in the gods voice when he spoke. "Does something hurt, by chance?"
Tony glared. Norse god or not, he was an annoying little shit when he wanted to be and Tony was in pain and didn't give a fuck who he pissed off.
"As long as you're not going to kill me, or defenestrate me again when I don't have my bracelets on, feel free to stay. I need pain killers." He groaned that last part as he stood up, head swimming. Stumbling forward, he was rather surprised when Loki stepped forward and supported him. There was a silence as Tony looked up at the god in surprise, and the god simply raised an eyebrow at him.
"I so need a drink right now." Tony turned away and headed to the bar.
"You will not want to do that, Stark." Loki said, following him. Tony whipped around to stare at him in confusion.
"Not do what? Of course I want a drink. I have a Norse god in my house who's seemingly just rescued me from the pits of New York City, healed me when I had finally started dying of alcohol poisoning, and now... telling me not to drink? What are you, Steve in disguise?" There was a note of contempt, softened by fondness for the Captain as he spoke.
"I did not save you just to watch your try and kill yourself again!" Loki snapped, eyes firing green fury at Stark. Tony reached for the bottle and Loki muttered a few words under his breath, motioning a few fingers towards Stark when he was done. The man gasped and bent over with a hand on his stomach, glaring at Loki as he did so.
"What the fuck did you just do to me?" He gritted out. Loki smiled mischievously.
"That should hold you. At the moment you aren't able to drink anything alcoholic without vomiting. I'd be careful if I were you, I'm sure throwing it all up will be such an inconvenience." His eyes sparkled with humor, and although Stark didn't seem to think it funny, it was for his own good.
Tony narrowed his eyes, grabbed the nearest bottle of tequila and chugged some of it down before choking. Throwing the bottle away from him with a look of revulsion, he rushing to the sink where he promptly threw it all up. Loki winced. If there was one thing he knew after being on Midgard for a couple months, it was that the mortals weak alcohol never tasted as good coming up as it did going down.
Tony washed his mouth out before whirling on the god with a look of fury that would have Fury jealous.
"What the fucking hell have you done to me?" He spat out, eyes wide. He wiped a hand across his mouth, a look passing over his face briefly as he remembered the taste of the alcohol.
Loki shook his head. "You won't be able to drink alcohol without throwing up until I take off that particular spell I'm afraid. Call it what you may, penance for trying to take over Earth, throwing you out a window... I'm afraid you've caught my interest, little mortal, and I don't like letting things die before I tell them to if I like them enough."
Stark went pale with rage. "You had no right to do that! Get the fuck out of my Tower, before I call the rest of the Avengers!" He snarled. Loki lifted an eyebrow, but he could see the mortal was serious. It seems taking away his alcohol wasn't nearly as funny to him as it was to Loki. Nonetheless, he disappeared, going invisible to see what Stark would do next.
By the end of the day, Stark had sampled every bottle of alcohol he had, throwing up all of them. Loki tsked silently. It was useless, the spell would always make it taste revolting to him until Loki chose to lift it. With a sigh, Loki decided to go find amusement elsewhere, making a note to come back intermittently to make sure the mortal had weaned himself off the dependency successfully.
Loki no longer questioned his motives, choosing to think of Stark as a project. If it was a project, he didn't need to care, just go through with the plan and make sure he was successful. He would be successful. He was always successful when he put his mind to it.
Three days later, Loki popped back into the Tower to check up on Tony. He appeared silently, invisible still, to the murmur of voices. Taking a look around, he realized that Banner and the Captain were standing in front of Tony's door, bodies tense and faces concerned.
"I've never seen him like this Bruce. What's wrong with him? He suddenly stops drinking alcohol, and now he's crashing because of it. Isn't there a way to make the transition a bit gentler on him?" Captain America asked Banner urgently.
Banner shook his head. "I can't just give him alcohol to make it better Steve. In the long run it's for the best that he's no longer dependent on alcohol like he was, even though he's in this kind of shape because of it." A scream came from the room just as he finished talking and both men looked towards the closed door with a wince. Steve looked like he was about to rush inside, but Banner held him back and tugged him to the bar. They both drank a glass, throwing it back like water as more jagged edged screams tore out from the room beyond.
Loki cringed, wondering what had gone wrong and teleported into the room. Stark was drenched in sweat, face pale and body shivering, even though it seemed a thousand degrees inside the room. He strode to his side and touched a hand to his forehead. It wasn't so much his spell as much as it was the fact that his body had acclimated itself to the alcohol over the years, and having none in his system was giving his system a shock.
Loki sighed softly and whispered a few words, making Stark shiver and go quiet, face going lax as he fell asleep. Loki turned away, slightly troubled that the man had such difficulties. His dependency on alcohol had gone up since the last time he had seen him. Wondering what would make the man that desperate for oblivion, he teleported away.
Over the next week, Loki was in and out of the Tower, most of the time invisible to check up on Stark before teleporting himself out. After the first wave of shock, Stark had gotten better, but his body still fought, rejecting any food he ate. The second week he was able to get up without doing a faceplant, and steadily improved from there on out, with the exception of alcohol. His team was confused at the abrupt change, but accepted it was for the best and moved on.
Hey there everyone! May I just say I love you guys for the response this story, and the one Partaking of the Forbidden Fruit has gotten. It's been amazing seeing others add it to their watch list, and favorites.. inspires me so much ^^ Thanks to TheDarkElement again for helping keep the mistakes to a minimum :P xD
Hope you like the second chapter just as much as the first, feel free to ask me questions if anything confuses you... that's all for now folks! I'll hopefully have the third chapter up fairly soon. I'm sure you already knew this but... I love reviews! XD
