A/N: Hey, guys! Sorry for the wait. Blame this chapter for being finicky, my illustration work for having deadlines, and Merlin for stealing my feels. *cough*

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading, and a cyber-cookie to anyone who reviews. Not that you should be accepting cookies from strangers, but. Yeah.

An Apple a Day

"Apples?" Tony repeated, nonplussed. "Hey, you know. We do have apples on Earth if you're looking to eat healthier. I mean, I could always–"

"Magic apples, Anthony," Loki sighed, patting Tony's cheek teasingly before walking back down the hall, willing his legs to remain steady this time. Golden pillars cast him in shadow one moment and left him exposed the next. "Magic."

"Oh."

Tony clunked down the hall after Loki, and the god bit back a smile, already steeled for what he had to do.

"Okay, well, we don't have magic apples on Earth, as far as I know. Anything else on the grocery list? Magic bananas? An Easy Bake Oven?"

Loki sighed. "I suspect you've made another reference that I do not understand."

"Just keeping you on your toes."

Loki stopped and spun, grabbing Tony's chin and kissing the grunt of surprise off his lips. He pulled back, smirking, as Tony licked his lips.

"Magic apples," Tony said dazedly. "Alright. I can do that."

Loki smiled, glad Tony was too distracted to ask questions. "Good," Loki purred, lips brushing Tony's. "Tonight then. For now, shall I show you the guest rooms?"

Tony growled and cupped the back of Loki's neck, smashing their lips together again. Loki rather liked how much taller Tony's suit made him, liked that he was the one craning up for once. He hardly noticed when he found himself herded into the nearest empty room.

"I don't believe this is a bedroom," Loki pointed out.

"Whatever," Tony growled. Loki arched an eyebrow. Tony grabbed him by the lapels and pulled him close. "Lose everything but the helmet."

The door slammed shut behind Loki's surprised laughter.

Loki watched the sun set from their room, fingers tapping out a staccato rhythm against the windowsill as he waited. Idun went home in the evening, leaving the golden apples unattended, and Loki knew when patience was a virtue.

The stakes were higher now. Loki had always thought he might have to steal the apples but for Tony, not for himself as well.

If his fingers shook a little as they moved, no one had to know.

Tony came up beside him and nudged his ribs with one armored elbow.

"Hey," he said. "You okay?"

Loki pointedly didn't look at Tony as he asked, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Another elbow nudge. "That's not an answer."

Loki smiled weakly, his gaze tracing the familiar Asgardian skyline. The sky bled to gold and pink. It was almost time.

"I suppose it isn't."

Loki blew out a shaky breath and turned a sickeningly bright smile Tony's way. "Time to get ready," he said. "Put on your helmet."

Tony gave him a searching look, lips pursed, before he pulled on the helmet of his suit, letting it click into place before pulling back the visor. "You're bossy today," he said, one eyebrow arched.

Loki's lips quirked up as he pulled on his own helm. "Don't pretend you don't like it."

Loki could see Tony's smirk even as he closed his eyes, breathing deep and reaching for his magic. Evading his father and Heimdall's sight was something Loki had turned into an art form centuries ago, and, even out of practice, it was hardly difficult.

"So you think this will keep Peeping God from noticing us?" Tony asked as Loki began working a spell. The human's nerves barely hidden under a cocky smile.

Loki looked at Tony and considered his armored figure. The red and gold suit was now back in place (after its hasty earlier dismantling), and it was hardly the sort of thing that screamed "stealth".

Then again, anything that screamed stealth was likely missing the point.

"No," Loki answered because he didn't always lie.

Tony blinked. "Pardon?"

Magic sizzled at Loki's fingertips. "Odin's no fool. He knows I want the apples and what I might do, but this is our only chance. The idea is to grab the apples and run."

"Ah. Good plan."

It was hardly a plan at all, really, but Loki had always been better at improvising.

He could feel Tony's eyes on him as he cast a spell that would obscure them – not making them invisible, just inconspicuous – and again as he summoned an illusion of the pair of them.

And because he could feel Tony's eyes on him, Loki pushed their illusory doubles into a tangle of limbs on the bed and into... a rather amorous embrace.

Tony's eyes were no longer on Loki. At least not the original Loki. "Well," he said, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Didn't realize you could use your magic to do that."

"You don't know the half of what I can do with my magic," Loki answered, his lips a wicked curve as he shot the human a coy look. Noting the sudden interest in Tony's gaze, Loki nudged him towards the door with an affectionate eye-roll and a hissed, "Later."

There was a garden adjoining the palace, hidden from the world by high walls that glinted gold in the sun and shone moon-pale that night. The garden was tended and guarded by Idun, a fair-haired goddess of few words, and was a favorite haunt of the queen. In the center stood a single apple tree, from which hung a cadre of beautiful golden apples.

The fruit of the gods, the humans had called them. The apples of youth.

Loki could almost see them, glimmering like stars, from where he stood at the other end of the garden, pressed up against a shadowed curve of the wall. Idun would be sleeping now, leaving them unattended, and this was their chance.

"I want you to notice, by the way," Tony whispered at his ear, "that I am not asking why we're stealing a bunch of apples."

Loki looked at Tony over his shoulder and arched an eyebrow. "And?" he hissed.

Tony shrugged, smiling disarmingly. "And I just wanted you to know," he said, "that I am not asking. Even though it's a bit strange, and I am an exceedingly curious person, I am not asking. I am trusting you and not asking."

A smile quirked at the edge of Loki's lips, but the god turned back to their objective. "Duly noted, Anthony."

Tony fidgeted beside him, and Loki could feel the nervous glances shot at the back of his head.

"Okay, Loki, seriously, what are we doing?"

"I thought you weren't asking."

Tony chuckled nervously at his ear. "What can I say, I'm a fickle man."

Loki smirked and reached back over his shoulder to pat Tony's cheek. "Do you trust me?" he asked sweetly, turning so that he could see Tony's eyes out of the corner of his.

"I trust you," Tony answered slowly, warily, "to keep things interesting. I do not trust you to keep us out of trouble."

"It's mutual, darling."

Tony let out an exaggerated sigh. "That's my problem. I never could resist a bad boy."

"Resisting me is futile; I am much too charming. Now hush."

Loki pulled Tony after him, smiling cockily, reassuringly back at Tony as they made their way through the garden, careful not to let his unease show. They should have encountered guards by now, and Loki knew better than to take that as a good sign. He suspected that Thor or perhaps even Odin himself would appear soon to stop him. The usual dance.

Loki cringed at the sound Tony's armor made in the dark, all creaking joints and screaming metal.

"Can't you keep it down?" he hissed as he padded along the dirt path. "That thing is a travesty."

He could feel Tony's scowl. "Whatever, Donner," he grumbled, indicating Loki's helmet with a jerk of his head. "Or should I call you Vixen?"

Loki stopped mid-eye-roll to scan the sky for unexpected thunderstorms and the like. "You are rubbish at this whole sneaking thing, you know."

Lightning flashed overhead, and Loki stilled, pulling Tony to a stop next to him. He cursed and pulled Tony with him into a shadowy alcove. Lightning flashed again but farther away, and Loki blew out a shaky sigh.

Tony eyed him curiously. "We are really not supposed to be here, are we?"

"Not even slightly."

Tony shifted, and Loki cringed at the rasp of metal on metal.

"Will you stop fidgeting?" he hissed.

"Oh, what, I can't breathe now?"

Loki cut Tony's diatribe short with a well-aimed glare. He looked anxiously back at the gate to see the hallway beyond lit with a golden glow. There was another screeching of metal on metal, this time farther away, and Loki swallowed a curse.

"That... wasn't me," Tony said.

"I am aware," Loki breathed, gripping Tony's shoulder.

There was more screeching metal and then the thud of heavy footsteps as the molten glow grew, and then the Destroyer turned the corner, blocking the gate and hallway beyond from view. It towered over the shrubs by the door, its "eye" molten and bright with suppressed energy.

Loki had been expecting more than the usual guards, of course. But to him that had meant Heimdall or Thor or even Odin – a challenge, sure, but Aesir he could reason with.

In all of Loki's planning, scheming, and calculating, however, he had never gambled on this.

And it made sense, really, stationing something by the apples that Loki couldn't smooth-talk.

"Oh, damn," he murmured as the Destroyer turned and zeroed in on them. He squeezed Tony's shoulder with a grip that would bruise flesh. "Run."

"Run?"

"Run!"

Loki turned and all but pushed Tony ahead of him. Behind them, the Destroyer hummed, readying to fire, as they raced deeper into the garden and crowded behind a tall bush, close to the wall.

"I hope you have a Plan B," Tony said, eyes wide and wild, "or was this part of Plan A?"

The air flared blindingly bright, and the earth shook. The ground beside the bush was a scorched hole when Loki turned to look, eyes tearing at the smoke. A warning shot.

Next to him, Tony cursed and pulled down his visor. Loki caught his arm as he tensed to move. "Don't even think about it," he snapped. "The Destroyer would incinerate you in seconds!"

"Alright, then what's your plan, princess?"

Loki spared a wistful glance at the tree with the golden apples, still far out of reach. "Retreat and regroup," he sighed. Blowing out a shaky breath, Loki closed his eyes and reached. He saw the familiar paths through Yggdrasil and focused on the closest one leading to Midgard. He frowned when his "sight" wavered but brushed it off.

"Yes, wonderful," Tony griped, and Loki heard him as though through a tunnel. "First, can you get us past the angry tin can over there?"

Loki arched an eyebrow. Tony sighed.

"Yes, yes, I'm one to talk," he added. "And?"

"And you'd better hold on."

Loki tightened his grip on Tony's arm and pulled him towards Midgard. They appeared standing on top of a snaking branch of Yggdrasil, in the cold and dark and silence of the In-Between. The Destroyer and the garden were nowhere to be seen.

The air was unusually oppressive.

"Loki, what – ?"

Tony bit off his words at Loki's smile.

We're safe, Loki almost said, even though he knew better, when the branch under him trembled, and the smile died on his lips. The very air around them seemed to shake, and Loki suddenly found it hard to breathe.

"Loki?"

Tony's hand was on his arm now, solid and grounding.

"My magic," Loki wheezed, thoughts whirring frantically. "What's wrong with my magic?"

And then he remembered: mortal.

Yggdrasil gave way beneath them, and the In-Between shattered into reality as they fell.