Sorry for the late update! I encountered writer's block until my wonderful husband gave it back~ 3

So this chapter's dedicated to him~ Enjoy~!

Three weeks later, since his rather seductive yet torturous dream, Tony refused to leave the Towers or talk to anyone, not even Pepper. The only things he did for the most part was work, have a few rounds of scotch, take a shower, sleep before waking up – either sexually tensed or mentally disturbed – to do more work in his garage at different times of the day. One of those days, the engineer had woken up from having a nightmare of his memories and tried to drink it off and work. But it didn't help because his mind had reverted back; back to the trickster's heartbeat and for some reason… it both soothed him and drove him crazy.

Normally his AI would be bothered by this if this had lasted a day; but three weeks of obscure and far too much. Not to mention extreme.

"Sir, I believe you should eat." The AI speaks in his British accent. And he was right. Tony seemed to appear slightly frail and ill-looking. He even lost a bit of weight from the malnutrition.

Tony shook his head, anxious and restless brown eyes never leaving his project. "No thanks Jarvis. I'm fine." A lie. He wasn't fine. He was suffering and Jarvis knew it.

"I will call Ms. Potts if you don't, sir." Jarvis replies in his sassy yet all around serious tone.

Tony shook his head again, the thought of dealing with Pepper didn't really appeal to him in any way. "No Jarvis. I want to be alone."

"But sir, you should—"

"I want to be left alone, Jarvis!" He snapped back in a raging tone.

There's a silence then a sigh before the artificial intelligence speaks again. "I'm sorry to disturb you, sir. I hope you at least eat sometime today. Starvation is not healthy."

There's more silence before Jarvis speaks again. "Sir."

Tony sighed and grumbled. Might as well listen to him and get something to eat. He detached himself from his work and leaves out his garage to the kitchen, rummaging into the pantries and eventually the fridge to see what was inside. All through this he hadn't noticed the god sitting on the white leather couch.

"Is that how you greet your guests, Stark?"

The narcissistic billionaire froze when he recognized the voice. It couldn't be him. He was dreaming.

Tony stops what he's doing to look over, seeing the god there, very much alive. He would've broken down but his impulsive actions beat him to it. "Well no; a drink is more a better way greet to a guest, Reindeer Games." He says in a hoarse tone as he smirked.

The other cringed at the nickname as he glared at him with threatening green eyes. Tony tried his best to not lose his grip of cool in this situation, but it was falter. He could hear his heartbeat just thumping away peacefully. It was going to drive him up a wall if he just stood there and did nothing.

He then sighed and went over to the god. "Why the look, Loki? Didn't like my greeting?" He asks the question with a smirk that was teasing yet weak. The last thing he need was Loki to see him fall apart and become vulnerable; to know he was thinking of him; obsessing over his heart—

"It isn't that. You seem…" Loki pauses to find the right words before continuing, "…not as strong as I last saw you." That was another true fact. Last time they encountered each other was months ago. Maybe that was why Loki decided to come here when he escaped Asgard. He enjoyed the man of iron's presence. So why was the man known as Iron Man in such scarcely weak state? That was something that aroused Loki.

"Stark, may I inquire into why you look like you could barely be living?"

"Do I have to answer that?"

"Yes."

Tony groaned before muttering something.

Loki cocked a brow. "What was that?"

"I said…" Tony takes a deep breath before muttering it again.

Loki's brow furrows. "If you do not tell me what you said, I will have no choice but to resort to—"

"I said why would you give a shit about it, Reindeer Games?" Tony blurts out.

Loki's brows rise up as soon as he heard that. He didn't even cringed at the nickname; he was much more intrigued into what was troubling the other. "Tell me, Stark. What troubles you?" The question comes with an amused smirk, watching as the genius twitched, before a frown appears when Tony mutters again. "What was that?"

Tony points to the god's chest. "Your heartbeat."

"What about it?" he grumbles.

"I don't know but…" He shifts before approaching the god. "I kind of have a thing for it."