Sorry for the long wait, I wanted to make a more elaborate story.
However, you won't have to wait as long for the next one :D (I hope)
He woke up with eyes still hazy, trying to adjust to the whited room which smelled of strange herbs. Someone was touching him, he tried to swat them away but the persistent hands continued to examine his face. They stretched his eyes and shone a bright light onto him, the hands moved to roam on his torso then he looked down at his body to find that his top armour had been removed and a metal object was placed onto his chest, it moved around as if trying to find something. His eyes snapped wide open and his pushed the being off him and slammed it into the nearest wall, the sudden impact knocked the wind out of the body and it slumped onto the floor.
"Doctor, is everythin-oh god…" Tom gasped into his hands, Loki leapt at this chance to pin this second body to the other wall, wanting to knock it out but paused when realised he was staring at himself.
"What trickery is this, Who are you?!" his anger was seething through his teeth. How dare this, this mortal wear his face and yet have the gall to face him, a death sentence was in order.
"No, wait, Loki" said god had a very dark face, emerald eyes hinting at the rage and destruction that was soon to follow, "My name is Tom, Thomas Hiddleston" azure hues stared back in uncertainty and fear. Tom had to think fast, a psycho fan -he heard of those, but didn't really think much of them at that time- his mind raced to filter for solutions to his predicament.
"You were hurt and unconscious, I brought you to see the doctor-er healer. Don`t worry, SHIELD doesn't know you`re here" Tom hoped this calmed Loki down enough, he still had to think of a way to get help before anything worse happened. The trickster let him go and began to pace in-front of him, a flick of his wrist and he was adorning his full set of armour, previously pried off by Tom. The englishman was dumbstruck "He actually exists?! Shit…what do I do", he couldn't let Loki leave and highly possibly endanger the entire world.
"But you can`t go out there willy nilly, er- you`d get caught in your condition. Let me help you", Loki eyed Tom sceptically, eyes narrowed with distrust but he nodded for the man to go on "You can stay with me while you heal, no one would think to find you here with a mortal like me". Tom went on to explain the place he was in and other details to further gain Loki's trust, surprisingly the god agreed. He became tense when Tom tried to phone an ambulance. They couldn't just leave the doctor like that, the elderly looking physician could have been seriously hurt especially since Loki was Asgardian.
"Loki, if you want to stay hidden, you have to adhere to my rules and conditions" that earned him a glare "if you don`t you would be found easily". Loki contemplated this, the mortal was right and if he was to stay, he had to abide by this Thomas` wishes.
"What are your conditions, mortal" he asked as he sat down on a chair, he tried sitting in his favourite position but decided on sitting leg over the other when pain shot up his right side.
"…you can't kill or hurt anyone, you can't be seen by anyone and no magic unless necessary" Tom finished his lengthy detailed list of conditions and hoped that there were no loopholes. The name Loki silvertongue was not just for show, the god had the ability to manipulate anything to his advantage even if there was the slightest flaw. Loki concealed himself and watched as men in whited garbs brought the healer into a strange white carriage, it made the most horrid noises with irksome red blinking lights. Afterwords, he followed his lookalike to a grand looking building, into a small room which elevated itself to a higher level and walked into one of the numbered rooms.
"Tom, what are you doing up so late?" it was Robert, he was in those types of clothing when he didn't want people recognising him, a hot cup of something in hand. Loki was about to attack when Tom moved infront of him, his magic allowed him to be invisible to everyone but Tom and this was one of the conditions too, the god wanted to push the mortal aside when he realised it wasn't the same man he threw out of Stark Towers.
"Couldn't sleep, I went for an evening walk. You?" Tom smiled, Loki didn't like this Thomas one bit.
"Late night snack" he replied sheepishly.
"Ehehehe, haven't you had enough snacks during filming today? " both chuckled as they chatted. The other man was polite, no snarkniess just light jesting of Thomas' evening activities, this was clearly not the Man of Iron. They said their goodnights and Tom guided Loki into his room. Robert's was down the hall way, the Chris' were on the floor below while the "assassins" and Mark were a few floors up.
Loki surveyed the room then sat cross legged on the floor in front of the tv, he deemed it uncluttered enough for him to perform him healing spells without the mortal getting in the way. They were in the living room that had a sofa to the wall and lengthy glass windows adjoining to it, the curtains closed and the lighting in the room emanated from the wall lamps, the main ones were too bright for Loki's liking. Tom goes into the next room and dresses for bed, all the while telling Loki what he was going to do tomorrow and wanted Loki to not wander about. Loki says yes for the sake of shutting up the incessant talking, he needs to concentrate and sighs in relief when the mortal finally says goodnight and goes to bed.
Over the course of the next few days, Tom tries to get to know Loki more, for the sake of familiarising with each other and his acting, maybe, definitely, yes. Loki's evasive though, not wanting to have anything to do with the Brit but Tom keeps trying and hoping Loki will come through. Tom doesn't want to accidentally set off the ticking time bomb, so he tries a more subtle approach and ask about the avengers first, Loki confirms this and other events as well.
"Amazing, so that means the movie- erm…did you try to take over Earth, I mean Midgard?" the trickster that was so interested in flipping channels endlessly suddenly whipped his head to Tom's position, eyes narrowing in distrust, how did the mortal know…
"Yes, but not this one, it seems this realm is an alternate to the one I tried to conquer." he says it quite nonchalantly, Tom winces a little.
He tried his luck and pried a little more "Th-Thanos, were you…" the god had suddenly appeared infront of Tom and lifted the man by his collar.
"How much do you know" it wasn't a question, a demand from a deity whose face was dark and voice dangerous. Tom didn't tell Loki everything, just parts from the Avengers movie, the taller man was in shock but his face didn't show it. Tom was dropped to the floor like a rag doll and Loki laughed hysterically, Tom was quite frightened by this, then Loki walked away and slowly sat back down on the sofa with hands gripping the seat tightly.
"Loki…" the god was trembling, his hands clenched and raven hair obscuring his features. His treachery against mankind for all to see, entertainment for the dull masses, a belligerent monster bent on destruction. Tom puts a hand on his shoulder, no response, he sits down next to him and quietly tries to soothe him.
"He manipulated and controlled you, you didn't have a say in it" he reasons.
"But my desires were what started it!" he spat back, his eyes were dry, his tears were lost to Odin long ago.
Tom understands why Loki is so upset, he practically became the god whenever they were filming, he had to feel and suffer as he did to make his performance palpable. Said god disappeared, unable to withstand this mockery any longer, Tom stares into the empty space left behind and sighs before getting up. It is days later that he finds Loki back in the room, Tom is relieved that nothing bad has happened, so far there were no news of any catastrophic proportions since vanishing. So they sit there in comfortable silence, it is a long time before Tom realises Loki fell asleep.
The entire park was cordoned off and the location where the tesseract was supposed to activate properly was crowded with scientific apparatus, authorized SHIELD personnel and some of the Avengers. Bruce, Tony, Dr Selvig and Jane were nearby discussing with holographic screens of charts, theories, numbers and equations. Black Widow and Hawkeye scouted the area for suspicious activity and the such. Thor was still away in Asgard asking the more magic adept Aesirs for their expertise, Heimdal did not find any fault despite periodically inspecting the Bifrost that was still being restored, Lady Sif and the Warriors Three aided the search by travelling to other realms particularly in places Heimdal couldn't look in properly.
"The energy readings are decreasing rapidly, I calculate it would completely dissipate by the next week" Bruce swipes his screen information to the others and continues to monitor the radiation levels.
"Hopefully Point-Break will be coming back today, details on this 'magic' might shed light, or not" Tony downs his cup of coffee, suddenly he shivers for no apparent reason, blinks slowly at his reaction then shrugs it off.
"I still can't believe you let him use it when it was clearly faulty!" Jane huffs.
"It only glitched, maybe Reindeer-games did something, we don't know…yet" justifys the billionaire.
They had a long and detailed discussion/argument on the subject. It was late noon when Thor arrived, he used the tesseract to send himself somewhere within the park but not too near the spot the cube malfunctioned at.
"Jane, friends, I have returned with news", boomed the thunderer, "the Aesir and Heimdal know nought of this while the Lady Sif and the Warriors Three have yet to return to Asgard from their search".
"And how will you know?" inquired the Man of Iron.
"Mother has given me this" Thor removes a small round amulet from his neck, it had a ruby crystal in the centre, "When the gods still visited Midgard, they used this to communicate with the mortals".
"How?" Tony raised an eyebrow sceptically, that piece of jewellery was not tech.
"Like this" a woman was project from the crystal, from shoulders up, although she looked older than Thor, she was very youthful looking and radiant.
"And who might you be" as soon as he saw her, Tony switched on his charm.
"She is Frigga the Allmother, Queen of Asgard and my mother" at the end of the sentence Tony was staring wide eyed, he immediately changed his demeanour to something more appropriate, he was not Iron man right now and being hammered by Point-Break didn't sound all that fun either.
After the introductions and conversing about the problem at hand, they realised they could only wait for Lady Sif's group to find Loki or track where Loki could have been sent to, magic was a pain in the butt for sure. When they were done, the amulet switches off, the jewel's ominous glow ceased entirely and becomes silent. Thor decides to give it to Jane for safekeeping, should they require more assistance from the Aesir again. Bruce manages to not transform into the hulk as an extremely bored Tony pesters him over and over, Jane comes back with Darcy, the agents didn't want to let her in and Jane had to go get her. Darcy is buzzing with excitement, being able to meet the Avengers was totally awesome, Tony puts on a smile though he was wary of her. The hacked SHIELD files had indicated that she was a trigger-happy chick with a tazer, it was ironic though, the god of thunder was KO'd by an electric tazer…pfft. Bruce gives him a look and Tony just shrugs.
They work round the clock trying to find out what had happened that day, the Aesirs that studied the tesseract found no fault, the scientists revised some of Dr Selvig's previous research on the cube. It had never acted that way before while it was in his care, even when he was mind-controlled. Hawkeye noted that the glow was different during the accident..maybe it had other types of energy? Or the fact they used it outdoors and not for opening a dimensional portal might have played a significant role, any variables to where and when it was used, what it was used for and who used it could have altered its nature. Tony was now just staring it the thing as if willing all the answers to come forth from it.
"Er, you might not want to do that, radiation and all… also it tells people things" Tony looks at him incredulously, the doc must have really lost it while he was with the diva.
"When I was with Loki, it was able to give me information on how to make the portal, it also told Agent Barton the necessary apparatus needed for-" the group was just staring at him.
"And you tell us this, now?!" Selvig nods his head slowly, Tony rolls his eyes and huffs in exasperation.
"Would you have actually believed me if I told you that the tesseract could talk, would you?!" he shouts back as he stands.
"We need to calm down and rethink this, are there any dangers or side-effects when conversing with it?" Selvig sits back down and ponders, everyone is tense, Bruce casually throws away the pen he just broke into a bin.
A month since he arrived, he has done small pranks but nothing more than that as he had promised, however some of the mischief is blamed on Tom. The poor man apologises or if it's funny and didn't hurt anyone he just laughs. Loki is confused by this, he is trying to make the ever jovial mortal angry, he doesn't understand why the man is not tearing at his hair in suppressed rage or even yelling at him to leave. Tom just smiles and says anger is never a solution. Loki finds that if he pranks too much, Tom finishes all the pudding or doesn't buy anymore, so he tries to do it in smaller doses. It is beneath him to steal, he doesn't want to depend on Tom too much either, so he never asks to buy more.
One day, he decides to trail Thomas to his workplace. In the early morning when the sun is not even up yet, the man gets up quietly and goes about preparing to leave while on the phone ordering breakfast for them. Tom finishes his breakfast and leaves. Loki's breakfast comes hours later because the god enjoys sleeping in late, also he threatened to colour all his clothing pink if his breakfast was cold, unless he ordered sugared cereal. They enter a large building and Tom goes straight for one of the rooms, Loki realises the place looks like fragmented pieces of the helicarrier, the cage he was in was also there. He just stands at the side watching the transformation of the tea-loving fool into the God of Chaos. He frowns as he sees Tom in full costume, in the cage with –Joss- as the man gives instructions, Tom nods and adds his own thoughts on how Loki should be.
"This is my bargain you mewling quim…" Loki can't tear his gaze from the scene, it is strange to look at yourself from a different point of view and yet know it isn't you. The man in the cage is intense, every movement, every expression menacing and vicious. He is not a helpless bird trapped in a cage, he is dangerous panther readying himself for the kill should the chance arise, should they let down their guard. Loki feels irritated though, being bested by a mortal with deception, he would never live that down. After the scene they take a break, Scarlett takes a sip of her water then does an instant spit-take, her drink was mixed with salt and tasted horrible. Tom immediately gives her his tea, she thanks him and takes big gulps to wash away the lingering tang of the salt. He shoots a glare down Loki's way and the god just smirks before vanishing.
Another month and they develop a routine of sorts, both are comfortable with each other's presence and Loki won't admit it but he likes the fact that Tom treats him with the kindness that he gives anyone else. The god has learnt much from the Midgardian culture and wonders why he tried to dominate their realm. Being king was a nerve-wrecking position he knows that very well and if he tried to be ruler of Midgard, he'd have more white-grayed hairs than the Allfather, Midgard had more countries than Odin had realms to look after. He's glad that the Avengers had snapped him out of his control, being in this alternate world was better for him and Tom was probably the only friend he would ever have.
To be Continued...