Hi guys! Okay, so I really hope you like this chapter (and yes, I do totally think it sucks). But, first off, thank you so, so, so,so,so much for the reviews and follows! Oh my gosh, seeing that totally makes my day! You have no idea! -INTERNET HUGS FOR ALL-

Btw: I don't own Marvel or the characters or any of it really.

ENJOY! :)


Loki sighed and looked at his brother with thinly-veiled disdain. They had three books spread out before them at the library, and really, Loki was trying to be patient. But patience is a virtue, and right now he's kind of running low on virtuousness. So, laying his head in the cradle of his palm, he let his older brother once again explain just why Loki's explanation didn't make sense to him. Other than his own personal theory that Thor was just a blockheaded fool when it came to intellectual things...like books.

"You're just talking to fast. You do that a lot. And there's a lot of big words. And I'm not as smart as you are, brother." Thor gave him a puppy-dog look that rounded his blue eyes to the point it was almost comical. It was also very effective and worked like an utter charm. Why was he still susceptible to this?

Loki shoved his hair off his forehead and opened his mouth to speak. But he was interrupted by a body inserting itself into the chair next to him. He slid contemptuous green eyes over to encounter one Anthony Stark smiling at him as if he were the sunshine in his world. -barf-

"Hiya, Lo-Lo. Hey, Thor." Stark waved shyly at Thor. Loki almost laughed at the idea that the young inventor was scared of his big brother. But who wasn't, really? The man was huge. "So, what'cha doin'? Smart people stuff, huh?" The boy peered over his shoulder, his mouth moving at a thousand miles an hour. "Ooooh, Professor Coulson's chemistry class. That was fun. I had it last year, kind of unnecessary but hey, requirements are requirements. Steve took it too, I had to tutor him through like the first half of a semester because he didn't get jack shit. But anyways, Coulson gave him like straight A's through the whole semester. And I'm not saying that I'm not a fantastic tutor, because I am, but I think Coulson just had a little crush on ole Stevie-"

"My god, do you ever stop talking?" Loki interrupted, his eyes wide and his nerves ready to start screaming if Stark said one more word. He chose to ignore how Thor was staring at him with this look that just screamed 'Manners, Loki.' But Loki wasn't one for etiquette when Stark was around. Really, he'd rather jump off a cliff than speak to the rambling genius. -snort- Genius.

"Not really. Especially when I'm nervous. Which I'm totally not right now." The brunette looked away with just the teensiest red coloring his cheeks. "I even talk in my sleep, or that's what my roommate tells me." He shrugged, then turned his caramel eyes to Thor. "I met your dad on Sunday. He was at one of my dad's lets-get-drunk-and-trade-money shindigs." He sounded cautious. Loki felt every muscle suddenly hinge on this annoyance's next words.

When it came to his...acquaintances meeting Odin, Loki was very sensitive. His best friend had met Odin only once, and by accident, when the man had come over to check on his two sons. She had found him just an unsavory as he had, and she had read him easier than a book. Her exact words had been 'Pedantic, egomaniac with almost no people skills.' Loki had almost cried, finally someone who agreed with him. Well, someone other than Frigga, but she loved the man unconditionally. So, suffice to say, a lot of how he treated Stark over the next few years would depend on his feelings toward Odin.

While Loki was off in lala land, he didn't notice how the young man was studying him, as if looking for something in his reaction. "Was he drunk?" Thor's rumbling voice brought them both back to reality.

Stark laughed. "Ah, no. Um, he had a lot to say about you, Thor." The teenager looked suddenly uncomfortable. Loki felt his eyebrows looming low over his now-narrowed eyes.

"Such as?" He was happy with how his voice came out imperial and demanding. He almost sounded royal, and wasn't that perfect when dealing with some spoiled rich kid- never mind that he's just as spoiled and just as rich.

Stark started fidgeting like he was on crack. Loki thought he might go insane if he had to be around the maundering, ever-moving irritant much longer. It wasn't the first time he wished for a strong sedative today. "Well, he was talking about how he's the star...something on the football team. I really wasn't listening at that point. No offense, man." He smiled charmingly at Thor, who lit up like he hadn't been halfway insulted. Really, smiling at Thor pretty much erased any threat he might have conceivably once been. Loki believed the man was far too easily appeased, but that opinion did come from a man who held grudges for literal decades without batting one pretty little eyelash.

"And me? What did he say about me, Stark?" His voice was bordering on threatening. Which, wasn't exactly necessary, but he liked making the shorter teen squirm. Forget how those caramel eyes were starting to make his stomach flip.

Stark looked away. "He didn't really mention you, until I asked." There was a tense line in his neck that made Loki wonder what was running through his head. "But I mean, he said you were studying, uh, art or literature or something. I guess he was kind of on a Thor kick that night. I mean, I guess, he seemed, um." The boy looked down. "You know, I think I'm like, extraordinarily late for a meeting. Which isn't normally a big deal but my dad might actually kill me if I don't make this one. Or Pepper might, and that would be even-"

"Anthony." Loki spoke the name softly. Stark came to an abrupt halt in both his rambling and his standing. Loki looked up at him to see the boy beaming at him like he had just offered him a million dollars. "What?"

"You just said my name. For like the first time ever. Didn't you? Was I hallucinating? Shit. How many pills did I take this morning? Hey, what day is-"

"Shut. Up. Stark." Loki rubbed his temple gingerly, ignoring how his elder brother was laughing like he had just said the funniest thing since that time he had said 'ass' and Thor had nearly peed himself from laughing. They were four. Yes, that was the last time Loki said something so degrading as 'ass'.

Fact #2: Loki doesn't swear. Ever.


Tony smirked at the girl in the seat next to him in his dad's brand new car which he may or may not have just stolen. And really, he may or may not have been into the girl beside him. She was pretty, gorgeous maybe even. Long black curls slipped past her shoulder blades and her eyes were a jade shade which tugged on his subconscious annoyingly. It reminded him of someone, but he was too drunk to remember who. The road swung in front of him, and he twisted the wheel just a little too far. Police sirens sprang up behind him.

"Oh my god." The girl whispered, the hand on his thigh disappearing.

He snorted. "Don't worry, gorgeous. I'm Tony Stark." He winked at her, not even realizing how slurred his words were.

A policeman knocked on his window. He rolled the window down, and immediately knew he was screwed. "Good evening, Mr. Stark. How are you feeling?" A young man's face appeared in front of his face. God damn it. A rookie. The young ones were always a pain in the ass. And behind him, stood an old friend (cougharchenemycough) of Tony's. She was the reason Tony already had one DUI on his record from when he was sixteen.

"Why, Officer Hill. How pleasant to see you. And I'm feeling just fine." Damn. Shit. Fuck. He was screwed and Howard was not going to be pleased. The man might even make him spend the night in jail. Ew.

"Have you been drinking tonight, Mr. Stark?" The young man asked. Maria Hill was just smiling softly at him, with that predatory look that every cat had while a mouse ran with its tail caught beneath her paw. Tony wasn't normally the mouse, and he had found he quite preferred it that way.

He shrugged. "Some coffee. Y'know, the really heavy duty stuff." A shit-eating grin found its way onto his face. "You gonna arrest me for illegal levels of caffeine consumption, Officer Hill?" He narrowed his eyes on her.

"Sir, would you mind stepping out of the car?" Tony sighed, turned to wink at the girl- what was her name again?- then got out of the car like it was the most bothersome thing he had ever done. "Is this your car, sir?" The young man narrowed his eyes at Tony.

He glared at the young officer. "It's my dad's. But, I asked for daddy's permission before going out for a spin." He smiled through clenched teeth, his sarcasm coming out more as contempt. What difference did it make if it was his or his dad's? Nobody had ever asked about the car before. Shit. Something wasn't right.

"Sir, are you aware that this car was reported as stolen an hour ago by the owner?" The rookie smirked. Oh, and it was just so hard for Tony to not take out the rage boiling in his veins by wiping that shitty little smile of his face. He wasn't normally violent, but something about his dad made him want to beat the shit out of something or someone.

"God damn son of a bitch. Maria, you know this is my dad's car." He looked at her darkly. She knew he hadn't stolen a fucking thing.

"No, I don't. And you are drunk, Mr. Stark. I'd like you to take the breathalyzer test." She smiled at him grimly. "If you don't, you'll be arrested."

Shit.


Tony was glaring when the policeman came to let him out of his jail cell. He had been glaring all night, at every single person who walked by. He wondered now how many pictures of him getting arrested last night were on the internet? He sighed. More publicity. Bad publicity. Not that he really cared. But really, the perks of being rich almost didn't outweigh all this. He hadn't been able to screw shit up in peace his entire life.

Walking out of the station with Pepper, he was silent. That girl last night...he finally realized who she looked like. Shit. "Pepper, kill me?" He murmured, wrapping an arm around the girl's shoulders and leaning against her lazily.

"Not in a million years." She smiled brightly down at him. Then frowned. "Your dad on the other hand..."

He smiled manically. This was gonna be fun.


Loki glared at the test under his hands. He couldn't concentrate. That was saying something when normally the boy could read Socrates while his brother played some irritatingly loud xBox game beside him. But right now, there was far too much on his mind. Three things, in fact.

#1: His brother had twisted his ankle in practice. Normally, this didn't worry Loki, but he was being an especial worry-wart today.

#2: Frigga and Odin were taking both he and Thor out for dinner tonight. That was going to be fun. There wouldn't be as many Thor-themed questions to be asked now that the boy was on the bench for at least two more games.

#3: Anthony Stark was rumored to have spent the night in jail for drunk driving and stealing a car (reportedly, his father's car). Now, this really shouldn't have bothered Loki, but he was still curious about the man's reaction about his father.

All in all, Loki just wasn't having a spectacular day. He was looking a little rough, not having slept well last night. The dark circles under his eyes made him look awful and as usual his horrendous hair was not coping. And okay, considering the copious amounts of checking-out that girl was focusing on him, he wasn't looking as shabby as he felt. So, he forced himself to pay attention to his sorta kinda important test.

He had never felt so relieved to be dismissed from any one class. Barton trotted beside him, his short legs not able to keep up with Loki's strides. "How was your test?" The man smiled up at him cautiously.

Loki rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Barton?" He sounded so very weary, like he was dealing with a toddler. Not that that was far from the truth, honestly.

"Oh, I was just wondering if you had heard about Tony. He got arrested last night. Have you ever met his dad? He's a dick. Apparently, he said Tony stole his car." He spoke as if all of this was of great importance. Loki really didn't pay attention nor care about the college gossip- of which there was plenty about Stark. But the tidbit about Howard. That interested him.

"His father is an...unsavory person?" And no, he really couldn't bring himself to repeat Barton's name for the man. He wasn't going to use such words just because his acquaintance did. He wouldn't degrade himself to such a level.

Barton looked at him like he had grown a second head. "Uh, yeah. Don't you watch the news, man? Tony's spouted off publicly about him plenty of times. Lemme tell you, get enough booze in that kid, and ask him about his dad...you'll get more information than you bargained for. But hey, it's Tony. If he isn't talking too much, he's either dying or passed out." The shorter of the two shrugged. "That's what's great about him, he's his own entertainment, and man, does he know how to party. Oh, hi, Nat!" He winked at Loki and disappeared after his current crush, and Loki's best friend. He found it hard not to smirk, knowing there would soon be one very disappointed Clint Barton.

His mind chewed on what Clint had said, though. It also turned over the reasons why he might be so suddenly interested in Stark. It wasn't like he liked him. They had absolutely nothing in common, and he was the most nerve-grating creature Loki had ever met. But everything about Howard had piqued his interest. Of course, curiosity killed the cat.


Pepper dropped Tony off at his apartment with an affectionate, pitying smile. Tony hated that smile. It was the smile that meant he was in for some fucking awful shit when he hit the other side of that door. There was always a door when it came to Howard. An office door (always intimidating). His bedroom door. A study door in the house. And now, the door to his own fucking apartment. And within the rooms these doors lidded, there was always Howard in his nice suits with his identical hawkish eyes that were just oh-so calculating and stern. Tony scowled at the door. He was almost scared to go in his own apartment. It was bordering on pathetic.

He threw open the door. "Honey, I'm home!" He was his normal bright, drugged up, halfway hungover self that Howard just couldn't stand. And really, what was bettering than getting his already probably pissed father wound up? Tylenol.

Howard was sitting on a sofa with a glass of scotch in his hand. A smirk played with Tony's mouth. That sofa had seen more than it's fair share of his fun over the past year he had been living here. Blondes, brunettes, red-heads, raven-haired girls. It had seen them all. Howard clearing his throat brought him back to reality. "Did you hear anything I just said, son?" His tone wasn't kind, concerned, or even pissed. It wasn't anything. Nothing. Not a trace of emotion. Because that just wasn't the 'manly' way. -snort-

"Oh, god, please. I can't even tell if you're frowning. Did you get botox? I told you that-" He was just trying to get the man to react, for god's sake. Tony had been trying to get Howard to react for years. Almost a decade, in fact.

"Tony, could you try to be serious for a moment? These are some serious charges you're facing." The solemnity of his tone almost made Tony laugh. Charges. -snort- More like some more of Tony's screw ups to be swiftly swept under the rug to disappear for all of time. It wasn't like this type of thing hadn't happened before. "You stole my car. While drunk." And oh, would ya look at the sternness in that man's eyes. Fascinating. Tony wondered if he ever looked like that? God, he hoped not.

He laughed easily. "Yeah, I stole your car. So why don't you just drop the charges? I mean, it'd be kind of redundant to pay fines you instigated." He shrugged. "And the DUI? Hell, you've handled that before. Just make a few calls to your lackeys, and it'll all blow over." Come on, Howard, how many times had they been through this? It should be like the back of his hand by now.

"I won't be paying the fines. You will. You'll need to get a job and pay it all off yourself. I'm through with this, Tony. I am not going to fund any more of your self-destruction. The booze, the parties, the clothes. None of it. I will pay for your college, because that's what your mother would have wanted." He waved a dismissive hand at what he saw in front of him. "But nothing else. Including the rent. So, I suggest you get on with those job applications." Tony stared at him in blood-boiling anger. The man was just sitting there, sipping his god damn scotch like they were having a fucking Sunday brunch together. "I doubt you'll be able to do it, though. You can't really do anything but tinker with machines. I'll be surprised if you can hold down a job for a month." All Tony heard was words like 'failure' and 'screw up' in Howard's tone. He had been abandoned before, but all the emotion and hurt he felt right now was boiled down to hard, cold anger. And a very sharp tongue.

He straightened his spine, forcing himself to look unaffected. "So, why are you even here, Howie? Wanna look good for the reporters? Gotta make sure those headlines make you out to be a struggling single dad doing his best despite his wife dying and his son being an eternal fuck up. I bet they think you're doing a stellar fucking job with your prodigy spawn, don't they? You sure have put on a good show, I will give you that. Really, man. Bravo." He laughed. Because if he didn't, he might cry. "Maybe they'll even give you a Grammy." He grinned, that jackal, shit-eating grin he was so good at effecting.

Howard didn't blink. "Maybe if you put some effort into this, and stop being such a fuck-up- as you so eloquently called it- you could make it. You've never applied yourself, Tony. How do you think I got to where I am? I'm not a millionaire because it was handed to me on a silver platter. I worked my fingers to the bone to get where I am to have what I have." Tony marveled at how he looked the perfect businessman, despite the stinging words Tony had just thrown in his face. He fought the urge to scream. Because wasn't this how it always ended? Tony left filled with anger and hurt and nothing to do with it but get drunk and do something stupid; and Howard, ever nonplussed.

But he was right, there were few things in this life that Tony had really worked at. In fact, there were two. One was getting his father's attention. And he had done so in absolutely any way he could. His father had never actually noticed Tony's accomplishments other than to make money off of them or make himself look good. Therefore, he made the man pay attention to him in one of two ways. Breaking things- such as the law- and irritating his father's disgustingly rich clients. A moment of shining pride for him was spilling his steaming hot coffee all over one high-level client's crotch. He had been ten at the time. Can you say 'genius'?

"Funny, you could never work very hard at being a father." He forced tears back, clearing away his cracking voice and grinning. "But hey, them's the breaks." The only thing shielding him from screaming at the top of his lungs how much he hated his father was his unwavering self-control. But he would be surprised if the fire of hell itself wasn't burning in his eyes.

Howard stood, leaving his scotch glass on the coffee table. "Goodbye, son. Good luck."

He and Howard had always been this way. Their relationship consisted of Tony acting out and Howard completely ignoring him. No matter the cutting words, the tears, the objects thrown, Tony was ignored and dismissed. But Howie had never had good relationship skills. Hell, maybe it was hereditary. Maybe that's why Toy couldn't keep a girlfriend to save his life. Or why he hadn't a single friend. Sure, there were people who liked him, but they'd just as soon kick him to the wolves if it suited them. He had learned that the hard way. Trust issues always had good reason backing them.

Tony didn't acknowledge him. He just locked his jaw and stared at nothing in complete silence. His teeth were grinding together painfully. His lungs were dying to explode. But he waited until the door closed behind Howard. Then he picked up that glass and threw it with all his might at the door with an angry, "FUCK!"


I'm sorry. This sucks so bad. The last section was rewritten because my computer deleted it. Suffice to say, I was almost ready to chuck my computer off a very tall building. Anways, please review, tell me it's terrible if you want to. I shall understand.

P.S. I'm sorry. Both Howard and Odin are complete dicks.

See ya later, alligators. ;)