Notes: Once again thank-you so much for all the fantastic comments/favs/and follows and big shout out to my beta for slugging through this for me.
It was a well-known fact to anyone who knew him, that Loki didn't like to drink, and when he did he stuck to light beverages that he could just lightly sip when talking with whatever client he was with at that time. Tonight was different, one of those rare times when he felt the need to get undeniably and completely trashed to the point he couldn't even think in a straight line. His mind had been wandering too much for his own tastes, and it was time to drown them out, liver damage be damned.
So he met his client early that night, did the usual business, and went straight to a bar.
"Did he really get to you that much?"
Loki sighed and sent the woman beside him a withering sideways glare. "Why are you here Amora?"
The leggy blond clad in a short, green cocktail dress smirked and sipped at her martini, "And miss an opportunity to see you drunk off your ass? Not on your life. And besides if memory serves me, you were the one to call. I was just nice enough to show up for quality entertainment."
"Yes, thank you for your input." Loki glowered, downing a shot and wincing.
"You haven't answered the question, Loki, sweetheart. You met him briefly, in a coffee shop, verbally told him off as soon as you knew who he was, yet you sit here drowning yourself in booze. You don't even know him, so why are you doing this?" Amora's teasing tone dropped and she looked at him with mild concern.
"I'm not 'drowning myself in booze,' as you put it, over him." Loki spat, practically slamming his glass on the bar. "I'm doing it because I need-"
"Thinking too much again?" Amora cut in, catching on to what he was saying.
Amora was one of the only people who knew who Loki was before he'd left and knew him as he was now. He knew next to nothing about her, not even her last name or occupation, though if he were to guess he would have thought it would have been similar to his. He didn't trust her as far as he could toss her, but she remained loyal for the time being. Right now though he was half drunk, and she was annoying him with her constant questioning.
He had to ask. "Why are you so concerned me all the sudden? My life isn't any of your business."
"It's when you start drinking yourself stupid, and as funny as it might be to watch you make an ass of yourself in public, your depression is a real downer." Amora leaned her head on his shoulder and took one of his hands in hers, rubbing her thumb over his fingers. "I don't even know why I put up with you."
"I wonder the same thing about you, but I like to think its thanks to my charm and wit." Loki grinned, but it didn't meet his eyes and dropped seconds later.
"Have you even bothered to try and contact your brother? He might be an insufferable twat at times, but he does care about you, so does your mother and father." Amora looked up at him through her bangs and blew out a breath. "Look who I'm talking to. Of course you haven't. I'm not just saying this because I'm pining after Thor. I actually do mean it."
Loki slid from his stool and Amora quickly caught herself before she fell ungracefully to the sticky floor. His face was perfectly impassive as he downed another shot, now thoroughly drunk as the liquor mixed with what little food he had in his stomach. He swayed for a moment as he stood there, waiting for the world to stop spinning enough for him to actually move without the threat of doing what Amora almost did. In fact the woman was staring at him with a mix of anger and questioning. She really should stop it.
"I'm going to go home…maybe walk it." Loki muttered, stumbling towards the door and trying hard to ignore Amora as she grabbed his arm.
"Oh come on Loki, its pouring down rain out there! You aren't seriously gonna walk home this drunk are you? You've done some stupid crap, but I think this might take the cake." The look Loki gave her told her that was exactly what he planned on doing, and her hand dropped, "You really are something, you know that? You just keep on wallowing in your own self- pity and are too stubborn for your own good."
By now they were gaining the attention of the other patrons, and Loki glared at them until they looked away before turning his attention back to the diminutive blond who was looking like she wanted to punch him in the face more and more by the second. Under different circumstances he probably would have teased her and asked if she could even reach his face. Unfortunately things weren't really looking all that humorous as her words rang around in his foggy mind.
"Maybe I am, but what does it matter? None of them have even bothered trying to find me. They all stopped caring after…" Loki trailed off and swallowed the lump forming in his throat, turning away from Amora to hide his face from her. He'd be stupid to show weakness now. "I'll call you later, Amora."
Amora crossed her arms and watched him leave. For such an intelligent man, Loki sure was stupid. He'd always been like that though, stubborn to a fault. Just like his brother. It was in different ways, but that bullheadedness ran in their family. Thor was prideful and arrogant, or at least he had been the last time she'd spoken to him, and she very highly doubted that had changed any in the past two years.
Loki was equally prideful, narcissistic even, but that was there to hide all his insecurities. He thought that if he hid himself in armor that he'd be protected from everything. He heard what he wanted to and twisted words to suit him, couldn't bear the thought of someone actually caring for him. Amora hoped that someone could knock him off his throne. It would take someone as equally prideful and narcissistic for that to work. She smirked and went back to her drink.
Amora had a feeling she knew who that someone would be.
Tony hadn't been planning on going out that night. The only reason he did was to get away from Pepper and Natasha and whatever in the world they were talking about. He didn't think it was the normal 'girl talk,' not when Natasha was involved. It probably had something to do with how easily they could control guys. Okay, he honestly had no idea why, but he felt sorry for Clint. The guy didn't dare move from his seat out of fear for his life. If Natasha told you to stay, you'd better stay…
Which was exactly why Tony had made a quick escape and hidden down at the police station for a few hours, talking to Steve until Fury had shown up. That was when he'd decided that it was probably a good time to leave. The conversation had been interesting up until then. Apparently prostitutes were out in more numbers than usual, and their ways of blending in had improved a lot lately. Now THAT was Tony's type of topic. He, of course, decided it best not to mention to any of them that he knew some of the ladies of the night. That would have just turned out nasty.
All of this was what had Tony out after midnight, when he'd decided it was safe enough to head back home, and the reason why he'd just happened to be driving past a street in time to see a familiar head of dark hair. Now that was an odd coincidence. Tony slowed down to a stop, finding an empty place to park and rolled down the window.
"Need a lift?" He called out and the figure stopped mid step, turning a pair of now blurry green eyes to look at him, jaw shifting. "It's a little wet out there."
"I'm aware of this fact." Loki replied, looking like he wanted to keep walking away, and pushed his hair out of his face while blinking rain out of his eyes. "I can walk from here. It's not much farther. I think."
It was then that Tony noticed the way the other man swayed and the ever so slight slur to his words. Someone was more than just a little drunk it seemed. Tony could have bet that the poor bastard didn't even know which direction home was. "Just get in would you, I'm not going to take advantage of you in this condition."
One of Loki's perfectly sculpted brows rose and his lips twitched. Instantly the closed off stance relaxed and took an almost flirtatious one, "Oh, so if I was sober you'd have no qualm with such things? Good to know that being drunk is saving what's left of my virtue. How quaint."
"See? No harm done. So will you please get in here and let me drive you home?" Tony was fighting laughter. Now this seemed more like the guy he'd first seen in that shop, before he'd shut him out with a wall of ice. This was the Loki he wanted to get to know. He was a walking paradox.
"No, not home." Loki murmured, suddenly looking a little lost. He shook his head, making the wet strands of hair stick to his face and he quickly pushed them back again. He was looking on the verge of passing out the longer he stood there. "Can't have you at my place, Mr. Stark."
Tony wondered why that was, but before he could ask, Loki was already meeting the pavement with a look of upmost surprise written on his handsome face. Ouch. He was going to feel that one in the morning. Probably should make sure he didn't break anything from the fall, but as drunk as Loki was he wouldn't know until he sobered up. Take it from someone who'd had his fair share of black out drinking binges. The morning after was never a fun experience.
Tony Sighed and reluctantly got out of his warm, dry car to retrieve the partially passed out man. The rain pelted his head and face and even down his back from where his jacket didn't cover. Swearing under his breath, the hoisted Loki to his feet and maneuvered him into the passenger seat. Great, he'd have to get his seats cleaned up now. Water did nothing good for leather interiors, but he wasn't about to leave him lying in the middle of the sidewalk this late at night in the rain. Tony didn't exactly want to be responsible if he got sick from it. He had no idea how long Loki had been walking around in it.
"Where are we going?" Loki's head tilted to look at him, face slack and tired but also curious.
"Since you won't tell me where you live, I guess I'm taking you to my place. Pepper's going to be so thrilled about this tomorrow." Tony cringed at the thought of the redhead's reaction. She'd put her foot down after a while of him constantly bringing home a string of women, but he wasn't sure if helping someone counted. Actually he was more concerned about what she thought of him randomly taking off without saying something first.
"I see…" Loki probably didn't actually hear him at all at this point and was already falling asleep.
The ride to the tower was a quick one, well as quick as it could be on the road after midnight in Manhattan, and Tony parked before looking over at his impromptu guest, who was in fact sleeping, light snores barely audible over the rain. It was going to be fun trying to drag a six foot something drunk into the place and into the elevator.
"Come on, big fella, let's get you inside…" Tony muttered as he came around to the other side of the car and got Loki awake enough to heave him to his feet once more. Not an easy task considering the height difference between them, despite the fact that Loki was probably a few pounds lighter than he was. "Whatever you do, please don't puke on me."
"No promises." Loki responded, leaning most of his weight onto Tony's shoulder and trying to keep awake as they wobbled into the building.
As they got into the elevator, Tony leaned Loki against the wall where he stared at him, almost looking lost in thought, with his eyes glazed over. It was an awkward few minutes as the lift raised them to the top floor, and they continued the equally awkward traversing into Tony's penthouse. The billionaire winced as he looked down at his couch and mentally sighed. Another thing he'd have to get repaired from water damage.
"Here, sit for a moment and try not to pass out before I get back." Tony plopped Loki down onto the couch, leaving him there as he ran off to his bed room. A minute later he returned with a pair of grey cotton pants, tossing them at the man. "These should fit you; they were the longest pair I had. At the very least they'll be comfortable."
Loki nodded, and, with more help from Tony, managed to get into the bathroom in one piece. It took him longer to get back than it did Tony to get them there, but he eventually made it out, looking more comfortable and his hair hanging around his face looking dryer. He cast Tony a grateful smile. "I suppose I should thank you for the help. You aren't quite as heinous as I originally perceived."
"Uh...you're welcome. I think?" Tony scratched at his head, wondering if he should be offended or not at the strange wording. He was also trying not to stare at the pale and lean chest that was displayed in front of him, noting with a glance that there was a small amount of hair gracing it. That was highly distracting, why did he do this again? Oh right, he was occasionally a nice person. He really needed to stop doing that. "The couch is all yours for the night and you're welcome to use the TV if you want."
It didn't seem like Loki had heard anything he'd said because as soon as he'd sat down his eyes were already closed. Tony smirked and grabbed the throw blanket off the back of the sofa and tossed it lightly over his legs.
With that out of the way, it was his turn to get some sleep.
Tony had woken up the following morning to Pepper standing over him, arms crossed and peering at him.
"What…? What did I do this time?" He asked, blinking up at her. He let out a loud yawn and sat up.
"I saw your guest on the couch. Do you want to explain?" She didn't look particularly upset but sometimes it was hard to tell.
"That would be Loki, and no, nothing happened. I had to rescue him from passing out on the pavement." Tony explained carefully and slid out of bed. He should probably check on him soon to make sure nothing happened during the night.
"Normally, I'd expect that from you." Pepper said, and, while the words would have sounded harsh to anyone else, he could hear the joking tone in her voice. "So, he's the man from the coffee shop? Somehow I'm not surprised."
"Gee, thanks, Pep." Tony pouted, throwing on a shirt before moving into the main living area where he found Loki still lying on the couch, blanket pulled tightly around him. "Sleeping like an angel. He must have had one hell of a night to have been as smashed as he was. We've all been there before."
Tony's smirk slowly dropped when he saw the sheen of sweat on the brunette's forehead, and with a sneaking suspicion, pressed a hand to it. Oh that was just fantastic. Not only did he now have what was likely to be a hung-over stranger staying on his couch but one that was also, presumably, sick. What now? What had originally spawned from curiosity and generosity was rapidly becoming a bigger taste than he'd signed up for.
'All I wanted was to find out a little bit about the snarky bastard, and now he's taking up my couch.' Tony's mind complained, 'This is what I get for being nice.'
Pepper meanwhile stood back, watching the scene with a curiosity of her own. It was rare to see someone who'd made such an impression on Tony Stark in such a short amount of time, just from one meeting alone. He had a reputation that everyone knew. He was notoriously selfish, but she knew that, somewhere deep down, he was a good person and had the potential to do great good. He might not know it now, but those around him did. It was why she put up with all his wild behavior.
"What are you going to do about him?" She knew he wasn't going to just toss the poor man back out on the street, but it was worth asking just to hear Tony say it for himself.
"Well I can't just send him out and hope for the best." Tony groaned and ran a hand through his hair, looking very much like he was going to regret this choice. "I guess he's going to stay here until he's well enough to leave. Whenever that'll be. God, I hope he doesn't die. That's one thing I don't want to deal with."
"I doubt he's going to die." Pepper rolled her eyes and came over to peer down at Loki. She could see the reason Tony had taken such an interest in him. He was strangely pretty, almost feminine, with those sharp features and lithe build. He really did seem familiar, not just because of the unique name, although she couldn't really place why. Now that she'd gotten a proper look at him maybe she could look him up now, not just for Tony's interest but for her own as well. "I guess I'll leave you to it then and take care of things myself."
"I have full confidence in your abilities, Miss Potts." Tony told her, still looking down at Loki, deciding how to go about this.
When she'd left him to himself, he got up and made his way to the bathroom for a wet washcloth. First things first, lower the fever. He'd better be getting a lot of thank-you's for this.