AN: sorry it's been so long! This one is once again Thor&Tony, I'm thinking of doing Bucky next because aaaaangst but I'd love to hear your suggestions (if you have any) As always, ubeta'd and thanks for the faves/follows/reviews :)
They had kissed once.
Him and Loki.
Tony hadn't told anyone though, not even Bruce or Pepper.
That sounds weird right? I mean, with all the pining (on Tony's part) you would have thought he would have been more proud of it; but he wasn't (and no, it wasn't just because of the whole someone kissed Tony Stark and didn't immediately fall in love with him thing, although that was puzzling) It was strange.
It had happened at Steve's last birthday party, months ago, they'd all been invited but since it was Mr Straight-Edge's party he and Loki had left early and headed to the tree house. Tony had known something was up with Loki but every time he'd asked Loki had just shaken his head and smiled, "Nothing's wrong, Stark, really. I swear."
Tony knew it was bull, however good of a liar Loki was (and he was good) he could always tell when the younger boy was lying. Or at least he thought he could. It had only been a week since Loki had broken down and Tony knew something was different about the boy.
When they had reached the tree house Loki had pulled a full bottle of vodka from the pocket of the huge coat he was wearing and well, the bottle hadn't lasted very long. About two thirds of the way through it Loki had started to cry and Tony had very very drunkenly thought it a good idea to point this out by reaching over and wiping them away.
"Don't like it when you cry," he'd mumbled (or at least that was what he'd intended to say, it may have come out slightly slurred) and Loki had batted him a way gently and hidden his face in his hands.
"Sorry, sorry," he'd said, voice muffled by his hands.
"C'mere," Tony had slurred, holding his arms open for Loki. Loki had glanced at him, sniffed and shaken his head, curling in on himself and shaking with silent sobs. Tony had tugged at him more and more insistently until Loki had half slumped, half fallen into his arms.
"Sorry, Tony," he mumbled.
"S'alright," Tony remembered grinning blearily and Loki had smiled back. "You're cold."
"And you're warm," Loki had said muffled again but this time by Tony's chest.
The rest of that evening had been a blur; he knew he'd asked Loki what was wrong several times and he knew that at some point Loki had decided that rather the best way to shut Tony up was with a kiss. The next thing Tony knew he had woken up with Loki sprawled on top of him and a very amused looking Clint standing over him.
It had been awkward to say the least.
So when Detective Phil Coulson sits across from him and asks, "And how would you describe your relationship with Loki Odinson?" Tony has a hard time coming up with an answer.
"We're friends," he settles on, "Good friends."
Coulson nods, shuffles through the file in front of him, "And if there was something troubling him, he would come to you?"
You'd think so, wouldn't you? "Well sometimes, I mean after break ups and stuff he did but I don't know; he was the kind to bottle most of it up." Tony says honestly. Usually when being questioned by law enforcement he'd be lying through his teeth but this is different.
"Uh huh," Coulson says, nodding again. "So, your friend's tell me he didn't seem particularly troubled in the week leading up to his disappearance."
"He didn't."
Coulson nods once more, snaps the file shut and leans forwards, clasping his hands together atop the closed file. Shit, Tony thinks because Coulson looks far more serious and intense than before. "Mr Stark, are you aware of Mr Odinson's reputation amongst the criminals in this town?"
"Uh," Tony says eloquently. Everyone knows about Odin's reputation, apparently he used to be involved in some serious gang warfare back in the good old UK and some of it had carried over with him. He wonders if Thor knows, Loki did, of course he did, he was Loki.
"Yes," he says eventually. "I mean, I've heard rumours but I didn't..." he trails off but then a horrifying possibility grips his heart. "Do you think that might have something to do with Loki's disappearance?" he asks hurriedly as images of Loki being kidnapped by some drug cartel or gang flash through his mind.
"It's a possibility," Coulson says quietly. "We're hoping not, though. If he had there probably would have been a ransom demand..."
Tony's not sure if that makes him feel better or not.
"Do you still think Odin did something?" Tony asks quietly.
There's this look in Coulson's eyes that scream yes and then he looks away, "We're keeping all options open." He murmurs.
After that Tony doesn't ask any more questions, he answers Coulson's to the best of his ability, detailed, accurate (he hopes) and Coulson nods and jots it all down and when they're finally done Tony's heart aches and his head is spinning.
("I'm broken, Tony, I'm broken and you can't fix me." Loki had said.)
Thor buries his face in Jane's neck. He's only been out of prison for a few hours, he's only been away from his mother for one and gods, he's missed Jane. In an hour they're meant to meet Steve and Loki's friends, in an hour Thor's going to tell them all what he's learnt and they're going to start trying to find Loki.
He's lived through almost two weeks of this. Of not knowing where his brother is, of people at school asking if his dad killed his brother, asking if his brother killed himself, of pitying looks and whispers and gasps behind his back.
He's in Jane's bedroom, away from everything, it's like a sanctuary. He can drown himself in Jane's things and Jane's family and Jane's scent andJane. He runs a hand through her dark hair, presses a kiss to her forehead.
"Are you sure?" she whispers, for the fourth time.
"My mother wouldn't lie to me," he mumbles back.
It's unbelievable, to him at least, incomprehensible. Loki is not his brother. Not his blood. His mother had told him in that spacious, fancy hotel room like it was nothing, a 'by-the-way' kind of thing and he hates her for it because it was not nothing. Thor can't imagine it finding out you're not who you thought you were, who you were meant to be.
Thor had growled at his mother, "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"
His mother had shrugged; spread her hands eyes shining with tears, "It didn't matter to us. It shouldn't have mattered."
It's too easy for Thor to blame his parents for this; his father, the gangster (yes, Thor is well aware of his father's reputation) his mother, all smiles and encouragement (turns a blind eye to her husband's life outside of their house) He knows they love Loki as much as he does even if they don't always show it, it's written all over their faces and maybe that's just it; they all cared, just not enough. Thor hadn't noticed Loki change (looking back he can pinpoint it though, the moment Loki's smiles stopped being real, the moment he grew paler, quieter, skinnier) but at the time he didn't notice a thing.
"We told him two months ago," his mother had said. "We thought he was okay."
Thor keeps thinking of a kid in the year above him who'd killed himself a few years back. (we didn't see anything, they'd all said, nothing was different except that last day. That last day he seemed happy.) The police asked him if Loki was depressed. Thor didn't like his answer.
"Why did he run away though?" Jane asks quietly.
Thor can't help thinking that if he'd been there this might not have happened. Where had he been that night? A party. A stupid party where Bucky drank too much and Steve politely turned down half the female population of the school (and Peggy glared at them all) He'd left early, Jane had needed to get home to do homework or something but he should have been there.
He'd gone to Steve when it happened (Steve lived the closest and Steve was his best friend) he hadn't gone home for two days because it didn't feel like home.
"Can I stay here tonight?" Thor finds himself asking. He doesn't want to see his mother.
She nods, "Stay as long as you need." She brushes her thumb along his cheek- it comes away wet and Thor realises blearily that he's crying.
"We'll find him, Thor." Jane says firmly. "He'll be okay."
Usually Thor believes everything Jane says. She's clever (so clever) not just with science and maths but with people, but this time he doesn't feel comforted because there's this hollow feeling where Loki should be.
Tony doesn't go back to class after Coulson lets him leave and he's a little surprised when no one says anything about it, instead he heads out to the sports field and sits down in their usual school hangout spot under the old gnarled oak tree. It takes another two hours for Tasha, Clint and Bruce to be questioned, they drift over to the tree one by one and don't say a word until Clint shuffles over to them sniffling a little (he wipes his eyes none-too subtly before speaking) "We better get going, Steve texted they're all at the diner already."
They pile into Clint's beat up old jeep and technically they're leaving an hour early but again no one says anything. The diner is a twenty minute drive from the school, it's their default meeting spot when Thor and Steve and co. are involved (Tony hopes Steve's co. won't be there) As soon as they get there Clint and Tasha head over to the counter to grab their usual shakes and Bruce and Tony shuffle over to the table occupied by Thor, Bucky, Steve, Jane and Peggy (thank God the co. aren't there)
"So, we all know why we're here," Steve says when Clint and Tasha join them. "We need to find Loki, we all care about him and our best chance at this is if we all work together on this."
"Agreed," Tony says with a curt nod, (he thinks can get along with Steve, hopes he can if it'll help Loki).
"We should probably start with where we actually think he is," Tasha says, "I mean what actually happened that night?" this last part is directed at Thor who swallows and shifts uncomfortably.
"I-uh, there's actually something I found out today that explains a lot." He says before taking a deep breath. "I think my brother was upset because...my parents had told him he was adopted."
