Chapter 3

Conveniently, Odin was busy at the office on his day off and was unable to help his sons move out. Neither boy complained, especially not Loki. Unfortunately for him, Frigga didn't wear makeup so he wasn't able to fully disguise the fresh bruises on his neck and jaw line. The best he could come up with was a green and black plaid button-down shirt, the collar at least hiding the ones on his neck.

They moved Loki's belongings into his dorm room first. The rooms were nice- a suite-like setup with a shared bedroom, a bathroom, and a small living room/kitchen area. His room was on the second floor, right across from the stair case, so it didn't take as long as they'd expected. Of course, he was there and they were finished long before Tony would show up.

"Tell Tony and his father I said hello and that I'm sorry we weren't able to stick around to see them," Frigga told her son as she gave him a kiss on the cheek and a hug before leaving with Thor.

"Yes, of course mom." Loki replied, returning the hug and closing the door behind his retreating family. He was glad Tony hadn't arrived yet. Sure, he'd met the rest of the Odinsons before (excluding Odin himself), but Loki didn't want any visitation extending their stay longer than they necessarily had to be there. He didn't want to chance any of them noticing the partially hidden bruises.

He worked on unpacking for about two hours before Tony finally arrived on campus. The hallway was filled with commotion from students moving in and greeting their friends and Loki was more than happy to avoid that. He was startled when a loud knocking came at the door and he could hear Tony talking to others outside.

When he opened the door, the other man shoved his way into the living room, arms full, with his father behind him pulling a cart loaded with suitcases and appliances.

"Lokiiiiiiiii," Tony whined, "come on, give us a hand!" He was clearly struggling with carrying a microwave, toaster oven, and printer (all stacked in his arms), his laptop case and guitar case slung over his shoulders. Loki plucked up the box from the top of the pile and chuckled, leading them back towards the bedroom.

"You know, you could make multiple trips… it would be a lot easier for you." Tony just laughed at this.

"You know me though! I'm lazy- if I can make it all in one trip, I'm going to!" Loki couldn't argue with that. He helped Tony set the boxes down on his desk and was pulled tight into a one-armed hug. When they drew away from each other, Tony's eyes flickered to the purple blotches on Loki's jaw line and he raised an eyebrow quizzically but didn't say anything. Loki assumed it was because Mr. Stark was still in the room, but he still hoped that it wouldn't be brought up when the two were alone. He passed along Frigga's well wishes which Howard Stark returned, and after helping the boys unpack a bit, the older man wished them luck with the semester and left them to organize the dorm to their liking. They followed him out to the living room, showing him out, and the door had barely closed before Tony grabbed Loki's wrist and pulled him onto the futon beside him. Loki knew what was coming and his heart was racing.

"Loki, we need to talk…"

"I don't know what you me—."

"Bullshit!" Tony half shouted and the man next to him flinched.

"Loki, that's bullshit… How dumb do you think I am?"

"Stark, I don—."

"No. Loki. Don't lie to me. Not with this." Loki's mouth was slightly open and he couldn't think of a response. His eyes were directed at the ground and he couldn't bring himself to raise them and look Tony in the eyes.

"Look at me." He couldn't.

"Loki… look at me." When he did, Tony could see that his cheeks were red and his eyes were brimming with unshed tears. Boy did things get serious fast, and Tony was certainly not expecting Loki to react this way. He knew something was wrong, but he only saw the tip of the ice burg.

"What… what happened?" His voice shook as he spoke, not sure of how to proceed. He'd never been that good at comforting people. The last time he'd had to do so was when Clint and Loki broke up almost a year ago.

"I… I don't know." Loki swallowed, wringing his hands. Tony gripped his shoulder and squeezed lightly in what he hoped was a consoling gesture.

"I-I-I-I can't, Tony… I just… can't. I'm sorry." He shrugged the others hand off his shoulder and slowly stood up, walking across the room to the kitchen.

"Fine… you know what… just… fine. I don't want to play this game with you. I won't play this game with you. If you won't talk about this… whatever. I'm going to find Pepper." Tony was frustrated and Loki understood why and didn't blame him. That didn't make it any easier for him when Tony stormed out of the room to find his girlfriend, slamming the door behind him. Loki flinched at the sound and slowly made his way back to the futon. He buried his face in his hands and only then did the tears begin to fall. Tony was right, this was stupid. All he wanted was for his best friend to trust him, yet Loki could not bring himself to burden him with his problems.

Tony didn't return that night and Loki tried to keep preoccupied by reading. More often than not, he'd catch himself staring blankly at the page, not absorbing any of the words, lost in his thoughts. What a great start to the semester.