Radioactive Mirrors – Chapter Four

Loki's phone vibrated in his pocket as he lay on his bed. He frowned, wondering who was textig him as he had little friends who would. He raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar number but then read the text and smiled.

'Hey, it's Tony.'

'You stole my number' Loki replied, although he fully intended Tony to take it.

'Guilty. Whatcha up to?' Came the reply, moments after Loki replied.

'Nothing.'

'Great. So I hear Thor is hosting a party this Saturday?'

'He is.' Loki replied shortly.

'Will I be seeing you there?'

'Not if I can help it. I do not enjoy Thor's parties.'

'Not even if I'm there? ;)'

'I don't think I'd get on with your friends.'

'They'll love you I'm sure :)'

'We'll see. '

'If you're not, I will find your room and pull you out of there. Just to warn you ;)'

'My door has a lock Anthony.'

'I am a genocide.'

Loki stared at the text in confusion before receiving another text. '*genius. Auto corrected.' And then a third. 'And please, it's Tony now.'

'No it's not.'

'Okay let me rephrase. I prefere to be called Tony, no one calls me Anthony anymore'

'Well I do.'

There was a little pause in between these texts, longer than before when Tony replied instantly.

'...Right.'

'What are you doing now?'

'Masturbating.'

Loki dropped his phone.

This was almost immediately followed by: 'Procrasting! I swear to god, it auto corrected!'

'Haha'

'Don't laugh at me.' The tone of the text made it seem like Tony was embarassed, but on the other end of the connection he was struggling to hold in his laughter.

'But it's so easy.' Came Loki's reply

'Uhuh. I gotta go and stop PROCRASTinating. See you tomorrow :)' Tony replied back.

'Uhuh.'

-page break-

The next day, Loki found himself sitting next to one of Tony's friends, Bruce, in a lesson.

"Hey." The dark haired boy said casually as Loki took the seat next to him.

Loki immediately recognised him as the one from the English class the other day.

"Hello." There was a short but awkward silence between the two before Bruce spoke again.

"You know Tony right?"

"I do, yes." Loki answered politely.

"um, if you don't mind me asking, how is it you do?" Bruce fiddled with his glasses.

"Sorry, it's just, I don't think Tony's mentioned you before..."

"We grew up together."

"Ah... Cool."

"And you, you're Tony's lab partner. Correct?"

"Uh, sure... in our science lessons."

"Yes. Although I presume Anthony had his own lab space at home. His father always was keen on him keeping up the family skill."

"His father's never... Are you sure you grew up with him?" Bruce turned to him with a frown.

"Well yes. I was there." Loki rolled his eyes and turned to Bruce again. "What doesn't he do?"

"I er... It's not my place to say." Bruce said, turning around to focus on copying some work off the board. "Plus, I'm not sure Tony really wants to talk about it."

"Exactly." Loki said, "that's why you should tell me instead."

Bruce shook his head. "Sorry, I don't want Tony to get annoyed with me."

"Okay, fair enough. You'd rather him have to tell me himself and get upset. No, no. I understand."

Bruce sighed then leant down closer to his work. "Its not that, it's just like I said- it's not my secret to tell, and I've already said too much."

"Okay." Loki sat back a bit, looking pleased with himself. "So what are you doing tonight?"

He frowned at his work but didn't look up. "Uh, pardon?"

"Did I stutter?" Loki raised an eyebrow with his most charming smile.

"No, I... Just wondered why you asked me?" Bruce said as he raised his grad to give Loki a confused look.

"Well, as a new student, I am yet to make many friends, and I wondered if you'd like to go to the cinema with me. You seem nice." Loki smiled again, this time tuning off the charm in place of false innocence.

Bruce's eyes widened slightly in a moment of shock before he smiled and shrugged. "Sure, I don't mind but... Wouldn't you rather go with someone More like Tony?"

"But I already know Anthony." Loki smirked, "I don't know you." Loki fought the urge to wink, trying to be subtle.

Bruce seemed to think on it for a moment before nodding. "Sure, it sounds it'd be fun."

"Awesome." Loki turned back to his work. "What did you get for the second question?"

-Page Break-

It was now the evening, and Loki was stood waiting outside of the local cinema waiting for Bruce who was a few minutes late. It was a good think he'd told him to meet him there earlier than the film started so it would allow more time.

"Hi." Loki greeted, grinning widely.

"Hello." He said back. " Sorry I'm a little later, I had some work to be getting on with that if gotten earlier."

"That's okay. We still have a little time before the film starts. I've already got out tickets. Did you want a drink and some popcorn?"

"Yeah sure." Bruce asked as they made their way inside. Loki ordered them large popcorn and a drink with 2 straws, and gave them to Bruce while he paid.

After he paid and they sat around chatting for a few minutes, it was time to go into the film, so they went and found their seats.

"I haven't been to the cinema with anyone in ages." Loki mused.

"Me neither." Bruce smiled at him.

When the film started, Loki stretched his arms across the back of the chairs either side of him. Bruce didn't seem to notice though, he was more focused on watching as the film played. Loki smiled and made himself comfortable, removing his arm from the other chair to grab a handful of popcorn.

Bruce reached at the same time and apologised when their hands bumped together. Loki chucked lightly and let Bruce take the first handful.

He smiled, apologetically, and then focused again on the film.

Loki smirked to himself, and waited patiently until Bruce took a sip of his drink.

As Bruce leant down to take a sip, Loki leant down too. Their lips brushed for just a second, and their eyes made contact. Both pulled back quickly, and Loki coughed awkwardly while Bruce looked away.

Bruce leant his head on his hand, leaning away from Loki but didn't make any further move to get away.

"I'm so sorry." Loki said, in his gentlemanly way.

"It-it's fine." Bruce said after a pause. Loki didn't need to see his face properly to know he was blushing.

"Is it?" Loki asked softly

"What?" Bruce asked confusedly.

"Is it fine?"

"Huh? No I... I just meant its okay that it was a mistake?" He raised his voice slightly at the end of his whisper as if asking a question.

"That's what I meant." Loki smiled and turned back to the screen. Bruce too looked back at the screen and didn't say anything for the rest of the movie.

As they left, Bruce turned to Loki and said, "About what happened while we were in there. I don't know if you, uh, did that purposely or not but just so you know, I'm straight. Even if I wasn't, I think Tony likes you and I couldn't do that to my friend."

"What? Anthony doesn't like me. Not like that anyway." Loki laughed. "Don't be ridiculous." He stopped and turned to face Bruce. "Look, I like you Bruce, and that's got nothing to do with Anthony. I'm not going to give up."

Bruce shook his head. "Sorry."

A shrill noise came from Loki's pocket and he pulled his phone out. "Thor."

"Where are you Bro- Loki? Mother's worrying, you know what she's like." Thor's booming voice came through the speaker. No doubt he was holding the end with the microphone too close to his face.

"I'm out with Bruce Thor." Loki sighed "I'll be home in twenty minutes. Tell mother to stop worrying." He put down the phone without waiting for a reply. "I've got to go. I'll see you at school?"

Bruce paused a second then smiled and nodded. "Yeah, This was... Um... Fun. See you at school then." he waved slightly then turned and walked away from him.

Loki walked to his car and turned his music up.

-Page Break-

The next day at school, Loki had English, but as the lesson started there was no sign of the brown haired boy. As the minutes went by slowly, Loki began to get bored and wonder where he was. He even threw a note to a boy he knew was friends with Tony friend Steve at one point, asking him 'where Anthony was' but instead of replying the other boy merely turned around and shrugged. Loki sighed and shook his head then focused on his work, thinking Tony was probably just ill or skiving or something.

It was a good half an hour into the lesson before Tony strolled into the classroom. He had a big plaster on his face (over his left cheek) but as he still grinned at the teacher and apologised for being late, the smile did not reach his eyes. No one but Loki noticed, or if they did then they didn't start talking about it. The teacher asked to see him at the end of the lesson, to which he groaned a reply to, then made his way to his seat. As he walked, Loki noticed that he limped ever so slightly on his right leg, but he looked as if he didn't even notice it.

"Hey, what I miss?" He said as he sat down and got out his folder as everyone else in the room started to talk to the people around them.

"What happened to your face?"

"Um... Nothing." he answered quietly, looking away. "Just... Uh... Ran into something. That's all." he said unconvincingly.

Loki looked worried, but schooled it into a cheerful expression. He'd ask later. He passed Tony his book so he could copy his work, and studied the other's face.

"So uhh, I hear you went out with Bruce last night?" Tony said after an awkward silence passed between the two.

"I did."

"I also heard you tried to kiss him." Tony paused but didn't look up. "I didn't think you were serious about him." His tone sounded slightly hurt, though his expression was neutral.

Loki looked up. "What? I didn't kiss anyone."

Tony looked up and gave him a look which said 'really?' "He's my best friend, there's hardy anything we don't tell each other. He told me you tried to."

Loki laughed, "A misunderstanding, I assure you."

"Right." He said disbelievingly and looked down again.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Does it bother you?"

"I, err ,that is..." Tony blushed and still kept his eyes trained on his work. "You're both my friends. I just don't want to see either of you get hurt..."

Loki smirked. "That's awfully nice of you." He teased.

"Yeah yeah." Tony said nonchalantly. "You ready for Thor's party tomorrow?"

"Why would I need to be ready? I'm not going."

"Awww come on, please? I'll be so bored without you." He looked up and gave Loki a pathetic expression.

"You could always come and join me in my boudoir."

"I could. I'm curious to see it. Do you still sleep with that 8 legged horse thing you and I made together when we were little?" he asked, raising an amused eyebrow.

Loki's eyes widened. "You remember that?"

Tony laughed then winked. "Didn't forget."

Looking down, Loki smiled. "Sleipnir sits at the end of my bed, yes."

"Aww, cute." Tony smirked.

Loki pinched him under the table. "Don't tell anyone."

As he pinched him, Tony winced and jerked away, even though Loki had hardly touched him hard enough to cause pain.

"I won't." He said after shifting slightly and adopting his usual smirk again. "For a price."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "I don't make deals with terrorists."

"Terrorists?"

"You're terrorising me." Loki looked up t him, sticking his bottom lip out.

Tony laughed, then said in a fake accent, "Some consider me a terrorist, but I consider myself a teacher." Loki rolled his eyes. "You'll neverrrr see me coming."

"Anthony, have you gone insane?"

He shook his head and laughed. "No, It's a quote from a film or something."

Their teacher shushed the class and began to write something up for them to copy down. Loki spoke in a whisper. "Meet me after lunch. We'll skip our last lesson. We need to talk."

"We do?" Tony said with a raised eyebrow then shrugged. "Okay. I have a free then anyway."

"What I meant was, we need to catch up."

Tony smiled as he wrote. "That's be good. Same place as last time?"

"Don't be stupid. We'll meet at the park by your house."

Thanks to everyone who has favourited/followed/reviewed or even just read this so far :) You guys are awesome. Until the next chapter - Dark