It is a strange pressure that wakes Loki. Senta pokes him with her nose, whining softly. Something is obviously very wrong. He wraps an arm around Senta's head, holding her close as his magic searches for the disturbance.

The device turns out to be on the roof. The effects are slowly traveling down the apartment. Already the people on the top floor are still, only unconscious Loki discovers when his magic probes closer. Two floors above his own, a young woman is on the phone with the police, her daughter having already passed out. Great, that means SHIELD will have their grubby little hands all over this, probably already do. It's a fifty-fifty chance that Fury will call the Avengers in. Loki isn't taking the chance of Stark seeing his true form and shifts to Raziel. Senta barely bats an eye, she is used to his transformations at this point, but she continues to paw at him. "Shh, it's all right, Senta."

As he slides out of bed, the pressure reaches his floor. Overhead, the sound of one of SHIELD's infernal air crafts lets Loki know that the agency has arrived. His magic quickly makes its way back up to the roof, and just as he feared, the Avengers are the ones that have been called in to deal with this little problem. Of course, as soon as Stark found out where the trouble was, there is no way he would stay out of it.

There is no choice. If Loki wants to keep his cover, he is going to have to act human, and that means taking on the symptoms of the other residents. That means giving himself a fever, trace amounts of radiation, and passing out. Loki sighs and pets Senta gently. The husky is already languid and shaking. "You'll be fine, Senta," Loki tells her softly. "I won't let this hurt you. You'll sleep, and wake up in a few hours feeling tired. That's all." Senta whines, but finally closes her eyes.

Loki arranges himself on the floor as if he had fallen. Another deep breath, and then he turns his magic against himself. He grits his teeth as the fever comes. Oh, it is so much worse now that Loki is aware of his heritage. The front door crashes open just as Loki's eyes drop closed.

/

"Zeke!" Tony shouts at the man standing next to the device.

Ezekiel Stane turns his head up to grin at the armored Avenger. "So good of you to join me, Stark. You're a little early. The radiation levels haven't had enough time to really build up, although your pretty friend probably isn't feeling too good right about now."

"If you hurt her-"

"You killed my father," Zeke cuts him off. "Seems only fair I take something important from you. And it's thanks to you I have the equipment to do so." He raises his arm to reveal a replusor glove.

'Shit, where the hell did he get that?' Zeke has always been smart, but Tony had never employed him because Stane's son had never shown any skill at innovation.

Before Zeke can fire, a shield hits his arm, sending the man spinning to the ground. "Iron Man!" Cap shouts into the coms, jumping from the quintjet to rush Zeke. "Leave him to us. Deactivate that device."

"Right," Tony answers as he lands. That is much more important right now than confronting Zeke. But that's his tech Zeke is wielding…and apparently it's his tech Zeke used for his device as well. Well that's just peachy. Fortunately that means Tony knows exactly how to deactivate the stupid thing. It makes him all of two minutes to shut the machine off, which means he looks up just in time to see Zeke fire his replusor glove at Cap's face. There's a flash of light and Zeke ends up on the floor screaming in agony.

"Backfired, didn't it?" Tony says as he walks over to the fallen man. "Didn't anticipate the energy backlash?"

"Fuck you, Stark," Zeke growls through gritted teeth. Most of his right side has been burnt, and Tony can see bits of bone through the charred flesh of Zeke's arm.

"Take care of this, Cap. I need to check on Raziel. I want his equipment though. I need to know figure out how he got a hold of it."

"Go, I'll make sure it's sent back to the Tower."

"Thanks." Tony yanks the roof access door open and half runs half flies down the stairwell. They should really make stairwells wide enough for him to just fly down them properly. It'd be so much easier. He doesn't bother knocking when he reaches Raziel's door, just yanks it half way off its hinges. "Raziel!" he shouts. The apartment is oddly quiet. It makes the fear in Tony's heart increase tenfold. He rushes down the hallway to the bedroom just in time to see Raziel's eyes drop closed.

/

Tony sits next to Raziel, amusing himself by playing some game where he has to do parkour tricks to get his stolen items back from zombies. Really he is thinking about the woman in the bed next to him. He had been certain Raziel was actually Loki, but here she is in the hospital. She has the exact symptoms of the others in the apartment. Loki, Asgardian god, would not have been effected by Ezekiel Stane's little device. The little device that had originally been Tony's, and Zeke had rebuilt to serve his own needs. He knows Zeke is the reason Raziel is lying in that bed right now, but he can't help feeling responsible.

He leans back in his chair, groaning loudly as the StarkPad drops into his lap. This whole thing has his mind running in circles.

"Bad day?" a soft voice asks.

Tony's head whips to the side to see Raziel finally awake. Her green eyes are looking at him with an emotion he cannot place. "You could say that. My date didn't show up for dinner. It was heartbreaking."

"Oh, I'm sure she had her reasons. You are the great Tony Stark after all." Raziel turns her head to look at the room, tearing out her IVs. Tony smiles, because he really should have seen that coming. "Where is Senta?"

"Cap's looking after her. All the animals woke up about an hour after the attack."

"What happened?" She turns back to him. Damn, those eyes, there's no unseeing it, those are Loki's eyes.

Tony takes a deep breath, because no, she is Raziel, and Raziel is just a really smart human. "It was Ezekiel Stane. He reworked one of my inventions, and used it to attack you. Ever since his father's death, he's been trying to hurt me by hurting the people around me." He pauses, running a hand through his hair. "It's my fault you got pulled into this. Knowing me has put you in danger."

Raziel looks at him like he is an idiot. "You do realize I went into this knowing full well who you are, and that it was possible someone would target me to hurt you?"

"I, uh…" Tony blinks a few times, trying to process that information. That thought had never crossed his mind.

The woman rolls her eyes as she slides off the bed. "I thought so. Now, where are my clothes?"

Tony smiles at her, truly smiles, and he sees the surprise in her eyes. There's a part of him that doesn't care if Raziel does turn out to be Loki. He has to be careful around her, but there is no way he can stay away for long. "I don't know, I think the whole hospital gown is kinda cute on you."

Raziel playfully swats his arm. "You only like it because it opens in the back."

"Does it?" Tony mock gasps. He stands and turns her around. "So it does! Who knew?"

The two dissolve into giggles like they are a couple of teenagers. When she turns to face him again, Tony very nearly kisses her. He catches himself at the last second, but the shock on Raziel's face tells him she guessed his intention. "Ah, sorry," he says, taking a step back. Before she can stop him, Tony is out the door. Once again, his answer to this whole problem is distance.

/

Loki is going to set the little man on fire, a fire that doesn't kill but continually burns, so he can watch the man run around screaming in pain. "What do you mean I've been evicted?"

"Look," the landlord says, his voice shaking a bit as he tries to stare Raziel down, "I can't have you here. It's because you were here we were all put in the hospital, and a lot of residents believe the monster attack yesterday was because of you too. If I don't evict you, people are going to start leaving."

Loki let himself mentally imagine what the little man would look like with one of his daggers sticking out of his face. "My rent-"

"Will be reimbursed, along with your security deposit," the man actually has the gall to interrupt. "Look, your stuff has already been moved out-"

"What?" Loki hisses. The imaginings are getting very close to not being imaginings anymore.

"What's going on?"

Loki turns, eyes practically blazing with fury as he focuses his attention on Tony. "Decided running away once wasn't enough?" he snaps. He is not in the mood to deal with Stark right now.

"Hey, I came to apologize."

"And I am rejecting it. Someone needs to show you that your actions cannot be swept under the rug by pretty words." He turns back to the landlord. "See? I am no longer associated with him. Now let me back into my apartment."

The landlord gulps, but stands his ground. "I can't do that."

"Wait, he evicted you?"

"Yes!" Loki snaps in exasperation. "And all my things have apparently gone into storage!"

"You know you're supposed to give thirty days notice, right?" Tony questions, coming up to stand beside him.

"You are not helping," Loki growls.

"Look, Raziel," Tony says softly, taking Loki's hands in his own, "I've got a place you can stay. And I've got lawyers who will pin this guy to the wall for you, just calm down."

Loki forces himself to take a deep breath. Yes, good, this is good. His whole plan could still be salvageable. "I don't need your charity, Stark," he persists. But he doesn't try to move away. He has to keep up Raziel's personality, and it is Raziel's personality, absolutely none of it is Loki.

"Not charity," Tony counters. "Another apology?"

"I don't want another apology."

"Then one friend helping out another. You can pay me rent at a discounted price or something. And hey, you still owe me dinner!" Tony points out.

Loki glares at him for another second. "I do," he finally relents. "Fine. It's better than arguing with this filth any longer."

Tony's face breaks into a glorious smile that absolutely does not make Loki's heart skip a beat. "Great. Come on, I brought the car this time."

/

"I can't possibly pay you rent for this place," Loki says as soon as he walks into the apartment. It is big, every inch screaming 'Tony Stark lives here!' His eyes widen and he turns on the inventor. "This is your penthouse, isn't it?"

"Yep," Tony answers, absolutely unashamed. "Personal penthouse, so you don't have to pay me anything."

"That was not our agreement!"

"Raziel," Tony sighs, "can you just once accept my help for what it is? I don't need you to give me anything in return. I just want you safe."

It is a ridiculous notion. There is no protection Stark can give him that Loki cannot provide for himself. The Trickster has to mentally kick himself once again for forgetting that it is not Loki Tony sees, but Raziel.

"The bedroom is through there," Tony says, ignoring her indignation for the moment. "You've got a fully stocked kitchen, TVs in the living room and bedroom. There's an extra StarkPad around here somewhere I'll set up for you, don't have a library, don't like paper. JARVIS is programmed in, so he can help you if you need anything else."

Ah, Stark's bodiless helper would be watching him. That is good to know. Stark shifts nervously, actually anxious around Raziel now. "Ah, so yeah, that's all. Well, it's late, so I should probably let you sleep. I mean, you probably need to rest after what Zeke did to you. So yeah, I'm just gonna go and let you…sleep."

Loki feels the breath leave his lungs when Tony turns back to him. The man stares at him, no, not him, Raziel, with something more than desire. Stark has fallen in love with Raziel, and Loki has let too much of Raziel into himself to not reciprocate his feelings.

He reaches out with his transformed hands, entwining his fingers with Tony's and drawing the inventor closer to him. "Stay with me tonight," Raziel's light voice demands.

Tony steps closer to him, his face inches from Loki's own. "What happened to just friends?"

"We have not been 'just friends' for a long time now."

Tony sucks in a breath, his hands gripping Loki's false body in a tighter embrace that would have bruised if it had not been Loki. They have both been in denial about this for so long. Loki knows how Tony's mind is working right now, because it is the same train of thought Loki's is on. The inventor has known for some time about his feelings for Raziel, but as long as it was never said out loud he could hide, be the friend Raziel has wanted instead of the lover Tony desires to be. But now it is out there, and Tony trembles against Loki as the mortal's desire literally brushes against his fingertips.

"Tony," Loki croaks out, "if you do not kiss me right now, I will cry."

He barely gets the last word out before Tony's lips are on his, hips pressing Loki's body against the window. And with that one kiss, Loki is lost.

/

Tony feels a vague sense of déjà vu when he wakes. The penthouse is filled with the smell of breakfast, French toast and coffee. He rolls over, but Raziel's side of the bed is barely warm anymore. It still smells of her though. He hugs the pillow to his face and inhales the scent of cinnamon and pine trees. God, it's like she somehow bottled Christmas into a smell.

When he is fully awake, his brain reminds him there's a very good chance that Raziel is Loki. Of course, that hadn't stopped Tony from sleeping with her, but he is blaming that on the heat of the moment and Raziel's talented lips.

He throws the covers off and rolls off the bed, scratching his stomach as he looks for his clothes. He finds his boxers and pulls those on, but his shirt is missing. He decides to forgo the pants. As soon as he walks into the living room he's hit full force by the delicious smells of food. "That smells heavenly," he groans.

"It's not dinner, but I didn't think you would complain," Raziel says with a laugh.

Oh, he is going to melt under than smile. "Nope, no complaints from this corner." He grins cheekily when he gets closer to the kitchen and sees what Raziel is wearing. "So that's where my shirt went to. Again, no complaints."

Raziel smirks and places a few strawberries onto the plate. "It is a rather comfortable shirt." She places the plate on the counter in front of Tony before grabbing a couple of mugs and pouring coffee.

Tony groans loudly when the first bite of food hits his tongue. "I think my mouth just had an orgasm."

"That is slightly disturbing." She leans against the counter, giving Tony a wonderful view of her breasts.

He takes full advantage of the top two undone buttons to hook his fingers into the shit, pulling her forward to kiss along the bottom of her neck. "You are beautiful."

"Mmm, yes, I believe you told me that repeatedly last night. Although, no complaints," Raziel teases.

Tony chuckles and pulls back to pop a strawberry into his mouth. "Say," he says once he swallows, "there's a charity event all the Avengers are going to next week. You want to come with me?" Tony is the very picture of casual, but he studies Raziel's reaction intensely.

She turns back to the kitchen, busying herself by cleaning up the space, although there's no mess Tony can detect. "I'd rather not," she finally answers. "I enjoy being with you, but…I'd rather not be in the public eye all that much."

"You didn't seem to worry about that much before."

"I wasn't sleeping with you before," Raziel retorts sharply. "It's completely different now."

Tony takes another bite, chewing slowly. The entire time Raziel keeps her back to him. "Is that the real reason, or is it because you know Thor will recognize you? Or did you completely screw up whatever plan you had by sleeping with me?"

Raziel very nearly drops her coffee cup. Tony has to hand it to her, it's a wonderful recovery. She finally turns to look at him, a mask of confusion on her face. "What are you talking about? And why would Thor recognize me? I've never met him before."

This time he takes a sip of coffee before speaking again. "It's the eyes, babe, and the smile. They're rather you. My guess is you can't change the eyes when you shape shift. As for the smile, that was probably unplanned, and you ended up putting too much of yourself into this disguise."

Raziel's eyes take on a hard glare, and there is no longer any denying that Tony's suspicions were correct. At least Loki knows when he's failed. "Then I guess there is no longer a reason to uphold this façade."

"Guess not," Tony says into his coffee cup. "So, that's still a no to the charity event then?"

Loki looks like she is debating throwing him through another window. The hairs on the back of his neck stand up, but Tony does his best to look unaffected. The coffee cup crashes to the floor as Raziel…Loki vanishes, leaving Tony alone in the penthouse.

"Guess that's a no," he says to himself, trying to ignore the sudden metaphysical pain in his chest.

/

The game Tony is playing in the hospital is called Zombie Parkour Runner.