Once, thousands of years ago, Loki had come to the aid of a young boy. Where Odin and Hœnir had failed, Loki had risen victorious, slaying a giant who had sought to devour a child for his father's faults. Loki's Tale, they called it - the Lokka Táttur. It was one single shred of evidence in human history that painted Loki as more than a villain.
The boy's name escaped him now, lost to the tides of time. But he was not forgotten.
The child had escaped the giant's clutches and had remembered Loki for it. He had become a devout follower, the only follower, and he had always called for Loki's grace in times of struggle and doubt. There was never any need for Loki to appear to him in person as he once had, but he did listen. He watched the boy grow and when the mood hit him, he even guided the child in his path.
When a sickness felled the boy, who was not yet a young man, he called to his God one last time.
Loki attended his deathbed, knowing it was right to pay his respects to the only human who had ever called him a God. To others he was the trickster, mischief's hand, and he was not to be trusted. He lived in Thor's shadow and fell to the wayside in the presence of all the other Æsir , but to this child, he was everything.
"What do you want of me?" Loki asked.
"Save me," the child pleaded. "I don't want to die."
All lives had to end, he knew, but for this one Loki was willing to cheat death.
"I cannot save you in this life, but let me give you a thousand more."
Magic wove two souls together on that night, giving the boy a new life every time he was extinguished. It was a cycle of reincarnation fueled by Loki's power. So long as his God lived, the boy would never face true death.
Countless years passed on Earth, but Loki came to know almost every iteration of the boy's young soul. The thread of magic between them made itself known in displays of color and heat whenever they met, and their bond strengthened the longer they stayed near. One's pain would become the other's. Thoughts and feeling might be shared.
Some would call them soulmates. Loki scoffed at the idea, but it was fitting. Their souls were drawn together, bound by magic and moving through realms and time. If two lives were to be destined for one another, it would be theirs.
Granted, the boy did not encounter him in every life. Their paths did not always intertwine, sometimes leading them even farther apart. But when they did cross, Loki always asked the same question:
What do you want of me?
Once, when the boy had been born a girl and grown into womanhood, she had wanted love.
From there, Loki's single kindness had spiraled out of control.
Tony Stark was the newest life that the boy's soul had been given. He had grown into Iron Man, who had stopped an intergalactic war just by existing. Who would, one day, have a gem's power ravage his body. It would tear every weave of ancient magic asunder. He would become nothing - the boy would be gone. His world, however, would be saved.
It was after that that Loki took a golden gem from Thanos' corpse and used it to his own purpose. An infinity stone, a soul gem - the time stone. He would slip into the past to know more about the last life of the boy's soul, to know Tony Stark before they had met for the first time on the helicarrier.
The accusations of stalking that had once confused him became clear.
It was worth it. For every humorous moment he was able to see, for every burst of color and warmth of heart, he grew to know the man who had foolishly sacrificed himself for the betterment of the universe.
If they had been given more time, Loki fancied that they would have been able to grow beyond their uneasy alliance. That wasn't to say their interactions had been few. Tony had utilized the rune he had been given, and Loki had made numerous appearances on Midgard in the time between the helicarrier and Thanos. They had fought together, schemed together, worked together.
They had even slept together, sometimes battling between the sheets, vying for dominance until one submitted under the other. Other times they touched simply because they craved the contact, wanting more than life gave them and falling into the night together.
But it was a game between them, not intimacy or love. It was all lies and truths, tricks and smirks.
That was what Loki preferred to think, at least, because that didn't hurt quite as much.
When he finally knew it was time to leave the past behind, he rolled the time stone between his fingers and turned his back on Stark Tower for the final time. His chest had been hollowed where the pulse of ancient magic had once heated his skin, and he wondered if the flame would ever be rekindled again. The universe would certainly be a duller place without Tony Stark, and no others would follow after him.
Were there chance to have that color returned to his life, Loki was sure he'd burn the entire universe for it.
So he allowed himself one last indulgence, letting the powers of an infinity stone displace him in time once again. In a space of a heartbeat he shifted from one year to the one before, from one city to another. He stood outside another building emblazoned with Stark's name and took care to slip inside, his armor fading into the proper casual wear of this land with a single wash of green magic. He listened to the passersby and employees within to learn that Tony was holding a press conference, fresh off a plane after captivity.
It took him no time to glide by security and see this conference for himself.
"Yeah, okay. Yeah. The truth is…"
When he slipped inside that press room he realized exactly what moment he had stepped into, and the hollow in his chest was warmed for a final time.
"I am Iron Man." Tony Stark revealed, and Loki gave him a smile.
