Chapter 7

Anthony Stark

"Wait, I have to go where? And for how long am I going to be there?" I asked in shock as Pepper frowned down at me from behind her clipboard. She was tapping the bottom of her pen against the stack of papers and giving me a sharp frown. "Why do I have to go to California when I'm in the middle of a big business deal here in New York?"

"Because I made a promise to Happy that you were going to relax and take some time away from the polluted air of the city," Pepper replied quickly, breaking eye contact to take a few quick notes. "And I think it would do your attitude some good to take a break from the crowd that walks the streets here." Her brow rose on "attitude." She was definitely pissed off.

"Pepper . . ." I rubbed my forehead and groaned, trying to think of what I could say to her that would not earn me a whack on the back of the head with her damn clipboard. "I'm . . . I'm in the middle of something important. I don't have the luxury right now to just – just take off out of nowhere without warning."

"You don't have the 'luxury'? Tony Stark, you have the luxury of a damn dictator in this country. You are the richest man on this earth; you make more money in one second than Bill Gates makes in sixty. You have the luxury to do anything you want, so do not give me that excuse." Pepper tightened her grip on her pen, and I was waiting for the moment it cracked in half.

"I know that," I replied, opening up a newspaper. "Well, I didn't mean 'luxury,' exactly . . ." I peeped out from behind the newspaper at her. "I used the wrong word, Pep. And, well, I have something I'm kinda doing right now, and it requires a bit of my attention . . ."

"Well, if it is that desperate for attention, simply bring it along with you. It's only for a month, Tony." She jotted something down quickly before turning back towards me. She knew something was up.

"Well, I don't think that's such a good idea . . ." I rubbed the back of my neck nervously and cleared my throat. "Things are kind of . . ."

"You're having an affair."

I felt all of the color run from my face from behind the papers. She wasn't asking me a question. She wasn't asking me if it was true. She was telling me it was true. And it probably was. Did I have to have sex with Loki to make it an affair? Maybe. I hadn't bought him anything, and the furthest the two of us had gone was sleeping together shirtless. Did that make for an affair? I was horrible when it came to romance and relationships.

"You're not denying it." Pepper bit her lip and blinked back impending tears. I rolled my eyes and let the paper fall onto the table.

"I didn't confirm it, either." I stood up from my seat and caught a glance of myself in the mirror, running a hand over my smoothened hair. I could see Pepper in the reflection, sitting with her back towards me and her head lowered down. I couldn't hear anything. "But, Pepper . . . I, uh . . . I think we ne – we need to take a break from our . . . our thing."

"You mean break up?" she asked. Her voice was tight and shaking. That meant that she was crying. I couldn't deal with people when they cried, especially women. There was a certain amount of guilt that always came with hurting peoples' feelings. Women always made me feel like a piece of shit.

"Yeah." I shrugged and focused on my own reflection. "I just tried to, you know, make it nicer." I sighed and fiddled with my tie. "But, um, you can still keep your job, of course. You know I can't even recite my own social security number without you."

"I know." She sniffed and wiped at her eyes, but otherwise her composure remained unchanged. "Your flight is scheduled for tomorrow morning at six a.m., but knowing you, it will not leave New York until two p.m. I'll have the hotel informed that you'll be bringing along extra . . ." She stood from the chair and turned around towards me, staring me down in the mirror. ". . . baggage."

"He is not baggage, Pepper!" I turned and gave her a hard stare, watching her face go from tough and guarded to shocked and almost disgusted. "Now, if you'll excuse me . . ." I buttoned the top of my shirt and winked. ". . . I have my boyfriend to call. J.A.R.V.I.S.!"

"A male?" Pepper's lip curled back. "This is . . . This is because you've been going around behind my back with another man?" Her brow crumpled together in disbelief. I looked down at my feet, turned back up to her, and then I nodded.

"Yes, Pepper. This is because I've been 'going around your back.' If it makes you feel any better, I haven't fucked him." I ran a hand through my hair and could physically feel myself already going bald. Pepper's eyes were beginning to brim again and she gasped and shook her head.

"I can't believe this . . ." She looked up at me and shook her head slowly. "I – I never thought someone like you would . . . would find any sort of company in someone of the same sex." Her voice lowered to a soft whisper. I strained to hear her. "Is he the reason why?"

"He's a fling, Pepper." I fixed the hem of my jacket and began to button it. "Just something fun to play with. Relax." I turned back to the mirror to check my appearance and caught Pepper's eye. She still looked heartbroken and hurt. I rolled my eyes. "Pepper, seriously, stop crying already. I'm not a nice guy, and you know that. There's no need to feel sorry for yourself."

"For myself?" she asked. She sounded offended, put-off. Her sad face turned into a mask of disappointment and hard resolution. She straightened her back and clenched the clipboard so tightly she whitened her knuckles. "I'm not the who should feel sorry for anything, least of all for myself. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a trip to prepare."

Pepper turned her back towards me and stomped out of the room, leaving me contemplating what the hell she was even talking about. Even I didn't know what the hell I was talking about. What the fuck was going on? Before I allowed myself to regret saying anything about Loki being a "fling," I turned back towards the mirror.

"J.A.R.V.I.S., I'm still waiting for you to start that call!"


Loki Laufeyson

When I arrived back at my flat from another night of dancing, I took a moment outside to gather the nervous butterflies in my stomach. I had spent yet another amazing night with an amazing man that, I hoped, wouldn't be as insane as the others and end up stalking me again. I hadn't seen him since the night before in the park, but I was anticipating the next time the two of us would get together again.

I felt sudden chills as I grabbed onto the doorknob, horrid memories rushing back to me from the time when Thor and I had been separated and my first lover came along. I couldn't remember his name or the company he had worked for, but we had had one fling and then I was done with him. He had become obsessed after our one-night stand and suddenly I was getting flowers and gifts like I was in a damn romance movie.

After I sent everything back to him, he demanded dates and called my apartment every day. I changed my number after four days but he quickly found my new one and even began to make house calls to come and see me. After it was discovered that he had been stealing money from his company to fund his insane infatuation with me, I had gathered everything I owned and hit the high road with Thor. After a few months and a restraining order, I was living in a new town and shit hit the fan all over again. I still had horrid nightmares from my second mistake, who had pulled a gun on and almost killed me.

The feeling of suddenly being watched came over me before I knew it, and I rushed into the apartment, nearly slamming the door as hard as I could. I gave the peephole a quick look-over to make sure no one was outside and leaned my forehead against it. I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. My paranoia is going to be the death of me one day, I swear it.

"Brother? Is everything all right?" Thor called out. I could hear the scrape of his chair as he stood from the table. He hadn't left for job-hunting yet. What was it that he did all day anyways? I was beginning to wonder.

He appeared at the end of the entryway as I leaned my back against the front door and ran a hand over my hair. I looked up at him and smiled despite the worried expression on his face. "Hello, Thor," I said with a shy smile.

"Are you all right? You look as though you've seen a ghost." He rushed over to me as I regained my balance. He did his usual inspection of my arms to make sure there were no needle punctures and placed his hands on my shoulders to help me keep balanced.

"Just some flashbacks, brother." I waved his hands away. "I'll be all right. I just need to fall asleep and stay asleep for maybe a year. Yes, a year sounds perfect." I yawned and slid past him. The envelope in my pocket stabbed at my leg with each step and I threw it onto the table from where I was standing. It slid across the flat surface and fell onto the floor on the opposite side. I didn't bother to go retrieve it.

"Loki." Thor was behind me before I registered it, taking hold of my shoulders. "I have good news. You can end this damned game you've been playing. I found a job at a nearby electronics store." His laugh seemed to radiate his joy into me. I whipped around to see his broad grin and he took me into his arms before I could react appropriately.

"Th-Thor! Thor! I can't breathe!" I wheezed as he released me and breathed heavily. "That's . . . That's wonderful! When did this happen? And how the hell did you get to an electronics store?" He laughed as I grinned at him.

"One of Jane's friends, Darcy, her name is, she asked me to help her with a speaker that she couldn't fix. You remember how I used to fix things like our television or your old radio back home when we were younger?" I nodded. That radio had lived for six lifetimes because of Thor. Then I threw it out the window when we had a fight. I had been aiming for Thor, but I missed. "Well, the speaker was just as easy to fix as your radio. Once they had some trashy, boy band song playing through it without static, I was hired!"

He put his arms around me, picked me up, and began slinging me around like a rag doll. I tried to twist myself out of his lung-crushing grip but to no avail. He was laughing loudly and hollering and I just saved my breath in case he decided to squeeze me hard enough to pop my head off.

"Thor! Thor! Air!" I coughed as he dropped me and I nearly fell to my knees. I managed to keep myself from crumpling to the ground and touched at my throat to make sure my head had not detached itself. Once I confirmed that I had remained intact, I turned back up to him and asked, "When did this happen?"

"Last night while you were at work." Thor was breathless. He was so excited he looked as though he would throw me through a wall. More flashbacks came for me, these a little more pleasant than the previous. I took a few steps back in case he decided to act upon the movement. "Isn't this great?"

"This is marvelous," I agreed, smiling with him as he let out another hearty laugh.

"Yes, well, I must be off!" He grabbed his jacket and gave me another bone-breaking embrace. "When I come home this afternoon, I want to see you here, in the same position I have been in these past few weeks, looking for a job for yourself. Though, with your knowledge, I'm sure your job hunt will be so much more prosperous than mine."

"I'm sure it will, Brother. Stay safe!" I waved to him as he walked out the door and grinned, a sudden wave of relief suddenly flowing over me as I leaned against the wall and sighed. And then I began laughing. It was horrid. I sounded as though I had just broken out of a mental asylum. But I didn't give a damn.

I ran a hand through my hair, breathing deeply after nearly laughing myself into unconsciousness, and sighed and leaned against the wall to just relish in the fact that I could actually stop what I was doing and find myself a decent job. One where I wouldn't be forced to strip-tease for lunch money. I could be taking in so much more than three digits if I could find a law firm . . .

The phone rang behind me and I stood up quickly to answer it. I took a deep breath and steadied my voice as I answered. The grin on my face was completely permanent. Nothing was going to get rid of it today.

"Oh, good, you haven't drifted off to sleep yet," the voice on the other end said. It was Tony. I suddenly felt as though I would never be able to get rid of this man. "Well, I have something to ask you. Have you ever been to Malibu?"

"Malibu?" I asked, stunned. "No, I haven't. I haven't even been past Pennsylvania."

"Really?" There was an edge of smugness and excitement in his voice. "Well, that's absolutely perfect. You see, my secretary's making me go 'take a vacation' from all of the 'pollution' and shit here in New York. Really, she just wants me to get away from all of the partiers and pole-dancers."

"Lovely choice of words, Stark," I said, then quickly corrected myself with, "Er, Tony."

"Nice save." He chuckled on the other end and cleared his throat. "Well, as I said, Pepper wants me out of New York. I love California as much as the next person, and I wouldn't have made a big deal if it was for a weekend or so. But apparently, she wants me there for a month."

A month? Well, there goes my smile. It slid slowly off my face as I took in the fact that I wouldn't be able to see him. I swallowed and nodded quietly. "Oh, I see. Well, that is a bit unfortunate."

"Yeah, I guess it is." Tony cleared his throat again. "So, uh . . . Does that mean that you don't want to come with me? Because, if that's the case, then I can just call someone else and ask them."

I opened my mouth to reply when his words actually made a coherent sentence in my head, and I stopped. The man I had barely known for a week was asking me to run across the country with him for four weeks, away from my only family. Was I ready for that? Every fiber of my being was telling me "yes," but there was that shred of guilt that was telling me to stop and think about it.

"When are you leaving?" I asked.

"Tomorrow afternoon. Probably around five or six. Why? Is there something you have to take care of?" I could hear some clattering on the other side of the line.

"Er, yes. I just don't think I can pack enough clothing for a month-long trip . . ."

"That's fine. I have a few suits lying around my Malibu home. You can just borrow them on the occasion. Besides, I don't plan on getting out of the house very much." He chuckled. I swallowed. Well, damn, there was a deal-maker if I ever heard one.

"Oh, um . . ." I coughed and felt a hot blush creep across my cheeks as Tony laughed triumphantly on the other end. My throat closed up from embarrassment. What the hell was I supposed to say to something as bold as that? "I – I suppose I could try to attend. I would have a few things to work out with my, er, brother."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, I understand," he said with a short laugh. "Whatever you need to get done, do it. Take as much time as you need. I'll be waiting for you."

I swallowed again as my chest tightened and that little voice in my head said, "He's the real thing!" I quickly beat it back down into a crumpled little mess at the back of my mind. There would be no use getting myself all hot and bothered over a simple comment he made. And he has indeed made several references to such acts, if my mind serves me correctly.

"I – I won't be long," I promised, somehow talking in a clouded daze. "I just – just have to talk it over with my brother. I'll . . . I'll be there."

"Good! I'd be quite disappointed if you didn't come." There was a long pause. I think we were both trying to wrap our heads around what exactly was happening at the moment. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, I hope."

"Yes. I'll see you tomorrow."

The phone clicked loudly before the dial tone came and I was left standing in my apartment by myself still trying to wrap my head around what the hell had just happened to me. A man I had only known for a few days (just enough for me to count on one hand) was asking me to fly to the other side of the nation with him and spend an entire month in one of his many homes he kept plotted around the nation. What the hell was wrong with me?

It didn't matter what my conscience was telling me. It didn't matter what logic and sensibility were telling me. It especially didn't matter what my head was telling me. With every thought I gave him, every thought that he alone seemed to entirely consume with the flash of a smile, my heart galloped in my chest and pushed me further towards the cliff my stupid self was going to throw myself over. I was already staring down at the dark, horror-filled crevice that lied before me. All I had to do was take a small, life-changing step.

And I did.

I placed the phone back into its cradle on the wall and retreated to my bedroom where I proceeded to throw clothes into my suitcase in a sloppy fashion before taking them back out and folding them properly. That little voice in my head was screaming its head off and I hummed a tune to myself in order to drown it out.

I was successful.