A handful of days later, Loki found himself in the hallway outside of Stark's penthouse. He really needed to find a different distraction, but nothing cleared his head quite the way a night spent in Anthony Stark's company did. He'd been holed up in his chosen place of residence pouring over multiple tomes for the last few days and making discoveries in their depths that he hadn't seen before in all his eons of studying magic. Rather than consider what that actually meant he rapped sharply on the door, it was late enough that Stark ought to be home.

Except there was no sound from the inside and the door didn't open.

He frowned at that, trying again. When there was no answer to his third attempt he finally gave up and appeared in the penthouse, looking around.

JARVIS flickered to life at the intrusion. "Are you looking for my creator, Mr. Loki?"

The slender being startled, whirling at the sound before recognizing it, "I was, yes."

"He is currently not residing here," JARVIS said, sounding like he didn't want to give that information out but he wanted the god in his space even less.

"So I can see," Loki frowned very slightly. "Where is he then?"

"My master is at another one of his houses," JARVIS replied. "He has a limited number of them."

"Considering how well he appears to get on with certain teammates I will make the assumption it is not the mansion then," the god nodded once. "Thank you." With that he vanished.

If he'd been programmed to do it, JARVIS would have sighed.

Loki spent the better part of the next hour trying to find a scrying spell that would give him not only a glimpse of where Stark was, but also how far away it was. Once he had those two bits of information he wove a teleportation spell like he hadn't done for many years. Closing his eyes he only hoped it would get him where he needed it to.

He opened his eyes to find himself standing in a corner of what appeared to be a garage, but that wasn't entirely an accurate assessment, he quickly amended. Stark was seated with his back toward him at a workbench and there was a good amount of engineering materials scattered about. A lab then. Anthony's lab. In Malibu. The god of chaos stepped from the shadows, speaking just to see the other's reaction, "Your butler informed me that you weren't at the penthouse."

Eyes snapping wide, Tony froze, hands suddenly going flat against the keyboard he was working on, and the screen almost squawked in protest at so many buttons being hit at once. Breathing back under control, Tony whirled. "What are you doing here?"

Watching Stark for a moment, the trickster filed that reaction away and determined not to attempt that for a long while yet, "I went by the penthouse to clear my head and was informed you were here and not there." He considered that, "Actually I was informed that you were elsewhere, I had to discover the here part myself."

Tony looked over at one of his screens, and something scrolled by, possibly shameful. "Right. Good boy JARVIS, I'll give you a biscuit later." He leaned back against the edge of the work table, a hand covering the arc reactor again, unconscious in the movement. "So you wanted to stop by to clear your head?"

Gaze drifting to the arc reactor, Loki reminded himself to look into what he could find about that, perhaps ask Stark sometime when he was drunk. The god of mischief nodded very slightly, "Something like that. Mostly I needed to actually get out of my residences and interact with someone in a modern tongue."

"Well, I do have a very modern tongue," Tony said, distracted still and swallowed again past his dry throat. Standing, he went to the fridge he had packed away in the corner, Dummy coming up to bump against him in confusion on his way. Patting the droid, he rifled around quickly before turning back to Loki, water in one hand. "And you can transport all the way out to Malibu?"

"Not daily, and not frequently. I have not had to weave a spell of this sort for quite some time, and would rather not do it often." Though he'd moved out of the shadows, Loki had positioned himself so he was leaning on one of the worktables to lend him some support while his legs stopped shaking. Between rebuilding his normal scrying spells, sending out a last minute one to glimpse where he would be ending up, and then transporting thousands of miles his body was tired, though his mind was attentive.

Tony looked him over, taking in probably more than the other wanted him to notice—but Tony was good at noticing details. "Good to know where some of your limits are."

Loki frowned slightly at that, "Shorter spells would have been better, but I did not wish to appear in the middle of one of your highways."

"Right," Tony said, glancing over at where JARVIS was directing assembly on the other side of the lab, You dropped something important and he winced.

"May I ask what you are working on, or should I leave as I came?"

"Well," Tony tilted his head. "You don't need to show yourself the door, but you might excuse me remaining somewhat tight lipped on the subject and Dummy!" he snapped out as the helper careened off the wrong way. "Please don't make me threaten you with donation again!" The droid whistled and carried on exactly as it had been.

Loki tilted his head to one side, watching the two droids, "You built them?"

"Yeah," Tony said, moving over to make sure things were on track, shutting off the 3D display as he went. "A long time ago."

That garnered a slight twitch of the god's lips upward. "They are more your children than anywhere you reside," he spoke, referencing a conversation from weeks before.

Tony's shoulders stiffened and he swallowed finally. "I, yeah, you could say something like that."

Loki's gaze turned back to Stark at that, "Have I said something wrong?"

"No," he said and regretted it, the lie obvious. The thought of his possible "children" being his creations in a much more literal way then he could ever have been Howard Stark's made him want to throw something, or possibly get very drunk again.

The youngest prince of Asgard finally moved away from the table he was leaning on and made his way over to the other man, "I did not mean to bring up bitter memories. I simply meant..." he shook his head, "Never mind. I won't justify it. I did not mean to bring those up."

"Yeah, I know what you meant," he said, turning away again and making sure things were progressing as they should be on the newest version of the suit he was building.

I am not certain you do. Loki sighed, but nodded, "I should leave you to your work, I suppose."

"Most of it is self sufficient," Tony said, not turning yet.

Loki bit back the questions that sprang to his lips, glancing around and pausing at the sight of a small glass cube, holding what appeared to be an early version of Anthony's arc reactor. He picked it up, considering the words etched within it, murmuring them, "Proof that Tony Stark has a heart."

Tony's head whipped around at that and he thought his heart—or arc reactor rather—lurched. He'd forgotten he'd had the thing reframed after the battle where it had been the only thing keeping him alive. It was the only award in his entire lab.

Running a finger along the edge of the cube, the Æsir considered it for another moment before finally setting it down carefully again, "I'm surprised people find the need of proof."

Swallowing, Tony tried not to think too hard about Loki's fingers and his heart being so close together. "Lots of people need the proof of that."

Loki shook his head, speaking before thinking, "Then lots of people are fools."

For a long moment Tony just stared at him. "Come on, I'm the playboy billionaire, known for creating weapons. You know my nickname used to be the Merchant of Death, right?"

"That was before I came to Midgard, so no I was unaware of it." The god of chaos shrugged slightly, "I still think that it is rather unfair to judge you as heartless."

"I didn't do anything to dissuade them of the notion," Tony said, shrugging and eyes looking at the tiny arc reactor he built in a cave, not adding aloud, Except Pepper.

"Though you have since. Has the public's view changed?"

"I managed to privatize world peace for a while," Tony replied with a grin.

That earned a wry smile, "And then along came the supervillains."

"Something like that," Tony agreed. "Well, and it couldn't last. Military people are such morons." He was thinking more specifically of Ross than anyone else, but the idea of war itself was, to some degree, moronic on its own.

"Warriors need something to fight for," Loki responded, not necessarily contradicting him.

"Well, we have supervillians now," Tony said and something crashed behind him.

The god of chaos glanced toward the sound, "Yes, you all rather do. And a ragtag bunch of warriors as well."

Making a small "heh" sound, Tony looked over his shoulder to make sure nothing had gone too far out of control. "So, you came an awful long way."

"It is rather a distance, but it was not really out of my way, when I could be back in a moment," though likely not for a couple hours if he didn't want to collapse when he returned to his accommodations.

Tony considered him, not commenting on how he'd been leaning against the nearest furniture after appearing. "Well, I have a very nice house here. At least everyone tells me it's a nice house, and I do find it rather tasteful if a bit ostentatious myself."

Loki glanced toward where he could see the stairs up to the main house, "Was that an offer for a tour?"

"If you give me a minute," Tony replied, turning to make sure there was nothing else he needed to deal with or that couldn't be left out. He left his lab to its own devices plenty of time, but usually he had some preparation beforehand.

Watching him for a moment, the god nodded, "But of course." He would hardly ask the other to leave anything that needed tended, he himself would not come away for such a request after all.

Turning to see if there was anything he actually could understand at a half-glance, Loki paused. He moved over and picked up what appeared to be a half-made shield greatly resembling the one carried by Captain America, "Anthony?"

"What?" Tony asked, turning after his last sweep.

The chaos god simply lifted the shield and arched an eyebrow.

"What about it?" Tony protested, looking it over. "I mean, that was from a couple years ago."

"What is it? Or rather what was it intended to be?"

"A shield prototype," Tony shrugged. "It never got very far."

"Quite the design," he murmured, testing the heft of it and the weight it likely would have carried had it been finished.

"Never lived up to the original," Tony replied, shifting from one foot to the other.

That earned a long look, "No I do not suppose it did." He finally set the half-made shield down, considering the white star on it again.

"Something bothering you?" the inventor asked.

"Why would it be?"

Picking up the shield, Tony turned it over a couple times. "You have really expressive eyes. Also, you picked this out of the entire lab."

"It seems a familiar design," was the only answer he received.

"Yeah, because I think Captain America brained you with one really similar once," Tony said, one eyebrow inching up.

"Yes, he did," Loki answered. "You admire him greatly."

"Sure I do," Tony said. "Teammate and teamwork and all that."

The god arched a brow at that, but shook his head, "No, it's more than that." He sighed, looking at the prototype again, "You love him."

"What?" Tony practically squawked, hands tightening on the shield he was still holding. He'd once worked so hard on it, but in the last few months it'd been used to level things or as a doorstop more than a serious project. "No," he said, shaking his head. "I have a schoolboy crush, sure. It may have gotten worse after seeing him in person too, but love's going a bit far. Adoration and hero-worship? Sure. But love requires more than that." His fingers curled around the edge of the prototype and he hoped there was no lie—even to himself—in there for the glimpse of truth it might have revealed.

Loki looked at him, confusion creasing his brow, "You...I thought..." There was no falsity to the other's words or thoughts. It was genuine, but how could he have been so wrong on that count?

"What'd you think?" Tony asked, putting the prototype back down and kicking it under the table.

He shook his head, "I do not know. I seem to be continually mistaken around you, and I'm not accustomed to it."

The inventor smirked, stepping around the other and letting a hand rest on his waist. "Mistaken?"

Loki blinked down at the hand, but nodded very slightly, "Somewhat. I just am still unsure about your opinions of Rogers. You lie far less about him that I had thought."

Tony laughed softly. "There's really no point in lying to you is there?"

Loki smirked at that, "Lying to a god of lies is not something to be recommended, no."

Tony leaned up, kissing him instead of replying. Rather than dwell on the thoughts any further, the god wrapped an arm around Anthony's waist and drew him closer as he tilted his head into the kiss.

After a moment, Tony drew back. As much as he was willing to postulate sex in the lab, he was fairly certain that would leave him too vulnerable, emotionally, to the other. The lab was his home, not the rooms above. And usually only Pepper and Rhodey got to see this one. "Still interested in a tour?"

Loki offered him another smirk and shrugged slightly, "If you're still interested in giving it."

"I should really print up brochures or something," Tony said, leaving one arm hooked loosely around Loki's waist. "The house is interesting enough for it."

That garnered a quiet laugh, "Yes, but if you did something like that then you would have to consider opening it up to a more public tour."

"Still. I'm sure the SHIELD agents could do with a bit of culture," he said, taking the stairs.

o.o.o.o

A while later, Loki lay tangled in the sheets of Stark's bed. His hand rested behind his head, his gaze on the ceiling. A self-satisfied smirk toyed at the corner of his lips, "I think I prefer the other bed a bit more, but this one does have its merits."

Tony made a soft sound from where his face was smashed into the pillow, on his stomach. "Oh, god, you're comparing my beds."

The trickster chuckled, "You've mentioned in the past that you had nice beds. I agree, but I think the one in your penthouse is better."

"What makes you say that?" Tony asked, rolling onto his side.

One of the god's shoulders moved in a half-hearted shrug, "I'm not entirely certain. It's just fractionally more comfortable."

"This one has a better view," Tony said, glancing out over Loki toward the water.

Tilting his head in that direction, Loki nodded very slightly, "That may be true. It certainly is a stunning view."

"Most people would kill, or at least do massive bodily harm for it."

"You should see—" He broke off, shaking his head slightly, "It is a beautiful view."

"Most mortals," Tony amended, nuzzling his head down on Loki's chest.

His hand moving to absently card through the smaller being's hair, Loki smiled again, "Even by Æsir standards."

"Well, I'll consider those pretty high standards," Tony said, lifting his head and shifting it to be more securely tucked against Loki's chest.

"They can be, though we don't have quite the same view of the sea you have here," the god murmured, his hand moving down to Anthony's shoulder.

Shifting into the touch, Tony hummed. "Well, so long as you like it."

"I do. And I rather like that it can be enjoyed from inside as well."

Tony smiled against Loki's chest, trying not to think about how bare and impersonal the bedroom was.

"There's not much here that marks it as yours, Anthony," the chaos god remarked after a long moment.

"Everything personal is down in the lab," Tony said. "I'm not used to people I know being in this room."

"Which I suppose makes some sense," Loki admitted, his fingers tracing patterns on the bare skin of Stark's shoulder.

Tony grinned, tapping Morse code into Loki's stomach. "You came an awful long way to check out my other bed."

Loki smirked, "Well, I couldn't check out the one nearer to me since, as you may remember, there's a certain thunder god down the hall."

"And that's not someone I want to explain this to," the smaller man murmured. "I think he'd attack me instantly with that hammer."

Loki offered him a long look, "If I didn't end up on the wrong side of it for seducing and corrupting his friend and brother-in-arms."

"I don't know," Tony murmured. "I'm not sure he talks about me the way he talks about you when drunk."

That garnered a long blink, but the god dismissed the thoughts with a shrug, "It matters not as we shall not be seen there together."

"Suppose not," Tony said, tapping his fingers against Loki's thigh. "He misses you."

"No. He thinks he misses me. What he misses is what we had," he had been down this track in his thoughts too many times since Thor had appeared on Midgard after Loki's own fall.

"Either way," Tony said. "He thinks he misses someone. Your brother's not a bad sort you know."

"He's just brash and arrogant and beloved and blind to the shadow he casts for others to stand in."

"So which of those irritates you the most? The beloved bit or the arrogant one?"

Loki frowned, his hand stilling from where it had been running up and down the other's side, "It matters not, and is certainly not your concern."

"It's just," Tony shook his head, entire body tensing as he realized he was annoying a chaos god and there was a truly lovely set of windows nearby. "He misses you. I don't like seeing families screwed up."

"Then look away, because this one will not be repaired," came the sharp reply.

For a moment the smaller man couldn't decide whether to pull away in anger or to drop the issue. Shifting, he rolled over, straddling Loki's long legs and looking down at him. "You're like broken glass, you know that? Fine. I'll drop it. But I'm serious. So at least think about it."

Loki's expression was dark as he looked up at the other, "I shall think about it when it comes to my mind. No sooner, no later."

"Alright," Tony said, shifting in his current position.

The god smirked up at him after a brief moment, his hands moving to rest on the other's hips, tracing small circles there.

Making a pleased sound, Tony smirked at him. "Well, I'm sure there are other things to occupy your mind."

Grinning wolfishly, Loki trailed one hand up Stark's side to cup the back of his head. He leaned up to meet the other halfway, offering him a biting kiss, "I can think of a few."

Bracing his hands on either side of Loki's head, Tony pressed the full line of their bodies together. "So long as they're inventive."

o.o.o.o

Quite a while later, Tony looked over his rumpled and empty bed. Rolling over, he pushed himself up, dressing to check on the lab. After making sure things downstairs were progressing, he pushed himself back. "JARVIS?"

"Yes sir?"

"Get Pepper on the line, would you?"

A few minutes later Pepper Potts' voice came on, "Tony?"

"Hey, Potts," Tony said, running a hand through his hair.

"Everything okay?"

"Sure it is," he replied, shooing Dummy off. "Just, if you're stopping by the mansion tonight, do bring ice cream would you?"

"The Malibu house? Or the mansion itself?" She confirmed, calculating how long it would take her to get to either place.

"Malibu," he said, quickly. "The one actually nearby Stark headquarters. I am not asking you to fly out to New York with ice cream."

"If you're calling me at this time of day for ice cream I'd damn well fly it to New York and you know it," she answered. "I'll be there in fifteen."

"One of these days, I'm going to get something below your radar."

"No you won't," Pepper replied. "I'm hanging up now. I'll see you shortly."

"See you soon," he said, waving a hand and JARVIS helpfully cut the line.

Fifteen minutes later, almost exactly, Pepper arrived in the hall outside of the lab, tapping once on the door with the handle of the ice cream scoop to let Tony know she was there. She input her code for the door and stepped in, "I come with ice cream and toppings, just like you like."

"You are a goddess and I am not worthy," Tony said, climbing out from underneath one of his vintage cars, covered in engine grease.

"Something like that," she agreed as she set two bowls down and dished up ice cream, more for Tony than for her. Prepping his ice cream just how he liked it she set the bowl down on the edge of his workbench, "You going to tell me what's got you like this?"

"Not really?" Tony offered, already eating. "How's business been lately? Stark running like it should?"

"Stark's running just as it should. Smoothly, and nothing you need to sign this week. Business is on the rise again." She looked him over for a long moment, "You do realize calling me to bring you ice cream while you're working when you don't ever remember food exists when you're working is a sign, right?" It was as close as she was going to get to pushing that day.

Tony shrugged. "I like ice cream. It's a nice food to eat."

She arched an eyebrow, but nodded, "What are you working on?"

"Well, I was building a new suit, but then the engine really needed pressing work."

Pepper just nodded again, "And how's the new suit coming? I see Dummy still hasn't been sent to the college, so I take that as promising."

"It's going well," he said around a mouthful of ice cream. "It needed a lot of modifications after the last few battles." And the fact that the last supervillian had totaled his old suit.

"Well, that's good that you've got an idea of what those'll be. I've been watching the news reports of your battles again," she admitted, taking a bite of her own ice cream.

He stopped, giving her a long look. The stress of watching Iron Man's battles and fearing for his safety every day was the reason they had long since called it quits romantically. "Have you now?" he tried for neutrality.

"Just because we're not dating, doesn't mean I don't worry. Usually I end up tuning into the reports after the fact when they know how badly you all have been hurt."

"I've been doing well with not getting my ass kicked the last few battles," Tony said, grinning.

She offered him one of her small smiles, "Yes, I'll give you that. Though that suit of yours keeps taking a beating."

"But," he said, pointing the spoon at her. "It's improving all the time and I haven't ended up in any hospitals."

Pepper nodded, conceding the point, "Though I still say that's not for lack of trying. JARVIS is under orders to let me know if you do, though, I hope you're aware."

"Your co-opting of my butler is not unexpected," Tony said, grinning again and reaching for more ice cream.

"Good," Pepper smiled in response as she continued eating her first bowl of ice cream slowly, savoring it. "So, you came all the way out to Malibu to work on your suit and ask me to bring you ice cream. I feel spoiled."

"You know you're my most spoiled, lovely girl," Tony said. "I should spoil you more often, honestly."

"You do so every year for my birthday," she informed him. "I got a lovely necklace last year."

"Did I ever see it?" Tony asked, tilting his head.

"It was that sapphire and aquamarine one I wore at the New Year's Party. It goes really well with that dress 'you' bought me a few years ago, which screw society I still wear when I feel like dressing up."

Tony laughed. "I'm glad that my gifts go so well together. I have impeccable taste."

"Of course you do. I think it's time to change colors for gifts this next year though."

"Maybe a green palate," he said, without thinking about it and looked momentarily horrified. "I mean, red and gold. It would look great with your hair."

She arched a brow at him, "We'll see. Green would probably be better than red, honestly, but I've been thinking about gold for a while."

"No no," he said quickly. "Green would make you look like a Christmas tree. Very tacky. Go with red. Show your support for your boss and all that."

"Red washes me out," Pepper retorted, "I'll go with gold, maybe a ruby necklace this year in a gold setting and a dress to go with it next year."

"Sounds tasteful. Go with that," he said with a firm nod, tucking back into the ice cream. It was only a few more bites before he connected the cold taste to Loki's cooler finger tips.

Pepper was watching him carefully as she set her empty bowl aside, "I haven't had to run damage control in the papers in a while."

"I've been busy," he said, frowning slightly as he realized he still had no idea why Loki was so much cooler to the touch. Leaning back, he typed a few commands into the console, opening a file to start research.

Tilting her head to look at the screen, Pepper looked away after a brief moment, "Rather busy I'd say. Well, I've brought the ice cream, and you look like you're going to hole up here for a while longer, am I right?"

"Well," Tony shrugged. "Maybe?"

"How long before you go back to New York?"

"Not sure," he said, turning back to face her. "Depends on when the next crisis is, I suppose. I'm pretty happy back at this lab to be honest."

Pepper offered him one of her small smiles, "Good. I like being able to stop by and make sure you're eating."

"I'm here all week," he said, waving a hand. "Next time you can bring something more substantial if that would make you feel better."

She shrugged slightly, "If I think you haven't eaten I'll bring more food. You remembered to call me for something to eat so I figured this was alright."

He grinned at her. "See, I'm getting better at these sorts of things."

Pepper smiled, leaning over and kissing his cheek, "Yes, you are. I need to get home for tonight, but I'll swing by to check on you later, okay?"

He waved an arm. "Should I promise to try and sleep tonight while we're on a roll?"

"I think you should, yes. That way if an emergency does come up you might actually have rested."

"No rest for the wicked!" Tony protested.

"Tony Stark has a heart, and therefore is not wicked," Pepper rejoined.

Tony nearly choked, considering who had just picked that statue up earlier that way. "Those with hearts can be wicked," he muttered.

His childhood friend looked at him for a long moment before she shook her head, "I don't believe that for a moment. Go back to inventing, Tony, but you're not wicked and you've paid for your sins."

"I wasn't even talking about me," Tony muttered but he nodded, offering her another smile.

Pepper offered him one of her faint half-smiles, "I still stand by the fact that the wicked don't have hearts. They don't feel compassion. The broken do, though." She shook her head, no idea where the conversation had taken a turn, "Take care, Tony."

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, stomach turning over. "Take care of yourself too."

She paused at the door, but finally turned and made her way up the stairs and home.

Hello all! We hope you enjoyed this chapter and we are absolutely amazed at the response this story's been getting.

Meadowlark here: I wanted to remind you all that next chapter the rating goes up, so we wanted to remind you of that fact. Also, we just started another FrostIron fic over on Archive of Our Own. We can be found under the same username there if you're interested in that one.

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