Loki was gone for two days, unreachable on his phone, not at his apartment. Then, finally, Tony's phone rang while he was in the kitchen, making coffee. Unknown caller - Tony sighed with relief before he had JARVIS accept the call.

"Loki, good to hear from you." Tony took a mug out of the cupboard and filled it with freshly brewed coffee, then sat down at the breakfast bar.

"Tony." Loki's voice sounded a bit strange. "Can I visit and talk to you?"

"Since when do you have to ask?" Tony frowned. "You know you're always welcome here."

The call disconnected and Loki appeared in Tony's living room, instead of answering. He was wearing his armour, though no helmet.

"What's wrong?" Tony got up and took a few steps towards Loki, he was concerned.

Loki stepped away from him and sat down in an armchair. "I wish to talk, Tony." He looked tense. "This is important to me, please sit and listen for now."

Tony swallowed hard, but did as Loki had asked and sat on the sofa - close to Loki, but not getting into his personal space. Something was clearly wrong here and Tony didn't want to send Loki running before he knew what was going on. "Tell me," he prompted when Loki just looked at him for a few long moments.

"I am not quite sure where to start and how to explain this, I have been thinking about it for the last few days." Loki lowered his gaze and stared at his hands which he had clasped in his lap. "When I decided to tell my story to all of you, I showed a side of me that nobody really has seen in a long time. I have become rather adept at hiding it." He glanced up, then focussed on his hands again. "Except for you, around you I have let my guard down. And you have not given me a reason to regret that decision yet."

Tony was caught in between wanting to reach out for Loki to pull him into a hug and running away from this way too serious talk. He didn't do this, talking about his feelings - or the feelings of others, for that matter. Tony took a deep breath and leaned back into the sofa cushions to resist the urge to do either of the things he was tempted to do. Loki deserved that he listened to what he had to say.

"This," Loki swallowed hard, "this was different." He slowly lifted his head and looked Tony straight in the eyes. "I am not sure how to handle that so many people have seen that I am much more vulnerable than they previously thought." A shuddering breath made Tony's heart ache for him. "And I fear your friends might take advantage of this knowledge, they do not like me and it would be the perfect ammunition for them to use against me."

Tony slowly slid forward on his seat and reached out to take hold of one of Loki's hands. When Loki didn't pull away, he laced their fingers together and squeezed once. "You'll have to trust me on this: If you don't give them a reason to act against you in any way, they won't do or say anything to hurt you." Loki looked as if he wanted to say something, but Tony stopped him by raising his free hand. "No, now it's your turn to listen. While you were gone, I have talked to them, so I know what they think." He tugged gently at Loki's hand. "Will you lose the armour and come over here, please?"

Loki sighed, but complied. While he smoothly moved to sit next to Tony the armour vanished and was replaced by a well-worn pair of black jeans and a dark green t-shirt that Tony recognized as one of his own band shirts. He had to smile at that and pulled Loki close so he was leaning against Tony with Tony's arm around his shoulders.

"Much better, you don't have to shut yourself off from me." Tony dropped a kiss on Loki's hair. "And you really don't have to fear that any of my friends will use what you told them against you. We have agreed that we won't talk about it to anyone else, so SHIELD - and especially Fury - won't hear about it unless you tell them."

"Thank you, that was one of my concerns." Loki visibly relaxed in Tony's embrace.

"That's what friends do for each other - and they might not all be YOUR friends, but they are mine and they wouldn't hurt anyone who is important to me." Tony smiled. "And apart from that, Thor sees himself as your brother, no matter whether you're related by blood or not - and no matter what you think about it. He'd defend you against anyone who tried to harm you."

"Thick skulled oaf," Loki huffed, with no real heat behind his words.

"But he loves you, no matter what, that has to count for something." Tony paused, thinking for a moment. "I'm pretty sure that Bruce counts himself as your friend by now, if you will let him. Just think about how much time the two of you spend together."

"This is true, and I enjoy his company a lot more than I would have thought," Loki admitted.

"See," Tony continued. "Then there's Steve, he might not be your friend, but he sees you as an ally - maybe even as part of the team in battle. And he is nothing if not loyal to the people who fight at his side." Tony thought for a moment, on how to say the next part. "Natasha and Clint still resent you for what you've done to Clint, that is true." Again he stopped Loki from interrupting him. "But, and that's the important part, they accept that you are with me and that it would hurt me as well if they hurt you. That's why they will leave you alone, if you don't step on their toes. And Natasha wouldn't have given you the shovel talk if she hadn't accepted your presence."

"It did not sound as if she liked my presence in your life."

"Maybe not, but I'm an adult and she lets me make my own decisions. She doesn't have to like them to accept them." Tony lifted Loki's face with a finger under his chin and captured his lips in a soft kiss. Then he continued: "And you might not have noticed, but in the last fight Clint did his best to keep you safe - and not only so you could break the spell and end the horror of it all. He has told me as much."

"How can I believe that?" Loki whispered.

"You have to trust me on it, why should I lie to you?" Tony looked down at Loki. "I'm still not sure how to call whatever it is we have, but I know that I don't want to hurt you in any way." He hesitated for a second. "And no, I don't need to define it, I'm happy with the way we are - and I hope you are too."

"I am." Loki stretched his neck and lifted his face in an invitation for a kiss - Tony was more than happy to oblige.

They talked for a while longer, and at some point Loki seemed to actually believe that nobody would think less of him for being vulnerable and weak sometimes. Everyone was, and everyone had their own Achilles heel.

During the next few weeks, the Avengers proved that Tony hadn't lied to Loki - nobody mentioned what he had told them, nobody teased him. And Loki began to relax in their presence again. Nothing much had changed - Loki still avoided Thor, Natasha and Clint still avoided Loki - but somehow Loki had become part of the team, was called in by them every time they needed to fight yet another villain - even if Fury told them explicitly NOT to ask for Loki's help.

Tony and Loki still didn't talk about what it was between them, but they spent even more time together - and Loki could be found in Tony's apartment more often than not, even when Tony was busy in the workshop. Things just worked for them the way they were, why should they talk it to death? They didn't need a label for their relationship to make it work.