Author's Note:
Success! My exam went really well :D Huzzaahhh!
On another note, I've had some fabulous things done for this story.
Art:
25(.)media(.)tumblr(.)com/tumblr_m4siqdQjEm1rrxkjzo1_1280(.)png - by the wonderful tobatheinthemoonlight on Tumblr :D
and some typography!
loki-dokey(.)tumblr(.)com/post/24070425474/first-pic-loki-talking-to-tony-second-pic - by the amazing ontomyheart on Tumblr!
Just remove the brackets to follow the links :)
Seriously though, art and stuff for my story makes my day :'D
Thank you!
xx
Clint falls from the bookshelf and rolls onto the sofa when Tony opens the door into the rec room. From the corner of his eye he sees Loki's jaw drop, and feels his own do the same.
Tony certainly hadn't heard the bomb fall. But apparently one must have done because the kitchen table is smashed beyond repair, and the new television is in pieces on the floor beside Steve, who's biting his lip nervously. The curtain rail has come away from the wall, and one of the windows has an enormous crack running from top to bottom. And there, on the floor in the centre of the room, Coulson and five agents are bound together with cable and gagged with what looks like shreds of Tony's pyjama pants. Tony gawps at Coulson, who makes a sound akin to a whimper and begs him for freedom with his eyes.
"How on earth?" Loki asks, and the five kids stop in their savagery to focus on the two men at the door. Tasha squeaks with delight.
"You're alive!" Thor hollers, bounding past Coulson and stopping before Tony to give him a grin. "We thought you dead!"
"When we woke up you weren't here so we thought these baddies had killed you or somethin' so we tied 'em down," Clint beams, not stopping for breath. His smile falters when he spies Tony's unamused expression.
"Guys, Tony blurts, "they were here to babysit you whilst Loki and I went to go run some tests. You weren't supposed to trap them!"
All five kids look at their feet and pout.
"Sorry," Tasha mumbles.
"See!" Steve says loudly, putting his hands on his hips. "I told you there was nothing to worry about!"
A pillow from Clint's direction whacks him in the face.
Steve cries.
A lot.
Clint goes without dessert that night.
"I HATE YOU!"
"How enlightening, Clint."
"I WANT ICE CREAM!"
"No."
"BUT LOKI-"
"No."
"TONY PLEASE!"
Tony almost sobs when the child turns his attention on him. He drops his head to the table and tries desperately to block out the constant begging. The others have already left the new table and are playing with some toys on the rug, but Clint is still not impressed that he was denied dessert.
"Can I squash him?" Loki asks, irritated. However much Tony wants to say yes at that moment, he can't.
"Clint, if you keep going on you will go into the cell again for the entire day tomorrow."
"BUT-"
There's a loud scraping sound and a screech and Tony snaps his head up in time to see Loki throwing Clint over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.
"Don't kill him!" Tony cries, but Loki just rolls his eyes.
"Of course I won't kill him. I just want to put him somewhere where his noise isn't so audible."
Nervous, Tony follows Loki and the yelling Clint into the hallway. Loki disappears into the kid's room for a second and then he quickly darts out, locking the door behind him. When he looks up from the door, he shrugs and smiles.
"Just for a while. So he can calm down?"
It's as though he's asking Tony about how he should punish. Well, it makes sense. Before, the guy was all about killing anything that pissed him off. Now he's…nice and it's strange and Tony can't work out if he likes it or not. Yeah, he makes snarky comments and threats still, but somehow, now, Tony doesn't feel that Loki will ever see those threats through.
"Uh…that's fine?"
Loki grins.
"Is that the time?" Tony asks, yawning and stretching out on the couch. His toes come into contact with Loki's side, but the god doesn't make it apparent that he cares. He also yawns and rubs Tasha's back, who's fast asleep on his lap. Tony is sprawled across the couch, with Steve laying on his chest gently snoring, and Clint on the floor beside him, nestled upon a few pillows. Clint had been allowed out of his room after his twenty minutes of reconciliation. When Loki and Tony had opened the door, they had found him colouring in a picture in a book, so deciding he was calm enough, they'd let him out.
"I do believe so," Loki replies. "That was a marvellous motion picture. I think I like this Disney thing."
"There ain't anyone who doesn't love a bit of Disney," Tony chuckles, only stopping when he realises the movements could wake Steve. "We gotta get these teenies into bed."
"How are we going to do this?" Loki peers down at Tasha warily.
"…I don't quite know."
Loki sighs. He runs a long finger gently and repeatedly up and down Tasha's nose, cooing at her to wake up. Tony feels his heart falter. It's just about the cutest thing he's ever seen in his life and how the hell is this Loki? The same God of Mischief who tried to kill him on more than one occasion?
Tony decides he has nothing to complain about.
"Steviee," Tony says, copying Loki. He tickles behind Steve's ear, and the baby Cap wrinkles his nose and jerks a little in his sleep. "Steeeeevie? It's time for beddy byes."
"Nghh," Steve mumbles, but he blinks and allows Tony to sit up and scoop him into his arms. Loki has already left with Tasha. Thor and Bruce are curled up with each other on the armchair, and Tony will come back for them later. Loki and Tony pass one another in the hall, sharing contented smiles, and when Tony gets back into the rec room, he finds Loki cradling a sleeping Thor in his arms, just….looking at him.
"You okay?" Tony asks. Loki glances up.
"…Yes. It's just…it's just been a very long time since I've felt so…myself. I do miss my brother, Tony. I do. I always have, ever since…ever since it all…happened."
"Course you did. He's your brother. But hey, what do I know about sibling love? I'm an only child. I wasn't as lucky as you." He purposefully echoes their previous conversation, and watches as Loki's cheeks twinge with red.
"I'm…going to go and put Thor in bed. Will you bring the other two?"
"Sure thing."
Bruce and Clint are easy enough to carry together, and soon all of the little Avengers are tucked up in bed.
"Well, that was an easy evening, aside from Clint's outburst," Tony reminisces as he slumps back onto the couch.
"Mmm," Loki replies over the sudden noise of the kettle heating up, and Tony closes his eyes to the sound of mugs clinking together and a spoon tapping on the counter. "Coffee?"
Tony snorts. "Coffee? At this time? Nah, I'd rather actually get to sleep tonight, thanks. Maybe a hot cocoa?"
"Very well. I'll join you."
"Wait…you weren't gonna make a drink for yourself?" Tony spins around and leans on the back of the couch, watching Loki. He rests his head in his hands.
Loki shrugs. "I just presumed you might want a drink."
Wow. Again, how is this Loki. Nonetheless, Tony giggles. "We're getting way too domestic."
Loki merely smirks, staying silent.
"Y'know, I think we're getting the hang of this parenting hassle."
"Mmm."
Loki's lack of enthusiasm and general response indicates to Tony that the god is tired as hell, as if the dark circles under his eyes don't gave that away enough.
"You're zonked, aren't you?"
"Is that some sort of Midgardian insult?"
"No," Tony laughs, "I was asking you if you're tired?"
Loki inhales deeply, and lets out a long, heavy sigh. "Yes. Very. Who knew caring for five children would run you so very much into the ground?"
"Yeah, who'da thought?"
Loki pours the steaming water into the mugs and swirls the spoon around in rhythmic motions which has Tony entranced. He has no idea why. When Loki is done, Tony turns back around on the couch and accepts the mug into his hands, relishing the warmth that spreads across his palms and the mouth-watering aroma of the cocoa that drifts up into his nostrils.
"You even put marshmallows on top."
"I like marshmallows."
"So do I."
"Mmm," Loki muses.
"Well this is certainly the beginning of an enthralling conversation," Tony chortles, and he stretches out again like he had been before, resting his feet just next to Loki's side. The god eyes his beloved-but-holey purple socks, smiles and sips his drink. "So Pepper comes home tomorrow. She knows the situation and for some reason she literally cannot wait to get here to help out, so whilst she looks after the kids I'll try and run more tests on you. Is that okay?"
Not moving his eyes from their focus into the cocoa, Loki blinks. He bites his lip.
"How will you even go about trying to restart my magic? Surely you know that there's no chance you can?"
"Meh. As I said, it's worth a shot? And I have no idea. So if you're okay with it, I'll just try every method under the sun that I can think of."
"Dare I ask what even one of these methods may involve?"
"You probably don't want to know."
"Stark," Loki growls firmly.
"Well I have the idea that maybe some form of electrical pulse to your heart may give you the spark you need to tap back into the magic that's there."
Loki's shocked. "You're going to electrocute me?"
"No! No! Well, no. Yes. Maybe a little. I won't do it enough to hurt you…well, it'll hurt some but-"
Loki is on his feet. He's glaring at Tony with anger and disbelief.
"I thought, Stark, that you wouldn't have been planning to put me through serious pain in order to do this. I had hoped that you had ideas that wouldn't involve injuring me. I will not tolerate this. My magic can…can come back by itself!"
"Fine! No pain! No…no pain uh…"
"Did any of your ideas actually involve no pain?"
"I…um…"
"Argh!"
Loki's storming towards the door, but Tony places his mug down and he darts in front of him.
"Okay! Okay, I'm sorry. I just…before you turned into Mr. Nice Pants I had this plan to strap you onto a gurney and just experiment on you to get your magic back-"
"Ugh!"
"- but since you've changed I sort of could never bring myself to…put you in harm's way."
"You were planning to electrocute me!"
"No! I…I don't think I'd have been able to do it to you, honestly. I'd just be standing there with the defibrillators, unable to do anything because dammit, you're actually pleasant to be around now, believe it or not."
Loki sniffs, indignant. "I've always been pleasant to be around."
"Ch'yeah, okay." The two stare at one another before breaking out into smiles. Tony claps Loki on the back. "Okay, I'll um, try to come up with methods that involve no pain, but it seems impossible."
"That's most likely due to the fact that it is."
Tony goes to respond but comes up short, so instead he groans, walks back to the couch and throws himself upon it, landing unexpectedly painfully and crunching his nose against the cushion.
"Ow."
Loki sits beside him, and Tony can hear him casually sipping away at his cocoa. Tony rolls over, and the top of his hair brushes Loki's thigh. Loki casts a glance down at him and chuckles.
"Your nose is bright red."
"It hurts," Tony moans, throwing on a babyish voice. "Ouchies. Boo boo on my nosey." He exaggerates a grimace and Loki laughs again.
"I'm afraid it's serious. There's nothing I can do. You're dying, Tony."
"Noooooooo."
"You've only hours remaining. Is there anything you wish to do before your imminent death?"
Tony thinks hard. Then he concludes with what he assumes will be a very gratifying act.
"…Sleep."
"I concur," Loki agrees with a yawn. "But I'm too…uh…zonked to even move."
"Then don't."
Tony decides he's comfortable, so he stays there with his eyes closed, humming Dani California.
He's out like a light within minutes.
Author's Note:
Lots of people have been asking me whether or not this will be a FrostIron (Tony/Loki).
Um, the truth is, I'm not actually sure. I'm writing this as I go - I have no real plans as to how this will end or even what will happen in the next chapter! Well, that's a lie. I know what's happening at the start of the next chapter and OH HO HO I cannot WAIT to write it xD
To those who are not "FrostIron" fans - please stick with this story! It may not even become a FrostIron fic!
But who knows?
*shrugs*
Anyway...maybe leave a review for me? :3
