A/N: Oh hey look, it's only fourteen pages. Well it's finally up at least, and there's also a brief Tale of Two Cities reference. Weird, but I promise it'll make sense. If you haven't read it-and you should, it's absolutely amazing- then all you need to know is that Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton are two men who look almost exactly alike, but Darnay is virtually perfection and Carton, though a genius, is an alcoholic and thinks himself useless.

Disclaimer: Marvel remains out of my grasp, it belongs to Disney and Stan Lee.

Tony felt drunk. There was no other way to describe the level of exhaustion battling the overload of information in his brain, the bad taste in his mouth or the stickiness of his eyes. And if he wasn't drunk then he damn well wanted to be.

He and Erik had stayed up the entire night, never once looking away from their work, whether that meant inspecting the cube or teaching the other man how his astrophysics could be applied to regular engineering or science. The guy was absolutely brilliant, but he lacked imagination- and that was where Stark came in. The moment Fury showed him to the cube he'd envisioned endless applications for its energy, and with Erik they stood a chance of tapping that source. Of course they made little progress, they only had one night, but he'd lectured on mechanics and physics enough that when they finally did understand it the scientist would be able to use it for more than playing around with space.

Not that he had to tell Fury any of this. When the man came the next morning to see how they'd done Tony had flat out refused to speak, going so far as to cover his temporary partner's mouth when he began to reply.

"What've you decided with Loki?" Tony insisted, ignoring Erik's wide eyed look. Let those girls explain to him- he wasn't interested in some near stranger's approval of his friends anyway.

Fury was unabashed, he'd probably been expecting this sort of reaction. "You and your friend can go home as soon as you've given your report. We've decided he's not dangerous."

"You mean you know you can't keep him here if he chooses to leave."

He gave no visible change of features, but the man's eyes were even colder than normal, if that were possible. "The report, Tony."

"We think we've found begun to understand what that thing is." Erik cut in, glancing at his partner to make sure he didn't want to speak first. "The energy from it isn't from this world- it's almost exactly like the readings from Thor's landing. We think it might have come from Asgard, but the sort of energy it produces… I don't know how it could have gone unnoticed for so long."

"It didn't. A scientist named Johann Shmidt discovered it in the nineteen forties and nearly took over the world." Fury replied in his usual tone, so blunt it was almost accusing. "They harnessed it for weaponry. We need to find out how they did that."

"Whoa, you're making weapons?" Tony remembered the power of that cube, the force it exerted when you did so much as step too close. As a weapon it could be disastrous. "No can do."

"We need to know how they channeled the energy, we're not using it for firepower. We're trying to keep this thing out of the wrong hands." Fury assured impatiently, and Tony gave a reluctant nod.

"Fine. Then you can have these." He was never the most organized of persons, and pulled out his notes in a roughly folded, crumpled heap from his pocket. Erik's, by contrast, were in a neat folder back with the cube.

Fury took the mess with a look of resigned annoyance, smoothing them out once before putting them in his own, considerably larger trench coat pocket. "Oh, I almost forgot. You might want to keep an eye on your friend's sleep schedule."

How was it everything the guy said sounded like an insult? Honestly, he was worse than Tony. And far less charming. "Don't worry, I always watch him sleep."

The older man was, as ever, disinterested in the comment. Erik, however, gave him an odd look and seemed to be debating whether or not he should take a few steps away from him. "He gave the Black Widow a black eye."

"He what?" Wow. Tony wasn't sure whether he was stunned that Loki had hurt a woman, or that anything could hurt Natasha.

"Halfway through the night he started screaming and thrashing around. She went to wake him up and he froze her hand to the bed then punched her before we could calm him down." Fury explained dryly, watching him very carefully for his reaction. "You have some interesting friends, Tony."

So Loki was having nightmares… and apparently nothing of the normal sort- violent ones, if he hallucinated being attacked. That was definitely new, he'd never done anything odd in his sleep at Tony's house. Maybe that was part of why S.H.I.E.L.D. was letting him leave.

He said none of this though, merely raised an eyebrow at Fury and replied, "So, does that mean you're watching him sleep?"

"Of course." The man seemed to be entirely aware of, and entirely unperturbed by, the innuendo he had just furthered. Tony meant to reply, but honestly couldn't think of anything to respond with. It was no fun talking to Fury. "Loki is waiting by the plane. You can go join him- we'll call you in for work soon."

"Joy. Do top secret organizations get a worker's union?"

"No."

"Maybe I'll form one." Tony mused half-heartedly, wondering why he never just told S.H.I.E.L.D. off. After all, though he was very interested in what they were trying to do there was only one Iron Man. Then again, as much as he liked to believe he had any pull in the organization he knew Fury would either force him to continue working the same as always, or call Rhodes instead.

He said a quick goodbye to the very baffled Dr. Selvik, who recovered enough to shake his hand eagerly and offer his help at any time, before heading off for the outside world. Underground buildings were way too stuffy- especially considering Tony's been determined to leave his sunglasses on the entire time. Probably not the best idea.

Still, he was glad for them when he finally found his way outside of the building. It was so bright and so hot in the dessert that his eyes watered even behind the tinted glass. When had it gotten to be morning? He had been sure it was only dawn, at the latest.

His jet was still where he'd left it, but Loki and Natasha were waiting closer to the building. Fury hadn't been lying- the girl was sporting a purple-black bruise and a sour expression that didn't do anything to hurt her beauty. Still, Tony was glad Loki hadn't been in a hitting mood any of the times he'd been around him while he was asleep.

"Nice look, it suits you." He called before he could stop himself, raising an eyebrow innocently when she narrowed her eyes at him. Or eye, the bruised one remained the same.

Nonetheless she retained her intimidating composure, whereas Loki looked like he'd been through hell. There were no shadows under his eyes but it was clear he'd hardly slept, and his usual pallor had taken on a tint of sickly grey. His expression and stance were as calm as ever, but they couldn't hide what were clearly the effects of more than a bad dream.

"You're to tell us if your companion does anything regarded as suspicious." Natasha cut in, down-to-earth and business-like as ever. As ever she bared a strong resemblance to Pepper, and Tony wondered if it were odd how frightening the woman in his life were. "We will be setting up surveillance outside your house, and listening devices in your computer's hardware. Understood?"

"Sure. You're welcome to set 'em up, but I'll get rid of them pretty fast." Tony admitted, feeling there was no point in lying. "Maybe give them a day to make you feel accomplished."

Natasha only raised an eyebrow- probably remembering the hacked suit. "We'll see about that, Mr. Stark. Keep your suit ready, we might be calling on you soon."

"You're welcome to call me anytime."

"You're acting like a sexual predator again." Loki warned boredly.

"Acting?"

The other man smirked slightly but otherwise didn't reply. Natasha seemed to have had more than enough of their banter, for she escorted them to the jet and sent them off saying, in no plainer terms, that they were to never reveal the location of the base unless they planned to lose their lives. With this happy prospect in mind, they took their seats for another long, dull air ride home.


VVV

Tony never called to say when he was on his way back from some ridiculous trip, except maybe when he wanted Pepper to have something ready for him at his arrival. She'd thought he would be gone for a few hours at the most, not accounting for travel time, but here he'd been gone for over a day and nobody'd bothered to tell her anything. She knew they had a car taking them from the airport, so she only had to wait in front of Tony's house for news, but she felt no better pacing anxiously there than at her own home.

She was a patient person, she could wait to know what S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted and even to confirm the truth about where Loki came from. But she couldn't wait to know if Tony was safe. He had a horrible habit of endangering himself both physically and politically out of a general disregard for his own safety, and she didn't want to imagine what would happen if he got on Fury's bad side. It was a constant fear for her, and the thing that had caused her to take up her old job with Tony again in the first place.

Loki might keep him safe. He was rational, strong, and better at dealing with Tony than almost anyone save herself and Rhodes. The two had a lot in common despite their opposite personas, and so Pepper hadn't protested to his going on the trip. The boy was bound to hurt himself, but hopefully he would be some guidance for their mutual friend. Right?

Right, because even though he would probably never admit it Tony had… feelings for the boy. Nothing like love, but certainly an attraction that extended beyond his regular need to flirt with everything even vaguely feminine. Pepper could see that every time he spoke of him, or looked at him, or talked to him with a look in his eyes warmer than any he'd ever given her.

She wasn't jealous. She didn't know how she felt- but she'd never disillusioned herself into thinking Tony Stark had fallen in love with her.

Multiple cars slowed down as they passed, and one or two even halted, but Pepper paid no interest to the stunned responses Tony's house always earned. She was waiting for one car only, and it wasn't until half past eleven that it pulled up across the street.

She didn't even bother to wait for him, and strolled her way across the asphalt without so much as glancing to see if a car were on its way. Tony was in the driver's seat, with a very baffled chauffer sitting in the back, and had pulled the hood of the silver convertible all the way down. Loki was looking dazed, he'd probably never driven in anything like this before, but Tony hopped out of the vehicle without even bothering to open the door.

"Hey honey, couldn't wait to see me?" He asked, twirling the key ring around on one finger while smirking down at her. He was still wearing his sunglasses, and the whole display succeeding in portraying him as one of the world's biggest assholes.

Pepper, more than used to this attitude, didn't return the look. She had no time for banter today. "What happened out there? Why were you gone all day?"

"There were a few complications." Loki admitted, finally succeeding in maneuvering his way out of the door.

"Such as?"

"Fury won't let me keep pets." Tony complained, earning a dry look from the other man as he came to join them on their way towards the house. "And Loki punched a woman."

"Need I remind you it was an accident?" Pepper hardly noticed the implication of their conversation, noting only Loki's weary voice and heavy breathing. Nothing quite so bad as when he had first woken up, but nothing good either.

"Start at the beginning." She insisted, unsure which to turn to first. Certainly they would both have very interesting accounts.

Loki glanced briefly at Tony, who shrugged noncommittally. "Very well. We met two agents as soon as we arrived. Fury and Coulson."

Pepper nodded, she'd had more than a few dealings with both. It took a moment for the boy to continue, and when he did she was given just enough time to recognize his struggle to speak before he collapsed without warning.

She froze on the spot, literally sensing her heart skip a beat. Oh no, oh god damn it no. Why had she let him go? Because she was paranoid about Tony? She could easily have insisted on accompanying him herself, she wasn't injured or hurt. The chauffer came rushing over from the car to see what had happened, and Tony sent him to go stop traffic while he bent beside his friend.

Loki would be fine, Pepper knew that even as she too bent to see what had happened, but Tony was going to blame himself for this. He always did.

"Oh my god… is he okay?" She asked nervously, though she didn't know why. Obviously not. "What happened?"

"He fainted." Tony replied distractedly, giving the boy a gentle push on the shoulder to roll him onto his back for a better look.

He was paler than usual, and there was a thick coat of blood staining his lips. Pepper had to cast an anxious glance at his chest just to assure herself that he was still breathing, and he was doing so so lightly she thought for a moment that he wasn't at all. "How are we going to get him inside?"

"I'll go get the suit on." Tony moved to stand, but she grabbed his arm to prevent him from leaving.

"Tony, that's ridiculous."

"You see any body builders around here? Guy's twice my height."

"We don't have time for that. Maybe we can carry him together…" But of course they couldn't. She was not only weak-and wearing precarious high heels- but they'd probably end up hurting him in the process.

Luckily Loki solved there problem for them. His eyes shot open, slightly foggy but nothing like his feverish moments the week before. He glanced around briefly, seeming surprised that he was on the ground then smiled wearily at their expressions.

"I appreciate the view, but you're a bit close." He pointed out wearily, and Pepper drew back with a blush.

Tony, however, would never dream of such a thing. "You know I love it when you're beneath me."

"Don't get used to it."

"Do you think you can walk?" Pepper cut in before their banter could escalate, especially considering there was a bit of a crowd stopped to see what was happening and some of its members consisted of children.

Loki nodded, dazed, and attempted to sit up. The effort was obviously painful, but with Tony and Pepper each supporting one shoulder he managed to make it to a standing position. They didn't let go, which proved a good idea when the dark haired youth stumbled and nearly fell again before he could take a step. One of the crowd, spotting this, called out that they would call an ambulance.

"Don't worry, this happens all the time." Tony assured them casually, and the person froze midway through dialing the number, looking at him as if they were unsure whether to be frightened or disturbed.

"Don't make me out to be a drunkard." Loki protested, with a slur that would have been funny considering the statement if it weren't so concerning.

"Tony, shut up." Pepper hissed before the man could reply, giving him one of the warning looks she reserved just for him.

He shrugged innocently and remained silent, seemingly unabashed but for a concerned frown that would pass as nothing to the average bystander. Pepper recognized it for what it was and Loki, with a sly smile, did as well.

It didn't take too long to make it into the house, despite the curious bystanders and one or two would-be journalists standing around attempting to snap photos with their phone cameras. Tony started to speak to them, but one glare from Loki was enough to discourage the whole lot. Impressed, and a little discomforted, Pepper began to wonder not for the first time what their guest might be like when he was in full health.

"Think you can make it upstairs?" Tony asked once they'd made it to the entry way of the mansion- a rather outlandish room, of course, but with only a television and a couch to serve an actual purpose amidst the gaudy frivolities. Tony was a big fan of horrible first impressions.

"No." Pepper had a feeling Loki wouldn't have made that admission had there been anyone there but herself and Tony, who'd seen him at far worse. As it was he seemed reluctant to bruise his pride as such, but considering how heavy he was becoming he must have been too exhausted even to stand much longer.

They at last brought Loki to the couch, and they'd barely helped him onto it before his head fell back gratefully against the pillow and he was asleep once more.

VVV

"Do you know what happened?" Pepper asked after a moment's uncomfortable silence.

Tony glanced at her, giving his best nonchalant shrug and forcing himself to turn away from the other boy and head towards the kitchen. "Dunno. He was really tired this morning, but I thought he slept on the plane. Guess I was wrong."

He wanted to turn to her to read her expression, to see if she was at least thinking what she wouldn't say. What he wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake her for keeping to herself, to shout it himself and see if she would insist that he wasn't at fault for Loki's newest fainting spell. Because of course he was a fucking idiot for not noticing something was wrong until the guy fell over in the middle of the road, and for letting him scream at Jane until he could hardly stand because he was so sure his friend would have been angry with him for stopping him.

"Are you going to tell me what S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted?"

"Depends, how much alcohol do we have in the house?"

"You're not recounting horrific childhood memories, Tony." Pepper scolded dryly, though her tone softened as she cast an involuntary look towards Loki. "I'm calling James and making arrangements for dinner. You'll tell us everything that happened there. Deal?"

"Deal implies I get something out of it." He pointed out as he began his way up the stairs, pausing briefly to turn back and meet her unwavering look of disapproval. "Sure. Deal."

"Good. I'm going to call a doctor, hopefully they'll be here before we have to leave." She stopped at the foot of the stairs, glancing at her sleek watch with one hand on the railing.

Tony shook his head at the suggestion, for once with reason. "Fury had a doctor look at him while we were there. Loki told me they couldn't figure out what to do."

"What?" She seemed taken aback, but rather than stubbornly insist on another option gave a disappointed sigh. "So we really can't help him."

The thought of that, how defenseless they were to do anything about the fallen god's injuries, brought a lump to Tony's throat. He ignored the feeling, however, and took his assistant's wrist. "Nope. Now come on, you can make me lunch."

Pepper merely raised an eyebrow at him as she was pulled up the stairs, probably to remind him that she'd never done anything of the sort and never would. "You must be joking."

"Hey, I cook for you. Now it's your turn."

"You made me an omelet. Once. Because you thought you were dying and wanted to persuade me to go to Italy."

"Well, I promise if you make me crepes now I'll go on whatever bucket list adventures you like." Tony assured, turning to her once they were on level ground.

She smiled, one of the rare pure ones he saw from her. "If I cook for you will you shut up?"

"I make no promises." He admitted after taking a moment to consider this and deciding that no, he was not quite through with their banter.

"Fine, but then I'm not making crepes. You get whatever's in the cupboard."

"So long as you don't cook the plates." He said agreeably, bustling past her and towards yet another set of stairs which would take him to his workshop. Before he could head down them he looked over his shoulder at Pepper. "I'm going to go compare magical boxes now, call me when you're done."


Even with what he'd seen and learned in New Mexico Tony could make no progress with the cube still stored in his home. Loki could probably explain it easily, but he hadn't exactly had a chance to bring him down here yet. Even so he'd tried a few tests similar to those he'd worked with Erik, mostly for the fun of it, and made no progress beyond destroying the case they'd been keeping the thing in.

"Make sure that gets cleaned up." Tony called to Jarvis, pulling a small shard of the object in question out of his upper arm as he headed for the door. A quick glance at the clock had told him Pepper had made arrangements for twenty minutes ago at the restaurant- just the right time to leave.

"Of course, sir." The computer replied without much interest.

Tony smiled wryly at the response before leaving the room, instinctively moving to wave goodbye before realizing such a gesture would be useless. Well, even so. He really was getting too used to having human company, or… godly company. Oh well, close enough.

Speaking of godly company, Loki'd slept the day away on the couch and was still there when Tony re-emerged from the upper floor. Contrary to his still rest for that week after they'd found him he seemed to be at least only a normal level of subconscious, having even turned onto his uninjured side and drawn the pillow closer to him. He looked almost childish that way, and Tony found himself smiling at the sight almost involuntarily, and quickly smoothing his expression out when he realized this.

"Would you like me to take a picture, sir?" Jarvis asked sarcastically, and Tony wished he were in the workshop just so he could shoot the thing a dirty look. As it was he pointed a warning finger at one of his cameras, knowing the machine would ignore it.

"If you start making me seem like a stalker or something I'm going to give you to some teenager."

"Point taken, sir."

Tony smiled, more of a twitch of the lip really, at the sarcasm of his invention. He was prepared to leave for the restaurant, but even as he pulled out his door key to prepare to lock up when he left Loki turned in his sleep and muttered something unintelligible. He obviously wasn't so deeply asleep that he would remain that way for however many hours it took him to drive there, eat, recount the previous day's events and return home. So, conscious that he had very little to offer, he vanished down one of the many hallways littering his mansion in search of a book to leave him.

There were plenty scattered about, but most of them had something to do with business or work. Tony knew he kept novels lying about in one of the guest rooms though, and found without too much trouble a copy of one of Pepper's favorites, A Tale of Two Cities. The book was extremely common on Earth, but there was no chance of Loki having read it, so he shrugged and returned to the main entrance.

"I do believe you are becoming a wonderful caretaker, sir." Jarvis mocked as Tony, who had decided against leaving it on the table and possible out of Loki's reach, settled the book directly beside him. "Perhaps Mrs. Potts is finally influ-"

"Mute." Tony snapped, as usual satisfied by the sudden silence that followed. Shame he couldn't program normal people that way.


Pepper and James were, of course, already waiting for him by the table. In fact they'd already ordered and cleared their own plates, probably to prevent him from staying out of a conversation by pretending to examine a menu. Tony had no intention, however, of plunging right into an explanation and called a waitress over to bring him one as soon as he slid into his seat, feet propped up on the extra chair set up.

His friends both shot him disapproving looks, but their curiosity seemed to be more powerful than their desires to lecture him. "Everything S.H.I.E.L.D. has authorized you to say- out with it." James demanded immediately.

"No." Pepper corrected, turning to him and shaking her head before looking back at Tony. "Everything, I don't care what S.H.I.E.L.D. authorized."

"Hello to you too, sunshine. Tell me, is this duck or chicken, or some weird crossbreed?" Tony jabbed at their choice of food- quail, incidentally, but he wasn't going to let them know he was aware of this- and shook his head. "Don't like it."

"Don't be so picky, Tony."

"Hey, you know me. Chicken fingers or nothing."

"So order chicken fingers." James cut in, clearly not in the mood for games. Then again, he rarely was. "Start from the beginning."

Tony looked to Pepper for some respite but saw the same burning determination in her eyes, and he knew better than to think they'd let him leave without spilling the entire story.

So, paying brief attention to the original call from Fury, he recounted the non-scientific dealings of their day on the base of S.H.I.E.L.D. He of course knew very little of what had occurred with Loki, but he could now tell them with confidence that their guest had landed from nowhere but Asgard itself. Pepper had drawn in breath at this and buried her head in her hands briefly, signaling for a waiter to bring her something alcoholic before waving for him to continue. He had little to tell them about the god's world, nothing more than the snippets of information Jane had given to S.H.I.E.L.D., but a shared interest in Norse mythology was enough for both Tony and James.

Which would explain his ominous frown, and the way he shook his head as the narrative ended. "You have to leave him with the government."

"Funny how you always seem to forget I've already said no to that."

"Tony, if S.H.I.E.L.D. won't be strict with you then I will. Stories aside how have you not realized he's dangerous? He threatened one girl and attacked another, I doubt he'll have any trouble with hurting you." He pointed out impatiently, doing his best to keep his voice low as a passing server cast them a curious glance. "This isn't the time for your man-crush to get in the way of national security."

"So what you're saying is that there is a time for that? What context would that be in?" Tony wondered, cutting them off more soberly before either could scold him for his jokes. "I'm not doing that. They've already decided he was safe enough to leave, so I don't see why you're complaining."

"Probably because you destroyed half your house two months ago."

"I was dying, and anyway I thought we were worried about him being the dangerous one here? Pepper, back me up."

Tony felt he knew Pepper much better than most people, and she certainly could decipher him in ways almost nobody else could. So he expected her, with the affection and anxiety she'd shown for Loki, to tell James he was being paranoid. Yet she frowned at him, as if he were a child who'd brought home a snake and called it a mouse.

"Tony, if he really is a god… Loki was dangerous." She insisted, clearly having done a little reading on her mythology.

"Well, considering he hasn't given birth to any horses I'm pretty sure we took a few liberties with our stories."

"Not all of them, if he really is a frost giant." She frowned when he merely shrugged, though there was concern and not annoyance primary in her eyes. "Maybe somebody else would be fine, but you're going to make him angry somehow and he's going to hurt you."

"He's not dangerous." Tony assured, though he himself wasn't sure why. He just had a feeling Loki wouldn't really hurt someone without a reason, however odd that reason may be. "And he's smart. He'll be a big help with work."

"You don't let anybody help you." James now, sounding vaguely injured. He was probably recalling the numerous times Tony had brushed aside his offers for help, whether intellectual or physical.

"Well, he's a god. Don't get that chance every day."

"Tony, you remember the myth about Baldr." The other man gave him a pointed look, perhaps guessing his thoughts regarding Loki and hurting people. "He killed his brother out of jealousy and boredom. He might do the same to you."

"Pretty sure we made that one up." Tony cut in, unable to recall any mention of a third sibling. Considering all the ranting about Thor certainly the youngest would have come up in conversation at least once, right?

"Then at least let one of us stay with you full time." James insisted, pulling aside the menu as it was offered by a waiter to Tony in order to remove the distraction. "You can't trust the god of lies."

Tony frowned, both at the robbery of his menu and the comment, and turned his gaze to Pepper. She seemed far less convinced of this course of action, probably going along out of nerves and a general faith in the colonel's intellect. "Pepper, you know him. You were as worried as I was when he collapsed, you know we can trust him."

"That's why I'm against you on this." She replied steadily, though he saw her usual resolve wavering slightly. Something about Loki made it easy to have a soft spot for him, and neither of them had completely avoided that. "I don't want to watch either of you killing yourselves."

"He's not leaving. Tell the military if you want, they won't believe I've got a god in my living room." Tony replied after a moment's silence, standing with a shrug.

James got to his feet as well, scraping the chair back in his hurry and earning a few nervous stares from other customers. "What are you doing, Tony?"

"Going home. Jarvis lets me have chicken fingers." The engineer replied bluntly, turning to leave before either could reply.


VVV

The room was dark and silent, with little that could have awoken Loki other than no longer needing the rest. Yet his eyes felt too heavy for this to be a possibility, and only when he turned to go back to sleep did a jab of pain remind him why he wasn't in his usual bed. He'd put too much strain on his body at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base, and on top of that drained his magic reserves and had no way to reverse the damage. His side especially was burning with pain, though in general his cuts and wounds were feeling better while the most major injuries were far worse after the doctor'd looked at them. Of course he couldn't fix them, these midgardian fools were terrible healers.

Loki knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, cringing at the mere memory of his dream the night before. He also knew he was unable to make his way upstairs and felt too thick with exhaustion and agony to do more than rest where he was.

"Would you mind turning on the light, Jarvis?" He wondered, certain the computer was listening and would pick up the command, no matter how weakly it was given.

A moment later the room lit up, though not so quickly that his eyes were given no time to adjust. No doubt Tony'd designed it that way to avoid any shock factor when he stumbled home early in the mornings. There wasn't much to the room, just a few odd pieces of furniture, a television, and some very eccentric decorations he hadn't noticed when being brought inside. Well, considering he'd barely been conscious he hadn't noticed much of anything.

There was a thick, paper-bound novel lying beside Loki, with a small painting of humans gathered about, shouting, where in their center stood a blade and another man holding a disembodied head. Curious, he flipped it open to the first page and came by an introduction by the author, which gave little information of interest but at least concluded that the story would detail two separate countries, neither of which Loki had been to before. Nonetheless he had little else to do, and flipped open the book without high expectations. Before long, however, he'd drawn into the book so deeply that when Stark finally returned he was watching the French revolution unfold on paper before him.

He recognized the sound of the door shutting, distinguished Stark's heavy footsteps, but kept his eyes fixed on the words. He gave a brief greeting, and smirked when he heard the stumble that implied he'd surprised the other man.

"Huh. You're awake. Cool. Now I don't have to be lonely." He mused, tossing something aside-probably a jacket- then strolling over to glance over Loki's shoulder. "What you think?"

"It's very good. Very violent, though."

"Yup, that's revolution for you. Lots of beheading and drunken lawyers."

Amused, Loki folded down the corner of the page and set the book aside, meeting his host's eye and finding them bloodshot, but not from alcoholism. "Have you slept since we got to S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Nope." He replied cheerfully, vaulting himself onto the couch with the armrest and reclining beside Loki. "You been reading all day? What a waste of time. Jarvis, put on a movie."

"Of course, sir."

"…You're too close." Loki complained, shooting the man a dirty look, which was paid no attention. "Go somewhere else."

"This is the only couch, I feel like l

ying down." Stark protested calmly, apparently unbothered by the lack of distance between them. In fact he scooted closer when he realized there was extra room, got comfortable, then crossed his legs and reclined happily. "What you want to watch? Comedy? Action? Horror?"

"Move."

"Romantic comedy it is. Let's make this more uncomfortable." Stark decided happily, waving a hand and queuing Jarvis to light up the TV with any number of selections. "Take your pick."

"This is ridiculous." Loki complained, nonetheless scanning the list. "What exactly is The Ugly Truth?"

"Extremely sexual. Jarvis, play it." The movie title was highlighted briefly, then suddenly the screen filled with blackness, followed by some rather cheesy music and an animation that formed itself into a logo.

Loki, who had never seen a movie before but was at least aware of what they were, couldn't help but watching with interest even as it became apparent the film was far from child appropriate. "This is vulgar." He noted calmly, raising an eyebrow as the man made yet another innuendo for what seemed to be no purpose other than to elicit a negative reaction from the audience.

"Really? This is life for me."

"Well, you're vulgar."

"You're not much better, honey."

"Hmph." Loki merely smirked, conceding the point, and did his best to scoot a little further and increase the space between them. Stark, seeing this, seemed to think it would be funny to scootch even closer until they were virtually touching at the shoulders. Loki, knowing there was no use in insisting he move, merely rolled his eyes. He'd shove him away after the movie.

"Did you tell her?" He wondered at last during one of the few silent moments on screen, during which the girl was passionately kissing the male lead while her lover waited for her down the hall. Charming.

No response. Loki, believing Stark was busy formulating some odd answer to this, turned to repeat the question and insist on a true response. He froze as soon as he had done so, spotting not thoughtfulness on Stark's face but in fact… well, not much of anything. His eyes were shut and his mouth was partially open, snoring so softly the trickster hadn't noticed until then. And he hadn't moved from his earlier position, and in fact had somehow ended up with his head leaning against Loki's shoulder, while virtually pinning down his good arm.

"Stark. Wake up." He demanded, attempting to push him aside with his injured arm and wincing at the pain of it. Well, that wasn't going to work. "Stark."

No response. The man hadn't slept in over a day, no wonder he was exhausted, but Loki had no desire to wait out the night with a narcissistic entrepreneur pinning him to a couch. "Jarvis, I don't suppose you could help?"

He'd assumed Stark would have some sort of robot, or at least an alarming noise to startle him out of sleep, built into the computer, but either neither of these things existed or Jarvis simply didn't feel like implementing them. Therefore the command was purposefully misinterpreted, the lights and television dimming into blackness while Loki was no more free of his burden.

Loki pursed his lips in annoyance and gave one last-ditch effort to shove Stark aside, not even succeeding in causing him to stir in his sleep. The man was out strong, and Loki was reminded of the many nights in which his brother had passed out drunk, not to be woken by even Gulgnir's clang. Wonderful.

The god of mischief sighed and leaned his head back, resigning himself to his new position as a pillow. He wished Jarvis hadn't turned off the light- he couldn't even read his book, only sit there and mull over whether or not to go to sleep. Disheveled, exhausted, and perpetually reeking of alcohol- Tony Stark was quite a bit like the main character from A Tale. Well, if Stark was Sydney Carton Loki preferred not to meet Charles Darnay- he rather preferred the so-called "useless" counterpart.

A/N: There ya go, another chapter at last, and I'm actually getting close to being vaguely romantic, finally. I was considering having Happy pick them up from the airport, but it'd be weird for him to suddenly appear, so I have something planned for him later. Thanks to everyone who leaves reviews, and who reads this story- I'm glad I could keep you entertained for this monthly milestone. Well, a little over a month maybe, but close enough.

Anyway, I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! It felt a bit silly to write, but for some reason I didn't want to change it. Reviews are always appreciated, I'd love to know what you guys like and dislike about this story.