Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Marvel-characters!
AN: A new chapter! Thanks for all the feedback. I hope you're ready for this one.
~ Nobody Sees ~
Chapter 7
For the shortest moment, Thor thought that everything might come together.
Loki had allowed Bruce to treat his wounds and now he seemed genuinely better and healthier. He still refused to tell Thor what had happened, but Thor was merely pleased that Loki was no longer refusing any help. He figured his brother would tell him the truth in due time. After all, Loki couldn't remain silent forever.
Although…this was Loki and Thor knew his little brother was always full of surprises.
But when Monday arrived, Thor was faced with another seemingly impossible task: calming down a certain Anthony Edward Stark.
The young billionaire came storming into the kitchen, the newspaper clutched between his fingers.
"What the hell is this?" Tony asked furiously. He dropped the paper before Thor.
Now Thor was looking at the picture of Loki Odinson on page eleven, accompanied by a surprisingly long article of how the young convict had escaped the Youth Detention Centre on Friday. The article explained that Loki had been staying there the last four years and that he was last seen in a train station. The whole article made one thing very clear; beware of this young man, he is dangerous.
It was utterly ridiculous.
Thor looked up at his friend. "Tony, don't believe-"
"I think I had the right to know this," Tony was beyond furious, "I am hiding a fugitive, Thor, a fugitive!"
"Loki is hardly-"
"No more lies," Tony interrupted again. He straightened his back and folded his arms before his chest. "I agreed to let your brother stay here for the time being, but I thought he had been released from the center. I didn't know he escaped. I want to know what he did four years ago. I want to know everything!"
"Please, Tony, it matters not."
"Yes, it does."
Thor bit down on his lip. Indeed he could no longer hide the truth from his friend. He had not told him Loki had escaped and he did ask him to commit a crime. Telling him the truth was the least he could do. Thor knew Loki would not be pleased with this.
"I'll tell you," he sighed.
"Good," Tony said curtly. He sat down before Thor. "I am listening."
Thor, having been so focused on his friend, hadn't heard his brother enter the kitchen. Loki stood a few paces behind Tony and he looked relaxed. He looked a bit too relaxed for Thor's liking, but at least he wasn't smiling. Perhaps Loki didn't mind Tony learning what he had done.
Loki walked forward and sat down next to Thor. Tony widened his eyes when he saw the youngest Odinson. Was that concern in his eyes? Thor could never tell what Tony was thinking.
"If you want," Loki said, gazing directly at Tony, "I will tell you everything you want to know."
~ 0 ~
Tony felt kind of bad for demanding the truth like this, but he reminded himself that he had reasons enough. The most important one being that he was hiding a fugitive. Tony didn't really see himself going to jail for this, but it was definitely something he could miss. He could already imagine Obadiah going batshit crazy about this should he find out. It would definitely not be good PR for the company.
"Tell me where to start," Loki said, looking somewhere between amused and bored. Yet, there lay something else in his eyes as well. Tony was sure the youngest Odinson was almost testing him. "I promise I won't tell lies."
"Tony, I already told you what happened," Thor intervened. He closed the newspaper and pushed it away from him. He clearly disliked seeing the mug-shot from his little brother and Tony could understand that. He was aware this couldn't be easy for the two brothers.
"Did you, Thor?" Loki asked, sarcasm and a strange edge of hurt in his voice, "did you really?"
"Not everything," Thor sighed.
Tony kept switching his gaze between Thor and Loki. He could sense a strange air of tension between them suddenly. Obviously the events of four years ago had driven them apart. It was almost sad to witness.
"I know you only told me half of what happened," Tony said, "and I want to know everything." He turned away from Thor and focused on Loki. "Start from the beginning."
"I don't have to be here for this," Thor muttered as he stood from the table, "I don't want to be here. I've lived it."
Tony watched Thor exit the kitchen and he wished he had stayed. He didn't really know why, but being alone with Loki at this very moment felt dangerous. He would never show that to the boy of course, but he couldn't help but swallow heavily. He wasn't sure what to expect now. Yes, he knew part of the truth, but what else could there be? What could be worse than setting a house on fire with the owner still inside?
"Okay," Tony said, "begin."
"What did Thor tell you?"
"Not much," Tony answered, "you set a house on fire while there was still a guy inside – but that he got out okay – and that you didn't really show remorse."
Loki nodded. "Not entirely a lie," he said before sucking in a deep breath, "but there is indeed much, much more."
Tony said nothing and waited for Loki to continue.
"I was twelve-" Loki began his tale, his eyes trained on Tony's face, "-when I first discovered the truth of my heritage. I'd ask you if you know, but you didn't even know I existed until three days ago so I'll assume you know nothing about me."
Tony could tell that Loki was insulted by Thor's actions. It can't be easy to discover that your own brother kept you secret from his best friends.
"I'm not Thor's real brother," Loki continued, "I am adopted. When I learned this when I was twelve, I felt like my whole world made sense suddenly. I had always known I was different from Thor, that my parents treated me differently."
Loki's thoughts drifted back to those times, his gaze becoming unfocused.
"One night, I hacked into my father's home computer – he really shouldn't have used my mother's birthday as his password – and I found the truth. I found everything. That's how I learned my real father's name is Laufey and that he lived a few miles north from where I was currently living with my family."
Tony listened intently, not sure where all this was going.
"It took me a year to find the courage to go to my biological father and talk to him," Loki sighed, his eyes now on his hands, "a whole year. Then again, I was just a kid and thinking back I suppose I deserve some credit for finding the courage in the first place. Anyway, I found where Laufey lived and rang his doorbell. You should have seen the look on his face. He was shocked to see me, but not for the reasons you'd think."
Tony frowned, but he didn't want to ask questions. He could tell Loki wasn't really with him anymore. He was completely swallowed by the memories.
"Laufey had meant to kill me as a baby, you see," Loki said quietly, "and it was Odin who found me on the street, abandoned, suffering and left to die."
Tony felt sorry for Loki at this point and he wished he could say something, but anything that came to his mind just seemed pointless. Why would Loki care if he felt sorry for him?
"We barely talked, but what I learned ripped me apart." Loki's voice had become nothing more than a whisper. "He hated me, he actually deeply hated me. My mother died giving birth to me and Laufey blamed me. I couldn't live with that. Now I had a fake father who preferred his real son and a real father who would prefer to see me dead. I don't know what happened then, but something snapped."
There was a long moment of silence and Tony was unsure if Loki was planning on saying anything else.
"What happened then?"
"I waited," Loki said, lifting his gaze again. His eyes stood so dark suddenly and Tony felt a shiver run down his back, "I waited until it was dark and I set his house on fire."
Tony widened his eyes.
"You knew Laufey was still in there."
"I wouldn't have done it otherwise," Loki admitted, "I was furious when I learned he had survived. The police obviously found me and Odin tried to protect me, but I made it no secret that I would try again if I had the chance."
Before, Tony had felt sorry for him, but now he was genuinely scared of him.
"It wasn't until later that I realized what I had done," the young man added, "and I was so frightened when they came to arrest me. I clung onto Thor. I begged him not to let me go, but of course he did. He had no other choice and he was only sixteen at the time. He came to visit me a few times after that, but one day I said horrible things – I really hurt him – and he didn't come back. That was three years ago."
Tony was lost for words.
"And there you have it," Loki concluded, "the complete truth."
Tony dropped his arms, put his hands in his pockets and crossed his arms again. Not only was he lost for words, he actually had no idea what to do with himself. Should he call the police? Should he tell Loki to leave his house? That would be unfair to Thor and Tony didn't want to disappoint his friend. Loki was obviously here for a reason so he couldn't just send him away, could he?
"Why did you escape?"
Something changed within Loki at that point. He had been ready to reveal the truth of his past, but this was an entire new subject and Tony could actually see the rise of walls all around him. Getting the truth on this would be very difficult.
"I confided Bruce," Loki explained, his voice stern, "but I'm not going to the police with this. I am as much to blame as Doctor Doom."
Loki instantly realized he had said too much. It would have been nothing, just a minor mistake, had Thor not reappeared at that very moment.
"Doom did this?" Thor roared.
Loki's frantic gaze landed on his brother.
"Thor, I know what you're thinking, but-"
"I will kill that son of a bitch!"
