Disclaimer: I do not own, nor profit from.

Author's Note: Right, another chapter up in 2 days! I've just finished writing Chapter 12 (which is really long), because I'm trying to keep ahead. So because I've nearly finished (just the epilogue left), I thought I'd treat you to another chapter. And I'm also procrastinating REALLY badly, as I don't want to do Maths...

Enjoy!

Raining over London

He could smell a sterile odour surrounding him. Light battered against his eyelids, painful and impatient. He twitched his hand, feeling the crisp sheets underneath him.

"Tony?" A soft voice sounded, slightly distorted. He opened his eyes, allowing a little more light in.

"Tony, are you awake?" Another voice sounded, this one more masculine.

"Ugh." His voice sounded broken, rough.

"Tony?" The female's voice was closer now, more concerned. More hopeful.

"Ugh." He finally wrenched his eyes open, the bright light blinding. He glimpsed red-hair. Pepper.

"Tony? Do you know where you are?" Tony swivled his head, peering through the white to glimpse the speaker. Steve.

"Uh, not really." A hand lay on his shoulder.

"You're in hospital. Thor beat you up. You've been out for 3 days."

3 days?

Seriously?

Oh.

I better not have missed America's Next Top Model.

"Where's Loki?" Tony asked Pepper. She exchanged wary glances with Steve.

"We don't know." Tony tried to sit up, struggling against Steve.

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Pepper looked scared, cowering in her seat.

"He was here, the first couple of days. I arrived yesterday, and he was leaving. We all thought he was going to get rest, but Erik and Clint went to go get him today, and they couldn't find him. He's just... gone." Tony glared at her, then slumped back into his pillow.

Was this all that it took to scare Loki off? They had been best friends for the best part of 30 years. They had stuck together, through Loki running from his family, through Tony running from his family to alcohol, from Loki falling to earth, from Tony recovering from various injuries. Was the fact that they were now involved enough to scare Loki off the minute something went wrong?

Tony closed his eyes, letting the familiar darkness swoop over him again. Images played in his head, Loki crying, Loki attempting football, Loki watching Star Wars, Loki at his graduation, Loki drinking (and hating) scotch, Loki and him curled up on the sofa watching Lion King...

"Tony? We can look again. Charles is still trying to contact him." Steve sounded concerned.

"If he doesn't want to be found, he won't allow himself to be found." His voice was devoid of any emotion.

"Tony..."

"Don't Pepper. Just don't. I don't want the sympathy." Tony opened his eyes, staring at his ex-girlfriend. Pepper nodded once, understanding.

I don't want to be told that's what I get for being best friends with a supervillian.

Even if that supervillian never harmed anyone. Tony had always managed to delay the Avengers, allowing Loki the time to escape. Loki never attacked the Avengers. It wasn't a ground rule they had put down. They just didn't mess in each other's work.

What would happen now? Would he and Loki look at each other across a battlefield, no friendship between them now? Would – could – they strike each other down in battle? Would they make it quick, one last request from a former friend? Would they do that as one last gift?

Tony sighed. He watched Steve and Pepper make their way from the room, cautious and wary. He closed his eyes, and drifted off into a fitful sleep.

o0o

Loki rested his forehead against the cool glass, staring out at the rainy landscape of London. He wondered what Tony was doing now, whether he was awake, whether he was even alive anymore.

He'd been stubborn, refusing to leave Tony, refusing to leave his partners side. Steve continued to babble on about needing rest, needing food. He was a God of Asgard. He needed neither. Even as a Jotun could go weeks without eating, longer without sleeping.

He knew Tony would be mad when he woke, to find Loki not by his side. He wished with all his heart that he could be there, to see the life return to Tony. But Tony was injured because of him. Of course he blamed Thor as well. He had no right to beat someone up, just to stop them dating his brother. Least of all to Tony. But he blamed himself as well.

He should never have allowed Tony to be put into that situation. If he hadn't been dating Tony, Tony would probably be tinkering around in his workshop, or still moping over Pepper.

Both were safer.

Loki slid down the window pane, seeing darkness encasing the foreign land. The rain dribbled down the pane, licking a way down. Loki traced a stream with his finger. He curled up, wrapping his arms around his legs, bending his head down to rest on his knees. His dark hair was plastered to his face, evidence of the storm that raged across the sullen city. A backpack lay beside him, the carpet dark with water underneath it. He closed his eyes with a sigh, watching images flash across his mind.

Tony hunched up in a ball, tear tracks etched down his face. Tony laughing at the blue hair Loki had conjured for him. Tony falling out of a tree, surprise on his face after he landed. Tony and Loki celebrating Loki's birthday, eating carrot cake and raspberry jam sandwiches. Loki and Tony trying to get a girlfriend when they were 15. Tony and Loki walking around London, laughing at a joke. Tony at his graduation, already cocky and over-confident.

Loki racked up a sob, covering his face, allowing the tears to run freely. He wanted to go back, to say he's sorry, he wasn't ever going to leave, he wouldn't hurt him...

But he couldn't. He couldn't lie to Tony. Because it would be. Tony had always been able to see through Loki's lies. And Loki loved it. He could be honest, he didn't have to pretend.

If he went back to Tony, and said those things, with his emotions flooding over, he would be lying. Because he couldn't promise that he wouldn't hurt Tony. He couldn't promise that he would never leave him. Because he just didn't know.

His tears fell down his cheeks, and he watched the rain fall on the city outside.