Sorry for the wait guys, I've been at school and sick and I have a ridiculous amount of assignments for this early in the term, so my inspiration for "Dreams" has been a bit slow. Not to mention last Thursday I bought "Skulduggery Pleasant: Kingdom of the Wicked" and I've been too busy fangirl-ing and crying over that to even think about other fandoms. Plus I'm meeting the author, Derek Landy, for the second time this weekend, and it's all very exciting and distracting.
This chapter should be the last of the whole "taken by SHIELD, on Asgard, etcetera" plotline, but it's not the end of the story! I'm going to just skip ahead a few months to the next major parts of their relationship, okay? We'll be looking at things like their first fight, among other significant steps in their relationship. Anyway. I don't own anything.
Also sorry for how short this is. I just couldn't make it longer without making it weird.
Enjoy.
Thor returned to Asgard on Tony's sixth day there. In that time, Loki had been studying very intently different types of what he paraphrased as "mind magic" and he explained to Tony that he what he had found showed that his dream manipulation and mind control affected completely different parts of the brain, and then he said something else but most of the words were in another language, so Tony didn't follow.
Thor explained to them, upon returning to the realm, that SHIELD was still suspicious, but Tony and Loki were allowed back on Earth. Tony was, however, cut off from his suits and any Avenger duties until Loki could convince the organisation that Iron Man's mind was his own.
This, of course, was completely idiotic. "I could have gone evil plenty of times in the time I was with you!" Tony said, and was retracting Loki's pacing route with his own steps. "These guys need to relax!"
From his bed, the god let out a humourless laugh. "I did try to enslave humanity, Anthony."
Tony shrugged. "Oh, that was ages ago, they need to get over it. I did."
"Yes, well," Loki smirked. "I'm not sleeping with SHIELD, am I?"
Tony frowned. "Sex has nothing to do with it. We didn't even sleep together, really, until I saw you in person, three months in." He paused. "Wow, that's a long time to wait, for me. Usually they only make me wait, like, a few hours."
"We sort of slept together."
"Not the point, there wasn't any real sex for three months!"
Loki threw a pillow at his lover's head and glared. "Do shut up, Anthony. I'm not some common whore."
Tony mock-pouted. "Ouch. They weren't whores." When Loki didn't answer, he flopped on the bed beside the man. "You're just jealous. Which is good, because you're hot when you're jealous. And jealousy sex is the best."
Loki moved so he was straddling Tony. His hands went to play with the buttons on the other man's shirt, and his eyes screamed danger. He smirk graced his lips when Tony raised an eyebrow.
"Why should I be jealous when all they got were one night stands, as you call them, and I... Well, I get to keep you." He leaned in to whisper in Tony's ear. "For as long as I want."
Their lips met in a heated kiss, but before they could go any further, there was a knock on the door and Loki groaned. "If we ignore them, will they go away?" he mumbled, pressing his face into Tony's neck. There was another knock.
"Oh, damn it." The god gracefully stood up and strode over to the door. His hand on the handle, he looked back over at Tony. "You may want to uh, cover up your little problem." He looked pointedly at his lover's crotch. Tony scrambled into a sitting position and put a pillow on his lap.
"There's nothing little nor problematic about it."
There was yet another knock, so Loki quickly opened the door to reveal a nervous looking servant.
"My Lord, the Allfather wished to see you and Master Stark." he said, head bowed. "He is waiting in the throne room."
Loki slammed the door in the servant's face and cursed.
"That could have gone worse," Tony said two hours later as they were standing on the Bifrost, waiting to be sent home. "I could be dead."
"Or a small woodland animal," Loki muttered, sending Tony a glare. "And then what would I do? I wouldn't have been able to change you back, not if the Allfather was the one to cast the spell in the first place."
Tony shrugged. "But I'm alive, very much human, and on my way home where I will, hopefully, stay."
Loki let out a frustrate sigh. "Anthony, you obviously do not understand the gravity of what you just did. You said, and I quote, "Let's face it; you're a pretty crappy father." To the Allfather. To the king!"
"I didn't say anything that wasn't true and you know it."
"You insulted the Allfather! If it weren't for Frigga's intervention, you would be in several pieces on throne room floor!"
"Somebody needed to say it. Plus, it's not like you're overly fond of the guy."
Loki glared again. "You do not understand, Anthony! I feared for your life! For a moment I was prepared to offer myself in your place, for I was sure Odin was to smite you."
He expected Tony to say something (he always had to get the last word) but none came. Loki watched as his lover's face changed into an expression he could not read.
"You... You were going to offer yourself in my place? Your life?"
Oh.
That.
Loki was glad he was not one prone to blushing. He took a deep breath and forced himself to look in Anthony's eyes. He was, and he'd be the first to tell you, a very selfish person, so he supposed it must have been a surprise that he'd give his immortal life for the one of a human he'd been involved with for mere months."I suppose so, yes."
"Oh." A pause. "I would, too, of course. I mean, I don't know how important my life is compared to yours, but if it came down to it, I don't think I'd be able to see you die. Oh wow, how weird is that? I didn't think it would be possible for someone to affect me so much in so little time."
Loki's eyes flashed for a moment. "Your life is worth of much more than mine."
"Not really," Tony said, shrugging. "You're a god."
"You're you."
And before Tony could figure out how to reply, he was falling back to Earth and was very glad that he was unconscious last time he travelled between realms.
They landed unceremoniously on the floor of the shared living space of Stark tower, right in the middle of a group of couches that sat the Avengers and Pepper.
The group, who had apparently been waiting for them, stared at them in surprise for a moment before Thor let out a happy laugh and helped them to their feet. Loki narrowed his eyes at the offered hand and chose instead to pick himself up, but Tony didn't really care about dignity or any of that because he was probably going to faint or-
"I think I'm gonna puke."
Loki conjured a bucket for him, and everyone politely looked away as he emptied the contents of his stomach.
When Tony was finished and had downed a cup of water, he was pulled into the arms of Pepper, whose eyes were suspiciously red.
"How could you do that to me?!" She demanded, holding his at arm's length.
Tony weakly tried to look indignant. "I didn't exactly choose to be taken prisoner by what I thought was an ally organisation, one that I work for, be broken out by my god-of-mischief boyfriend and taken to the realm of the gods for most of a week."
She glared at him. "You could have been killed." She turned to Loki, who met her gaze evenly. "Thor told me he could have been killed on Asgard."
"I would never have allowed that," Loki said, completely at ease. "Neither would have Thor, or even my mother. She would never see somebody I care about dead."
Pepper frowned. "I don't believe you," she said, ignoring Tony's protest that, 'Hey, Frigga's great.'
"Of course not," Loki said, shrugging. "I'm the god of lies."
Steve spoke up before Pepper could reply. "It's good to have you back, Tony." he said. "And, uh, thank you, Loki. Even though his freedom could have been achieved through less drastic means."
"Perhaps," came the simple answer.
Natasha and Clint stepped forward together. Clint was frowning, Natasha looked indifferent.
"Welcome back, Iron Man," she said. "We're to inform you that you will not be allowed access to your suits, which have already been taken to SHEILD headquarters, and you are temporarily relieved of your Avenger duties. Mr Odinson-"
"Liesmith, if you don't mind."
She gave him a nod. "Mr Liesmith, Thor has informed SHIELD that you have information that can prove Tony's fine. We have readings of the magic in his body, and it appears to be mainly in his mind, which is, of course suspicious. Thor says you have a book? Well, he and you will need to show that to our doctors."
"Thor, too?"
"I believe that it is in another language, is it not? We can't trust you to translate it yourself, what with you being, well, you, so Thor had volunteered to come in to back up your word."
Thor nodded seriously. "Tis a shame they cannot trust you, brother."
Loki gave Natasha a nod, and Clint spoke up, addressing Tony.
"I'm not about to apologise for what I did, but I'm glad you're back."
Tony's smile was only slightly friendly. "You should apologise, you know."
"I was doing my job."
"You were being a dick."
"Who cares?" That was Bruce. "The important thing is that Tony is back and Loki's going to prove he's fine in the head."
Tony grinned at the doctor. "Okay, fine. I'll let it go. But hey, you need to show me how your project's been going while I was away. Is it okay if I bring Loki with me? I told him about it, and he's interested in seeing how the scanner works and..."
Thoughts?
