Tony, deciding he'd waited long enough, went to find Loki. He knew that if Loki was pissed, the first place he'd go would be the gym, or the field to go running, to blow off some steam.
Sure enough, there he was on the exercise bike, listening to his iPod, the music easily identifiable to Tony, despite him being a few metres away. The song was Wide Awake, by Katy Perry. Tony almost laughed at how well the song applied to their current situation. Tony strode in and tapped Loki, only to have him jump, turn around, glare at Tony and walk over to the rowing machine. Despite the fact that Loki was pissed at him, Tony couldn't help admiring his arm muscles. He really did come here a lot.
"Loki, I'm trying to talk to you!"
Loki sighed and turned off the machine, as well as yanking his headphones out of his ears and facing Tony.
"Why are you here, Stark?"
"I'm here to talk to you." Tony claimed.
"Why?" Loki asked, walking over to the gym lockers.
"Because I'm sorry." Tony said, following him.
"And why should I listen?" Loki inquired.
Tony sighed. Now Loki was just being difficult. "Because I'm your boyfriend, Loki."
"Are you? I though we were just friends, that liked to kiss. How else was it described? Oh yes, purely platonic." Loki spat as he walked out the door and into the pouring rain, making his way back to the dorms.
Tony froze. "You were listening in." He accused, still following Loki.
Loki huffed. "I don't trust Amora, or you, really. I guess my instincts were right after all."
Tony closed his eyes and ran his hand through his soon-to-be completely soaked hair. He was screwed.
"Look, I only said that to get her to shut up-"
"Don't lie to me, Stark. Am I just another one of Tony Stark's playthings? Another souvenir, or trophy?" He said turning around to face Tony. Try as he might, Loki couldn't stop the hurt and the jealously creeping into his snarl.
And Tony found Loki rather scary when he was angry, like an attractive lion, poised for a fight, with a feral snarl darkening his features, and making his eyes turn even darker than their usual fierce green. Usually Tony would've taken this into account before retaliating, but Loki's words hit home.
"You know damn well that's not true, and I've had to remind you that plenty of times. Every time I see you, you keep asking for confirmation that we're together." Tony put on a horrible high-pitched impersonation of Loki. "Oh, Tony, does this make us a couple? Is this okay with you? Do you like Amora more than me?" Loki was shaking with rage as Tony's voice went back to normal. "I consider you a hell of a lot more than a trophy, but if you can't see yourself that way, then you clearly can't see me for who I am with you either. And if you can't do that, then I don't see how we're supposed to be together." Tony snapped back harshly, awaiting Loki's probably terrifying response. It didn't come. They stood in the rain and silence for a while, until Loki finally spoke up.
"You can't even last a day in a proper relationship, can you?" His voice was cold and it made his accent even more prominent. Loki shook his head at Tony, and started running along the path, but not before Tony saw the tears, disguised as rain, spilling down his cheeks as he pushed past Tony.
He had just made Loki Laufeyson, one of the best people at hiding emotions, cry.
Loki made a beeline straight to Natasha's room. He had nowhere else to go, and no one to talk to, except her. He knocked feebly on the door.
His ex, Maria, opened the door. "Loki? What are you doing here? Wait, are you crying?" She said, starting to worry.
Loki ignored her. "I need to see Natasha, Please."
Maria nodded. "Sure, just a second." She turned around. "Oi! Nat! Get out here!"
Natasha walked out, took one look at Loki and pulled him into the room.
"Maria, could you give us a couple of hours alone? Go see Peggy or something." Natasha pushed her out of the room and slammed the door on her.
She turned around. "What happened? It was Tony, wasn't it?"
Loki nodded and wiped his eyes, determined to stop looking weak.
"Shit." Nat muttered, before muttering something in Russian that sounded something like an insult. She sat down, and pulled Loki down with her.
"You can talk to me." Natasha said gently.
Loki took a deep breath and shook his head. "It's not a big deal, Nat. I guess I just over-reacted." He tried to reassure her.
"Okay, that's fine, you don't have to say anything, but it's not just an over-reaction, Loki, you can't fool me."
"Tasha…" Loki sighed.
"Just saying what I think." She said, raising her hands in apology.
Loki sniffed. "Yeah, you do that a lot."
"You do too." She pointed out, earning a small smile.
They sat in silence for a moment, before Natasha spoke up again. "So what do you want to do?"
Loki sighed. "I don't know, but I certainly don't want to see him anytime soon."
Natasha nodded in understanding. They would both needed time to cool off and calm down. "Do you want to stay here for a couple of days? I'm sure Maria wouldn't mind staying with Clint for a bit."
Loki nodded. "If it's okay with Maria."
Natasha smiled. "Cool, you stay here and get comfortable, while I go get your stuff and talk to Maria, okay?"
"It is alright if I take a shower?" Loki asked, standing up with Nat.
"Feel free."
Natasha left, leaving Loki to reflect on life, whilst hot water surrounded him.
It had been five hours, and there was no word from Tony, or Loki, really. He hadn't spoken to Natasha except for when she persuaded him to arise from the dark confines of Maria's room to get a glass of water, in order for him to remain vaguely healthy. Aside from that, Natasha's dorm was silent, until at 11pm, there was a knock.
Natasha, after quickly checking that Loki was asleep, stalked to the door and flung it open, not planning on welcoming anyone that came visiting at 11pm.
As she had expected, a familiar brown-haired genius stood facing her.
She scowled at him, before attempting to slam the door on him. However, he was just as stubborn as her, and stopped the door from closing with his foot. They continued this another five times, until she finally relented and stepped outside, not wanting Loki to over-hear the conversation.
"Stark, you better have a damn good reason why I shouldn't kick your ass right here, right now." She said, glaring straight at him.
He had the nerve to look remorseful, before bringing his eyes to meet hers. As he did so, Natasha noticed that his eyes were slightly red, barely noticeable in the dark.
"I'm just here to talk." Tony raised his hands in surrender.
"Yes, because you talking to Loki never hurt him before." Natasha replied coldly, folding her arms across her chest.
"All I'm asking for is a second chance." Tony replied, almost pleading.
"That's a lot to ask for, seeing as we're talking about Loki here. You really think he's going to forgive you just like that?"
"God, Nat, you're acting like I beat him up or something. And I never said anything about him forgiving me, just talking to him." He tried to reassure her.
She took a step closer, backing Tony up against the wall. "Look," She snarled, "I don't know what you said to him, all I know is that my best friend came running to me in tears this afternoon, because of something you said to him. Loki never cries. So I'm saying this in his best interests," She paused for dramatic effect her voice still low. "Stay the fuck away from him."
Tony narrowed his eyes. Yes, Natasha was terrifying when she was angry, and yes, he knew she was sort of right, but no one was going to tell him how to run his relationship.
"Look, Romanov" He spat. "That conversation was between him and I. Like you said, you don't know what happened, therefore you can't tell me how to deal with it. I know you love Loki, but you need to let him deal with his own problems, not go beat up everyone that makes him even slightly unhappy, okay?" He finished, his eyes searching hers, praying that she wouldn't injure him too badly.
"I'm not the one who pretty much broke his heart." She retorted, earning glare from Tony.
"If you bothered to ask what happened, you mind realize that his wasn't the only one." Tony replied, before marching back to his room, planning to drink away his problems again.
The next week passed awkwardly. Neither of the boys would talk to one another, and barely let anyone talk to them.
It was ridiculous, thought Tony, that even though they hadn't even been together for 24 hours, he still missed Loki. Even as just a friend. Bruce was intelligent, yeah, but Loki added wit into the conversation, as well as intellect. So Tony locked himself in his room all week, give or take a few Physics and Weapon Development classes, and proceeded to work on an AI of his own.
Loki, was the opposite. He threw himself into Defence, a great way to take out his anger, and spent his time distracting himself from Tony. Seeing as Natasha was the only one that actually knew they were together, besides Amora and Libby, it wasn't too hard to convince others that he was okay. That was until Fandral came along. Fandral was a friend of Thor's, and he was hot. He was the opposite of Loki, with blonde hair and tanned skin, and a very happy and sociable person. He had just moved from California, and didn't know many people in New York. Loki, being the nice person he was, made it is duty to make Fandral feel as welcome as possible.
By the time the group was onto dessert, Fandral and Loki were sitting as close to each other as possible, their legs touching and hands brushing on the table.
So of course, it was a shock when Tony joined them.
"Tony, hey!" Steve greeted warmly. Loki stiffened and refused to look at him, whereas Natasha glared at him with as much hatred as she could. Tony sat down opposite Loki, and frowned when he saw Fandral.
"Who're you?" He asked, not as politely as he probably could've.
"This is Fandral, he just moved here from California." Loki introduced, before Fandral could answer.
"Thrilling." Tony replied drily.
"So you must be Tony, then?" Fandral asked politely.
"Yeah. What subjects do you take?"
Loki butted in again. "He takes History, and he's really good at it."
Fandral smiled. "No I'm not, you exaggerate." He responded modestly.
"Yes you are, stop being so modest. You're too nice Fandral, unlike some other people I know." Loki glanced at Tony for a second.
"Hey, don't be so rude about Natasha!" Clint interjected, causing everyone to laugh and return back to their usual chatter that had paused when Tony entered.
"So, Loki, seeing anyone?" Fandral tried to ask innocently.
"No, not anymore." Loki replied, knowing Tony could hear him. "Why do you ask?
"I, uh, wanted to know if you wanted to go get a drink? Just us, of course."
Loki smiled. "Sure! What are we waiting for?"
Fandral grinned back. "Cool. I'll just go grab my wallet." He said as stood up.
Throughout this, Tony felt sickened. This was low, even for Loki. Did he have to say that right in front of him? Yeah, he knew Loki could hold a grudge, but two could play at that game.
Tony pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found Amora's name. He glanced at Loki before pressing the green call button.
She answered after two rings. "Hello?"
"Hey, Amora. This is Tony." Tony saw Loki tense and glare at him as je said her name.
"Tony! Hey!" She responded, too enthusiastically for Tony's liking.
"Sorry about the short notice, but would you like to go and get a drink now?" He asked.
"Omigod sure! Meet me outside my room in ten, okay?"
"See you then." He said, before hanging up.
Tony pulled his jacket on as Fandral came back to the table and stood up, before smirking at Loki's pained face and leaving.
Well, you know what they say. All's fair in love and war.
