Chapter 10
Sorry for the hiatus everybody, school has been keeping me so busy, just finished with two major exams. But here is another chapter, thank you for your patience, and I am so blown away with all the bookmarks, favorites and reviews! I hope you like this chapter I'm struggling a bit so if there's anything you'd like to see feel completely free to let me know! PLEASE review if you read it makes me write faster! Much, much love to you all! :)
Loki wasn't sure how long they sat on the floor, he was gathered tenderly in Tony's arms, and to be quite honest he didn't want to move. He didn't want to think about everybody waiting in the living room, even if those people were only his Mother and Thor. He didn't want them to see him like this. Seemingly with that thought let free into the atmosphere he felt Tony's fingers move underneath his chin, directing his mouth to his, "You don't have to go out there if you don't want to, but honestly I think it would be good for you. One less thing to worry about, because I know that those two love you out there, doesn't matter what you look like."
"I suppose," Loki muttered, worrying his indigo lip between his teeth making them look all the more striking against his skin, "But for now I'd rather not."
It took almost two hours of coaxing for Tony to extract Loki from the bedroom, not just coaxing but borderline begging. Only on one condition that was, that he was allowed to wear both his sleep pants and a grossly oversized hoodie sweat shirt.
Frigga sighed tiredly, one of Thor's hand gently between both of hers', "Dear I must be off, I wouldn't want your father to be suspicious of my whereabouts, what is keeping Loki?" and as Tony arrived in the living room, she turned to him asking, "Is he well? I'm quite aware that my healing spells are taxing, but hardly enough to keep him from allowing me entry to the bedroom to give my goodbyes."
"No, he's uh, well, he's well, just not…he's not exactly 'vanilla Loki', thinkin' that's something your voodoo stuff did. He's not very happy about it either, but he's coming, just give him a sec." Tony said with the clearing of his throat, he was waving his hands to Loki, "Come on, they're not gonna bite."
"That I am not afraid of, you dolt," Loki snapped, "I don't know if I can do this."
Frigga rose from the couch breaching the space between them, "What is it darling?"
"Mother," Loki groused, "Might I just say my goodbyes from here?"
"None sense! Come here this instance, you're worrying your mother, do you want that?"
"No," Loki tried not to growl, "Of course not."
She peered up into his face, "I feared this might happen," she delivered an effortlessly gleaming smile, "Now, now, what's the problem? I do hope it didn't give you too much of a shock, I simply did not want you to fret as I wasn't sure your Jotun form might be exposed."
"You could have told me that might have happened," Loki spoke low, keeping his eyes downcast to the floor, "I don't think Thor will react as you have," he said just above a whisper.
"I wasn't fully aware of the dark magic sleeping on the surface of your flesh my love, it reacted to my own magic, this is only temporary, as the dark magic fades so shall your glamour return," she soothed, pressing a fair skinned palm to his cheek, gliding a thumb beneath his eye, "and besides, this is who you truly are, and there's nothing wrong with that."
"That's what I said," Tony chimed in, crossing his arms with a smirk.
Loki merely narrowed his eyes at the man before turning his ruby red gaze, mostly hidden beneath the hood of the sweatshirt, to his mother, "Mother, you are a gifted liar, people should give you actual credit for my talent in the art," he delivered a somewhat cold chuckle coupled with an equally fake smile.
"I do not lie son, and watch your tone," she scolded, even though her own smile was still twitching at her lips, "I would never lie when complimenting my children, especially you."
"Brother, what ails you?" Thor asked, one who had risen from the couch surprisingly soundlessly, the entirety of the time listening to the conversation from a distance.
"Norns," this time Loki did growl, and it almost sounded feral as he wrapped his long arms around his own torso, lowering his head more to let the hood fall further forward, "I am well Thor, I am just saying my goodbyes to mother, I do not wish to speak to you at this moment."
"Loki," Thor began, "You are not well. I promised you that I would not be neglectful, no more."
"Fine," Loki spat, snatching the hood from his head, dark ebony hair falling out from underneath to his pale blue shoulders, Adam's apple bobbing in his throat, blood red eyes narrowed in war-like warning.
Thor didn't gasp, nor did he back away, his eyes only widened slightly, his large and toned arms resting bonelessly at his sides.
"Well brother? Or should I still refer to you as such?!" Loki snarled, his knuckles clenched so tightly they blurred almost periwinkle, he was gearing up for a full powered rant.
"Is that what all the fuss is?" Thor chuckled, giving no hesitance to stride forward and gather Loki in his arms.
And Loki squeaked out a highly undignified yelp. In fact, Tony would say it sounded like a surprised kitten, but he would never say THAT out loud he appreciated his genitalia too much to voice such an observation. Tony covered his mouth to hide the wide smile, only motioning with his eyes his approval in Loki's direction as Loki stared forward, again, looking like a feral cat ready to pounce. But thankfully he once more accepted the embrace, and weakly gave a pat to Thor's muscled back, and is seemed Frigga shared the sentiment, her eyes glassy and her smile wide.
"As much as I am enjoying this family acceptance I would very much like to be put down now," Loki grumbled in Thor's shoulder, even though his heart was thumping harshly in his chest, his eyes close to welling but he kept the tears at bay.
Thor complied, "I must see mother off, you are warded from Hiemdel's eye as well as Odin's, you will be well here without me?"
Loki waved a hand dismissively, taking note that he did not address him as 'Father', "Of course I will, I have been taking care of myself for a long time, now is no different. Good bye Mother, I hope to see you sooner than later, it's been too long." He embraced her fully, even though it may have been awkwardly tight given how tall he was, but she didn't seem to mind.
"Goodbye dear, and rest well, you will be weakened for three or so days," she whispered, kissing both cheeks.
"I will mother," he managed an honest smile .
"Dear Tony, I cannot express the gratitude I have for you taking care of my youngest," Frigga, kissed his cheek as well.
"Uh, yeah, no problem, it was nice meetin' ya" he stuttered over his words, giving a nervous smile.
"I will not be long brother," Thor said, pulling him close again, pressing lips to his temple.
"Gah! Alright Thor, enough, yes, I'll see you soon," Loki huffed, however it was halfheartedly so Thor only grinned like the idiot he was, ignoring the bite in Loki's voice and merely ruffled his hair.
"See I told you," Tony grinned, as they exited the elevator to the roof.
"Don't act so smug, mortal, you know nothing of my family," Loki answered, eyes cutting around at the man at his side.
"I don't need to know your family to see they love you, ya big idiot," Tony continued to smile, taking one of Loki's hands, "I envy that, ya know? I never really knew my parents and I had no siblings."
"Count yourself lucky," Loki sighed, "About siblings that is, parents? I can understand the need and want."
"My old man shipped me off to boarding school as soon as he could, I don't think I exchanged more than a few words with the guy before he and my mother died. Maybe it's easier I never knew them," Tony said with a shrug, not that he would ever admit that it was something that hurt him, and he wouldn't even admit it to himself that he craved some kind of parental closeness. And he had often wondered, more often than not, what kind of man he would be today if circumstances had been different. What would it have been like to have an attentive mother like Frigga?
"Tony," Loki gently replied, pulling the man closer to him by both hands, "You never told me that. Why didn't you?"
"Just…" Tony shrugged again, "Never came up, no big deal."
"Mhmm," Loki murmured, one delicate eyebrow raised, which made the tribal lines alter slightly, "You, unlike me, are not a gifted liar, but I shall let you alone if you like," he bent and kissed Tony on the mouth, lingering there until Tony was breathless, "Weren't you saying something about soup earlier?"
Tony blinked dumbly, slowly coming back to a talking and thinking state, "Uh, yeah," he swallowed, he would have to have a talk about how intoxicating Loki's kisses could be in vanilla form, but in blue bunny form? They were blinding, as if some energy sought out his own and brought him out of a state of walking, talking and thinking above the waist.
"Thank you for today, I…" he paused, his tongue looking like smooth flawless bubblegum over his dark lips, "No one has ever acted as such…what I mean is…fought so fervently in my favor."
"Ah babe, is the famed silver tongue, tongue tied?" Tony laughed softly, gathering Loki close, "I'm always in your court, got it? On your side all the way."
And finally Loki smiled genuinely enough that the corners of his eyes did that adorable crinkle thing that Tony adored, "I thank you," he spoke again, this time more steadily.
"Come on gorgeous, operation fatten you up needs to commence," Tony hooked his arm with Loki's and led them into the living room.
"These are the files I collected about the alien attack," Steve Rogers said, placing them on the desk he stood in front of, his posture perfect as always, arms crossed stiffly.
"Files? What files?" Fury replied gruffly, "And you? Collect files, I highly doubt that Captain, you don't even know how a television works…what is this?"
"There may be more to this invasion then we initially thought, I just want you to have all the facts, that's all, isn't that what you need to rightfully convict a man?" Steve said, clearing his throat nervously.
"A man yes, an insane fucking space god leading an army of aliens? Fuck no," Fury snapped, voice low and smooth, "Where did you get this Cap?"
"I told you, it was given by a friend, I-I think it proves that Loki isn't completely responsible for the attack on New York." Steve balanced on the balls of his feet, eyes determinedly forward. And he did think it proved so, and after seeing the scars on Loki's body, his trembling broken form and heartbreaking begging only made him all the more determined to convince the director.
Fury laughed and shook his head, "Who's got you fooled? Loki, according to Thor, is a helluva an actor…do you know where he is?"
Steve swallowed roughly, "No, I don't, but I looked at these files, the videos too. I don't think Loki is solely to blame….you didn't doubt Barton's mind control, I think the same thing happened to Loki. Thor even said he wasn't sure why Loki was doing it to begin with."
"Sure, big brother is thinking straight isn't he, that idiot would vouch for anyone that would give him the puppy eyes. You know something Cap, speak up." Fury sat up from the desk, folding his hands behind his back, one eye narrowed in suspicion.
"All I'm saying," Steve said, clenching his jaw, a flurry of anger swirling in his gut, and a weird almost protective sting to his voice, "Something was going on, and Loki did these things against his will, why do you think he had the chance to kill his brother but didn't?"
"Sentiment," Fury said, coming around the table to sit on its edge, "You know where the bastard is, don't you, you're as honest as they come. I can read that face like a 9 year old kid playing hooky."
Steve narrowed his piercing blue eyes, leaning closer in the director's face, "I am not lying, look this over, if you're the man you claim to be you'll take this into consideration. I would hate for SHIELD to be hunting down an innocent man, again, if I'm right, and I think I am, if you were to hunt Loki down then you better be locking Barton up as well." Steve turned on his heels and stomped from the office, before the director could notice the sheen of sweat creeping from his brow.
"Nothing gets past me Cap, remember that," he heard Fury say, before the elevator dinged shut.