Tony traces his hand slowly down the side of Loki's face, down to his neck, allowing his fingers to rest at the hollow of his throat, where the skin is soft and tastes slightly of apples. He leans in and lightly kisses the tip of Loki's nose, and the younger man laughs quietly, and Tony feels the vibration of his voice through his hand.
"Doubt thou the stars are fire, doubt that the sun doth move, doubt truth to be a liar, but never doubt I love," Loki murmurs, kissing Tony back, and the physicist reaches up and cards his fingers through Loki's hair.
"Always quoting, huh, Shakespeare?" he says, and they both smile at the play on words.
They stay there for the rest of the afternoon, the sunlight slowly creeping in through the window, and then out again. Tony likes that Loki is skipping class solely for him. He says something about it, later, and Loki, who was mouthing at his collarbone, abruptly ducks his head, hiding his smile.
"Don't press your luck, Stark; I can't say it will happen again," is all he says, but both of them know he doesn't mean it.
Tony jerks awake, the dream fading as the bell rings, signaling the end of class. His hair is sticking to his forehead in sweaty clumps, and the inside of his mouth feels dry. Quickly, he checks under his shirt—no scars today, and that's good, isn't it—then grabs his bag and heads out, rubbing his eyes and unsuccessfully covering a yawn behind one hand. He barely got any sleep last night—too much to drink in the fridge; no time to stop and think about resting—but he doubts lying down would've had much impact anyway. All he can think about is Loki, in the clutches of Thanos, and how, with his electromagnet acting up the way it is, he's utterly powerless to do anything about it.
It's been almost two full days since Loki disappeared, and Tony misses him more than he can stand.
He sees Thor not too long after leaving the building, and hesitates before going to him. The elder Odinson is standing there, staring at his phone, looking as lost and upset as Tony's ever seen him; when he hears his footsteps, he looks up and forces a smile.
"Anthony," he says. "Any word from my brother?"
Tony shakes his head. "Just like him, keeping us in the dark about this." He laughs shortly, sighs, and pulls his own phone out, sliding his thumb over his contacts until he gets to 'Shakespeare'. He presses down on the name and waits, but the phone rings and rings, and no one picks up on the other end.
"I bet Thanos' got him tied up somewhere, probably hanging from his thumbs in a basement—"
"I wish you would not make light of this," Thor mutters. "Loki promised me that if Thanos ever came to him again, he'd tell me—"
"Hey, he said that to me too, y'know. It's not like I knew the bastard was back before now."
"Regardless of who knew what before this date, I think the most important thing is to remember that right now, more than anything else, my brother needs us to find him." Thor breathes out heavily, and the air crackles and smokes in front of his mouth. "It is my belief that the best way to start would be by finding out where exactly Thanos is living. I can start by—" But what Thor can start by, Tony never finds out, because at that exact moment Justin comes up, his glasses slightly askew on the bridge of his nose, a small smile on his face as he checks his phone messages.
"Tony," he says, conversationally. "How's it going? Heard from Loki?"
Thor frowns at the mention of his brother. "Who are you? Who is this, Anthony?"
"Uh." Tony glances distractedly at Justin, then at Thor. "This is Justin Hammer; he's got some insider information on where Loki is. He's like my private source for all things regarding the kidnapping—I mean we aren't the best of friends, but he's all right." He claps Justin on the shoulder, once, and Justin smiles tightly and holds out his hand to Thor.
"Pleased to meet you," he says.
"Hmm," Thor grunts, eyeing Justin's hand without taking it. "I am Thor, Loki's brother. If you mean harm by him, believe me: I will not allow you to get away with it."
"Why would I want to harm your brother?" Justin asks automatically, twitching his glasses up further on his nose and glancing at Tony.
Thor's frown deepens, and he doesn't reply, just turns to Tony. "Since you are now otherwise occupied, I shall leave you. But Anthony—keep me posted. And know this: that I shall, to the best of my abilities, try to find where my brother is being held hostage." He turns and walks off, and Justin watches him go for a few seconds before turning away.
"Why do I get the feeling that guy doesn't trust me?" he asks.
"Probably because he doesn't," says Tony shortly. "Loki's the most important thing in Thor's life, Hammer." He doesn't add and in mine; he can't bring himself to do so, not yet. "Do you have anything new on them?"
"Just that they are still in the shack upstate." Justin shrugs; then, as though it's just occurred to him, he adds:
"So listen, I'm pretty hungry, can we get something to eat and go to your place?"
"Flattering offer, but you have to remember I'm in the first monogamous relationship I've been in ever, so I'll have to turn you down."
Justin frowns for a second, then laughs, too loudly. "Always with the quick ones, Tony."
"I reserve the quick ones for the few seconds between classes," Tony says, and grins. Justin does that too-loud laugh again, and Tony rolls his eyes. "So if not for sex, then why do you want to come to my apartment?"
"It would be more comfortable discussing the particulars of Skurge and Amora's whereabouts there than here in the cold."
He has a point, but Tony just shrugs and pulls out his keys. "Well, come on then," he grunts. They get Taco Bell—some of the shittiest food Tony's ever had, but then he figures why should he pay for anything better when he's with Justin—and head back to his apartment. He drops his keys in the bowl by the door and grabs the note he left out for Loki yesterday—before he knew—folding it into a tiny square and slipping it behind the sofa. He's in the kitchen, getting drinks out of the refrigerator, and doesn't notice Justin slipping upstairs and into his bathroom. By the time Tony's sitting on the sofa, Justin's come back out, and they eat their tacos mostly in silence.
When Justin finishes his, he stands, wiping his greasy fingers on the back of his jeans. Tony stands too, and frowns.
"Wait, where are you going, we haven't talked about Loki yet—"
"I'm sorry, I've just remembered how pressed I am for time," Justin interrupts. "Text me later, okay? I can give you more information then."
"Like hell you can," Tony snarls under his breath, but Justin's already halfway out the door and doesn't hear him. He lets out a frustrated groan and sinks back against the sofa cushions, running his fingers through his hair. His chest aches, though whether it's from the iron poisoning or from the stress, he can't be sure.
After a few minutes, Tony calls Bruce and asks him if they can meet in the science lab in half an hour. He heads into the bathroom and checks his blood toxicity level—sixty percent, up by ten just since yesterday, and he tells himself it's okay, but then he starts shaking. Badly. His hand ends up knocking the soap dish off the counter, and one of the shards pierces his skin. He ends up going to the hospital instead of meeting Bruce at the lab, and hates himself even more for delaying the process yet again.
Loki will be dead long before I can reach him, is all he can think, watching Yinsen stitching up his cut, and wonders why the fuck he destroys everything he touches.
/
Thanos is stretched out over the sofa, one long leg resting against the wall, the other draped onto the floor, when he gets the text from Justin. 'The brother is involved now,' it reads. 'And there's something really interesting about Tony that I'm going to tell Loki next time I visit.' It takes two seconds for Thanos to realize that "the brother" means Thor, and then he's off the sofa and about two inches away from Loki.
"Hey," he snarls softly, "your brother knows I took you. Any idea of how that might've happened?"
"Telecommunication?" Loki suggests, staring at the floor. Thanos' hand comes out and catches him on the jaw, and his body jerks sideways.
"Don't be fucking sarcastic with me. You know what I'm getting at, Lo'."
"Yeah, I do, and you know as well as I that it would be impossible for me to contact Thor while I'm here. I don't even know where you've put my phone."
Amora, coming in at that moment with a package of ground meat under her arm, says:
"Why are we discussing Loki's phone?"
Thanos whips his head around and he stares at her. "Thor knows," he says. "Loki must have told him. There is no other way."
"Unless Tony said something," Loki says.
Thanos' entire body tenses up, and both Loki and Amora see his hand go for his gun. Amora starts forward, and for a second Loki shuts his eyes; thinks, I will die, and this will be over.
Then Thanos relaxes slightly, and laughs a little. "No, no," he says. "Loki's right. It's entirely plausible that Tony told Thor. Except now they'll both be coming to look for us. We're going to have to be extra careful, aren't we, Lo'?"
Loki doesn't answer, and Thanos grabs his wrist, jerking it backwards. "Because if we aren't," he continues, snarling again, "I might have to use this on your brother." He touches the gun, sliding his fingers over the sleek metal surface, and a shiver runs over the course of Loki's entire body. "And I won't hesitate to shoot Tony, either, for involving someone else. Is that clear?"
"Yes," says Loki, after a few seconds. "Except you haven't really had much luck shooting Tony in the past, have you?"
Amora raises her eyebrows. "Wait, what?" she says, while Thanos digs his fingers into Loki's wrists, hard enough to bruise, and curves his fingers around the trigger of the gun.
"It's not important," he says, and then, in a lower voice, to Loki, "You had better shut the fuck up, you little wiseass shit, or you'll find yourself underground faster than you can quote one of your goddamn Shakespeare plays."
Loki winces against Thanos' tight grip. "The rest is silence," he murmurs, quoting.
Thanos narrows his eyes, but doesn't say anything else. After a few seconds Amora goes into the kitchen with the package of ground meat, and Thanos releases Loki's wrist. He rubs it, staring at the ugly purple splotches against his pale skin, wondering how long they'll stay this time.
Outside, the snow begins to fall, hissing as it hits the hard ground.