A / N : I like the idea of having Loki sitting in a strip club, but that just might be me. *shrug*

He could hear voices all around him. They sounded far away, very far away, and suddenly he opened his eyes. Tony woke with a start, shaking his head as his gaze darted around the hospital room.

"You're awake."

He focused on Steve. "Yes, yeah of course." Tony winced. "Why am I here?"

"I uh..." The man noticed Steve hesitating. "Thor and I had a misunderstanding, and you got hit."

"Maybe I should just start wearing my armor to sleep."

"Maybe..."

Tony peered down at his chest, and his brows furrowed in confusion. "What is this?" He asked. "This reactor is a spare. Where was the one I wore earlier?"

"It's right here." Steve said, holding out the broken reactor.

"What happened to it?"

"I think it got damaged when you got struck by our crossfire."

"How did you guys find the replacement? I kept it hidden deep in my workshop." Tony's questioned sternly.

Steve rubbed the back of his neck. "Loki brought it."

Tony visibly perked now, but he played it off as a readjustment of his sitting position. "SHIELD found him?"

"Well, no... He showed up with the reactor. Loki replaced your old one with the new one, and then he disappeared."

"How long ago was this?" Tony took the reactor from Steve's outstretched hand. He toyed with it silently, juggling it from one palm to the other.

"Three days." The blonde answered.

Finally, Tony looked up. "And what happened to you?" He asked, referring to the bruise on the side of Steve's face.

"Loki's condolences when he found out we hurt you." Tony froze, then his fingers tightened around the reactor. "You should have seen what Loki did to Thor. The guy certainly packs a punch."

Loki saved him?

Again?

Why would the god come back even after he had stolen the scepter? Loki wasn't stupid, he was far from that. It was a huge risk to take...

"I would have expected him to be halfway across the galaxy by now." Tony said. "There's no reason for him to come back."

"There is, Tony."

He looked over, making eye contact with Steve. "What?"

"You. You're the reason he came back."

"That's not true." Tony muttered. "You were the one that told me that Loki was playing games, that nothing we had should be taken to heart..."

"Well, Tony. I changed my mind. You weren't awake for it, but the way he was looking at you... Loki cares about you. A lot. Probably more than you realize. Even Thor admits it."

"Well he's gone now. Nothing I can do."

"Since when did you give up so easily?"

Tony arched a brow now. "Are you trying to instigate something, Cap?"

"Im trying to say that we should find Loki before either the chitauri, or SHIELD get to him."

"We?" Tony arched a brow in surprise.

"You, me and Thor."

Tony smiled broadly. "Well let's get going then."

"Thor, we need you to tell us everything you know if we're going to find Loki." Steve said.

Tony pursed his lips as he awaited Thor's reply, and suddenly a thought hit him. "Woah - Wait, hold on a sec big guy." The man put a hand on Thor's shoulder. "Are you okay with the fact that me and your brother you know, uh..." He struggled to find a word that wouldn't offend the blonde hulk in front of him. "Fondued?"

Thor's laugh shook the walls of Stark tower. "I knew of it from the first day you asked about Loki."

"How?"

"I voiced your concerns to Loki, and he told me of the events that transpired."

"Come on man. I told you to keep your mouth shut." Tony said with a frown. Thor chuckled and suddenly Tony perked up. "So like, I'm the only guy that he's been sleeping with?" He asked curiously.

"Well..." Thor cupped his chin thoughtfully. "Loki did mention Steve a couple of times, but I suppose it was uh..." He cleared his throat, then did some finger movements to mimic quoting his brother. "I want the captain to feel my burn on his skin long after I'm gone. His heart is pure, and him, untouched. My chaos, his innocence, my lips, h-"

"Okay okay that's enough." Tony said, once he caught Steve's white face. The poor guy looked like he had seen a ghost. "So yeah... let's get back on track." He wandered towards Steve, giving the blonde a pat on the back. "What do you know about Loki's relationship with the chitauri?"

"I believe that the chitauri want Loki bowing at their feet."

"How the tables have turned." Tony said snarkily.

"Stark..." Thor said warningly.

"Right. My bad. Sorry. This is how I cope." Tony said, opening a bottle of whiskey. "Go on." The man said, gesturing Thor forwards with the cap.

"My brother is too prideful to admit it, but I believe that he had no choice but to attempt to rule Earth." Thor gave the two men a serious look now. "When he fell into the Bifrost, he encountered the Other. Lost and cold, I think that he managed to convince the Other to give him a chance."

"Woah slow down big guy. What is the Bifrost and who is the Other?"

"The Bifrost is a bridge that connects Asgard to other realms. It allows us to travel through space. The Other, watches over the Chitauri."

"Are you saying that the Other forced Loki to release the Chitauri?"

"Yes, and no." Thor said. "Loki is too wise to believe that he would be able to control Midgard with an army of those aliens. This realm is too large to be ruled that easily."

Tony finished his drink. He turned at Steve's voice. "You think that Loki set himself up to fail? But why?"

Thor glanced out the window, at the storm that continued raging outside.

"To come home."

It made sense now. He snapped his fingers. "Right. He needed to lose in order to be sent back to Asgard. Loki had no other way back than by using the Tesseract, and he must have realized that if he failed to take over Earth..." Tony pointed at Thor. "You would be there to take him home."

"Loki knew that you wouldn't give up the chance to see him again, especially if he was causing trouble." Steve added.

"Cruel, yet effective." Tony said, giving Thor a comforting smile. "Now that we have that out of the way, care to tell us what happened after you took him back?"

"Our father sentenced Loki to a century in prison for him to reevaluate his sins."

"So daddy basically put him in time out to think about what he did?" Steve said incredulously. "He killed people, Thor."

"Our people do not question the All-fathers decisions, and neither will you!" Thor said threateningly.

Tony shushed the two of them, motioning for the both to calm down. "I'm not trying to get sent to the hospital again." He said with a glare. The man turned to Thor. "But how did he escape?"

"That's something you're going to have to ask him."

"You have any idea where he could be hiding?" Tony asked.

Thor shook his head.

"Then we better start looking."

The rain had beat ceaselessly against Earth since the day Thor had began his visit. Loki practiced his spells, testing the limits of his slowly returning magic. His hands gripped the scepter tightly, carefully.

He did not want to lose it again.

Curiosity had began eating at the back of his mind. Thanos had yet to contact him since that one night Steve had encountered Loki in the bathroom. Fleetingly, the god had wondered why.

Yet it clearly didn't bother him enough for him to actively mull over it. His overcoat was soaked through from the rain, but Loki had quickly gotten used to it. The streets were certainly cold, and also uninviting, but it was nothing he couldn't grow used to. Loki had yet to encounter any SHIELD agents, but he assumed that perhaps Thor's had attitude helped him in that area.

His scepter morphed into its more plain, staff-like form as Loki arrived at his destination. The god's sopping leather overcoat changed into a classy suit, and he approached the man outside the building. He adjusted his tie as the bouncer allowed him in.

Loki scoffed at the human dancers twirling around their respective poles. His green gaze fell onto an empty seat by the bar, and he made his way over.

"Scotch." Loki said thinly to the bartender. "On the rocks." He supposed Tony had a bad influence on him after all.

It had been nearly a week since his last interaction with Tony. Loki mixed his drink thoughtfully with his finger, taking a long sip once he had grown bored of watching the liquid swirl around the glass. The burn felt good. It was something warm, and he had not had something warm in days.

Laying low was difficult after all.