Author's Note:
Hey guys, sorry for the late late update. My wrists have been hurting me so I type for as long as I can then stop for the rest of the day lately and I tend to not punch out as many words and awesomeness in that span of time. They are getting better slowly but still going to be a bit.
I appreciate all of the reviews, they are the reason I write so much ;) I'm glad so many of you are this fond of my fic and I'm so flattered and proud XD You don't even know lol
Loki looked up at the mall as they stepped out of the Stark vehicle, apparently a beautiful ride equivalent to having an extraordinary horse. He was more so dreading going into the building full of people than concerned with what sort of transportation he was using. After crossing between realms in some of the most putrid and rancid spaces that could ever exist, Loki wasn't terribly picky about travelling, be it in style or otherwise.
Steve also stared up at it wearily, not looking forward to whatever it was that they would end up doing here. He was with Thor and Loki, two people who would be just as or more so confused about the way the mall was run as himself. And Tony Stark, the one person in existence you never wanted to make a fool of yourself in front of. All in all Steve was mentally kicking himself for his bad luck.
"Here we are, the mall. I guess since I've got all the money you guys are going to have to hang around me for this little trip." Tony muttered and looked at who he had with him, the mental image of children running around and destroying things burning in his retinas. "Uh... Right, behave yourselves kids."
"We are not children." Thor sounded insulted for the other two, Loki not wanting to step on any toes while he felt so vulnerable and Steve who just understood that this is how Tony speaks.
"I know, I know. It's a figure of speech big guy." Tony smirked and walked through the parking lot, still thinking he should just spend the extra dollar and get something custom made for these people. Yet at the same time it'd be a pain to get them fitted and several outfits would have to be made. It seemed easier, and kind of funny, to take them to a mall where other people could get a load of their ignorance.
Thor looked at Loki who only shrugged and followed the smallest of the four men (well, shortest anyway. Loki was probably thinner at that moment). The parking lot was confusing enough for the Asgardians though Thor had had a few 'run-ins' with a vehicle or two to know that he didn't want to get hit by one again. Loki generally didn't like the speeding metal things and if he'd had his magic back he was fairly certain he'd blow a few up just to feel better. Guess it was a good thing Odin had taken it from him with thoughts like that.
The doors opened up and Steve's eyes widened. Why was everything so big in the future? This was a giant building with a bunch of shops all hidden inside it, whatever happened to the 'mom and pop' stores he remembered as a kid? He knew what a mall was; he'd been to them before but never one like this... The world was so... distant now. He felt like an alien half the time. Steve eye's lingered on things as they walked, trying to see if it looked familiar in any kind of way. He could hear Tony talking ahead of him so he knew he wasn't falling behind but Tony's voice started to fade out in his hearing as he stared at a display in some store labelled 'HMV' in big pink letters. Steve couldn't tear his eyes away from a set up of a soldier aiming a rather WWII looking kind of gun. He didn't look at the title of whatever movie or game it was but he knew it had to be based on WWII, the gun was the same that one of his friends usually carried.
A strange wrenching in his stomach made him stop and he could almost see his friend clearly, same rifle shouldered, almost the same uniform, that dumb smile on his face...
Tony glanced back to see if the pack was still together, granted Loki was distracted by all of the people and was adamantly trying to make sure none of them even brushed past him, Thor helping in trying to give Loki his personal space, they were there except for Steve. The captain had stopped and was staring into space. "Steve?" Tony called though there was no measure of response from Steve whatsoever, he marched closer and spotted the game display. "Oh... Hey, Steve it's just cardboard." He had missed the point, or at least he had until he saw the glistening watery look in Steve's eyes. 'Oh shit, it isn't an anger thing.'
Steve swallowed thickly as he could nearly hear his friends' voices calling his name, "Steve?" "Hey Steve." "Rogers!"
"ROGERS!" Tony's voice thundered in his ears as the smaller man's fingers snapped several times in his face.
"Uh!" Steve shook his head from the sudden surprise, "What?"
"You okay Cap?" Tony did everything he could to not show Steve the concern he was actually feeling. It'd be awkward for both of them.
"Yeah, sorry." Steve rubbed his eyes and looked over to where Loki almost looked like a cat ready to hiss at every random person that brushed past him. "We should probably get moving, sorry."
"Yeah," Tony nodded and watched the soldier's quickly retreating back. 'What is wrong with me? Would it kill you to say something comforting? ... Probably.' He shook his head and followed. "Okay back on track, come on." He considered all the stores in that mall and took them to one of the most fashionable ones that would carry something they'd each look good in. Not easy, really. Tony figured he'd have to take them to several stores yet.
Thor looked around at all the different racks and shelves and shook his head, "You're on your own with this one, brother."
"Thanks." Loki muttered and lifted up a shirt with the tips of his finger and thumb, eyeing it suspiciously. "Why are so many of them on display?"
"These are the clothes that you will try on and decide whether or not you like them then I buy them. That's how it works." Tony found a spot to sit and relaxed, "Have fun, ask the clerk if you need something."
Loki pouted a little and dropped the cloth, scanning the different ones as Thor went and sat down beside Tony as well. "He is going to get annoyed." Thor muttered as he could almost see words as sound effects for the way Loki was moving; 'fret fret', 'fret fret'.
"Then that's your issue." Tony glanced over at Steve again, the captain looking around and not at anything that Tony would consider decent to wear in this century. "Crap... That's right there's a reason I came with." He stood and walked over to Steve's side. "You looking to dress like an old man?"
Steve turned a frown on him but didn't say anything for a few moments, "I have style, Tony. You don't need to help me."
"If 'old man' is a style then you have it down pat." Tony glanced up at the frustrated man next to him, and for the first time he noticed the strength in Steve's jaw line, the definition in his neck leading into the collar of his shirt. Tony shook his head and looked back at the clothing rack, "Come on, try something new."
"Everything I do is new lately; I wouldn't mind doing something familiar." Steve muttered though he didn't really refuse when Tony took his arm and dragged him to the other side of the store. He reached up and touched the denim jeans with a soft sigh. When had it become so popular to wear these things? When he was younger people wanted to look their best, dressed in their best and at least most of them tried to act their best. Why then would people be so okay with looking this casual? In fact he was really uncomfortable with most of the summer clothing around the city in the first place. Some men walked around shirtless on the streets for pete's sake.
"Not a fan of denim?" Tony asked after a moment to give Steve his thinking time.
"It's not that just... I don't know what it is." Steve looked for his size and after a few minutes he had to pause, the clothing he was wearing was mostly given to him by SHIELD, no one really told him how to figure out sizes anymore. "What's with these numbers?" Steve asked quietly.
"Sizes." Tony glanced at the number and figured that Steve didn't know his size in anyway. "Alright," he snapped his fingers at the clerk, "Need help measuring over here."
The clerk rolled her eyes for a second though she caught a glimpse of Steve's slightly embarrassed expression and she suddenly brightened up, approaching swiftly with the measuring tape from the behind the counter. Steve looked at Tony with a slight pout of his lips and narrowing of his eyes, "Tony," he muttered disapprovingly but shut up as soon as the clerk had gotten to his side.
"Okay, arms up." She said cheerily and he listened, removing his limbs from her way. She wrapped the measure around his waist and he inadvertently held his breath and closed his eyes, deeply embarrassed to have her hands so close to his waist line. He tried to focus on the music playing overhead and he scrunched up his nose at it.
"What kind of music is this?" He muttered mostly to himself, of course only Stark would take that as a 'Tony, answer this question please'.
"It's pop music, kinda popular these days."
"This isn't music." Steve frowned.
"Oh? And what artist constitutes as music for you?" Tony raised an eyebrow, "Someone playing the bagpipes or –"
"The Andrews Sisters." Steve said pointedly. "I listened to their tunes on the radio when I had some time to."
Tony shrugged, "Never heard of them." He watched as the clerk fished for a good pair of jeans in Steve's size, choosing a few styles and handing them over.
"Try these on."
Steve smiled and took them, "Thank you."
"You, merchant woman, I need assistance as well." Loki hadn't completely ignored the way Tony had gotten Steve help; obviously this woman could do the same for him.
Tony could have laughed at the clerk's face but he figured that she didn't see a lot of buff and/or gorgeous men walking into the store so he didn't feel so bad for her. Though after thinking that in particular he had to stop and consider just what he meant. Sure, he found himself to be gorgeous and that made sense, the buff ones were Thor and Steve so... by default that made Loki gorgeous too since he had no muscle on him at that moment. Tony glanced over at the weakened god-made-mortal and caught something he hadn't noticed the previous day.
Loki, though being measured by the clerk, was staring over at Thor who was paying absolutely no attention to anything. Tony squinted and watched the way Loki's eyes scanned over his brother and had to stifle a laugh. "Oh no way." He snickered and shook his head, "That's... nope, not touching that with a ten foot pole."
"Tony?" Steve's voice rolled over his ears and the genius turned around to see his friend clad in a dark pair jeans desperately clinging to muscular thighs in a way Tony thought should be illegal. Nothing legal should ever make his heart jump. "Is this normal? They're kinda... tight." Steve muttered, clearly awkward to be asking another man for advice on it but he was unclear on how modern things worked so how else was he supposed to figure it out?
"Some people like them tight," Tony did his best to keep it neutral though he was being asked to check Steve out, why not take advantage of that? He walked over to and around the bashful soldier, "Hmm..." He stroked his chin thoughtfully though really he was just looking. "How do they feel?"
"Well..." Steve tried not to blush but it was embedded in his skin already. "Like I said, they're kinda tight."
"And you don't like that?" Tony raised an eyebrow. "I mean, these fit you perfectly, can you move in them?"
Steve walked around a little, "Yeah, they aren't... uncomfortable to wear but, well... Does this suit me?"
"If you ask me, anything looks better than old man slacks and plaid button-ups so yeah; I'd say it suits you. Cap, no one cares too much about what you're wearing as long as it suits your age appearance. If an old man wore these then I'd say he's dressing too much like a young person, I mean, if he was wearing something that form fitting." Tony watched the way Steve's blush darkened at the thought of something being form fitting. He dropped his face into his palms and snapped his head back up, "You wear spandex as your uniform. Nothing, absolutely nothing will be as tight as that."
Steve's mouth twisted in an awkward smile as he realized how silly he was being, "Oh... yeah you have a good point there." He looked down at the blue jeans in a new way and shrugged, "Then I guess these are fine."
"Thank you." Tony sighed, "Now try on the other ones too, you'll want more than just one pair of pants."
"I have pants at home; you don't need to do this." Steve argued as he walked back to the change room.
"Well I think I have to, your old man style is killing me."
"Would you stop it with that?" Steve frowned and Tony felt he may be pushing some buttons. "It's not an 'old man style' okay? Just because the people who wear clothing this way are old or dead doesn't mean it's an 'old man style'!" he closed the door with a loud click behind him and Tony winced.
"Oops." He walked over and tapped on the door, feeling bad about bugging after seeing the hint of tears in Steve's eyes earlier. "Hey, I'm sorry." He called through the door which opened right after. Tony stepped back and looked up at the slightly confused but still stern expression on Steve's face. "I didn't mean to insult you; you know how I can get." Tony found apologizing to the captain a little difficult but he forced it out, knowing full well that he was wrong.
"You're... sorry?" Steve smiled a little. Tony Stark doesn't apologize, not out loud and if he did normally never in public. It wasn't much and it didn't mean Tony would stop but Steve would take what he could get, "Thank you, Tony. That... means a lot."
Wow, Steve must really be feeling down. Tony returned the smile and nodded, "So I guess you can grab anything that you're comfortable in." He shrugged, not wanting to push the modern day fashion on the poor guy.
"Well... if you'll help me I wouldn't mind trying today's styles I guess." Steve shrugged, trying to make it seem nonchalant but really he couldn't stop the heat from rising in his cheeks.
"You got it, big guy." Tony grinned in return.
Loki glanced over at them vaguely then back to his own situation. He'd gotten measured and she'd given him a bunch of jeans that would fit except his hands were shaking again, he knew before walking to the change room that he'd be in there a while. 'Just ask Thor.' He thought and then scrunched up his face, glancing over at his yawning brother. 'Just ask him. What could it hurt? You need help; you know this, just do it. Just ask him.' He thought this the entire way to the change room and even after he closed the door. 'Curse your damn pride.' He thought miserably.
It took him no time to get the pants he was wearing off, just unzip them and they fell, the button had been broken the night before. Loki clenched his jaw as he tried to steady his hands but the more he thought about it the harder they shook. He squeezed his eyes shut and grit his teeth, "Come on..." he growled out as his thumbs refused to listen and he lost his grip on the jeans several times. "Come on." His voice came out in more of a pleading whimper and he pressed his head against the wall behind him but still his limbs refused. Why was he so shaken up? Loki couldn't figure it out. Was it because he didn't want to rely on anyone? He felt helpless and weak? He'd recovered physically enough to walk along with the others in the mall, or at least so far. He wasn't sure how long that would last. Maybe his physical recovery was still a long way from 100%, whatever it was, Loki still couldn't do up his own clothing.
He opened the door a sliver and glanced at Tony, "Could you get Thor please?"
Tony looked at him, what he could see of Loki anyway, and nodded right away. Something deep and needy in those green eyes, enough to make him want to run and get help ASAP. "Thor!" he called and waved the Asgardian over.
Thor wasn't an idiot, the moment he heard his name he knew what it was and went straight to Loki's changing stall. Without a word he slipped in and realized how small the space was, Loki barely able to step back enough to keep them from touching. "I can't..." Loki looked away and curled his lower lip in, Thor recognized the slight shiver in how Loki's jaw trembled and knew tears couldn't be far off.
"It is alright, Loki. You just need to ask and I will help you. You know this." Thor smiled warmly.
Loki looked up and nodded, "I... I knew I should have but... I don't know. Stubborn I suppose."
"You wouldn't be Loki if you weren't." Thor brushed the hair away from Loki's face and smiled wider, "Now let's get these pants on you."