11: Cabin Fever

When Tony awoke in the morning, if you could call it that, he immediately felt like hell. Hangover.

Loki lay on his back beside him, partially undressed. Without his magic he had to manually remove some of the armour around his shoulders, and his coat. He stared blankly at the ceiling, cold, detached. Tony sat and took a long drink of water, but he could really do with some coffee.

"Perhaps you should devise a more efficient delivery system," Loki suggested, when Tony mentioned this, "an intravenous drip, as you once mentioned."

Tony buried his head in his hands and groaned. "That was a joke, Loki."

There was nothing to do in the cell, and seeing as Tony was still officially pissed with Loki, it was not long at all before they descended into petty arguments, bickering.

"And you're sure you can't use magic?" Tony asked him, again.

"Of course I am sure," Loki replied, irritatedly. "I told you, this cell was designed with me in mind. There is a field in place behind the walls which nullifies magical energy. There is nothing I can do."

"How can you know that if you don't try?"

"I can feel it, Stark, and I have been here before. And my cell in Asgard has something similar. I know how it feels. You will cease asking me to do magic – which I was under the impression you hated anyway – if you value your safety. If we were in Asgard you would pay for such recalcitrance."

Tony rolled his eyes. "I do hate magic," he replied. "It doesn't make any damn sense. You can feel it, can you? And I just have to take your word for it. How do I know you're not lying, how do I know this whole thing wasn't your idea?"

"This?" Loki gestured around the room, "Ending up in another cell, being threatened with torture and death, why would that be my idea?"

"I don't know!" Tony shouted.

There was a terse silence, Loki looking at him with some realisation. "And you do so hate not to know," Loki observed. "I do not make sense to you. You can't stand it; you want to solve me, like a scientific problem."

Tony sighed. "Of course I do. You're the most difficult and unscientific problem I've ever come across." He leaned back against the wall, wondering whether there really was a dampening field which made it impossible for Loki to do magic. Unless that was made by magic too, then that meant that it was scientifically possible to restrain Loki - or reduce his power, at least...

Loki was dragged out of the cell for a while, a couple of hours perhaps, during which time Tony was insufferably bored, again looking for ways out, with no success.

Even when Loki returned, things did not really improve. Loki was incredibly reticent about his plans, his conversations with the Other, how the hell it was exactly that he thought they were going to get out of this place. Tony eventually just gave up asking him, pacing up and down the cell, though he could only take five steps in each direction before turning round.

Loki huffed and tsked at him, before finally snapping, "Stop doing that. It irritates me."

Tony continued. "Don't tell me what to do. Besides, maybe I'll eventually wear a hole in the floor and we can escape."

"Don't talk nonsense."

"And do you have a better escape plan?!"

"Yes!" Loki shouted back.

"And you won't tell me what it is. I'm sure it's a terrific plan, shawshank redemption, just perfect." He gestured around the cell, "I can see that it's going really well so far." And with that, he paced a while longer, Loki sat on the bed, leaning back against the wall. "What did you say to them?" Tony pressed him.

"I have said what I had to say to convince them to let us go," Loki replied coolly.

"Tell me what that is," Tony barked at him. Loki met his gaze with one of steely silence. Tony sighed. "Tell me what you've said, please."

"I will," Loki replied. "When we get out."

Suddenly, Tony slammed his fist against the wall in frustration. "We shouldn't be here. If I had had the suit we would never have been captured. But take the suit away..."

Loki regarded him carefully. "The suit and you are one," he said slowly. "You are trying to make that rather more literal, permanent. That is what you're working on."

Tony span around. "Why do you say that?"

"It's an inference, Stark, based on what I know of Extremis. Is it true?"

Tony nodded and stared down at the floor for a long time, before looking back up at Loki. "Extremis has been theoretical technology for years, and now it's real. If it works, and if I use it, it could make me like you." Loki raised his eyebrows, so Tony explained. "They call it a virus, but really it's made up of nano-bots, microscopic robots. They would be small enough to be in my body at all times, enable me to heal faster, be stronger, control the suit with my mind. I would be as strong as you, without the suit."

Loki nodded. "Does my magic still seem so implausible, now that your Midgardian technology is calling such things into existence?"

Tony narrowed his eyes. "Is that how your magic works?"

"No," Loki paused, trying to think of a way to explain. "We call it destiny – who is gifted with magic and who is not. I have it, and there must be a reason for that. All Aesir have it to some extent, even my brute of a brother, as magical energy is much stronger in Asgard. But sorcery per se is an option for a more limited number. No one knows how magic came to exist, where it began. Perhaps it was created by someone, and went on to develop a will of its own. Now it chooses its hosts for its own reasons, perhaps because it is now so powerful that it knows the future. No one knows."

Tony thought about this for a long time. With the rapid advancement of technology in only the past 100 years, as ridiculous as "magic" was, he could not rule out the possibility of what Loki was saying. The concept of Extremis terrified him for precisely this reason – what if it spiralled out of his control? More the point, Tony knew that he was therefore certain to find out the hard way. From the second he had learned of its existence he had always known that he was doomed; that it was only a matter of time before he tried it out himself.

He told Loki, "When I first heard about Extremis, I told Pepper that I wanted it. Just like that – I was sure. Well, she wasn't. She said she wouldn't let me do that to myself when I had no idea what would happen. It ended up as an argument. That's why... well, that was one of the last conversations we had while we were, you know, together." He wasn't sure why he was telling Loki this.

"She would hold you back from your potential."

"She would protect me," Tony shot back. "She would protect me from myself."

Loki stood and walked over to him, towering over him. "I would not coddle you in such a way," he said, a mocking tone in his voice. "I would want to see you reach your full potential. I would not wish to see you waste an opportunity to be all that you can be."

Tony tried to argue back, to protest, but Loki backed him against the wall and held him firmly by the jaw, eyes boring into him. "I want you to be on my level, Stark. You deserve it; it is what you were born for. The rest are beneath us..." Loki trailed his fingers down Tony's neck to the uppermost button of his shirt, easily unfastening it. "Think how much power you will have," Loki went on, unfastening another button, skirting around the top of the arc reactor, one way, and then the other.

Tony met his eyes and tried not to give anything away. The Extremis virus was a modern version of the super-soldier serum that had made Steve Rogers into Captain America. Tony wasn't planning on such a spangly outfit, but he would be as strong, stronger, in fact – probably as strong as Loki – and hell, that would change the game...

Loki leaned in closer to kiss him, but Tony turned away as best he could – and failing that he planned to bite him. Loki paused, close enough for them to breathe the same air. He looked mystified. "Why the sudden chastity, Stark? You let me kiss you yesterday."

Tony met his eyes defiantly. "That was yesterday." Loki broke into a crooked smile and Tony went on, "I was drunker, and you were prettier."

Loki laughed and shook his head. "Answer me one thing," he said slowly, "If you got Extremis, if you had the opportunity to make yourself like me, would you take it?"

Tony hesitated for a long moment, before answering, "No." Loki had too much power for his own good. It corrupted him, made him arrogant, impossible to control. "No," Tony repeated, "I will not be like you. I don't want to be like you."

"Then you are a fool," Loki snapped aggressively, breaking away from him suddenly and stalking over to the other side of the cell. "There is no nobility in sacrificing your future, in keeping yourself inferior, only to spare the feelings of those you naturally are above." His voice rose, suddenly imbued with emotion, "Just because you are born to an inferior race does not mean you have to let them drag you down to their pathetic level!"

There was a long, tremulous silence.

Tony said cautiously, "I don't feel like we're talking about me anymore."

Loki took a deep breath, not meeting his eyes. "We can talk about you, if you wish."

Tony nodded, but for once, he didn't want to talk about himself. He figured that Loki hated being a Frost Giant and desperately wanted to know why – but he also knew that Loki would not be pressed on that point. The topic clearly struck a nerve.

They had no food brought to them, and Tony came to understand just why it had pissed Loki off so badly. The gnawing hunger in his stomach was constant and consuming, and it did nothing to help Tony's hangover, the dragging headache, the dryness of his mouth which persisted no matter how much water he drank.

Mainly out of boredom the two of them lay down to go to sleep for a while, but Loki was apparently not satisfied with that. His long fingers crept over Tony's neck, massaging him, and he lay close behind Tony.

"Not tonight dear. I told you, I have a headache."

"Sit up," Loki ordered.

"No, Loki, I need to sleep..."

"Sit up," he repeated.

When Tony did not comply, Loki pulled him up to sit on the side of the bed, perching behind him. "What the hell, Loki..."

"Quiet," Loki took hold of Tony's shoulders and began to massage them firmly, working on his neck as well. After a few minutes, he asked, "Any better?"

"A little," Tony admitted. "You can still do some magic."

"Hmm..." Loki continued his ministrations and leaned in close to Tony's ear. "Would you like me to do some more?"

Tony took a deep breath and smiled in spite of himself at Loki saying something so corny. He was still pissed with Loki for the hacking incident, and had a suspicion that even these events with the Chitauri were orchestrated by Loki himself... "No," he said evenly. "I just need sleep."

Loki made a noise of frustration. "Performance issues..."

"I do not have performance issues," Tony retorted, coming to wish he had never used those damn words. It was true; he easily could have Loki right now, twice, if he wasn't so pissed off with him... though in Loki's case, being pissed off seemed to have no less effect on Tony's desire than getting along with him did. Dammit.

"You're still angry with me," Loki said softly, in what was not quite a question.

Loki lay down on the bed behind him, and Tony turned to lie next to him, facing him. "You're damn right," Tony replied. "What the hell were you doing, looking at Extremis, anyway?"

Loki shrugged. "I do what I want. The fact that you kept it secret piqued my curiosity. I wanted to know what it was and why you would be interested."

Tony sighed in exasperation, resting a hand on Loki's arm. "You understand why I had to take the computer though, right?"

Loki frowned. "Do not speak to me as if I am a child. Of course I understand." Loki slipped a hand onto Tony's waist, resting in there, looking at him closely. "I understand why you are angry with me," he said, the tone of his voice completely changed to one of playful desire. "I would not be at all averse to you taking out your anger on me... you cannot harm me, after all, but you could try..."

Tony took in a deep breath, trying to reign in his imagination, trying not to let that turn him on. Loki continued, "You could fight me for dominance, throw me down on the floor, against the wall... punish me..."

"Shut up, Loki." Tony span around to lie facing away from Loki – and oh, that was a mistake.

Loki held Tony against him, pressing his burgeoning erection hard against Tony's ass. "I know you want me..." His hand placed firmly over Tony's crotch he squeezed before moving onto more refined, careful touches, rubbing Tony through his clothes, quickly getting the response he was looking for.

Tony pulled in vain at Loki's wrist, as he was pretty sure he managed to say "No" at some point, but if he was honest with himself, he wasn't really putting up much resistance. Tony did want him, his chest ached with the desire and it felt amazing to have Loki touching him again... and they were in a cell; it's not like anyone would find out...

But there was no way he was letting Loki get to him again. He let go of Loki's arm and elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Loki stop!" Tony shouted. "I mean it, we're done. I'll sleep on the damn floor..."

Tony disentangled himself from Loki, made to get down, but Loki grabbed him and held him up. "No, Stark, if one of us has to sleep on the floor then I will."

"No..." Tony said, as Loki got off the bed.

"I am more resilient; it will do me less harm than it will do you. Get on the bed, Stark."

Loki pushed him back towards it, where Tony reluctantly climbed back on. Loki then lay down on the floor facing away from him, though he could not bear to face the outlet for waste, so turned back. Tony leaned over the side of the bed. "Loki..." he said softly. "Loki, you don't have to sleep on the floor."

"It makes little difference," Loki spat.

"I mean it, come on, get back up here."

"No," Loki insisted. "At least I have my own space on the floor."

Tony sighed and moved back, trying to settle himself into some kind of comfortable position on the hard, uneven surface of the bed. It was going to be a long night.