So after the last time, Bruce knows that if he's going to ...If he and Tony are going to... Okay, if he and Tony and Loki are going to ...do what was supposed to happen on Valentine's Day, if the Other Guy hadn't gotten in the way, it's going to take planning. It's going to take his planning. Not that Tony can't make plans or anything, – Although he does sort of have this idea that everything should go his way, and all problems should vanish, just because he's Tony fuckin' Stark. – but Hulk's Bruce's problem. He's the one who's been living with him all these years. He's the one who knows him, who understands him you might say, as far as anyone can understand someone who's not really a person at all, but just your anger impulses, inside a giant, indestructible green skin. It's going to take Bruce thinking about this, is the point. He's the one who's going to have to work out a way to make this happen if he wants it to happen at all.
The funny thing is, he does want it to happen. At first, he didn't think he did. He sort of thought it was Tony's thing. He'd go along with it, yeah, because he likes having Tony in his life; if fucking together is what it takes to keep him, well okay then, they'll fuck. Somewhere around the end of last week, when they started spending every night cuddled together on the sofa (and with Loki in the middle, cuddling with them both), he started seeing Tony's point. It feels really good being close to someone you care about... No, it feels really good and sexy being with someone you care about... Jesus, it sounds like he's about twelve when he even tries to talk about it. It's not like this is new to him. He was with Betty. But he never had to talk about it with Betty. It just happened, and it was good. And then the Other Guy came along and ruined it.
The point is, Bruce wants this to happen. He knows Tony and Loki want it too. And he's going to make it happen. He's going to put everything in place so the Other Guy won't get stressed. There's going to be privacy. It'll be just him, Tony, and Loki. They'll be together on the sofa like they always are, no stress, no challenge, no sudden changes. Then if – When. – they're ready to do something else... Well then they'll do it. It'll be good. It'll work. And after the first time, it'll probably be really easy, because then the Other Guy will be used to it.
So he talked to Steve about it. Steve's really cool. He's been totally edged out here the past week or so. He's got to be feeling like the third wheel, with the other three of them practically fucking all over the couch right in front of him every night, but he's been really nice about it. He understands it's only until the repairs are done on the Tower. Then he's going to have a whole floor to himself and lots of privacy (and Tony, Loki and Bruce are probably going to share one floor ...with maybe a separate, reinforced place for the Hulk), but for now, he's making an effort to help this to work.
So then Steve talked to Reed Richards. Turns out Ben Grimm's got a cousin named Andrea. She's a little older than Steve... Okay, no she's not. She's ...a little older than you might expect, let's put it that way. But she's from Brooklyn. She grew up on the same street Steve did, actually, and she's old enough that she and Steve can share a few "good old days" stories maybe. ...Only hers are from like 40 years later than his. The point is though, Steve's going out with her. He's going to be out all Wednesday evening, and it will be just Bruce, Tony and Loki. Bruce already told Dr. Vang: He's going to be out that afternoon. Just for once, whatever shit the hospital decides to pull on their poor little clinic, it's not going to be him that's dealing with it. He's got Loki off the hook for the afternoon too. They'll do something nice together, go to the library maybe. They'll pick up something good for dinner on the way home. Some more stuff from Imperial Delight maybe. Or a pizza. Loki really likes pizza. They'll go home and drag Tony away from the Loki-suit that he's still in the middle of working on (and there's a brain-hurting concept if you want one), and after that it'll be their time together.
Then when Wednesday comes, he's half afraid something is going to happen. If there's going to be a day for someone to have a crisis... If the bureaucrats in Financial are going to choose a day to dump more crap in his lap, or one of the doctors is going to get sick or something, this is going to be the day, right? It's not until he and Loki are on their way out the door at lunchtime, and he hears Blanca telling them to have fun, that Bruce really breathes easy.
He grins at Loki. "We did it."
"Of course." A roll of green eyes. This is Loki the way he never lets himself be seen at the clinic, still a little arrogant, and liable to get all King-of-Asgard on your ass if you're not careful. "You are the ruler of the clinic, with Dr. Vang. It is your prerogative to leave when you choose."
Yeah, that's not the way it works in medicine.
"I am honored you chose to include me in this, your free afternoon." Loki speaks with more tact. "What plans have you, pray?"
His plans... Oh Loki, when you see what I've found!
The trip's a little far out into the suburbs, but Bruce knows it's worth it when he sees Loki's face. "A library, with a coffee merchant inside?" Amusement sparkles in his green eyes. "E'en Tony would enjoy this one, would he not?"
"He might." - Coffee and sandwiches, and some nice tables in the courtyard where they can eat, before they go inside and look at books. They take their order to a table in the sun, where it's almost-warm enough. - "There's still books here. I think he's allergic."
"You mortals can..."
"It's a joke." Bruce unwraps his turkey on whole wheat. He watches as Loki takes a sip of a coffee with so many shots of espresso in it that he might as well be Tony. "You've really gone native, haven't you?"
"Native?" Loki's answered before Bruce realizes what he said. It's a little personal. If Loki decides to take it wrong... This is why he should leave saying the personal stuff for Tony. But Loki just looks confused. "Midgardian vernacular..."
"I meant anyone would take you for a real human." Bruce crams a bite of sandwich. "It's supposed to be a compliment."
Loki unwraps his roast pork sandwich with grilled vegetables. He doesn't answer for a long moment. When he does, his face is soft; his green eyes look a little sad. "After I learned of my true parentage, I thought I would ne'er find a place where I would feel at home. I am not of the Aesir, but I was raised by them, so I am not truly of the Jotnar either. You and Tony..." He looks up and his eyes and Bruce's meet. "You have made me feel that I am one of you, that I..." He breaks off, then takes a large, almost savage bite of his sandwich. "You are mortals. I will never be one of you. But the pretense is ...pleasant, for a time."
It's more than a pretense ...maybe. Bruce isn't exactly sure if he is mortal any more. The Gamma Rays fucked up his DNA pretty good. He knows the Other Guy can't die, because of the time with the gun. He's just not sure if that means both of them or not. And then there's Steve and the serum. Normal people don't survive being frozen. Not humans, or "mortals" if you want to put it in Loki's terms.
"You're one of us," he says. "If it doesn't last forever, well maybe it wouldn't have lasted forever no matter what. Eventually, your dad will forgive you and you'll go home. Or maybe you'll fall in love with someone else."
Love. He said it, didn't he? Bruce sees the reaction go across Loki's face. First his eyes go dark as he thinks about it. Then they lighten and warm again. Then all of a sudden his hand's on top of Bruce's. Those fingers of his with the bitten black nails, that are always a little cold (because of him being a Frost Giant probably), are tight on top of his own. "I will not 'fall in love' with someone else."
It's a declaration, isn't it? But Loki's still talking. "Our bond, will endure, Bruce. Your place in my heart will remain, yours and Tony's. And one day, so soon as the Aesir measure time, I will lose both of you..."
Yeah, there he is, the dark, depressing Loki they all know and love. Bruce covers his hand with his own and squeezes. "You won't 'lose' us." Well he might lose Tony. "Didn't I ever tell you? The Other Guy can't be killed. You're going to be stuck with him, and me ...and Steve... forever. If you want us."
"If I want you."
"Yeah, that's something I learned from Tony," Bruce says. "You wouldn't think you could learn about love from him, would you? But since we've been together I figured it out: What we have together is good. Even if it doesn't last, it's good, and I'm going to look back and feel good when I remember it."
Bruce watches Loki's face. His eyes warm, and a smile looks like it's going to start. Then he snorts, and his eyebrows go up, and he's Snooty-Loki again. "Sentimentality. You mortals are good at it. He doesn't take his hand away though. He sits there in the middle of the courtyard with his hand in Bruce's and he looks at him, and after a while the smile is there.
"There is a genre called 'Fantasy'. The librarian showed me the section at the other library. Has this library a 'Fantasy' section, do you think?"
"Probably." Their hands are still locked together, his rough, tan hand, with Loki's paler one on top, and then his other hand on top of that. Plus he can't seem to stop looking at Loki. But Bruce tries to pull his mind toward what Loki's talking about. He shrugs. "I don't know. I'm more a hard Science Fiction kind of guy."
Loki nods (and still doesn't take back his hand). "I will ask the librarian. And this 'hard Science Fiction', Bruce: I will read some of that as well."
It's one of those days when everything goes well. Really really, weirdly well. You couldn't pay for a day like this if... Well, all Tony's money couldn't make it better, and it's just all luck, not a lot of spending or elaborate stuff. The sun's out while they're eating their lunch, and then it's just starting to go down when they finish up at the library, and the lights of the city are starting to come on. They're way out in the suburbs, but they get a taxi right away, and the guy's cool about stopping on the way home so they can pick up some dinner. He's cool about helping them carry their stuff upstairs when they get there, too. Loki plus Fantasy, plus Science Fiction, plus dinner for three and all Bruce's books as well, equals more stuff than the two of them can carry, and the cabbie just automatically parks the car and grabs a stack of books and joins them. "It's Avengers Tower," he says. "I always wanted to see this place."
But then he's not creepy and stalkerish about it. They get upstairs and he just puts the books down on the receptionist's counter. "You two live here?"
"And Tony Stark." It's the least he can do to give him a few details, considering he's being so helpful. "And Captain America. And maybe some more people when the repairs are done."
The guy takes another look around. He doesn't complain that none of the really big-name superheroes are here, just some guy whose "suit" is a big, green monster. And Loki, who is technically, a super-villain. "Cool," he says. Then he takes the fat tip Bruce gives him and goes, and the Tower is quiet, and filled with the good smell of the pizzas Bruce and Loki brought home. And anticipation...
"I guess Steve's already gone." Bruce takes the pizzas on into the living room. He puts them on the coffee table, then goes to the kitchen for some tea.
"I could check his room." Loki takes a beer out of the fridge. It's not like him to offer to be helpful like this; maybe all this anticipation is making him uncomfortable too.
"No. No, that's okay." They need Tony, Bruce thinks. If he were up here, he wouldn't be making a lot of stupid small talk about "where's Steve this," and "look how quiet it is," and all that. He'd be right in the middle of them both. They'd be on the sofa already kissing, with one of Steve's old movies playing for background noise. He should get him now. He's just in his lab downstairs, probably. One call on the Stark-phone, and he'll be up here and they can get this party started.
Then it occurs to him that he can get the party started himself. It's like his brain short-circuits. One minute he's standing by the microwave with a Tazo teabag in his hand, the next minute he's got his hands on Loki's hips and he's looking into his eyes. "I need two things for tonight, Loki. I need you, and I need Tony." Who the hell is he channeling? He never talked to Betty like this. "We'll get Tony in a minute," says this new, aggressive Bruce, who seems to have come out of nowhere, "but first I need this." And then his mouth comes down on top of Loki's, and Loki is opening his mouth to him, and he tastes a little bit of the beer he'd barely had a chance to get a drink of, and a lot of dark, magical demigod.
After that, they're on the sofa before Bruce can really think about it. He feels Loki's hand, tugging at his shirt collar, then he feels his cold fingers against his own skin. It tickles a little at first, then somehow enough buttons get undone that Loki's got both hands against his bare back.
"Tony..." It's like trying to call reality back. His mind is flooding with pictures of Loki naked: What does he look like naked? ...Of Loki in his bed with him: One of them has to be on top. Which one? What will they do? But there are three of them, aren't there? And one of them isn't here yet.
"I am Loki," Loki barely takes time away from kissing to answer. As if anyone could mistake those lips of his, that are a little bit cold, and so easily bruised, a vulnerability strange for a demigod.
"No, Tony's not here yet. We have to..." – One more kiss, then one more again. – "He's in his workroom, probably."
He hears Loki mutter something about Tony can get eaten by a bilgesnape, but the Stark-phone comes out of his pocket. Somehow he dials, with still one hand down the back of Bruce's shirt. "Tony, are you here? Do you plan to come upstairs sometime in the next millennium?"
Bruce grabs for the phone, but Loki holds it at arm's length. He hears little snatches of voice: "crackle-crackle pizza..." And then, "crackle-crackle naked ...Hot Bruce-on-Loki action..." Then there's a distant "ping" as the elevator arrives, and he starts hearing footsteps coming closer.
"Fucking first, then pizza, right?" The scorch-holes on his shirt and the grease-stains on his hands, say Tony's been working. That Loki-suit of his that he's been bragging about. He says he wants it for the Stark Expo in April. Loki's going to take a couple days off work to model. If they can get SHIELD clearance.
Bruce hears footsteps. He doesn't actually look up from kissing Loki to see where Tony is. When he feels him plop down on the sofa on the other side of him, it's sort of a surprise. Then there are more hands undoing the buttons of his shirt. Cold hands. Tony must have gotten a beer out of the fridge before he sat down. "Naked Bruce first? I can live with that."
Warm lips touch the back of his neck, then slowly trace a path around to his throat. "Your ...uh, Other Guy okay with this, Bruce?"
"He'd better be." He is, actually. Looking inside, all Bruce can feel is contentment. There is ...maybe a little curiosity about the pizza. "He might want a slice of pizza."
"Right away?" Somehow Tony's lips are against his mouth now, and Loki's are against his throat. His shirt's all the way open, and Loki's mouth just keeps going down, down, down.
Bruce looks inside, but he still just feels contentment. Apparently the Other Guy is okay if his pizza is cold. "No hurry."
"Good." Tony leans back for a minute and looks at him. "You're already halfway naked, Bruce. Why don't you finish the job." He looks at Loki. "Then I want to see that hot, Norse body of yours. – Uh, Jotun, or whatever... – I want to see you naked; from the way you fill a shirt and tie out, there's got to be something pretty special going on under there."
"Finish the job..." Bruce looks inside: No stress, no strain. It occurs to him to be kind of impressed with how much the Other Guy's managed to trust Tony and Loki. Of all people for him to trust! "As in I get naked." His hands go to his belt. Why the hell not? Nothing wrong with getting naked right here, for Tony and Loki. "Me and Loki. What about you, Tony? You're just going to sit there with your clothes on and look at us?"
"Well I wasn't just going to look." Tony's arms go up and a char-spotted t-shirt lands in Bruce's lap. Right on top of where he'd just undone his pants. It sort of ...covers things. Mostly his undershorts, but also the arousal they're covering. "There was going to be touching involved." Tony's up off the couch and Bruce hears a zip. He looks, and there's Tony's bare ass, looking toned enough to remind him that billionaire playboy-industrialists can also afford personal trainers. It's ...a little bit daunting. Then Tony's on the sofa again and his mouth's against Bruce's throat. "I'm waiting. I believe naked-Bruce and Loki was promised."
"I do not remember making any promises." On the other side of him, Bruce feels a bounce-bounce of the sofa. He looks over to see Loki unbuttoning his shirt, very very slowly and carefully. It comes open. Pale skin like ivory is visible, a throat with a rapid pulse. The cuffs still aren't even unbuttoned though, and it occurs to Bruce, Loki might be embarrassed about those bracelets he wears.
Embarrassed. That dignity of his, that means so much to him. "The bracelets aren't you, Loki."
Green-eyed scorn sweeps him. "Like all mortals, you make no sense."
"I think they're hot. Like bondage-gear or something." Tony reaches across, bare arms brushing Bruce's bare stomach. It's kind of tempting to grab him while he's leaned like that, and explore a little of that naked Stark-flesh. "Come on, Loki." He grabs a wrist, unbuttons the cuff. Loki lets him, so it must be okay. "I stripped for you, didn't I?"
Bruce feels Loki relax. His arms brush him, as the shirt comes off. Then Loki stands, and the pants disappear in one quick movement. He's long and pale and thin all over, but with muscles under the skin that remind you he was a warrior back on Asgard. It's like Thor (who's never shy about showing anyone his nakedness), only drawn more elegantly, like a younger Thor, or Thor-if-he-was-an-artist.
"You guys are making me jealous." He looks down at his own trousers, which are still right where they used to be, and he thinks about the clumsy nerd-body underneath. "I'm going to have to let the Other Guy out just because his body is better than mine."
He thinks... Does the Other Guy want out? Actually, he is picking up something. Not anger, but a little bit of ...jealousy. Like the Hulk wants some action too. He'll get pizza and like it, Bruce thinks. The hot demigod-on-industrialist-on-clumsy-scientist-nerd action is reserved for himself. No anger comes when he thinks it, so apparently that's okay.
Bruce stands. "They're coming off. And nobody says one word about my ass, you understand?"
He is no sooner out of the way than Tony and Loki are wedged up against each other snuggling. Tony looks up at him. He traces one hand down Bruce's back and smiles. "Of course not, far be it from me," he says. "Can I say something about the Captain America undershorts?"
"Think Geek final clearance." Bruce slides them off and drops them on the floor. "A man's got to cover his butt some way, doesn't he?"
"I dunno." Tony's hands are on him, and Bruce finds himself tumbling onto the sofa with him and Loki. "What do you think, Loki? Does our friend here need to 'cover his butt'?"
Loki's hands are on his shoulders, and his lips are against Bruce's chest. "I see no reason for it, Tony."
"No, wait, I've got it: We'll cover it like this." Bruce doesn't have time to think about it before he's got a slippery, greedy Tony right on top of him, nibbling at some places, and grabbing others...
"If anything's going to bring the Other Guy out," he just manages to get out in between the Tony-kisses and the Loki-kisses.
"Yeah, I know." Tony sounds very pleased with himself. "I figure if he's going to come out, he'd better do it now." Suddenly serious, "does he want to come out?"
Bruce looks: There's nothing but calm inside, calm, and a greediness that's growing rapidly. He can't tell whose greediness it is, but it doesn't feel like it matters. "I get you first." He wraps his arms around Tony's neck, his legs around his hips. "Hulk can have sloppy seconds."
There's some rolling after that, and some kissing. Maybe there's some nibbling as well, Bruce sort of loses track. The next thing he really notices, is Tony stopping, looking past his shoulder. He wrenches his head around and looks too, and there's Loki sitting there at the end of the sofa with his arms folded.
"You two make quite a show." He sounds... – What does he sound? Miffed, maybe? Is that a word? – He doesn't sound happy. "If one enjoys watching such, which I do not. Perhaps I shall go to my room."
Sulky!Loki is a little bit aggravating. Maybe there are logistics to managing a threesome on a sofa, but it's not like Bruce has ever had the chance to learn them. Him? He's still just making sure his Other Self doesn't come out and destroy anything.
Fortunately there's Tony, who's had all the experience in the world. "No, my room, Reindeer Games." Somehow he manages to throw an arm around Loki's neck, and still hold onto Bruce just fine. "We need a bed, and mine is the biggest."
"Your room?" The sulkiness starts to leave, not as fast as Bruce would like. "And if I say no?" Oh well, he's been watching Tony long enough to know how to chase it away faster by now, hasn't he?
"Then we'll do this." Somehow he wrenches himself around so he's on his belly, and he gloms onto Loki around the waist. His face is places he never thought about putting his face, but it's okay. Then when he starts hearing pleased sounds coming out of Loki, it's really okay.
"And some of this." Bruce isn't even sure where Tony is. Is that his foot in the middle of his back? His ass on top of his own head? His voice is coming from up around Loki's head, and it's this sexy whisper, that sends chills through him even with the foot in his back.
"Well, since you force me," Loki purrs. "I suppose I shall come quietly."
There's some kind of comment from Tony about, it doesn't have to be quietly. Then there's a shock of cold air as their sweaty, slippery bodies come apart just long enough to get down the hall to Tony's bedroom. Then there's the bounce, of them all falling onto the super-expensive mattress, and the whisper-whisper of super-expensive sheets against their naked bodies.
The temperature goes up fast once they're sprawled on the bed, legs tangled with legs, arms wrapped around bare chests. Outside the smoked-glass office-building windows, the sun's almost down, just a little bit of light coming in, catching sparks of light off tumbled hair and making silhouettes out of their tangled bodies. Bruce loses track of who's where, who's doing what to whom. – And the Other Guy? He's just a faint presence, just sort of chilling and watching what's going on. – All there is, is the feel of it, the sounds, the smells, the sensation. Loki's a little cold against his skin, Tony's a little hot. Oh, and that jacuzzi in Tony's bathroom gets the workout of its life, a little while later on in the evening.
Also the pizza gets cold. It still tastes just fine, though, when Tony brings it into the bedroom somewhere around midnight and passes out slices. "Lucky me," he says. "Pizza, and an all-you-can-eat buffet of men, right here at my fingertips." Speaking of fingertips, he's got pizza sauce on them, and then on his hair, when he leans back and puts his hands behind his head.
Bruce snickers. "You're the pizza-flavored entree." He looks at Loki. "Shall we put him in the jacuzzi, or can we take care of this on our own?"
Loki, who's carefully picking all the anchovies off his slice of pizza, looks up.
"You're getting yourself all pizza-flavored too," Bruce says. "I guess that means it's up to me." Tossing his crust in the direction of the pizza box, he wades in. At the very back of his mind there's the thought" Pizza and action; I wonder if the Other Guy's enjoying this. Then there's no thought any more, just pizza-flavored kisses, and the taste of the anchovies from Loki's fingers, which sort of ends up going everywhere.