My Simba arrived! Obviously he doesn't have an Iron Man suit, though I wish he did. Despite fiddling with 3d models a lot a couple years ago, I don't think I'm skilled enough to make him one. He's a lot bigger than I remember, which is really strange because I was a lot smaller back when I remember playing with him. He doesn't dance like he's supposed to, but oh well. Whenever I look at him I think of this story.
Sorry for the longer update time. It wasn't even that long ago that this story passed 100 reviews, and now it's already passed 200! Plus it's like 12,000 views higher than it was at Chapter 15! You guys are awesome! As always, thanks everyone!
Bruce is hiding in his lab right now and won't let Loki in, so Loki's in Tony's lab. He likes it in Tony's lab anyways, but he wishes Bruce would stop hiding every time he asks if the Hulk can come out. Although Tony had said he might be able to see the Hulk sometime soon, he still hasn't yet. Tony says he's working on a room that will keep Hulk from leaving holes in the floor like he had. However, Loki hadn't even asked about the Hulk this time, so he doesn't know why Bruce is locking himself in there now. Although Tony seems glad that Bruce is gone for a bit, claiming that Bruce hiding in another lab for a couple hours lets him do something he's had to put off.
"Jarvis, let's see if I'd win that bet I made." Tony says, though Loki has no idea what he's talking about. Jarvis asks if it was when he was in his lab alone a couple days ago, and Tony replies "That's the one, J."
"A-R-V-I-S!" Loki singsongs, finishing Jarvis' name once he figures out Tony had been referring to Jarvis by that. Jarvis, starts with J, but it's kind of weird that Tony just called Jarvis J, because that would be like someone calling him L instead of Loki. Loki knows that the J means Just. "Just a rather very intelligent system!" Loki says aloud to nobody in particular. He laughs, liking the way that sounds.
"Just a rather very intelligent system." Loki says again, this time in a singsong tone.
Tony glances at him. "I didn't know you knew what Jarvis' name stands for." He says and Loki grins. It's kind of confusing, though, since how is Jarvis a system? But Loki likes that Jarvis' name stands for something. Apparently, Jarvis is officially spelled with all capital letters, like J.A.R.V.I.S. Jarvis had explained that's because his name is an acronym. Bruce had mentioned that word, and said that most names aren't acronyms- just when the letters stand for something.
Jarvis' name can also be spelled like every other name, with only the first letter being capital, which makes him seem more like everybody else. Jarvis told Loki that he prefers it being spelled like a name instead of an acronym, even if that's not official. One of the first things Loki had wanted to know how to spell was his own name (though apparently nobody on Midgard is named Loki, so Bruce said he wasn't one hundred percent positive about it being L-O-K-I). He knows how to spell his name in English now, as well as Tony, Bruce, Jarvis- or J.A.R.V.I.S., since apparently both work- Dum-E, Simba, Pepper, Hulk(y) and Snoopy.
Dum-E is currently wiping tables with a rag, and Loki goes to help him. Loki's seen Dum-E do chores sometimes. On Loki's first morning, after getting lost and found again, Loki had met Dum-E when Tony had made him pick up clothes. Tony had said then that Dum-E isn't his slave, but sometimes he orders Dum-E around. Maybe that makes Dum-E Tony's servant, although Tony had used the word helper.
Dum-E doesn't seem to mind doing chores, although the only other times Loki's seen it is when Dum-E sometimes cleans up after meals, like the night Tony broke his ankle. Loki had helped him clean up that night and one morning after breakfast, and then there's right now. This is the first time Loki's seen him cleaning the lab. Normally in the lab, Loki will get Dum-E to play with him or Dum-E will try to hand Tony tools or something and Tony will send him over to Loki anyways. Loki likes that, because Dum-E's really fun.
"Hey, Snoopy, you don't have to do that." Tony remarks when Loki starts helping Dum-E. Every time Loki's helped Dum-E when Tony's there (which has admittedly only been twice, not counting this time), Tony has told him he doesn't have to, but Loki doesn't actually mind helping Dum-E. Dum-E doesn't yell at him, although he doesn't speak at all.
Loki had wondered at first why Tony never assigned him chores, but it's clear Tony's in charge here, so that's the answer. It had actually been the servants who told Loki what tasks to do. Higher ranking people like warriors never told him to do chores. Loki's pretty sure he's below servants, because they can hit or berate him just like anyone else, so he kind of has to listen to them if he wants to avoid their wrath. Then again, he is a savage Frost Giant, the scum of the Nine Realms. Anyone can do anything to him and he deserves it. Besides, the servants outnumbered him.
He wonders if he's below Dum-E and Jarvis. He's not sure, especially concerning Jarvis. Jarvis seems above him, but also is really polite and does stuff for him when he asks, which higher ranking people don't do to those below them. Plus Jarvis had called him Sir the first time like he calls Tony before switching to Mr. Loki.
Tony sets his mug of coffee on the table he's working at, which also has a couple metal things on it. Both Tony and Bruce drink a lot of coffee, Loki's noticed; Tony drinks by far the most and consumes almost as much coffee as he does alcohol. Loki loves the smell of coffee, but he'd tried it once and actually spit it back out into the mug before furiously swishing water in his mouth and spitting it into the sink to try to get rid of the disgusting flavor.
Dum-E moves to wipe next to the mug, which Tony questions him about, and his metal arm knocks the mug over. Brown liquid flows across the table in a pattern that looks like a binglesnipe (Loki hasn't been able to find those in that animal book yet), hitting both the curious object with a gazillion wires that Tony's working on and flowing over the edge of the table onto the man's pants.
"Dammit, Dum-E!" Tony shouts, picking up the jumble of wires and throwing it down onto the coffee-covered table so it makes a cracking sound. Loki flinches at both his tone and his movement. "You are a tragedy, you know that?" Dum-E's arm lowers sadly. Loki's never seen Tony angry at Dum-E like this before, and while it scares him, it makes sense, too. After all, Dum-E had just spilled stuff on him. He wonders when Tony will hit Dum-E.
Tony snaps his fingers and brings his arm out. Loki cringes, expecting Dum-E to be hit, but instead Tony just points at the mess. "Come on, clean it up, or you know what will happen." That doesn't sound good.
Dum-E lowers the rag to the floor and starts mopping at the mess, giving a soft beep. Loki starts forward, wondering if maybe Tony had switched to talking to him when giving the order to clean it up. He hunches his shoulders as he starts swabbing at the mess with his own rag.
The scene was all too familiar, harsh words flying from Tony's mouth like they had from the mouths of the usually demure servants and sometimes even slaves. Loki is used to harsh words, but the servants and slaves had left him alone for a lot of his childhood, though he'd occasionally heard them muttering in horrified tones about how the magic-using frost giant was going to murder them in their beds. However, they'd eventually started to pick on him like the warriors and guards.
He's not entirely sure who had come up with the idea in the first place, but somehow he'd wound up helping the servants. It might have been the servants themselves or it might have been somewhere higher up, he's not sure. It's not like it matters, they all hated him. He'd started helping them when he was big, but not quite as big as he is now, he thinks. But it was a while- centuries, he thinks- after that incident with the servant boy tricking him into doing magic and pretending to like it, and he'd already suffered countless blows to the head.
You are of no use. You're almost a man and you can't even fold a shirt. They'd lay out a shirt or other article of clothing in front of him, and he'd frown, wringing his hands together. A sharp smack from some sort of object would hit his hands and he'd be told to get on it. He'd try his best, he really would, but it took decades to learn to fold clothes really neatly like they did instead of ending up with pitiful lumpy sorts of things. According to the servants and slaves, that was really pathetic.
After centuries of watching everyone else take out stuff on him, the servants and slaves started to do so, too. After all, a Jotun is an enemy to all. The servants didn't give him full beatings like the warriors or guards, which was really nice. Still, they would give him brief slaps with objects, though they never hit him directly with their hands like Thor and his friends and the guards often did. Even the slaves hit him on rare occasions, which was kind of confusing at first because they got beaten just like him, although they only got beaten if they didn't finish a task, while he got beaten just for being a Frost Giant, as well as doing magic. The slaves only hit him if they were alone with him, though.
Loki knows not to hit back, and he'd learnt that the hard way, getting in terrible trouble when he lashed out at his attackers, rather like how slaves attacking their betters- so anyone, really, except maybe the resident Frost Giant- would be faced with horrible punishments and possibly even execution. Besides, he's a lot weaker than warriors like Thor and even Sif, and palace guards are basically as strong as warriors, so hitting back never accomplished much anyway aside from infuriating his attackers and earning him more punishments. If he lashed out at the palace guards in retaliation, they would often put him in chains and handcuffs before reminding him of his place.
Confusingly, while he got punished for defending himself with magic or attacking people, he also got tormented for not doing so and being weak by Thor and his friends, and sometimes guards if they were bored. So no matter what he did, it was always bad and wrong, something needing punishment, and it's so confusing. People beat slaves, too. Loki knows that, but of course everyone despises a Frost Giant even more than slaves, because slaves aren't vicious monsters and sworn enemies of Asgard.
"Norns, even you didn't used to be this hopeless. What happened, can't take a few blows to the head? You're pathetic." Some of the surprisingly-vocal-when-alone slaves especially told him things like that. They'd shake their heads in disgust, saying that they didn't end up like him, even though they get beaten a lot too.
He's not sure what they meant by that, but he knows he's pathetic.
After all, letting yourself get hurt like that means you're weak, like slaves. Having nightmares and crying makes it worse, but Loki can't help it.
But Tony said that he got hurt a lot too, just like him, and Tony's anything but weak. But Tony has nightmares too, and isn't that a sign of weakness? But Tony's not weak!
Tony's angry now, though. Probably at him.
Loki abruptly realizes he's slowed down considerably at cleaning the mess, so slow he's almost stopped. He cringes; the servants and slaves hated it when he slowed down. They weren't allowed to slack, after all, they'd say. He almost expects to be hit by some sort of object for his laziness, but the blow never comes.
It's only when Tony squats down beside him and speaks in a soft tone that he remembers.
That's right. Tony had pinky-promised that he wouldn't hit him.
Having hot coffee spill across the table and waterfall onto the crotch of his pants certainly hadn't been fun, Tony thinks, although it's thankfully starting to dry now. These pants are possibly ruined, though, thanks to Dum-E. Plus the camera he was tinkering on for Loki's Iron Man costume is totally fried after being flooded with coffee. Java and electronics, especially the inner bits of electronics, don't tend to agree very well. When he says this joke aloud, the complete lack of response is very disappointing.
So yeah, he'd yelled at Dum-E a bit for this whole mishap and threatened him a bit, which is nothing new, really. The crazy robot had deserved it, anyways. He's threatened Dum-E with worse, like soaking his motherboard and turning him into a wine rack or donating him to a city college, but they're totally empty threats. He's certainly not going to really hurt any of his bots or Jarvis, and anyone else who tried to would have hell to pay. S.H.I.E.L.D found that out the hard way when they tried to hack Jarvis once.
Tony stares at Loki, who is as tense as one of Clint's bow strings. Loki's eyes are entirely unfocused on anything as he slows considerably at mopping up the coffee with a rag. He's barely moving, actually. Tony's not sure if he's having a flashback or not, and he slowly approaches the god so as to not spook him before crouching down next to him.
Loki had already been helping Dum-E before the coffee mug had been knocked over. He'd even left Simba a couple tables away. Loki had also immediately moved to clean up the mess when Tony had told Dum-E to do so.
Tony remembers Loki mistaking his order for Dum-E for one directed at him after their clothes shopping trip. The god had started picking up shirts when Tony had been talking to Dum-E. He'd also mentioned having to help servants and slaves. This situation of Loki doing chores hadn't really come up since then, especially since Tony hasn't really assigned Dum-E any chores the past few weeks, instead sending him off to keep Loki company. Well, until today, that is, because even he can't deny his lab is starting to become a disaster.
Admittedly, there's nothing wrong with helping people (or robots, in this case) with chores. Not that Tony's really one to talk since he hasn't really done any menial household tasks in years, instead leaving them all to his bots. Still, even more so than when Dum-E was picking up clothes, something about this situation is just off, Tony thinks. Especially considering how tense Loki is, and how he'd rushed to obey orders given to Dum-E. As he thinks this, the god suddenly seems to snap out of his thoughts and start swabbing at the mess again, tensing as if expecting to be reprimanded or hit. Maybe both.
Tony finally speaks after observing the god. "Hey, you don't have to do this, you know." Loki blinks and looks up at him in what seems like surprise, as if he'd forgotten it's Tony who's in the room with him. "Seriously, you don't have to help him. You can if you want to, but nobody's making you. It's not even your mess."
"Don't hurt him." Loki says in a quiet, pleading voice as if he's afraid to speak up at the moment. Loki's body tenses a bit more after he says that.
Oh. Loki clearly hadn't gotten that Tony's vague threat to Dum-E was entirely empty. By you know what will happen, Tony had meant time in the corner and possibly the dunce cap, that's it. He doesn't even really want to know what Loki imagined, but it most likely involved something physical. Hitting Dum-E would be sort of pointless since he's a robot and doesn't really feel pain, but Loki doesn't seem to know that.
"I'm not going to hurt him, it was just a hollow threat." Tony tries to reassure, but Loki looks unconvinced. Tony sighs. "Jarvis, cancel the suit preparations. We're gonna have to test it later. Tell Bruce to meet us on the first spare living floor if he's calm. If he says he's busy, just tell him this is more important." Clearly, they need to have a talk, and having Bruce around might help, although just in case he loses control, they're going to be on an unused floor since Tony would rather not have his penthouse smashed up again. Actually, they probably should have had a talk after Loki mentioned having to help servants and slaves that one time helping Dum-E. Seriously, though, what the hell is up with this whole servant/slave thing?
"Hey, come on." Tony says as gently as possible, taking the rag out of Loki's hands and tossing the disgusting thing aside. He goes and grabs Simba, surprised at how heavy the toy is. Simba had been really heavy for a stuffed animal without the Iron Man suit, almost like a fuzzy statue, and seems even more cumbersome to carry around with the suit on. Loki clearly doesn't mind though, gladly grabbing his beloved toy when Tony dramatically holds Simba up like Rafiki does in the beginning of the movie. Loki smiles slightly, which had been Tony's intent. The god still seems way too tense. One hand immediately goes to the arc reactor as Loki rubs his cheek against Simba's fuzzy face. Simba's suit even has a partial helmet, so there's not much exposed in terms of fuzziness.
As they take the elevator, Tony rambles on about how he's definitely not going to hurt Dum-E and how that threat was entirely empty. He's pretty sure he's convinced Loki of this by the time the elevator reaches their destination. At least, he hopes so.
They go onto a spare floor and find Bruce already waiting for them. Huh, Tony's surprised that he'd willingly left the lab that easily, considering he'd locked himself in there doing research on something to do with gamma rays. However, Bruce looks slightly annoyed as if he's worrying that Tony's going to waste his time. Until he sees Loki, that is, since the god is still clearly anxious, and then Bruce is convinced this is important.
"You calm?" Tony asks, and Bruce nods. Tony knows that Loki's been frequently asking about Hulk coming out, even more so after Tony said he might come out soon. Bruce still hasn't let him out willingly, though, and Tony has a feeling if the green guy comes out during this conversation, it won't be voluntary on Bruce's part. Tony collapses onto a sofa and tries to get Loki to sit next to him before giving up. Loki barely sits still at the best of times and he's clearly too anxious to even attempt it right now. For maybe three seconds, Loki perches on the backrest of another sofa, laying down in the way that got him his nickname the first day before he's spinning around with Simba. Tony briefly fills Bruce in on what happened.
"So you know I wasn't really going to hurt Dum-E, right?" Tony doesn't really know where to start with this. Loki doesn't do anything other than stare at him for a couple seconds, so Tony reiterates that he's not going to hurt Dum-E or Loki himself.
"You pinky-promised about not hitting me." Loki says quietly after a bit, nodding. He approaches Tony and Bruce and sticks out his pinky. "Pinky promise you won't hurt Dum-E?"
Tony smirks and Bruce chuckles softly as Tony and Loki interlock pinkies. Once that's done, Loki seems fairly confident about Dum-E's safety. "Would it be okay for Tony to hurt Dum-E if he wanted to?" Bruce asks incredulously, definitely hoping Loki's answer is no.
Loki cocks his head to the side and chews his bottom lip as he turns to look at Tony, albeit in his usual glassy-eyed, slightly unfocused way. "You said Dum-E's your helper, but is that a servant or a slave?"
Tony runs a hand over his face and pinches the bridge of his nose. "He's neither a servant nor a slave because he's my helper. That's it." Dum-E's one of Tony's friends, too, not that he ever tells anyone that.
"So what happens to him when he's bad? Servants don't get hit but slaves get hit a lot, and sometimes for a really long time. Like me." Tony glances at Bruce, feeling rage course through his own veins, both for the poor slaves and Loki himself. He's half expecting to see Bruce's skin turn green, but is relieved to see that it's not, although Loki would probably like it if it did. Tony's not sure if his Science Bro's eyes are green or their usual brown, because Bruce currently has his eyes closed and is doing some sort of meditation although he's still definitely struggling for control.
"Jarvis, can you turn on some classical music?" Bruce asks in a slightly strained voice.
"Certainly, Dr. Banner." A soft orchestral piece drifts through the speakers, which seems to help both Bruce and Loki, surprisingly. The god's movements get a bit slower so he's not darting around anymore. "As to your question, Mr. Loki, usually when Dum-E breaks something, Sir makes him stay in a corner where he can't touch anything for a variable length of time."
"Or I send him to bed without supper." Tony jokes, and Loki points out that Dum-E's never eaten and doesn't even have a mouth, as if Tony really didn't know that. Tony explains it was a joke, but Loki just gives him a look that tells him that wasn't as funny as he intended. Still, Loki has relaxed even more since hearing what Jarvis and Tony just said. "So why do you help Dum-E?" Tony tries to switch to something a bit less infuriating. "Are you just a nice guy, or what? I mean, you're nice anyways, but it could be something like-" Tony stops talking when Loki starts.
"Had to help the other servants and slaves with chores a lot of the time. They made me." Loki looks down at Simba before hugging him close and twisting his own hands together. Tony remembers Loki saying basically the same thing while helping Dum-E fold shirts after being lost in New York and found again. "Doing them with Dum-E isn't bad though, 'cause he's nice and he doesn't yell or hit."
"Other servants and slaves?!" Tony shouts incredulously, taken aback by that little detail. "Please tell me you weren't a slave." That would just be perfect, wouldn't it? Especially since it's not like Loki hadn't had enough crap in his life already. Tony continues to rant. "I mean, why the hell are there even slaves there? I thought you guys were supposed to be the advanced ones?" His hands clench at the thought, because the whole concept is so freaking wrong. Admittedly, it's not like humans have anything close to a perfect track record in terms of slavery, but the human race has apparently made a hell of a lot more progress than the freaking Asgardians.
Tony's shouting does nothing to help either Loki or the Hulk, who is undoubtedly trying to come out. Loki's looking at Tony with frightened eyes, and Tony's stomach plummets when he realizes that Loki probably thinks that anger is directed at him. Tony hastens to assure him that they're not angry at him at all and Bruce echoes those sentiments. To Tony's surprise, Bruce starts rubbing circles on Loki's back, which actually seems to help both of them calm down a bit, which in turn helps keep the Hulk at bay a little more. Loki clings to Bruce. After a bit, Tony sits next to Loki and puts an arm around him, and Loki leans into Tony while simultaneously hugging Simba and gripping Bruce's shirt.
Now that Tony thinks about it, though, Loki has never really disobeyed him when he told him to do something, even if they weren't explicit commands. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean he was a servant or a freaking slave since there are a lot of military people who follow orders, although normally those orders don't have anything to do with chores like the ones Loki misinterpreted as being for him. Besides, despite Asgard being a very warrior-centered society, Tony kind of doubts that Loki had any formal weapons training. Otherwise, he would have been able to fight back or at least defend himself against his tormentors.
"I really hope you weren't a slave. I guess being a servant would kind of suck too, but certainly not as much as the first option, which we don't do here, by the way." Tony watches Loki, who just stares back at him with something greatly resembling curiosity for close to half a minute before saying something. Tony's about to launch into an explanation of human rights when Loki speaks.
"I wasn't s'posed to be, but kinda, I think? I dunno, it doesn't make sense, but I'm not a slave 'cause nobody owns me and I didn't get hired like a servant. Besides, they didn't make me do stuff when I was little. It was later when they made me help, after the servant boy did that with them." That's sort of good news, because at least Loki wasn't a freaking slave. Tony has no idea what incident Loki's talking about, but it's clearly some important event in Loki's head. He almost has a feeling that Loki's being purposely vague so as to not think about whatever event that is as much. "It wasn't until I was big, but not as big as now." Loki nods as if confirming what he just said before continuing.
"But I think I'm lower than them, and I couldn't say no to them, nope nope nope, 'cause they could hurt me too." Tony knows what that's like, thanks to his lovely experience with the Ten Rings trying to make him build weapons in Afghanistan. Of course, he'd tricked them and built the first Iron Man suit, but that's beside the point. "There were a lot of them and nobody stopped them. Even slaves hit me sometimes, and they got hurt as bad as me."
When Thor shows his face, Tony thinks, they're going to be talking about more than just Loki's treatment, but they're definitely going to cover that very thoroughly. "Am I lower than Jarvis and Dum-E?" Loki asks. He actually seems to have no clue of the answer.
Tony's rather taken aback. "Uh, no. If anything you're above them, but I thought you viewed them as equals, as friends." It really seems like he views them as friends. Loki actually nods slightly.
"Yeah, they're my friends, but I dunno if I'm their friend." Loki grins when Jarvis tells him that of course he's their friend and that they certainly don't view him as less than them. "And they don't even hit me, and you pinky-promised you wouldn't either."
"How often did you get hit there?" Tony asks, really not wanting to hear the answer, but it seems important. Bruce looks like he wants to leave, but can't because Loki is clinging to him. It's remarkable he hasn't Hulked-out yet, though he's clearly trying to emotionally distance himself from the conversation. Tony's trying, too, but utterly failing.
"I dunno." Loki says, but his expression and tone tell Tony what Loki doesn't actually say, which is that it was way too often. Of course, one time would be way too often. Tony's not a big fan of people who beat up defenseless victims, and while Loki's not actually defenseless, he'd probably been conditioned to act that way. Freaking out about that force field thing he made during Tony's battle with the Hulk had been a pretty good indicator of that. Or maybe, since he's clearly been taught to hate his powers, he really was defenseless without them. Not to mention, it seems like it was him against everyone else there.
Tony asks who hit him the most, squeezing his shoulder in what he hopes is a reassuring way. "Um... Fandral, Volstagg, Hogunn and Thor, but Thor hasn't done it since he was banished, 'cause he hasn't been around much. The Warriors Three still do. Sif didn't hit much, but Odin whipped me." Loki rambles anxiously, hugging Simba and wringing his hands together almost violently. Tony knows that Thor's banishment was in New Mexico and was only a couple years ago. That probably seems like a week to Loki. Tony really hopes Thor hasn't hit Loki recently. Not that it would excuse everything else by any means, but it's a start. Loki continues speaking "The guards hit a lot, too. And sometimes the servants and slaves hit me when I was older."
"It's not like Flynn, though." Loki says thoughtfully, although Tony has no idea why Tangled got brought into this. Maybe Loki just feels like talking about it, Tony thinks, until Loki continues on his own accord. "I'm not as weak as him, 'cause I can get hit in the head with a frying pan or something and not go all sleepy and stuff." Loki pauses for a bit, before trying "Unconscious?" in an unsure voice. If it had been any other situation, Tony would have given him a grin or a thumbs up to show him he'd used the right word, but this is just too horrible.
"They hit you in the head with frying pans?" Tony gawks in horror as his blood boils.
Bruce actually starts turning green, something Loki seems rather glad about, but when Loki throws his arms around Bruce, the gesture actually seems to help Bruce keep the Hulk from emerging. Huh, that's interesting. Bruce apparently manages to keep the Hulk in, because the green fades.
Loki sulks when the green fades, but Tony tells him that it's better if Bruce lets Hulk out on his own instead of Hulk deciding to come out.
Going back to the main topic, Tony tells Loki that he's not weak or anything else he's been told and then sits there seething in silence at the Asgardians. Don't they know what that sort of stuff can do to a person?! Or are Norse deities immune to that too? Loki had always covered his head when curling into a ball, but Tony had hoped it had just been a precaution instead of a necessity. What if he had gotten hit in the head a lot and it affected-? Tony stops that train of thought, not even wanting to go there.
Loki insists that he's only been hit with a frying pan twice in his life, because he was almost never 'allowed' to help in the kitchens, which he claims looks fun although Tony abhors cooking. Loki abruptly gets up and walks away, basically ending the conversation.
"I know how to cook some things." Bruce speaks up for the first time in a while, stopping his run of being a silent observer who had seemed to be trying to withdraw from the conversation. Admittedly, he's completely off the previous subject, but he's clearly trying to distract himself from what he just learned. Tony can't exactly blame him. "You can cook with me. We need to stop eating takeout food all the time anyways."
Loki looks back at him and grins a mile wide at this offer before disappearing around a corner. He's most likely exploring, and the conversation is effectively over. Not that Tony's exactly complaining, since he hates hearing about Loki's treatment. Really, he though he had a crappy life before he met the god.
Loki's back in the lab with Tony and is currently holding Simba and Toy Stark. The floor they'd been on had been kind of boring when he'd poked around after that talk. Both Bruce and Tony seem to think that Bruce shouldn't be with them in Tony's lab right now. Loki's not sure why Bruce and Tony had gotten so worked up over that conversation, but they insist they aren't mad at him. Bruce had started becoming the Hulk but hadn't actually done so, which is a real bummer. Loki pouts at how he still hasn't seen his favorite big green guy since that he fought Tony in the tower. Tony said he'd get to see him soon, though!
He's really glad Dum-E's not going to get hurt. Additionally, Tony says he's got something really awesome to show him, and Loki looks at him in anticipation. Tony's currently putting on a Man of Iron suit.
"All right Jarvis, pull out the big guy." Tony says. "Maybe we'll get to test it out this time." Tony steps into a clear spot in the lab. He grins at Loki but then the mask slides over his face and the eyes light up so Loki can't see his face anymore. "Hey, Snoopy, prepare to be amazed." Tony's voice always sounds different in the Man of Iron suit.
Some huge box thing comes up from under the floor (what's under the floor anyways? Sometimes Loki thinks he can feel arc reactors if he lies down on the lab floor, but he might just be imagining them. The thing that just emerged from there has one, though). The huge box starts unfolding into something huge. Loki stares in awe, and he can practically feel his eyes bugging out of his head. Once the legs are done, Loki realizes it's the thing Tony had been working on, the suit he'd said not to talk about around Bruce. "You're the Iron Hulk-y!" Loki screams almost uncontrollably.
"Not Hulk-y of Iron?" Tony asks as the huge suit continues to fold, and Loki's not sure if that's a rhetorical question. "You call Iron Man 'Man of Iron' so I figured this would be the same sort of thing. No?" Loki shrugs, not sure if Tony's being serious.
Once the suit is fully assembled, Loki dashes forward and hugs it. Tony's in a normal Man of Iron suit and is sitting inside this suit, near the head. Tony fist pumps the air in triumph. "I totally won that bet! Someone owes me another tower, since I bet this one!" Jarvis points out that the bet Tony supposedly made about towers was never official, though Loki's not even sure what towers have to do with this. "...Darn." Tony mumbles.
Loki jumps around the Hulkbuster suit, practically squealing with delight and flapping his hands.
"Tony, you're an Iron Hulk-y!" Loki shouts again as he bounces up and down and laughs. "You're even bigger than him, and you have a huge arc reactor!" Loki stares up at the one in the suit's chest and then at its knees, which also have arc reactors to power the thrusters.
"You bet I'm bigger." Tony replies. "Okay, Jarvis, let's test out the controls on this thing. Hey, Loki, get by the wall and stay there, okay? Dum-E, you're still on guard duty." Loki lets Dum-E lead him over to the wall and Dum-E puts his arm across him. Loki sort of likes that Dum-E's doing that, even though there's nothing dangerous in here. Tony's not dangerous, though everyone seems to think Hulk is. But he's not, and this isn't even Hulk anyways, it's a huge suit that vaguely looks like him.
The Hulk suit walks around a bit, with huge booming steps. Tony explains that he's controlling it, which is really neat.
"Jarvis, lets try flying this thing." Jarvis doesn't say anything, but Tony exasperatedly says "Jarvis! Sometimes you've gotta run before you can walk, remember? Do I really need to say that every time?" That's weird, Loki thinks. Either Tony somehow hears Jarvis, or maybe he's really crazy and talking to nobody. Jarvis apparently says something else, because Tony replies "I do not hurt myself every time."
Tony must have noticed his confusion, because he explains that Jarvis talks through his helmet too. "I apologize for confusing you, Mr. Loki, but yes, I do indeed talk to Sir through the helmets sometimes. Now, sir, in order to prevent the usual disaster, I am only letting this fly at point-zero-one percent for now." The suit barely lifts off the ground, and it hovers a bit. Loki stares in awe. He never thought something as huge as that would fly.
"There's fire coming out of your feet again!" He shouts excitedly. Actually, it's leaving some black marks on the floor, although the lab floor has always been pretty scuffed up. It's not like the gleaming floors in the Asgardian palace or even the floors in the penthouse, now that they've been fixed.
"I wish I could fly." Loki says to Simba. Tony's really lucky.
The Hulk suit lowers to the ground, and Tony says "Do you want to?" Loki blinks at the offer, not sure if he heard it right. "I can hold you and fly at the same time. Sure, it's not as great as flying on your own, but it's something, right?"
Really, it's more than Loki ever thought he could hope for and he's still not sure it's true. The mask on Tony's normal Iron Man suit lifts up to reveal Tony's face. "Come over here, Snoopy. Actually, take off your coat first." Loki reluctantly sheds his long coat that looks like the night sky. It's really lightweight, so it doesn't actually do anything for heat, which is good. He doesn't like heat, but it does have a comforting weight. "Jarvis, I'm assuming you have all weapons locked at the moment." Tony says, and Jarvis gives a somewhat curt affirmative, almost sounding offended.
The huge suit bends down to pick him up and Loki grins. "I like your suits." His feet are now completely in the air as Tony holds him up. He swings them below him and says "This one has Hulk-hands."
"Well, you're going to have your own suit tomorrow." Tony says. "By the way, Toy Stark looks awesome, as always." He nods in the direction of the action figure in Loki's hand. Loki looks down and realizes that Toy Stark now looks like Man of Iron, though he'd looked like Tony not long ago. Maybe he'd changed while the real Tony was becoming Man of Iron?
Tony really seems to like it when Toy Stark changes.
Suddenly, Loki is being steered through the air in a way similar to what he does to pretend Toy Stark is flying and these thoughts vanish from his head. He shrieks out a surprised laugh and screams with excitement and a bit of fear as Tony makes him dip towards the ground and soar up before hitting it. So it's not really flying, but it's still really fun.
"Okay, now for the gusto." Tony says and the whole suit lifts off the ground. Loki clings to the huge metal hand that's holding him, but he can't help grinning and screaming with delight. Not that he wants to stop those, really. He's actually flying, even if Tony's holding him.
Suddenly, Tony's no longer holding him and Loki falls to the ground on top of a very large coiled tube. Currently, Loki's facing a blank wall and has no clue where he is. He frowns in confusion before he hears Tony ask "Loki?" Turning around, he sees he's still in the lab, just near the edge by a wall, and there's one of those illusion-Loki's standing near Tony's Hulk suit, although it disappears soon after he looks at it when the Hulk suit puts a hand on its shoulder. Apparently, Tony thought that was him.
With a sinking feeling, he realizes what just happened. He vanished with magic, which was always one of the worst things he could do. Plus there's that stupid other-Loki. He starts to relive the pain he'd suffered the handful of times he'd done this in Asgard. Sometimes, he'd even been chained up after it happened, which they also did if he lashed out.
"You're not getting away this time." Heavy, hard chains around his wrists and ankles. Chains that restrict his movement, make it easier to trip when they shove him. He can't even cover his head because there's a chain connecting his ankles and wrists. More than anything, he wants to get away, but he can't, not even with disappearing. But that's what had landed him in this punishment in the first place. He can't do anything other than curl on the ground as he's hit and kicked and his world's nothing but pain pain PAIN!
Very slowly, the dim voices that he eventually realizes are Tony and Jarvis end up replacing the flashbacks. Their tones are soft and reassuring, and they help chase the flashbacks away.
Loki curls into a ball amid the coiled tube. It's like what Jormungand hugging him used to be like, but even better. He can't help imagining it's Jormungand as he snuggles down in the coils with Simba and Toy Stark, who had both vanished with him.
Tony reminds him that Esmeralda had done the same thing (he calls it teleporting) and there's nothing wrong with her. He also adds that Genie had done similar things. Then Jarvis speaks.
"Remember what Dr. Carlisle said to do, Mr. Loki?" Jarvis waits but Loki doesn't answer. "You're supposed to tell yourself that you're not bad. Can you do that?"
"...'m not bad." Loki mumbles. But it's stupid, because he is bad, so why is he lying? Still, Dr. C said to do it.
Jarvis makes him repeat this several times. Loki still thinks this is sort of stupid, so he just mumbles the words back again and again. Tony seems slightly disappointed. Loki doesn't like that, but not because he's worried about being hit. Tony said he wouldn't hit him, and he hasn't. He hasn't even hit Dum-E. He just doesn't like letting Tony down, when Tony's done so many nice things for him that he really doesn't deserve.
Jarvis remains silent for a bit, but then speaks. "You know, one could say that I do the same thing as you just did, Mr. Loki." Loki tenses slightly, but Jarvis' voice is calm and soothing, and now a tiny bit amused. "While I am capable of controlling Sir's suits, I can move so quickly that I almost seem to travel instantly. Furthermore, I can be multiple places at once, which I believe you sort of do, too, with your illusions. As we speak, I'm everywhere in the tower and am also in some of Mr. Stark's other residences. Now, does that not sound somewhat like you?"
"You don't have a body, 'cause you're just a voice, right?" Loki asks.
"This is what I look like, in a manner of speaking." A pulsing, holographic blue sphere surrounded by countless other holograms shows up. Jarvis is blue too?!
"Seeing as I don't have a body, I cannot exactly walk anywhere." Jarvis still sounds amused. The sphere pulses in rhythm with Jarvis' voice. Tony interrupts and tells Jarvis that he's a genius for thinking of this, whatever this is.
"Thank you Sir, although you really are just stating the obvious." Tony smirks at what Jarvis just said. "Anyways, Mr. Loki, you and I are rather similar, don't you think?"
Loki cocks his head to the side. "You do magic too?" He whispers. He's worked out that Jarvis doesn't have a body and is everywhere in the tower, but he'd never thought of it as him doing freaky things. But knowing Jarvis can do it makes it seem, well, not as bad, like how seeing Esmeralda disappear like that let Loki know he's not alone in doing it. But one of his best friends, here in the tower, does it too.
"I don't call it that, but traveling in that way is not the only thing that the both of us can do that most people can't, you know. I am equipped with a translator that lets me be fluent in every Earth language, just like you. As I recall, you call it All-Tongue or Allspeak, but my translator hasn't been able to decipher you're non-Earth written language. But I digress. I can do this, although it's not quite the same thing as what you do." As he says this, a hologram of a Man of Iron suit appears and morphs into a hologram of Tony. That's really not the same thing, though, because Loki made Simba's Man of Iron suit with holograms, not magic, so they're definitely different things. But the fact that Jarvis is comparing it to his magic, which everyone hates, that he's trying to make them seem like the same thing and isn't doing so in a mocking way is a really nice sort of strange.
Jarvis continues, undeterred. "I can also print three-dimensional objects or cut out things like the pieces to that incredible suit Simba's wearing-" Loki giggles at that. "-or, as I'm going to start soon, paint things like your Iron Man costume. Since I do not have a body, it is perhaps more bizarre that I can do those things, and I wish I could do them with the same ease as you, Mr. Loki. It took me a lot longer to cut out the pieces to Simba's Iron Man suit than it did for you to make 'Toy Stark' look like Iron Man."
Wait, so he's better at this stuff than Jarvis?! The idea is so weird, Loki thinks, that Jarvis is trying to make their abilities seem as similar as possible, that he seems to feel no shame in trying to convince him that he, too, does magic. Jarvis' voice is rather warm when he starts speaking. "So you and I are alike in that we can do those things in ways other people can't, and I'd rather you didn't think that doing those things or using those methods are bad. I don't particularly want to be bad, you see."
"You're not bad." Loki protests. How could Jarvis think that?! Literally nothing about Jarvis is bad, and Jarvis hasn't been anything but nice to him.
"Neither are you, Mr. Loki, so you should really stop thinking those things." Jarvis says quietly but firmly. "I think different is an infinitely more accurate word than bad, although some people do tend seem to think the two go hand in hand. I suspect many people in your past thought in this way, and this way of thinking is rather narrow-minded."
Loki nods slightly, since he feels he should. Besides, everyone in Asgard was always pointing out all the ways he was nothing like them, even if a lot of them were legitimate reasons to hate him. Maybe Jarvis is a mind reader, because he continues. "There is nothing wrong with being different. If everyone was the same, things would be rather boring, wouldn't they? Just ask Sir and Dr. Banner. They're both far from your average Joe, although I think Sir takes it a bit too far."
"I'm sorry, did I do anything to upset you?!" Tony asks in an annoyed and rather insincere tone. "Seriously, Snoopy, all the best people are nowhere near normal and are also possibly insane. Present company included, of course." Tony grins at him. That's so far from what anyone in Asgard would say.
Somehow, even though it's really weird, it doesn't actually sound wrong.
"Hey, Snoopy, do you like parties?" Tony asks Loki on Halloween. Jarvis has just reminded him of the Stark Industries one, and Tony asks Jarvis why he hadn't reminded him about it before now. The AI's supposed to keep him on schedule and everything, after all. Jarvis claims that he had told him before, multiple times too, and that Tony had ignored the reminders as usual. Bruce had taken Jarvis' side on that.
Although Pepper had nixed the rule about Stark Industries employees having to wear costumes, there's an annual shindig on Halloween night. Stark Industries is open to all employees and their kids on Halloween nights. Actually, it's really open to any families who want to come, since it's safer (and a lot more awesome) than trick-or-treating in the streets. Really, who doesn't want to spend Halloween in Iron Man's tower? A lot of employees who don't even have kids show up (and there are some people who might not even be employees), even though the drinks hadn't been fit to water the plants the last time Tony went, which was two years ago. That time, Rhodey had shown up, which had been really fun.
Apparently, these sorts of things help boost the company's PR or something (well, if you exclude that one disastrous New Years party where Tony and Rhodey had gotten really drunk and terrorized a hoard of children as Iron Man and War Machine). Tony skipped the Halloween thing last year, even though he owns the company and is supposed to go, according to Pepper. Steve also got on his back about that, because of course Mr. Perfect had shown up. Not that Steve really needs any more good PR, considering how much everyone gaggles over the Golden Captain.
Family-friendly parties really aren't Tony's type of party by any means. He's not exactly comfortable around kids because he'll probably do something inappropriate. He's gone to a lot of formal parties in his lifetime, but mostly because he had to, although some of them admittedly served fairly decent alcohol, even by his really high standards. He can't exactly go out to get smashed and pick up women at wild parties like he used to. He's been trying to kick the alcoholic gig for about half a year, and he hasn't actually gotten drunk in a while, even though he drinks a lot. He knows his limits. Although he might have relapsed back to winding up totally drunk after that interview if Dum-E hadn't taken the bottle away.
"Please try not to move, Mr. Loki." Jarvis says in a fondly exasperated tone. Loki cocks his head to the side as he bounces up and down. His gaze flicks between the robotic arms that are currently being controlled by Jarvis and the ceiling where Jarvis' voice is coming from, as if he's not sure if the arms are part of Jarvis or not. Loki actually brings up the fact that Jarvis said he doesn't have a body, as well as something about "a tiny moon with waves coming out", which Tony eventually works out is a rather creative description of Jarvis' holographic form. Loki goes on to explain, as if they didn't know it, that the moon is actually round even if it doesn't always look like it. Jarvis explains that he's controlling the arms, but they're not really a part of him, per se.
Loki's custom-made Iron Man costume is finished, which is fortunate as today is Halloween. They'd finished it surprisingly late, but Tony had decided to make it rather fancy. At least there are no doubts that the armor will fit Loki, since it had been specifically modeled to his body by Jarvis, and they'd even projected a life-size hologram of it over the god.
Loki's armor is mostly silver and resembles the Mark Two armor, although it does have some green accents. Of course Loki had chosen green, Tony thinks with an eye roll. It's really actually closer to a real Iron Man suit than even the most realistic costume on the market. Tony decided to go all out with it in some ways, so it actually does have some parts that are secret to the Iron Man suit. It has an arc reactor to power the HUD (although all that's displayed in Loki's helmet is a view of what's outside). The realism ends there, as it doesn't have repulsors or any sort of weapons at all, nor is it capable of flight.
Getting Loki into the suit is a lot more difficult than Tony thought it would be, since he won't stand still. Loki had been beside himself at the prospect of wearing real armor like Tony and Simba, yet he clearly hates the process of having it put on.
Loki cringes as armor is placed around his legs, even though Jarvis is being as gentle as possible. His gaze fixes hungrily on Simba, who's standing- in his Iron Man suit, of course- on a table a few meters away. Abruptly, Loki darts away to grab his beloved lion. Jarvis and Tony both sigh at exactly the same time. "You're making this very difficult," Jarvis says as Loki tucks Simba under one arm and starts fiddling with Toy Stark and the Hawkeye toy.
"Hey, Snoopy, I know having the armor put on you feels weird at first." Tony tells Loki as he gently takes the toys from Loki's hands and leads the god back towards the robotic arms. "It takes some getting used to. I had the same problem. Jarvis is being gentle with you, a lot gentler than he was with me."
"I was very careful with you, sir." Jarvis protests. "I seem to recall you squirming around almost as much as Mr. Loki." Tony huffs in protest to that but turns his attention to Loki without verbally replying to Jarvis.
"Anyways, Snoopy, you want to dress up as me, right? Unless you'd rather just wear your pajamas?" Tony offers that with a raised brow, although it would be kind of annoying to have made this suit for Loki if he won't even wear it. It would almost be a waste of materials, really.
Loki quickly shakes his head in the negative. "I wanna wear a metal suit like you and fly again!" Loki laughs and flaps his hands excitedly. "Like you! Thor flies too, but not like that, 'cause he has his hammer and he doesn't like me much. You fly with fire coming out of your feet and hands in your suits, but Peter and Tink don't have fire. Tink has wings, though, like a bird or a bug but her's look like bug wings. How come you don't have wings? How come Clint doesn't have wings, since he's like a hawk and they're birds? Can Clint fly?" Given their experience with flying yesterday (hey, Tony technically went airborne, so Loki was technically flying too even if he was being held by Tony), as well as teleportation, they'd ended up watching Peter Pan last night. It had been Bruce's idea, and Loki had instantly become quite taken with Tinker Bell, exclaiming that she looked like a star from a distance and that she's like Bruce because she changes colors (but not forms) when she's angry. Bruce had seemed rather uncomfortable about that comparison.
It actually seems like a good sign that Loki wants to go flying again, especially since the flying is what led to teleporting, which had freaked Loki out. Jarvis had been brilliant, Tony thinks, when he compared stuff Loki does to stuff he does. Getting Loki to compare himself to fictional characters (though Loki doesn't seem to get they're fictional, but whatever) is starting to seem fairly effective in changing Loki's view of himself. Jarvis comparing himself and his abilities to Loki's seems to have helped a lot.
"Sorry, Loki, but no flying right now." Tony answers, and Loki pouts. Tony actually feels sort of bad, but he hadn't realized Loki expected to fly in his own suit. Apparently, Loki had talked about flying before yesterday. According to Bruce, Loki had expressed a desire to fly when he'd been on the rooftop, and had seemed jealous that Iron Man and Thor (with Mjolnir) are able to do so, before adding that he'd wanted to fly away from Asgard. He'd also apparently said, during that conversation with Bruce, that he'd flown a couple times, only 'without the flying part', which has to mean his teleportation, although neither Bruce nor Tony had worked out what that meant until after knowing he could teleport.
Although Loki clearly loves the idea of flying. Tony doesn't think it's a good idea to let him try on his own. Getting him to keep his arms by his sides for added support is practically a nonstarter, given they're struggling with that just for getting the suit on him. Considering he won't stop bouncing or rocking for more than five seconds, Tony doubts he'd hold his legs straight to stabilize himself that way, either. So really, flying would probably end up as crashing to the ground.
Theoretically, Jarvis could take control of Loki's suit and fly for him, except for the fact that Loki's suit is incapable of flight at the moment.
"Maybe I'll take you flying again sometime later." Tony tells Loki, who perks up, but then starts asking when 'later' is. Tony sighs and changes the subject. "So, you want to wear armor, huh? Well, if you want to wear a real suit, you have to let Jarvis put it on you." Tony tells Loki, as he steps back a bit and spreads his arms. "It's not that bad. Jarvis, suit me up, will you?"
"Of course, sir." Jarvis says. Loki watches armor snap shut around Tony.
As soon as the mask slides down over Tony's face, Tony raises it again and grins at Loki. "See? Nothing to it. Now it's your turn."
Loki scrunches his face when the boots snap shut around his bare feet. "My feet are all trapped."
"Oh come on, Snoopy." Tony sighs, rolling his eyes. "You were wearing boots when we went clothes shopping, and you didn't put up a fuss."
"That's 'cause you have'ta wear boots walking outside. It's the rule. Lady Frigga said so and you made me." Loki says. He wrinkles his nose, showing his distaste for the rule and boots in general. Apparently he'd ignored that rule when going on the roof, but maybe that hadn't counted as walking outside in his mind.
"I never made that a rule." Tony protests, although he had made Loki put on boots when they were going to his first therapy session. "But yeah, generally you wear something on your feet when you go outside. But remember I got you those sandals and stuff so you don't have to have your feet totally covered?" Loki asks if they're going outside, since he's wearing boots. Tony tells him they're not, but that it's sort of hard to wear an Iron Man suit without the boots. Loki pouts but accepts this.
"You're doing very well, Mr. Loki." Jarvis interrupts, and Loki clearly loves hearing that. "Now, arms out, if you please."
Loki reluctantly stops wringing his hands together and sticks his arms out to the side. His fingers continue to flick, however. Jarvis gently puts the armor around his arms and then over his torso. Loki actually squeals when it snaps shut around his torso, apparently feeling the arc reactor in the armor's chest, bouncing up and down maniacally.
Loki keeps flinching when Jarvis tries to put the armor on his neck, shying away every time it approaches. Suddenly, the armor is gone from the robotic hands and is around Loki's neck. Jarvis quickly brings up the holographic model of Loki and his armor and adds the neck armor to the model of Loki, just like Loki had done (sort of). "That's not the same." Loki mumbles, somewhat dejectedly, but Jarvis insists that they're similar, adding that it's just like what he does with Toy Stark, only to himself. Loki's doesn't even freak out about changing Toy Stark anymore, since he's done it so many times by now.
Loki's more calm than Tony's ever seen him after the first time a display of powers, but he's not totally calm. Although, the comparisons that Tony and Jarvis just made to what Loki just did really seem to help reassure Loki that they don't see anything wrong with what he just did. Admittedly, Loki has changed his clothes and even himself magically, but now instead of changing his clothes into armor he's just putting the armor on. Moving things seems like it would be easier than changing them, but whatever.
Jarvis and Tony both suggest that maybe he could put on the rest of the armor that way if he doesn't like the robotic arms that Jarvis is controlling doing it. Loki frowns, clearly in some internal debate, and they try to reassure him that they won't mind at all if he does.
They cycle through the whole conversation of Loki asking about it and them reassuring him it's okay at least five times. They seem to convince him, and he gives a rather hesitant nod before sitting down and looking at his thigh. He frowns in concentration, glancing between the armor piece and his leg
Green energy starts forming around his hands and Loki tenses before squeezing his eyes shut. Nothing happens for almost a minute, and then the thigh armor armor disappears and reappears on his leg.
"That's awesome." Tony says, because really, it is. He grins and gives Loki a thumbs up.
"Very impressive, Mr. Loki." Jarvis says, "It's just like what I do with holograms or what you do with Toy Stark." The combination of the well-deserved praise from the two of them makes Loki duck his head, and Tony swears his face is a bit less pale than normal, like he's starting to blush.
"Just like Toy Stark." Loki agrees quietly.
Bruce enters, wearing his Captain America costume, complete with a fake shield. Loki stares at him with a bit of apprehension in his eyes until Bruce speaks and Loki realizes who it is. "Still getting the armor on?" Bruce asks with a raised eyebrow.
Watch this Tony mouths, gesturing at Loki. Loki is staring at the armor that the robotic arms are holding. His hands are definitely out of his own line of sight, apparently on purpose. The green stuff is still around them and he clearly hates seeing it.
One of the suit's gloves forms around Loki's hand, and Bruce joins in telling him it was amazing. Loki actually has a ghost of a smile on his lips.
Loki puts on one more piece that way but then is either unable or unwilling to do more, so Jarvis finishes up the rest. When the helmet's on and the mask slides down, Loki seems surprised that it starts out dark. Then, in an excited but somewhat robotic sounding voice, he says "Whoa! There's a screen in here!"
Loki immediately starts off before immediately tripping and falling. Tony can picture his frown as he gets back up and has to slow down so he won't trip again as he learns how to adjust to walking in the armor. Iron Man armor is pretty easy to move in, though, so it doesn't take him long. He grabs Simba and asks the toy "What do I look like?"
Jarvis helpfully pulls up a huge holographic mirror, something most people don't even think are possible, but well, Tony's always been one for doing the supposedly impossible. "I'm Man of Iron!" Loki squeals, delighted. He wriggles his body in happiness, and it's rather strange to see an Iron Man suit doing that.
Tony, meanwhile, has gotten out of his own Iron Man suit and is putting the Hulk costume on over his t-shirt and sweatpants. The mask is probably going to be horribly stuffy. Loki watches him putting on the costume, but Tony can't tell his expression from the mask. It's actually a little unsettling.
Loki gives him an overenthusiastic hug, rather like Thor, but is surprisingly gentle now, seeming to take Tony's lack of superhuman durability into account even though he'd forgotten about it before. Then again, Loki had acted like Tony would drop dead the day after learning he's a mortal. "You're almost as good as the real Hulk!" Loki gives a pointed look at Bruce, who suddenly feigns an intense interest with his Captain America prop shield. Loki turns back to Tony and places Simba on the table.
"Hey! Hands off him!" Loki says to Tony, who briefly wonders what on earth Loki means by that. He's not touching Simba. But then, Loki stage whispers "Shove him."
Confused, Tony shoves Simba a bit. "Hey! Hands off him!" Loki orders again, and it dawns on Tony that he's re-enacting the fight with the Hulk. Tony, in his Hulk costume, is obviously the Hulk while Loki is Iron Man. Apparently, Simba is cast as Loki.
Loki suddenly rears back and holds his palms out, making fake repulsor sounds. "I'm shooting stars at you!"
"They're not actually stars. They're-" Tony starts, but Loki just drowns him out by making the sounds even louder, trying to smother his own giggling while he makes them. Tony rolls his eyes and lets out a fake roar, charging at Loki. "I knocked you down, right? Well, he knocked me down, and-" Geez, talking about yourself while pretending to be someone else, and having someone else pretend to be you, is sort of weird. What pronouns do you even use? Tony very slowly pretends to hit Loki with literally no force behind it at all. He can just imagine Loki thinking he was actually trying to hit him if he made it at all convincing, so he doesn't.
Loki falls to the ground and Tony pretends to roar again. Bruce, to Tony's great surprise, enters the game, grabbing Simba and crouching by Loki. "Simba- I mean, uh, Loki- will stop him." He says. The sad part is he's basically suggesting keeping them safe from a pretend version of his own alter-ego.
"No." Loki sits up and takes Simba from Bruce. He holds Simba out to Tony/Hulk. "Time for a Hulk hug." Tony rolls his eyes.
"I don't like being handed things." Tony mutters, so Loki sets Simba on the table and backs away before instructing Tony to pick Simba up and hug him. Tony feels completely ridiculous but reluctantly does so.
Suddenly, Loki rushes forward and gives him anther hug, almost knocking him down in the process. Then, the god grabs Simba and trots over to Bruce. He makes the lion pounce on him, roaring and pretending to eat him before asking his victim "How come you're dressed as Steve?"
Bruce shrugs. "Well, you guys are both going as Avengers, so I figured I'd go as one too. Steve's not bad, you know."
"But he's muscly like warriors." Loki says. "He looks like them, 'xcept without the long hair and armor and stuff."
"Hey, I'm muscular too." Tony protests, sort of faking being offended. Loki squeezes the costumes biceps and declares them fake. "I meant in real life." Tony mutters, glaring at Bruce, who's trying to smother his laughter.
Loki seems to love pretending to be Iron Man. He'd done it in his pajamas but having his own suit just fuels it. Tony tells him some stories of things he's done as Iron Man (but not any of the difficult stuff like the Battle of New York).
Loki, surprisingly, reciprocates and tells Tony some stories about Asgard. He actually seems to like telling his own stories as much as he likes hearing Tony's. He talks a bit about the Bifrost, which is apparently really colorful and surrounded by stars. One of his stories is about Fenrir- his imaginary wolf friend, Tony remembers- biting Fandral, although he seems disappointed that it didn't actually affect Fandral at all. He also reveals that Jormungand hugged him when he was scared, and he tells a story of when time he feel asleep next to a horse and Tony's not sure if he's talking about an imaginary one or not. It sort of fits his song, though.
That evening, Bruce and Loki wind up making pasta, since Bruce figures they should start with something easy. (Plus, there currenly aren't a whole lot of ingredients in the tower, though Bruce has Jarvis order a ton of stuff). Loki clearly enjoys cooking with Bruce, although he has Simba "watch" them the whole time.
After dinner, they venture out of the penthouse and go to some of the company floors where the Halloween shindig is taking place.
Loki's twisting his fingers together and wringing his hands even more than usual, now that there are a lot of unknown people. It looks rather strange, to see an Iron Man suit doing that and bouncing on its toes, but it makes it obvious Loki's in there. If Tony hadn't known Loki was in there, he would have been able to figure out by the way he moves. Well, and the fact he's carrying Simba. Tony still can't talk Loki out of bringing Simba (although, to be honest, he can't really imagine Loki without Simba now. Loki really is like Calvin with Hobbes). Hey, at least the lion fits Loki's costume when they're both wearing Iron Man suits, and Loki gets a lot of compliments on both his suit and Simba's.
A couple little kids seem to think he's the real Iron Man, not knowing the real one is actually in the Hulk costume. Loki actually points at Tony and says he's really 'Man of Iron', but the kids just say that, no, he's the Hulk. Tony smirks at this, although he briefly wonders if Loki will mess with his image. Tony doesn't want people to think he carries around Simba or sings to himself like that, although all the adults clearly get he's someone else.
They roam up and down the halls, Tony and Loki both collecting candy. Tony's just doing it just for the heck of it. He can do what he wants, and a lot of people say he's immature anyways. But really, who doesn't like candy? Sure, Tony could literally buy candy by the truckload and not blink an eye at the cost, but getting it from other people is somehow half the fun. Loki stuffs his candy into his green drawstring bag where his action figures reside, since he brought that, too when he heard he might want a bag. He doesn't seem to want to lift the mask on his helmet, so he can't eat it right now. Which is just as well because he really doesn't need any more energy.
There are plenty of people dressed up as Avengers, and Loki clearly shies away from the ones dressed as Thor.
Loki clearly likes looking at all the costumes, although he sticks very close to Tony and Bruce, sometimes even grabbing one of their sleeves (usually Tony's). Although at one point, they practically have to drag him away from a woman dressed as Princess Jasmine, who he excitedly pesters with questions as if he'd bumped into the actual character, even though he clearly gets that Tony isn't really the Hulk and Bruce isn't really Captain America (and that he's really not Iron Man).
He's very excited to see a little girl dressed as one of his very recent additions to his favorite characters, Tinker Bell. He's also very taken to a man dressed as Batman even though, as far as Tony knows, Loki knows absolutely nothing about the fictional defender of Gotham City.
They actually spot Steve in his Captain America suit, who's surrounded by a crowd of awestruck kids in a larger reception area with windows overlooking the city. Tony suddenly wishes he had his Iron Man suit, because he kind of craves attention. Tony drags Bruce and Loki up to say hi, and is slightly surprised that Steve immediately recognizes them. Then again, as Tony thought before, it's kind of easy to recognize Loki based on his movement and constant companion. Loki actually doesn't seem too nervous around Steve, although he's somewhat uncharacteristically shy. Or maybe that's just slight nervousness. Bruce had told him that Steve's nice and not someone to be scared of a lot today, and the fact that Bruce himself dressed up as Captain America might have helped.
Loki attracts some of the kids' attention, but they're older kids who quickly work out that he's not the real Iron Man. Some of them are even giving him kind of condescending looks and Tony very rudely tells them to go away. Bruce and Steve give him chastising looks for that.
There's suddenly a very loud rumble of thunder, and Tony doesn't even need to see Loki's face to picture the expression of pure terror on it. Loki goes rigid and completely still, like a deer in the headlights.
That amount of thunder can really only mean one thing.
Thor is here.
So, I know a lot of you have been waiting for Thor to show up. I'm probably really evil for ending the chapter there, but oh well.
I know Loki mentioned having to help servants earlier in the story. I think that was chapter 6, after he was found in the city.
The Halloween bit was actually a lot shorter than I intended. Maybe it's because writing Halloween stuff in the middle of May is totally off-season. I was originally going to put Rhodey in there but had no idea how to write him and it seemed kind of random anyways, so I opted not to.
I'm hoping my next update will be soon, but this one took a tad longer than usual so I dunno. Plus next chapter might be kind of stressful to write because it's so major.