A/N: So updates are a little slow as I deal with some big personal stuff. If you're interested you can read about it at my Tumblr. megaranoelle . tumblr . com
But here's another chapter! Yay!
The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.
Tony had his hair tied back at the neck, large glasses on, as he entered the train station. He usually wasn't noticed when his hair was pulled back, and he wasn't wearing the slim glasses he did for public outings. He and Loki often toyed with the idea of cutting his hair short again, but knew that he would still be noticed for his old look, no matter how much time had passed. Maybe in another fifty years it would be okay. He was still getting used to thinking about future generations.
Glancing down at his phone for the right info, he made his way to the right platform, and noticed that the train was actually going to be about five minutes late. The station was busy, all the benches were occupied so he leaned against a pillar by the arrivals board. There were college students getting ready their stuff to move into their dorms and apartments last minute, with their parents right behind them looking as frazzled as their kids. Others were getting ready to go home from their summer vacation and there were a lot of kids being barely contained from wandering off. Being the middle of the afternoon there were no business workers waiting for their commute. He was glad he never had to catch a train when he was younger.
Someone was walking rather quickly, looking at a ticket in their hand when they ran into Tony's arm. They both stumbled the woman dropped her purse. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"
"Don't worry about it," Tony said as they both went down to grab the purse and the stuff that had fallen out. "It's pretty crowded here so it's easy not to see everything." They both reached for a pen and her hand landed on his wrist, grasping it a little. Tony looked up and saw familiar ice blue eyes and a smirk looking at him. He glared and felt a burst of magic flare at his fingers.
Hela squeezed his wrist a little and a wave of cold quenched the power. "Now, now, Anthony, let's not make a scene, yet. Here to pick up the twins are we?" Tony's jaw tightened and he slowly stood up with her, hand still on his wrist. "I hope they enjoyed their time away. Do they know about me yet?"
"You know I hate repeating myself. You already know about the no psychopaths rule." Tony kept his tone light so he didn't attract any unwanted civilian attention. "We haven't seen one birthday or Christmas present from you, so we don't tell them about you."
"Your words almost hurt." She tsked a couple of times and shook her head, smiling. "I said I would be watching with interest, didn't I? Have you unraveled the mystery of your little bird yet?"
"The mystery that she can kick your ass now that she has her powers back in full?" Tony raised an eyebrow at her. He idly thought that this is how things started with Loki, talking instead of fighting. Tony would have to talk to Loki and Bruce after this to see if there was something wrong with him. Normal people, or heroes for that matter, don't stop to have a chat with villains. "Thanks for that by the way, we like having more fire power around." He paused for a second. "Pun intended."
"It's not a pun if you don't realize it at first." Tony tried not to pout. The whistle of an arriving train sounded behind them. Hela reached up and pat Tony's cheek twice. "I'll see you around. We are family after all." She grinned at him and let go of his wrist, falling into step with a large crowd that was headed for the train, disappearing from view.
Tony tried not to grind his teeth together and turned towards the train. He was fairly certain that she wasn't going to go after the boys, but that didn't stop him from taking larger steps to get the train. He of course knew the exact car that the boys would be on, and their seats, and hopped up on the steps just as people started to walk out. Walking i he made his way to the private club room that he had made sure they had.
"Dad!" Two sets of arms wrapped around him as soon as he had stepped inside and he smiled, pulling his boys closer to him.
"Well, aren't you two a sight for sore eyes. Ready to go home?" They both nodded eagerly. He could see the big smiles on their faces though and knew that they at least had fun. "You two can tell me all about camp in the car ride home, and then you tell Dad and Uncle Bruce when we get home."
"Uncle Bruce is here?" Sander asked excitedly. Tony nodded and they both grinned, scrambling for their bags. He laughed a little when they started to push him out, wanting to get home right away.
"Someone is surely going to notice that suddenly, the CEO of one of the biggest companies, suddenly isn't blind anymore," Elpis commented as she looked through her StarkPad. Bruce was checking Eindride's eyes down in the lab, making the determination if he needed glasses or not. Loki was perched on the edge of a table, watching the everyone in the room. Elpis was a little jealous that he still managed to look graceful even in jeans and a t-shirt.
"But not unusual when people really start to think about it," Eindride said, not moving when Bruce checked for pupil dialation . "Everyone knows that weird stuff happens all the time with this family."
"This is a little more than just something weird happening, this is curing a physical disability. Not just something to bat your lashes at." Elpis glanced over at her boss.
"And how exactly are you going to cover this up, oh assistant of mine?" Elpis raised her eyebrows and swore she could see Eindride's smirk. "We can't say that it was experimental medication, cause then they'll be expecting that from the company."
"You live to make my life difficult, don't you?" Now she was certain that she Did see his smirk. "Dr Banner, please tell me that you have to give him some horrendously thick glasses."
Bruce glanced at Loki who just rolled his eyes a little, and snorted. "Well, I'm no expert, and I'll have JARVIS run the final scan, but he is going to need glasses."
"Great, now he will be just like his Dad, having at least fifty different frames to choose from." Loki let out an amused sighed.
"Now I have to coordinate frames to outfits?" Elpis let her head drop back, letting out a groan. "What have I done?" She jumped a little when there was a kiss on her cheek and she looked at Endride. "You're not going win me over with sweet talking and nice gesture, you know."
"I often find myself saying that my husband," Loki commented idly and Bruce smirked, putting his stuff back in his bag.
"Why did I agree to stay here for a while?" Bruce asked as JARVIS took the scans of Eindride.
"Uncle Bruce!" Two boys jumped on Bruce's back and Loki grinned as he fell to the ground.
"That's why we're glad you stayed." Loki watched the boys started talking at the same time when Bruce was sitting to the face them. Tony walked over them and kissed Loki's cheek. He tried not to frown when he felt the slight tension rolling off of Tony.
"Scan is complete," JARVIS announced. "If you would like to pick out some frames I can fabricate the correct prescription lenses." A screen appeared in front of Eindride and Tony glanced over.
"Oo, another Stark gets lenses, I like it." Tony leaned against Loki's legs crossing his arms in front of him. Eindride looked at the frames then looked over at Tony. He whispered to Elpis, not looking away from Tony and she reached forward to swipe away some of the choices. "Wait, did you just take away the ones that looked like mine?" The two looked at Tony for a second then looked back at the frames. Tony's jaw dropped a little. "Loki!"
"You are not honestly whining to me about this, are you?" Loki raised an eyebrow, letting his arm rest on Tony's shoulder. "He is our son, of course he doesn't want to look like you." Tony gasped a little.
Loki started to rub Tony's shoulder and he groaned a little. When Loki rubbed his shoulders he was never able to keep anything from him. Tony was doomed. "She showed up at the train station." Loki's hands stilled a little. "She just talked, didn't even look at the boys. Still doesn't know that we know, please don't stop rubbing my shoulders."
"You have a problem, you are aware of this, correct?" Tony just nodded, leaning back into Loki's hands. "You can't just keep having idle conversations with villains. It gets you into trouble. Trouble that I have to get you out of."
"Excuse you, that's how we met." Tony argued, eyes closed.
"No, we met when you pointed your hand at me, as well as a dozen other weapons," Loki corrected. "And you insulted me, twice, in an hour. By all rights, I should have erased your existence."
"But then I offered you a drink, insulted you again, and I struck your fancy. Admit it. Oh god, that feels so good." Tony nearly lost his balance when Loki hit a particular spot making Tony's knees a little weak. "And look at us now. I'm literally putty in your hands."
"Like you ever weren't." Loki kissed his neck.