A/N: I'll just drop this here... Ehehehehe.
As per usual, I own nothing but my imagination, that so far isn't making me much money. Mr Brightside belongs to The Killers, and I don't own Tony Stark/Iron Man, or Loki, or The Avengers. I do own the character of Megs, and half custody of Sparkles, who is an amazing person and my collaborator.
Loki followed Sparkles out of the building and to the alley, ignoring the people who walked by on the sidewalk. "Don't you dare." Sparkles growled out, not turning around to look at Loki. "I have every right-"
"Of course you have every right," Loki echoed quietly. "I'm just saying don't run away from the building quite yet. Perhaps-"
"What happened to you back there?" She turned on him, stopping the conversation about her for a time. "You hardly spoke, and you're always one for gathering new stories. A regular wannabe genius in the making, taking in everything you can."
"There are some subjects that I don't need to know everything about," Loki told her.
"Oh come on," Sparkles took a step towards him, narrowing her eyes a little. "This is me you're talking to. What's really going on? You started to get all weird when they started talking about kids."
Loki let out a little hum and looked out towards the end of the alley, watching some of the people walking by. "Yes, I would have expected you to notice that."
"You're voice is getting all posh on me again." Sparkles raised an eyebrow at him, raising an eyebrow. "Are you-"
"Sparkles? Loki?" She bristled at the voice coming around the corner and Loki glanced over at her. He took a step towards her when Steve looked down the alley, spotting them, and started their way. "Hey, I just-"
"Just what? Had to know where I went?" Sparkles didn't move, arms crossed against her chest. "Here I am Ken."
"What?" Steve frowned a little and stopped, Loki in between them. "Sparkles, what the hell is going on? I don't get why you're so upset. What exactly did you do?"
"It's what you don't do," she sighed, growling a little under her breath. "What you can't do, you seem to be able to do everything! You're such a fucking perfect person!" Loki had turned tot he side so he could watch both of them, but still be left out of the conversation. Hopefully. "Everything has to go your way, and you have to know everything, but heaven forbid anyone should find out that you're hiding secrets!"
"Hiding- What the hell?" Steve frowned a took a step forward, stopping when he saw that Sparkles was ready to move. "Listen, I don't know what was said before I came in-"
"A whole lot was said," she spit out. "About how your life just can't stand to not be perfect. Even if something happens you can just jump right over to an orphanage to volunteer and clear out your conscience!"
Steve's eyes narrowed a little and Loki thought that this might be one of the few times he had ever seen Steve Rogers get mad. "Hey now, what ever I do with my time is my choice. I don't need to tell anyone a reason about why I do it. And no one should be going around trying to figure out why I do what I do."
"Oh, that's rich," Sparkles let out a bark of laughter. "So we can't know what goes on in your not so tragic life, but no one else can have any secrets. Such a hypocrite!" She threw her arms up then pointed at Steve. "Do you wanna compare sob stories? Because maybe if you had offered even just a little something to me, I might have actually felt like sharing."
"Sharing?" Steve let out a scoff and glanced up before looking back at her. "You keep everything so close to your chest that it's in deeper than Tony's arc reactor. Neither you nor Loki will ever share anything!" His eyes narrowed again. "I don't know why you can't see that some people just want to help, not everyone wants to hurt you!"
"Remind me what the road to hell is paved with?" She shook her head, glancing over at Loki before pinning Steve with her gaze again. "You know what, you can take your good intentions, and save them for some other charity case. That's not what I am, nor am I the perfect little Barbie to your Ken. That's not who I am, I'll never be that person! The sooner you understand that, the better everything will be!"
"I never said that's what I was looking for! That's not what I wanted!" Loki raised his eyebrows a little when even Steve had started to raise his voice. "If that's what I wanted would I have done all that I have? Would I have been there after you guys moved? Would I have stayed in the hospital to make sure you got better? Taken you to go break someone out of a mental hospital?"
"I never asked you to do any of that shit!" She pointed at him again, taking a step closer. "You did that all on your own, so don't expect me to just jump into your arms singing your praises!"
"How could I? I would never come first in your mind!" He threw his arms out. "Who knows if there will Ever be someone who would come first? You can't keep running and pushing people away, but don't let anyone tel you that. Just keep going the way are, you'll end up alone, hiding like you always want to."
The sounds from the street suddenly seemed much to loud to Loki. The silence between the two on either side him stretched before Sparkles spoke again. "We're done." She walked moved, walking past Steve and Loki just blinked before his own feet forced him to move. He caught the utterly broken look on Steve's face before closing his eyes briefly.
"Things weren't supposed to work out this way," he muttered to himself. "The music always has a plan, but this one sucks."
He caught up with Sparkles as she reached the car they had come in. "Hey," he caught her arm gently. "You're gonna go home and get some rest right?" He gave her a hard look.
"Yeah," she sighed as she pulled out the keys. "Not like I had much else planned. Are you going to stay here?"
"Not for long," Loki shook his head. "I'm gonna go get our things from inside, ask Tony if he can drop me off. I've got a few things to pick up first." He let a little smile out. "Been a while since we needed the LoSparks treatment." She snorted and shook her head.
"Well, don't stay out too late, you know I worry when i don't know where you are." She pinched one of his cheeks, slipping in the drivers seat of the car. Loki rolled his eyes before kissing her cheek and heading back for the Tower.
Watching him walk through the doors she pulled out her phone, sending out a group message. She knew what she needed, and she knew the rest of the band would back her up.
Loki found the the lounge was a bustle of activity as soon as he walked in. Fury was with Megs, who was looking rather stressed and in pain. Tony was coming down the stairs with Sabby and a blanket and bag that he handed to Fury. Not more than a minute later Loki turned when he heard a siren approaching the building. An ambulance pulled up and he turned back to the small group, blinking.
Steve walked back in, holding the door open for the paramedics and their stretcher. "I came out to tell you that Megs was having her baby early."
Loki wished the wall was harder than he knew it to be, wanting to bang his head against it rather hard.