Tony didn't like sitting on person's bedsides, but nonetheless, he stayed. He didn't give in to the doctors trying to usher him out of the room but watched Loki sleep (which was about the creepiest thing he had ever done) who looked pale and very fragile at first.

It was fascinating to see the god's metabolism work.

Tony was doodling with his Stark Pad, but every two or three minutes, he would throw a glance towards Loki to watch how he, slowly, in a time frame of about four hours, regained a healthy colour and somehow started to... become more Loki, more himself, less shallow and weak.

It was about two in the morning when Loki started twisting in the sheets. Small movements at first, a twitching finger, a shift of his leg, but with every minute, he grew more unsteady. He started to throw his head from one side to the other and when he started to whimper and mutter incoherent syllables, Tony decided to wake him up.

He reached out to touch the god's shoulder gently and startled himself when Loki jerked away violently and uttered a choked, strangled sound only slightly resembling a cry. His hands were clenching the sheets tightly and twisting them. Tony heard a quiet sound of tearing fabric – right, the godly strength and all were back. Loki was a god once again.

"Lokes", he whispered softly, trying not to wake Thor too. "Hey, Loki, can you hear me? Snap out of it, you're safe." In response, Loki tugged on the sheets harder and this time, the tearing sound was louder and the engineer could make out, in the semi-darkness, that there was a hole in the hospital gown, at least as big as his hand. Well, that had to be some wonderful dreams. He seized the other's shoulder again, more firmly this time, and breathed in to say something, when he pulled back with a start.

Loki screamed.

It was a long-drawn, suffering cry of agony, a sound so sincerely scared it made Tony freeze for a moment. The Stark Pad slid through his fingers and crashed onto the floor with a shattering sound – well, so much for his distraction – and it snapped him out of his shock.

Once again, he shook Loki, now more fiercely, and thanked every god he knew when he stopped screaming and his eyes snapped open.

Alright, he looked far from good, but at least he was awake.

And now, he started talking. Which was probably an overstatement because actually, Loki was stammering, spilling broken pieces of sentences, ragged pleas, no no no, please no, don't, no, stop please no

"Hey, Lokes", Tony tried again. He heard Thor stumbling out of his bed.

"Stop it", Loki wheezed as if he had ran a mile in two minutes just no. Ah, bad example, that probably wouldn't have bothered him as much as the things haunting him now. His eyes were darting through the darkness, following things only he could see. "Please, I'll do anything, but –"

"Brother!", the thunder god called out. "You must calm down!" There was not a trace of fatigue in his voice nor in his eyes when he exchanged worried glances with Tony.

"Loki, I'm here, Thor's here, everything's okay", the engineer tried again, and just when he thought they'd succeed, the door burst open to let two SHIELD doctors rush in, and the god started screaming again.

"Out!", Tony yelled. "Get out, you're making it worse!" The doctors, a man and a woman, both much younger than Tony, stood there for a moment, obviously puzzled (and one of them looking as though she had just gotten out of bed) until the engineer snapped: "Get out, now!"

He didn't wait to watch them leave but turned towards Loki again who had pulled his knees up to his chest and gripped his own hair so hard it looked like he was going to rip it out.

"Loki, come on! Snap out of it!"

"Brother, there is nothing to fear!"

It took the two of them a while to tear Loki out of whatever dream or illusion was scaring him so much. A strong hand seized Tony's wrist and the god's wide, blue eyes were locked at him.

"Stark", he breathed quietly, took a deep breath and repeated: "Stark." He looked so lost, so scared that Tony felt a strong urge to protect him – protect a being that was superior to him in every means. It was ridiculous, he knew it, but he also knew that Loki was vulnerable. "Stark", he whispered again. Maybe not physically, but mentally all the more.

With a sigh the god relaxed his stance a little and let his eyes fall closed. Tony didn't dare to speak up and decided just to watch him and listen to the quiet whispers of his name, repeated all over again.

"Stark, Stark, Stark." Like a mantra, almost inaudible. "Stark..."

"Loki."

The god's eyes snapped open.

"What?"

"Would you stop doing that?"

"Doing what?"

Tony glanced down at his wrist and up at the god again. "Um... I think you're breaking it."

"Oh. Sorry." He released the bruising grip (it had left an angry red mark around the engineer's wrist) and stared at the torn sheet. "I am... not accommodated yet to having my strength back." He turned a palm up to look at it thoughtfully while a small spark lit up on it – not his magic, the bright green, but a flame. It grew and flickered, then Loki closed his hand to a fist and it vanished. His lips were graced by a small smile.

"What was that?", Tony asked and was met by a surprised look.

"Fire", Loki answered, blinking in confusion. "You – you do have fire here, don't you?"

"Of course we do", the engineer grumbled and had to fight not to face-palm. "But – can all magicians do that?"

"Of course not!" Loki looked offended (and also appalled by Tony's obvious lack of knowledge about Norse mythology). "I am the God of Fire, Stark."

"Wha – I thought you're the God of Lies? Can you be two gods at once? Or is that a multiple personalities thing? Like, um, multiple personalities? Or –"

"God of Lies is merely a title I earned through my actions", the prince cut off his rambling. "Just as Liesmith and Silvertongue are. As the God of Fire I was destined long before that."

"Isn't that – sort of self-destructive?" Loki blinked again. "I mean, with the frost thing and then fire, that's a sort of... bad combination, isn't it?"

"Magic does not work like that", the god of fire/lies/confusingstupidmortals sighed. "Of course I would not use it in my Jotun form, but the Allfather's glamour does not only cover my skin, but changes my whole body into an Aesir one. Therefore, the fire does not harm me."

Don't expect me to understand that", Tony muttered. "Whatever."

Loki chuckled and then changed the topic: "Thor, how is your injury doing?"

The god of thunder (at least that much was clear) smiled when the attention shifted towards him and answered: "I can barely feel it now. You have done great, as usual." He glanced at Loki's chest. "May I see yours?"

The younger god laughed as he replied: "Really, Thor? Comparing scars? How old are you, ninety-five? Quit acting like a child."

Tony snorted quietly. Yeah, if ninety-five was a child's age, what was he then?

Thor actually looked sheepish, as if he was recognizing his childish behaviour and being ashamed for it. Ninety-five, ha.

"Would you mind leaving us alone for a few minutes?", Loki interrupted his thoughts and Tony rose from his chair hastily.

"Ah, sure, I'm –"

"Not you, Stark."

"Oh." He was glad the semi-darkness hid his embarrassed blush as he sat down again.

Thor hesitated and looked at the both of them for a few seconds before he nodded and said: "I believe a walk would do me good." With a last questioning look he left the room. So he did have some tact sometimes.

"What's up?", Tony asked as soon as the door had closed behind the elder god. "Something the big bro isn't allowed to hear? Or –"

"What you said", Loki interrupted. "Before He arrived."

"Um... I've said a lot back there", the engineer pointed out carefully, although he had an idea where this was going. "Could you specify that?"

Loki looked at him, his pale face grey in the darkness. Calmly and without any emotion audible in his voice he explained: "You asked me if I thought that making you fa-"

"Ah, yes, I get it", Tony interrupted. "Sorry 'bout that. I was angry, I mean, I think you figured, and I was unfair. I said things I didn't mean." Which was no lie. He had not meant it when he'd said he wanted to see the god dead. Even in his anger, he hadn't meant that.

"Ah." The answer sounded strangely dull. "I understand." The sheets rustled as Loki shifted back into a lying position. "That would be all. Good night, Stark."

"Yeah, you too", Tony replied quietly through the lump in his throat and stared at the god's back that was turned towards him.

He felt like he had made an awful mistake.

#

Loki recovered. His divine healing abilities had apparently kicked in, awesomely working (because seriously, no human would have survived that) and he was bak on his feet after some more hours of sleep.

When he had healed himself and Thor (who had to be filled in on what happened and had been very close to smashing Tony's skull when he had heard about what he had done to his beloved baby brother), Bruce declared him for ready to leave the helicarrier.

Tony came to the room the brothers had been stationed in and watched through a glass wall how Loki said his goodbyes, politely, to the three SHIELD doctors who had been treating him. It were two men and a young woman, and Tony watched incredulous how Loki talked to the girl – he couldn't hear anything, but he saw her blush and laugh, and then she turned an even deeper shade of red when the god laid a hand onto her upper arm and said something. Then, she blinked, seemingly confused, until Loki winked – actually winked at her! – and she said a few words in response, batting her long eyelashes. Tony felt his jaw drop.

Then, the god turned towards one of the other doctors, a serious young man with dark hair who somehow reminded Tony of a younger Phil Coulson. Loki shook his hand politely and exchanged two or three quick words before he walked over to the third doctor, an elderly man who was laughing a lot and shook Loki's hand with an enthusiasm that was similar to a teenager meeting his idol.

And this was SHIELD. In a matter of hours, Loki had them all wrapped up, It was unbelievable.

Tony watched the god turn towards Bruce who had watched with disbelieving surprise and flashed him a bright smile. They left the room together while the doctors checked over Thor a last (totally unnecessary) time. Probably the girl just wanted to admire his abs a bit longer while he was sitting in front of her, shirtless.

When the two stepped out of the door three metres down the hall, the god was whispering something to Bruce, his expression dead serious. The scientist nodded while staring at the floor.

"Havin' secrets over there?", the millionaire called out and although Loki turned completely relaxed, Bruce literally jumped and shook his head hastily.

"Ah, no, we're just, I mean, talking, about, you know –", he stammered and the god sighed exasperated.

"We were just discussing something about the injury. Nothing that would concern you", he explained and smiled and yes, he was all charming and yes, Tony would have believed him if not for the doctor who was not half that good of a liar. Loki seemed to notice the doubt in his gaze.

"Stark, do me a favour and trust me, will you?", he asked and he had such a sincere look in his eyes that Tony sighed. Maybe he should just give it a try. He had denied Loki his trust so often now and he had never actually betrayed him, right?

"Fine. If you don't blow anything up that belongs to me, I'm fine with it. Now let's get down to the tower already, I miss my freedom. Also, Steve has been cooking."

Tony grinned and together, they waited for Thor to be finished with the tests. He could trust Loki, right? He wouldn't betray him. And if Loki would, he could still be sure Bruce would definitely never betray him. He had nothing to fear.

The cold, insecure feeling remained.

#

When Tony and Loki entered the god's living room later, they found Loki's blood on the wall and the floor, but The Other's corpse was gone.