This chapter is a little lighter. I hope you enjoy.
The return of the Starks! Tony has a chat with Frigga.
"What? I'm just saying that you have such amazing flair, it's a wonder you're heterosexual."
Darcy saw the evil twinkle in his eyes right before Loki suddenly scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder. Her shriek brought all action to a halt, and every eye focused upon them.
Loki inclined his head. "My apologies. Darcy has challenged my manhood, so I need to do something about that." He turned away from everyone to exit the room.
"What are you gonna do?" Barton asked curiously.
Loki turned back. "I believe I will make her scream until she loses her voice and forgets her own name."
"Loki!" Frigga protested.
He paused in the act of turning back toward the door. "Yes Mother?"
"This is hardly the behavior of a prince," she scolded.
Loki drew himself up. "It is exactly the behavior of a prince. A prince takes what he wants." He inclined his head and swept out of the room.
Darcy winced. Well, what did he expect? He had used a considerable bit of magic to redo the rooms in Avengers Tower that his mother would stay in while a guest of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. Loki had a surprising flair for decoration, and an extraordinary sense of style, and she couldn't help but to pick on him a little. Apparently, that was all the excuse he needed to behave like a barbarian.
She watched the rooms recede behind them, with Frigga's beaming smile the last thing to disappear from sight. Then, Loki blinked back to his apartment and dumped her unceremoniously on his bed.
Darcy sprawled in the middle quite comfortably, smirking up at her man. He had a smoldering look on his face that sent licks of heat curling through her. It was the first time he had really been aggressive in front of the others, and the fact that he had done it in front of his mother….
"Something on your mind, Loki?" she asked, stroking casually along the line of her collarbone. His eyes fixated on the lazy slide of her fingers, and his mouth parted slightly.
"You are an enchantress," he accused. "You have beguiled and bewitched me, and caused me to come undone in front of my mother!"
Darcy very slowly and deliberately licked her lips, and had to laugh softly at the corresponding twitch from Loki's pants. "Your godly parts are waking up," she teased.
He growled down at her and pulled his shirt off hastily. "Take off you clothes," he ordered.
Darcy bit her lip. This was the Asgardian prince she was dealing with, and he hadn't been in the bedroom with them yet. "It's customary to ask nicely," she reminded.
Loki paused, hands at his waist. His stare was making Darcy a little nervous, and a lot excited. He looked like he was seconds away from tearing her clothes off, and that possibility made her press her legs together to ease a sudden ache. Loki's eyes tracked the movement of her legs, and he growled again, thinking she was going to deny him.
With a puff of air, her clothes were gone, along with his pants. Darcy barely managed a wordless protest over the loss of one of her favorite shirts before Loki was pinning her down, mouth catching her breathless cries.
"Open your legs," he demanded against her mouth.
Darcy couldn't help herself as she opened her legs for him. She tore her mouth from his, panting, and then leaned up to nip at his neck. "Whatever the prince desires," she breathed.
He made another growling sound deep in his throat and muttered something that was probably unflattering, but Darcy couldn't hear it over the pounding in her ears. This possessive and commanding Loki had wound her up so fast her head was spinning.
He completely dominated her in a way he hadn't before, punishing her with little nips and pinches, but the tiny pains only aroused her more. Darcy was helpless, holding on tightly as he drove her completely nuts. She could barely keep up with him, as there seemed to be a sense of urgency in his domination.
He was jealous, she realized finally, in between panting breaths. He was jealous of the hot eyes that Fandral had turned on her, and the sly insinuations that Barton had made. With the sudden arrival of his mother and four other Asgardians, Loki was suddenly reminded of all those centuries in his home, where he was always in Thor's shadow. He was jealous and feeling insecure.
She did what she could to reassure him, wrapping legs around his waist and arms around his torso and just holding on so tightly that her muscles began to ache. She was completely helpless under his plundering kisses, and just allowed him to dominate. They could talk about it later.
Much later.
In the aftermath of a wildly energetic tussle, Darcy held him. The prince aura had faded when he gave over to a shuddering release, shouting out his pleasure. He had collapsed on her, and Darcy just held him, reassuring him with soft touches and murmured reassurances. She had enjoyed the prince, but the second son persona was going to bring her to tears.
"You're ten times better than Thor," she told him softly, stroking a hand up and down his back. His face was buried in her neck, and he seemed lost in despair.
"How would you know?" he asked, voice muffled against her neck.
"Jane and I swap naughty stories," Darcy replied blithely. That had his head snapping up so fast it must have been painful. He looked surprised. She stretched up to press a kiss to his chin. "Your brother?….completely boring in bed from what I hear."
A grin appeared, but then faded. "No one believes that. No one believes that I could be better at something than Thor."
Darcy pinched his ass, hard, garnering a yelp of protest. "Everyone knows there are things that you do better. And Loki? You just threw me over your shoulder and carried me off, like a freaking caveman. You don't think that all the guys aren't seriously impressed by that?"
He lowered his head to rest his forehead on her shoulder. "I feel…exposed."
Darcy swatted him on the ass. "Loki babe, you are exposed. There's no sheet covering you right now."
He chuckled helplessly, not raising his head. "That is not what I meant," he chided.
"I know what you meant. Stop it. You're not in Thor's shadow anymore." Darcy was quiet for a little bit, but then had to ask. "Do you want to go home?"
Loki's head shot up again. "What? No! My home is here now."
"Then why is this bothering you so much?"
"Roles that are centuries old are hard to escape," he admitted with a frown.
"I like the prince," Darcy told him, biting her lip. She reached up to smooth the lines on his forehead. "The prince is a bit of a turn on. Ordering me around, taking what he wants…"
She delighted in the flush that colored his cheeks. "I…that was wrong of me."
Darcy brushed hair back from his face. "Why? I wasn't complaining. Like I said, the prince turned me on."
He sighed heavily. "The prince led to the psychopath. I am certain that is a path that no one wants me to revisit."
Darcy rolled her eyes. "You have all these people around you that will jump on you at the first sign of the psychopath. Especially me. Feel free to be a little princely in the bedroom any time, because it really got me all worked up."
"Those noises you made," he laughed. "I guess you were having a good time."
Darcy slapped a hand down on his back. "You stop that. C'mon. Let's get a shower and get back to being social, so that everyone can be in awe of your manly prowess."
Loki snorted and drew back, rising from the bed like a prince. Darcy took a moment to oogle his godly parts, and laughed in delight when he twitched. Loki just sighed and offered a hand. She took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet.
She didn't say anything to him, but the prince had left her feeling a little sore. It was hot. She felt completely used and dominated, and it wasn't something she had anticipated that she would enjoy, but oh wow. She would definitely need to coax the prince out of hiding in the future.
The shower took longer than it should have, due to all the touching and soapy foreplay, but they finally emerged and dressed. Loki blinked them back to Avengers headquarters, into the middle of sheer chaos.
"I'm just saying, he was like a total momma's boy, and those are always the ones who go psycho first. Did you breastfeed him? Do Asgardians breastfeed? The momma's boys are usually breastfed. Did you dress him up in girl's clothes when he was little? He's pretty enough to be a girl."
Loki's quiet "oh shit" was only heard by Darcy. She was too busy staring at the scene in front of them to look at her man. Tony Stark had returned from his honeymoon a week early, it seemed. And if the looks on the faces of the Asgardians were any clue, Pepper was about to become a widow. Frigga was trying desperately to retain a queenly demeanor, but she looked very close to laughing out loud at the obnoxious mortal in front of her. Sif and the Warriors Three did not look amused at all.
"Tony, shut up!" Pepper hissed. She was glancing warily at the four Asgardian warriors.
"I want to know. I mean, he was the best man at our wedding, and there's so many things we don't know about him. He doesn't talk about Asgard much. A lot of bad memories, I think. I just want to know that it's not gonna happen again. Him going all psycho. Cuz I like Loki, you know. I don't wanna have to try to kill him again." Tony Stark peered up at Frigga with a winning smile. "C'mon Mom. I can call you Mom, right? I mean, since Loki was my best man, it sort of makes us related, right? And the friends always get to call the friends' moms 'Mom'" He smiled again.
Pepper looked immensely relieved when the duct tape sealed Tony's mouth shut. He tried to remove it, but Loki ensured that it wasn't going anywhere.
"Hello Tony. You have returned early, I see. Pepper – you could not keep him away?"
The new Mrs. Stark appeared frazzled. "Someone thought it was a good idea to text Tony about what was going on. He had to be here, so here we are."
Loki nodded thoughtfully. "Stand down, please," he told Sif and the Warriors Three. "His mouth is the most dangerous thing about him."
Assorted chuckles ran through the small crowd that had gathered. Nick Fury looked like he wanted to pull out his hair, but he didn't have any. He nodded thankfully at Loki, glad that Stark's mouth had been magically sealed shut.
Of course, Tony Stark being Tony Stark, it didn't stop him for long. He was playing madly on his phone type thing, and soon his voice was echoing in the air.
"That was mean, Loki. Probably necessary, because my mouth gets way ahead of my brain sometimes, but mean. I bet you're wondering how I'm still talking? Jarvis is using a voice modulator program. He 'speaks' what I type. You didn't think I'd let a little thing like magic duct tape stop me, did you?"
Stark looked up and winked at Loki. "So, I heard you went totally Neanderthal on Darcy and carried her off to ravage her." He swung to look at Darcy. "Hey kiddo. You look like you had a good time. Not feeling intimidated by the mom, are you? I like her. I can see where Loki got his chutzpah from. I think the asshole portion of his character came from Odin, you know. Cuz he seemed like a total ass when we visited."
Pepper snatched the phone from his hands, and batted him away when Stark tried to snatch it back. "No Tony. Just stop before you get yourself killed. You could single-handedly cause a war between Earth and Asgard. Just shut up."
Stark ducked his head. Darcy relaxed with a sigh. How Pepper put up with him, she couldn't understand.
Loki nodded his thanks at Pepper and then turned to his mother with an apologetic shrug. "He grows on you, Mother. Like fungus."
Frigga laughed. "He is entertaining, to be sure. Is it true that you served as his best man?"
Loki nodded. "I did, yes. It was an honor."
Frigga then turned her very amused gaze to Darcy. "Did you deliberately taunt my son into ravishing you?"
Darcy bit her lip. "No, that was a pleasant side effect. If I had known that's how he'd react, I would have teased him about his fashion sense a long time ago."
Stark offered thumbs up to her, since that's all he was capable of at the moment.
Steve Rogers hung his head. "Now I know exactly how you feel, Director. It's like running a daycare."
There were loud protests from Thor, Barton, Loki and Stark. Banner nodded in agreement with the captain, and Natasha…looked like she usually did. Fury's mouth twitched slightly, as if to smile, but he did not.
After allowing Stark to wander around and simply absorb what was going on for another hour, Loki cautiously removed the duct tape gag with a wave of his hand. Tony smiled a rakish thanks, but he seemed to have passed the manic portion of the night. Of course, Pepper was glued to his side watching for any inappropriate behavior.
Fandral, it seemed, wanted to court death. He approached Darcy as Loki was across the room speaking quietly to his mother, trying to repair the damage to his reputation. The blond warrior obviously fancied himself a ladies man, and his eyes were glued to Darcy's chest.
"Lady Darcy," he greeted. "You look well since last we met."
Darcy cocked her head to one side. "Considering that the last time we met, Loki was having the Destroyer tear up the town I was in to get to Thor, I am much better than that time. Or were you referring to when I invaded Asgard and declared war?"
Fandral's eyes were having a very tough time moving elsewhere. "I am honestly surprised that you are with Loki. You do not seem his type."
Darcy bit back the first five things she wanted to say. Loki hadn't had a type, ever. "Oh? Why not?"
Finally Fandral looked at her, with what he probably considered to be a dashing smile. "You seem very vibrant and full of life. Loki is far more reserved."
She couldn't help but to have some fun with the creep, and glanced up at him, lip caught between her teeth. "Maybe that's why he likes me. I bring out animal side of him. With me, he can let loose all of his princely restraint and scream like a girl when I do things to him that polite society doesn't talk about."
Fandral drew back as if slapped, and turned his head to look at Loki, and then back at her. His gaze was speculative, as if trying to picture what Darcy had just described.
"You can't see it, can you?" she asked naughtily. "You can't even picture Loki losing control like that. Gasping and shaking when he comes undone, and the only name he can remember is mine." She smirked. "I'm not Loki's type? I'm exactly the type Loki has always needed and never had." Noting that his eyes had dropped, again, she snapped her fingers up near her face, and Fandral's eyes shot up to meet hers. "Don't talk to or stare at my boobs, buddy. You don't have a shot in hell. Once a girl goes Loki, she never goes back."
Fandral was opening his mouth, no doubt to say something he considered witty and flirtatious, when Hogun, who never seemed to speak, appeared out of nowhere. The silent warrior grabbed Fandral by ear and steered him away from Darcy with a quiet nod. Darcy bit back her laughter and hoped that Loki hadn't seen it. He would not be kind to Fandral.
"Does it not bother you?" a voice said at her side. Darcy glanced up at Sif. The warrior woman had slid into place beside her and was alternating stares between Loki and Steve Rogers.
"What?"
"You know what he has done. Yet you willingly go to his bed."
"Yep," Darcy agreed. This was getting old fast. At least Frigga had been unconditionally supportive. "He's redeemed himself." She shrugged. "Even if he hadn't, I wouldn't have done anything differently. You don't like it? Fine. I don't give a shit. My concerns are with myself, and Loki." Then she allowed a little bit of cattiness to surface. "At least I'm not trying to steal him from someone else."
Sif looked at her sharply. "What do you mean?"
Darcy snorted. "I've seen how you look at Steve. He has a girl."
Sif blinked lazily. "Not my concern. Or yours."
Darcy smiled tightly. "Fine. Then make Loki and I not your concern either."
Sif looked thoughtful, and finally nodded. "Very well."
She moved off and Darcy looked around for Loki, who was still talking to his mother. Thor was standing with them, smirking, and Loki looked annoyed as he tried to defend his actions. It must be driving him nuts. He was used to being the quiet one, the one who faded behind Thor's radiance. To be in the light, to be exposed, was surely grating on his nerves.
She felt the displacement of air that told her someone else was now standing beside her. Who was it this time? She was running out of Asgardians to annoy her. But when she looked up, it wasn't an Asgardian standing at her side.
"Hey Tony. Did you seriously cut your honeymoon short to come back here?"
Stark shrugged. "Oh you know. Why stay on a honeymoon when the Earth is about to be invaded? We can honeymoon after the crisis passes."
"How does Pepper put up with you?"
"She's an amazingly talented and patient woman." Tony grinned a little crazily. "She's my wife now, you know."
Darcy tried not to laugh. "I know Tony. I was there for the wedding, remember?"
He piffed. "Of course I remember. I'm still processing the fact. So, Loki's mom is cool, right?"
"Totally. Just don't talk to her about breastfeeding again, okay?"
"A bit out of line?" Stark asked, scratching his head.
"A bit."
"Do you think she'll let me call her Mom?"
For a second, speech left her. He sounded almost plaintive, and Darcy remembered that his parents had been dead for a long time. Maybe even Tony Stark needed a mother figure. Other than Pepper. Who couldn't be his mother figure anymore, since she was now his wife.
"I don't know, Tony. She is like a queen, you know."
The corner of his mouth quirked into a grin. "She's awesome. Totally kick ass the way she handles both of her sons. She could adopt me, and then I'd be bros with Loki and Thor."
Darcy nodded. "We'll see, Tony. Save the world first, remember?"
"Yeah yeah, all that stuff." He waved dismissively. "So I saw Robin Hood and Xena talking to you, getting on your nerves. How does it feel to be a gossip topic in another realm?"
"It's slightly disturbing," Darcy answered honestly. "I've never really been a topic of gossip before."
Tony cocked his head at her. "You mean before you started banging the God of Mischief?"
Darcy laughed. "Yeah, before then. I feel for you, Tony. It's not cool when everyone else is in your business."
He sighed. "It does suck sometimes. But you're strong."
After speaking with her sons again, Frigga evidently decided that the day had been long enough, and that the mission to save the Earth could be resumed in the morning. She politely but firmly shooed everyone out. Fury took the opportunity to issue some quiet orders about reconvening in the morning, and everyone scattered. There were ten S.H.I.E.L.D agents on guard duty outside the rooms now designated for Frigga and her protectors.
Loki looped an arm around Darcy's shoulder as they departed Frigga's rooms for the second time. "It has been a very long day," he admitted.
Darcy slid a hand up his back, underneath his shirt, fingers tapping against his skin. "Tired?"
He blinked down at her. "Actually, I am exhausted. My mother arrived unexpectedly with news of an impending attack, Tony Stark returned and almost caused an inter-realm incident, and I was bewitched."
Darcy smirked a little. "What a pity. I thought maybe we could Jacuzzi for a little and then go to bed. But if you're too tired…."
He frowned. "Do not even think of suggesting that I – "
"Jacuzzi?" Darcy interrupted, just beaming up at him.
Loki sighed. "Jacuzzi."
As he pulled her closer in preparation to travel to his apartment, Darcy laughed a little. "Oh…and Tony wants your mom to adopt him."
His startled look was priceless.
