Trick of the Light
Rated T
A/N: Amsterdam was awesome :DDDD Haven't fully caught up on sleep yet and 20 hours on a coach is horrific but it was all sooo worth it! Got back at half 2 this morning and managed about 5 hours sleep so my brain is a little mushed. And thank you everyone who reviewed! One of my chapters got 18 reviews and you have no idea how happy that made me :D! And thank you all [again] for the kind words and compliments! It made the coach ride home a little more bearable reading them :)!
…
Loki had been left alone with his thoughts yet again.
It didn't bother him as much as he felt it should have done given the previous nights conversation. He couldn't fault his husband on his logic, though the execution of his admission had left a lot to be desired. The wordsmith filed that one away under 'Areas for Tony to improve'. It was a small mental file admittedly. There weren't many things that Loki would change about his partner. Stark's being able to form fully functioning and completely non misleading sentences which could lead Loki to causing him actual bodily harm before any explanation was offered however was definitely up there. That and using his throwing knives as little pretentious toothpicks.
Gods he hated that.
But no, he was happy really. Tony wasn't perfect by a long shot but then again nothing about their situation was. And that was what made it work. They created more problems than they solved, but once in a while it seemed like everything would just fall into place and, for a little while, what they had would seem perfect.
He could only pray that they were due for another breakthrough.
He sighed and covered his face with his hands. Sliding off the bed he hobbled into the kitchen. He had managed to refrain from taking any painkillers despite the stinging pain in his leg being severe enough to make him grind and grit his teeth. He'd suffer through it though. He wanted all his faculties intact for as long as possible.
"Brother! It is a fine day is it not? How are you feeling?" A familiar voice called, causing all the furniture not currently bolted down to rattle as it sounded off. Loki frowned and considered throwing himself down the nearest elevator shaft. He chided himself on such a thought however; it should be Thor heading down there, not him. He had barely made it to the breakfast bar and grabbed an apple from the often neglected fruit bowl before Thor began assaulting him with an endless barrage of well wishes, concerned questions and general niceness.
It was just too much for a Monday morning.
"Thor, if you do not cease your pathetic mothering I will be forced to kill, or at the very least maim a small, innocent, puppy. How would you feel about that Thor?" He asked with as much deadpan as he could muster. The expression his adoptive brother shot him in retaliation only made him more defiant.
"I would not like that at all Loki, but even you cannot resist the charms of puppies. Perhaps a less cuddly animal could face your unquestionably Godly wrath?"
"Are you sassing me Thor?" Loki asked, genuinely shocked.
"I would never dream of such a thing." The thunder God grinned, sliding a knife towards his incapacitated sibling. Loki accepted it silently and began cutting slices from the fruit, keeping his eyes trained on his brother all the while.
"So what do you want, other than to check up on me like the over grown mother hen that you are?" He asked after a while of whittling away the apple until all that remained was the core. Thor shifted nervously.
"Nothing much. I just wanted to check in on you, see how you're doing… I will not pretend to understand how you're coping without your magic so I'll settle for just assuming that you are and that if you do want to talk about it you'll come to me. How does that sound?" He asked, rubbing an arm unconsciously as Loki chewed thoughtfully on his last slice.
"Aye, that sounds acceptable. Sounds like you're learning brother, I didn't think you had much room for grey matter under all that hair." The mischief-maker added with a sly smile. Thor chuckled but continued to fidget almost apprehensively.
"Ah, but whilst I'm here… Have you seen Tony?" He added hastily. Loki saw through his attempt at disguising his question as nothing more than an afterthought instantly. It intrigued him as to why Thor would try so hard at appearing nonchalant more than it riled him. He kept his face completely neutral and spoke as if he hadn't noticed a single thing.
"I haven't seen him since last night but I have no doubts he'll crawl back here at some point today. Why do you seek him?"
"No reason. He asked my opinion on something and I have an answer for him, that is all." Thor said with a forced grin.
"Tony Stark asked your opinion on something? I had no idea he was interested in such banal questions as 'how many times can you bash a bilgesnipe in the head before it dies?' Though I suppose you would be the man to ask in that case." He sniped light heartedly as he threw the apple core at the blonde. The taller man caught it easily and tossed it into the bin on his way past.
"I am glad to find you in such high spirits brother. I do worry about you."
Loki nodded and waved him on.
A small part of him still hated how that was one of the only things his brother never lied about; how much he still cared.
Once the other God had left the room the trickster made his way slowly back to the bedroom, closing the door behind him he fell back onto the bed and 'hmmd' quietly.
"J.A.R.V.I.S. where is Tony right now?" He demanded.
"Mr Stark is in the library at the moment. Do you wish to be put through to him?" The AI replied, unperturbed by Loki's uncommon rudeness.
"No. That will not be necessary thank you. Are you sure he's in the library? Shouldn't he be in the lab working on his suit?" He replied, a little less testily than before.
"I am not qualified to speculate on what Mr Stark should and should not be doing."
"He's told you not to tell me hasn't he? And please stop with all the formalities, we're married now, you can call him Tony."
"As you wish Loki. And yes, you are right, he has expressly forbidden me from telling you what he's doing."
"And why would he do that I wonder?"
"I have no idea sir, but he mentioned nothing about me attempting to stop you from finding him should you wish it, in which case he is at the far end of the library on one of the couches at the end of row E."
"Thank you. You have been most helpful as usual, I doubt I will ever understand why Tony is constantly afraid of your obviously impending grasp on sentience. I like it. That will be all."
"A pleasure as always sir." The automation charmed before leaving Loki to his thoughts once more. He chewed a piece of hair absentmindedly as he rolled his hand over the bottle of painkillers.
Taking them could cause him to lose control over his tongue, a lesson he had already painfully learnt. But here was the chance to finally find out what Tony was up to and curiosity was a powerful motivator for the God of Chaos. With a firm resolve he swallowed one of the tablets, pulled on a worn pair of sneakers and grabbed a discarded crutch from beside the bed. This was going to be a long walk.
And damn did those drugs kick in quickly he thought as the room spun around him dizzily for a few seconds. Shaking his head he set off on his grand expedition to the library that was situated several floors down from where he was now. He tapped his fingers impatiently against the walking aid as the lift made its way to the top floor at what appeared to be a snails pace. Stepping inside as soon as the doors slid open he jabbed at the appropriate button and secretly hoped it would make the journey downwards slightly quicker.
He made it as far as the third floor down before he was interrupted.
"Hey Loki shouldn't you be resting?" Natasha chided without taking her eyes from her phone. She was wearing her office attire today, meaning Pepper probably had her doing something undercover whilst masquerading as her personal assistant. He arched an eyebrow but decided he didn't care enough to bother asking, instead he huffed at her comment and leant all his weight on the crutch.
"I am perfectly capable of wandering around, my leg is a nuisance at the moment, nothing more." He said. She grunted something incomprehensible and continued to pour over her cell. Tapping the screen a few times she tucked the device into her blouse and pressed the ground floor button, grabbing Loki by the arm when he tried to get off at his floor.
"Natasha! Unhand me woman, I have things to do!" He whined after failing to brush off her vice like grip.
"Not a chance. You're coming for a coffee with me. I'm done for the day and I want to pry into your personal life as invasively as possible." She returned with an unsettling flash of teeth. It made Loki shudder inwardly.
"Please, I have something of some import to discuss with Tony, I'm afraid coffee will have to wait. And I don't even want to know what sort of work you've been doing that means you can take the rest of the day off when it's only eleven in the morning." He griped, using his best 'put upon' voice and pleading eyes for good measure.
The Widow was having none of it.
"Nope. Coffee now, domestics later. You look like you could do with a muffin too. My treat." She beamed as she dragged him out of the lift as it touched down. He didn't have enough energy or correctly functioning limbs to protest and instead resigned himself to being escorted out of the building. Thankfully the assassin appeared to take into consideration his current discomfort and entirely inappropriate attire which consisted of falling apart at the seams sneakers, some comfy sweats and a Black Sabbath shirt that definitely wasn't his and forced him into a relatively deserted coffee shop.
He let himself fall into a large leather armchair and rubbed the bridge of his nose, mentally screaming at his monumental ineptitude at carrying out the simplest of tasks until Natasha returned. She placed his drink and muffin on the table in front of him and seated herself opposite, crossing her legs and folding her arms, all the while looking like the most intimidating therapist he had ever seen.
"So what's going on with you and Tony?" She asked bluntly.
He managed to restrain a flicker of annoyance as it tried to flit across his features but once again his tongue ran away from him without waiting for his brain to catch up.
Loki started talking, a lot. But somehow he managed to avoid the conversation he'd had the night before, the one thing that was really bothering him. She hated only half listening in on what her friend was saying but she realised he hadn't quite managed to build up to what was actually wrong with him. So she 'listened' quietly and patiently, nodding in all the appropriate places and surreptitiously managed to send a text without the slightly agitated man realising.
Her talents were being completely wasted and she made sure Tony knew about it. In all honesty though Natasha was just glad to be of some help. She hadn't asked for the details but whatever the scientist was up to it was important. He'd been neglecting his suit repairs for days thanks to this little side project and although he hadn't told her outright it was obvious to all that Loki was at the heart of all his research.
That Loki seemed completely unaware of this was odd but it wasn't her job to pry, she was happy to be his shoulder to cry on for the time being. She'd hear all about it sooner or later anyway.
And probably be on clean up for when it all went horribly wrong.
Her phone chimed suddenly and she quickly pulled it from her pocket, flipping it open the mistress of deception made a show of reading the text, pulling a face as she did. Loki cocked his head and paused his rant momentarily.
"Just Clint being an idiot again. Why does he think I care if he thinks his bow makes his ass look fat?" She sighed snapping the phone shut and smiling as Loki failed to stifle a snicker. Perhaps it was just that those painkillers really did mess with the trickster or maybe she was actually a better liar than even she thought, but the deity didn't seem to notice her blatant lie.
'Sent from Tony Stark
to Natasha Romanoff
Just talk to him. I think he needs
to speak to a friendly face that
isn't as gorgeous as mine. You
fit that bill!
But seriously, thanks.
He can't know about this, not
yet. I don't want to get his hopes
up. Just get him to open up a bit.
For reasons unknown to even me
he actually likes talking to you
and chances are he's taken some
more of Bruce's wonder drugs so
he'll tell you anything.
Just no mention of horses -
keep it PG-13 bitch face.'
It was sweet really, she conceded. His dedication truly was something else.
She snapped her attention back to her friend's diatribe however as the sudden appearance of the word 'birthing' caught her attention.
Tony was also a complete idiot if he honestly expected her not to record elements of this conversation for future blackmail purposes.
Especially after the bitch face comment.
…
And thus I have returned! :))