a/n: Thanks to the lovely Katie_Grey for betaing & pointing out where I was getting way too eager for the FrostIron feels. I hate slow burns. But, necessity.

Chapter 2

Tony had never imagined so much gold could exist, let alone that it might all be in one place. The golden city in front of him was outshined only by the palace it surrounded. His sense of awe quickly moved to the air around the buildings, entranced by the spectrum of colors and the vastness of the sky. The city appeared to be floating, surrounded by water and clouds. It was almost impossible to tell where the sky ended and the ground began. There appeared to be plains and forests, with snow-capped mountains, and a clear sky that also, somehow, managed to look like it could threaten to burst into a storm at any moment. Tony could see the galaxy beyond far more clearly than one could when looking up at the sky back on Earth, and it was kind of amazing. Then Tony glanced down at his feet and his heart just about stopped.

He was standing on a crystallized bridge made of light, with millions of colors racing under him. And the bridge was, apparently, suspended in mid-air, with nothing beneath it except for more clouds, and water far below. As he turned slightly, he couldn't hold back a gasp. The planet was flat – as in, there was a literal edge to it; yet, there was obviously a gravitational pull or else everything would be falling off the edge.

"Well, this just shits in the face of all scientific fact," Tony mused quietly.

"You've come a long way, Midgardian." A voice boomed behind him, making Tony jump. It was deep, with a rich and warm timbre. When Tony whirled around to face the being, his jaw dropped. The figure before him was encased in gold armor, with dark ebony skin. And when Tony looked up to his face, eyes of a fluorescent golden-orange stared down at him.

"Uh." Tony tried to make his voice work, to say words that actually made sense. But nothing would come out.

The giant Oscar award continued to gaze at him with intensity, but there was also a hint of kindness there. They looked at each other in silence for a moment before Tony reached up and grasped the pendant around his neck. He remembered how Thor had said it would help him blend in, because humans weren't supposed to be here. Obviously, the stone worked because it brought him to Asgard, but then how could this person know he wasn't Asgardian? Tony cleared his throat, his eyes darting around.

"I am Heimdall, the Gatekeeper," the man introduced himself, in a tone that oozed with regality. "And you appear to be out of your depth."

Tony scoffed. "I take offense to that," he replied.

Apparently, Heimdall didn't care. "You'll need more than a charmed pendant if you want to remain undiscovered."

Tony's eyes widened. "What?" He drawled the word out, his voice rising in pitch due to nerves. "I have no idea what you're—"

"Come." Heimdall commanded before turning and walking into the dome-shaped building (also, made of gold because, of course it would be).

Hesitantly, Tony followed. Once inside, he examined the building and couldn't prevent an idiotic smile from spreading over his face. Along the walls and arcing up the ceiling were carvings that looked like tree branches and roots, extending all over and interweaving together. In the center of the room was what Tony decided had to be some kind of control panel, or key-hole, which coincidentally enough seemed to match the giant golden sword that Heimdall was holding.

"You will need those," Heimdall nodded his head toward a pile of clothes at the base of the room's command center. Tony stepped forward and picked up the article on top of the pile, smiling at the soft feel of the silky red tunic. "Put them on," Heimdall ordered.

"What, now?" Tony asked. The self-proclaimed Gatekeeper merely gave him a slow, purposeful nod. With a sigh, the inventor did as he was told, stripping down to his boxers. He had every intention of keeping those on before he picked up the leggings that he was apparently supposed to wear as pants. He looked down at his boxers. "Yeah, no way in hell that's gonna work."

Heimdall wore a slightly amused expression when Tony turned to him, still just in his shorts and with the leggings in hand. "Would you mind, uh," Tony twirled a finger in the air and whistled, hoping the Asgardian would catch his drift.

Heimdall didn't turn around, but he did lift his gaze so he was looking above Tony rather than directly at him. "I suggest," the giant started in what sounded like an amused tone, "you make haste."

Tony groaned inwardly. Attempting to preserve some modesty, he turned so at least he wouldn't have to look in those animal-like eyes. He made sure to position himself away from the door just in case someone were to come in – they'd get a good mooning, but hopefully he'd avoid showing any full-frontal nudity. With a sigh, he pulled his shorts off and kicked them to the side. Not wanting to be in his birthday suit for longer than necessary, Tony quickly pulled the leggings on. He'd expected that to be a struggle, but they actually went on easily. "Well, these are surprisingly comfortable. Huh." With a shrug, Tony finished dressing in the Asgardian garb. By the time he was done, he had on black leggings, the red tunic, a golden sash around his waist, and a black cloak with gold trim.

Finally, Tony turned back to Heimdall. He threw his arms out to the side and asked, "Better?"

Heimdall gave another, singular nod. "It'll do."

"Gee, you really know how to give a guy a compliment." Tony rolled his eyes, but he quickly followed it up with a smile. "Thank you, though." Then, the burning question: "How did you know I was coming?"

The corner of the Gatekeeper's lip curled into a hint of a smile. "Nothing escapes my gaze. No matter the distance. Or the span of time."

"Oh, gotcha," Tony stated, feeling somewhat self-conscious. "So, can you help me?"

Heimdall headed back to the doorway of the dome, forcing Tony to follow him. Once they were out in the open air again, Heimdall looked down (making Tony feel even shorter than he normally did, thanks a lot). "There is much I can see, but I am not privy to all the details when it comes to the Multiverse. Whatever you are here to do, or to change, you must bear in mind that there is a balance to all things."

Tony felt like he actually understood those words, more than ever, as he looked out at the rainbow bridge, suspended by nothing.

"Some paths must remain unchanged," Heimdall told him.

"Oh, good. You speak in riddles, too." Despite his barb, Tony's mind was already racing to make sense of Heimdall's words. Finally, he gave a nod as he looked back up to the other. "So, make small changes, but the main plot points remain the same. Right?" At Heimdall's almost imperceptible nod, Tony frowned and added, "How do I know what can change?"

"Follow the path of least resistance," was Heimdall's response.

Tony narrowed his eyes. "You all do this cryptic shit on purpose, don't you? Just to watch me squirm." He sighed. "Fine. I'll figure it out all by myself." He took a few steps forward on the bridge, still marveling at it as he started walking.

Apparently, the Gatekeeper decided to be helpful after all because then he offered, "An Einherjar can bring you a horse."

Tony scrunched up his nose. "I'm not really a horse person."

Heimdall raised a brow at Tony before looking at the bridge. "It will be a very long walk."

With that, Tony got an idea and he smiled. "Good thing it's a beautiful day for a flight, then." He tapped the housing unit on his chest and there was the tell-tale clinking sound of the nanomachines as they scurried across Tony's body, forming his armor. Once he had everything except his helmet in place, he smiled at Heimdall. "How would you recommend I get inside the castle?"

The Gatekeeper chuckled – a low, rumbling sound that came from deep in his chest. "You have heart, Midgardian." Then, he jerked his head toward the shining palace, where Tony could just barely make out an overhang. "Try the gardens."

Tony gave a three-finger salute before letting his face-plate move into place. Then, with a burst of light, he shot up off the bridge and into the air.

If Tony thought Asgard was incredible from the ground, that was nothing compared to the aerial view.

Looking down at the colorful path, realization struck. "The Bifröst," he muttered. He chuckled softly. "I was standing on a fucking Einstein-Rosen Bridge," Tony mused excitedly.

The trip to the palace would have been long on foot. Even flying, it was probably longer than necessary since Tony decided to take his time. He spiraled around and over a forest, swooping low as he marveled at the foliage. The colors themselves – it felt like he was wearing some kind of tinted glasses, but he couldn't quite place it. Things looked. . . pastel, maybe? Finally, Tony shook his head, realizing it didn't even matter. It was beautiful and blew his mind, and that's what counted.

After his languid flight, Tony finally maneuvered himself to the palace. He found the overhang that Heimdall had nodded toward. When he landed, the faceplate folded away but Tony left the rest of his suit intact for now, just in case. Slowly, Tony wandered across the veranda, eyes flitting around at the spectacular flower beds and bushes around him. As he passed one particularly large bush, he literally stopped to smell the roses.

"Lovely, aren't they?" a woman called, making Tony jump.

He spun around to find the source of the voice, forcing a smile despite his unease. "Hi," he said awkwardly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I was just. . ."

The woman waved a hand dismissively. "A garden is intended to be admired." She smiled warmly and something about it made Tony's heart ache. The Asgardian walked forward and once she was closer, Tony noted that she was really quite lovely. Her canary blue dress was fitted nicely and she was adorned with golden bangles and necklaces, topped off with a golden band around her head and clips throughout her sandy blonde hair.

She paused in front of Tony, tilting her head to the side. She appeared to be inspecting him just as much as he was evaluating her. "Your armor," the woman began. She reached a hand out and ghosted a fingertip across the metal suit, looking at it with something like awe in her bright eyes. When she looked back at Tony's face, she said, "It is quite unique."

Tony smiled. "Thank you," he told her, beaming with pride. "I made it."

Her eyes widened, scanning up and down his armor again as if for the first time. "You crafted this yourself?" she asked, walking in a circle around Tony. She traced an elegant finger along his shoulder and smiled when she stopped in front of him again. "Are you a smith?"

There was a pause as Tony considered her words. "Yup, that's it," he agreed. His mind hurried to fill in blanks – he recalled what he knew about medieval times and tried to guesstimate what kinds of similarities might exist in a Viking-esque culture. He only hoped that the 'alien planet' part wouldn't make too much of a difference.

"I'm a smith, here to do an apprenticeship working in the castle's forge," Tony improvised. Apparently, it was a good lie because the woman merely nodded. And she seemed friendly enough – Tony decided to take a leap, hoping she would be helpful, too. "Uh. Hey, actually, I'm kinda looking for someone."

"Oh?" she asked, interested. She folded her hands together in front of her.

"Yeah," Tony drawled. "You wouldn't happen to know where I can find. . ." he paused. What was he supposed to do – just blurt out that he's looking for Loki? Then again, Loki wasn't a criminal yet, right? Besides, he's Thor's brother and a prince. Asking for him couldn't be that out of the ordinary. "Do you know where Loki might be?"

If the look of surprise on the woman's face was any indication, then maybe asking for Loki was out of the ordinary. . .

"You're looking for Prince Loki?" she asked. When Tony gulped and nodded, the woman's surprise faded, giving way to a series of other expressions that flickered by too quickly for Tony to hope to read any of them. Finally, her face softened as she asked, "What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't," Tony replied with a grin. Somewhere deep down, he could hear Howard's voice chastising him for being such a little shit. The woman gave an amused chuckle, though. "It's Ton—" his voice stuttered to a halt. Would he be okay telling people his real name? 'Tony' probably isn't a very Asgardian name, anyway. Clearing his throat, Tony tried again: "I'm Anthony. Uh, Howardson."

The woman smiled warmly. "Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, Anthony, son of Howard." Her eyes twinkled as she held out her hand. "You may call me Frigga."

Tony had been to enough ritzy balls and charity events to know what to do. He leaned forward as he took the woman, Frigga's, fingertips and kissed the back of her hand. "The pleasure is mine," Tony told her, straightening up and releasing her hand.

Frigga's eyes held his for another moment and Tony could almost see her thinking, although he couldn't quite read the expression to know what she was thinking. And he knew that he didn't know her. Yet, there was something oddly. . . familiar, in a way, about her. He shook the thought away as she spoke again. "Come with me, if you please?"

"Lead the way," Tony told her with a wave of his arm. Frigga strode off ahead of him and he followed closely behind.

They weaved through several hallways and down staircases. Obviously, the woman knew her way around. Tony was already lost in the labyrinth of the elaborate castle. Finally, after what had to be almost half an hour—really gettin' those steps in—they stopped in front of a set of large double-doors. Without a word, Frigga pushed the doors open, revealing the most immaculate and immense library Tony had ever seen.

Frigga entered and Tony followed a bit farther behind, glancing around in awe at the sheer volume of materials contained within the library's walls. "This puts Hogwarts to shame," Tony mumbled to himself.

"What's that?" Frigga called over her shoulder, slowing down slightly to let the dumb-struck Tony catch up.

"Oh, nothing," Tony said, waving a dismissive hand. Once he was closer to the woman, she turned down an aisle, then another, and another, moving deeper amongst the stacks.

Finally, at the end of an aisle, they turned and found themselves in a large open area that looked like a study space. There were several tables where visitors could, presumably, sit to read through their books. The place was bare, save for one table in the middle of the room. Books and ancient tomes lay scattered across the table, the bench, and even the floor – several were piled precariously on top of each other, while many others were spread out, open to certain pages. There were two piles of papers, one was likely blank parchment while the other was paper that had already been used. Next to the blank pages were several ink-pots and a couple writing quills.

Tony jerked his head at the sound of approaching footsteps, just in time to see someone step out of another aisle with a book in hand.

"Loki, darling!" Frigga called, rushing forward. Realization hit Tony like a punch to the gut. Of course – no wonder Frigga seemed so familiar, she was Thor's mom. Which meant Frigga was also Loki's mom. Tony wanted to kick himself. He'd been meandering around with the Queen of Asgard and had no idea. And he'd just randomly asked her to take him to see her youngest son. Way to lay low, Stark, Tony thought to himself.

"Mother," Loki said softly, offering the smallest of smiles to the woman.

Tony watched as Loki set the book down on the table before stepping into Frigga's open arms for a hug. She kissed him once on each cheek before pulling back, holding his face in her hands. As they spoke, Tony tried to reconcile the Loki in front of him with the one in his mind's eyes.

This Loki had short hair and gentler features. Well, other than those cheekbones, of course – they could still probably cut marble. His eyes looked brighter; overall, this Loki appeared healthier. And definitely looked younger.

Frigga's voice pulled Tony from his thoughts. "—in the gardens, and this dashing man asked to see you," she was saying, standing in front of Loki and holding his hands in hers. Almost comically, Loki bodily leaned around his mother to look at Tony, raising an eyebrow as he did.

Tony lifted a hand and waved at him lamely. Quickly, Loki ducked back so he was shielded by his mother. Tony could hear them speaking to each other in hurried, hushed tones. It seemed like they were having some kind of argument and all Tony could do was awkwardly wait until they were done. He did take a few steps forward, so he could peek around Frigga and get a better look at Loki.

There was a part of him that still felt his heart hammering, screaming Danger!, based on his history with the demi-god. But there was another, more logical part of him that whispered from the back of his mind that this wasn't really the same Loki. Those things haven't happened yet, here. As much as he hated it, Tony had to admit that the Loki from New York looked significantly more like someone who had fallen from grace and, honestly, had been through some kind of hell, compared to the boyish Prince Loki standing in front of him now.

Tony took a moment to let his eyes run down the long, lean form, and—

Stop it. Bad Tony! He squeezed his eyes shut and took a few slow, deep breaths. When he opened them again, he realized the room had fallen silent. Frigga had turned and was smiling at him. Next to her, Loki had his arms folded across his chest and was giving him some serious stink-eye.

"This," Frigga said, waving a hand, apparently urging Tony to come over. He closed the distance between them, stopping just close enough that he was in front of Loki without having to crane his head up to look at the guy. "Is Anthony Howardson," Frigga introduced him using his 'Asgardian' name. "He is to start working in the forge."

Loki clicked his tongue, sounding utterly unimpressed. Tony clenched his fists and had to bite his tongue to hold back the jibe that threatened to roll out. Instead, he forced a smile.

Frigga bumped Loki in the side with her elbow. She shot him an admonishing look – the kind only a mother could get away with – and, to Tony's surprise, Loki softened. With a curt nod, Frigga smiled and kissed her son's forehead before turning to Tony.

"It was a pleasure meeting you. I hope our paths will cross again in your time here," she told him with such earnest that this time when Tony smiled, it was genuine.

"Me, too, Your Highness," he told her. With that, Frigga patted Tony's shoulder and then swept past him.

Tony watched the Allmother leave. An exasperated sigh pulled his attention. He turned to Loki and that hammering in his heart returned. He tried to tell himself it was just nerves from the whole situation, not fear of the person.

Loki reached up and ran a hand through his hair. Tony watched the smooth lines of the god's face as he glanced, somewhat longingly, back to his table of books.

Tony remembered when he'd first seen Loki in his Penthouse in New York. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen anything so beautiful and, at the same time, so tragic. He'd tortured himself for months after Loki's failed Invasion, jolting awake in the night with wet-dreams like some fucking pubescent teenager. Tony was certain he had some weird kind of Stockholm Syndrome for fantasizing about the Trickster and, eventually, he managed to talk himself out of the idea of being intensely attracted to the psychopath who was too sexy for his own good.

Now, though, the temptation would be easy to fall into. The pale skin and statue-esque structure of the cheeks and jaw, those lips, and, of course, the eyes. Loki was wearing something similar to his armor, but what probably counted as casual for Asgard. It looked form-fitting and part of Tony wished he could peel off that jacket, to really appreciate that figure. Loki's collar accentuated his neck which – holy shit, was it possible for a neck to be sexy? It must be, because damn, that was one fine neck. And those collarbones!

"Wow," Tony muttered before he could stop himself. Loki frowned.

"What?" Loki asked defensively. Tony opened his mouth to speak but came up short when he realized he didn't exactly know what to say.

Loki cleared his throat and shifted, looking uncomfortable. Tony chuckled nervously, realizing that an awkward silence had settled between them and he'd definitely been staring. He only hoped he didn't look too much like a creeper. He considered how absolutely young Loki looked, smaller somehow and almost innocent in a way (almost).

Tony chanted "jail-bait" over and over in his head, which made it easier for him to look away and regain his composure.

"Never mind," Tony finally managed. He watched as the Trickster rolled his eyes, which sparkled even more than Tony remembered. Letting out a huff, Loki turned and selected a couple of the open books from the table. He closed them and then, with a minute wave of his hand, the books disappeared in a flash of gold. When he turned back around, Tony was gaping at him. "How did you—"

"Just a bit of seiðr. It's nothing," Loki mumbled sheepishly to the ground.

Wait. Was Loki fucking blushing?

"Bullshit," Tony blurted. Loki's head snapped up. "That," the engineer pointed in a vague gesture toward Loki's person, "was amazing. I may need to study it."

Loki's eyes widened. Then, he narrowed them, studying Tony with incredulity. After a moment, he scoffed and looked away, shaking his head. "Mother said I'm to show you the forge?" he said, blatantly changing the subject.

"Oh. Right. Yeah. The forge. Because I'm a blacksmith. And I'm gonna do some work. Some, uh, smithing." Tony was rambling, he knew it. Who was he, Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove? Mentally, he kicked himself for being an idiot and getting distracted and— yeah, apparently, time travel made him lose all his cool.

Loki took a few steps forward, approaching Tony and then side-stepped him. All the while, Tony could feel that blue-green gaze on him.

"Well, follow me, if you must," Loki all but groaned.

Tony turned with a nod. With a second thought, he tapped the Reactor, recalling the nanomachines. Loki froze mid-step and stared at him. "What?" Tony asked, cocking his head to the side.

Loki shook his head. He bit his lip – which was so adorable that Tony had to avert his eyes – and appeared to be considering whether he should speak. Finally, Loki gave in. Quietly, he admitted, "I've never seen magic quite like that before."

Tony scoffed. "That wasn't magic."

Loki's brow shot up and he fixed Tony with a look that said, 'seriously?' but he didn't press the issue. Instead, Loki just turned on his heel and started out of the library. Tony followed him dutifully, letting his cloak flow behind him.

The library was just as confusing going out as it had been going in. When they finally made it back to the large double-doors, Loki wasted no time stepping out into the hallway. Tony had to double-step to keep up with him. After the first flight of stairs and halfway down another hall, Tony used a burst of energy to run forward and get in front of Loki, holding his hands in a time-out gesture. When Loki stopped and looked at him questioningly, Tony inhaled deeply.

"Slow down. My legs… are shorter… than yours," Tony panted. "I feel like a fucking Dachshund walking with a Great Dane."

"A what with a what?" Loki asked indignantly.

Tony was about to explain when he caught his mistake. "Um, nothing. Don't worry about it." He ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, I'm ready to go again. But maybe a little slower?"

Loki smirked, seeming a bit more like the arrogant wannabe-overlord Tony had seen before. As Tony turned, he tugged on his tunic to straighten it out. Loki's eyes flicked down at the clothing's movement and he let out a soft gasp. Tony looked at him questioningly, only to find Loki staring at him with an intense expression – like he was trying to solve some kind of puzzle.

"Is everything okay?" Tony asked.

Without speaking, Loki grabbed Tony by the shoulder and dragged him into an alcove. Once they were tucked out of the way of anybody who might pass by, Loki waved his hand. Tony watched as the air around him rippled and shimmered. Then everything beyond him and Loki looked blurry, muted.

"What did you just do?" Tony asked, pointing behind the god.

"Shroud," Loki replied, as if it was obvious or simple.

"Oh-kay. Um, what does that—" Tony leaned forward, prepared with more questions, but he stopped short when Loki grabbed the front of his shirt and shoved him backward. With a growl, he slammed Tony up against the wall. "Ow!" Tony groaned. "What the hell?" he glared at Loki.

Loki's eyes had a feral look to them as he held Tony against the wall with his forearm to the man's chest. With his free hand, Loki reached forward and grabbed onto the pendant from Thor.

"No!" Tony all but shouted. Loki sneered and Tony tried to look apologetic. "Please, don't touch that. It's. . . really important to me."

Loki glanced down at the pendant, focusing on it intently for a moment. He scoffed and his eyes darted back up to Tony's face. "Where did you get this?"

"From a friend," Tony told him firmly. Then, somewhat defiantly, he added, "It's mine."

Loki snorted. "Actually," he said, twirling the stone between his fingers. "It's mine."

"Whaaaaaat?" Tony's voice rose a few pitches. He shook his head and tried to laugh off the accusation, realizing too late that he probably sounded a bit crazed.

Loki released his hold on Tony, making him almost drop to the ground but he somehow managed to catch himself. When Tony steadied and looked back at the Trickster, he saw that a dagger was pointed at him and he held his hands up in surrender. "Now, let's just be calm, and talk about this, okay?"

"Where did you get that pendant?" Loki asked again through gritted teeth. "And don't lie."

"I'm not lying!" Tony insisted, still holding his hands up. But he made sure that one hand could quickly access a gauntlet to fire a repulsor blast, should he really need to. He just hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Loki stared him down for a moment, carefully considering him. With a quiet intensity, Loki spoke again: "Tell me then, Anthony," he practically purred Tony's name. "How did you come to possess a pendant charmed with my seiðr?"

Tony blinked. "What makes you think it's charmed? And why would you say it's your cider?"

Loki balked, looking disgusted. "Seiðr," he drawled, emphasizing the word. "Magic," he began, his voice oozing with condescension, "leaves a trail. Footprints, if you will. This pendant of yours has been spelled." Then, Loki sighed, looking perplexed. "And, somehow, it appears as though the spell was cast by me."

Any reply Tony was going to make was cut off by Loki stepping closer and pressing the tip of the dagger to his neck, dangerously close to his jugular. "I have no memory of you nor this pendant. I also don't recognize the spell. Yet, it is undeniably my own seiðr." His lip curled up into something like a snarl. "Tell me how."

Tony knew it was stupid, considering the fact that he was in a very life-or-death situation, but he couldn't help the fact that he wanted to smile at the mage's cleverness. He should've known there was no way Loki would fall for a trick, even if it was Loki's own handiwork. Loki lowered the dagger and looked sideways at Tony.

"Loki!" a voice bellowed, drawing Tony's attention. Loki swore under his breath, then looked Tony in the eyes.

"We're not done," he said very seriously. He held a finger to his lips and hissed, "Not a word."

All Tony could do was nod. Then, with a few gestures, the dagger disappeared and the weird shield-thing Loki had put up around them disappeared, bringing everything else into focus again. Loki grabbed Tony's hand and dragged him out into the open hallway.

"Lo—Oh, there you are!"

Tony saw Thor rounding the corner. His heart leapt at the sight of his friend, before instantly plummeting again as he remembered: This Thor didn't know him, wasn't his friend. And the other Thor (which also wasn't his Thor, and shit that was getting confusing) had said this Thor wouldn't be very helpful. Looking at him now, Tony could actually see why.

Thor was wearing an armored chest-plate, silver with elaborate scaling and other designs. He had massive shoulder-pads that made his cape flow out behind him like his own personal red carpet. His hair was still just as blond and reminiscent of a surfer-dude. But there was a hardness to him. The way he carried himself made it seem like he had a massive chip on his shoulder, walking with long strides that screamed arrogance and white (Asgardian?) privilege. Sure, he still looked fun and kind, but the lovable Labrador quality about him was gone. This Thor seemed more volatile, ready to lash out like he had something to prove.

Thor stopped a few feet away. He looked from Loki to Tony, down at where their hands were still joined. Loki ripped his hand away as though he'd been burned. On top of that, Loki side-stepped to put distance between Tony and himself. Tony frowned and glanced between the brothers as they seemed to be having some kind of silent conversation.

"Thor?" another voice called from the direction Thor had come.

"Here!" Thor hollered over his shoulder. "I found him." Four others came around the corner, striding up to join them. Then Thor stepped forward a bit, a smile on his face. "We've been looking for you, Brother."

Loki shrugged. "I was in the library. Then Mother asked me to escort this," he paused, nodding toward Tony, "apprentice smith to the forge."

Thor laughed and clapped a hand on Loki's shoulder. Tony caught the way Loki cringed under the force, or maybe just under the touch itself, but he didn't move to push Thor away. "I almost forgot that Father had you overseeing such things."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Lucky that you are able to forget."

A woman, the only one among the group, sauntered forward and stood next to Thor. She fixed Loki with a pitying look. "Such menial duties, for a Prince." She clicked her tongue and shook her head pityingly, and Tony caught the smirk on the woman's face. Based on Loki's glare, he saw, too.

For a split second, Tony was worried. He knew what Loki was capable of and feared that this woman was about to be smashed into kingdom-come. But then Loki just. . . didn't. A look of resignation flashed across the Trickster's face and his glare faded to a neutral expression. And for some reason that just didn't sit right with Tony. This was Loki, the one who demanded that humanity kneel before him. Yet, he just backed down from some random Asgardian chick throwing shade? Something about that made Tony bristle. He didn't consciously think about it – and looking back, he would certainly say it was likely that he was thinking with his second brain, the one in his pants.

Before Tony even realized it, the words were spilling out: "Y'know, ruling a kingdom isn't always glamorous. The little things are important, too."

The woman snapped her head toward Tony with a look that could kill, cocking her hip and resting her hand on it. But there was a look of pure, unadulterated surprise on Loki's face. Tony's brain felt foggy, overcome with a sense of cognitive dissonance as a quiet voice in the back of his mind said that maybe he was seeing Loki for the first time, rather than just the villain he was supposed to hate or the monster who'd killed dozens of people and literally tried to take over his planet. With a gulp, Tony pushed all those thoughts aside. That was too much emotional baggage to sift through right now and he was not ready for that.

"And you are?"

Tony looked back at the woman, who was inspecting him closely.

"This is Anthony," Loki piped up.

"Anthony, tis a pleasure!" Thor exclaimed, grabbing Tony by the shoulder and pulling him into a hug. The smaller man barely had time to hug back before he was released and wheeled around to face the other three men. "These are the Warriors Three! Volstagg—" the most Viking-looking man Tony had ever seen, complete with long red hair and a beard, waved. "Hogun," Thor continued, earning a nod from the smallest of the Three, who looked like he would be better-suited to a Samurai film. "And Fandral," Thor nodded to the last, an attractive blond man with a mustache.

The woman cleared her throat. Thor smiled broadly and gestured toward her. "And this is the mighty warrior, Lady Sif."

Tony smiled at all of them, very obviously letting his smile falter a bit when his gaze landed on Sif. She narrowed her eyes and gave him a feral-looking grin. And Tony was pretty certain he'd just gotten himself on Sif's shit-list. But something about the way Loki snickered made it feel worthwhile.

"You said you were looking for me?" Loki asked, looking over to Thor expectantly.

Thor's eyes lit up. "Yes! We were going to go riding."

"Thought we'd have a bit of fun before Thor is overwhelmed with kingly duties," Volstagg added, patting Thor's shoulder.

"The coronation," Tony said softly, mostly to himself. "When is it?" he asked, glancing around at the group.

"Two days' time," Fandral answered with an easy smile.

Tony sighed, surprised at how relieved he felt. Finally, he felt like he had some kind of timeline. Two days to intervene with Loki's plotting and keep him out of Thanos' hands. Two days to change the fate of the entire world. The relief he'd felt fizzled out as he realized that two days was no time at all.

Thor beamed at Tony, then looked back to his brother. "You will drop your charge off, then meet us at the stables. Yes?"

Loki gave a curt nod. Thor smiled at Tony before turning on his heel and walking away. Sif, Hogun, and Volstagg followed immediately. Fandral smiled and said, "Nice meeting you, Anthony. See you soon, Loki!" before he, too, was on his way. Tony decided Fandral was definitely his favorite of Thor's friends.

Once they were alone again, Tony noticed Loki staring at him. Before he could say anything, Loki let out a sigh. "Do you know how to ride?" he asked.

"Uh, ride? You mean, like, horses?"

"No, bilgesnipes," Loki deadpanned. "Of course I mean horses."

Tony snorted. "Um, no. I'm not so great when it comes to equestrians."

Loki hummed thoughtfully before nodding. "You'll learn." And then he grabbed Tony's sleeve and tugged him along the hallway, to follow after Thor and the others.