I had a nice, small, conscise chapter in mind.

That didn't happen. This sucker is over 14,000 words.

Enjoy!

Warning: pregnancy related gore (there are certain people out there that I don't want to freak out)

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It was well into the afternoon when a loud thumping on the door finally made Loki roll over with a groan and try to pull the duvet up over his head. He was far too comfortable to wake up properly and burrowing under the covers was simply sending him straight back to sleep.

Or at least it would if the noise at the door would stop.

He vaguely felt the mattress move next to him, and a few moments later heard Tony's voice out in the small hallway. It sounded like it was Thor.

Go away Thor.

Tucked into the warm burrow of his bed it was very easy to ignore the conversation just on the cusp of hearing and the prince was steadily drifting off again. He didn't remember what he had been dreaming of, but it couldn't have been bad since he was feeling far too comfortable and contented. It was nice to know that he'd managed a nightmare-free night for once.

The mattress dipped again beside him and he felt a hand on his head, running through his hair.

"Hey love, I know you're awake."

"Dunt wanna be…"

"That was Thor – he wants to know if we want lunch."

"Lunch?"

"Well, it is about two in the afternoon. Evie hasn't surfaced yet either."

Loki rolled over to see Stark sitting next to him on the bed, and pulled the covers down enough to talk properly. "No?" He yawned, and stretched. "Is she usually a late riser?"

"Very much so." Tony's gaze followed the movement, then riveted to the spot where his partner's sleep-shirt had ridden up to expose a thin strip of flesh.

Loki realised what had drawn the man's attention and rolled his eyes. "I feel somewhat like I am being objectified here."

"What can I say? You're sexy and you know it." Tony grinned, completely unashamed.

"Hmm." The trickster rolled over onto his stomach, and buried his face into the pillow again. "Did you say it was two o'clock?"

"There abouts, I've been up for a few hours – I don't need much sleep. Why? Did you want lunch?"

"Not particularly." Loki tilted his head to glance up at the man, then raised the edge of the covers. "If Evie is not awake I see no need for us to get up."

"Seriously? You really are lazy, aren't you."

"I believe I have earned the right."

"Fine, fair enough." Tony slipped back in under the blankets, although propped himself up on one elbow. "I don't have your hibernating bear tendencies, though, can we at least talk?"

"Talk? Stark, I am still half asleep, completely relaxed and thoroughly at your mercy and you want to talk? Are you feeling alright?"

"I, huh? Okay…What?"

"Why not?"

"Just wasn't expecting you to proposition me whilst still a pile of sleepy goo."

"Best time, is it not?" Loki grinned up at him, eyes still half lidded as he pillowed his head on his folded arms.

"I'm beginning to think it might be." Tony rested his hands on his partner's shoulders, digging his knuckles into the muscles there. He grinned when the trickster sighed and burrowed deeper into the pillow. "Did you at least sleep well?"

"Mmhm. Like a log."

"Glad to hear it." He kneaded his fingers into Loki's shoulders again, then ran his hands down his lover's sides. It was less effective than it could have been given that Loki was wearing a shirt, but the prince certainly didn't seem to be complaining, so Tony repeated the motion.

Loki turned his head so that he wasn't suffocating himself on his own folded arms and closed his eyes with a grin.

"You look so smug."

"Do I?"

"Yup. Waaaay too smug." Tony accompanied the elongated 'way' by running his hands all the way down his partner's spine, digging into each bump of the vertebrae. Loki was pretty relaxed, so there was no resistance.

"Hmm, maybe that is because you are pampering me."

"That'd do it." The man spent a few moments kneading the muscles in the small of the prince's back. He was good at massages and he knew it – he liked being perfect at things, or at least exceedingly good, and this was something he was extremely good at. Loki certainly seemed to think so. "You know what would make this even better?"

"Hmm?"

"No clothes."

Loki snorted with laughter. For a moment it didn't look like he was going to reply to that, but his lack of reaction was tempered as there was a sudden shower of green sparks, and his sleepwear vanished. As did Tony's.

"Hey, I didn't mean mine too!"

"You will have to get naked at some point."

"…Fair point." The man laughed, pressing a kiss against Loki's shoulder-blade. "Will you be okay if I lean over you like this?"

The fact that he'd thought to ask made Loki open his eyes and smile up at him. "I should be fine now that you have warned me." He closed his eyes again.

There was a moment, just a single tiny moment when he tensed up as he felt Tony move to sit on his upper thighs, but when the man started kneading his back again the sudden panic vanished. If Tony noticed, he didn't comment.

Actually, Loki couldn't remember when he'd last had a partner do this for him. Certainly Asgard had facilities that were the equivalent of human spas, and he had been there often enough – especially when injured. However, it is always a much different experience when it is someone you love. The slide of Tony's hands over his skin was intoxicating.

"Don't you fall asleep on me."

"Trust me, I am far from asleep." His voice was hazy, but he meant it – pliant and relaxed were different from sleeping. He felt the weight on his thighs shift as Tony moved back to work on the base of his spine again.

"Hey, do you remember when you dragged me off to Claridges that time?"

"Mmm, that was a long time ago. I believe I tied you down, did I not?"

"You certainly did." Tony's hands had moved to cup his buttocks, moulding and squeezing the warm flesh. "You did something else too..."

"I did? I can't say that I recall all the details now." The trickster was so relaxed that he hadn't quite taken stock of what his lover was doing.

"Does this jog your memory?"

Tony would have grinned at his partner's surprised yelp, but couldn't because his mouth was somewhat occupied. Loki groaned, deep in the back of his throat, subconsciously moving his legs wider apart as he felt his lover's tongue circle slowly around his entrance again, the man's hands holding his hips steady.

It was something that Stark hadn't done in a very long time, but had never shied away from. He lapped gently at the tight muscle, dipping in to each crease and tiny fold of skin, before laving the flat of his tongue along the pucker and up to taste the sweat beginning to pool in the small of his partner's back. Drawing all the way back down again he opened his mouth to gently scrape his teeth across the sensitive area. Loki bucked up underneath him at the contact, a shrill whimper breaking from the trickster's throat.

Tony tilted his head, his goatee chaffing along the insides of Loki's thighs, and sealed his lips over the muscle, forming a tight vacuum. It was messy as hell as saliva slide down his chin and he loved it.

"To…ny…" Loki reared up from the mattress, arching his back and resting his forehead down on his arms. He allowed himself to be held still by Tony's hands grasping his hips, pressing back into the contact. "Ahh…" It was such a deliciously dirty feeling; to be so known in such a deeply intimate manner. It was taking a lot of trust on his part to let Tony do this, and in a way it was knowing that he was trusting his partner in such a way that made it even more intense.

Tony broke contact with an obscene slurp, grinning as the prince whimpered and subconsciously tried to move back towards him.

"You still okay?"

"More than…" Loki's voice was a breathless moan.

"Good good." And the man dove right back in, making his partner yelp and buck back into him. The prince was relaxed and evidently enjoying it so Tony began increasing the pressure with his tongue, poking and prodding at the sensitive area. Loki had raised himself up onto his elbows, panting harshly. He was shivering, deep tremors running through his body as he moved and shifted.

And then he fell flat back against the mattress with a groan as the hot, insistent tongue finally wormed it's way in, taking him apart with it. Tony was kissing him there like it was his mouth, hot and wet and seemingly reaching every nerve ending inside and out.

"Tony…Ah!"

"Still alright?" He pulled away to speak, and Loki snarled at him.

"Norns! I will tell you if I am not!"

"Fair enough." The man went straight in for the kill this time, hands holding him wide open as the prince squirmed and writhed under the ministrations.

Then there was more pressure, a finger alongside the tongue, able to probe deeper and Loki found himself shaking from the intensity of it.

Stark pulled away, although his finger remained where it was, twisting and moving, the way already slicked with saliva. He pressed a kiss in the small of Loki's back, before leaning back down to trace his tongue around the stretched hole, circling the rim surrounding his moving finger. Loki bucked up into the contact, making him chuckle. With the amount of mess he was making it was easy enough to slip a second finger in to join the first, drawing a sobbing moan from his partner as he crooked the two and brushed up against the magic spot he found first try.

Keeping both fingers moving at a steady pace the man lifted his head up and moved up his lover's body to press kisses along Loki's spine. He was aiming for an earlobe, but as he rested his weight across Loki's back he felt the trickster suddenly freeze up underneath him.

"Loki?"

"Off!"

Tony didn't question, didn't even think. He simply moved like he was told to, rolling over onto one side so that he was next to the prince. The actions caused his fingers to slip free and the roll meant that he ended up with the hand coming to rest on Loki's hip.

"Loki? Are you alright?"

The trickster was still shaking, but he had buried his head in his arms so that it was impossible to see his expression.

"Yes...? I think so…" He took a few deep breaths before raising his head to look at Tony. "Sorry, I'm sorry. Damnit! I was enjoying that!"

"Don't apologise, what happened?"

Loki untangled one of his arms to brush the hair away from his eyes, a darker expression of anger crossing his face. "It was a memory – it overwhelmed me for a moment, when I felt you lean on me…"

"Sorry."

"Not your fault – I did not believe I would be affected like that."

Tony nodded in understanding – he knew what awkwardly placed flashbacks could be like. "What do you want to do?"

"Oh, continue certainly." A grin banished the frown, looking much better with Loki's flushed cheeks. "Do not think you will be allowed to leave me unsatisfied. Only…" He bit his lip thoughtfully for a moment, "Only, how about this?"

He rolled over onto his side so that his back was to the inventor's chest and shifted back so that he was flush against Tony's crotch.

"I can work with this, are you sure you can?"

"I am certain." Loki reached back, grabbed hold of the man's hand and squeezed it. When he let go slick oil dripped from Tony's fingers. "There you go, I believe you were in the middle of something."

"Have I ever mentioned how demanding you are?"

"I believe it is one of your favourite complaints…" Loki's reply ended in a shaky sigh as Tony's two fingers slid home again. He was lying on his right side, so pulled his left knee up to his chest to make the position easier for Tony to reach.

The man buried his face into his lover's hair, breathing in deeply and inhaling the intoxicating smell of musk and sweat that overlay Loki's usual more subtle scent as he continued to twist and scissor his fingers. The trickster was moving against him, all previous reticence gone now that things were back under his control. Tony grinned as he added a third finger and the prince let out a throaty cry, curling in on himself.

Loki was moving with the push and pull of the fingers, grinding back against Tony's hand. He was always vocal in bed, and this time was no exception as he gasped and moaned unabashedly, tipping his head back into his partner's shoulder as he felt teeth gently latch onto his ear lobe.

"God you're gorgeous…" Tony's heated whisper was accompanied by his spare hand wriggling under Loki's body to grasp the prince's erection, his grip warm and firm.

"Not…ah! Not so…bad yourself…" Loki reached back blindly to dig his fingers into the man's hip. "Norns…You can…get on with it, I'm fine…"

"You sure?"

"Please!"

Tony slowly withdrew his fingers, eliciting a whimper from his partner in the process, and used the remaining oil on his hand to coat himself.

Loki forced himself to lie still, his nails digging into the flesh of Tony's hip as he felt the blunt head of the man's erection pressing against his entrance.

"You're tensing."

"I am trying not to…"

Stark pumped his hand on the trickster's arousal, making Loki gasp and shiver. Repeating the action made the prince relax enough for Tony to gently push against the tight ring of muscle. This time the head of his erection slipped in, causing his lover to yelp and push back against him, which helped him in the rest of the way.

"Ohhhh…" Loki's moan was sinful. His eyes slipped closed, breathing ragged under the sensation of being so absolutely full. Tony stilled once he was completely sheathed and for a long moment they simply lay there, curled into each other. Loki was shaking again, and he reached down to pull Tony's hand away from his erection, choosing to link their fingers together instead.

"You okay?"

"Mmmm…Move…"

Tony did so, but very slowly. He wasn't half as sleepy as Loki, but it was a warm day and he was more than up for taking it slow and lazy.

Once upon a time they would have gone about it quite differently, rough to the point of violent. This was worlds away from those early days. They moved together, slow and gentle against each other. Tony kept his fingers tangled with Loki's, so wrapped his spare arm over his lover's body and curled his other hand around the trickster's erection.

Loki was moaning and gasping at each lazy thrust, rocking his hips back to meet Tony halfway. The inventor's rough hand was tight and hot around his arousal, slicked by precum and the remnants of the oil.

"Love you…" Tony's voice was little more than a whisper, nuzzling into the dark hair infront of his face.

"Love you too…."

Stark stayed slow and steady, taking his cues from Loki's body and his gasps of encouragement. He knew his lover well enough that even after all this time he remembered the signs that told him when the prince was drawing close.

Loki could feel the heat beginning to coil in the pit of his stomach and dug his nails deeper into Tony's hip in response, rocking back with the thrusts with increasing urgency. The hot spikes of pleasure were still an overwhelming feeling, meaning that he cared even less than usual about how he was sounding.

"Tony…" Gone were the days of 'Stark' and 'mortal'. He gasped his lover's name repeatedly like a mantra, and when the inventor finally pushed him over the edge the name came out as a wail.

"Loki…" Tony came only a few moments later, clinging tightly to his lover as he rode it out.

The two lay there, limbs tangled together as they both tried to get their respective breaths back. Their fingers were still loosely entwined and Loki drew them up to his mouth to press a lazy kiss to Tony's knuckles. Tony swept the black hair infront of him to one side so that he could nip gently at his lover's neck.

"You good?"

"Mmhhmm…" The soft purr made it clear just how good Loki was.

"Woken up now?"

"Near enough…" Loki stretched out and rolled over onto his back so that he could grin at his partner. "How was I ever lucky enough to find someone like you?"

"Just picked the right planet to take over, I guess."

"Yes, that would do it. Are you ever going to let me live that down?"

"Give it another few hundred years." Tony smiled brightly. He reached over to brush Loki's hair back out of the way. "This is nearly as long as Evie's, do you normally have it this long?"

"Not at all." The prince waved a hand lazily and a small image appeared in the air over them, like a photograph or projection. "That was how I usually had it."

The Loki in the picture looked younger somehow, despite the trickster not really showing any signs of aging – it was in the eyes really. He didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, just gazing off into the middle distance, hair pushed back neatly. It was shorter than Tony had ever seen, only just brushing his neck and kept back in its style with what looked like hair-gel. Probably magical hair-gel.

Since it had been nearly shoulder length when they'd first met, and was now sitting nicely on said shoulders Loki had obviously had a departure from his usual style.

"Are you going to cut it?"

"Do you want me to?"

Tony studies the image again. It was definitely Loki, but it just didn't look like his Loki. Not the person he knew.

"It's up to you. It does look good short, but I've only known you with it long, and I think I prefer it like this."

Loki laughed and banished the picture, wiping it away like smoke. "I never gave much thought to my appearance when I arrived on Earth for the Tesseract. I must have given poor Thor quite a start – he grew up with me being the immaculate sibling."

"Far cry from the crazed lunatic look you were styling, then."

"Couture crazed lunatic, please! Finest Aesir leather made up that outfit!"

"And the suit in Stuttgart?"

The trickster's eyes lit up with impish glee at that. "Oh, you liked that, did you?"

"Duh!"

"Well, I am certain I can find it again at some point."

"Ooh, promises!" Tony raised himself up on one elbow and wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Not now." Loki swatted away a wandering hand. "We need to get up – if nothing else, Evelyn has woken up at last, and Sleipnir too."

"Sleipnir?"

The prince finally sat up, waving a hand to vanish away all the mess they had just made. "Apparently they sat up all night watching films."

"Figures. Birdy's terrible for that. Shotgun first bath!"

"Fine, fine."

Whilst Tony dived into the bathroom like the child he was, Loki merely wrapped another spell around himself; sluicing off the sweat and dirt. So much quicker.

By the time he was dressed and had sorted out the disarray in the room Evie was emerging, blinking sleepily. She looked like she'd only slept a few hours – which was probably quite likely – and her t-shirt was on backwards.

"Staying up all night will not do you much good, darling." Loki chided as he touched a finger to her shirt and it righted itself.

"Why not? You d...d…do." The girl stifled a yawn and slumped down in one of the chairs by the empty fireplace.

"I do not stay up all night."

"The massive lovebite on your neck says otherwise."

"What?! Where?!" Loki's hands flew up to his throat as he swung towards the mirror. He twisted his head this way and that to try and find the elusive mark, until he heard his daughter sniggering. "Evelyn!"

"Made you look." The girl was grinning smugly up at him. "Hey, I am your daughter, what do you expect?"

"Perfection, although I do not think I shall get that."

"Does half-assed perfection count? 'Cause that's the best you're getting."

"I suppose it shall have to do." Loki looked his daughter over and rolled his eyes. "Did you get dressed in the dark?"

"Pretty much, why?"

"Here." He sat down on the arm of the chair and drew a comb out of thin air. "You are an ambassador of your realm, you cannot go around looking like a slob." He pulled the hair-tie out of the ponytail that had obviously been slept on and began to section off her hair to tidy it properly.

"I'm fourteen, how can I be an ambassador?"

"If your Father is, you are, it is as simple as that." Loki carefully pulled the snarls and tangles free, ignoring Evie's protests.

"That's hurting!"

"If you didn't want me to do it, you should have bothered to brush it. You are a beautiful young woman, Evelyn, you should learn to actually take care of your appearance."

"You are so mean!"

"I am the God of chaos and mischief; it is in the job description." Said God was entirely unfazed by his daughter's complaints – he had had to put up with worse from Sleipnir after all – and simply continued with what he was doing. Evie had inherited Tony's hair, and it was the same thick dark brown that – when brushed – reached just below her shoulders in a bushy mass.

It took some taming.

"Why did you have to have your Father's hair?"

"Because apparently his genes beat yours."

"Hmm." Loki sectioned off areas and began braiding.

"What are you doing?"

"Making you look presentable in public." He began weaving beads into the hairstyle, muted amber ones that weren't ostentatious but added a little sparkle.

"See, this is why Earth is better – I can slob around the house in PJ's. I've actually got to get dressed here."

"Welcome to royalty." Loki tied off the end on the final braid. "There you go, you look beautiful."

"I always look beautiful."

"True. Okay, you look presentable to the general public." Loki kissed the top of her head and let her get up.

Evie trudged over to the mirror to inspect her new look. "Huh."

"Well?"

"It's kinda Lord of the Rings, isn't it? I look like an Elf!"

"I thought that was the done thing at the moment."

The girl looked over her shoulder to admire the back of her hair. "Well…it does look a lot less bushy. How did you make it so shiny?"

"I brushed it, it may be a foreign concept."

"Are you the God of sarcasm too?"

"Pretty much."

Evie stuck her tongue out at him, then squealed as a snake materialised around her shoulders. She caught the head of the creature just long enough to realise that – of course – it wasn't actually a dangerous breed, so decided to leave it be.

"Is there a reason our daughter's wearing a reptile as a collar?" Tony emerged from the bathroom – fully dressed – towelling his hair dry.

"She was being obnoxious."

"Yeah, she does that."

Evie grinned, spinning around like a somewhat uncoordinated ballet dancer. "It's so sweet; can I keep it, Möðhy?"

Loki laughed. "I am afraid it is only an illusion. It will vanish in a few minutes. If you really want a snake I am sure we can get you a real one."

"We can?" Tony looked alarmed.

"Why not?"

"I don't like snakes much."

"Well I do, so you shall have to learn to deal with it. If she wants a snake I see no harm in it."

"Huh. Well, we can talk about it."

Evie frowned in disappointment as the snake vanished in a small puff of smoke. "Can we talk about it later? I'm hungry."

Loki stood up from his perch on the arm of the chair. "Food sounds like a good plan. It is long past both breakfast and lunch so we shall have to go down to the kitchens."

"Ooh! I've not been down there yet!"

"It is hardly exciting, Tony."

"Are you kidding? You've got all sorts of weird foods here – I might be able to synthesise some sort of new biochemical weapon."

Loki gave him a sort of look. "Please refrain from blowing up my home." He called after the man as Tony moved eagerly towards the door.

"You blew up mine!" Stark yelled over his shoulder.

The trickster paused for a moment, then shrugged. "It's true."

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Tony didn't find anything to blow up, but that was mostly because he wasn't trying. To be fair, the man could create an explosive from thyme and parsley, but he was hungry, so put the food to better use.

The kitchens were absolutely huge, as they would be for a working palace, and had more than enough small corners and spare tables for someone to duck in and grab something to eat. The staff were apparently also more than used to the younger Prince appearing halfway through the afternoon in search for breakfast and twenty years had not lost this familiarity. Loki was greeted quite happily by the chefs wandering past, certainly more cordially than anywhere else.

"I have got to get the recipe for these cakes!" Evie said blissfully.

"Since when have you cooked, Birdy?" Tony laughed.

"I'll ask Jarvis really nicely."

"He hasn't recovered from those ill-fated waffles you tried. No more experiments in the kitchen." The man grinned at Loki's curious look. "I don't know about you, but cooking isn't a strong point in the Stark family."

"I can cook over a campfire; a proper sit-down meal is somewhat beyond me."

"Cool, can we go camping? I've never been camping!"

"Never?" Loki looked surprised and turned to Tony for an explanation. "I thought that was something that all humans did at some point."

"Yeah, not super mega-famous humans who are mugged by the media every time they step outside their house." The inventor said, somewhat bitterly. "It's a little too dangerous to let Birdy go off to do that sort of thing."

"Dangerous?"

"I'm Ironman's daughter; a damn good scoop for the media, and a fabulous hostage for the haters if they can get their hands on me." Evie said it a little too flippantly. "So I don't go out so much. Still do some horse-riding when I can, and I used to do ballet until I realised I was about as coordinated as a sloth on drugs."

"I let you go to red carpet events."

"Yeah! All the premiers! I met Benedict Cumberbatch!"

"Whom?"

Evie lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh my God! He's just, like, amazing! He was in Sherlock, and Star Trek and-"

"Enough, Birdy." Tony rested a hand on her shoulder, smiling apologetically at his partner. "If you let her get going, she'll never shut up. She's got posters and everything – it's as bad as her Doctor Who obsession, to be honest."

Loki smirked. "Doctor Who is a worthy obsession, Stark, and you know it."

"Of course; who do you think introduced her to it?"

"A fair point." The trickster suddenly brightened. "Have there been any new seasons that I have missed?"

"Oh you bet."

"Excellent." Loki had finished eating, and – possibly his version of fidgeting – had taken a bowl of cherries and was slowly turning each little berry electric blue.

"Are those still edible?" Evie asked.

"Yes?"

"Awesome!" She grabbed a handful. "Any way you can magic the stones out of them?"

"That's really lazy, Birdy." Tony chided, as Loki did as their daughter asked.

"Yeah, and?"

"At least she is eating fruit – I did half-wonder if you were going to raise her on McDonalds." The prince said airily as he popped a cherry into his own mouth.

Tony scowled, although there was no heat to it. "Seriously? Burger King, please. And anyway, Pepper would never let me raise a child on fast food."

"Pepper..? Oh yes, the woman who…"

"Walked in on us, yeah."

Evie choked. "Oh my God! When did that happen?!"

"About a year or so before you were born."

"Poor Aunty Pep!"

"She certainly was not pleased to see us."

Tony laughed. "Not in the least – I was on house arrest for, how long? Stupidly long!"

Evie looked between her parents, obviously interested in the stories of the two of them before she had come along. "So how did you see each other, if Auntie Pep had you on lock-down?"

"The bathrooms aren't monitored." Stark grinned.

"That's gross, Dad."

"In all honesty, you were most likely conceived in the bathroom, so don't complain."

Loki looked horrified. "Don't tell her that!"

"She needs to know the facts of life at some point!"

Evie seemed revolted. "I know the facts of life – that doesn't mean I wanted to hear about how I was conceived!"

"Oh stop being a drama queen – it's not like I went into detail. Comparative anatomy and all that."

"Yuck." Evie scrunched her nose in disgust. "One anatomy lesson was enough, thank you!" At Loki's curious gaze she elaborated. "Dad gave me The Talk when I was about eleven. It involved some explanation as to how two men can successfully produce a baby."

"Ah. Yes. Sorry about that." Loki shrugged slightly. "I cannot help my species."

The girl grinned at him. "I'm not complaining about that; I'm part Jötunn – how many teens can say they're half alien?" She propped her elbow on the table so that she could cup her chin in one hand. "I'm still sad about my lack of blueness."

"I'm not; what would people have said if you were blue?! The tabloids would have gone nuts!" Tony exclaimed.

"Your Father has a point, dear. The blue skin would have been a step too far really. And would not have matched your hair one little bit."

"Yeah, but still…" The girl pouted. Loki flicked a blue cherry at her, which hit her squarely on the nose. "Oi!"

"I passed on the immortality gene, is that not enough?" The prince smiled sweetly as his daughter glowered at him. "And some extra innards." He looked taken aback the girl's pout turned to shock, and Tony's jaw dropped. "What?"

"What? What are you talking about, extra innards?" Stark was looking horrified. "Are we talking like, organs or something? Why didn't you say something before?!"

Loki waved away the frantic questions with an exasperated sigh. "It's not like it shall affect her in any way." He smiled reassuringly at Evelyn. "You needn't worry, Little Bird, it is simply a matter of a more efficient digestive system really."

"Elaborate on that please?"

"Four kidneys. And…" He traced a circle in the air with his finger over Evie's head. "Two pancreas'. You don't have a second stomach like me, but your stomach is double-chambered, and there is an extra section to your colon."

Evie looked down at her abdomen, as if she could see her own internal organs. "Really? Cool! I'm a mutant!"

"More like a mongrel really – Ow!" Tony ducked as his daughter smacked him round the head.

"You're just jealous because you're a boring old human!"

"Less of the old, please Madam!"

Evie flicked a cherry at him, although her aim was off and it hit Loki's arm instead. He caught it on the rebound and popped it into his mouth.

"Well, since we seem to be finished with lunch, shall we go? I believe Doctor Banner wanted to meet Sleipnir, and he did not get a chance to thanks to the chitauri turning up."

Tony shrugged. "Sounds like a plan to me. Can I grab Barton along too? Since everyone else has buggered off back to Earth it seems a bit mean to just invite Bruce and leave the Hawk alone."

"Oh if you must."

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The late night had impacted on Sleipnir too and he was hardly in the best of moods when he first saw his family approaching. However, the presence of the other two Avenger's mellowed him out enough to be sociable. It also helped that Bruce was absolutely fascinated.

"But, how do your muscle groups even work?!"

"Uh…The normal way muscles work?"

"You're amazing!"

"Thanks?"

Bruce had the x-rays that Loki had managed to find and was glancing between the sheets and the horse in awe. He was sat on the grass in the field, Sleipnir switching between listlessly grazing and trying to look at the scientist's notebook. There were now about five pages filled with incomprehensible scribbles and bad sketches – Bruce had no misapprehensions about his artistic talents. He absentmindedly chewed the end of his pencil whilst studying the muscle-groups surrounding Sleipnir's front legs.

"I've never seen him so fascinated…" Tony said quietly. "Even the chitauri debris we kept finding around New York didn't interest him this much, and believe me, that stuff was pretty damn interesting."

"I don't think Sleipnir knows quite what to make of him." Loki was leaning against the fence, watching the little scene with a small smile. "He does not usually garner this much attention."

"Really? He has eight legs; how is he not always the centre of attention?"

"He's nearly half a million years old, Tony, people are used to him by now."

Clint was perched on the fence beside the two – having accepted the invitation to join them rather than sit alone in his room. He had intended to find Thor, but the thunder God had disappeared off for the day with his Aesir friends, which had left Barton in the lurch. He'd been silent up until now – simply staring at Sleipnir – but at Loki's comment he finally spoke up.

"That's pretty old, for a horse. Is that something he inherited, or are animals just generally immortal here?"

"It is inherited. Most animals have normal mortal life spans here." The trickster was so focussed on his son that he didn't seem to notice that Clint had succeeded in speaking to him cordially. However, his attention was drawn to the archer when Hawkeye actively shuffled across on the fence so that they were closer.

"Can I ask a personal question?"

Loki glanced at him. "I am surprised you want to, but alright. I cannot promise I shall answer."

"Fair dos. Tony said you lose your magic when you're giving birth."

"Yes…?"

Clint gestured at the giant eight legged horse that was now embroiled in an argument with Evie.

"How? Just…how? I've seen videos – normal childbirth is bad enough, how did you manage that without magic?!"

Tony nodded in agreement. "I've got to admit – I've wondered that a fair bit too. I mean, seeing Evie being born made it clear that it's no picnic."

"Understatement." Loki said drily. "Well, needless to say, having Sleipnir was not exactly fun and games, either." His expression made it clear that it was not a fond memory, which was odd since the birth of one's first-born is usually a joyous event.

"Care to share?" Clint looked way too happy at the prince's discomfit.

"Not particularly. Put it this way: It is still the worst memory of my life – and you saw what the chitauri had done to me, so that should tell you something."

"That's still not giving away much in the terms of sheer mechanics."

Loki rounded on the archer with a grin that made the man lean back away from him in consternation. It was definitely what Tony had come to term his 'burdened with glorious purpose' grin. Shit scary.

"Well, if you are that interested I can show you the memory."

"Uh…What?"

"I can show you the memory. It is a simple spell; just a mental projection."

Clint looked freaked out by that prospect. "On second thoughts; I'm not that interested. It was bad, information received, got it."

"Are you certain?"

"Yeah, no, I don't want to know. Thanks for the offer, but no."

Loki settled back against the fence with a smug grin, folding his arms across his chest. He was watching Sleipnir again, up until Tony tapped him on the arm.

"Hey, I'm still intrigued. I'll do the crazy mind-meld projection thingy."

"I was joking, Tony. It is not really something I would recommend anyone having to witness." He smiled sweetly at Clint. "Even a hardened assassin."

Clint stuck his tongue out.

"No, I mean it." Tony had his earnest 'I am an adult and can handle this' expression fixed on his face. "I want to know. If it was that bad, and I know it was since you've admitted to still having nightmares about it, then I want to know."

"I guarantee you will regret this."

"Put your money where your mouth is."

Loki and Barton exchanged a glance before the archer shrugged. "Hey, I say go for it. Stark thinks he's a big boy, let him prove it."

"Fine, come here, Tony."

"What? I didn't mean now-" And then Loki's finger touched his forehead, and Tony saw the world black in around him.

No one knew, and now it was far too late to tell anyone, to call for help.

Loki had spent nine months hiding what he saw as an absolutely shameful secret, and now he knew that that had been a big mistake. Why hadn't he told anyone?!

Yes, he knew the child was different. He wasn't particularly good at healing magic, but he had been able to at least tell that it was a foal, not a baby that grew inside him. It was a terrifying thought and all that had mollified him throughout the hellish trimesters was that he had read up intensively on medical magic to at least make the birth easier.

Change into a horse, get it bloody over with and then…do something about the foal. Pretend to have found it somewhere or something.

That had been the plan; because he simply didn't know better. There was no way he could have known that, once his waters broke, his magic would flee too.

It had been hours now.

The pain was unbelievable. He knew that something was wrong. Something was terribly, dreadfully wrong and there was nothing he could do.

Childbirth was meant to be painful, that was common knowledge, but this was something else. There was blood, so much blood. He knew that the tearing he was suffering through was wrong and he could feel the child twisting and moving around even with the contractions. So much blood…

Loki was young, but he knew enough to realise that whatever was happening, it was killing him. He was dying, and most likely the child too. His screams – blocked in by his own spells woven into his walls – had died to muted whimpers as blood loss began to take its toll on top of the unmitigated agony.

It felt like he was burning, like the child was trying to rip its way out of him. He could feel himself ripping, his over-stretched stomach on fire as the muscles under the taut skin tore.

There was so much blood, where there shouldn't have been any.

The young prince knew that he had to do something; anything to end it all. He was barely conscious and only just aware enough to recognise that should he lose consciousness entirely he would never wake up.

If he was going to survive this, he had to act.

Falling from the bed it took nearly ten minutes to drag himself the five metres across his floor to the small table beside the door to his room. Inch by agonising inch he left a trail of blood across the polished wooden floorboards as he did so. The simple act of reaching up to the table was almost crippling. The prince's hand was shaking so badly he could barely grasp his target.

A silver bladed knife.

…..

Thor was the one to find his brother; alerted by the thin trickle of blood seeping out from under Loki's door. He was the one to scream Loki's name frantically, trying to get his unresponsive sibling to wake up from where he lay just inside the doorway, unmoving.

There was blood everywhere. Thor wasn't very old and hadn't been on a battle field yet, so this was the first time he had seen such a sight – and for it to be his little brother rooted him to the spot in terror. Loki was lying on his side drenched in gore, which made it impossible to see what the nature of the wound was. Beside him was an unmoving bundle of bloody fur that Thor completely over-looked in his panic.

The only thing he was able to focus on was that Loki wasn't breathing…

"Oh my God!" Tony's knees buckled and it was only Loki's quick reflexes that stopped him from crashing to the ground. "Jesus!" His head was pounding in the warning sign he usually had before a migraine came on.

"Are you alright?"

"Oh God, not really…"

"You did ask."

"Yeah, yeah, I know…" Tony sank to his knees, despite Loki's guiding hand on his arm.

"Tony, are you alright?"

The man was pale, looking like he was either going to faint or throw up, and Loki was alarmed to see that he was shaking. The trickster knelt down infront of him, hands going up to cup Tony's cheeks.

"Look at me Tony. Do you need me to get Dr Banner?"

"No…No, I'm good…Oh my God…"

"I'm sorry, I did not think it would affect you this badly…" Loki trailed off as Tony looked up to glare at him.

"You didn't tell me that you were practically dead on the floor! Blood? Yeah. Pain? Yeah. Dying? That wasn't on the cards!"

"Dying?!" Clint obviously didn't know what Tony had just seen, but the inventor's reaction made it clear that it wasn't pretty. He looked to Loki for answers.

"I was fine, Tony, look at me; you know I was fine. I'm here and fine."

"That was not fine!"

"Well, no it was not. But it became fine. I survived, Sleipnir was okay, everything worked out alright in the end."

Tony nodded slightly, taking a few deep breaths. "Next time warn me about near death experiences!"

"Of course, sorry."

"Good." The man wiped a hand across his forehead, sitting back on his heels. "How did you survive that? You looked so young. I mean, I know you said you were the equivalent of a teenager, but still!"

"I survived because Thor managed to get the healers to me in time. They were able to resuscitate both myself and Sleipnir." Loki glanced over at his son, who – along with Evie and Bruce – was completely oblivious to the conversation. "As for age; well as I said before I was at most the equivalent of sixteen. Possibly younger, it is hard to say. Maybe about Evie's age?"

"Jesus!" It was impossible to imagine Evie going through something like that. Not telling anyone, not asking for help or anything. The flash of a silver blade and gush of blood as an amateur performed a caesarean that they had only ever read about in books. It was horrifying.

"How does so much bad shit seem to happen to you? It's getting a bit unreal."

"Again; I am half a million years old, Tony. That is a damn long time for things to happen. If a human can achieve an extremely eventful life, I think it should be more than possible for an immortal."

"…Fair enough." Tony managed to grin. "Still; that was pretty awful."

"Indeed; that is why it is ranked as pretty much the worst experience I have ever had."

"Yeah, I can get that now." Tony looked at Sleipnir with new appreciation. "Still; good job. It's more understandable now why you freaked out over the next pregnancy."

"Precisely."

Clint obviously looked like he wanted to ask about that; since he knew nothing about Loki's other children other than Evie, but didn't get the chance when Bruce came back to join them. The scientist was beaming, his notebook tucked under his arm and the pen tucked behind his ear.

"This is amazing! His musculature alone is worthy of several journals, and the fact that he can talk! Wow! I mean; a horse with…telepathy is it? Whatever, it's amazing, he's amazing!"

Loki couldn't help but return the infectious smile, obviously filled with pride for his child. "He is indeed amazing. And he never lets me forget it either."

"How did he develop? Were his mile-stones more equine or Aesir? Jötunn. Sorry, Jötunn."

"You really are a scientist through and through." Loki waved off Bruce's slip of the tongue without issue. "His mile-stones were more of the equine persuasion, but very delayed. Most foals are on their feet within an hour or so of being born; Sleipnir took two years to stand unaided and another three to learn to walk."

"That's…wow, that's a long time. He was five before he could walk?" Bruce was already adding down more notes in his book. "Wasn't that a bit tricky? I mean, being a horse as well as being disabled?"

"I coped; and he learnt in the end. I don't think I have ever considered him as disabled before, but he did display delayed progression…Huh. I have a disabled child."

Tony snorted. "Look; I know she's not the brightest bulb in the box, but that's no way to talk about Evie!"

"Tony! That is crude and not funny!"

"It was hilarious and you know it."

Loki's glare made it clear that he didn't think so.

Over in the field, quite a way away from them, Evie leaned on Sleipnir, her head barely coming up level with the top of his hips.

"Do you ever feel that you're being talked about?"

"Oh all the time." Sleipnir picked at a few blades of grass before glancing over at the three Avenger's and Loki. "But I imagine that Dr Banner is trying to consolidate some theories he has."

"Yeah, he does that a lot. You should have seen his reaction when he found out I was part alien. So many blood tests! I was lucky Dad talked him out of an MRI!"

"What's an MRI?"

"A machine that you lie inside and it produces images of what you look like inside. I could explain the physics behind it, but I don't know if you'll understand."

"Remind me to be completely condescending towards you too at some point, little sister."

"Will do!" Evie nudged his leg playfully. "Hey, I've got a question."

"Only the one? You amaze me."

"Oh my God you would get on well with Jarvis! Look; it's about that film last night; you know, Les Miserables?"

"Oh yes, I liked that one, it was unusual and the songs are catchy."

"Yeah, well, it's set in France, and there were occasional lines in French. At least, there were meant to be; only I understood absolutely everything. What's up with that? I can't speak French! Even my Spanish is rudimentary at best!"

Sleipnir glanced at her and made a noise that could well have been a snigger. "You travelled on the Bifrost, yes?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there you go then. You have been granted the power of Allspeak. You will be able to understand and speak all languages."

"Huh. That's rather cool. It would be nice if people told me these things."

Sleipnir nudged her. "You do not sound very excited about this idea."

"Oh believe me, I am, it's just got to the point where there's so much going on that a Babel Fish in my ear is hardly the most astonishing thing I've had to deal with these past few weeks."

"A fish in your ear?!"

"Pop culture reference. Don't worry about it." She patted Sleipnir's neck. "Shall we go and see what the others are talking about?"

"Do let's."

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWM

When Thor returned that afternoon he and his friends had taken out an animal that to the humans looked like a giant elk, and promptly informed everyone that they were going to cook it outside. It was possible that their description was meant to be an Aesir form of barbeque, but they made it sound more like a bonfire.

Evie was way too happy about this prospect, mostly because Thor had insisted that it became a celebration of sorts and this meant fancy clothing. Having brought nothing in the way of formal wear to Asgard, Loki had quickly turned one of her scruffier t-shirts into an Aesir dress and she was delighted.

"Look! It does the poof thing if I twirl!"

Loki looked to Tony for an explanation. "Poof thing?"

"You know, when you spin and the skirt swings out into a perfect circle around you? It goes 'poof'."

The trickster smirked. "Voice of experience?"

"Raising a little girl for fourteen years. I can also apply nail polish, use hair straighteners and put on eyeliner."

"Critical survival skills no doubt."

"Of course, how do you think I'm still alive?"

Evie spun again, letting the layers of silk settle around her. "I feel fabulous! Totally like a Disney princess!" She pretended to fan herself.

"Aren't you technically a princess?" Tony asked.

"Huh?"

"Well," He indicated to Loki. "Prince, therefore," He pointed back at the girl. "Princess."

"Really?" Evie spun to face her mother, looking hopeful.

Loki smiled sadly. "I am afraid not. You were born out of wedlock." If he had been expecting her to be disappointed, he was surprised when instead she lit up.

"You mean I'm a bastard?! Cool! No more Evie Stark; you may now all refer to me as Evie Snow!"

Tony ran a hand down his face with a groan. "Great, just when I thought we had seen the last of the Game of Thrones jokes. One; you are still a Stark, and two; please don't use bad language."

"It's not bad language! It's a technical title. I'm a bastard." Evie folded her arms with a smug grin.

"Loki, back me up here; I don't want her swearing. The term is 'illegitimate'." When he didn't get a reply Tony rounded on his partner. "Well? Looking for some support here!"

The prince shrugged hopelessly. "I cannot; she is correct."

"What?"

"We are in Asgard, the term is still bastard here. If it is anything, Sleipnir is one too."

"…I am not having everyone talking about our daughter as a bastard!"

Loki held his left hand out and inspected it closely. "Oh, look at that, how strange; no ring. She's a bastard."

"Oh har har, look who's mastered sarcasm. She is not a bastard!"

"There is not much you can do about it Tony!"

"Watch me try! It's a derogatory term and has connotations that I don't want associated with my little girl!"

"It is cultural terminology and our little girl happens to think it is hilarious!"

"Uh…yeah, I really don't mind Dad…"

"I mind! I am not having my daughter called something like that!" Tony didn't really raise his voice when he got angry, but he was definitely beginning to get that icy cold tone that meant he was seriously pissed off. "It's…it's archaic!"

"Welcome to Asgard! We are the dictionary definition of archaic!"

"Well Evie is not from Asgard! She's human!"

The girl backed up towards the wall whilst Loki rounded on her father with a snarl.

"She is not human! Evelyn is half Jötunn and you would do well to remember that! You cannot truly be getting this riled up by a single instance of cultural difference! Of all the things that could have upset you, and it is the simple fact that people call her a bastard?! Grow up Tony!"

"It's a derogatory term and I'm worried enough for her as it is! Don't think I haven't heard people talking about her – I had no idea this was a problem too!"

"The only problem here is your way of thinking! For Norns sake you are making a fuss for nothing!"

"It is not nothing! I am trying to stand up for my daughter!"

"Our daughter!"

"Well since I'm the only one who's actually been around to bring her up these past fourteen years forgive me for being a little over-protective!"

It was a low blow, way below the belt and Tony tried to catch the words even as they were leaving his mouth. Loki's expression said quite clearly that another window was going to be imminent in Tony's future.

"Oh yes, what a neglectful parent I've been! How awful of me to not to have been involved in her life!"

"Loki…"

"You know what, Tony, maybe if you did not want bastards running around you should have worn a fucking condom!"

In the ringing silence the two men glared at each other. Loki's hands were balled into fists and Tony had his arms crossed across his chest, both with equally furious expressions.

Evie cleared her throat.

"Uh, wow? You guys are dicks, I hope you know that. Seriously, like, grade A dicks." She looked disgusted.

Tony spared her a glance before shaking his head with a growl and running his hands down his face.

"Yeah, whatever, fuck this, I'm going to go talk with the other humans." He turned towards the door.

"So you are just going to storm off? Really mature, Stark."

The man responded by gesturing over his shoulder with his middle finger before leaving. Loki waited until the door slammed shut again before sinking onto the edge of the sofa with a groan.

"Well…that was a side to you I haven't seen yet. To be fair, I haven't seen Dad flip his shit that badly either. Not good."

"Don't swear."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuckity shit!"

"Evelyn!"

The girl folded her arms with an attitude that could only have come down through Loki's genetics. "What? You guys can behave like toddlers and I'm suddenly not allowed to swear? Yeah, no. And you're not allowed to pull the condom line on Dad either – condoms are everyone's responsibility and if you didn't want kids you should have thought of it too! Accidents happen, and result in bastards, apparently." She narrowed her eyes. "You could have just aborted me!"

For a long moment mother and child simply stared at each other. Loki was still sat on the couch, so he was looking up at Evie who stood directly infront of him – splendid in her Aesir dress.

"How could you say that, Evie? Of all of the options available at the time, that was the one thing I would never, could never do." Loki's voice had softened, anger turning to hurt as the blame was levelled back at him. "No matter the circumstances or situation, the thought never even crossed my mind. Never."

"It would have made your life easier."

"Darling, you are my life. None of this, none of what has happened would have been worth it, if not for you."

Evie's fierce expression was crumbling as the softly spoken entreaty hit home. "Well, you and Dad are still dicks."

Loki managed a small laugh. "I dare say we are; and I cannot see that changing any time in the near future. But you have to remember; we do not yet know how to work with each other. We have been apart seven years, and did not have a stable relationship before that – we have never really had to deal with differing opinions."

"Apart from that time you decided you could rule the planet and he didn't agree."

"Well, yes, apart from that, and that ended in a fight that destroyed large parts of your father's tower." The prince held a hand out to his daughter. "By all accounts I believe your father and I are going to fight a lot, although I think we can safely say that nowadays it will not result in trading blows. But never ever doubt that you are the absolute centre of both our worlds. No one could ever wish for a braver, stronger, cleverer, more incredible daughter than you."

"Really?" Evie accepted the hand and fell down on the sofa next to him, wrapping her arms tightly around her mother's waist.

"Really." Loki returned the hug equally tightly."

"I don't think I like it when you guys fight."

"I did not particularly enjoy it either."

"Are you going to go after him?"

Loki looked towards the doorway, then shook his head. "No, I will speak to him later. Let him cool off first."

"Did you really throw him out of a window once? He always talks about that as a big argument, but I could never tell about the window thing if he was telling the truth or not."

"Oh it was the truth alright. We were on the floor with the landing pad that removes his armour."

Evie pictured the height of said floor and winced. "And you were sure he would survive?"

"Not in the least. But we were at war at the time, and he was the type of person to have a trick up his sleeve so I was not surprised to see him fly straight back up."

"Huh." Evie smoothed down her dress' skirt absentmindedly. "Well, I'm glad you two sorted out your differences in the end. At least, up until you squabble like children."

"My dear, are you telling me off?"

"Yes! Consider this your first warning. Next time I'll take away TV privileges."

"I am not entirely certain what that means, but it sounds quite terrifying."

"It is, so be warned." Evelyn stood back up and spun again to admire the twirl of her new dress – it was quite clear she was in love with it. "Is my hair still alright?" The plaits Loki had put in that morning had survived the wind-swept fields quite well, all things considered.

"Your hair is fine and you look beautiful." Loki levered himself up off of the couch. "Come, let's go and see if Thor needs our help. Have you ever butchered an animal before?"

"Nooo….."

"Well, no time like the present I suppose."

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

To Evie's dismay her butchering skills were not actually required. When they arrived at the spot Thor had chosen for their mini feast the elk's carcass was already neatly cut up and a large haunch was spitted over the roaring bonfire. It was already growing dark, so the smoke kept away the worst of the insects that were beginning to circle.

"Evelyn; you look fantastic! Aesir clothing suits you!" Thor's boisterous greeting was accompanied by him picking Evie up and spinning her round like he always did.

"It's a bit cumbersome, but I could get used to it."

Thor turned a beaming smile on Loki that only dimmed marginally in confusion when he saw that his brother and niece were alone. "Where is Tony?"

"No idea. I am certain he will make his own way here."

The thunder God's eyes narrowed. "Another argument?"

"What makes you say that?"

Volstagg snorted with laughter. "Because you cannot manage a civilised conversation without starting a debate halfway through? Come on Loki; you can successfully have an argument with yourself."

"Sometimes it is the only way to have an intelligent discussion." Loki grinned sweetly at him. "Now, is there anything I can do to help?" That was more directed at Thor, but it was Sif who answered.

"I need to get the pelt off the rest of the carcass, can you smoke it once it's done?"

"I suppose so." He followed the woman out of the circle of logs that surrounded the bonfire as make-shift seats and over to where Fandral was wrestling with the large animal's hide. After surveying the scene for a moment Loki rolled his eyes. "Move."

Fandral jumped back with a yelp as the pelt suddenly pulled itself out of his hands and ripped away from the rest of the carcass. For good measure the skinned head of the elk turned and tried to bite him. He turned to Loki with a furious expression, only to see that beside the trickster Sif was doubled over laughing.

"Do you mind?"

"It is not like it would have really hurt you."

"Well, yes, but…but I've now got blood on my tunic!"

"For Norns sake…" Loki waved a hand and the blood vanished – as did the other random stains and rips that Fandral had appeared to have picked up at some point. "Better?"

"Huh." The warrior pushed past them, stalking back over towards the fire. It was just possible to see him inspecting a newly repaired hem and finding nothing wrong with it.

"Everyone keeps saying that you have changed, but in moments like this, I do not see it." Sif said conversationally as she pulled out her knife and began cleaning off the remaining ligaments clinging to the elk hide.

"No?"

"To be fair, I have hardly seen you to make a judgement."

"Fair enough." Loki began to help her scrape off the adhering tissue left on the pelt. After a few moments he became acutely aware that his companion was staring at him. "What?"

"So, how does it feel to be the Defender of Asgard?" Sif's eyes were alight with malicious glee.

"Oh Norns! I thought Evie made that up!"

"Not in the least. Everyone is calling you it." Sif's grin warmed to a more sincere one. "To be honest; it is a well-deserved title."

Loki almost dropped his knife. "What?"

She shrugged. "I do not think any of us believed you were capable of such power. You always seemed to prefer trickery whenever we saw you fight. To see you let go like that was rather awe-inspiring."

"And people call me the liar."

"Can you not take a compliment when you hear one?"

"I don't know, you have never given me one for me to base a reply off of."

The elk lay forgotten infront of them as the two deities faced each other. Sif seemed to have any number of replies lined up, but what came out was a far cry from the angry retort that was expected from her in such circumstances.

"Yes, I suppose that is a fair comment."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Yes, it is, but I did not expect you to agree."

Sif shrugged and went back to cleaning the ligaments off of the hide's legs. "Well, maybe that should change." She looked up at him and grinned. "After all; I don't want to be blown into smithereens."

"It would certainly put a crimp in your social life."

Sif laughed flicked a lump of bloody fur at the prince. "Indeed."

Loki ducked it with a chuckle of his own. "Do you mind?!" He flicked his fingers and the rest of the carcass cleaned itself. "There we go."

"You could have done that to begin with."

"I could have done; but watching you struggle with it was so much more fun."

Sif glanced at him sharply, but the mirth in Loki's eyes wasn't malicious. "You really do not have a brain-to-mischief filter, do you?"

"No, not so much."

"Maybe you should work on that."

"Are you criticizing the Defender of Asgard?"

"Call it friendly advice."

They grinned at each other – possibly in a way that they hadn't done since childhood.

"Hey, are you two coming over? This piece of meat is done already!" Fandral called out from the circle around the fire. "Hurry up or –"

"Or Volstagg will get there first." Loki finished for him. He held a hand out to help Sif to her feet. Normally she wouldn't allow such assistance form a man, let alone the younger prince, but this time she accepted without complaint – recognising the tenuous outreach for what it was.

"Hey, I saved you some crackling!" Evie held out a plate to Loki as he and Sif came back over. "I don't know what the seasoning is, but wow!"

"Far too much salt, if I know my brother's cooking."

"Oh Loki, you wound me." Thor couldn't quite maintain an upset expression though, far too pleased at having his brother with him to find fault with Loki's default snarkiness.

Loki sat down on one of the logs next to Evie, picking at one of the pieces of meat she had saved him. It actually wasn't bad at all. Not the best he'd ever had, but still good.

For a long moment it was just like the old days; Thor boasting about how he'd taken down the elk, Hogun nodding in silent agreement and the other two men adding in their own versions. Sif was sitting on the side-lines except for the moments when she would correct someone's over-exaggeration and Loki would interject with sarcastic comments as and when he could butt in. For once, though he reined it in somewhat with the insults. If it wasn't for the welcome addition of Evie, it would have been easy to believe they had gone back a few hundred years into the past.

At least until Thor stood up to greet the other three Avenger's when they turned up.

Evie left her seat to go and sit with Bruce, meaning that there was an empty space beside Loki, which was intentional on the girl's part. Sure enough, the space was filled not a moment later.

"Hey." Tony nudged his shoulder gently against the prince's. Loki barely spared him a glance.

"Thor is the one dishing out the food; go and annoy him."

"I'm not all that hungry."

"So why are you here?"

The man shrugged slightly. "Dunno. Want me to go?"

"The thought had crossed my mind, but you are here now; there is no sense in you walking all the way back."

"I wasn't intending to anyway." Tony stared at the fire, resolutely not looking at his partner.

"Fine."

"Is that how we're going to play this? 'Fine'?"

"It suits my purposes." Loki caught Evie's accusing eye across the huge bonfire and quickly looked away. "Our daughter is rather disappointed in us, by the way." He added quietly.

"I think I'm rather disappointed in us too." The man rubbed a hand across his eyes with a sigh. "This is messed up; we shouldn't be fighting like this – the day started off so well and all!"

The trickster's lips quirked slightly at that memory, but he turned his head in an attempt to hide it. "Be that as it may, you were out of line earlier."

"I was out of line?! You were throwing birth control jibes at me!" Tony hissed. "That was a low blow!"

"And questioning my lack of parenting wasn't?"

"I…Yeah, okay, yeah, that was pretty crappy of me."

"Only pretty crappy?"

"Fine, very crappy. But you weren't exactly sweetness and light either."

"Maybe not but…"

"But…?"

"But we will just end up having the argument all over again if we continue this train of conversation." Loki was wringing his hands together, and in response the flames of the bonfire twisted and flickered. "I do not think there is a solution to the problem that you have, so shall we just leave it for tonight?"

"Fine, whatever."

"And now you are the one saying 'fine'."

"Urgh. Shut up."

"You are so immature!"

"I thought you said this argument was done?"

Tony was met with angry silence, which he supposed was an answer in its own right. Looking across the fire he could see their daughter glaring at the two of them and shrugged at her. She turned away in disgust.

If anyone else was aware of the little family drama going on they didn't say anything. On the contrary Thor was eagerly regaling everyone with grand tales of their younger years and the various adventures they had been on. Occasionally Sleipnir's name would appear in the stories.

It was only when the God actively called his brother's attention that Loki began to pay attention.

"Brother, it has been so long since we were last sat all together like this, why not do some fire shapes for us?"

"Because I do not want to?"

"Come on Loki, it is always good for a laugh." Fandral added. He received a withering glare for that comment.

"What's a fire shape?" Bruce asked eagerly, still quite fascinated with anything vaguely magical.

"It is what it sounds; twisting the flames into images and pictures." Hogun answered, since Loki didn't seem to be forthcoming with a reply.

"Oh, like a TV then."

"I do not know what that is."

Loki rolled his eyes. "It is more like a highly skilled form of hand puppetry, at least in the execution. However, you are correct that the end result will look similar to what you would see on a television."

"Cool; can you show us?" Bruce's soft request was mirrored by Evie nodding hopefully and even Clint was looking faintly interested. At Thor's big puppy eyes Loki groaned.

"Alright." He placed his plate to one side and stared at the fire in resignation. "Any requests?"

"A bilgesnipe hunt!"

"No."

"That time we fought that group in Vanaheim and Thor-"

"No."

"Fine, surprise us then."

"Hmm." Loki stared at the fire again for a moment before raising his hands.

The roaring flames suddenly shot through with green and rather than flickering around wildly the whole fire-place seemed to be simmering, waiting for a command. The prince twisted his right hand and an image began to grow in the emerald blaze.

There was a man, entirely made out of flickering green, with an anvil infront of him. He had a broad chest, covered with a leather apron, and huge muscular arms. A bristly beard covered most of his face although what was visible was grizzled and scarred. He brought a hammer down onto a blade held in his other hand and sparks shot out from the force with a ghostly clang. The blacksmith repeated the action, then began to shrink as other characters appeared around him, fleshing out the scene.

A village. The blacksmith stood outside a tiny thatched forge, concentrating on the sword under his blade. There was another flickering man, ushering a herd of goats past a woman drawing water from a well. There was a small collection of wattle-and-daub buildings, possibly houses, with a Christian cross on the largest denoting a church.

The whole scene was formed out of the green fire, flames twisting themselves into the shapes of each little part. There were even occasional birds flying across the sky.

Loki glanced around at his audience and realised that they were all rapt with attention, staring at the little village idyll he had created. All but Bruce, who was continuously glancing between it and him, evidently not wanting to be surprised by anything. He caught the scientist's eye and winked with a dark grin. Understanding crossed Bruce's face and he nodded.

Evie screamed and the adults present all jumped violently, some swearing.

A longship prow cut through the whole scene, life-size and towering thirty or forty feet above them. A snarling dragon's head was carved into the top of the stern, spines rippling down the long graceful neck and sweeping along the ridged sides. Shields hung along both edges of the hull, overlapping banks of oars that ploughed through water that flickered and surged. A wave crested and lifted the whole ship before it came crashing back down, and everyone instinctively flinched back from the thick spray that didn't truly exist.

The sounds of the sea surrounded them; thundering waves, screaming gulls and the insistent chanting of the unseen sailors to keep the beat of the oars. It was almost overwhelming; a Viking longboat in all its war-glory as it sped across the raging sea. It was so real, as if it was truly there and not just an image twisted out of fire. Every detail was there, down to the harsh creaking of the wooden hull and snapping of the oars, barely heard under the cacophony of the waves.

It was a glimpse of a world long ago, and over far too soon as Loki slowly lowered his arms and the fire returned to its normal colour and died back to a small blaze.

For a long moment only the crackling of the flames could be heard before Clint let out a low whistle.

"Wow. That was…wow…"

"That was astonishing." Bruce added in a soft voice. Thanks to Loki's small warning he had been prepared at least for something that might make him jump, and had been able to keep himself calm, beyond the awe.

For once even the Warriors Three and Sif were agreeing that it had been something pretty special – apparently Loki didn't usually go that over the top with his little fire images.

"What was that?" Tony seemed to have forgotten that he was meant to be angry. "Was that a real event or did you make it up."

"It was snapshots of a little island called Lindisfarne. It was the first place in the British Isles that had a recorded Viking raid. I showed you the little village that once stood there and it's monastery, and then the ship that came."

"Did you see it personally?"

Loki grinned. "I was on the ship."

"Of course you were."

"There is no need to take that tone; I sided with the Saxons more often than not."

Clint tipped his head to one side in utter confusion. "Why? What were you even doing there?"

"Seeing history. And King Alfred was an interesting man so I thought it would be fun to see what would happen if he won certain battles that he would otherwise have lost."

"Did you do that a lot over the course of history? I know you said you were in World War One."

The trickster looked somewhat uncomfortable under the sudden scrutiny, especially with the other Aesir there. "I saw enough of human history, and of other realms too."

"World War Two?"

"I commanded a U-boat for the first two years."

Clint seemed confused for a moment before scowling. "Wait, what?! You were on the Nazi's side?!"

"Only for two years. When I heard about what was happening in Poland with the camps I left and joined the Allies." Loki didn't appear to see anything wrong in skipping sides' half-way through a war when it wasn't a war he was really invested in. "I flew a spitfire after that; more of a defensive role than sinking ships."

"You are one crazy son of a bitch."

"It has been said." The prince retrieved his plate and began picking at the meat again. When Tony snaffled a piece he didn't comment.

After the excitement they mostly all went back to eating. The haunch had been removed from the fire before Loki had started playing with the flames, so it wasn't burnt and there was more than enough on the one piece to go around. Well, not from Volstagg's point of view, but more than enough for normal people. It really was good cooking.

Thor and Bruce began a lively discussion on the merits of elk over other various fauna in the area, whilst Sif started asking Evie about her hobbies and such back on Earth. Loki and Tony still sat in silence, although it was slightly less strained than before.

Clint seemed to be somewhat mesmerised by the fire. Finally Hogun seemed to notice this and – possibly in some attempt at out-reach – asked him if he was alright.

"Oh, yeah." The archer grinned at the Aesir. "This just reminds me of when I was a kid back in the circus; we used to camp out like this in the summer. Good times. We used to play this game of jumping the fire. The winners were the ones who could do it unscathed, and the losers were the ones who couldn't jump high enough or far enough and ended up singed. You guys do anything like that here?"

Hogun actually cracked a small smile. "Not in the least, and I would not suggest that you start."

"Oh?"

Fandral leant forwards with a broad grin, having evidently been following their conversation. "If you jump over a fire with someone, you have – by law – married them."

"What?" Evie's startled squawk drew others into the conversation. "How can that be legally binding? Don't you have a ceremony or something?"

"Well, there is usually a ceremony put around it these days – and a celebration after of course – but the jump itself is what counts, the rest is just…well, set dressing really." Sif answered. "Why? Are human joinings so different?"

"Just a bit. We need to say a whole bunch of stuff infront of an official person, sign some papers and have witnesses and everything. It's all a bit involved really."

Sif looked intrigued. "What a complicated way of doing things. That's so restricted and regimented for a celebration. Does it not cause unnecessary work?"

"Well, if Bridezillas is anything to go by, people get really stressed about it all." Evie said with a shrug.

"How strange. It is much simpler to just have a fire and a witness."

"I guess."

Sif laughed. "You do not sound convinced. Well, I suppose we all prefer what we are used to. What do humans do for Yule? Do you even have Yule?"

On the other side of the fire Tony watched the two women interact as Evie tried to explain the concept of Christmas and Sif tried to get her head around the idea of a single deity. They actually seemed to be getting along rather well, especially once the topic of mistletoe and its uses at the two celebrations was broached. Evie didn't have all that many women to chat with, her own age or otherwise, so she was most likely enjoying the opportunity. Likewise Sif seemed grateful for another female to help break up the all-male gathering.

However, these thoughts were only background to the main concept currently circling his head.

"You look worried." Loki said softly. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…just thinking about something Sif just said."

"Oh?"

Tony took a deep breath, obviously stealing himself for something, before carefully rising to his feet. Looking down at his partner he held out a hand.

"Tony?" There was confusion in the trickster's gaze, not understanding why the man wanted him on his feet.

"Well, there's you, there's me, there's a fire, and there's a bunch of witnesses." Tony's smile was soft; worried and hopeful all at the same time. "What do you say?"

Loki's mouth dropped open as he stared up at the inventor. "What…?" He whispered.

Stark shrugged with one shoulder, suddenly looking extremely worried and insecure. "I mean, if you want to…? I want to. We were intending to be together until the apocalypse or whatever, so we could make it legally binding…Or not." He was already subconsciously withdrawing his hand, expecting rejection, but Loki quickly reached out to hold it.

"…Alright then." He said quietly.

"What? Really?"

The prince smiled, rising to his feet. "Yes, really." He nodded towards the fire. "Shall we?"

The relief was coming off of Tony in waves as he swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, yeah lets. Do we just jump, nothing else?"

"Just jump. And try not to set fire to your clothes."

"Yeah, of course."

"Thor!" Loki called over to his brother, and when he had the older God's attention raised his and Tony's joined hands. Thor looked momentarily confused before lighting up like a Christmas tree as understanding dawned and nodding. "There we go; one witness."

No one else seemed to have picked up on their intent and Tony wanted to keep it like that. "Okay, we good?"

"Go."

The single word was all the warning the man received. Loki's grip on his hand tightened and suddenly he was being pulled directly into the roaring fireplace. The heat was intense and there was a definite moment of deciding that this form of marriage was completely nuts. It was more of an instinctive survival move to jump rather than the romantic leap he'd had in mind after Sif's description. Maybe the Aesir managed to glide through the air like prima ballerinas or something, but Tony simply threw himself over the flames as quickly as possible in the hopes of not being scorched.

Humans definitely had the more romantic and classy ceremonies, despite the added stress, but you couldn't say that this way lacked drama.

Tony landed awkwardly and stumbled, but Loki's strong grip on his hand helped to right him. It had actually been a far shorter jump than he'd assumed, hence the overestimation and stumble, and looking down he was extremely pleased to see that he was still in one unsinged piece. As was his lover.

No.

Husband.

"Holy shit we just did that!"

Shimmering green eyes met his own as Loki laughed with breathless disbelief.

"I do believe we did." He was still holding Tony's hand tightly in his own, but covered his mouth with his free hand. "We just did that!"

"Brother! Tony!" Beaming was too small a word to describe Thor's expression. Beside him Bruce let out a whoop of celebration and Evie was jumping up and down screaming like a Directioner at a concert. The Warriors Three – ever ones to follow Thor's lead – were also clapping (well, Fandral was cat-calling, but that counts, for Fandral) and Sif seemed genuinely pleased as she applauded. Even Clint looked someway between amused and exasperated.

Loki turned to Tony, their hands still tightly locked together. "Rest assured; I am still highly annoyed with you."

"Fuck that, I'm still furious; now for God's sake seal it with a damn kiss!"

Who was Loki to deny his new husband?

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

"Are you worrying again, my love?"

At the sound of her husband's voice Frigga turned from the window where she had a view out over the dark fields.

"It is hard to stop worrying about a child."

"He is no longer a child Frigga, he has more than proved that."

Odin came to stand beside her, glancing out of the window, although there was little to see in the dark.

"He is always my little one. I do not care how old he gets; he will always be my little one."

"He blew up an entire species not two days ago – I think he can handle himself."

Frigga smiled slightly. "He is going to leave. Properly this time; he is going to leave us for good."

The Allfather was well aware that his wife occasionally had visions of events yet to come, but this sounded more like a grieving mother than an oracle speaking.

"Leave?"

"He will follow Stark, and Stark will not wish to remain in Asgard for much longer. You can already see that he longs for his own world. Evelyn too. And Loki will follow them."

"Midgard is not a million miles away, my love."

Frigga turned to face him, and Odin realised that her eyes were filled with tears. "I cannot see what is going to happen?" She whispered.

"Frigga?"

"The future is black. There is nothing there."

"What do you mean?" The king was gone, this was a concerned husband asking, taking his wife into his arms as she tried not to cry. "How can there be nothing?"

"I do not know; I have never had this happen before. It is darkness like I have never experienced." Frigga looked up at her husband. "Something is coming. Something terrible and there is nothing we can do."

"It may just be that something is interfering with your ability…"

"No. It is a tide of darkness, sweeping all over us all. Something is going to happen and it will destroy everything we know."

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Oh come on, you didn't seriously expect me to end a chapter on a happy note, did you? The plot thickens….