Welcome to the Family
Chapter One
It was his hair that caught Tony Stark off guard. It'd grown since he last saw it, dark thick waves now going past his shoulder line. Of course, it'd been most of a year since Loki had thrown him through a window. Now, watching Loki pace through the room where the fight had taken place to stand in front of a window and stare out it, leaning on it and ignoring them, he was not happy with the situation.
So he turned his attention to Thor, who was standing at the bar leaning on it, watching Tony. Tony opened a beer and handed it to him without thinking about it. "So, I'm not going to argue you seeing your girl. I know you don't come here as often as you'd like so yeah. What I don't get is him." He gestured at Loki while rummaging for the best brandy he had on hand, which given his tastes was a particularly fine vintage.
"He is my responsibility and I do not like how he is being treated." Thor drained some of the beer, seeming strained.
"He's a prisoner." Tony found a proper snifter for the brandy then saw Thor's face. "Oh."
"They wanted to sew his mouth shut."
He couldn't even say anything to that.
"Eventually they put him in the quiet places. He hates it. But it's better than other options." Thor killed the rest of the beer in a long, drawn out gulp. "He needs a glimmer of hope, Man of Iron. I need a glimmer of hope. I'm hoping you're willing to provide that."
"You're worried about him." He was pouring the brandy.
"He hasn't spoken to me since what happened. Not a word. Nothing. He barely will even look at me. He is my brother."
"Ouch, but how can I help?"
"I need you to watch him while I visit Jane. You're good with people."
Tony capped the brandy and looked at him. "Have we met?"
"You know what I mean. You understand people. You can get to them and make them understand." He looked over at Loki, who was still pretending that Thor and Tony didn't exist. "Just take care of him for me. Make sure he eats plenty and feels some sun."
"And we're controlling him how?"
"Did you see the collar around his neck?" When Tony nodded, Thor held up a wrist bound with a silver cuff bracelet. "He has to stay within ten meters of this or it will cause him excruciating pain. This button here," he shifted a nearly invisible cover up with his nail to show a switch, "Does the same, if necessary."
"Oh. Wow. How does it work?"
"This is not the time. It's also draining nearly all his magic."
"Nearly all?" Tony lifted an eyebrow.
"He can still change his clothes as he desires. Will you do this for me, Man of Iron?"
"Yeah, of course I will." He watched the bracelet get removed from Thor's wrist, somehow, then clapped around his own where it fit snugly in spite of their size difference. He couldn't see how it was even removed. "Say hi to your girl for me."
"I will send your regards." He set the empty bottle down and crossed the room, talking to Loki. And Loki completely, utterly ignored him. Like he didn't exist. Tony didn't hear what was being said, but Thor's face was pained when he turned away and walked out on the balcony, spinning Mjolnir and gone just like that.
And Loki… changed. He didn't relax, exactly, but his shoulders seemed to sag a bit and he put his forehead to the glass. Whatever was going through Loki's head, he was glad Thor was gone.
"Jarvis? Add Loki to the headcount." Tony said after a long moment, watching the other man.
"Very good sir. Any special security measures?"
"Not at this time. Oh, and let's not tell SHIELD about this."
"Understood sir."
He picked up the snifter and walked over slowly, leaning his shoulder on the glass a few feet away and offering the brandy. "I suspect you want a drink."
Loki looked at him out of the corner of his eye, then pushed away from the glass and took the snifter, cradling it in his hand and looking at him. "You remembered, Stark."
"So you can talk." He lifted an eyebrow.
"Yes." Loki's voice hadn't changed. The shadows under and around his eyes seemed even deeper, his face maybe thinner. He'd gone through some shit, if Tony was any judge, and Tony had been through enough shit in his life he could judge it for the Olympics. "What was my brother telling you?"
"He's worried about you. Said you won't talk to him at all."
"He gagged me. That made his opinion of what I have to say more than sufficiently clear."
Ice cold motherfucker, Tony thought to himself. Damn. But Loki was turning, regarding the room he was standing in, and damn if it didn't make him a bit paranoid. And now he could see the collar, a carved silver ornate thing hugging Loki's neck tightly, a small green stone front and center that glittered a bit. He wondered if that was Thor's doing, making sure the restraint matched Loki's clothes.
"It is like I was never here, and nothing ever happened." Loki finally said.
"We finally finished repairs a few months ago." Tony watched him walk to the door and open it, staring outside, the wind picking up his hair.
"The city has moved on as well, I see." He sipped his brandy then shut the door. "Just like my brother. Bringing me to the place of my defeat to give me to one of those that defeated me, for babysitting."
"I don't like this either, but I'm going to try my damnedest to do what Thor asked." He heard the elevator chime, looking that way and seeing Bruce walk in.
"Hey did Thor come… by…" Bruce stopped short, looked at Loki, then at Tony. "I suppose the answer to that is yes."
"Correct. I'm taking him off Thor's hands until Monday, it would seem. What is today, Thursday?"
"Yes, sir." Jarvis said. Loki drifted through the room, still working on the brandy, a ship with no port.
"I take it we won't be telling Fury about this." Bruce said, rubbing his face with one hand.
"That would be a no. Hey. Loki." Tony continued when Loki actually acknowledged him. "I have work to finish up so I guess you're coming with us."
"I hardly have a choice in the matter." Loki replied, and finished the brandy.
The elevator ride was tense. Loki was watching them both but seemed largely disconnected from the world still, following them into one of the labs. When offered a chair he took it and spun it, sitting astride it and leaning his folded arms and chin on the back, watching them. Those fucking green eyes, Tony thought. No one had a right to have eyes like that.
"Jarvis where's my music?" Tony wanted to know, and his metal playlist came back up, loud enough Loki startled and stared around in confusion before returning to the pose he'd been in, watching the other two.
Once Tony and Bruce started talking again, time flew. Projected wireframes were brought up, concepts hashed out, math done. And Loki watched it all, barely understanding most. To be left in the care of Stark, of all people. And to just be ignored like he was another Midgardian! Still, being tuned out by these two let him watch them work. They nearly stood on top of each other as they talked and argued, the words flying by. To think this was the monster of a man who had come as close as anyone had ever had to ending him, small and vulnerable, dressed in clothes Stark had probably picked and totally comfortable with how hands-on, how close Stark was to him.
He was starting to wonder about the nature of these two when the music suddenly quieted and the voice from above spoke again. "Captain Rogers is at the door to the lab, sir, and he says he has pizza."
Tony grinned, taking off his VR gloves. "Well, let him in Jarvis."
Then Captain America walked in, not in uniform though and bearing several large flat boxes, the scent of food was following him. Loki's insides clutched painfully and he made himself ignore it. "Hi, Tony, Bruce, Pepper asked me to check in and make sure you… ate…" He trailed out, then cleared his throat. "Hi, Loki."
"Well met." Loki replied, not moving.
"Thor has a hot date." Tony said, already investigating the pizza boxes. "And we can take care of ourselves you know."
"And how many times have I found you both passed out in the lab?" Steve moved the boxes to a mostly empty lab table, lining them up and opening them up. "Besides, I'm not complaining am I?"
Whatever Tony's reply was muffled by a huge bite of pizza, Bruce coming over and helping himself. Once he'd swallowed, he looked at Loki. "Hey. Dig in if you're hungry." Loki stayed where he was a few minutes, then stood at stepped over. Same outfit he'd been wearing before, Tony finally realized. Not the horned helmet version, the version he'd been wearing in the helicarrier before all manner of shit had broken loose. He had to wonder about the significance. It was regal certainly but it looked like multiple layers. "You know, we're in a heat wave right now…"
"I shall endure." Loki was eyeballing the pizzas. "I do not understand the food of this world." That said, he picked up a slice and started eating, having watched the others do so enough he had the general idea.
"So Pepper told you to keep an eye on us? Again?" Bruce wanted to know.
"You should just start expecting it." Steve advised once he's swallowed, taking off the messenger bag he was carrying and setting it aside for the moment. "What are you working on?"
"It's green power related." Tony was already back at work, wearing one VR glove, the other holding his pizza.
Loki helped himself to a second and third slice to get the full spectrum of pizza that had been brought, returning to his chair. The food was heavy, greasy, hardly fit for a prince, but in his hunger he decided it would do.
Steve, meanwhile, had also grabbed a chair, pulling up one leg so the edge of his heel was propped on the seat. From his messenger bag he pulled out his drawing binder and a charcoal pencil, settling in and pondering the room before starting to draw, smiling to himself.
Tony tried to keep an eye on Loki as he worked, but the other man just wasn't doing anything. Just sitting there, that vague smile on his face now that he'd eaten, watching them all. This worried him because anytime Loki was happy to be there, things went to shit at a rapid pace. But, it was Stark Tower, and Loki was in some kind of magical collar, and they were in the high security labs.
Plus Tony was standing next to the Hulk. So, no real worries to be had.
And realistically, these were the happiest kind of moments for him, besides quality time with Pepper Potts. When he was working with Bruce and Steve was here too, because Bruce understood him and what he was talking about but came around it from an entirely different direction, and had no problem contesting his theories and it resulted in this delightful push and pull of the mind that had already resulted in many great patents and ideas for later. And Steve, who didn't even try to keep up anymore, just there and grounding, jumping into the conversation again if he picked up on it.
Then Loki stood quietly, still in the background, and picked his chair up, stepping across the room carrying it and parking it next to Steve, returning to the position he'd been in, straddling the chair with his arms and chin propped on the back of it, but looking directly at Steve and watching what he was drawing. Not saying anything, just watching.
"You have artist's hands." Loki said quietly, watching the charcoal drawing build on the paper. Steve had already turned the page a few times to get to blank paper. The current image was Tony and Bruce mid discussion, and he was picking out details in it, the crease Bruce got between his brows when he talked seriously, the curls in Tony's hair.
"Thanks?" Steve finally said, looking at him. Loki had his forearms laced on the back of his chair and his face resting on them, looking at his binder.
"I saw you looking at me earlier. Did you draw me?"
"Yeah, uh, I did." So he flipped a few pages back. Most of the picture was dominated by Loki in the chair, and along the top edge some details were drawn separately, focused on. Eyes, hands, collar, a note about the particular way the material he wore flowed and folded around him.
"I keep asking him for a piece for the rumpus room but he refuses." Tony said, watching this.
"Well, I suppose you do appreciate art, Stark, though this music does make me wonder." Loki looked at him. "It shifts rather wildly."
"It's metal music." He shrugged. "Thanks for being pleasant to him, Steve."
"He's a prisoner. Prisoners are supposed to be treated with respect." Steve turned back to what he was working on. "A fact people forget far too often."
"Tell me about it." Tony grumbled, then thought of something. "Hey, Loki. When your brother and I destroyed part of a forest by way of saying hello until Steve beat some sense into us both, were you laughing?"
"Harder than you can possibly imagine." Loki smiled, that strange satisfied cat smile that Tony remembered.
"Well. Fair enough." Hell, Tony thought, he would have been too. Nothing was funnier than the heroes fucking up. "Hey, Jarvis, we've been stuck in Metallica for a while. Put on some Sevenfold or something."
"Understood sir, Avenged Sevenfold, lining up Black Sabbath afterward." And the music changed.
And out of the corner of his eye, partway through a song, he caught Loki's foot tapping. And grinned.
Eventually they all left the lab, Bruce parting to go to his apartment and Tony heading to his, trailing Steve and, of course, Loki. At some point Loki had acquired one of the pizza boxes and was working on the last slice as they walked into the room. Tony had to wonder if they were feeding him on Asgard, then again, almost anyone in the tower could eat half a pizza without blinking. He'd seen Steve eat a whole one after a workout once, but Steve's metabolism was so high that wasn't much of a feat.
Then Loki had stepped to the bathroom, so Tony flopped in a chair. "Jarvis? Can you keep track of the distance between Loki and I and make sure I don't get more than ten meters away from him?"
"Easily, sir."
"Oh, so that's the trick." Steve said, rummaging in Tony's fridge and coming out with a Coke. "What do you think?"
"He can hear us, you know." Tony replied. "That said, if he's this behaved the whole trip it'll be easy. But then he's, what, God of Mischief or something right?"
"That would depend if we are talking about Norse mythology sir." Jarvis intoned.
"Alright, lay it on me."
"Loki in Norse mythology is a god or jotunn, or both. He's fathered several children. He is a shapeshifter, and while some records say he is a trickster god, others contest that."
"What, Stark, didn't do any reading on me?" Loki was standing in the doorway, drying his hands on a towel. The long jacket he had been wearing was gone, leaving what appeared to be a long sleeved top, a vest of some kind, and pants. All perfectly matching.
Classy bastard, Tony thought. Built radically different from Thor, too. Loki was lanky skinny muscle. "Apparently not enough but I remember something about you giving birth to a horse."
Steve about choked on his Coke.
"All of the legends and stories about me and you remember the one about Sleipnir." Loki did that smile and just barely shook his head, walking over to Tony's personal bar. "Can I trouble you for another brandy?"
"Help yourself, within reason. Don't drink the entire bar." Tony twisted on the sofa and leaned on the arm to watch him. Loki walked like he owned the place, which is exactly how he'd walked right before things had gone to hell. He suspected that was just how he walked. "And you have to admit that sticks out a bit."
"Are you looking for tips in stallion seduction?" Loki sounded profoundly disinterested with this topic of conversation, having found a decanter of brandy, he was now hunting for an appropriate glass.
Tony lifted an eyebrow, then looked at Steve when he dissolved into a fit of coughing, getting soda out of his windpipe. "You okay over there?" When Steve nodded, he looked back to Loki. "No, not as such, what do you think I am?"
"From observation, you're a hedonist."
Tony blinked. "Guilty as charged. And you are a shit."
"I was under the impression that you rather enjoy someone verbally challenging you." He was now pouring himself a generous drink, not bothering to look at Tony. Steve had gotten his drawing supplies back out, charcoal pencil dancing on the page nearly frantically.
He couldn't argue that, either. "You're considering this whole trip intel, aren't you."
"I'm considering it high comedy." Loki closed the decanter. "I will not pretend to begin to understand Midgard or Midgardians. I will also not pretend to understand how you won."
"Your first statement explains the second." Steve said. "Understanding your enemies is the key to defeating them."
"Frankly you made a bad bet when the odds were strongly against you." Tony said. "I also think you underestimated the scale of the problem. New York is, what, a thousandth of a percent of the world's population?"
"0.0012, rounded, sir." Jarvis said. "Those statistics might be old, however."
"Yet it was a small group that fought me." Loki swirled his brandy, staring into it.
"I don't know if anyone has told you this, but the powers that be were about to sacrifice the entire island of Manhattan and the rest of New York as well to take your ass out." Tony stood and moved to lean on the back of the couch. "Trust me. In the end, it was just a question of collateral damage. You're still really pissed about this."
"And you aren't?" Loki's gaze was sharp, staring at him over the glass as he took a sip.
Tony looked around, looked at Steve, shared a shrug, looked at Loki. "No. I'm not happy about all of it. Phil Coulson's death stung. But I got some of the best friends of my life out of what happened. Collateral damage was relatively minor, given the sheer damage done to some of the buildings. So, uh, I guess we all came out ahead in the game."
"Agreed." Steve said.
Loki's expression was sour, pacing back and forth and stopping to stare out one of the windows.
"Just say it." Tony said, moving to the bar himself and putting together a scotch on the rocks.
"I don't know why my brother brought me here. To show me I did nothing, I suppose. Not only did I do nothing but I'm in an even worse position." He leaned his forehead against his glass, a little off balance giggle escaping him.
"Former employers pissed?" Tony wanted to know, and saw the look. "Hey it was kind of obvious you weren't working alone."
"I don't see how it's any of your concern."
Tony did a wide armed shrug, one arm holding his glass. "Got something better to talk about?"
"I can just decline to talk, you know."
"Guess you're right." Tony went back to the couch, not facing the other man anymore. "What did Thor mean by the quiet places?" He didn't have to see Loki to know that the other man had turned to look at him.
"Hell." Loki's voice was quiet, and he took a long drink of his brandy, walking over and easily jumping the back of the couch and sitting in one motion. Tony watched because Loki moved like a gymnast, and also because it put Loki sitting about three feet away from him. "It's a never ending forest glade of peace and silence. No way out. Nothing to fight. The only pleasure is there are no storms."
"You have a curious notion of hell." Steve said, turning a page and starting anew, glancing between his paper and them.
"He doesn't mean the Christian hell, Steve." Tony replied. "Think of it more as the exact opposite of Valhalla."
"It is dreary, boring, infuriating and mind numbing. Nothing to occupy me but the thought that it was my brother's idea of protecting me." Loki glared at Steve.
"You would have rather had your mouth sewn shut?" Tony wanted to know, and was rewarded with a well covered wince. "Uh huh…"
"I do have something else to talk about." Loki pointed without looking, fingertip just short of Tony's reactor. "That."
Tony made himself not react, he was too busy being satisfied that he'd touched a lot of nerves. So this is what Thor meant, he thought, beat Loki over the head with Thor love Loki until it sank in. Like "Sloth love Chunk" but more Norse, and much better looking. "You didn't do much intel work before starting shit, did you?" He sipped his scotch.
"That's neither here, nor there, Stark. I'm curious why you always have it on."
"In. Always have it in." Tony made a length approximation gesture with his free hand. "It's that deep."
Loki looked at his hand, then his chest, then his hand. "Well that does rather underscore the question."
"Ask an obvious question, get an obvious answer."
"You need it somehow and are declining to tell me details." Loki finished. "You're not very good at this game."
"Hi, my name is Tony Stark, and I used to specialize in making explosions. Very large, precise explosions. Subtle is not in my dictionary."
Loki stared at him for a long moment, gaze so heavy Tony could almost physically feel it. "I think I perhaps would have liked you more before you changed."
"Doesn't surprise me at all. Behave yourself and we'll go blow something up on Sunday."
"… We have an accord."