Loki twists his tiny hands together as he waits for the cue to go on stage. The lights are bright and hot and make his cheeks pink. The parents in the crowd have been reduced to a dark, lumpy sea with the occasional click and flash of a camera.
Loki isn't wringing his hands because he's nervous. He's wringing his hands because he's angry.
"Move, servant," says Claudia—pretty, smelly, stupid little Claudia—in her squeaky voice. Loki looks enviously at her purple velvet dress whilst plucking at his own boring, brown tunic. He is supposed to be the princess. He is supposed to be the lead. He earned it. And all Claudia had to do was cry a few tears and just like that and his rightful part was taken from him.
He says nothing and glares. He's been reduced to her squire.
Stupid Claudia grins her gap-toothed grin and scales the steps to the stage and soon Loki hears her delivering his lines.
The finale comes soon. Loki's entire class goes up onto the stage to celebrate the princess and prince reuniting. Loki grabs his paper cone like the others, filled with dried flower petals, meant to throw at the happy couple. He's the squire. He has to shower them first. So he does.
He walks up into the burning light, up to stupid Claudia's grinning face and tips his cone over her head. He returns the smile.
Glue comes dripping out in a long, thick stream onto her fuzzy afro of hair.
The other children gasp, hands cupping over their mouths as they stare on in horror. His teacher's face goes white as death. No-one makes a noise. Claudia's joints lock up and she becomes very still, before her face screws up and she lets out an ear piercing scream.
Loki drops the cone onto her head and smiles at the crowd like his teacher taught them to do at the end.
His mother buries her face in her hands. His father goes red as a cherry, stream practically whistling from his ears. And Thor? Thor falls off his chair, holding his stomach from laughing.
—
It's halfway through Breakfast at Tiffany's when Tony realizes he likes Loki. Not as a business partner or an acquaintance, not even as a passing fancy, but truly like the kid.
To be honest, Tony doesn't care much for movies. Sure, he watches them—a lot of them— but he's never really got the whole 'buy advanced tickets to the underground indie Hayao Miyazaki-esque film' mindset. He likes his films with explosions and car chases and giant machine guns. He is, to put it bluntly, a boy.
Which is why he quickly found Loki much more entertaining than what was actually on the TV. They couldn't go through five minutes of one film without Loki shaking his shoulder and pointing out a particular piece of writing or directing that he should appreciate, or slyly whisper into his ear about some sort of trivia or rumour about the actors. If it wasn't that then it was tiny noises— gasping, cooing and tsking, hands over his mouth and heart. He must've watched these movies half a million times, but that didn't stop his exaggerated reactions. It doesn't bother Tony. It's adorable, in its own aggressive way.
Breakfast at Tiffany's is obviously Loki's favourite. He's mouthing the words without noticing and every time Audrey Hepburn appears on screen his eyes go a little glassy. They've been watching movies for hours now, and any formal stiffness between them has melted into casual comfort as the sky turns dark blue, lounging on each other with a bowel of corn chips and chocolate between them.
"Oh, look how she wanders in her pretty clothes, she's so elegant, ugh." Loki takes a chomp from his chocolate bar.
Tony doesn't know how someone can be so obsessed with another person.
"You wanna be like her?"
Loki's scoff is muffled as he chews. "I wouldn't set myself up for failure like that. Audrey is perfect."
"I thought you took pride in being perfect."
"Not as perfect as Audrey. She's another level of perfection."
Tony shrugs. "Eh. You could come pretty close."
Is he flirting? He might be. Loki is interesting. He simply wants to figure him out. And if he is, Loki doesn't notice, either on purpose or he's simply too enthralled with the movie. He makes an excited noise, pointing to the screen.
"I love this part. It's so quaint."
Tony looks up and his eyes grow comically wide. "Oh my god, they're having breakfast at Tiffany's? At last? Finally, I've gotten what I signed up for. Ok. We can stop the movie now. I'm good." Chips are thrown at him and he laughs. "Oh come on, give me a break. This is the fourth movie. I've been good."
"Hmmm," Loki narrows his eyes. "We still have Titanic to go." He continues watching the screen but Tony stares at him, head laying back on the stern couch pillows.
"So tell me, why movies? Why acting? What's so good about acting?"
Loki continues watching, but places a chip that was lined up against his lips down. "It's the…pretending. Becoming someone else. Something else."
"And what do you want to become?"
A small while passes before Loki smiles and snuggles against Tony's side. "Watch this part—it's hilarious. They're doing things they've never done before, you see? What's something you've never done before?"
Tony continues to stare at him before lifting his eyes to the TV. He shrugs, as much as he can with Loki's head on his shoulder. "Don't know. I'm pretty wild."
"Ever steal something?"
"Only the hearts of everyone I meet."
A laugh bursts from Loki and Tony decides he really likes the sound of it and makes it his mission to hear it again. Loki hits him lightly on the leg. "Be serious," he chastises.
"Fine. No. I've never stole something. I'm not an asshole. You?"
"Me? Yes, I'm very much an asshole. I used to steal things from my brother."
"Pssh," Tony scoffs, "that's lame stealing. Stealing from family is loser stealing. We're talking about hard-core stealing."
"Hard-core stealing?"
"Yes. So come on, you ever actually stole something?"
"No."
"There you go. Here we are, a bunch of losers."
"We're losers for not stealing?"
"Yep. Bunch of lily-white pansies. I'd probably get killed in prison on day one."
Loki nods, and Tony's not sure if he should be offended that he did. "What's another thing you've never done?"
"Get married."
That earns him a punch. "You may not be an asshole for stealing, but you are an asshole."
"I aim to please," Tony grins. Loki lifts off of him and gets to his knees, turning the movie down.
"To business then." Aw. He liked snuggling. He's a snuggable guy. "What have you gotten from these movies so far?"
The sound of static fills his brain. "Uh."
Loki grits his teeth and suddenly his face has gone hard again. "We have to have a plan by tomorrow. You need to know how to act."
Yeah. Tomorrow. Their mothers have already plotted an outing together to organise when and where to have the engagement party. To say they were eager would be an understatement of epic proportions.
Tony makes a careless gesture. "We're supposed to be breaking up, yeah? So I'll just act like an dick. You've already declared how good I am at that."
"No. Acting mean to each other will only make us feel more like a real couple." Loki gets to his feet and paces, fingers against his lips. He stops. "We need to act like a high school couple. Complete and utter bullshit."
"You want us to act…more in love," Tony says slowly.
"Too in love," Loki corrects. "Too touchy. Too giggly. What do you think when you see a couple who laugh and giggle and poke each other and never talk about anything serious?"
"Bullshit," Tony nods, eyes lighting up as he starts to get it.
"Exactly. I have to play the slutty, giggly fling and you have to play…you." Loki places a hand on his hip, looking around. "I should show more skin."
"You're willing to play the slut in front of your entire family?"
Loki rolls his eyes, waving a hand at him. "It's nothing new." Tony would give his left leg and an arm for those stories, but Loki continues talking. "Also, the engagement party. That's where we need to have our fight."
"Right."
Loki turns serious then, returning to the couch. "Tony, when we fight, you can't hold anything back. We need it to be real. We need to hurt each other. I won't be mad with whatever you say. What matters is getting the idea across. Ok?"
Tony swallows. He doesn't want to hurt Loki. He's hurt him before and his cheeks are still sore, thank you very much.
"Sure," he says eventually with an uncertain nod. Loki hums in approval, snuggling against his side once again as they continue to watch Audrey Hepburn try desperately to marry a millionaire.
When the movie does finally end, Tony smiles, turning his head to tell Loki what he thought about the film, only to see him fast asleep. Silently thankful that he doesn't have to sit through another one, Tony clicks the TV off, wraps the blankets around them and falls into a slumber of his own.
When Tony wakes, it's morning and a funny looking girl is crouched over in front of the couch, holding up her phone, taking pictures. His eyes shoot open. "Hello."
Her expression is nothing it should be—her face lights up as she pokes her head out from behind her phone. "Oh my god. Hi! I'm the roommate. Darcy. And you're….so much hotter in real life."
The compliment is the only thing his brain reels in for processing so he responds to that. "Thank you."
"You're Tony Stark, yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Wow," Darcy breathes, "that's a lot of inheritance."
"Go away, Darcy."
Tony jumps at Loki's voice. He looks to see his bed mate slowly pull himself out from his blanket cocoon, hair array and eyes red. Though Darcy lowers her phone, her brilliant grin never leaves.
"Babe!" she squeals, delighted. "You're finally getting some ass! And with famous people! With money!"
"Stark is simply an acting exercise," Loki says breezily, sliding off the couch and onto his feet. Tony's eyes bludge.
"Whoa, you're just gonna lay that one on her?"
"Why shouldn't I?"
"I think you're forgetting the definitions of 'secret' and 'con'."
Loki scoffs as he makes his way to the kitchen. "It's Darcy—she won't tell anyone." He stops mid step to look at his roommate with only the slightest hint of scold. "Darcy, don't tell anyone."
"Righto." She goes back to taking pictures.
"See?"
Tony's shoulders slump as well as his face. He hasn't had a drink in almost twenty four hours and he's really not in the mood to argue. "Whatever," he grumbles, pinching the bridge of his nose to try and alleviate the strain behind his eyes.
Loki hums in a fond sort of way. "Now. Come make me breakfast. I'm hungry."
So now Tony's cramped in that tiny kitchen, pushing around eggs and milk in a frypan whilst Loki and Darcy chit-chat, perched on the only two chairs in the room. He's put his sunglasses on to keep his eyes from watering at the sunlight streaming through the windows, and it somewhat works.
"So…you two aren't dating," Darcy says, looking at Tony sceptically.
"No," Loki says, sipping his coffee.
"But I can't tell people you aren't dating because in public…you are dating."
"In a way."
"But you aren't really dating."
"No."
"Because…?"
Loki shrugs, not looking at anything in particular. "Personal reasons."
And Jesus Christ if Loki is going to keep being this vague, Tony might just spoon his eyes out.
"Ohhhh!" Darcy suddenly says, loud enough for Tony's head to whip up. "I see what's going on here. 's ok, Lokes, whatever 'arrangement' this relationship is, I won't judge you. I'm actually really jealous." She looks to Tony, eyes suddenly narrow and dangerous. "Hey you." She points a finger at him. "Respect safe words, ok?"
"Wha—?" The wooden spoon slips out of his fingers and bangs against the lip of the fry pan before somersaulting to the ground.
"Stark!" Loki shouts, and suddenly Tony can smell the burning.
"Fuck shit fuck." He hastily takes the fry pan off the stove and chucks it onto the counter. No-one moves for a moment, until Tony takes his sunglasses off and looks at the shrivelled black mess in the pan.
Loki's eyebrows raise mockingly high as he examines and nods. "You burnt scrambled eggs."
Tony can't really say anything to that.
"…I can start again?"
"No, don't bother," Loki says, and Tony has to say, the tone hurt. He tried his best, honestly. It's not his fault no-one bothered to teach him how to cook.
Loki shoos him out of the kitchen. "I'll make breakfast, you go get me clothes for today."
Tony awkwardly stumbles in a direction he thinks Loki's room might be. "What do I pick out?"
"Surprise me," Loki replies, in a way that says 'I can't be bothered spoon feeding you right now' rather than 'I trust your decision making abilities'.
Tony fights the urge to roll his eyes and make a face.
"Psst." He looks up to Darcy, who points to a doorway. Tony gives her a strained smile and thumbs up before walking through it.
Dead ahead is a bathroom so he hooks a left. He comes to a door, dirty white with a Alfred Hitchcock movie poster on it. He'll take his chances.
He opens the door and steps through.
Holy. Fucking. Nerd.
He doesn't think he's ever seen so many posters in his life. Sure, he himself had a few car posters and that stupid picture of Albert Einstein with his tongue poking out in his room once upon a time, but this…
They're everywhere. They are climbing up the walls. Broadway shows, directors, Monroe, Hepburn, DiCaprio, Waltz, and is that…is that David Bowie? Of course. Of course it is.
He shifts through the room with a bemused smile until he comes to a large wardrobe. Pulling it open, he starts to rummage through clothes. Many, many clothes. He stops being picky after the first ten shirts he inspects and instead throws something together. If Loki doesn't like it, then he can just come and chose something that agrees with his impeccable taste himself.
When he walks back into the kitchen, Darcy whisks her head around and sets a bewildered stare on him. "You're a billionaire and you're just going to let your boyfriend keep torturing himself with minimum wage?!"
Tony is really starting to hate the amount of confusion this morning is putting him through.
"What?"
"Darcy, stop," Loki says from behind the stove. A serve of scrambled eggs and bacon is already on the counter.
"No. Look after your boyfriend. Loki, you're dating Tony Stark and you're due at Starbucks in three hours. That's fucked up dude."
"Oh, yeah." Finally, a conversation Tony is prepared for. "Loki, she's right, you don't need those jobs anymore."
"Don't I?" Loki asks, serving up another plate.
"No. You're fine. You don't need them."
"Oh? And what about after my assignment with you?"
Tony leans against the bench so Loki can finally look at him for what feels like the first time that morning. "Loki. You're fine. You don't need the jobs."
Loki raises an eyebrow at that promise, and after a second he finally gives him a softer expression. He smiles, if hesitantly, and returns to cooking. "Alright then."
"Fuck yeah! Welcome to the unemployed club. Only you have a billionaire. I don't. Hey Mr Stark can you shout me a McFlurry?"
"Sure."
"Yaaas."
Loki snorts as he gives Tony his breakfast, his sunglasses resting lightly on top of it. After eating Loki takes the clothes Tony picked out for him, looks them over and nods in approval. Tony feels his face grow hot with praise when Loki walks out in his loose grey turtleneck and jeans, even if he didn't wear the shoes he picked out.
They take the town car to the café their mothers have chosen to meet at and on the way Loki goes full business again. He lectures that they obviously can't act too out of character because they'll be around their own mothers, but this also brings about the opportunity to sneak ideas into their heads with side whispers and behaviour they'll know is off, rousing suspicion. Tony doesn't know about Loki's mom, but his wouldn't know an 'off' behaviour from Tony if it was served to her glazed and garnished on a plate by one of her top chefs in her mansion. His mother is sweet and he has no doubt that she loves him, but their relationship just isn't as intimate as a mother/son relationship should be. Same goes for the rest of his family.
Loki tells him he won't have to do much for Frigga to immediately dislike him. He dryly says thank you.
Soon the car pulls up to a pretty looking building and Tony opens the door to get out. He's stopped halfway by a hand bunching up his blazer. He looks over his shoulder to Loki, who is suddenly looking very discomforted, almost frightened, staring at the car seat.
"Hey, are you ok?"
Loki starts to gasp instead of breathe. Tony curses and motions the driver to give them a moment before ducking back inside.
"Whoa, hey, what…is this? Are you ok? Do you need anything?"
Loki can barely manage to shake his head in quick jerks, clutching at his chest.
"Fuck, ok." Tony flails his arms uselessly for a second before resting them on Loki's shoulders, rubbing, hoping the gesture is soothing. "It's ok, you're fine, we're…fine. It's just brunch. Brunch with moms. Nothing wrong. It's ok."
He continues to blather until Loki's breathing slowly evens out. Then, like whiplash, Loki straightens out of Tony's grip and briskly wipes his eyes, where tears were ready to spill over. He takes three deep breathes before combing his hair back. "Alright. Let's go." He pushes past Tony and climbs out the car.
Tony looks concerned, but doesn't say anything. He's honestly a little scared shitless about meeting Loki's mom too.
—
Loki's not scared, he's perfectly in control of the situation. It was barely a panic attack, a minor hiccup at best. He is fine, he is fine meeting his mother after all this time, there is no reason for her to threaten their plans, no reason for him to get so sentimental and emotional because if anything, he is completely unaffected by her presence because he is fine—
Loki clumsily rubs at his eyes as he scales the steps of the building. He hears Stark's expensive shoes clack on the pavement as he follows.
"Hey—are we gonna talk about what just happened?"
"No."
A flash goes off somewhere and Loki's heart leaps. Good. His eyes are red and he's frigid and tense (but he is fine) and Stark looks lost. Perfect press picture.
He is in control.
Tony grabs his shoulder but Loki—probably too dramatically, as always—throws it off him. He whirls around and gets in Stark's face. "Don't," he whispers. "There's paparazzi over there and we look like we've just had a fight. I'm going to walk away hurriedly now. You should wait a few seconds before following."
He should probably feel more apologetic than he does when Stark's pitiful expression grows more so and he leaves the poor man standing there. For a second Loki thinks Tony is finally going to stop putting up with his dramatics and leave, but he soon hears footfalls trailing behind him once more and his shoulders relax.
The café is lovely. It's a part of a high-end restaurant complex and the walls are curved and glass, like a giant fish bowel overlooking the streets. Few people are sitting at the tables and when Loki catches a glimpse at the menu prices he knows why.
Maria is sitting at a large table right up against the glass. She's wearing a fetching plum dress and black pumps, something most people would say is too racy for this time of day.
Frigga is nowhere to be seen.
Maria's brown eyes crinkle in glee when she sees them. Loki hopes his effort on his watery eyes haven't made them redder. She rises from her seat and waddles towards them; the dress she's wearing obviously doesn't give much leg room.
"My boys!" she greets, pulling Loki into a firm hug. Loki slips on an easy smile. "Oh I've missed you." She holds his face and ruffles his hair and Loki struggles to keep a pleasant expression. Thankfully her attention switches to her son. "Tony," she hugs him as well, "how have you been sleeping? You don't look too well."
"I'm fine, mom, I just had a long night." If his mother is trying to decipher what that could mean, it doesn't show. She's gone back to dotting on Loki, squeezing his hands as she looks at him.
"Loki, darling, I want to apologise for the dinner. Things got a bit out of hand and I probably had a bit too much to drink. It was quite the overwhelming day," she says with an awkward chuckle that she doesn't even try to make convincing.
"No, it's fine, it was a fun night." He tries to make his voice light.
"Hey mom," Tony interrupts, "who's idea was the big TV announcement on Sunday? Very classy, the way you didn't…tell me about it. At all."
"Anthony you know your father gets excited about the future and wants to tell everybody."
"He gets excited about my future?"
He gets a slap on the arm for that. "Stop. Today isn't about Howard, it's about you two." Her glowing smile is back within seconds. "You're going to have an engagement party! Isn't that wonderful? I remember my engagement party. You two are going to have so much fun." She leads them over to the table where they all sit down. "And then the wedding, and the ceremony…though I am disappointed I won't get to go bride shopping with one of you. The bride's dress is the best part, after all."
Loki smiles politely and tries not to feel Tony's heavy stare on him. Maria gazes lovingly at the two of them before perking up. "Should we order something? Loki, your mother said she would be a bit late. I talked with her on the phone the other day. She seems like….an interesting women." Tony doesn't do much to veil his snort. "But you know me, I'm going to delight in anyone with a British accent. You all sound so smart." She must've said something funny because she laughs then. "Oh, Loki, this is an exciting day for you, isn't it? Your mother mentioned that you two haven't seen each other in a long while." Loki's smile stays put.
"Yes, in almost a year."
"A year?"
"Since I've moved here."
Maria replies, but the words don't register. Loki is instead looking across the café to where Frigga has walked in.
His mother hasn't changed at all since he last saw her. Her clothes are woollen and creamy, her hair the same honeyed blonde lengths pinned up in some exquisite design behind her head and her face still glows when she sees him.
Loki stands. The table is silent until Maria waves and calls out. "Hello Frigga!"
Loki can't really bring himself to wait until Frigga finally reaches the empty chair waiting for her, so he steadily walks across the café, passed the tables and chairs and glass displays with little frosted cakes in them until he's swept up in her arms and is enveloped in the smell of perfume and wool. Frigga hugs him back hungrily.
"Hello Loki."
It takes all the strength in the world for Loki not to burst into tears then and there.
Instead, he pulls back and suits an appropriate smile. "Hello mother." She smiles and strokes his cheek.
"I've missed that face so much. How is your acting going?"
"Great."
"I'm glad." She smiles, then grips his chin softly. "I am beyond angry at you right now, Loki. But let's wait until a better time for that talk. Maria! Good morning!" She releases him and glides over to the table and Loki takes a small moment to swallow and stare.
Tony stands when Frigga approaches him and Loki's mind quickly snaps into work mode. He darts forward and twirls around to Tony's side, lacing his arms around his shoulders. "Mum! This is Tony Stark. We're getting married." His cheeks tint pink when he gives a big smile, despite almost choking on his words. He feels Stark's throat bob and back stiffen in absolute fear as Frigga stares at the two of them, eyes just slightly bulging. Loki inwardly cringes. But it's not like he ever had his parent's respect and pride in the first place.
"…Oh," Frigga says, finally breaking the awkward silence. "Tony, yes, I've looked forward to meeting you." She's schooled a neutral expression back onto her face and reaches out her hand. Tony quickly shakes it, clearing his throat.
"It's very nice to meet you."
"Mm."
Another small pause before Maria gets tired of waiting. "Well! Why don't we all sit down and eat something?"
For the next twenty minutes Tony and Loki pick at their food and sip at the their drinks whilst their mothers frantically plan everything—from who is attending their engagement party to how many rose petals should be on their bed in the hotel room.
They seem immersed, so Tony leans over to whisper in Loki's ear. "So what's the plan?"
Loki's throat tightens uncomfortably, because honestly, he doesn't really know. He's still somewhat flattered that his mother is so passionately on board with a wedding she so obviously has no faith in.
"We get information about the engagement party so we can make our own plan accordingly."
Tony nods. "Yeah, that makes sense. So…should I start acting obnoxious so your mom hates me yet?"
"Oh, no, she already detests you."
"Wha—?"
"So what do you two think?"
Both boy's heads whip up. Maria and Frigga are smiling at them, awaiting an answer.
"I'm sorry?" Loki asks.
"With the venue," Maria smiles. "I think The NoMad Hotel would be lovely."
Tony shrugs. "Sure."
"Great, I've already booked it but I wanted to make sure. Now, for the guests, obviously the family is invited, and the President of the industry and then there's Jan and Linda and of course the Chancellor—"
"Loki, who do you want to invite?"
Maria looks offended at being interrupted, but Frigga only looks at Loki. Soon everyone does. He squirms.
"Um…I suppose…there's…" No classmates. No workmates. No 'person I meet on the streets' mates. If he's being honest with himself, Stark's the only person he's been remotely close to this past year. And money's the only thing that's making them so. That is…depressing.
He's taking an embarrassing long time to answer, so he says the only true friend he knows. "I guess Darcy Lewis, I could invite…" The answer surprises him. He's never thought about Darcy and his relationship that much.
Maria waits for him to say more, but Loki withdraws from the table. He glances a look at their faces and almost bursts out laughing. Maria looks disturbed at the lack of friends yet Frigga seems to brim with pride over the fact that Loki even has one.
"Darcy Lewis it is," Frigga says, writing it down on her pad of paper with a smile. Maria stutters a bit, like she wants to say something, but the words never get passed her tongue. In the end she just smiles as nicely as she can and types the update into her sleek Stark pad.
More details are added to the engagement party and Maria locks them all in with tap on her phone. The engagement party is officially debuting on the 1st. Two days from now.
"Now, my husband and I are willing to pay for half of the—"
"Don't be silly," Maria says, waving a hand, eyes never leaving her phone. "Howard's agreed to take care of everything."
Frigga finds the gesture offensive. "No, it's quite alright—"
"Frigga, please, we're obviously far better off, just leave the expenses to us." She smiles like she's offered some great charity and continues tapping on her phone.
Loki's mouth drops open. Tony suddenly looks very interested in his chocolate milkshake.
To his mother's credit, Frigga doesn't kill her. Her smile barely tightens as she puts away her check book. "How very generous."
Loki thought he'd have to orchestrate their two families into hating each other. He should've put more faith in his mother.
Conversation quickly turns to the bachelor party.
"Loki, your brother wants to throw you and Tony a bachelor party. Of course, he wants something crazy and over the top so he wants to take you two to Las Vegas."
Las Vegas. Loki doesn't think he's ever been less surprised in his life.
"But his schedule is extremely heavy—Thor, my eldest son, he's in college on a football scholarship— so he only has his Christmas holidays to do it."
"Cool," Tony grins "What a cool guy." Loki groans and buries his face. He really doesn't need his fake-future husband favouring Thor over him, like all the others.
"Um," Maria says, "I'm afraid that won't work, we all have to be back in California by Christmas so I want the wedding to be before then."
Loki chokes on his breath and almost falls off his chair. The wedding before Christmas? That's less than three weeks away. He glances at Tony who looks just as unnerved.
Frigga bristles. "Then Thor is only free on the 1st. We can't have two parties in two different states on the same day," she chuckles at the ridiculousness of the idea.
"Well then we'll just have to have the engagement party. Your son can come to that." Maria starts to pull out her phone, clearly happy with the decision.
Frigga is about to slap someone. "My son wants to do something nice for his brother and his fiancé and I won't take the opportunity away from him, so I am very certain we can come up with a few date, even if your Christmas plans have to be pushed back a little."
Maria looks positively scandalized. Sensing that the possibility of a brawl was very much adamant, Tony perks up.
"Hey, why don't we fly to Vegas Friday night? Mom, we'll just cut the engagement party a little short and then take the jet. There, all solved."
Maria's ears are practically glowing red, but before she can answer Frigga gives a delighted nod. "Very good, Anthony, that sounds like a great idea." She jolts the new plan down on her notepad. "And don't worry Maria, we can pay for this one."
Maria's face finally cracks into an ugly smile as she murmurs an agreement.
