Hi there! Are you ready for some Arc-reactor-tinted fun? Not that Loki finds it very fun, mind you :p And I have an important announcement at the end of the fic so don't forget to read the end note ;)

PREVIOUSLY ON ASAF: With a smile, Anthony picked up a big cylinder with an attached wire that had the same diameter as the Arc reactor in his chest and that shone the same Tesseract-like blue, but it was so very long! How could something of that size be placed in his fragile mortal chest? Or worse: how could he intend to take out something that kept him alive and replace it, when that something was so unnatural, and so big, and so full of energy it shone like a miniature star? Loki eyes strayed to Anthony's chest again, and the only thing that gripped his heart was an overwhelming sense of dread and fear.

CHAPTER 16

"Whoa! Calm down, Loks, it's fine!" Anthony grabbed his arm, and Loki could finally, finally take his eyes off his soulmate's chest. "I've done this a thousand times before, no worries. I know it looks imposing when you've never seen it in its entirety before – Pepper was seriously worried and grossed out the first time too – but it's going to be fine. Come, let's do this sitting down, shall we?" And without letting go of Loki's arm, Anthony took them back to his desk and sat him in the only chair available.

"Okay, first things first. Can you use the reactor alone to change your skin? Because if you don't have to zap my own energy, that would be great. Here, take it."

Anthony pushed the Arc reactor into Loki's hands and let go. The moment he did, the raw magic, with its unnatural flow and metallic aftertaste, flared to life under Loki's fingertips – as if it was lashing out to him, as if the loss of its creator's touch made it more savage as a result. Even if Loki managed to control the bright and harsh flame of this energy source – which would be a challenge in and of itself – he doubted he could shape it in any complicated spell form, and he could definitely not use it for something like shapeshifting. Shapeshifting required magic in every cell of his body; magic that needed to be familiar to these cells, otherwise it would be rejected and the transformation would fail. Only his own magic signature would be accepted – the magic signature he shared with Anthony.

"Unfortunately, I cannot use this directly," he said, and Anthony sighed.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised. There was no way things were gonna be easy for once." Anthony plucked the device out of Loki's fingers, and the instant they both touched the Arc reactor, Loki's theory was confirmed – the energy calmed marginally and hummed in delight at its creator's touch. Magic remembered, it always did. That was why compatibly with an artefact was so important, after all.

Anthony leaned against his desk, half sitting on the edge of it, and put the Arc reactor down next to him. He bent over a drawer and took out a cloth and a bottle, which he then used to spray something all over the energy source, the tiny liquid particles shining in the blue glow. And then, after wetting his own hands and chest with whatever potion that was, he pushed against the defective Arc reactor and turned, and Loki's breath caught in anticipation and horror, his eyes so wide he felt as if they would never close again.

The round device was slowly being pulled out, further and further, revealing once again how deep it truly went; then, only a wire remained, the only thing keeping the energy connected to Anthony's heart, and his soulmate simply yanked it out with a snap and a grunt. Air rasped the back of his throat when Loki abruptly inhaled, and he was on his feet before he knew it, hands hovering in Anthony's direction even though he did not know what to do, mouth hanging open in silent protest even though he did not know what to say.

The old Arc reactor, dripping with pus, was set down on the desk, and a cloth was hastily swiped around the gaping hole rimmed with metal that Loki could not tear his gaze away from. In the depth of that cavity lay his soul-mate's heart, threatened by piercing shards that wanted nothing more than burry themselves further and end the life of a brilliant mind and a half-soul as cynical and jaded as his own. At every passing second Loki's own heart beat louder and louder in his ears, as if to compensate for the missing vigour in the one beating in front of him.

Anthony's hand stopped mid-swipe, and Loki's eyes darted to the piercing brown gaze of his counterpart – his soulmate, his life, his heart! – and the fluttering panic that crept up his every limb and settled like a stone in his stomach froze his whole body in place. "Stop that!" Anthony hissed, his lips curling up in a snarl just as much as his eyebrows slanted downward in a frown. "How am I supposed to concentrate when you throw so much feeling at me? Relax, will you? I've done this a bunch of times already, it's gonna be fine!"

Loki tried to take a calming breath while Anthony picked up the new Arc reactor and with the wire between his fingers plunged inside his own chest cavity – and how was he supposed to relax when he was so blatantly confronted to his soulmate's frailty, his mortality? How many times had the other half of his soul almost died before he did, how close had the man before him been to waiting for Loki in Helheimr for the next millennia without even knowing who Loki was? How many chances had the mortal taken that would have resulted in them never meeting before death, before they could truly know each other as they were, before they joined Yggdrasil again and changed forever? Loki's lungs were drawing in air and expelling it so quickly that it was as useful as not breathing at all would have been.

Anthony's hand was turning at different angles, obviously looking for something in the depth of his chest, and Loki was – embarrassingly – starting to feel a bit faint. The Midgardian let out a frustrated breath, sent Loki a glare, and rooted around some more. Suddenly, there was a click, barely audible and yet so loud it resonated in Loki's every bone, and the Arc reactor exploded with joy and life, the magic inside it singing so loud its delight to become one with its creator that Loki was almost blinded by the magical residue that permeated the air. With a turn and a few ticks Anthony's chest was whole again, and Loki took a step back and sunk into the chair, light-headed and fingers prickling and trembling.

"Well, that was fun! I'm so not doing that in front of you ever again."

Loki wanted to agree to that statement whole-heartedly – though, maybe not, what if next time something terrible happened? Even if he had known what to answer, it was not as if he could do it at the moment; he was still breathing horribly fast in something akin to panic. Which could not be right, because Loki did not panic! And yet his lungs were out of control; and yet his hands, so ugly, so blue, felt like they did not belong to his body; and yet his sight was blurry at the edges. He blinked, slowly, with difficulty, and after a few attempts his vision cleared enough to realise that Tony was now crouching in front of his chair, eyes wide.

"Jesus! Are you crying? Are you having a panic attack and you're crying? I mean it's more difficult to tell because I'm not familiar with blue-alien physiology in situations of distress, but the kind of crystal-snowflake-thingies that fell from the corners of your eyes were tears, right? You know, I gotta say, I'm awful when people are crying. I really don't know what to do, so you're kinda making me panic too – and for no reason whatsoever, might I add. I've got the whole Arc reactor exchange thing down pat, you know. I had to change reactors a lot when the damn thing was poisoning me, so, I think I can call myself an exper—"

Loki had been listening with half an ear while Anthony was rambling on and on, concentrating on his voice more than his words and getting his breathing back to normal – but that did not mean he had not heard what his soulmate had just said. "Poisoning?" he echoed, voice half-breaking because of the thickness in the back of his throat.

"Um… Yeah, no, that was before, with the first version, you know. Palladium. Not good for humans. But it's okay, I changed it to this one. This one is fine. I think. New element and all that, can't be sure at one hundred percent, but I've seen no evidence of problems, and in theory it should be fine, so…"

"In theory?" Loki was not 'panicking' anymore. Definitely not. That did not mean he was now calm, though. On the contrary, the anger he had felt earlier, when his soulmate risked his life for nothing, was coming back at an alarming rate.

"Well, yeah, duh, in theory! I invented this element! Or, well, discovered it, more like. On Earth. Because no way there isn't at least one place in the universe where someone else hasn't the same element as I do. But still, there is no other information about it here except for the tests I've done, so I only have theories, yes."

Theories! Of course Anthony would be so reckless and use an Arc reactor which did not harm him in theory! Which wasn't poisoning him in theory! Loki's hands curled into fists, and his teeth were bared when he spoke, seething. "Anthony! You—"

"No! No, not Anthony: Tony! Listen God damn it, for once in your life! Stop calling me Anthony! I'm Tony. Tony, okay? Just… Forget Anthony. Forget that fucking name. You got problems with your dad, well I had problems with mine, and the name is part of it. So please. Just, please. Okay?" His soulmate's voice had gone from a half-scream to a half-whisper, and Anthony – no, Tony, he should think of him as Tony – really looked, and through the bond, felt, exhausted. Just as exhausted as Loki felt after that convoluted Bifrost ride of emotions he had experienced since this morning. He sighed.

"Very well, Tony."

Antho— Tony's smile started shy and small, but shortly grew almost blindingly bright. "Great!" he said and grabbed Loki's wrist to pull him out of his chair, the normal-looking skin a stark contrast to the deep blue he was still wearing. Loki really wanted out of this skin, but when he thought about using Tony's magic so rapidly after his Arc reactor exchange… Perhaps his mortal body needed some time to adapt to the new energy source… Yes, Loki would grit his teeth and wait some more, just to be safe.

He was pulled – quite literally – out of his musings when Tony dragged him towards the elevator. "Let's get out of here and get something to eat! But first, let's put on some clothes, because there are a lot more guests in my tower than I initially wanted, and strolling into my own kitchen like this would be rather embarrassing." Even after the metal doors closed, the warm hand still encircled his wrist. And for some unknown reason, he was not averse to it.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

When the elevator doors pinged – J.A.R.V.I.S. just did that to annoy him, the bastard – and opened, it was not on his floor, but on one of the guest floors. It took Tony a minute to figure out why; but hey, he'd only had one cup of coffee, who could blame him? And it was only when Loki didn't move that he realised he was still holding the cool, blue-skinned wrist – had been holding the entire time! God, what had possessed him? He wasn't such a touchy-feely person anyway; sure, sometimes he patted someone on the shoulder or something, but he never held onto anyone! Even Pepper and him had barely held hands and stuff! Sure, Loki and him weren't holding hands, but it was close enough! Or, well, Tony was the one holding onto Loki like some lost child or something – and making it worse by not letting go! Fuck (almost)-caffeineless mornings and his stupid obviously-still-sleeping brain! Tony let go, and Loki walked out without a word, which, yeah, that was better than acknowledging… whatever that was.

"Er…" Loki stopped, but didn't turn around. The feelings of the bond were muffled again, and Tony couldn't distinguish whatever that strange mix of feelings meant, but maybe Loki was a bit embarrassed by Tony's weird behaviour – Tony was kind of grossed out at himself anyway, so he got that. He just continued speaking instead. "You can bring your stuff to my room later today, 'cause it looks like you're my official roommate from now on, so…" Loki's face half-turned towards him and gave him what looked like a curt nod before he continued towards his guest room. Just before the elevator doors closed, Tony added: "And don't wear something too fancy! We have cleaning duty after breakfast!"

Once he arrived in his bedroom, he made a beeline for the walk-in closet. He took out an old faded tee and his preferred 'tinkering' jeans – with a hole or two and stains that wouldn't come out – and quickly changed into them. He found his most comfortable sneakers among the rows and rows of shoes, and after he'd slipped them on, he looked the closet over again. A lot of clothes were hanging to keep them wrinkle-free, but the more casual clothes were folded. He hadn't been the one who moved his wardrobe – well, his New York wardrobe – into it, and there were some ridiculous shelving choices that he could change so that some room could be made. T-shirts had been piled up by colour, with only one coloured piled per square-shelving-space, but if he pushed them to the side a second pile could sit next to it easily enough. After a few pile displacements, three shelves were free for whatever clothes Loki had at the moment. He'd reorganise the rest later to make more room.

He came out of the closet – wait, no, no, no, he walked out of the closet – and went straight to the bathroom to get rid of that stubble that looked more and more like the beginning of a full beard, and brushed his teeth while he was at it. After a quick re-acquaintance with the joys of modern toilets – he wondered if Asgardian toilets were magical, or similar to human ones, or more like pot chambers – where he saved his bladder from an untimely demise due to explosion, he made his way to the kitchen and the promise of unhealthy sugary foods it held.

Bruce sat at the table, nursing a cup of tea, and Steve was standing in front of the stove, and when Tony walked past he smelled the delightful scent of bacon, and he spotted some eggs frying as well. "Morning!" he said cheerfully while he went straight to the coffee-machine.

"Good morning," Steve answered. "Would you like some bacon and eggs?"

"Uhm, sure, but isn't that your—"

"I've already eaten. This is for you and Loki. If you both want some. You can also eat those things you call cereal but that I really don't think contains much cereal."

Captain America was standing in Tony's kitchen, making him breakfast. This was crazy! First off, his father would be so jealous! Second, his child-self would have been over the moon. Third, there had been some kind of truce since the end of the battle against the Chitauri, but he couldn't say they were friends or something, right? So why was this happening? And last but not least, there was breakfast not just for him, but for Loki as well, a former very-recent-enemy, just because Tony trusted him – and yes, Tony trusted him. Which was actually the craziest thing of all; how could Tony trust anyone this quickly? He didn't even trust his fellow Avengers who had officially been allies since the start – well, except Clint, but that was a special case, having been brainwashed and all. Tony took a swig of his now full cup of heavenly brew to distract him from his disturbing thoughts.

Steve handed him a plate with toast, bacon and sunny side up eggs. "Do you know when Loki is coming?"

Tony concentrated on the thread connecting him to his soulmate and mentally followed it to its other end. "I think he's stepping into the elevator."

Steve frowned, puzzled. "How can you know that?"

"I can feel where he is. There is like a thread connecting us, so I always know where he is, and he always knows where I am."

"You seem awfully calm about that," Bruce commented. "I would have thought you would complain much more about the lack of privacy and the whole 'sharing your life with a stranger' thing."

"Yes, well. There is not much that can be done about it, so. I just gotta deal. Bitching about it is useless." And continuously complaining about his situation was even more exhausting that the whole situation itself. And anyway, he wasn't even sure how he felt about it right now. Except for 'weirded out'; that was a constant, no matter what. But at least he hadn't been bored for even a second since Loki's arrival on Earth – at least his soulmate was interesting.

Tony had put his plate and coffee down on the table and had walked back to the cutlery drawer when Loki stopped coming towards him; he had stopped just shy of the eating area. Why was he hesitating? Tony was torn between going to him and letting him be. He decided to give Loki a minute and let him come whenever he decided to come – if that meant his breakfast was cold, well. That wouldn't be Tony's fault.

Tony had barely lifted a forkful to his mouth when Loki tugged on the thread – not too hard, but still not as gently as he should have, as the jerk on his chest made his arm react accordingly and his piece of egg fell back on the plate. Tony sighed and put his cutlery back down. Why the hell couldn't the guy just come and eat like everybody else?

When he spotted Loki, his steps almost faltered. The alien was wearing a tee and sweatpants that clung to his body, showing off all his muscles and curves where it counted – how could the guy look so good in freaking sweatpants? Then there was the whole short-loose-braid-slung-over-one-shoulder situation that just looked sinful. And all that combined with the best ever skin colour in the universe… Yeah, his steps almost faltered from surprise when confronted to that vision, that's for sure!

It took him a moment to get his voice back. "What are you doing standing here? Why didn't you just come in?"

"What do you think? I'm still wearing my Jötunn skin!"

"So? I wouldn't mind if you walked around like this all the time, you know. But I guess it's kinda impractical in public. Lot of gawking. Still, the others have seen you like this already. I doubt they'll mind."

"I mind!"

"Yeah, I know. Not that I really understand it but…" Tony sighed. "Alright. Let's do it then. On the condition you do it in the kitchen where I can sit down and eat afterwards." And Tony left him no choice and just walked back to his seat at the table.

Loki hesitated in the doorway, just out of sight, and Tony tugged on their thread in annoyance; finally, Loki came out, and primly sat down next to Tony, where Steve had put down the other plate of food, with accompanying cutlery and a glass of milk – a glass of milk had also appeared next to Tony's plate, even though he had no intention of drinking that when there was coffee.

Loki ignored the food and turned in his chair, angling himself towards Tony in an obvious request – or rather, demand. Reluctantly, Tony obliged and turned his torso towards his soulmate. Loki put his hand over the Arc reactor, and the reaction was almost instantaneous. Even though their skin wasn't touching, their bond thrummed with life and he felt as if sparks were almost flying off of their connection. And that is when the draining started. It was subtle, but because Tony knew what was happening, he could feel it, some energy leaving him, going through his Arc reactor and into Loki, whose skin gradually lost its blue hue, and Tony followed the colour as it bled from his face and eyes.

And those eyes! From blood red to the greenest green – greener than an emerald, with more depth and shine than any gem – and every time it was like he saw them for the first time, and they were so green! They had to become greener after every transformation, there was no other explanation possible. This had to be some kind of spell, some enchantment, because those eyes got more surreal every time. The irises were rimmed with a darker green, like a pine forest surrounding a lush clearing full of bright green saplings, jade and olive bushes, and lime-coloured grass flecked with golden flowers – was that where the inspiration of a green and gold armour came from? – surrounding a slowly expanding pool of bottomless black in which Tony's very being was helplessly drowning.

And then Bruce cleared his throat.

Loki's finally thinking of Tony as 'Tony'! That took me a while XD

Who else wants to lose themselves in Loki's eyes? *raises hand like a Hermione Granger*

Spread the Luv!

LL

PS: NO CHAPTER FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKENDS! I'm gonna be on holiday (aka a place without much internet). So this fanfic's summer break is upon us! I should be back around the 20th ;) Good luck surviving without your weekly dose of Tony and Loki :p