Hi. It's been a long time since the last chapter. I do apologise. Life – as in days upon days of visiting a loved one in a hospital and loads of other stuff – got in the way, even though this chapter was, like, almost finished. And then I also had to reread my whole fanfic again (something I do not necessarily enjoy) to be sure I wasn't contradicting myself because, wow, it's been more than 130k and even I can't remember all the crazy stuff I wrote XD So anyway, here you finally have an update!

PREVIOUSLY 0N ASAF: Loki felt hesitancy tickle his mind, so he continued with; 'DO YOU REALLY WANT ME TO TELL HIM YOU'RE AVOIDING ME BECAUSE WE HAPPENED TO SIMULTANEOUSLY PLEASURE OURSE—' Loki grunted as another hard yank shocked his torso.

'NO'. Loki waited for some other rejoinder from Tony, but the feeling that Tony was not going to say anything else crept over him. Right. He turned his eyes to Rhodey. "If you wish to know more, you will have to ask Tony, since it seems he does not wish me to tell you." The Midgardian looked at him like he was completely mad. "Now, if you'll excuse me." Loki turned back to the piano, swept his fingers over the damaged keys, and started to play.

CHAPTER 32

Tony watched Rhodey leave the music room before he shut down the display on his computer screen. Why did he interfere? Why show Loki he was spying on him? Ugh, he was such an idiot! And worse, he called him out on lying to Rhodey when he'd pretty much been just as not-forthcoming. And even worse, he'd pretty much asked Loki to tell his best friend what was wrong with their relationship. Because he himself was too embarrassed and too chicken to explain anything!

And Loki had been right too – why would he want Rhodey to know about his… wanking habits, anyway? They were best friends, sure, but there were things you kept to yourself, you know. And a little me-time is exactly the kind of thing that he didn't need to discuss with anyone but his lovers. You just almost right-out discussed it with Loki, his mind oh-so-helpfully provided. That doesn't make Loki my lover, he shot back. And really, he shouldn't argue with his subconscious, because of course it answered: not for a lack of wishing for it. Which, no. Just, no. He hadn't wished for anything of the sort. His subconscious had decided to transform his little fantasy into a Loki-lookalike, not him. You, me, it amounts to the same thing in the end. Ha, yeah, no thank you.

Tony sighed when the elevator doors opened and Rhodey stepped out – again. This was exactly what happened earlier this morning. Only, Rhodey hadn't known anything then and it had been easy to brush him off. Now he looked a bit pissed, and he had that dog-with-a-bone glint in his eyes that meant he had no intention of getting out of the workshop until he got the answers he was looking for. That's what you get when you choose your friends in the military. They're scary and stubborn as Hell. Yes, thanks. That was so helpful. God, his subconscious was an idiot. Did you just call yourself an idiot? Tony planted his face in his palms and stayed there until Rhodey sat down in his previously vacated chair with a sigh.

"So. I met your other half. He's even weirder than you."

"He's blue," Tony mumbled in his hands. What does that have to do with anything? Nothing, that's the point! Deflect the blow when you can't evade it.

"Yes. He's an alien. That's not what I meant. He's a prince too. You've got an alien magical prince for a soulmate. These kinda things only happen to you, don't they?"

"You're free to take my place any time."

"Do you really mean that?" Tony straightened and met Rhodey's narrowed gaze. "Would you really, if you could?"

"Yes."

Rhodey's brows lifted. "Really? You're not just saying that because your angry? He's your soulmate."

"Still yes."

'WHOS THE LIAR NOW,' Loki decided to send then.

Tony growled and sent a hurried 'SHUT UP'.

'WHY? ARE YOU IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONVERSATION?'

'YES.'

'IT DIDNT STOP YOU EARLIER.'

'I KNOW. NOW SHUT UP.' A bubble of mocking laughter was launched at him over the bond, and he retaliated with a wave of irritation.

"You too?" Rhodey said with a sigh, and Tony was pulled out of his inner little world.

"Me too what?"

"You go all blank and glassy eyed and you twitch from time to time. Don't tell me that soulmate telepathy thing is giving you both seizures."

"There's no telepathy." Not yet anyway, thank God. "We were talking." Now Rhodey looked at him like he was crazy, and he couldn't blame him; he definitely could have phrased that better. "No telepathy, we can't send each other thoughts or anything. Feelings, yes, thoughts, no. And we can kind of pull on the bond between our souls, which now that I think of it sounds terrifying and really fucked up, but we can use the Morse code to talk to each other."

"You send each other magical telegrams."

"I guess you could call it that."

"I thought you two were, like, avoiding each other or something. But you're actually talking to each other."

"Okay, talking isn't the right word. We were arguing."

"About?"

"Lying. To you. We can feel when the other is lying and earlier I kinda told Loki to stop lying to you, so now he returned the favour."

"Uhuh. I see. And are you gonna follow his advice?"

"He didn't." Good thing that was too.

"You're Iron Man, though. You're a hero. You can go find yourself a pair and tell me what the fucking problem is with last night and this morning or whatever, because I'd very much like this stupid drama to be over."

Ooookay. Rhodey was getting pissed. Not good, that. "Well… I don't want to tell you." There. The truth in all its glory.

"Yeah, no kidding."

"I don't think you want to hear any of this anyway."

Rhodey snorted. "Tell me something I don't know."

"Loki's magic is the same green as his eyes are when he looks human-like, and mine is the same colour as my Arc reactor."

"And that's a problem how?"

"Oh, no, that's not a problem, that's actually fascinating. I was just telling you something you didn't know, just like you asked."

Rhodey slumped forward and put his elbows on his knees, head held in his hands. "Shit, Tony, can you just stop bullshitting me for once in your life?" he told his knees. Tony might have felt a twitch of guilt at that. He had a tendency of not telling Rhodey much of the truth, had he? And you call him your best friend? He was a shitty human being, he knew that, thanks.

"It's kind of personal." Rhodey lifted his head and glared at him. Okay. "I mean, really personal." The glare didn't waver. "This is going to make us both very uncomfortable." Nope, still no change. Or if there was any, it was the narrowing of Rhodey's eyes. Well, then. "Okay, I want you to imagine just for a second that you have a soulmate now, some stranger who can feel your feelings and who knows when you lie and who can tell where you are at any time and who you have to touch for a few hours a day otherwise you're gonna feel really horrible."

"Holy shit, Tony—"

"And now I want you to imagine that you were in a relationship just before the whole soulmate shitstorm hit you, and in that relationship things were going good. You know, you were getting some on a regular basis. And now you're not. And your body hasn't caught up to that yet. But since your soulmate can feel what you feel…"

"Okay, okay, wait. Don't tell me you're—"

"Shut up I'm getting to the good part. But don't worry, I'll be brief. Yesterday evening I learned how to shield my mind from Loki. It was about time because the bastard could shield his all along and didn't teach me how to do it. But we also learned we can only use the shielding one at the time, in turns, and there nothing we can do about that apparently, so it's shitty, but whatever. I woke up earlier than Loki, as always, so I grabbed the shield. And I woke up with a morning wood—"

"Tony—"

"— and instead of trying to get it to back down on its own, which is definitely not cool, I thought, why not actually wank off now that I can shield my mind."

"Tony, TMI, man!"

Now that Rhodey didn't want to hear it, Tony felt much more like sharing. "Turns out I'm not as good at multitasking as I thought and the shield slipped. As in, Loki could feel exactly what I was doing. But it's not just that. Turns out, since I wasn't shielding anymore, I could feel very well what Loki was doing. And he was wanking off too."

"Tony!" Rhodey said, his face in his hands and exasperation in his voice.

"And to top it all off, we orgasmed at the same time. I'm pretty sure that feeling his lust made it all the better. Best wank of my life. And the worst."

"Fucking hell, Tony! Please shut up? You know I don't want to know the details of your sex life. I've told you so many times!"

"Yeah, but you said you wanted to know what our problem was. And the problem is one hundred percent linked to my sex life."

"You could have just said that and I would have backed off. Geez." Rhodey rubbed his face with both hands before looking at Tony again. "Okay, so that's the problem? You both can't have a sex life?"

Unless it's with each other, his subconscious found funny to remind him. "Yeah. I mean, we can't even wank."

"Can you please stop saying it like that?"

"I doubt saying 'masturbate' makes it any better."

"It doesn't. Just stop saying it, I get it." Rhodey rubbed at his face again and sighed. "That's fucked up, man."

"Yeah. Fuck. That's the word. Also something I can't do anymore, by the way."

"Yes, I got that, thanks. But… Isn't it weird? Or maybe it isn't. I mean, in a weird, soulmates-exist-and-you're-magically-bonded way. He's your soulmate, right? You're supposed to be together, aren't you?"

"Not you too! Fate has already thrown us together with a note saying; there you go, your partner in everything for life and beyond. Don't tell me you also think we're meant for each other and all that shit, Rhodey!"

"Come on, Tony, you know I don't mean it like that! I mean that, God or fate or whatever you wanna call it. They must have made the whole feelings-bond thing because they expected soulmates to want to be together, right? Like, together-together. So it would make sense that it would be impossible for you to, like, cheat on each other. That's maybe why you can't lie to each other, and why you can't hide your feelings from each other, or why you have to stay close. Maybe God never expected anyone to not want this."

"Yeah, well, whoever or whatever thought up the whole soulmate-thing was an idiot and an arsehole."

Rhodey didn't add anything to that, so Tony turned back to his screen and fiddled with his new gauntlet design. He needed something that, for one, would let him get his fingertips out without entirely disarming his hand, in case he needed to touch Loki for some magical exchange, and retaliate some kind of attack a second later. He should also work on his torso plate later, so that if needed, Loki could both get to his skin and his Arc reactor at the same time. That would require a special undershirt, and in case he wasn't wearing said undershirt he needed his armour to rip his clothes to free the skin around his reactor without ripping the skin with it.

He'd also been working on an even smaller version of the miniaturised Arc reactor, so he would need to reopen that side project so that he could have a back-up source of energy connected to the suit. Some of these modifications would be easy. Others not so much, given the current design of the Mark VII. He needed to rethink the whole bracelet thing anyway. They were a bit bulky, not fashionable at all, and the fact he only had the bracelets that the suit could use to align itself made the process slower. He didn't feel like wearing the bracelets day and night. He would have to think of something else. Maybe he would just need to let the Mark VII be and start thinking of a Mark VIII instead.

"Hey Tony. It's almost two."

"So?"

"Lunch, Tony."

"I'm sure you can find the kitchen."

"Tony. You need to eat too."

"Not hungry. So no."

"Don't give me this shit. If you're too scared to go up because you might run into Loki—"

"I'm not scared! I'm not hungry, that's all."

"Ah, I see. Lovesick. I get it."

"Oh, fuck you," Tony said as he rolled his chair back and stood up. He ignored Rhodey's smirk – the bastard thought he'd won that one – and strode purposefully to the elevator, Rhodey on his heels. When they swept into the kitchen Tony made a beeline for the coffeemaker while Rhodey explored the fridge.

"There are no labels. Do any of these belong to someone specific or…"

"They all belong to me. The food was paid with my money. It's my fridge. It's all mine, so you can take whatever you like. Just don't ask me what's what, I haven't got a clue," Tony answered over the sound of grinding coffee beans. "D'you want coffee too?"

"Yeah, that would be great."

"Well the machine's here. J.A.R.V.' will make it for you if you put a mug under it." Tony grabbed his mug full of heavenly black goodness and went straight for the table.

"Sir. Coffee does not constitute lunch. You didn't have a proper breakfast either, so I would strongly advise that you eat something. And by something, I mean more than the tenth of a piece of toast like you had this morning. Sir."

J.A.R.V.I.S., you traitor!

"Don't worry J.A.R.V.I.S., I'll make him eat. I don't care if I have to shove it down his throat myself," Rhodey said with the menacing certainty that only a Lieutenant-Colonel could exude. Funny how Rhodey would never have dared threaten him like that when he was just Tony Stark, weapons manufacturer. When he became Iron Man their friendship levelled up, and after Rhodey became War Machine, well. What Tony wanted didn't matter anymore, it was all 'no, you have to do this for your health' and 'no, you can't do that, don't be such an arsehole'. Pepper had had the same evolution. It was great, but it sucked too.

Tony reluctantly stood up and shuffled to the fridge. He sighed dramatically when he saw the amount of takeout boxes that didn't have anything written on them and you had to open them to find out what was inside. Tony really didn't want to have to do that, so he just grabbed one and shoved it in the microwave. Surprise lunch. As long as he hadn't thrown leftover sushi in there, it should be something edible. He wasn't that hungry anyway.

He leaned against the counter while he waited, arms crossed, and watched Rhodey fumble in front of his sophisticated self-made coffee machine while his A.I. rattled out more coffee options than available in most cafés. Different roasts, different amounts, varieties and forms of milk – Tony could appreciate a good cappuccino on stormy days. He refused to stoop so low as to add sugar and syrup options though; that was just an insult to all that was coffee. People could go ruin their perfect cup of amazing brew on their own after his machine made it. The poor result would be solely their fault.

Tony was back at the table with a fork planted in his salmon teriyaki – the smell was appealing but his stomach still churned somewhat uneasily. He inhaled his coffee instead and Rhodey finally joined him with food of his own – some kind of pasta and pesto dish. The mix of scents from both their foods kind of clashed, but Rhodey seemed oblivious to it while he stirred his cappuccino with a spoon; unfortunately, Rhodey had quite the sweet tooth.

Rhodey gestured with his fork. "You're not leaving the table until you polished that off, so you better get started."

"Yes, Mom," Tony snarked with an eyeroll. He unstuck his fork from the rice and started flaking the salmon, twirled the teeth through the overcooked brown sauce and poked at the slightly dried out green onion thingies. The force of the glare that was aimed at him intensified, and with another eyeroll he heaped up a mix of everything on his fork and theatrically put it in his mouth. There. He'd eaten something. You happy? Rhodey's eyes slid off him and the mound of pesto-smothered fusilli started to diminish.

They were half-way through the meal when it happened; Tony was about to force another bite down his throat when Rhodey suddenly sprayed a mouthful of cappuccino all over the table, AKA also in Tony's perfect cup of goodness and his already close-to-abysmal food. "Gee, thanks. That sure is gonna help me finish this," Tony said while Rhodey coughed up a lung.

Cough–"What the"–cough–"hell"–cough, cough–"it's"–cough–"salty."

Tony eyed Rhodey with confusion. "What on earth are you on about?"

"The coffee!"

Tony frowned even more. His coffee machine made perfect coffee, and there were certainly no salt options on there. And if it wasn't his machine's fault, it had to be Rhodey's fault. How did you mistake a salt with— A sudden burst of mirth rippled across his mind and, well. That explained a few things. Mixing up the salt and sugar shakers. A classic college-level prank, that. He was suddenly reminded of the fact that Loki had been referred to as a trickster, and if this was the first prank he pulled… They were rather lucky. He'd have to start double checking everything from now on. Who knew what kind of things could happen with a magical prankster.

Rhodey was still coughing, pulling a hilarious face – Tony bet he'd put loads of 'sugar' in his coffee, too, given his sweet tooth. That would teach him to ruin a perfectly good coffee. Tony swallowed his smirk and threw a doubtful look at his friend. "Why would there be salt in your coffee? J.A.R.V.I.S., is the machine defective?"

"Not at all, Sir. The coffee machine is working at peak efficiency."

Tony frowned and picked up Rhodey's mug. As he brought it closer to his mouth Rhodey uttered a half-choked 'don't'. Tony held in his snort – he wasn't stupid, thank you very much. He placed the mug against his lips and, mouth tightly closed, pretended to take a big swig. He swallowed loudly for maximum believability, smacked the mug back down on the table and coughed a few times, grimacing. "God, that's sweet! I don't know how you stand it!" he said. He straightened and threw Rhodey a dubious look. "I don't know how you could even taste salt in there if there was any. Did you just burn your tongue or something and pretend there was something wrong to save face?"

"What— No! It didn't taste sweet at all…" Rhodey picked up his mug again and sniffed at it, frowning. Tony licked his lips in anticipation of the next dismayed cough but that was a big mistake – God, that was salty all right! Did he put half the shaker in his mug or what? Rhodey only sipped his coffee this time – unfortunately – and had the good sense to spit the horrible concoction back out into his mug. He did make that awesomely disgusted face though; Tony would have to get J.A.R.V.I.S to make a poster out of it or something. A giant one. One that would fit on the side of his building, for instance.

"It still tastes like salt to me," Rhodey informed him when he'd managed to get his face back under control. The frown had remained, though. "How can it taste sweet to you and—"

"It's more like, how can it taste salty to you? Seriously? Salted coffee? Do you really expect me to believe you?"

"I'm not lying, I'm—" Rhodey stopped himself short and his eyebrows went from spelling 'confused' to 'angry' in bold, size 72 Arial font letters. "Tony!"

"What? It wasn't me!" Tony whined as Rhodey looked ready to lunge forward to choke him, and the sniggers that trickled along the bond became a stream of peals of laughter.

"Then who the hell was it if it wasn't you?"

"Take a guess? He's tall and dark and mysterious and they call him the Trickster God?"

"You're saying Loki—"

"Pin-pon! That's correct, Colonel James Rhodes. That brings your score up to zero, and one for your opponent, Prince Loki Friggason."

"Right, and what about you? Pretending that there's nothing wrong with my drink."

"There's plenty wrong with a coffee full of sugar."

"You know what I mean. You two worked together. Are you just pretending to be fighting too? You looked pretty chummy over your telepathic telegramming too."

"Hey, I didn't know anything about this, okay? This prank was all Loki. I just… found the opportunity to get you to drink more of it, and I took it. I didn't work with Loki on this."

Rhodey eyed him suspiciously for a full half minute before he finally sighed. "Okay. I'll believe you."

"Gee, thanks. I see trust abounds today."

"Well you can't blame me, this is totally something you might do." Tony shrugged in response; he couldn't deny that he'd pranked people quite a bit when he was much younger and bored. Or not so much younger and bored. "Maybe God wasn't completely wrong about you two as soulmates, then," Rhodey added, and Tony's jaw tensed up. Why would one little thing like pranking justify a fucking soul bond— The faint feelings from the bond went dead as the shield concealed Loki behind lock and key. Tony ground his teeth together. Sure, prissy princess, go hide! Fuck this fucking soul bond and the fucking confusion it brought! Tony didn't know what to think anymore.

Rhodey sighed loudly before he walked over to the sink and emptied his mug. "You don't have to glare like that. Sorry, okay? The soulmate thing sucks, I get it. But you can't change it, so you'll just have to find a way to live with it. And resolve your problems with Loki."

"There's nothing to resolve."

"How come I don't believe that?"

"Because you're a suspicious bastard?"

"No, because I have a 'Tony is still hiding something' sixth sense."

"Remind me, where was that sixth sense when I made you believe there was no salt in your coffee?"

"I'd turned it off because I thought I wouldn't need it again today. It's an exhausting sense to use, you see." Rhodey put his mug back under the machine and picked up the saltshaker, sniffing at it suspiciously before putting a few crystals in his palm and licking them up. Obviously satisfied that it was sugar, he shook it over his mug like a lunatic, probably getting sugar all over the counter and floor. Tony sighed. Surely you didn't need to be a genius to realise you could unscrew the cap of the damned shaker. "So, spill."

Damn Rhodey and his instincts. "I thought we'd finished this conversation that you didn't want to have." Tony certainly didn't want to talk about it more than he already had. Even that had been way more than he'd wanted to share – though it had felt good to vent a bit and see Rhodey squirm. You squirmed way more than he did, his subconscious supplied helpfully. Tony told himself to shut up.

Rhodey sat down again and his eyes said it all – yes, he wanted to have this conversation even though it made him uncomfortable. Sometimes Tony really hated Rhodey. Rhodey blinked meaningfully. "I'm waiting."

"Good for you."

"I'll stalk you all day until you spill."

God, he really, really hated Rhodey sometimes. "I don't want to talk about it. It's fucking embarrassing, okay!"

"Didn't stop you earlier, did it?"

Well he hadn't exactly planned to say anything earlier either, so that didn't count. If you tell him he'll leave you alone. Yeah, right. If he told him, Rhodey would never leave him alone, more like. Or you'll feel less confused because you finally told someone, his mind insisted. Tony wasn't sure it was worth it.

"Whatever it is, maybe I can help," Rhodey added.

Tony snorted. "Yeah, right. You can't do anything about—"

"About?"

"I— J.A.R.V.', you're not showing Loki any of this, are you?"

"Of course not, Sir." There was an indignant tinge to the A.I.'s voice.

"But you were showing him Rhodey's coffee incident."

"Indeed. However, I have stopped broadcasting six minutes ago."

"No excuses then," Rhodey said with a smirk.

As if Tony not having an excuse was going to stop him from doing whatever he wanted. If he didn't want to say anything, he wouldn't say anyth— "It's Loki," he heard his voice say. Fuck off, subconscious bastard! You're insulting yourself again.

"Yeah, it's Loki. What about him?"

Ugh, that not— "It's not him. It's me," Tony tried to explain. Seeing Rhodey's sarcastic eyebrow, he realised that it didn't explain anything at all. And he sounded like a romcom cliché to boot. Tony's sigh was heavier than Thor's weird magical space hammer. "What I mean is— The thing is— It's just that—" Raaah, fuck this! "I like Loki. No, that's not what I mean. I don't like him. Or maybe I do. I don't know. He's like, sometimes he's like a great guy, and sometimes he's a total bastard, and most of the time he's like totally weird and so smart and also so stupid and—"

"You mean he's like you?" Rhodey oh-so-rudely interrupted.

"Shut up, that's not what I mean. What I mean is, it's confusing. I think we're like, maybe friends? But we're also soulmates and it's so uncomfortable and complicated that I don't know. And then there's the weird magical stuff, and the soul bond stuff, and the feelings and the lie detecting thing and I feel like I know him and then I feel like I totally don't, and it's just— I don't know! There's that pull every time I look him in the eye and I know it sounds totally corny but it's like falling, and at the same time it isn't, and I'm sure this whole soulmate thing is fucking with my mind! I mean, he's a guy!" Tony said, waving with his arms for emphasis as he turned back towards Rhodey. Huh. Since when had he stood up? Whatever. Pacing while you bared your goddamn soul was totally what people did in movies so why the Hell not.

"He's a guy," Rhodey repeated.

"Yeah. Well, no, not really, I mean, he looks like one and like, he is one, but biologically he's a hermaphrodite. Like, male and female at the same time. And maybe that's what got me all fucked up I don't know. But, I mean, he's still a guy. And I don't. I mean, I don't like guys that way, you know?"

"And that's okay, Tony."

"Yeah, no, it's not. It's really not. Because I kinda, maybe, like Loki that way?"

"Er… That's okay too, you know," Rhodey said with a confused frown.

"But I shouldn't! Don't you get it? I'm not gay, or bi, or pan or whatever! But now when I look at Loki's arse I start imagining things, and in the shower— When I—"

Rhodey stood up quickly, chair scraping the floor, and hands held up in surrender. "I get it! You don't have to explain."

"Yes I do, because you don't understand! This isn't me! The soulmate thing has got to have planted these feelings in me! I'm being manipulated by magic!"

Rhodey's eyebrows were going to leap off his forehead at this rate. "You sure?"

"Well duh!" Tony said, though the whole problem was that he didn't know anything. He couldn't trust the soul bond, and he couldn't trust his mind. What if this was actually all him? No. No, that didn't make sense. The bond was forcing this on him. Obviously.

"Okay. Let's say that's true. My next question is: so what?"

"So what? SO WHAT? Feelings are being forced on me and the only thing you have to say is so what?" Tony shrieked.

"Yeah. Just hear me out, okay? Even if your soulmate magic bond thing gave you these feelings, is that a bad thing? I mean, he's your soulmate. Better love him than hate him, you know."

"You've got to be kidding me! You gonna say that to someone who got like a love potion forced down their throat too?" Tony seethed, continuing in a falsetto tone, "Oh, you're in love now, good for you. Who cares if you wanted this or not."

"Well, no. That's totally wrong. But your case is a bit different, isn't it? You're already soulmates. You can't be apart and all that shit. And if you can't be romantically involved with someone else, then the choice is never being in a relationship ever, or being in a relationship with your soulmate, right? So if destiny or whatever had planned for you to be together, it's not that bad if you actually end up together, right?"

"No! It's bad! I'm being magicked into liking Loki. It's not genuine! Who would ever want fake feelings?"

"Do they feel fake?" Tony's mouth opened but the only thing that came out was a small wheeze. Rhodey's lips lifted at the corners. "If your feelings feel real, who's to say they aren't?"

"But—"

"But?"

"But what if they disappear?" Tony couldn't believe he was actually thinking about maybe giving into this madness, but… "I mean, I'm not into guys. What if these magicked feelings disappear in a month?"

"I don't think sexual attraction is as black and white as you think." Tony inhaled sharply to start explaining just how much he was into women and women only, but Rhodey held up his hand to silence him. "And even if I'm wrong, do you really think that this… magic would stop… forcing you together? If its purpose is for you to be together-together as soulmates, why would it ever stop? It's not like you're ever going to stop being soulmates, right?"

Rhodey did have a point.

"Did you talk to Loki about these feelings of yours?"

"No! Are you crazy?"

Rhodey's eyebrows rose, and his face clearly showed just how crazy he thought Tony was. "This is all about him, why wouldn't you talk to him about it? He's the one who knows most about soulmates, isn't he? And it stands to reason that if you are being magicked into these feelings, Loki probably is too."

Probably. That was what it was all about, wasn't it? What if only Tony was affected – because he's human, or because he isn't a wizard or who knew what else? And worse, what if Tony was wrong and there was no soul bond magic involved and this was all on him? What if he exposed himself only for Loki to laugh in his face?

"You're not sure, aren't you?" Rhodey said, and Tony frowned. "You're not sure if magic is manipulating you or not. You're scared."

"I'm not!"

"Tony Stark is afraid of genuine feelings. What else is new?"

"Oh fuck you, Rhodes. I don't see you being all lovey-dovey with someone either."

"Man, that's a low blow. I don't have time to socialise outside of work and you know it. And I'm not Iron Man. Things don't fall into my lap for free."

"I don't think being Iron Man has anything to do with this." If you weren't Iron Man, you wouldn't have met Loki at all, the annoying part of his mind reminded him. Yeah well if I weren't Iron Man I'd be way worse off. And wasn't that a sobering thought? Being forced into this crazy soulmate business was better than what he would have been as the drunken playboy Merchant of Death. He shook his head to clear it. "Free stuff is overrated anyway."

"Finding your soulmate is overrated? You're breaking the hearts of millions of teenage girls."

"They wouldn't be so fond of the idea if they realised their soulmate could be some old violent creepy dude."

"Or their soulmate could be a godly magic prince who looks like a super model. If they heard you complain you couldn't set foot on the street anymore. There would be a girl on every corner waiting to claw your eyes out."

Tony shuddered. "Teenage girls are scary."

Rhodey smirked. "Ain't that the truth." A heavy silence followed and Tony just stood there, lost. Rhodey walked over to him. "Come on, man," Rhodey said, clasping Tony's shoulder. "Don't look so gloomy. It could be worse."

"Could it?"

"Obviously," said the last voice Tony wanted to hear right now. "Your soulmate could have been Thor. Or even better, Volstagg." Loki stiffly walked past the table and out through the other door, not even glancing at Tony once.

How? How had he not noticed? And how long had Loki been there? How much had he heard? The silence in the back of Tony's mind resonated with pain – but this time the pain was all Tony's. The shielding had never been as strong as it was right at this moment, and for the first time since the soul bond, Tony felt utterly, excruciatingly alone.

"Ah," said Rhodey.

Yeah. Ah. Understatement of the century. Why did Tony always manage to fuck everything up?

Did I just leave you hanging with your scrabbling fingertips from another cliff-hanger? I don't know. Maybe? Am I going to apologise for it? I don't know. Maybe not?

Anyway, for all those who are still following this story despite the fact that I'm cruel and I leave you hanging, and I'm cruelly lacking the time needed to update regularly, kudos to you :3 Hopefully the wait for the next chapter won't be as long?

Spread the Luv!

LL