Why, hello! Long-time no see! Turns out studying something new takes up a lot of time!

So let me apologise. For the wait, for the quality of this chapter (I'm really not happy with it but I was sick of looking at it any longer so I'm just giving it to you), and for… Well, you'll see.

Anyway, I hope you all have a Happy Christmas (or not-Christmas). Enjoy?

PREVIOUSLY ON ASAF: The car stopped. "All right, Lokes, you'll be getting out first. Ready to be blinded by the cameras? No? Well, tough luck." The door opened, the flashes started, Tony let go of his hand and Loki growled.

CHAPTER 39

Loki stood stock still until his eyes adapted to the glaring, flashing lights, and his ears suppressed the garbled yells and clicks of the cameras and people pushing against each other like rabid dogs. Tony had stepped out behind him, strutted past him with waves and a bright smile, used to this bright and loud attention. This was very different from Asgardian attention, certainly. Asgardians would yell and chant Thor's name, but they would do it with propriety, and they would certainly not ask strange questions like 'Stark! When's the wedding!' and 'Mr Stark, are you going to move to space?'.

"Now, now, calm down everyone, I can't hear anything in this ruckus!" The flashes increased, but the voices slowly died down until the city's song could be heard again.

"Mr Stark! Who's your plus one?" a woman said loudly from the back.

Tony turned towards Loki and a wave of flashes came to blind them when Tony lifted his hand towards him as an invitation. "Lokes?"

Loki inhaled sharply and straightened. He was a prince of Asgard. He had grown up with the overbearing attention of others; this was nothing. He walked up to Tony and took the hand that his soulmate had been lowering now that he approached. Tony's eyes widened for just a fraction before his grin grew as if he had expected it; the soul bond said the opposite. For a good full minute they were drowned in light.

"This is Loki Friggason, prince of Asgard. Which, you know, is an alien world. Rather obvious I'd say."

"Mr Stark, isn't Thor from Asgard?"

"Yes, exactly! Loki is Thor's brother"

Loki rolled his eyes. Of course the conversation always went back to Thor.

"Thor isn't blue though!" shouted one of the people with cameras.

"Yes, well that's—"

"I am adopted," Loki said loudly. There was a slight pause and cacophony started again, a lot of questions about Thor and inheritance and marriage.

"Hey! HEY! I said one at a time!" Tony got these rabid journalists back under control with an ease that spoke of ample experience. "First off, how do you know if Thor can't shape-shift into a blue man? He can't, but that's not the point. We're talking about aliens here, use your imagination. Second, yes, Loki has been adopted by Thor's family when he was a baby. Doesn't make him any less of a prince because Loki was born prince of another world called Jötunheimr. Ergo the blueness. Can we talk about something else now?"

Loki was very tempted to remind Tony that they did not have to talk to these Midgardians at all – Deputy Director Coulson had even recommended they ignore them altogether – but he could feel that beneath the nervousness Tony was enjoying the attention. Loki supposed that if the scrutiny aimed at him was not full of unbridled curiosity at his appearance combined with hints of discomfort, especially from those at the edges of the crowd, he might have appreciated the attention more. After all, Thor may appear in conversation, but he was not here to steal Loki's thunder.

"Mr Stark, what about your relationship with your C.E.O. Miss Potts?" shouted one journalist.

"Mr Stark, what is your relationship with Mr Friggason?" shouted another one, louder.

"Loki and I. We're—" Tony stopped short and turned to look at Loki. He seemed to be asking a question with his eyes but Loki had no idea what it was. He was just hoping he would not mention their status as soulmates because that could be a dangerous thing, even if Midgardians had no idea what it truly implied. "Engaged." Eerie silence followed. "Betrothed. Affianced. Whatever you want to call it."

Then all Helheimr broke loose and Tony laughed while spikes of nervousness and unease poked at Loki through the bond. Tony said his goodbyes to the crowd, though Loki doubted anyone heard him over the chaos, and Tony pulled him towards the end of the red carpet. Loki followed numbly, warring with his heart – he needed to repress the fluttering in his chest lest Tony felt the whole star-like radiance of it. Tony had just told his realm how serious his relationship with Loki was. Loki was still reeling from it when the glass doors closed behind them, dimming the shouts.

"Well, that went well," Rhodey commented from next to the entrance, arms crossed.

"Ah, well, you know me. Eloquence personified."

Rhodey rolled his eyes. "Right."

"I thought it went well," Loki said.

Tony snorted, but a corner of his mouth lifted in a genuine half-smile. "You would."

"Tony," a woman's voice said from behind them, and Loki felt Tony freeze beside him. When he laid eyes on the Midgardian – Tony's former lover, Pepper Potts – he understood the dread that raced up the soul bond.

Loki loosened his grip on Tony. "I will let—" His words were cut short by Tony's fingers digging into the back of his hand. "Ah." Of course. It was not privacy Tony wanted, but someone to hide behind. Loki did not mind the fact he did not have to leave his soulmate – if he had his way he would not be separated from Tony all night. He would prefer not to have dozens of Midgardians prodding him as the exoticism he was. However, Tony truly should not evade his former lover so, especially since they needed to work closely together for his Stark Industries.

"Pepper. Fancy seeing you here."

In his peripheral view, Loki saw Rhodey roll his eyes. Loki was truly tempted to do the same, but that was not proper conduct at a ball.

"Eloquent as always," Miss Potts commented, and Loki couldn't agree more.

It was a strange sensation, the feeling of understanding over Tony's idiosyncrasies that he might share with Miss Potts once they got to know each other. Perhaps someday they might even become friends. After Loki overcame his feelings of jealousy over the affection and nervousness that were fighting each other at Tony's core, that was.

"So. Uhm. How are you?"

Miss Potts closed her eyes for a beat. "I'm fine, Tony. And you?"

"Great. Yeah. Just peachy. Really."

"So. Engaged." Miss Potts lifted a sharply trimmed eyebrow.

"Ah. Yes, well, a nice little white lie. After all, in human terms we didn't actually get married. On Asgard we'd be considered married. I thought engaged was a good middle ground. It's not like I can explain the whole soul thing."

Loki sighed softly and sent DONT MENTION WE ARE SOULMATES HERE. Really, he was lucky Tony had not explained what they were to the hungry wolves with the cameras outside. Tony glanced at him. "Right," he said. "Walls have ears. I'll be a closed book, promise."

Miss Potts' eyes were flicking between them. "So it's true, then?"

"What's true?"

"You have, like, telepathy going on."

"It's more like Morse code but… We do have a way of communicating silently, yes."

"No one will deny you're like a married couple when they see you do that," Miss Potts said, her expression pinched.

Embarrassment burst through the bond, but Tony masked it by saying brightly; "Or like soulmates!"

"Tony," Loki warned. Tony did not have the same definition as Loki of what a 'closed book' meant.

"Hold your magical horses, sweetheart. No one here knows what the Asgardian definition of soulmates is. Soulmates on Earth means were totally compatible and a super couple. The only thing people will think when I say that is that we're cute. Don't you think we're cute, Pep?" Miss Potts gave him a very unimpressed stare. "Right, wrong audience. Don't worry, Lokes, it's all good!"

A woman with a tablet rushed over to quietly speak to Miss Potts. "Ma'am, we're going live in fifteen and Marina wants to check your make-up beforehand—"

"Thank you, Fatima. Well Tony, I have work to do. Please don't abuse of the drink and make a mess of this party." The 'like you always do' was quite clear in the glare she threw Tony's way.

Tony gasped theatrically and put a hand over his Arc reactor. "I would never!" Miss Potts sighed. "No, seriously, I won't. Besides, I've got a warden this time."

Miss Potts' eyes swivelled to Loki, and he acknowledged her with a nod. Whether she believed him capable of keeping Tony in check or not was unclear. At the nervous prod of Fatima, Miss Potts returned to her duties.

Rhodey was still waiting, and Tony's driver, Happy, had joined him. "Mr Stark, do you want to hold onto the suit or should I?"

"You keep it. I can't have Pepper seeing me walking around with it, she'd kill me. We're all supposed to trust S.H.I.E.L.D. security and all. Because I'm sure Coulson won't have let her use the regular Stark security guys."

"Do you have any reason to believe something is going to happen tonight?" Rhodey asked with a frown.

"Oh God, I hope so." Loki lifted an eyebrow and Tony clarified. "No, I don't mean something dangerous, I just mean something that means I won't have to stay the whole night. But no, I don't expect anything to happen. I mean, we just got invaded by aliens. Statistically we should be good for a couple of weeks, you know. But I'm paranoid these days. That's the kind of thing that happens when your life is suddenly tied to someone else's."

"I concur."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence." Loki's eyebrow quirked up once again. "Fine. I don't trust you to take care of yourself either, point taken," Tony grumbled. Which was truly preposterous – Loki had thousands of years of experience taking care of himself. He had done a rather good job of it, given the million things that had tried to maim or kill him over the millennia.

Captain Rogers slipped out of the double doors and music mixed with a cacophony of voices followed him briefly. "There you are! The Deputy Director has been looking for you."

"And yet, he doesn't come to look for us himself. He sends his boy scout."

Captain America, still looking terribly uncomfortable in his suit, looked very disapproving. "Tony. Please play nice tonight."

"Yes, we need to be perfect little heroes for the journalists that will have been planted in the crowd, don't we? Avengers advertisement."

"Well, Loki is going to be the focus of every single person at the party," Rhodey said, which did nothing for Loki's already frayed nerves. "As long as you're by his side you should be careful of what you say, Tony."

"When am I careful about what I say?"

Rhodey, Steve and Happy looked at him, unimpressed. "I believe that is their point, elskan mín."

"Gaah, fine! Since you're all ganging up on me then I'll do my best. Pinky promise." No alarm bells went off, so at least Tony was genuine about trying.

Tony let go of his hand, but before Loki could mourn the loss he laced his arm through Loki's at the elbow. It was not as nice as being fully connected to Tony, but at least Tony was not distancing himself before they faced the crowd within. When they walked through and into the large glistening hall, full of modern Midgardian opulence, there was no announcer shouting their names, which Loki was grateful for. It might give him just a couple of minutes of respite from the stares that were bound to haunt him the whole evening.

Deputy Director Coulson pounced the minute he noticed them. "Took you long enough, Stark. Did you really have to drop the 'we're engaged' bomb?"

"Better than the S-word. Or the 'actually my alien boyfriend considers us married' bomb. Engaged is nothing." Tony's eyes landed on the woman flanking Coulson and frowned. "What happened to you?"

Agent May rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, making the deep décolleté of her velvet green dress even more pronounced. "I was forced to attend because of you, that's what happened."

"You're welcome. But I meant the get-up. You lost all your agent-ness."

"I now understand why Queen Frigga insisted there was power in a good gown," Loki added, just to see Agent May scowl.

"Hey, I'm not done with you two," Coulson said, stepping up closer. "Stark, you could have told the press you were just dating and make this a whole less complicated for all of us."

"And what? Get the rest of humanity to try and get Loki to break up with me so they can get in his pants? At least 'engaged' shows I'm super serious. I'm Tony Stark. I don't do engagements."

Coulson pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed them the headline 'Tony Stark, brainwashed?'. "Exactly my point. Everyone knows you don't do engagements. With a man. Within days of meeting him."

"Okay, fine, yes, that does sound out of character. But Loki's not a man, he's a Frost Giant. This is my first relationship with a Frost Giant, so it's not like there's a precedent they can base their theories on."

Suddenly a woman stepped up way too close to Tony and Loki tensed. He noticed Agent May angled herself towards the intruder as well. The woman showed a card hanging from her neck for barely a second, eyes hidden by the glare on her large glasses, and Agent May's shoulders relaxed an inch, so Loki tried to do the same. The woman held up a small black device to her face and said, "Mr Stark, could you elaborate on the status of your relationship with Mr Friggason?" She then stuck the device a couple of inches away from Tony's nose.

Coulson crossed his arms and stared at Tony. Tony sighed and squeezed Loki's arm with the crook of his elbow, though if it was to seek reassurance or to reassure Loki he did not know.

"You are very informed Miss…" The woman didn't say anything, just sticking the device even closer to Tony's face. "Right. Well, Miss Journalist, the rumours are true. Tony Stark is getting hitched! To this fine young, millennia-old alien," Tony said with a bright smile.

"How long have you known Mr Friggason for?"

"This is becoming quite the interrogation! Well, I've known Loki since the invasion. When, you know, he came to… help out." The angle of the glasses changed, the woman no doubt looking at Loki now. He nodded in acknowledgment. "When we… properly met, our connection was instantaneous," Tony continued. "Really, it was like we were made for each other. Like I'd known him all my life. I'd never put much stock into the whole soulmate business, but this was like that. Love at first sight. I'd never felt anything like that before." Tony was hopping from truth to lie at breakneck speed, and if Loki didn't know which parts were true he wouldn't have been able to know what was what.

"And that is why you proposed?"

"Who said I was the one to propose? No, okay, I was, but that's because his planet doesn't do dating. It's like, courting, engagement, marriage, you know. I tried the courting for like two days and then I was like, fuck this, why should I waste my time courting when I already know he's the one?"

"And do you feel the same, Mr Friggason?"

Suddenly the device was in Loki's face and he did his best not to growl at the woman's impudent invasion of his personal space. "Of course, my lady. If I did not, why would I accept Tony's marriage proposal and risk the wrath of my family?"

"So your brother disapproves?"

"Who said Thor disapproves? No, as a hopeless romantic he was ecstatic. It is my father, Odin, who will not approve of my association with a Midgardian. He is, unfortunately, rather bigoted."

"Your father disapproves of the gender of your partner?"

Loki made certain to blink enough times to signal confusion. "Given my own gender I do not think King Odin can have any say in that matter." Tony squeezed his arm again, and Loki realised it must be because of the lie – Odin would very much have tried to control the gender of his partner if souls had not been involved. "I was speaking of his view on Midgardians. That is, Earthlings. Because your lives are so short-lived compared to that of other Realms like Asgard, he has always taken that to mean you are far beneath him. That is how I was brought up, thinking I was far superior. Imagine my surprise upon meeting a man of such genius as Tony Stark."

Beside him Tony was bursting with both pride and mirth at the way Loki was exaggeratingly looking at Tony like a besotted fool. "The fact that he is such a charmingly handsome human as well certainly did not hurt either," Loki added on, winking at the woman for good measure. Despite the fact he could not see her eyes with the glare on her spectacle lenses, he could tell she was hanging on his every word. "So of course I am glad Tony is willing to accept me with all my faults."

Tony switched his grip to snake his arm behind Loki's back and squeeze him at the waist. "Oh sweetheart, your faults are nothing compared to mine," Tony said in a saccharine tone. The sign this was a lie did not come. Loki made sure to keep his frown off his face. Loki had helped in the invasion of Midgard, even if he hadn't been entirely of his own mind. That alone was worse than anything Tony could have done in his short years on this Realm.

"Mrs Herbert, I believe that is enough for a scoop or three, don't you think?" Coulson said, stepping between them. The journalist grumbled but thanked them and walked away with a glare at the Deputy Director.

Tony poked Loki in the ribs with his free hand. "You! You are such a smooth talker. You're going to charm the pants off every single person in this room, it's not fair!"

"What about those who are not wearing trousers?"

"Ha, them frocks too! You are not leaving my side for the night, I want to see you in action!" Tony looked around, as if looking for the next person he wanted Loki to 'charm'. "First though… See you, Phil, May. Loki and I have a date with the buffet!"

Tony led them through the crowd to the table full of small aesthetically pleasing foods. Loki did not think anyone could eat any of this and feel full. Though perhaps that was not the point. It was really different from Asgardian balls which would always include a ridiculously nutritious banquet.

A woman clad in black and white stood behind the buffet table, armed with tongs. "Good evening, sirs. What can I serve you?" There were labels on every single plate, but none of them meant anything to Loki. Tony rapidly circumvented that issue.

"I'd like one of everything."

"Everything?" The woman looked rather dismayed – there were a lot of different tiny dishes.

"Yeah, as you can see he's not from around here," Tony said, pointing at Loki with his thumb. "I have to be a good host and show him the glory of human cuisine, don't you think?"

The woman stared at Loki as if only now realising he did not look remotely Midgardian, before nodding numbly. "Yes. Of course, Mr Stark. One of everything. Right away."

That is how, five minutes later, they were juggling three plates with little pyramids of what Tony called canapés, which were starting to stick together because they were not meant to be piled up. Tony was holding two of the plates and trying to explain what the different canapés were while Loki sampled some – though Tony did not seem to have a name for most of them.

"Wait, wait, is that the pizza ravioli one? Can I have that one?"

Loki looked at the canapé he had just picked up, and Tony's lack of free hands. Tony seemed to want to hand him a plate, which was really unnecessary. Instead, Loki held the canapé in front of Tony's mouth.

"Really? You're going to feed me like this?"

Loki quirked an eyebrow. "I clearly remember eating fries this way when I was incapacitated by my ice."

"I'm not incapacitated, just overburdened. Okay. Fine. Have it your way." Tony opened his mouth, and as Loki was guiding the canapé in a flash went off.

"Aw, aren't you two cute? All lovey-dovey," Hawkeye said, his voice dripping with sarcasm and waving his phone around.

"Clint…" Tony growled, still munching on the canapé. He swallowed audibly before adding, "Is that true J.A.R.V.? Is it a good pic?"

"Photographer's dubious talent notwithstanding, I would say it is a rather nice, if comical photo," J.A.R.V.I.S. said from Tony's left pocket.

"I resent that," Clint said.

"Seconded! Not that I'm defending your photography talents, I'm sure you're shitty at it, but I resent the 'comical'. How could our cute mugs be comical, J.A.R.V.?"

"I was not referring to Mr Friggason. It is the face you are making, Sir, and the way you are holding those plates that could be considered humorous."

"Well I'll be the judge of that when I see it. I don't trust your humour. You have shitty taste."

"I learned from the best, Sir."

Clint Barton was laughing, poorly disguising it behind his long-stemmed glass. He did not see the Black Widow approach from behind, nor the clutch she used to hit him on the head. "Ow, Nat, what?"

"Come on." Natasha and Loki exchanged a subtle nod before the woman dragged Barton away by the elbow.

Loki quickly emptied the plate he was holding, nearly swallowing all canapés whole so he could take one of Tony's plates from him. "I hope you're keeping me some, Cookie Monster."

"I do believe there is a whole table full of more bites of food."

"At the rate you're going it won't be there for very long. Whatever. I'm not that hungry anyway. Let's go do the rounds. We're supposed to drum up money by sucking up to the other guys and gals."

"You mean that you are supposed to convince these people to part with their money."

"And you're going to be the magnum opus of my speech. The lost prince who came to help a world that isn't his own. If someone can be as selfless as you, what are a few dollars in comparison?"

"I do not recall ever having been called selfless before."

Tony weaved his arm through Loki's again and smiled. "Well, if you come with me you'll be hearing it enough to last you a lifetime."

And indeed Tony used Loki as an example of utter selflessness to convince the guests to part with their money – Loki's bond chimed continuously with the myriad of small lies Tony wove together to convince them, starting with "It's so nice to see you.". First, though, Miss Potts gave a moving speech that surely already persuaded the rapt audience to part with a good chunk of their fortune for the sake of the souls lost and the defaced city. Loki was quite certain Tony's repeated monologues were rather superfluous. He was also quite certain Tony would prefer to live in the lie that he had not been outdone by his former lover only a few minutes after he started his 'rounds'.

Tony's tone changed from honey sweet to acrid the moment they bumped into a very unpleasant-looking man – he exuded an air of sycophancy and self-absorption both. The instant hatred that exploded out of Tony was an unnecessary hint as to how unsavoury this impudent Midgardian was.

"Well, look who we've got here! I'm pretty sure I didn't invite you to crash my party," Tony spat, all saccharine eloquence disappearing in an instant. This, at least, was pure truth. While Loki took an instant dislike to Tony's apparent rival, he was intrigued by the argument he could feel building in their faint magical auras.

"Stark. What a lovely party, your CEO outdid herself. What a shame you are here to ruin Miss Potts' hard work."

"If the party is such a disappointment you can leave, be my guest. Oh wait, that's right, you're not my guest."

The man sneered. "I'm not some kind of interloper, Miss Potts invited me personally." Tony snorted, and the man glowered. "I am here for New York City, Stark, not you."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that, Hammer."

Loki snorted before he could stop himself, and both men's eyes turned to him. "Ah. Apologies, Mr…"

"Justin Hammer. You can call me Justin."

"Mr Hammer, I do apologise for my reaction. Your name happens to be shared with my brother's best friend, Mjolnir."

Tony very poorly hid his own snort in the champagne glass he had picked up two conversations ago.

"I'm happy to share a name with someone surely as illustrious as your brother's friend, for surely the acquaintances of someone such as yourself can only be incredible people," Hammer said pompously.

Tony snorted. "You don't have to listen to him prattle on like he's in a Shakespeare play, darling. He's like a moth, always attracted to someone else's limelight. Ergo why you will always find him hovering around my parties."

"Mr Friggason, I assure you whatever Stark has told you about me is not true. He always paints such grievous pictures of me."

"How do you know his name?"

"Really, Stark?" Hammer slid his phone out of the inside pocket of his waistcoat. The lit screen showed a photo of their walk on the red carpet. "You're all over the news."

"Stalking me online as always, are you?"

Hammer swept a hand through his hair. "Hardly. You just happen to do the most flashy things so you can stay in that limelight you accuse me of coveting. First becoming Iron Man, now dating an alien—"

"Engaged to an alien, thank you very much." That seemed to stop the man short. "What, didn't you read that far?"

Hammer's eyes went from Tony to Loki and back again, mouth stuck on whatever words that the shock had stollen right out of his mind. "You're… engaged," he ended up repeating. "You."

"I'm afraid so," Loki commented.

"Why do you have to make it sound like a bad thing?" Tony said, looking at Loki with an exaggerated pout.

"It is you I am engaged to. I hear that is quite the predicament," Loki said with a smirk, pulling Tony just a fraction closer.

"Touché," Tony said, teeth flashing and eyes sparkling.

"Disgusting," Hammer muttered, and both Tony and him turned to look at the Midgardian in unison. Two beats of silence later the man's complexion had reddened. "I didn't mean— I'm not— I meant your happiness is disgusting. As in, you look disgustingly happy and I don't like it, because I don't like you, Stark."

"Great. The feeling is quite mutual." Tony's words were accompanied by the ping of a lie which did not complement the loathing Loki could feel from the bond. He wondered what that meant. Did Tony mean to say his feelings were much stronger than the dislike Hammer spoke of, or did his mind and feelings disagree deep down and he was – at least mostly – unaware of it?

"Though what you can definitely agree on is your appreciation of this city, I assume?" Loki interjected before a new argument started – he could feel it brewing in the air.

"I wouldn't say that, Mr Friggason. I'm from New York, this is my city, not Stark's."

"Excuse you? I was born in Manhattan!"

"And you made Malibu your main residence. But of course now that New York is in trouble you come waltzing in like a superhero."

"I am a superhero! And I saved this fucking city by flying a fucking nuke into fucking space!"

The conversations around them had hushed at Tony's outburst, all eyes pointed at the three of them. Loki patted the arm Tony still had draped over his. "Darling, there is no need to get upset. No one is denying your role in saving Earth from the Chitauri invasion." Loki sent Hammer an affable smile, but his eyes must have betrayed his itch to pull a knife out of his dimensional pocket because the man started to nod emphatically.

"Yes. Yes. Of course. That's not what I meant. I meant… Yes, I meant that you just seemed to be in the right place at the right time instead of, erm, usually being a protector of New York City. Because, of course, Iron Man works all over America. And beyond. Yes."

"How about you make a bet?" Loki said before Tony could respond. His soulmate's eyes were drilling in the side of his face, but Loki kept his gaze on Hammer. "The person who loves this city the most would of course fund more of the repairs. That way you can solve the disagreement on the matter in a more… mature and decorous manner. Don't you agree, Mr Hammer?"

"Oh. Sure. Yes. Of course." Hammer tore his gaze away from Loki, and when his eyes landed on Tony his stance became more self-assured again. "I accept the bet, Stark. Will you?"

"Deal." Hammer offered his hand, but Tony did not take it. "Don't mind if I don't shake on it. I don't like touching people," Tony said, patting Loki's arm as to belie his words, even though they rang true. "But you can be sure I won't back out of it." Tony suddenly looked around. "Is that music I hear? Loki, honey, I fancy a dance, don't you?"

Loki chuckled at Tony's blatant ploy to get as far away from Hammer as he could. "Certainly, my love."

It was only when Tony was dragging him away towards the dancefloor that he noticed which moniker he had used. My love. That was telling, more telling that he would have consciously chosen. He waited for Tony to comment on the lack of lie in that statement, but it luckily never came, and Loki did not notice a change in Tony's snippets of feelings either.

There were a few couples twirling on the space that seemed to have somehow be designated for dancing, without any signs Loki could find. It was not particularly close to the band playing music, nor was it particularly central, and yet the Midgardians had left that specific circular space empty. Tony took him to the very centre of it without hesitation and took hold of his hand and waist as was Midgardian fashion, despite the numerous stares that had now landed on them. Either Tony was blind to them, or he had successfully trained himself not to feel every pinprick of them.

"I both love and hate what you just did there, getting me in a bet with Hammer. I'm going to win, of course. That man is a real Scrooge. You are the best gala wingman anyone could ask for. Don't ever let Pepper know you can do that. But by all means, continue to trick people into doing your bidding tonight, it's awesome."

Loki found his studies of Midgardian dances, curtesy of J.A.R.V.I.S., had paid off – he was easily keeping up with Tony's lead. "I did not trick Hammer into taking that bet."

"Sure looked like a trickster move to me."

"Tricking someone involves them walking into your trap and later realising it was indeed a trap."

"Okay, so you smooth-talked."

"I suppose you could call it that. Smooth-talking, then, would be like someone happily walking into your trap and never realising it was a trap."

"Your speciality, I assume, Mr Silvertongue." Loki send his soulmate a mischievous smirk, and Tony answered with a complicit one in return. Loki suddenly noted how close their faces were, breathing the same air as they swayed in unison, but Tony seemed neither bothered nor gladdened by it; it was like he did not notice. "Are you going to use that smooth-talking power on me too?"

Loki blinked a few times to bring his mind back to the conversation at hand. "Yes," he answered belatedly.

"Liar."

"You got me."

"Do you think you even can? Smooth-talk me into something, I mean."

"I don't know." Which was the honest truth. Loki did not know if trying to persuade Tony to do his bidding in a roundabout manner would be flagged by the bond as a partial lie or not. He did not remember successfully tricking Tony in such a manner as of yet, but he did not especially remember trying to do so either. Which did not mean he had not actually done it – smooth-talking, as Tony called it, came to him as easily as breathing. Besides, he had successfully hid things from Tony as long as such things were not talked about – the lie detection definitely had a verbal aspect only to it.

The song ended, and the instant the music began again Loki took the lead in the dance, keeping a corner of his eye on the other couples to make certain he had chosen the right dancing style. Before the music resumed Tony had not looked intent on continuing to dance – it had been a way to escape from his conversation with Hammer, nothing more – but Tony did not complain, and the feelings flowing through the completely open bond were not in any way negative. Loki took that as a good sign.

They did not speak, probably because they did not need to. They simply flowed smoothly across the dance floor, around other couples, many whom did not look like they knew what they were doing. Their bond felt steady, at peace, but also sharp – as if ready to lash out at anything that dared breach their little bubble as they were floating in step with the quartet's notes. There was a shared contentment between them, a silent agreement that dancing was their escape from the crowd of hypocrites and false smiles.

They were at their third dance which Tony had, with a strong push as Loki's waist, insisted to lead, when it happened.

The uncomfortably familiar whoosh of a shot followed by a blood curdling scream.

The music stopping on a screeched note, and Tony letting go of Loki's waist.

A man dressed in black from head to toe parting the crowd, yelling; "Everybody, freeze!"

Loki kept Tony's hand tightly in his, and froze.

So… I'm sorry! This just happened, it's not my fault I swear! The cliff-hanger overpowered me and I had no choice but to comply XD

I hope you didn't hate this chapter as much as I did. (To put it mildly this wasn't at all what I'd imagined from the gala, but this is where the characters took me. It's Hammer's fault, I swear!)

Anyway, stay safe, y'all! The world is a crazy place once again!

Spread the Luv!

LL