I try not to make excuses but I am so sorry this has taken a long time as will the rest of the updates. School is just so busy at the moment and I have a lot on my mind and I'm sorry I can't update more. I promise though that I will never abandon a story, you will get your chapter whether it takes me a week or a month! Anyway, happy reading!
Chapter 4
That new enthusiasm to understand Tony Stark had soon dissipated as the weeks wore on and Loki was expected to spend almost every evening with the man. They were constantly working together to figure out what on earth to do, what play to choose, what parts people would play. In the end, after many an argument, they settled on Romeo and Juliet because everyone knew the story and they could easily rewrite the language so it was more understandable for everyone. They had given everyone to learn some lines for an audition to decide which part they would best suit. Obviously Tony wasn't happy about that.
"He just wouldn't stop complaining Natasha, I don't know how much more I can take of this."
"Me neither," Natasha replied flatly, not looking up from the piece of paper she was scrawling on. "Your constant bitching sounds worse than his."
Loki grumbled something incoherent.
They had a free period and were supposed to be studying, or at least catching up on homework. Natasha was persevering with a rather difficult essay while putting up with Loki's continuous complaints. On the other hand, Loki was sitting next to her, clicking his pen, apparently totally unaware that he was driving his friend crazy. She loved having him back, and especially loved that they now went to the same school, she really did. But there were some moments that she just needed a break. Loki was a lot to handle and sometimes she just needed to take a few minutes to calm down before going back.
One person who she thought could deal with Loki constantly would be Tony. She thought they would actually be good together if they didn't always argue. And if Tony wasn't straight. Details, details, Natasha thought as she stared down at her paper, unable to think of anything to write. Finally, Loki had seemed to have talked himself into silence, focusing instead on the mountain of books in front of him, wondering which one to pick up first. He settled on the one on top, knowing that if he took one from lower down, the entire stack would collapse and he would be forced to pick them all back up.
"Hey Natasha."
They both looked up at the mention of the name. Pepper stood next to their table, eyeing their work before raising her eyes to Natasha.
"What's up?"
"Oh nothing, you know, I have a free period too so I'm just trying to catch up on some work."
Loki's attention wandered away from the conversation as it fell into simple small talk. Nothing of interest there. He turned over a page in his book and started to read. When Pepper suddenly mentioned Tony, his curiosity grew. Quickly he refocused on the conversation, careful not to give away the fact that he was listening in. He stared down at the book but didn't take in any of the words as he worked to hear every word. You never know what information might be useful, Loki thought.
"So anyway I was wondering if you had seen Tony or know where he is?" There was a note to her voice that gave off the sense of desperation. Natasha seemed to pick up on this as well.
"Pepper, are you okay?"
Without invitation Pepper sat down on the seat adjacent to her and leant in, lowering her voice but still leaving it loud enough for Loki to hear.
"Well...truthfully no." Natasha prompted her to keep talking. "I'm trying to find Tony because he's avoiding me. I know I was the one that broke up with him because I had just had enough of his crap but honestly I miss him. Not just as my boyfriend but as my friend. When he was in the mood to care, he did really care. He could be so kind sometimes and I feel like I might have given up too easily."
"And he's avoiding you? You're sure of that?"
Pepper gave her a half exasperated, half sad look. "You've seen him at the meetings. He won't even look in my direction let alone speak to me!"
"Fair point" Natasha agreed. "All you can really do is force him to talk to you, confront him. But if he really doesn't want to talk then you've got to let him come to you or move on. It's a harsh reality but it needs to be said."
Nodding slowly, Pepper managed a watery smile and a thankyou before standing up and walking away. Natasha watched her go, feeling rather sorry for her. She really did seem quite upset. Next to her, Loki was once again lost in thought, reliving the night of the party. Well what he could remember. Tony had done something that annoyed Pepper, it had obviously happened before, she was really angry and hurt, he pleaded, she ended it and walked away, and Tony had shouted, cursed then had gone inside aswell.
"Hey 'Tasha?"
She turned her head, giving Loki a death glare. "Don't call me that," She said warningly.
"Yeah, whatever," Loki replied. "Now help me with this, I can't find I good quote."
Rolling her eyes, she leant over and began to flick through the book, trying to find a good quote for Loki to use for part of his English assignment.
It was audition day. And everyone, even Loki who didn't have to audition, wished it wasn't. Throughout the day, members of the group had continuously come up to him between classes, or sometimes during, to question him about what would happen later. He was forced to repeat the same thing over and over again until his head was hurting and his voice was failing.
When last lesson finally came, he slumped down in a chair at the back and rested his head against the cool surface of his desk, thankful for some relief from his throbbing head. There was a loud crash as one student slammed the classroom door shut and Loki cringed, wishing he could just go to bed.
"You okay?"
Oh perfect, Loki thought. The one thing that would make his day even better. Tony Stark sitting next to him. This day had just been intent on being crap from the moment he had woken up that morning.
"I'm fine," Loki grunted, lifting his head up off his desk.
Tony took a long hard look at his face. "Well you don't look fine."
"I have a headache," Loki said bluntly.
The other mans mouth formed into the shape of an 'oh' before he began to rummage through his bag. He slid something across the table to Loki then withdrew his hand.
"What's this?" Loki asked, looking down at the packet in front of him.
"They're painkillers, you know, for your headache." Loki looked at him incredulously to which Tony just smiled. "Look I can be nice you know. But fine, if you don't want them." Tony made to take them back just as Loki put his own hand out to take them. Their hands met and they both withdrew quickly.
"Thankyou," Loki said, taking two of the tablets with a single gulp of water.
"Anytime," Tony replied, turning away to talk to a friend who was on the other side of him.
This was the only class together and Loki was thankful for it. He wasn't totally sure why Tony took psychology seeing as he was more science and maths orientated. There had never really been the right moment to ask considering they were mostly arguing or ignoring eachother. Either way, Loki was confused why Tony was here or being nice or not moving. He usually sat near the front but he didn't seem to be moving. As it turned out, he sat next to Loki for the entire hour, only speaking when the teacher asked a question or when someone around them asked for help.
The painkillers kicked in, easing Loki's headache. By the time he got to the classroom where the auditions were being held, he was actually sort of looking forward to it. Well maybe that was exaggerating. At least he wasn't dreading it anymore.
In total the auditions took just under two hours. They had to get through the whole group and there were eleven of them, excluding Loki. It had been much to Tony's displeasure when Loki had told him that he would be acting and not directing alongside him. However, this turned out to be an advantage because, when it was Tony's turn to audition, they all saw a hidden talent that was clearly there under the surface. Maybe he would never be able to pursue a career in the performing arts but he was good enough that it could be considered if all else failed.
The others weren't too bad. In general the acting quality was fairly good, some better than others. The point of the project wasn't meant to suit their strengths, it was supposed to test them. During one of the meetings, they had all learnt the reason why they had been asked to take part in the project. Each student had been chosen because they were the top student in a certain subject. If they were excelling and could keep up with all the extra work then they were put into the group.
For example Steve had been chosen for history, Natasha for geography, Thor for sports, Bruce and Jane for the sciences. Tony and Loki were chosen for their general excellent grades throughout all classes, not just specific to one, however if chosen their subjects were English literature for Loki and the Sciences for Tony.
"So I say we decide on everyone's parts tomorrow after we've had an evening to mull over it all," Mr Logan said, getting to his feet.
"Yes I think that would be best," Loki replied, also standing up.
They said a quick goodbye then Loki headed for the door. He walked to the next classroom along and poked his head through the door.
"You can all go home, we're done for today."
There were a lot of murmurs of relief from the group, thankful that they could finally go home.
"Wait don't we find out today?"
Of course it would be Tony to ask. Of course it would be him to start a conversation so Loki would have to wait even longer to go home.
"No, you don't."
"Why not? Don't you have any idea who is gunna be who?" He hurried over to Loki, dodging out the way of the people who were trying to exit the room.
"No, Stark, I don't. Now I really need to-"
"So will we find out next meeting then?" Tony interrupted.
"Yes. Now I'm going home."
Everyone had basically left by this point, although Thor was probably waiting for Loki outside the school gate.
"No wait," Tony spluttered desperately, reaching forward to touch Loki's arm. The other moved it away quickly so Tony couldn't touch him and sent him a highly confused look. "I need your help." Loki continued to look thoroughly confused. "Right okay, Pepper and I broke up and she really wants to talk to me about it but I don't want to and she's probably waiting outside the school right now so I need you to talk to me the whole time as we leave so she doesn't come over."
Loki stared at him for a few seconds, not quite believing if he heard right. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
He was sent an unimpressed look in reply. "Not helpful. Oh come on, I couldn't ask Clint because he would say I'm an idiot," Tony pleaded.
"I think you're an idiot," Loki said bluntly.
Rolling his eyes, Tony thought of any other reason to convince Loki to help him. The other man seemed to grow bored and began to walk down the corridor without another word. Tony hurried after him.
"Look have I done something to you because I really don't get why you hate me so much?"
This wasn't just Tony trying to stall Loki now. He was generally curious as to why the other always treated him as though he was repulsive and not worth his time.
"I do not hate you."
Tony scoffed. "Well it certainly feels like it."
"You already know that I don't wish to be close to you in any way and to have to put up with you most of the time does not help with that. You are irritating. And considering what has happened between us already, I would rather keep my distance."
"Oh you mean when we slep-"
"Keep talking and I will rip your tongue out," Loki snarled.
Suddenly, Tony found his back pressed firmly against a row of lockers with Loki's face so close to his he could feel his cool breath washing over his face.
"Someone's touchy," he joked, attempting to lighten the mood. Obviously the totally wrong thing to try and do.
Abruptly, Loki let go of him, not turning back as he continued on his way out of the building. Though he didn't want to admit it, Tony was now pissed. This guy just comes in and treats him like he's nothing and acts like he doesn't care when obviously he does. Loki was feeling something below the surface. He just wasn't willing to share it. Well Tony was going to make him.
"Come on Loki, it wasn't all that bad. You make it out as though I forced you into it but let me just correct you on that. You were very willing."
The black haired man froze mid step, slowly turning back to face the other.
"You told Natasha that you didn't remember what happened," Loki murmured, his voice dangerously low.
"Yeah, well, I lied," Tony smirked.
This actually seemed to be working. But Loki did now look like he wanted to murder him so maybe this wasn't the best plan after all.
"And why would you do that?" His voice was impossibly low now, taking on a softer, more deadly note.
"Hmm, I don't know," Tony said sarcastically, resting a finger on his chin in a mocking gesture of pretending he was deep in thought. "You did say yourself that I'm an idiot."
"I don't care for you snarky comments, Stark. Just tell me what happened!"
It was too easy, Tony thought. It was just too easy to get to Loki. He had barely even posed a challenge. Tony could see the man seething in front of him and he could read all of his other emotions so easily on his face. So now he knew Loki's weakness. Breakdown his walls or barriers, whatever he kept up between himself and his emotions, and he would be exposed.
"Nah, I'm good."
He sauntered past Loki, out the front doors and into the warm still air. He did manage to get far before Loki had him pined up against a wall once again, this time against the cold brick wall of the school.
"If this is going to become a habit of yours, please try to stop now. My back can only hit walls a certain amount of times before some serious damage is caused."
Tony knew he was pushing his luck. Loki seemed to be itching to punch him in the face, his free hand having curled into a fist, but he just couldn't resist baiting him.
"I don't care Stark," Loki snapped. "Now tell me what happened or-"
"Or what? See you're just talk and no action," he said, sounding out the last words slowly and deliberately.
Groaning in frustration, Loki tightened his grip on Tony's shirt. "Just. Tell. Me. What. Happened."
"No."
Loki through both his hands up in the air and took a small step back, cursing in words that Tony couldn't understand. Obviously they were spoken in a different language. When, he turned back to face the genius, he swallowed hard, calming himself. This time when he spoke, his voice was low yet even.
"Please tell me what happened that night."
"No," Tony said immediately.
"Why?"
"Because it was easy. It was just too damn easy."
He pushed away from the wall and past Loki, leaving the other standing there trying to figure out what his words meant.
"Stark, what do you mean?"
The man in question just turned back and smiled widely. "You're supposed to be smart. Work it out."
Loki remained where he was, fuming over everything that had just transpired. What did Tony mean by 'too easy'? Had he meant that Loki was too easy? That the night of the party it was too easy to get him in to bed? Or did he mean it as it was too easy to work out what happened? Either way Loki was left thoroughly confused. He walked out the school gates in a stupor, and remained that way the whole way home.
Thor hadn't waited for him which was surprising. Maybe he had just taken too long and the blond's insatiable hunger couldn't wait any longer. Loki was also surprised not to see Pepper anywhere around. Not that he particularly wanted to see her. Had what Tony said been true, that he was trying to avoid her? Or had what he had said been a lie? But why would he lie? Loki thought.
The whole day had been too long and more tiring than he would have liked. Unfortunately, he would have to repeat it tomorrow. School didn't care how tired you were. You were expected to attend no matter what. And Loki couldn't mess up at this school, not like his last. He had to persevere and get through.
Once he got home, he went straight to his bedroom just like any other day. He dropped his bag on the floor by his door and sat on the edge of his bed. Then he thought. He thought until his brain hurt again. He struggled to recall his memories of the night of the party. He strived to know the truth. But the memories stayed resolutely out of reach. All he had to do was prey that they really weren't that bad.
At the same time as this, Tony got home and went straight to his room as well. But instead of sitting down and thinking, he went to get a shower. The whole time, a smile never once left his face. He was happy in the knowledge that he had gotten to Loki. He was happy with the response he had received. And he was happy that he got to see Loki again the next day. He wasn't sure why. But at that moment, he didn't really care.
Hope you enjoyed, please review?! :)
