I am so so sorry for the long delay but my exams are now over so I should be able to update more often. I really like this chapter and had fun writing it so I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 11
Natasha and Clint were the last to leave, murmuring their goodbyes to Tony who was still trapped under the weight of Loki's legs. The pair had no wish to disturb the sleeping man as it was far funnier to watch Tony struggle and it meant that they would have more time alone together once he woke up. Unfortunately this plan didn't go as spectacularly as they planned because when they closed Tony's front door it was with a lot more energy than necessary. As the door swung closed with a resounding bang, Loki's body jerked and he lifted his head, blinking lazily.
Only a minute or two before Loki's abrupt awakening, Tony had placed his phone back down by his hand, easily putting it in a way that Loki wouldn't know he had touched it. Smirking to himself, he watched Loki raise his head higher, struggling into a sitting position.
"What was that noise?" He asked, rubbing his eyes and blinking. It took him a couple more seconds to realise that he had just been asleep with a large portion of his body resting on Tony. "Oh god sorry," He gabbled, removing his legs from the others lap. "I didn't mean to fall asleep I jus-where is everyone else?"
"They went home, it's like half eleven. Natasha and Clint only just left though if it makes you feel better."
Loki groaned, falling backwards against the warm sofa cushions. "I really should be going." And to prove his point he got up, noticing only then that his phone was left on the cushion. He picked it up, checked for messages, there were none, before stuffing it back in his pocket. "Well thankyou for inviting me round even though I proved to be terrible company."
"It's fine," Tony smiled, actually quite happy because they may not have talked but they were still very close for the whole time and it was a nice thing to keep in mind that Loki had no problems with close contact. Suddenly he frowned. "Wait, you're not walking home, are you?" Loki nodded. "No you're not, it's late and dark and not safe at night."
"I'm fine by myself, really," Loki insisted.
"Nope, no, I'm giving you a lift. Just give me a sec to tell Rhodey."
Tony's guardian had arrived home about an hour before. He'd popped his head through the living room door and had been rather surprised by what he saw, not that he made any comment, but his general expression conveyed his thoughts clearly enough. Loki lying on Tony had not been what he had expected to see.
The jangle of keys announced Tony's return. Once he came into view, Loki smiled and followed him out. He appreciated the lift as it meant he didn't have to find his way when it was almost midnight, pitch black and freezing outside. Another bonus was that he got extra time with Tony to make up for his sleeping earlier.
As predicted the temperature outside had them both shivering in seconds. Loki wished he had brought a coat. Once in the car, Tony switched on the heating immediately, sighing in relief as warm air blasted through the grate. The rev of the engine followed soon after, then they were reversing, pulling out of Tony's drive and heading off down the road. Only the lights on the dashboard and the orange streetlamps lit the car meaning they were left in relative darkness.
Tony glanced over at Loki and noticed the way the light cast shadows over his face. His high cheekbones glowed in the faint light, while below them his thin cheeks were left in darkness. It was almost eerie yet totally fascinating. He couldn't draw his gaze away. Because Loki was facing away from him, staring out of the window, he couldn't see his eyes but he could guess that they were alight and so impossibly green. He wanted, no he longed, for him to turn around just so that Tony could see them for himself because he knew his imagination could only take him so far. The real thing would probably be breathtaking.
That was about the moment that Tony realised that he was driving in the middle of the night, alone in a car with Loki and neither of them had spoken since they had closed the doors. It was also the moment that he realised just how attracted he was to the man sitting beside him. Said man was still resolutely not looking at Tony, whether for a reason or not, Tony didn't know but he wanted to. He wanted to know what he was thinking, why. He wanted to understand, to know Loki through and through. Every detail.
Okay so he may like Loki slightly more than he first thought. But that was nothing to worry about. Was it? He'd have to just wait and see.
"So...how's school going?" He mentally kicked himself as soon as he finished asking. What a shit awkward question to ask. Loki seemed to think so too judging by his expression when he finally turned around.
"It's going fine, I think. I'm passing all my classes and that's all that matters, I suppose."
"True. But what I meant was, like, how's school with everyone? I thought when starting a new school it takes a while to settle in and prove to everyone that you aren't some mad delinquent or something."
"You haven't ever changed schools I'm assuming," Loki said, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "It's not like in the movies where you move and you're an outcast. I mean, you sort of are, but not necessarily in a bad way. It's not the first time I've changed school so it wasn't as nerve-racking this time and I was already friends with Natasha which made it easier."
"Right," Tony replied absently.
Loki's words had reminded him of his long standing question. Why had Loki transferred schools from wherever he had been to here? He never brought it up and Tony always got the impression that he shouldn't ask. But he wanted to ask. Now wasn't the time though, because he had just parked up against the curb outside Loki's house.
"Thankyou for the lift," Loki said, opening the car door.
Just before he climbed out, he turned back to Tony and Tony could have sworn that he opened his mouth to say something else. He hesitated and suddenly looked shy or anxious, Tony couldn't tell which. In seconds the moment was gone, Loki shook his head then he got out, wished Tony a goodnight and was gone. It had all happened so quickly Tony wasn't even sure is the tiny hesitation had been real but, whether it was imagined or not, it still plagued his thoughts that night. What had Loki wanted to say? By the end of the night he wanted to hit his head against any surface he could find. Why did Loki have to be so damn intriguing?
The feeling of not having to get up early the next day was overwhelming. When Loki collapsed on his bed not long after getting out the car, he was reminded that he could sleep in late, that he wouldn't need to do school work until later. It was such a relief. Then his mind suddenly backtracked to when he had paused in Tony's car. He had no idea why he had done that. Well maybe he did, but telling Tony that he liked him at midnight after falling asleep on him to later have him drive him home didn't seem like the best circumstances. No. Not at all.
Sleep came almost instantly and he enjoyed a dreamless sleep all the way through until the sun was glaring at him through the gap in his curtains. It was like the great ball of burning gas had been offended that he wasn't already awake which was why it now wouldn't leave him alone, shining directly in his eyes. Loki's not so good solution was to swear at the sun before rolling over, pulling a pillow over his face meaning he was once again surrounded by darkness.
After dozing for another hour or two, he reasoned with himself that he should probably get up. One reason was because his bladder was protesting and the other was his stomach growling every other second. Once he had visited the bathroom, he prepared himself a small breakfast of some toast which he took upstairs with him. No one was around to complain at him to not get crumbs anywhere.
When back safely inside his bed, Loki switched on his laptop and began to peruse the internet, absently chewing the toast sitting beside him. He picked up his phone from beside his bed and checked the volume, then he pressed shuffle on his music not bothering to see what was about to play. He wasn't in the mood for any particular artist so he left it up to his phone to make the choice for him.
Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby, let me know
Girl I'm gunna show you how to do it and we start real slow
You just put your lips together and you come real close
Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby, here we go
Loki stared at his phone in total shock. He had definitely not put that song on his phone. Thinking it was just coincidence or that he had accidently downloaded it, he changed the song.
Hey lil' Porsche, I wanna try ya
Crazy baby girl, there ain't nothing like you
Hey lil' Porsche, so right I had to get ya
B-b-back it up, let's roll, roll, roll, roll
He was at a loss. Where had this music come from and why was every song about sex? Again he changed the song, praying this time that his music would start playing instead of this other rubbish.
Oh, I just wanna take you anywhere that you like
We could go out any day, any night
Baby I'll take you there, take you there
Baby I'll take you there, yeah
This was getting ridiculous. One Direction. On his phone. He was adamant now that none of these had appeared because of him. So where had this music come from? Or rather who had put them on there? Becoming slightly desperate in his state of utter confusion he flicked through the rest of the songs, briefly listening to them. All of them were the same, either talking about getting with or doing it with someone else.
Clicking off the playlist Loki's question as to who had made the playlist was finally answered. Above all his other music was a playlist entitled I Know You Want It (Tony Stark). And now it seemed too obvious. Who else would steal someone else's phone just to add make a playlist full of lewd innuendos? Tony was the only person that came to mind. But there was still the question of why, and when, he did it? Well the when was actually quite simple to work out, Loki assumed he had done it while he himself had been asleep yesterday round his house. But why?
Loki knew what he would like to believe this meant but doubted very much that that was the truth. Tony wouldn't make a playlist all about sex and other things relating to that topic unless there was a meaning behind it, would he? He was an idiot sometimes. But a smart idiot. The playlist was called I Know You Want It (Tony Stark) which Loki took to mean that the 'it' referred to Tony and if he means that he knows...Tony knows that he likes him. Well shit.
If that were true though, would he have reacted like this? Most likely. He probably found it funny. Before he had really thought what he was doing through, Loki was opening up his contacts and pressing call on Tony's number. The line began to ring and Loki realised that he wasn't breathing nearly as much as he should be. Then suddenly the line went quiet and Tony spoke.
"Hello?"
"Hi Tony, it's ehh... it's Loki."
"Oh hi, what's up?"
"Uh not much I just wondered..." he began but his voice faded into nothingness when he heard someone else's voice in the background. Someone distinctly female. "Sorry is this a bad time?"
"What? Pep, no it's just...a friend." Tony's voice was more distant when he said that as though he was holding the phone away from his face. When he spoke again, though, it was back to normal. "Bad time? Kinda yeah, I'm out with Pepper at the moment. Is what you wanted important?"
"No, no it's fine. It doesn't matter; I'll leave you to it. Bye." He hung up the phone before Tony could say another word.
He felt so stupid. Tony was out with Pepper. Of course, how could he have forgotten about her, about Tony's ex, the one he'd been so upset about? Of course they would get back together. He'd been so stupid to think...to hope that perhaps maybe, just maybe, Tony would like him back.
The rest of the weekend he spent in varying degrees of misery, mostly lying on his bed pretending to sleep, or actually sleeping, or sitting up and doing homework. He received a text from Tony late on Saturday asking if everything was alright because he seemed weird on the phone but Loki didn't reply. He just deleted the text and turned his phone off, placing it beside his bed where he pretended that it didn't exist.
He could safely say that when Monday rolled around, he was feeling just as miserable as he had done the day before and he doubted anything would be changing that any time soon.
Monday came around quickly for Tony and before he knew it he was sitting during forth period with Clint, trying to work through their chemistry homework. Study periods were great to catch up on work, Tony had to agree on that, but today was a day that he just couldn't find the motivation to spend the time wisely. Instead, he and Clint had the periodic table open in front of them but weren't using it for the purpose it was made for.
"Are you made of Copper and Tellurium because you are CuTe?" Clint said, winking at Tony beside him.
"Nah, too overused. How about, are you made from Barium and Beryllium because you're such a BaBe?" Tony replied.
"That was good but mines better, listen to this. Are you made of Arsenic and Sulphur because you have a nice AsS?"
"Yeah you're right, nothing can beat that," Tony conceded.
"I hope you aren't really going to use them on people," Bruce said, looking up from his own textbook.
"No I have enough natural charm that I don't need to resort to shitty chat up lines," Clint laughed.
A clearing of a throat from behind them caused them both to turn. It was Loki. At first Tony was surprised to see him there but then he remembered their very brief phone call. Hopefully he had come over to explain what the hell that had been about because Tony was at a loss.
"Sorry if I'm interrupting." He glanced down at their table seeing only blank pages where all their work should be. He raised an eyebrow. "I wondered if I could speak with you." He made sure to direct his words at Tony. The man, however didn't seem to get the idea until Loki added, "alone."
"Oh right, yeah. See you later Clint, don't miss me too much."
"I'll try but no promises," Clint replied, smirking at their backs as they walked away.
They walked in silence, Loki peering through classroom doors until he found one devoid of people. Slipping inside, he held the door open for Tony before shutting it behind them. Without looking at the other, he stepped up the teacher's desk and sat down on its clear surface, finally turning to face Tony.
"Why did you make that playlist on my phone?" Loki asked. He thought it best to just dive straight in. He'd been talking himself into confronting Tony all day and so postponing any longer would only make the whole ordeal worse.
"I don't know, it seemed like a funny thing to do at the time."
"Okay so why did you call it...what you called it?" Loki asked again, hesitating on whether to say the actual title or not.
"Look I don't know okay? But I have a question for you, is there anything that you want to tell me because I've been hearing things?"
Loki was starting to panic. Everything was going so terribly wrong. This was the backlash of liking someone and god he hated how much it hurt. There had been no meaning behind the playlist, no meaning behind anything. It had all been a joke that had stemmed from a rather wobbly friendship.
"I have nothing to say. All I wanted to know was that if there was something else meant by the music because I felt...I thought that there might have been." He finished the sentence very quietly, hoping Tony wouldn't hear.
"Like what?" Tony asked. He could see Loki panicking, practically breaking under all the questions. Tony was so close to getting him to reveal all. And wouldn't that be a weight off both their backs when he finally did.
"Damn it, it's always one step forward, two steps back with you," Loki said suddenly, his voice rising. "When I think that perhaps you might like me to you always-"
"Like you to?"
"What I meant was-." Loki stumbled desperately over his words.
"That you like me," Tony interrupted.
"No," Loki replied, pretending to laugh the comment off. "Of course not."
"So you would be totally cool if I went out with someone else, or went back out with Pepper."
Loki nodded, his throat very dry.
"You'd be okay knowing that we hug and kiss and you'd be fine if you saw us out doing normal couple things, knowing that later we would go back to mine and...do other stuff?"
"Yes," Loki said hoarsely, ignoring how his heart ached after Tony finished speaking.
"Fine, if you're gunna play hard to get," Tony muttered angrily to himself. "I suppose then, if you really don't like me at all, that your gunna hate it if I do this."
And then he was right in front of Loki, leaning forward, pressing his lips to Loki's in one fluid motion that caught them both completely by surprise. Loki's brain momentarily shut down at the first second of contact then immediately restarted sprinting from thought to thought leaving him at a total loss. He just continued to sit on the desk while Tony kissed him. Tony had kissed him. Tony was still kissing him.
His brain finally grounded on one thought and his body suddenly became his to control again. Instinctively he pulled Tony closer, running his hands over his hips and shoulders and up into his hair where he buried his fingers into the soft strands. Tony's own hands stroked up and down his back before settling on his hips, squeezing gently. It was over, though, before Loki could even properly enjoy it because a few seconds later Tony pulled back.
"Okay so I wasn't expecting that," He commented, meeting Loki's green eyes with his own dark brown ones.
"Just shut up for once," Loki said breathlessly, pulling him close into another kiss.
And there you have it... (Shout out to Hannah who helped on the chat up lines, that was a lunchtime well spent) Please review?!
If anyone was wondering, the full playlist that Tony made is below:
Whistle - Flo Rida
Hey Porsche - Nelly
Kiss You - One Direction
Trumpets - Jason Derulo
Kiss and Tell - You Me at Six
Joystick - Simon Curtis
Fever - Adam Lambert
Magic - One Direction
