AN: Sorry, this took so long to post. I'm trying to have a regular updating schedule. But, I had an idea for a one-shot (You should check it out. It's called Shooting Stars.) and I had to do a LOT of research for this. Don't ask me why I decided to add random facts in here, I just did. But if you look at my history you will see about 5 hours of me searching Norse mythology and other stuff. My brain hurts now. Luckily, it is over now, and I have posted Chapter 4. Its the longest one I've written but stuffs happening now (as in, I have figured out a semi-plot) so I think it's necessary. Hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these fabulous characters and probably never will. :(
Tony decided to be early. He usually never arrived early for anything. He even arrived later than 'fashionably late' most of the time, but today, he wanted to make an impression. Or maybe arriving early was his way of one-upping Loki. Either way, he was a lot earlier than he was used to. He walked into the cafe about 30 minutes before he and Loki were to meet up, only to find Loki sitting down at the table already. For some reason, Tony wasn't surprised. Loki seemed like the person who'd arrive an hour early just to be the first guest. He was kind of disappointed though. The first time he tried to be early and he was still 'late'.
The man hadn't noticed him and seemed invested in the book he was reading, so Tony stepped in the back of the line and waited for his order to be taken. Once he'd received his food, a doughnut, and black coffee, he headed over to the table. Loki still hadn't looked up from his book.
Tony sat down heavily across from him. No reaction. Tony cleared his throat, "Good morning." That snapped the man out of his stupor.
He blinked and looked up at Tony. "Oh, uh, good morning." He seemed disheveled, less kept than before. He still looked as pristine as ever, but Tony noticed that his sleeve wasn't buttoned and the outfit seemed to have been ironed in a hurry. He seemed distracted and nervous, his leg had started jogging the moment Tony had interrupted his reading.
Not really wanting to get into Loki's personal space, he didn't mention the slight untidiness that didn't fit the man. Instead, he tried for something a bit more friendly, "That must be a good book. What's it about?"
The man looked confused, then looked down, realizing that he had a book in his hands. He closed it and looked at the cover, "The Dream of Reason. It's about modern application and insight on ancient Greek philosophy."
"Huh. Do you like it so far?"
"I find it more of a recap of the philosophy instead of an expansion on it, so it's not the most intriguing book. I'm not sure why I'm re-reading it…" He trailed off and once again Tony could tell that something other than this meeting was on his mind.
Deciding that he might as well try to get an answer from him he leaned forward, a look of slight concern on his face. "You okay?"
Loki frowned at him. "Yes. I'm fine."
"You seem a little," Tony flicked his hand outward, "distracted. If you didn't want to meet up, you could have just said so." He hoped that wasn't the case. He had been looking forward to another match with the man. But maybe Loki wasn't as interested as Tony was.
"No. It's not that. My, uh," He paused awkwardly, running his hand through his hair. Tony was about to tell the man that he didn't have to explain himself when he continued. "My father is coming to visit my brother and me."
Tony frowned. It seemed that Loki had some daddy issues. Tony understood; He and his father had never been close. He never liked to talk about it with others, so he tried to lighten the mood. "Let me guess, good ol' dad is Odin. And, don't tell me, dear brother is Thor." He laughed but paused when Loki didn't seem amused. "Wait, are you serious? That's their names?"
Loki gave him a slight smile, "Unfortunately."
"I can see a trend going on here. Were your grandparents invested in mythology or something?"
"Or something." For some reason, the vague answers and Tony's questions didn't seem to please Loki as much as it had before. Trying desperately to bring the game back into the conversation, he started to make guesses at what the 'or something' could be.
He hummed, "Your ancestors were Vikings and you're actually Loki the third." That comment made the man smile, shaking his head.
Triumphantly, Tony continued, "Or," he drew the word out, a teasing smile playing on his face, "Odin and Thor are nicknames, and you were lying about Loki being your real name. Is Thor short for Hawthorn or Theodore?" The man chuckled, but Tony wasn't paying attention. The name Thor was familiar. Not familiar as in, God of Thunder, the dude from mythology; but more of a recent idea or something. Loki Odinson. Thor Odinson, the guy who ran Burison Co. Tony had assumed that Odinson was just a common last name for Norwegians. He didn't know any personally, other than Loki, and he hadn't looked it up.
He looked at Loki, studying him, trying to call back the picture of Thor. They looked nothing alike. He'd meet people who didn't look much like each other who were related, but there was always something; A nose, ear, eyes, cheekbones. But nothing stood out. They were both pale, but Loki was as white as paper. Thor had a broader face and shoulders. Loki was slender with higher cheekbones. They were both tall, but Thor was much taller. Loki had black hair and green eyes, Thor blonde and blue. "Thor Odinson is your brother? The Thor Odinson who founded Burison Co.? The company you don't work for?"
Loki sighed, "Yes, that Thor."
"But…" He trailed off.
Loki smiled grimly, continuing his sentence. "We don't look alike? I'm adopted. And the reason I don't work for the company is that it works for me." He hesitated, "Sort of."
This didn't seem like a safe alley to go down, so Tony decided to stick to names, "So if your name is Loki Odinson. And your brother's name is Thor Odinson. Is your father's name Odin Odinson? That seems redundant."
Loki shook his head, "No. Odin Borrson. And his father was Borr Burison."
Tony frowned, "Didn't people stop changing their last names based on their father's name a long time ago?"
"Yes."
"Wait, you're grandfather's name was Burison? Did he come up with the idea for your company?"
Loki chuckled, as though Tony was missing something and he found it amusing, "No, he was born long before flight was ever discovered."
"But he's only a couple of generations back. He must have been born around the 1930s or 40s. Flight was discovered in the early 1900s."
Loki only looked at him. Once again, he felt like he was missing something, that he had all the pieces but he wasn't putting them together right. "Okay, then when was he born?"
The man frowned, but, to Tony's surprise responded rather quickly, "I'm pretty sure it was around what you would call, 120 BC, probably when that Greek physician Asclepiades was born."
"Okay...and if that's when your grandfather was born, assuming you're telling the truth," He shook his head laughing. Loki was teasing him, he had to be. But at least he didn't seem as distracted as before. It was surprising that he could recall facts about that period; Unless he was lying about that as well, but Tony didn't feel like fact-checking him right now. "When were you born?"
"Well, if I'm being dishonest, then 1981."
"If you were honest?"
The man shrugged, "Around 970. I'm pretty sure that's during the Byzantine-Arab Wars."
"And you're brother?" Loki seemed to like talking about history, which made sense. He had been reading a book about Greek Philosophy, apparently, one he'd read more than once. So why wouldn't he know about other things like random history facts and periods?
"Around the same time, Arthur defeated the Saxons. The 520s, I think."
"Well then. You're old aren't you?"
He chuckled, "You could say so."
"If you're this old, why are you telling me? I'd probably keep it a secret so people don't freak out." Tony was trying to pressure Loki into telling him he was just making it all up. He couldn't be that old, could he? Tony had seen a lot of weird things after he became Iron Man, so it was hard to not believe this story. His whole body language screamed that he was telling the truth.
"I'm tired of pretending, Tony. What does it even matter anyway? My father is going to send me away and you'll never see or hear from me again. No one on Midgard will." He sighed.
Tony blinked, he seemed depressed. He really should be bringing this up, but Loki's father was obviously in the front of the man's mind. Everything was going to end up leading back to this. Putting aside the age thing, Tony leaned forward, making sure Loki could tell he was here to listen. This startled Tony, he never liked to listen to people. Why was he so willing to change for this man. Deciding to save that thought for later, he asked, "Why's that?"
Loki looked at him in surprise, but answered anyway, "He always does. He doesn't trust me; He thinks that I will hurt people. First, it was with the Vikings," He smiled, his eyes growing distant, "They liked my magic, were awed by it, unlike my kinsfolk." His expression soured but quickly changed back, "I had fun with them, the most fun I'd had in ages. I told them stories and they would sit and listen, their eyes open in wonder and intrigue. No one listened to me like that in Asgard."
Before Tony could ask what Asgard was, he continued, "I loved it there. It was cold, but not too cold. It was simple, nothing like the golden palace I lived in. But my father dislikes my magic and he finds it dangerous. One day he came down to see me showing the Vikings how to engrave protection runes on wood so they could be safe. He can't read runes and thought I was tricking them and going to harm them. I tried to explain it to him, but he didn't listen. I was sent back to that wretched palace. Now he is coming back again and he will most surely force me to leave."
He sighed and looked at his watch. "This was a nice talk, Tony. I hope I will be able to see you again, but I have to go and pack." He stood up, grabbed his book, and left.
Tony couldn't say anything, he wasn't sure what he would say. Loki was desperately embracing his namesake, using Norse runes and symbols, talking about history like he'd been there, and Vikings like he had met them. He must be insane. Unless he wasn't. Had he been telling the truth this whole time? Tony thought back to their first conversation and all the vague answers he had received. His name was close enough to Norweigan, he was touchy about Loki's god title, he wasn't exactly named after the mischief god, and he wasn't exactly from around here.
He stopped; The last thing Loki had said to him that day was, 'How else did you guess the origin of my name?'. Tony had guessed the origin of his name by remembering that Loki was the Norse god of mischief. Loki had implied that he had heard of him before. Wasn't Loki's adopted father Odin? Could this man be a god? No, Tony didn't believe any god, Norse or otherwise. There must be another explanation, just one he couldn't think of. Deciding that he needed to take his mind off of this and come back to it later, he got up and quickly headed home.
AN: So I have some good news and bad news. The good news is that I have finished school and now have a whole lot more time to write! YAY! The bad news is that I won't have a laptop to write on soon; I've been using the one my school gave me this whole time and because the school year is over, I have to return it. I'm in the middle of trying to get a new one, but it might take a while. Because of this, I'm not sure when I will be updating. Super sorry about that, but I will try to get something out if I can. Please leave a comment or a kudos. Any form of review is appreciated, criticisms or praise, I don't care.