Step Two: Be the protector
For the past three weeks, Tony was giddy. How could he not be? Exactly three weeks, thirteen hours, twenty-six minutes and forty-five seconds, Loki agreed to his courtship. Not that he counted, mind you. FRIDAY was happy to provide him with the statistics of him being the happiest in a long time. Tony had to agree with her. He was so happy that Loki said yes to the courtship and the mage was happy as well for that outcome. Loki admitted secretly during one of their dinners that he was fond of Tony for a long time as well. He just didn't want to impose his feelings so quickly after the break of the courtship of you and Miss Potts. Wasn't he just the sweetest guy ever?
"Of course, boss," FRIDAY answered quickly. Tony halted his movements and placed the Iron Man's gauntlet on the table. Was he talking out loud, again? "In case you're wondering, yes, you've been gushing over Mr. Friggason for the past fifty-two minutes, boss."
"I would say it's embarrassing...but then you know me, FRIDAY." he smiled sheepishly towards one of the corner cameras. "It's just, he's so amazing... like where has he been my whole life?"
"I was in Asgard," suddenly Loki materialized himself next to Tony, startling him slightly. He should have been used to him popping out of nowhere, but then again it was thrilling every single time to see his magic. Loki smiled up at him and plopped on the desk. "Hello, Anthony."
"Hey, babe." Tony jumped from the chair and placed a soft kiss on Loki's cheek before he caressed it lovingly. Oh, how much he wanted to kiss those thin, rosy lips. Alas, it was forbidden at such an early stage of their courtship. He had to restrain himself, but he knew it would be worth it in the end.
Oh dear, I'm such a sap now... he thought.
"So, what brings you to my humble abode?" he asked.
"I must return to Asgard for a few days and I wanted to inform you," Loki explained and Tony's previous smile lopsided down. A few days without his boyfriend? Well... Tony will have to find something to do for himself to not go crazy with missing him. He was so used to be with Loki every day, even before they started their courtship, that he didn't remember times before the god had taken such a big part in his life. "Mother sent father's raven. She wishes to see me and talk about our courtship. Apparently, Heimdall is keeping an eye on everything that I do."
"Should I be worried? Will your mom or worse...your dad want to kill me for courting you without their agreement?" Tony was panicking. Of course, he was! These are ancient, Viking gods we're talking about! "But Thor agreed on this courtship!"
"Relax, Anthony," Loki took the engineer's hands in his and squeezed them lightly. "Father never cared for my lovers as long as I was discreet in public. And mother...she just wants to gossip. She will probably like to know a few things occurring in our courtship. You have nothing to fear, darling."
"For now," Tony muttered to himself. Tony took a deep breath. Everything will be alright, he kept telling himself. There's like a billion feet between Earth and Asgard. He could always run, when Odin or Frigga would come to see of the mortal is worthy of their baby. Stark exhaled loudly before he spoke again. "When you will be back?"
"Five, earth's days at most," Loki placed his arms around Tony and pressed him to his chest. "Farewell, Anthony."
"Safe travels, Rudolph!" Tony called after him before the mage disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.
Ok. Five days without seeing Loki. How hard could it be?
The answer was, really hard. Especially when that five days turned into almost two weeks. Tony was slowly going crazy, not only from missing his best friend and boyfriend but also because he was worried. He considered calling up to this Heimdall guy so he would swap him up in the Rainbow Bridge and got him to Asgard. Chances that he'd be listened to were truly small, but it wouldn't harm to try.
Instead, Tony was literally thrown into work by none other than Virginia Pepper Potts. When she sniffed that Loki is gone for a while and there was no serious Avengers mission, she loaded so much work on him that Tony was terrified. The red-head dragged his ass to the SI, to his old office. She set him up a desk in the corner and placed a stack of paperwork on it that was taller than him. Pepper gave him her scary eye that promised punishment if the work wasn't done. Oh, back in the years he could be into a subtle punishment from her, but not now. Now he was faithful to Loki.
With a loud groan and a few curses, Tony took a pen, placed his reading glasses on his nose and began to read the many papers.
A few hours later the stack was slightly slower. Tony's right hand was begging him to stop working, but Pepper's look was murderous. The woman herself was sitting in her chair with feet on the desk and chatting with Rhodey. They were both laughing at his expanse. He could hear it clearly.
Suddenly, Tony's phone was ringing. He looked at the screen and spotted FRIDAY's name.
"It's FRIDAY," he explained to Pepper when she gave him a pointed look. Tony pressed the green button on the Starkphone and put her on the speaker. "What's up, baby girl?"
"You have to see this, boss. It's Mr. Friggason." Tony quickly tapped the screen and played the video from FRIDAY. It showed Loki fighting with some two women in the middle of some park. When Tony looked closer, he recognized the park, even though he wasn't a big fan of nature.
"When did..."
"It's on live, boss." the AI responded. "I found it on Instagram. #AsgardsGoingWild."
"Fuck!" Tony cursed loudly and jumped off the chair. He clicked on his bracelets and soon the armor was covering his body. Stark put the faceplate down and opened the huge window behind Pepper's desk. "Sorry, Pep, work has to wait. My boyfriend needs me."
With that, he took off.
"Wait! What boyfriend?! Tony! Tony come back!" But he didn't hear those words.
Approximately ten minutes later, Tony landed on one knee in the Central Park, right next to Loki. Peter would call it a superhero landing! - a phrase he learned from his late friend Wade, a.k.a., the Deadpool. Tony didn't like him at all. He was an arrogant prick. Tony looked around and spotted at least twenty men, who were attacking Loki with everything they got in their hands, such as bottles, phones, benches.
"What the hell?" Stark murmured and Loki finally acknowledged him. "Hey, babe. Looks like you need a hand."
"Anthony," the god breathed in relief, mere seconds before he was pushed on the trees by some bulky man. "Damn, just get off me!"
"What's going..." Before he finished, Tony was shot by a red pulse of magic and sent flying on the nearest tree. "The hell?"
"Amora!" Loki roared as he tried to push off himself three men. "Ugh! Anthony... I don't want to hurt those mortals but..."
"Goi it, babe!" Tony got himself off the ground and flew into the direction of Loki and the gang. He swiped those men and dumped them in the nearest fountain. "Stay down, guys."
"They're under Lorelai's enchantments!" Loki groaned as he was hit with a bench. Tony concluded that this Lorelai must be the giggling redhead hiding in the back. "You must break it, darling. And I'll try to not hurt those men."
"Gotcha!" Tony quickly located the other witch. It took him a few seconds and he was standing in front of the redhead. She was very beautiful and had the most electrifying blue eyes Tony'd ever seen. The witch wore very Midgardian clothes. A white-leather short dress with a huge cleavage that showed her breasts. High red heels matching her hair and lipstick. Her long red nails were grazing the arm of some bulky man, who was standing before her as a guarding dog. "You must be Lorelai."
"And you must be the famous Man of Iron. I've heard so much about you," her voice... it was enticing. There was some vibe in it that forced Tony to lower his gauntlet slightly. He had no idea what was happening with him. He raised his faceplate and looked the witch in the eye. "My, my, you are very handsome, Man of Iron. I cannot blame Loki for choosing you out of everyone in this wonderful realm. But I can give you more, if only you will let me."
"If only I would let you..." he repeated after her, his eyes wandering lower on her cleavage. There he spotted a red stone on a golden chain that was pulsing with magic.
"You do not want to harm me, Man of Iron, you want to serve me and turn your back on Loki. You want to choose me."
"I want to choose..." Suddenly Tony heard some creak in his ears.
"Boss?" FRIDAY's voice woke him up a moment later. "You ok?"
Tony didn't answer, but he raised his repulsor again and shoot Lorelai in the middle of her chest. The woman, unsuspecting the attack, fell to the ground for a second. However, it was enough time for Tony to grab the necklace off her neck and punching the man, who tried to strangle him.
"Maybe a few months ago, I would choose you and could be your little servant." he stood over the witch with a smirk on his face. "But not now. I will always choose Loki. And mark my words, if you ever so much think of attacking him, I will personally end you and your little friend Amora. I defeated Loki once, you will be no problem to me, witch. Now stay down."
Thanks to working with Loki for months, Tony updated his latest suit with shackles that stops magic, just in case some magician tried to attack Earth. How grateful he was for this upgrade now. He quickly released them from the suit and put on Lorelai before she got a chance to steal the necklace and disappear.
Tony went back to Loki and the second witch. The men that attacked Loki before now were standing around, confused as to why they were there in the first place.
"Ok, people, get lost. The tour is over. Chop, chop." Tony shushed them from the scene.
"It's Iron Man! Hey, can I have an autograph?"
"Maybe later. Now get away from here."
"Is that Loki?!" some others asked. "Who's the chick?"
"A really vicious Asgardian witch," Tony explained. "Now really, get lost or I'll make you."
A few moments later it was only the three of them in the middle of the park. Loki and Amora were attacking each other with their magic. From the brief observation, Tony could easily tell that Amora was good in magic, but Loki was, of course, better. However, with wounds on his body from beating by those men, he was struggling slightly with fighting it off. That was when Tony decided to join the party and play the role of Loki's knight in shining armor.
Stark raised his both repulsors and hit Amora with the maximum power. The redhead witch flew back and hit the statue on the fountain – the lovers. Adequate. Tony quickly flew towards her.
"You know, I really don't like party crashers. And I don't like it when some Asgardians show up in my home without an invitation." Tony snickered in her direction. "But what I hate the most is when someone attacks Loki. 'Cause you know, no one attacks my boyfriend and gets away with it."
"A mere mortal defending your honor, Loki? Midgard has softened you." She spoke to the Silvertongue.
"I may be a mere mortal, but you, bitch, was just defeated by this mere mortal." Tony released another set of shackles and placed them around Amora's wrists. "Let it be known beyond Midgard, that Loki is untouchable. I will defeat everyone who just as much thinks of attacking him."
"Stark!" Tony heard the voice of Captain America in his ear-bud. "We're here."
"Everything is clear now," Stark announced with a smirk, as he spotted his teammates coming closer to them. "We just need a bit of cleaning up."
"What are we going to do with... who are they anyway?" Clint asked as he looked down on the woman in shackles. Loki was just finishing putting a muzzle over her mouth. The same one he wore once after he attacked New York in 2012.
"They are witches from Asgard," the mage explained. "Amora learned magic with me, while Lorelai can manipulate men with her enchantments and pedant. Best if Miss Romanova will approach her and take her away from here. Tony took the pedant away, but her words still hold some power. I will call for the Warriors Three to take Amora and Sif to take Lorelai. They will most likely be put in Asgard's dungeon and wait for the punishment from the Allfather. After all, they attacked Midgard and the prince of Asgard. Father may be still angry with me, but I still hold my title."
"Alright," Steve stated. "You heard Loki. Natasha, you go for the second witch and we're taking this one. The two of you must write down a report."
When the Avengers wandered off to take care of the witches, Tony stepped out of his armor and came closer to Loki. The mage had a few bruises around his face and a split lip. As Stark was running his eyes over his frame, he saw some metal sticking out of his thigh.
"Do you need help with this?" he pointed at Loki's thigh. The god only shook his head and pulled the item out with a small wince. Loki let his magic take care of the wound. Tony placed his palm over Loki's left cheek and softly brushed it. "Does it hurt much? I would kill them for hurting you...but they are innocent."
"Yes, they were acting under Amora's and Lorelai's enchantments," Loki agreed with him. "The bruises will disappear in no time, love."
"Good, I hate to see you in pain, Loke."
"You're sentimental, Anthony."
"Only for you, Lo-lo. Only for you." the mage couldn't help but laugh heartily. "Home? I'll order us some pizza and we can binge-watch the Sherlock Holmes movies. I know you like the main actor. Can't blame you, though, he's really hot."
"I would like that, yes," Loki smiled brightly and grabbed Tony's hand in his. The Trickster leaned down and kissed Tony's cheek. The soft-touch of his lips was wonderful on the engineer's face. "Thank you, Anthony, for helping and defending me as well. You are my brave warrior."
"I prefer to be your knight in shining armor."
"Yes, my brave knight," Loki continued and entwined their fingers. "My protector."
"I will always protect you, Loki. Always." Tony stated firmly and let Loki embrace him and teleport them to his penthouse, while FRIDAY took care of the suit. Indeed. Stark will always protect Loki, from every danger that can approach the god. He will always be his protector.
Later in the evening, when Loki was softly snoring on the couch next to him, Tony smiled at the sight. The god was so adorable when sleeping. How could Tony not fall for him even more than he already was?
The mortal began to think. He proved to Loki that he can protect him so now he could move with the next step of his courtship. And he suddenly had a great idea as to how to do it.
"FRIDAY, call Pepper," he whispered to not disturbing his boyfriend. "We have some announcements to make asap."