Tony had taken Loki to a clothing store, nothing too fancy, of course. But somewhere between a thrift store and a branded clothing line multistory store. They got a bit of privacy that way. And Tony was enjoying this way too much.
Loki stood in front of the dressing room, wearing a green shirt with black jeans and ooh damn, he looked absolutely delicious. He was looking at the mirror, turning this way and that. There was also a discarded suit hooked onto the door, and how did Tony miss that?
He shook his head, he could just see him in it later. Grinning, he held up two more shirts, a blue button up and another blue t-shirt. He sometimes wore those, not often, since Loki preferred more… sophisticated clothing. But he did.
"You know, Lokes, green does suit you a lot, I can see why that's your preferred colour. But I think you should try on other colors too, like, y'know, blue. I think it'd look good on you," with that, Tony thrust the button down at Loki, but Loki didn't take it. Tony frowned at the slightly guarded expression that had come over Loki's face.
"Uh? What is it? Don't like the pattern? I'll get another plain one, meanwhile you can try the shirt?" he said, lifting up the said item.
Loki actually took a step back and shook his head, "Tony, I assure you, blue doesn't suit me." And then a slow smirk curved his lips, and Tony felt instantly relieved. He was afraid he'd already screwed this up, and it hadn't even been one whole month yet.
"Red, on the other hand…" Loki said, giving Tony a once over and Tony absolutely did not blush.
He still sometimes couldn't believe that he'd scored an actual god as his boyfriend. Loki could have had anyone he wanted, and he'd chosen Tony.
Grinning back, Tony turned around and stalked over to the aisles to get something in red and gold and more green.
##
Tony, for once, had gotten up early today. And had made some tea for Loki and coffee for himself. Yesterday was the first night Loki had stayed over, and Tony wanted to do the whole thing with breakfast in bed, but he'd rather not have Loki barf this early in the morning. But tea and coffee he could do.
Balancing two overfilled cups in his hands, Tony kicked the door open to a sleep rumpled Loki sitting on the bed, blinking at him, and Tony almost said 'awww' out loud, but caught himself last minute. He didn't want to turn into a squirrel when he had two mugs in his hands.
"Good morning," Tony said, drawing out the words unnecessarily only to see the slightly irritated look on Loki's face, "Not a morning person, are you?"
"Don't pretend that you are," he shot back. And then he paused, "Mm, what have you got there?"
"Ooh, yeah, I made tea for you." Tony walked over to bed exaggeratedly slowly, and smiled toothily at Loki's eye roll. Then he passed the blue mug with tea to Loki, and took a sip from his white one. Boring colors, but he couldn't find the other mugs and he'd wanted to do this before Loki woke up and found him in the kitchen. It would rather ruin the 'in bed' nature of it all.
Loki, inexplicably, wrinkled his nose at the tea. "Hey! I will tell you that I make an excellent tea, at least try it first. I know how you like it, so I made sure to add lots of sugar but no milk."
Loki looked at him amusedly, "I'm sure it's great." He took a sip from it and leant back against the headboard, sighing, "Yes, it is."
Tony gave a low bow, almost spilling the coffee over himself and the bed and Loki, but corrected himself at the last moment. Then he had Loki scoot over a little and plopped down beside him, leaning against Loki, and would have snuggled into him if he didn't have the mug in his hands.
"You're very cuddly," Tony murmured into his mug.
Loki simply raised his eyebrows.
"It's distracting," Tony pouted.
"Am I supposed to apologize?" Loki asked, a smirking as he wrapped his arm around Tony, taking another sip of tea which okay, admittedly did smell delicious. But not as much as coffee.
By the time Tony's coffee was finished, he was growing, ironically, a little drowsy. Loki was just so comfortable. And he was humming. Humming, not even singing, but god, Tony could imagine him singing and almost shivered in delighted anticipation. He'd have to make Loki sing once. More than once, preferably. Just… not now. He'd rather take a nap.
He vaguely felt Loki gently pry the mug from his fingers, and stood up. And when Tony whined, he said, "Don't worry, I'm not leaving. Just putting the mugs away."
He leaned over the bed, settling the mugs down on the crowded bedside table.
A loud crash startled Tony out of his sleepy stupor and he jerked, looking around frantically for the source.
Loki's blue mug was on the floor, shattered into several jagged pieces, with the last dredges of his tea splattered on the rug.
Loki was looking at it dispassionately, and when he saw Tony staring, he waved his hand, vanishing the mess. "Apologies. I hope you didn't love that one terribly."
Tony frowned a little, but shook his head. Something seemed off, but he couldn't quite point it out. He let it go, mishaps happen, after all.
##
"Look at this," Tony said, holding up a ridiculously large photo frame in his hands. The photo frame in itself wasn't very big, but it's proportion compared to the actual photograph was. He loved it, the wide dark blue frame with ridged white twisting patterns.
He liked the actual photo even more.
Loki's first expression was that of… Tony couldn't read it, but it wasn't anything positive, he was sure of it. But then it was quickly smoothed over. Tony opened his mouth to ask about it, but by then Loki was taking the frame from his hands, peering at the picture.
"You really did get it framed," he murmured.
"Of course!" Tony said, previous question forgotten, "This was your first selfie, Lokes, I'm not gonna let the memory go without commemoration."
Even though Tony wasn't actually looking at the camera in it. It felt so so cliche, but Tony was staring at Loki while he tried to click the selfie, a slightly bewildered expression on his face, a wide grin on Tony's.
A smile played across Loki's lips as he stared at the photograph, his fingers running across the wooden frame absently.
"It's for you," Tony said, stepping forward and looping his hands around Loki's neck, the frame pressed between them, "You look very cute in it."
Loki's smile widened, "So do you." He closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to Tony's in a chaste, teasing kiss. Tony didn't mind standing up on his toes to reach Loki.
##
It had been a week since Tony had given Loki that photograph. A couple days ago, Loki had told him, a strange expression on his face, that he'd lost it.
Tony didn't really mind him losing it, of course. He still had the picture on his phone, and he could buy a hundred more frames if he wanted. But it still stung that Loki hadn't cared enough about it to be careful about not misplacing it.
Right now, he was tossing and turning in his- their bed. Loki was in the kitchen, he'd said he would do the whole 'breakfast in bed' thing today, and Tony had been more than happy to oblige.
He wasn't sleepy anymore, so he rolled on the bed, back and forth, like a child. He was too shameless to feel embarrassed by it. His eyes flitted towards the books stacked on the bedside table. On top was a very worn one. Tony stifled a laugh, he'd bought Loki these books less than a month ago, and he knew for one that this particular one was his favourite.
Very evident in the way it looked years old rather than weeks. Not that it wasn't well cared for. Loki would probably riot at the sight of a damaged book.
Fondly, Tony picked up the heavy tome, flipping through the pages, when something fell from it. Tony winced, if it was a bookmark and he'd lost Loki his place in the book…
He picked it off the floor, and froze. With a confused tilt of his lips, he examined the photograph. It was the exact same as the one's he'd gifted to Loki in the frame. But Tony couldn't find the frame anywhere in the room.
The photograph wasn't even creased, perfectly flat and pressed inside Loki's favourite book. He had taken care of it. Or perhaps he'd broken the frame recently?
Still frowning, he slipped it back inside the book, deciding to leave it be. If Loki didn't want it framed, it was up to him.
##
Tony didn't often come to Loki's apartment. Loki said he preferred Tony's penthouse, and Tony wasn't going to complain. But today he was here, back after an absolutely spectacular date. Loki was, again, in the kitchen, fetching some alcohol, Tony was sure.
He looked around Loki's house, his brow creased. He had never noticed it before, or rather, the lack of it before.
Loki's house was tastefully decorated, no doubt. But it lacked, very profoundly, the colour blue. The only glimpse he could have caught of it would have been of the sky through the windows. And even that was absent now.
And perhaps the navy coloured steel bottle on the kitchen counter.
It wasn't like Tony didn't have a colour he hated. He did, orange was such an ugly colour, it almost felt like a weird, cheap copy of red. But he didn't hate it to the point of purging it completely from his life. Unlike Loki, it seemed. Because he remembered the multiple instances with Loki which involved the colour blue.
Loki came over, settling down on the couch next to Tony, the glasses in his hands clinking against the bottle of wine as he set them on the table.
"Hey, Loki," Tony started, and Loki looked at him, tilting his head to the side inquisitively.
"I mean, not that you don't have a right to have a least favourite colour, but why blue? And like, why to such an extreme?"
Tony immediately regretted his words when Loki's expression shuttered, and quickly tried to backtrack, "Of course you don't have to tell me anything, and I'll, uh, do my best to accommodate your… dislikes," he shrugged, a half smile on his lips, "Although I can't guarantee a complete lack of blue, since, ya know." Tony tapped his fingers lightly over his chest, where the arc reactor was.
Loki, instead of looking relieved, seemed even more uncomfortable at that.
"Um, Loki, I'm sorry if I-" Tony cut himself off when Loki shook his head, looking suddenly weary.
"No, Tony, it's not your fault. I… you have a right to know."
"Know what?" Tony asked, shifting closer to Loki.
Loki heaved a deep breath, closing his eyes. Tony took his hand in his own and silently encouraged him to continue.
"You know there are Nine Realms including Midgard and Asgard?" Loki started after a few minutes of contemplation, opening his eyes and looking at him. Tony nodded.
"One of them is called Jotunheim. It's… a cold, icy terrain. Homeworld of the Frost Giants, the Jotuns. Asgard was at war with them, several centuries ago, and won. They've been our enemies since long before that." Loki sounded like he was reciting something, his face blank, not looking at Tony anymore.
"The Aesir," Loki continued, "Have stories of blue skinned Jotuns, monsters, attacking Asgard, of their barbaric practices. Of eating children, attacking innocents. They were the stories parents told their children at night to keep them in bed."
'Like the bogeyman,' Tony almost said out loud, but refrained. Even if they were blue skinned, Loki wasn't the type to…
"So," he said instead, "You hate the colour blue because you heard stories of blue people eating kids?"
"I wish," Loki snorted, giving Tony a small smile.
Tony quirked his brow questioningly. Loki sighed, and this time the expression on his face screamed vulnerable. Slowly, he extracted his hand from Tony's grip, folding them over in his lap. He sighed again.
"You know I am adopted," Loki said, and Tony wanted to take Loki's hand in his again, but controlled himself. If Loki wanted space, he'd give it.
Loki was quiet now, and Tony watched. Loki looked at him, finally. And the uncertainty in them threw Tony off. He'd grown used to the cocky, self confident look Loki seemed to sport almost permanently.
Loki took a deep, almost shuddering breath, and Tony's lips parted in surprise as a deep blue colour started creeping up Loki's arms, disappearing into his sleeves, and up his neck, then face. Tony glanced up at Loki's eyes, and could clearly see the emotions churning in unfamiliar scarlet eyes.
There was fear there, mingled with resignation and something else. As if he was bracing himself for something. Tony gathered himself.
He raised his hand tentatively, and whispered, afraid that raising his voice would make Loki bolt, "Can I…?"
If possible, Loki looked even more wary and uncertain, but gave a small nod.
He slowly touched one of the patterned ridges on his face, tracing it across his cheek. Loki's skin was cool, kind of like a metal spoon kept in the fridge too long.
Then, he looked back up into Loki's eyes, and said loudly, "Well, I was right. The color blue does suit you."
Loki blinked at him, startled. Opening and closing his mouth, as if unsure of what to say. Tony gave him a slightly bland smile and climbed into Loki's lap, straddling him.
"Lokes, Lokes, Lokes," he said, giving what he assumed was a reassuring smile, "If you're worried that I'm gonna… I don't know, leave you because of this, then you've got another thing coming. You're not getting rid of me that easily."
Loki stared at him, and while the fear and resignation were gone from his face, he still looked uncertain, "Doesn't this… disgust you?" he asked.
"No!" Tony said, affronted, "You could never disgust me. Especially not like this. Do you know how… exotic this looks?" Then Tony hummed, pouting his lips, "Maybe exotic is not the right word, but I don't know what to say, but it's so… beautiful. I've never seen such mesmerising eyes. And I thought your green ones would be the most enticing I would ever see." This time, Tony used both his hands to lightly trace the patterns across Loki's face, and Loki leaned into him, most of his uncertainty dissipating too.
Tony wanted to throttle someone, Loki actually thought that Tony would leave him over this? And god, what he'd told him about the frost giants, growing up hearing that about your own race, he didn't even want to think about how many issues Loki could have. How could anyone do that?
Loki had called the Jotuns monsters, did he believe that about himself? Tony bit his lip, schooling back his expression lest Loki misinterpret it.
Tony leant his forehead against Loki's breathing deeply, and gave Loki's nose a kiss. The small smile that turned up Loki's lips made Tony feel giddy. He kissed him again, over his nose, his cheeks, his forehead, then his lips.
Loki felt blissfully cool against his skin, and Tony sighed. Then he giggled a little. Loki raised his eyebrows, and the expression looked so wonderfully familiar that he giggled again, "The cuddles during summer are going to be great."
Loki gave a startled laugh, looking at Tony with something akin to awe and disbelief, before a mischievous smirk crept up his face, an expression Tony had grown very used to, and Loki said, "I'm gonna put my cold feet on you in winters."
A/N: So, I think the Jotun skins only burn when they want it to, and are not like... all the time frostbite cold. Because that would complicate a lot of things and seems frankly, very unconventional.
Tony and Loki are so cute, omg, I wanted to hug Loki myself while writing this.