Loki and the Fight Club.

*(*

Loki had been enjoying a leisurely cat nap on the balcony which he truly needed after being dragged out by Thor to a mortal's spirit store and using quite a bit of magic making that speech necklace for Rin.

Sesshomaru would have never asked Loki outright to make something of such for her. But he could tell she ached to speak to more than a handful of people in this region of Midgard, and he had the means.

So he created a translating necklace for her, and he could tell it satisfied Sesshomaru because he then went to seek out Stark to see if he could make a device similar so she could also understand. Of course he didn't have the magical capabilities to make her communications work both ways, for that itself would be all-speech.

Loki twisted his face in a devious smile when he had learned that Sesshomaru bartered with Stark for her device.

Sesshomaru letting a vulnerability known was significant. He loathed admitting that there was something he could not provide that mortal girl. He trusting Stark with such a request was a telling sign Sesshomaru reciprocated Stark's interest.

'How fun. If only Sesshomaru didn't seem to be so stubborn, and recently unstable.' Loki doodled an image of Sesshomaru and the jagged black markings in the sky, sun blocked by a cloud.

Loki knew unstable. The entirety of his being practically was now. He was an active fault line of magic energy and mental dissociation. So he could feel it when it was happening to someone else, especially someone so close to him.

Letting his mind wander, Loki delved into the events of today's predawn morning.

"Who are you Godling? Just who are you?" His voice taunted, dark blue magic spreading like wires in his mind. He couldn't see, couldn't feel his own magic, it vanished. His magic abandoned him. His senses failed him.

Time passed.

"I am…Loki Prince of Asgard." Loki's voice scratched at his throat like a centipede had traveled down it.

He was crowned prince of Asgard, he could be their King! He was far more capable than his brother Thor.

There existed few he considered truly worthy of a throne. And the most worthy person he knew of left him nearly five hundred years ago.

But those memories…The cerulean blue wires had impaled and infected them. He resented those times. The times his father never chose him. The time where he stood in Thor's shadow. The time when those five Aesir ambushed him and Sesshomaru had to rescue him! Him! After he ripped apart and even ate some of those Aesir!

He didn't need his help! He didn't need anyone! They would all just betray him! Just like Allfather did! Just like Thor! Just like Sesshomaru!

"Oh no Godling. Not anymore. Who are you?" The wires crossed and like so many needles impaling inward, his mind bled. He would say his only sense left was his hearing, but he knew the voice came from inside his head.

He often heard the voices murmur inside his mind. Even when his ears bled down to his collarbone, his scalp was peeled back and his chest was carved open.

Time passed by him again.

"I am Loki of Asgard!" Loki heard his voice, but this time it plead. How many times had he been asked this question? Who he was? Didn't the Other know who he was!?

He lived in Asgard. He had an older brother whom he would accompany on conquests. He had a father and a mother. His mother doted on him. His father was distant. Long ago he had a friend. He was a Demon Lord and once they assassinated a pair of Panther Demons who slaughtered a mortal village in his lands. Those were facts.

But why…just why was he so angry?! He hated them! All of them! They had all forsaken him!

"Oh no. No I dare say not. Not even you believe it true any longer Godling." The wires surged, like prowling, searching vipers, looking for the right synapse, the right nerve ending, the last memory that would make him break.

Time wound round and round.

His bones broke, but the unrelenting torment across his body made it difficult to discern which specific ones were broken.

Thor. Sesshomaru. They didn't always let him down. They didn't always hurt him. He had that one untainted memory. He did.

"I am Loki." He heard the wires crackle and spark in laughter, alive and focused, they would eventually find it. That last bastion of sanity he kept so close.

"Godling, wrong again. It is ok. We have plenty of time to study you. Now tell me, tell your forger, who you are." The wires found it. Loki thought he had hidden the last of him so deftly, so stealthily. The last, green and black glowing memory that the hatred didn't stain. It was an insignificant memory. Really. It was no glorious victory, climax of pleasure, nor a sonnet wove with love.

It was a glossy holograph of a simpler time: He, his brother, and his long lost friend arguing over who defeated the most enemies in the glade of dead Scorpion Demons. That was it. And in an instant it was blue, inside out, and he felt something crumble and deteriorate.

No. That was all they did! They only tried to steal his victories from him! They only were after their own selfish gain.

An eternity passed, his mind glowed an otherworldly cerulean blue.

The Other understood his pain. He was showing him his path. He will show him how to achieve his glory! His victory! His destiny!

"I am…Lo…I am...at your command." Loki knew the voice wasn't quite his, but did it really matter anymore?

"Yes, yes my broken blade you are. Let us depart; there is work to be done." The wires thrashed in his mind as they retracted, stinging and slashing his mind like claws. Loki opened his eyes, and saw only hate.

He awoke from his nightmare before well dawn. Though truthfully the nightmare wasn't as severe as they had been in Asgard. Perhaps it was due to Tenseiga, the weapon he helped forge. With his now sweaty temple on on Sesshomaru's unwounded shoulder, he slowly sat up to look at him. He didn't regret confronting him and Sesshomaru wouldn't want him to. Sesshomaru ran and Sesshomaru knew it. Loki had, however, underestimated perhaps how little rest his friend had been getting, and how low his youki was.

He had looked over to Sho, who appeared almost frail and when sleeping.

Sesshomaru's own head had rested against the wall, his hair absolutely everywhere. Loki knew the reason he didn't tie it back was because it's how his father kept his hair. Yet, he surely thought Sesshomaru would have had thought it practical to tie it back when sleeping.

Vain Demon.

He, however, regretted cornering Sesshomaru. He didn't think that his Demon Blood would take over so quickly. And his Killing Intent! Loki shuttered that his own black magic thought it as a challenge and not a signal to back down.

'If Bakusaiga hadn't had pulsed, if Romanoff hadn't come down to investigate we would have most assuredly done irreparable damage to the structure, to the trust of the Avengers, and most importantly to each other. I doubt very much both of us would have walked away from that, unless Thor managed to break up the fight.' Loki hadn't realized how stressed, how anxious he had become. It was as if he was in another prison, one with invisible walls when Sesshomaru was gone.

Rin and Jaken aided somewhat, and he watched after them, but that wasn't the same. He couldn't naturally interact with any of the Avengers, no matter how strangely Tenseiga murmured to him. Yes, he was positive that the sword was trying to say something to him, what he had no idea.

Loki had teleported silently to the living room of the tower, knowing sleep would be elusive the rest of the night. He opened a cabinet to retrieve a glass for water when he heard clacking and hissing. Sesshomaru definitely had returned with shellfish. He misted them with magic to put them all to sleep. If only he could do the sleep spell to himself, wouldn't that be useful?

He did, also regret losing his control of his magic. It had only happened once before when he slew the uru dragon. He was desperate, terrified, but most importantly outraged.

His black magic had acted on instinct and it unfurled into a lotus blossom.

Loki would never forget the way Sesshomaru looked when the dragon released him. Loki thought he was surely dead. His head was bleeding profusely, his skin blue from lack of oxygen, and his chest cavity was completely caved in.

Sesshomaru was completely motionless and sprawled out at an impossible, twisted angle on the ground.

It wasn't until he forced air into his lungs and saw him sputter that Loki started breathing too.

Loki couldn't have lived with himself if he had gotten Sho killed over some frivolous daggers.

His magic, before then, had never taken on any flora configuration before. And it hadn't since until Sesshomaru came back. He didn't know what it meant. The exploding gumtree seedpods were quite deadly, useful if he could learn to control them.

'Frigga may know why my magic has decided to change its structure, but the Nines knows if I'll ever be able to converse with her again. She didn't deserve the way I said farewell to her. She didn't deserve Odin's decision to bring me back from Jotunheim as an infant. She didn't deserve my presence in her life, she had a son already. Yet, she took me in, made me feel loved, well as much as she could. Really. I couldn't expect her to disobey Odin but so much. On second thought, she could know something behind Sesshomaru's new scrying ability.' Loki frowned, looking at the sink filled with crabs of all things.

He heard a muffled noise behind him. He turned, spotting Clint leaning against a wall, lit partially by the lights of the city and the moon.

"Couldn't sleep either huh?" Clint announced his presence and asked casually at the same time. They had had snippets of conversations over the past three days when Loki felt like being seen, or when they had their spars. He couldn't allow the Avengers to think he was weak, or mentally unstable when he was to help lead an invasion against such a great armada. That didn't exactly inspire confidence in victory.

However, he didn't actively seek out company either. Loki didn't really see the point in attempts at fraternization with the mortals, knowing not much would come of it.

"I believe there is a phrase here on Midgard 'No rest for the wicked'." Loki flashed a smile as he filled his glass with water. Clint left the wall and approached him, sitting now at the counter near Loki.

"It's actually no rest for the weary, 'No Rest for the Wicked' is a song. And you definitely look more weary than wicked right now." Clint noted, resting his elbows on the counter a slight smile on his strong chin.

"I must work on that then. Can't disappoint my adoring fans." Loki sliced his face into a sickle of a forced smile "What of you?" Loki turned the attention from himself, noting Clint's soft hair was sticking up and his face had pillow impressions on it. He wore a yellow t-shirt with the words 'I feel like Kobe' on it in purple script. His muscles were still well defined and shoulders broad and strong even resting casually in the night.

"You're not the only one who gets nightmares." Clint admitted and Loki's stomach clenched. He took a gulp of water, hiding his guilty expression with the glass.

"Ugh, don't give me that look. It's not always about you." Clint rolled his eyes and Loki relaxed, though a bit confused. "We all have ghosts that haunts us, things we've done, things done to us. I can tell you don't want to talk about it, but, well, just don't spend all your time looking back." Clint ran his fingers around on the counter top, keeping his eyes on Loki. Loki put his glass down, revealing his surprised expression and felt a small smile creep onto his face. He hadn't truly smiled in days. Loki chanced conversation.

"I believe, Clint, that I may just be one of those ghosts of which you speak." Loki responded, his whisper sounded like a shout in the dark living room.

Clint just reached across the counter and poked his chest with a calloused finger. His chest took to his touch like a fish to water.

"Yup. Definitely a ghost, because you can touch ghosts and feel their chests rise up and down. Come off it, You're a demi-god, you're just as alive or more so the rest of us." Clint smirked and Loki's eyes flashed, he wasn't quite a demi-god, but Loki didn't want to ruin their banter.

"I do suppose you find me immortal… it'd be quite hard to be a specter wouldn't it?" Loki smiled with his eyes and examined the assassin casually sitting across from him, as if this was a normal occurrence.

"Aren't you and Thor immortal? What about Fancy Pants?" Loki leaned back against the cabinet behind him thoughtfully. He rolled his shoulders and grinned wickedly.

"No, we are not, but worry not dear archer, I do not have any deigns on expiring anytime soon." Loki ran a long finger around the rim of his water glass, making a slight squeaking sound, expertly hiding the fact that the last sentence was a blatant lie.

"Who's worried? If you three were immortal it'd be an unfair fight for Thermos or whoever this guy is. Thor's the brawn, you're the brains, and Fancy Pants is all style points." Loki tilted his head to the side, no one had ever complimented his fighting abilities like that before. He must had been thinking of their previous spar. It had gotten rather heated.

"Who is Kobe?" Loki changed tactics, throwing Clint off.

"What? You turning into Fancy Pants now with the random question of the day?" Clint leaned back confused, but playing along. Loki smirked and rolled off the cabinet he had been leaning on, all feline in his movements, facial included.

"I've already turned into him once, suffice to say once is enough. I mean your shirt." Loki's eyes lit up and glowed green in the gray of the dark kitchen. Clint chuckled softly, it charmed Loki to make him laugh and not glower at him.

"Yeah, you should definitely stay you. And the shirt is a joke, Nat got it for me because Kanye West, a musical artist I like, but she doesn't, wore it. I don't like basketball either, another part of the joke, because Kobe is a really good basketball player." Loki heard Clint's explanation, but only listened to the first sentence. His unintentional compliment made him sway his body languidly from side to side in forbidden satisfaction.

'Oh Clint, if you only knew me as I once was. For you, however, I will cease to look back as much and focus on moving forward.' Loki noticed Clint regarding him with curiosity. 'He means for me to continue this conversation does he?' Loki put a long, curled finger to his lips in thought.

"I would, I should think, like to listen to Kanye. The music of Asgard, while grand, can be quite stagnant and uninspired. Surely if Sho can find music worth listening to in this realm, I can as well. That is if yours is worthy of me" Loki provoked, still swaying lazily like a panther prowling a jungle. He saw Clint swallow and lean forward once more, lips quirking to one side of his stubble covered jaw.

"Is that a challenge?" Clint asked, drumming his calloused fingers on the counter, head forward in anticipation. Loki could see him more clearly now, the strength in him, the conviction and integrity he saw and immediately appreciated when making that first fateful stumble out of the portal to locate that blasted Tesseract.

"It is an earnest request." Loki's eyes crinkled in victory at not only mirroring Sesshomaru's and Clint's conversation from a few days ago, but mimicking Sesshomaru's voice perfectly. He couldn't help the smile that splayed across his face. Tormenting the archer was a temptation he would most certainly indulge in. He watched the shock blaze across Clint first, then settle into recognition that the God was indeed messing with him. Clint shook his head.

"Wow, Clint you just walked right into that one didn't you? Just wait and see Loki, or listen, or whatever. I'll make us a playlist for today's Fight Club. It will be awesome." Clint stood, stretching like an athlete would, and Loki stopped swaying, feeling that Clint would be leaving soon.

"I think the point is that I shall be the judge of that." Loki, with innate agility, shrunk the distance between himself and the counter in one singular movement. With arms locked and wide he put both arms on the counter and leaned forward eyes weighing the stretching mortal before him, studying the way his dormant muscles flexed and released. They were close, maybe ten inches away from each other. Loki smelled him he was so close, he smelled of sleep, sweat and clean cotton.

With arms still overhead, and eyes scrunched due to stretching, Clint opened one light brown eye, almost as a wink, Loki thought.

"Prepare to be impressed." Clint raised his eyebrows and Loki narrowed his like he was about to pounce.

"Clint, I'm sure your efforts will not be in vain." If Loki had fangs like Sesshomaru they would have flashed in the muted moonlight under his green eyes.

Clint chuckled, a hair nervously.

"Oh they won't be. I'm gonna blow you away. Anyway I'm gonna go shower before Steve steals it. He is an early riser and takes princess showers." Clint released his arms, letting them fall and rolled his shoulders a few times before setting off for his room. Loki didn't fail to notice Clint's need to explain his departure, as one would a friend.

"Oh, I already am." Loki murmured to the darkness as he teleported back down to his quarters, water and nightmare forgotten.

When he arrived in the absolute darkness of the storage room, it took his eyes a bit of time to adjust, but Loki could have sworn he saw that Sesshomaru's markings had spread across his body like black curls. However, when he blinked and adjusted his eyes, they appeared normal, albeit Sesshomaru convulsed in the throes of a potent nightmare. Loki would have guessed he scryed in his sleep, but he knew such things were nigh impossible.

Loki went to his friend's side and sat back down beside him, noticing his twitching eyelids and before he could cast a calming spell Sesshomaru's eyes shot open, all red with black at the edges. Loki recoiled back.

'I have never seen his eyes like that before, not even when he transformed.' Loki immediately cast the calming spell onto Sesshomaru, knowing his weakened youki state would allow his magic to take hold rather than render it neutralized. Sesshomaru blinked and his eyes focused on Loki, wide and irises tight and small.

He was trembling as if cold.

"Loki?!" He stated like he hadn't expected the God to be at his side.

"Boo! It is a time for nightmares and ghosts it seems." Loki whispered, lips curled and Sesshomaru blinked again, expression glassy.

"I remain fatigued. This Sesshomaru shall continue to rest." Loki caught Sesshomaru's implication, that he would not awaken for quite some time.

"Worry not, I shall feed Rin and ensure Jaken remains unmolested until you awaken." Loki reassured and Sesshomaru merely closed his eyes again. Loki looked to the small water Demon and the mortal girl, Jaken still clutching Tenseiga. Loki would protect them; he would protect them all…

"Lowly ocean scuttler, how dare you taunt me!?" Loki snapped out of his recollections, hearing Thor shout from inside the tower. They must be starting to cook the crabs.

"Thor, maybe you should get Mjolnir, that crab means business." Rogers countered. Loki grinned.

Thor's mortal spirit store errand had run exasperatingly long. Thor couldn't decide what to purchase, but he had told Loki that Sesshomaru drank gin, which surprised him since Japan did not have that particular spirit in that time. Loki sussed out he must have simply preferred its smell.

Loki disliked the way Thor regarded him, like he was damaged, or hurting. He was over it. Completely. It absolutely didn't affect him at all.

He had completely healed his injuries, he like Clint said was tough. Thor regarding him as if fragile glass was not helping his situation, but Loki knew that Thor was attempting his best efforts.

'Thor thought just because he attempted one heart to heart that we are brothers again. We were not, and will never be. Odin is not my father, neither was Laufey, Frigga is still my mother, however I doubt she'd agree.' Loki stretched out on the balcony and began to use his magic to weave designs in the air. He enjoyed his quiet pastimes of magic runes, unconsciously looking at the blue sky he noticed he was tracing lines into it. Lines on blue. Not a dissimilar hue to what his skin truly looked like.

He was a Frost Giant. A monster in more ways than one. A being capable of causing frostbite just from a single touch. Clint's question about the immortals rang in his mind. He thought he was immortal once. He thought he was a lot of things once, like Thor's brother.

'And, well perhaps Thor is right, perhaps out of everyone Sesshomaru knows me best, but he was still absent for five hundred years of my life. What does that say about me? The one person who knows me best was absent for half my life? Not that it was his fault...' Loki made some runes in the air, debating if he would ever tell Sesshomaru of his true Frost Giant heritage, his decision leaned to no.

'If only Thor and I hadn't been on Alfheim for all those years. If only Heimdall's sight wasn't blocked of Midgard...We may have known what happened to all the Demons.' Loki thought sourly. Loki closed his eyes.

Loki did not waste his time much on the mysteries of the universe, but the fate of every Demon, including his best friend, on Midgard always bedeviled him. Not only had they vanished, but every trace of their existence, memories, culture, buildings, even most graves and remains, had been spirited away.

Or obliterated, but Loki refused to believe that.

He refused to believe that Sesshomaru would go and get himself killed while he was away. No matter how reckless Sesshomaru could be, it seemed like every time he saw the Demon next he grew in strength and skill. He couldn't fathom, that the last time they spoke was last time he would ever speak to him, or cut own another opponent together.

Especially since their last words were an argument over his foolish half-brother.

"Why fret so over this half Demon? It was his own foolishness that led him to his fate. And let's not forget his mere existence which not only cost you your father, but almost your entire Lands and life!" Loki stood next to the sacred tree, irritancy clear as day on his brow. Loki had no idea what possessed Sesshomaru to come here and ask him this favor to remove this arrow. He could not, it was not a type of magic he could wield. He was no pure being, to be quite sure.

"...I did not ask you for your assessment of our situation. I merely asked for your assistance." Sesshomaru's ears lowered, voice stony. Loki rolled his eyes, the day Sesshomaru asked for Loki's opinion on any member of his family would be the day Thor gave him Mjolnir.

Sesshomaru was very secretive over his emotions towards his family members. He rarely spoke of his mother, he only stated that she ruled over her own Kingdom and that she and his father had never intended to live together or unite their lands.

He saw her rarely.

His half brother he said little as well. He said the first time he encountered him, he was a child and he struck him. He confessed it was half out of jealousy, half to reinforce the point that he could not be apart of his family.

Which to Loki made sense since everyone in his family either abandoned Sesshomaru or he was forced to kill. Sesshomaru felt no filial love for him, but he didn't want him to be discovered and captured to be used against him for a bid at sovereignty over the West by the North.

"Sesshomaru you owe nothing to the literal bastard your dull father stupidly chose over you." Loki immediately found himself pinned against the same tree by his throat, Sesshomaru eyes flashing in the mottled light. Loki knew he had struck a chord; he did it purposefully.

"I will not suffer your lies Loki! My father knew my strength; he knew me capable. It was a test." Sesshomaru hissed almost sounded like he was convincing himself. Loki smirked in victory.

"Your thick father used you. His actions led you to killing your own family. Your father's own brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, and friends betrayed you. His unbridled selfishness and callous view of your own well-being almost cost you your life. Your father, though you laud him so, is staggeringly undeserving of it. He never gave you your due respect, and dismissed you constantly or on a mere whim. His dissatisfaction with all you accomplished and are never sat well with me. It's a feeling and position I know quite well. And we both clean up our brother's messes don't we?" Loki's choked voice shattered something in Sesshomaru. His grip on Loki's throat loosened and he tilted his head down so his bangs hid his eyes.

"...leave my Lands. I do not wish to see you for some time." Sesshomaru released him and Loki fought to not slide down the tree. Loki knew Sesshomaru would most likely not agree with his words, but in time he would see his point of view as valid.

"Fine by me. You can deny the truth all you want Sho but don't take it out on me. I'll be on Alfheim for a long excursion, I will visit when I return." Loki stood and brushed himself off and Sesshomaru simply walked away.

Only he didn't see him after Alfheim, despite how much he searched Midgard and realms beyond. Loki was not one for regrets, but one he did harbor was the last conversation he had with Sesshomaru.

Anyway, the surly Demon Lord existed here now. This time is all about second chances apparently. He felt something block his sun. He glanced up to see Stark towering over him, which was rare considering he was taller than the mortal.

He had been expecting Stark though.

It confused Loki at first why let his Demon Blood take over when Sesshomaru had more than a few outs.

Unless, he thought of someone he wanted to protect, someone with whom he had been in contact with recently. Dog demons could be quite protective when cornered.

He most likely knew Jaken and Rin had Tenseiga, leaving them protected ...which left a certain inventor who he recently 'physically encountered', whatever Sesshomaru meant by that.

"Ok Reindeer Games, we are gonna set a few ground rules." Loki sat up, unsurprised Tony was trying to pull rank. He knew Tony enjoyed dominance.

"I believe we are a little past that." Loki almost purred. Stark knelt down and got in his face.

"Don't get cute. This is my house; it even has my name on it in case you get amnesia. We are allies, we are working together and who knows maybe we can even get along." Stark began, he could feel his anger simmering beneath the surface, like earlier in the morning. It was well hidden but Loki looked for it.

Loki had been observing Stark for the past few days sporadically. His drinking habit increased, as did his badgering of his companions and obsessive betting games about Sesshomaru's next location and musical preferences. Loki figured he most certainly did not want to see Sesshomaru leave.

He also did not miss the way Stark regarded Sesshomaru when he had just showered, nor what the invention he made for Sesshomaru symbolized.

Stark had a marked interest in Sesshomaru.

"So. While you are here, no assaulting people. What you and Clint do, sparring, fight club, whatever, cool, go nuts. But I watched the tape and you roughing up Sesshomaru was no agreed upon thing. You jumped him, and poisoned him! No more of that crap." Loki blinked. Stark was serious if he wasn't using any metaphors or unusual analogies.

He also used Sesshomaru's real name.

"I accept. It won't be a repeat performance from me I assure you." Loki said sincerely. He didn't need Stark's eyes boring in the back of his head everywhere he went.

He already got that from Thor, and a lesser extent Clint, though the intention of the stares were dramatically different than the one Stark would give him most assuredly.

"Good." And Stark stood, kicked him hard in the ribs and left. Loki wheezed, yes. Definitely interested in Sho.

It wasn't much later that Clint found him for their daily spar.

To be honest, he didn't know why it started. He just knew the morning after Sesshomaru left and the night prior where he, more or less, explained the circumstances behind his failed invasion; Clint strode up to him, eyes glinting, and explained his terms.

'I knew Clint needed a target for his unwanted aggressions. So did I. It worked out quite nicely that we could exercise our demons together, no offense meant, Sho.' Loki grinned to himself at his own joke.

Loki knew Clint's sarcasm was a defense mechanism for something greater; he and Clint both had something great within themselves with which to deal. Loki may not ever fully deal with it before the Other arrived, but it was what it was. Sparring with Clint gave Loki more joy than sulking about Stark tower with Tenseiga, having Rin attempt to cheer him up, or being coddled by Thor. Clint was far better suited for sparring with Romanoff, or perhaps Stark, but that didn't matter. No, logic was most certainly thrown out the window.

'Thrown out the window…' Loki was on a roll. 'By the Nines these mortals will be the death of me before I see the first cruiser of the Mad Titan's fleet.' Thought Loki as he followed Clint to the sparring room or 'gym' as the mortals referred to it.

When Clint set up the rules for the spar, or as he called it 'Fight Club.' Loki chuckled. Clint did always like structure. He informed him the first rule of Fight Club is that you didn't talk about Fight Club.

Fine. He was going to tell Sho anyway, but something told him the first rule was likely symbolic, or in reference to something he didn't quite catch.

The second rule of their Fight Club was no talking during fight club. Except to signal if you were finished for the day.

The third rule about Fight Club was no weapons, including magic and shoes.

Their first spar was all tense silence and uneasy stances. Loki enjoyed it anyway but he wasn't sure if Clint had. Especially since he ended it by throwing Clint to the floor.

Just having Clint's undivided attention was enough to put Loki's waffling ego into orbit.

He didn't expect a second spar but surprisingly Clint sought him out from his quasi in the storage room where he was studying Tenseiga and braiding Rin's hair.

Their second spar flowed better, Clint loosened up his stances. Loki still knocked him to the floor again however. At the end, when they ended Clint shook his hand.

Clint shook his hand! And he initiated it!

And his third he recalled Clint even shared a detail about his personal life with him. When under the influence of the scepter he dared not probe too deeply into his upbringing, he only learned it wasn't all entirely pleasant.

"You fight, a bit, like an acrobat I once knew." Clint commented at the end of their third spar. Loki furrowed his eyebrows, was Clint opening up to him?

"An acrobat, such as in your Midgardian theatres and circuses?" Loki inquired, still admiring the way Clint's ribbed tank top stuck to his obliques from sweat caused by their spar.

"Yeah. A bit. He was really good at keeping his balance when tumbling. He was a good guy, bit of a gambler but a good guy." Clint sounded almost wistful. Loki gathered Clint must have known this individual quite well.

"Well, I do as well, enjoy a good gamble." Loki, prompted. He wanted to see the conversation go somewhere, he selfishly wanted Clint to open up to him. His pulse quickened, perhaps he would.

"Yeah, well, let's just say he went all in, one too many times, and didn't come back from one of them." Clint pulled away from their closeness, Loki sensed that they have been somewhat close.

"Ah, well, for shame. I must say it's a fool's errand to risk it all without a backup plan. One must always have an ace up one's sleeve." Loki conjured an ace of hearts. He what he knew Clint wanted to hear. He didn't dare breathe that perhaps this acrobat friend of his and himself had a bit more in common than an ironic sense of balance.

If only his physiological sense of balance transferred to his mental state.

"Heh, yeah, so what's your ace up your sleeve then? This whole thing seems like quite the gamble for you." Clint keenly leaned back on the wall of the gym and suddenly Loki became the prey. He had to escape from Clint's keen gaze, reverse their position.

"I do believe that the point," Loki approached, still glistening from sweat, hair wet and limp against the racing pulse point of his neck. "of the ace is that you don't know what it is, unless it's needed, Clint." He had meandered his way dangerously close to Clint, close enough to smell the slight sour and musky scent of his sweat and see a drop go down his collarbone. And with a haughty smirk he teleported from the gym, all drama and intrigue.

Loki wanted to ensnare him at the beginning of what would be their fourth spar, but no this opportunity required patience. Patience never came well to Loki, Sesshomaru was much more apt to be patient than he.

Clint took off his shirt, revealing just a white sleeveless one underneath. He rolled his neck and jacked back his shoulders. His muscles flexed, he already sported a fine sheen of sweat. His hands were bound in bandages.

Loki magicked himself into black cotton pants, and a green sleeveless shirt respectively.

"Like I said, prepare to be impressed, I included some of my favorite artists on here, and some songs just to mess with you, Mischief God." Clint, bare feet padding almost silently across the hardwood floor, said his title mimicking the way Sesshomaru would say it. Clint did a fairly good Sho impression, and Loki would know considering he mimicked him.

Clint turned on the music system, and his playlist queued, starting with a song by a man named only letters: Kyoto by Skrillex feat. Sirah scrolled across the display.

And it began, and it was no dance. It was loosely contained chaos and fire. Loki felt the fight in air heavy like Clint had his own magic. Clint always started, Loki preferred to let his opponent to go first. It naturally worked well, Loki preferred his opponents, along with his lovers, assertive. Clint came in hard and fast, matching the tempo of the strange electronic music. Clint opened with a left jab and Loki dodged artfully, shadowing him while aiming an elbow to the back of his head. Clint spun, aiming for a kidney punch which Loki blocked with his other hand.

'Born from the center of the storm, all the boys flappin' gums about how they're hard, bitch I'm harder.'

Skrillex's music struck him and anything but uninspired and stagnant, much like his sparring partner.

Loki relished it. He ducked and weaved, barely dodging Clint's surprisingly well-honed mixed martial art technique. If one were to think he was lacking in hand to hand combat due to his primary role as an archer, they would be sorely mistaken. Loki limited his power to that of a normal mortal, but with Clint he almost didn't need to.

'I suppose if I were to make a comparison, Clint would be if you spliced some Thor's fervor and brawn with some of Sho's grace and dexterity...with a bit of something else as well.' Loki appraised, blocking a right cross before swinging with his own right hook, it too being blocked by Clint's left arm.

Second song: All Day by Kanye West.

While dodging was more effective, the touch of skin on skin exhilarated Loki. The near miss brushes of knuckles on his side, the top of Clint's foot against his raised forearm blocking another roundhouse kick. The feel of the bottom of his own foot just barely kissing Clint's ribbed white shirt from a side kick. The feel of Clint's python strong grip on his wrist as he attempted to throw Loki over his shoulder. Loki broke his wrist lock with a quick counter.

'If you ain't with us, you in our way. You an actor, you should be on Broadway.'

Loki didn't know when he started smiling, or why he allowed himself the luxury, but he didn't care. Because this was going to be the closest he ever would ever get to Clint. Clint would never trust him, never like him. He didn't deserve it, really he didn't.

Did he want him anyway? Yes.

He wanted to tie him down and make him tremble, make him quake. Loki wanted to curve his tongue around him just like when he said the 'L' in his name. He wanted to take him in ways both new and old, he wanted to subject him to his arts most profane.

He wanted Clint to make him crawl, Loki longed for Clint to make him bend like a bow being strung. He needed him as a bright and scorching star to his dark and chilling vapor. He craved their bodies crashing, like an icy ocean wave on piping hot sand. He didn't expect it to ever happen. An impossible outcome from a simple equation, but Loki hungered for him anyway. He savored tastes of what could have been.

The song changed to Kanye West: Stronger.

Loki danced right lifting his right leg vertically, aiming an axe kick to hit Clint on the crown of his head, but Clint flit back, countering with a front push kick that would have connected if Loki didn't twist out at the last possible second. Clint recovered and closed the gap with a foot sweep kick, an attempt to get Loki off balance aimed for his face. Loki switched his stance with a quick scissor of his legs and under his leg, hitting Clint in the side with his elbow, taking a right hook in his own side for the trouble.

Loki truly meant what he said when he first met Clint and said he had heart. He was drawn to him, and something deep within him, despite his mind tainted blue, despite the scepter's whispers and wires, knew he had to protect him. He had to ensure that Clint's mind would not end up as his, decayed and glazed over. He tinkered with the scepter, his first act of direct defiance of his forger.

He disguised a potent, intricate protection spell within the tap of the scepter when he touched Clint with it. A protection spell meant to bestow good fortune. That most any action he would take would have an outcome in his favor; it bent fate.

If a gun were aimed at Clint, it may jam, or the bullet wouldn't hit its desired target. It conjured small miracles, and preserved the person as they were, mind and body. The scepter's control of Clint remained only surface level, a miasma of blue fog clouding his mind. Loki knew the scepter's control of Clint would eventually break, and he would be returned to his normal, unaffected state.

'Cause I can't wait much longer. I know I got to be right now, 'Cause I can't get much wronger. Man I've been waiting all night now. That's how long I been on ya.'

'It would only take me touching the scepter again for me to retrograde back into the Other's weapon. For my mind to warp and erode once more. The sealing spell I placed on the scepter would have long sense faded. I am relieved to know the scepter has been destroyed, undoubtedly SHIELD must have dismantled it at the end of my reign of terror.' Loki's concentration drifted momentarily.

Clint connected with a left kidney punch and Loki rolled and unexpectedly caught Clint's eyes. His light brown eyes chided him for not paying due attention. He retaliated with a quick crescent kick, clipping Clint's ear.

New song: Power by Kanye West.

'Clint is getting most serious. Most likely irritated thinking my mind was elsewhere. That is our unspoken rule of Fight Club, your body and attention stayed on the fight. I'll accept his challenge and match his pace.' Loki settled into a taekwondo tiger stance, his left foot just in front of his right, fists at his sides. Loki preferred the fighting style of Taekwondo when unarmed due to lacking in upper body strength and the focus on kicks and elaborate ones at that.

Loki narrowed his gaze, and went on the offensive, misdirecting and spinning his body and planting his foot sideways, twisting his body horizontally in the air landing a blow on Clint's shoulder with a well-placed twisting butterfly kick. Clint struck back, angry, hitting Loki in the opposite side with a quick snap kick when he landed.

'I'm living' in that 21st century. Doing something mean to it. Do it better than anybody you ever seen do it. Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it. I guess every superhero need his theme music.'

They were beyond breaking a sweat. Their skin shone, their cheeks were flushed. Loki's long, dark and Clint's short brown hair hung damp.

New artist: Kid Ink's Bad Ass.

Loki dropped quick aiming to take out Clint's legs and to Loki's amusement it worked and down Clint fell. Clint grunted and flipped aiming a heel strike from his side which only met air.

They both sprung up quick in another flurry. Loki caught a glint of some something in his eye as Clint perfectly misdirected. He planted his hands on the ground sprung up into handstand and landed a flashy cartwheel kick right on Loki's head.

Loki crashed to the floor, dark spots dotting his vision. Loki fell for the first time in one of their spars, he held a hand to the right part of his forehead where the kick landed.

'I'm feeling like the man of the hour, tear down the house. Throwing this money like it's no running out.'

Clint recovered and paused, looking down at Loki, stunned and out of breath. A part of Loki believed Clint never thought that kick should have landed. Loki was on his back, his wet skin and shirt stuck to the cool floor. Loki knew how vulnerable he appeared as they locked eyes, chests heaving. He began to rock himself to get up when Clint offered his hand.

And as if on cue, the last song: Love Lockdown, by Kanye West

Loki's face slackened in disbelief as he grabbed it. Their slick hands together brought him back up. They were close again, and he still smelled like cotton, despite the sweat. Were they too close? Loki didn't care, this was his luxury, his indulgence. His soft hand, in Clint's worn one, their sweat melding them together, jolted Loki.

'See I wanna move, but can't escape from you. So I keep it low, keep a secret code. So everybody else don't have to know.'

"About time I landed a kick like that. You're all complicated kicks, had to try one myself." Clint breathed, letting go of his hand and turning off the music. Loki ran a hand back through his soaked hair, watching Clint with avid interest walk away from him, if someone were to liken him to a feline, then Clint embodied all hunter.

"Yes, well, it is to my advantage to favor kicks to punches. Strength has never been an advantage of mine like agility and flexibility are." Loki explained, unsure why he felt the need to go into detail about his fighting technique. He had supposed it had been a while since he sparred unarmed. Sesshomaru didn't particularly enjoy it, most likely because of his tournaments with Thor and his talons made it cumbersome.

"Eh, you're stronger than you look. Took me by surprise our first time fighting. What did you think?" Clint turned from the stereo system, all broad strokes of muscles and beads of sweat. Loki couldn't get lock on Clint, he kept complimenting him in ways he couldn't acknowledge and followed them up with questions or statements that changed the subject.

Clint Barton, a slippery adversary indeed, Loki licked his lips, tasting salt. He approached Clint with brazen swagger, feeling his black pants stick to his thighs, quads and hamstrings damply.

"Ah, I was quite dazzled." Loki refused to elaborate further. Delighting in being purposely vague, translucent green eyes alight in adrenaline and thirst. Like a jaguar he watched Clint's face flicker into a slight satisfaction, surprising Loki. He wanted to take Clint off guard, not have Clint react this way, he wanted Clint to pick up on his seductive intentions and falter due to it.

"Sweet. No one else here listens to him. I'll include some more of his stuff for next time." Clint smiled softly and took his phone from the sound system. Loki frowned in suspicion, could Clint be blind to his blatant flirtations or inviting him to go further?

Jubilant, Loki decided on the latter, mostly due to it amusing him more.

"Three years ago…" Clint started and Loki immediately tensed. His magic circled inside him like vultures. Loki locked eyes with Clint, pursing his lips thin. "You fought back against them, outsmarted them, and you won." Clint finished and Loki squinted in confusion. Won? A truly strange way to see it. Was Clint complimenting him or something else?

"One does not win a game they were never a player in. You and your Avengers won, you stopped the Mad Titan. You all prevented the Tesseract from falling into the Mad Titan's grasp." Loki crossed his arms to guard his hesitancy in his answer.

Loki noticed Clint clenched his jaw in irritation. Why he wasn't sure. He had actually been honest in that reply.

Loki was not being humble, or vying for compliments like he sometimes would with that answer. He was never a true participant, but the element of entropy. He was a maelstrom of chaos that simply blew up in the hand of his wielder, giving the lost creatures ample opportunity for victory.

"Do you… forget it. It's not impor—" Loki saw his chance and closed the gap between them, he stood in front of Clint, all sure intensity and coy smirks.

He rose his arm and placed, not poked, Clint on his damp chest, lingering briefly on the curled, wet chest hair beneath his tank top.

"You do not ask unimportant questions. What do you wish to know?" Loki, ardently curious rolled his shoulders back to ready himself to answer his question.

By nature, Loki liked to push his limits, to step over the line, yet just because he insisted that Clint ask his question didn't mean he would necessarily answer it honestly.

If it would benefit him or Clint to answer it honestly he would, but he would easily, and proudly lie to Clint if Loki thought it best.

"Do you think you're still at fault? Did you forget that I was your second in command? Everything you did brought the Avengers together, aside from Fury originally working on the Tesseract. If you thought you weren't a participant in the outcome then what does that make me? We were both controlled by them, we were both manipulated and had our minds played with." Loki really should have seen Clint's response coming. He should have anticipated that Clint, logically, would think that they were in the same circumstances.

He really shouldn't have gotten angry. But now anger was second nature to him, much like their Berserker. He bristled and backed up from Clint, fists clenched, jaw high and arrogant. His magic coiled.

"Clint, I set into motion a series of events that could cleave the galaxy in two. Do not mistake me for one of your altruistic Avengers. Do not mistake that the scepter's control over you and the Other's ownership of my mind were equivalent. Do not mistake yourself to be anything near as disgraceful as I." Loki hissed and teleported out of the gym in a flash of green smoke leaving Clint alone and perturbed, again.

oohhhhhh this chapter turned out a bit different than I originally planned. Expect the next chapter to be a bit of a surprise! :)

let me know how you liked this one!