Loki and the Schism
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"You. With me. Now." Loki didn't wait for Sesshomaru's response as he grabbed the Demon Lord who just retreated from Stark's quarters as if electrocuted, and teleported them to the middle of Central Park. It was 3:58 am. Sesshomaru was late, and he was falling apart.
"…I am indecently dressed." Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at him. It was then Loki noticed he indeed was wearing nothing but Stark's red sweatpants in the middle of the Bethesda Pavillion, where Sesshomaru fought the Chitauri. The brisk hair chilled Loki's skin, pricking it into bumps so Sesshomaru had to be none to pleased.
"Now who's 'bedclothes'?" Loki frantically smiled, trying to keep himself together as he curled together green sparkling wisps and magicked an oversized white Captain America T-shirt onto him. Sho did not look amused. Yet, Loki knew that Sesshomaru knew that he was at the end of his rope.
"….Loki…" Sesshomaru warned, ears lowering. And Loki got it, he really did.
"Sho, I had honest sexual relations with Clint." Loki confessed and Sesshomaru stared at him blankly. Oh of course he knew, damn his sense of smell! Why didn't he find him sooner then?!
"…" Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed, as if waiting for the issue. Loki licked his lips chuckling manically.
"This. Wasn't. Supposed. To. Happen. You! You and your meddling. The arrows, the ice cream, the dinner, the bar…don't give me that look, I know you tied yourself up with Stark, letting him chatter about some trivial nonsense leaving us alone to play billiards!" Loki paced, running his hands through his hair, trying to calm his erratic heartbeat. Loki knew he was sweating and wringing his hands again.
Clint liked him. Clint actually liked him. Clint wanted him. Clint said his name during intercourse. Clint washed up with him after. They…got steaks at that foolish steakhouse again, with his fake Midgardian currency of course. He was courting Clint, and properly.
By. The. Nines.
"You dare blame this Sesshomaru for the outcome of your own inclination? You placed another protection spell on him. You coupled in our quarters. You charmed him." Sesshomaru's eyes flashed with visible irritancy. Loki found it odd at how easily Sesshomaru lost his cool. Perhaps not all went well with Stark. He sensed his youki spark, he knew Sesshomaru liked to spark his youki when intimate. Most Demons did, he had first hand knowledge with that thrice damned Phoenix Demoness.
'I too should have known Sesshomaru would know about the protection spell I placed on Clint when I healed his shoulder.' Loki hoped he wouldn't mention it to Clint. He'd surely crack some issue with him not being a child.
"My flirtations are not the issue! He was never supposed to like me back! He was never supposed to forgive me! And he did, and he enjoys me, as me! I even tried to shift into some attractive Midgardian women and he denied it." Sesshomaru tilted his head to the side slightly and his ears pricked up. He put a curled index finger to his mouth, and Loki dare thought he was mocking him.
That was when Loki noticed something was amiss with Sho's markings. Loki squinted his eyes and his mouth fell open slightly. The markings on his triceps had turned crimson as well as his wrists.
"Forgiveness? For what and since when do you seek such a useless thing? I fail to see the issue." Sho sighed, well, it was a sigh for him. Loki didn't really listen to him though. Sho may not have noticed his markings, nor may know the significance behind this change, but Loki had a serious inkling. Sesshomaru had entered the beginnings of a mating ritual.
How…complicated. Of all the mortals, he chooses Stark. Of course, he would! He just had to make everything difficult.
At least Stark had honest sentiment towards him, Tenseiga would be reluctant for a mortal to wield him otherwise. Tenseiga was not intended for mortals. Loki quickly snapped out of it.
"It's a problem Sho! I don't know what to do, I can't handle this. I am no longer me; I am not a being he can be with." Loki's pulse started to race and Sesshomaru's lips thinned. Loki had no warning.
Sesshomaru punched him in the jaw with a sharp left hook.
Loki hit the dirt, sprawled out on his backside. What in the Norns?! He tongued a metallic taste in his mouth. Sesshomaru rarely resorted to punching.
"Loki. What do you want?" Sesshomaru's fangs lengthened, hair raised, patience reached. Loki swallowed, and stood back up.
Loki really didn't desire a spar with a worked up Sesshomaru, swords or no swords.
"I want him, but I don't want him to reciprocate. I can't elaborate. I don't even know precisely why I want him. His loyalty to me was false three years ago, all of it. His interactions with me during the invasion were forced. I know he didn't want to align with me. I know he wished to kill me. Yet it was the first time, in such a long, long time Sesshomaru that I found someone so… so unlike me and who…spoke to me like an equal. I played house, like a child. Now I am with him, now he looks upon me with such…ardor. Real, emotion. It doesn't seem possible. It's like I caught a comet in my hand. I can't hold onto it, I'll extinguish it." Loki babbled, pacing again in the park. He had no idea what to do next. He merely meant to satisfy Clint, like a transaction. Worship him a bit. Make him feel good, pay back a debt the only way he knew how. He hadn't expected anything like Clint wanting him back, to demand him.
"Your theatrics, God of Mischief, tire this Sesshomaru. Allow the archer to decide. I am leaving." Loki twitched, like it was that simple! Something was amiss with Sesshomaru. He used his title, not his name.
"What troubles you now? Did Stark say something to you?" Loki tried to make Sesshomaru turn around. He needed him to stay, so he changed the topic of conversation.
"Stark had a human night terror, much like Rin's. I believe I solved it incorrectly. He asked me to leave." Sho sounded pensive and looked over to the fountain. Loki chewed the inside of his cheek. As far as he knew, Sesshomaru had never dreamt. And, as far as Loki was privy, Stark had been into the cold void of the Andromeda galaxy. He most likely had some mental scarring much like he had falling into Sanctuary.
"He most likely either wished for you not to see him in such a state, or was more mentally unsound than usual." Loki gesticulated spinning his finger around his temple and Sesshomaru's eyes sliced into razors. "I'm not implying he is deranged, well entirely deranged. He has seen the cosmos and annihilated The Mad Titan's primary armada first hand and nearly did not live to tell the tale. I am well aware of what that can do to a mind. He is most likely…still suffering from it in secrecy." Loki sighed through his nose. Of any issue for Sesshomaru to help with, this may be leagues of his depth. Sesshomaru could be too logical and sound for his own good.
"Know this, Sho. Stark is burdened with scars, most unseen. Typical logic and operations may not apply to his issues. He is not something broken to be fixed. He is who he is, and may just require someone to simply… help weather his madness." Loki may or may not have been still talking about Stark.
For all their differences, Thor and Sho both operated well within the realm of black and white and world view for every decision they made. Thor's exceptions were usually when he was rarely incredibly intoxicated and the Demon couldn't even get intoxicated for Norn's sake!
Sho's exceptions laid more in when his youki took over.
Clint most certainly had a strict moral code, as he had told Loki before, but operated more effectively than Sho and Thor in a world of gray.
Loki, along with Stark, both operated in a murky shade of gray, there wasn't a true good, nor a true evil. Not even the Mad Titan could be considered truly evil, just briskly ruthless, impossibly powerful, and with ambition tantamount to none. Anyone with access to that much power could be labeled the same.
He and Sesshomaru had certainly proven that to those weaker than them.
And Stark, while intelligent and powerful for a mortal, had his gray areas of weakness if his Midgardian spirit habit was any indicator.
Loki, selfishly, or perhaps not so selfishly, wished Stark would do something irrevocably against Sesshomaru's principles to cause him to lose interest. There was no way these two could possibly work. It was one thing for Sho to pursue him out of sport, another to start the mating process.
"…" Sesshomaru remained characteristically silent, but his eyes shifted a bit.
"What possible else could trouble you? I swear on Hela herself you sulk far more than I recall." Loki began to calm his nerves a bit, having something else to focus on.
"…My mother seeks me. It pertains to the scry. I may take Stark with me to her tomb." Sesshomaru stated flatly, too flatly. Loki's eyes lit up in recognition. Loki surmised he was attempting to downplay this decision. Loki knew exactly what it meant. Not even he had met his mysterious mother. Though she was apparently already dead, Loki had heard rumors that some Demons could retain their souls long after death. If he got his Astral Plane gift from his mother then this would make even more sense.
"You're going to introduce your intended to your mother? A bit soon, don't you think? Not even I have met her." Loki, for the first time sliced his mouth into a scythe of a smile which was double edged. He hinged the humor side Sesshomaru's way, but Loki knew deep down Sesshomaru sounded serious. Sesshomaru in a flash had his whip drawn, fuming. Loki laughed darkly. Oh, and he had accused him of being dramatic?
"I agreed to take one of the humans with me if I were to leave this metropolis. Stark is capable of flight; it would be fastest. It would be him or Barton in the Quinjet. I would leave Rin with Romanoff for weapons training." Sesshomaru did not convince Loki whose smile only grew. Oh, kidnapping Sesshomaru and taking him to the park definitely made him feel better, in an unintended way.
'We are both in such a predicament. Sho likes an unstable mortal who cannot settle on one lover and doesn't even live in his time! I want a mortal who wants someone I am not anymore, yet I cannot tear myself away from. We are such selfish creatures, what is that saying here on Midgard? Oh, misery loves company.' Loki's emerald magic shot to his fingertips.
"You know very well another Avenger capable of flight. If I asked Thor I —" Sesshomaru had him by the throat with his whip, but there was no toxin applied to it, and minimum pressure constricted him. Quite unlike their first spar.
Loki still fake gagged and pulled at the familiar weapon.
"I. Refuse. To. Take. Your. Brother." Seshsomaru's fangs lengthened and his ears lowered. Loki laughed brightly. Oh yes, his mood had vastly improved.
"Not my brother, but let me know how that goes. Let's depart before someone sees us fighting. Before Lady Potts even intends us to be seen." The whip let up and Loki teleported them back into the main room of Stark tower. Loki magicked away the Captain America shirt before Sesshomaru could slice him with more than just a glare. He would magic it back on one day.
"Holding another 'schemers anonymous' meeting?" Loki whipped around to see Clint leaning over the kitchenette countertop. Loki's lips curled up in a response as automatic as a heart beating.
"I believe a once monthly meeting is sufficient." Loki cracked a saucy smirk to a sheet-creased Clint who sleepily smiled back, holding up one finger.
He ached to see more of those smiles before the Aethon reached them.
"Also, no shirt, no shoes, no service Fancy Pants, this isn't the beach. Were you going to get more seafood in those clam diggers you have on? Should I call you Fancy Capris now?" Clint pointed, eating what appeared to be a green apple and Loki swore Sho growled.
"…" Sesshomaru said nothing as his whip flashed out and just as quickly retracted. Loki had a hard time tracking the movements of the whip but he had a vague idea what he did.
The apple melted in Clint's hand.
"Hey, don't take your poor fashion choices out on me, Fancy Waders." Clint pouted and inadvertently yawned. Loki chuckled, he needed to ensure his mortal got proper sleep, and if any indication by Sho's short trigger, the irritable Demon needed rest as well.
"…Barton, Uncle Loki? Lord Sesshomaru! You're back and better!" Rin emerged sleepy eyed from the corridor and waved to Sesshomaru. Rin, unable to sleep with Sesshomaru out and injured, implored Clint and himself for a bedtime story and had fallen asleep in their quarters. Even that imp Jaken had followed.
If it had been any other mortal girl, Loki would have magicked her away to have his way with Clint once more, but he couldn't bring him to do it to Rin. Also, due to Rin's stay he learned much about Clint's time in the Midgardian circus in the form of a rousing bedtime story.
"C'mon munchin, let's all go back to bed." Clint sighed and Sho's expression softened. Loki smirked knowingly when Sho followed them back to Clint's quarters. He had indeed grown less cold in the past half century or so. With Jaken asleep in the corner of the far room, Loki figured Sesshomaru would sleep elsewhere, but with a look from Rin that Clint had claimed was as manipulative as Loki himself could be, Sesshomaru sat at the very left edge of the bed with Rin sprawled sideways in his lap. Loki ensured that Clint softly snored on his belly before he curled himself into a tight ball he had been accustomed to sleeping in between the two men.
Loki's last thought before drifting off to a solid slumber was how odd they all must appear.
The morning went by uneventfully, but he had seen Jaken eyeing Sho's markings suspiciously just as he had the night before. Rin then informed she wished to go to Central Park and get more ice cream for everyone. While sweet, presented a few problems. Loki knew Sesshomaru would be immediately recognized. They had agreed with Lady Potts to wait till the press statement at five o'clock to be seen.
So, Loki decided to try to glamour Sesshomaru into a mortal. Loki was thunderstruck when Sesshomaru said yes, on one condition. He would have to remove his current facial markings to add his father's instead. Loki furrowed his eyebrows and agreed.
"I don't know why you would want your father's markings. They are hideous." Loki scrunched his nose. They lacked artistry and the purple was all wrong. Sesshomaru nodded slowly in agreement, looking at his reflection. Good. He didn't want Sho to start a pity party about his markings or whatever nonsense.
"Those were on your dad's face? Yikes, got lucky with yours." Clint emerged from the shower and Loki snapped his fingers and the purple towel that had been wrapped firmly around his waist slipped down a few inches and turned green.
"Hey! Not cool!" Clint warned and Loki donned a false, innocent smile. His magic would suffice to glamour Sesshomaru, but due to his youki being stronger than Jaken's he had to make the simple glamour, strong.
"Alright Sho, so I bet we can fool…Bedclothes, Banner, Stark, and perhaps Lady Potts. I think Romanoff will automatically know it's you, and Thor knows my magic and your youki signature too well to be fooled." Loki grinned in glee, looking into the bathroom mirror and Sesshomaru nodded, Rin stood beside them, bouncing in excitement. Jaken, now Jack, stood apprehensive.
"Yeah, you wont be able to fool Nat… Oh, give him Steve's hair! That will mess with him. Or Tony's goatee… maybe Nat's french manicure?" Clint tossed on some clothes and Loki did not miss spotting that taut, perky ass from his position. He had thought he hid himself, but little did he know he couldn't hide from him.
"This Sesshomaru's appearance is not for your amusement, Archer." Loki quirked an eyebrow at that name.
"Been, deregulated from my name to hobby huh? Who's wearing whose pants again?" Loki sliced a thin grin, he had pilfered a pair of sweatpants for Sesshomaru from Clint's closet. They fit Sho better and were black with some sort of Midgardian vehicle insignia emblazoned on them. Sesshomaru was not impressed and just barely tolerated them. He also had on an oversized white t-shirt with the same vehicle inked on them.
"I think the goatee will be overmuch." Loki's green eyes danced with magic as he started with the markings, removing them, including the crimson on his eyelids. He then shaded his skin color more tan and less porcelain white. Then, he turned Sesshomaru's pupils round, and his iris color into a typical mortal brown. Next, he rounded Sesshomaru's ears, dulled his talons to mere nails, blunted Sesshomaru's chin, and nose a hair, squaring them. Loki had almost forgotten about the fangs. Last was the hair. He went bold. He glamored it all off till it was short like Rogers', except he kept the bangs. Finally, he tuned it all a dark, jet black.
"Lord Sesshomaru! You look like how my older brother used to look!" Rin gasped and clapped with glee. Loki knew that if Rin approved, Sho would not alter anything.
And, of course, he did a perfect job disguising him just-so.
"So, you knew your family? I had an older brother too, can't say he looked anything like him though." That caused Loki to pause. Clint had been pretty tight lipped about his familiar relations, but Clint had told him his brother had taken his own life yesterday before they had sex. He didn't exactly know how to tackle that subject, or even if he should or could. Worthless, unworthy, burden, broken were feelings that ensnared his mind constantly. Clint's late brother, Nate, most likely felt the same, leaving Clint to clean up and move on. Yet, unlike Nate, he was truly all those things.
Loki, for all he wished couldn't really relate. He found Thor grating on his best day, and of course tried to kill him on his worst. Loki didn't do family. Clint would be quite disappointed to fully become aware of this.
"Yup, I did before they all were killed. My brother was really nice. He was a lot older than me and looked after us." Rin continued and gazed up at a now very human looking Sho. He himself would don his 'Yuki' form after the bets. He intended on going out with them. He wanted to meet this Polly and he had begun to go beyond stir crazy in the tower. Maybe due to a broody 'Storm God'.
Honestly, if he had really meant to kill Thor while creature shifted he wouldn't have retracted and bit his shoulder. He had simply been confused. Thor knew this. Thor knew how he would lose most of his rationality when shifted. He didn't understand why he took it so personally. Thor should have let it go and let him heal him, instead of humoring that insufferable Steve Rogers and 'Rhodey' with that Midgardian anti-venom. Both mortals thought he would back stab them if it suited his interests.
Which of course he would, but it ran counter to his interests at present.
"Mmm." Loki could tell Sesshomaru had a hard time getting used to the short hair, he ran his hand on the back of his neck and blinked. Then abruptly, as if he had seen enough, he stood and they all began to move to the main room from the bathroom.
"Lord Sesshomaru, I don't see why you feel the need to hide from these hu—" Sesshomaru knocked Jaken out with a fist slam to the crown of his head.
"Poor Jaken will never learn." Rin sighed. They made their way to the main room. It was early, they were the first there. Fortunate for their bet. Loki snuck a look at Sesshomaru, he had taken everything that made Sesshomaru stand out and normalized it. Sesshomaru, with his hair cut and blunted features, not only looked less intimidating, but also younger. He had done good work; no mortal would think he the same as the 'Mr Nirvana' they lauded so.
And with himself as 'Yuki', they'd almost pass as relations.
Yet Loki had been pleasantly surprised that a few mortals left messages for him outside the tower that weren't telling him to go to Midgardian 'hell and die'. It looked promising.
"Morning…oh wow the tech crew for the press interview definitely got here early. Hi, I'm Steve Rog—" Steve cut himself off when Sesshomaru leveled a purposeful, familiar stare his way. "Holy smokes you're human! Loki you did this? Wow, you look, uh, young!" Loki laughed, teeth flashing, they had no money riding on the bet, but it tickled him when his work managed to fool the ever-alert Steve Rogers.
They fooled Banner similarly. Thor was fooled into thinking Sesshomaru actually cut off his hair, which was a half victory. Clint, sitting next to Sho, motioned scissors with his fingers at Sho who just narrowed his eyes. He also didn't react negatively about Sesshomaru looking differently. Loki devilishly waited for Stark to awaken. His reaction, which Loki didn't tell Sesshomaru, could glean a lot from how they felt about the other.
Loki also glamored Sesshomaru for a third reason, it gave the mortals, and Thor, a game. Since tensions between the clucking hen-like mortals were still high from yesterday, they needed a distraction. Rogers, Banner and Clint dutifully gave nothing away when Romanoff entered the room. Yet, of course she wasn't fooled. She was, however, impressed and agreed Stark would be fooled and hit the roof.
How he felt about Clint eyeing him from the counter like a hunter made him want to take him back to his quarters and have him again. He restrained himself, which never worked well with Loki for long. Loki was not one for self-restraint. He planned on taking Barton again before the press statement but Fury had informed him and Romanoff they had to report to him today.
'I cannot wait to see what she makes Thor do as a part of their bet in the billiards game.' Loki sipped his coffee, a bad habit he had gotten into when Romanoff handed him the mug.
He didn't even like the drink, but the bitter taste grounded him. It reminded him the sweet times would be over soon.
He knew this, because while he didn't quite feel it acutely when he was in his serpentine form, the edges of his mind began to prickle. The Aethon was close, something had hastened the armada's pace from Loki's original estimate.
The swiftest in their fleet, the Aethon, was gaining. He was sure of it.
The Other had been overly successful in the research and application of his own magic to enhance the armada's speed.
"No, he will be at the Gala. Yes, really. No, he won't be making a statement. No, no press. As CEO it's my job to make sure that he is there. I have to go. Yes, bye." Lady Potts pulled him from his thoughts by sweeping through the room, presumably to awaken Stark. She didn't even notice Sho. She briefly waved to everyone and tapped something on her phone before disappearing into Stark's bedroom for around eleven minutes. He knew because he counted, as did probably everyone else aside from Rin, Sesshomaru and Jaken.
"I just don't see what the big deal is. It's just another snobbery kiss ass thing and you know the wind farm people give me the creeps. No one even likes Pittsburgh. Can't Rhodey just go for me like usual? Or you? You aren't wearing that perfume I don't like, are you? The Marc Jacobs?" Stark blew out of his room like a gale force wind, with Lady Potts following close behind. He was dressed in an exorbitantly expensive black pinstripe suit and yellow tie.
"Tony. You promised. The jet is fueled, you were due at it thirty minutes ago, and I have to help handle the press statement for Loki and Sesshomaru so no I can't go. Now please!" Lady Potts looked like she wanted to shove him but didn't. Stark flounced his way to the coffee maker, finding it in the middle of brewing another pot. Loki smirked at Romanoff knowing she gave him the last cup on purpose.
"Ok, fine. Going, I just gotta find Sailor Moon first and clear something up…" Stark smacked the coffee brewer lightly as if to make it work faster. "It's my tower, and yet I'm the one coffeeless. Who drank the last cup of coffee? Hey are you the guy here to deliver the Chicago Blackhawks Roomba team? Steve, did you let some teenager from 'Mr Clean delivery' drink my coffee?" Stark was still fastening his cufflinks when he finally looked up to take a look Lady Potts. Sesshomaru who had just turned around to face them, face impassive but brown eyes warm in amusement.
Clint then took the opportunity, to flick a piece of bagel at Sesshomaru who dodged it and Sesshomaru, uncharacteristically, threw a sugar packet back at him hitting Clint in the chest. Children!
"Tony that's…" Lady Potts cleared her throat. "Sesshomaru. The Roombas arrive tomorrow; the logos you ordered were on backorder." Lady Potts explained and immediately received another phone call, leaving the room.
Stark slowly turned around and Loki bit out a laugh with Romanoff and Banner. Tony dropped his cufflink on the floor, eyebrows up, jaw open, brown eyes glued on Sesshomaru who simply stood there.
"...Not falling for that. You're all the worst for drinking my good coffee, especially you Reindeer Games, I bet you don't even do coffee. Please tell me he isn't a junior reporter. He isn't even dressed the part. He looks like he should be covering the fifteen and under X-games." Loki quirked his face at the last bit, and Clint bit a glared a bit in mock offense. Banner chuckled and Thor beamed knowingly.
"Hey, I don't dress that poorly. They're just a lil' big on him is all. Those red sweatpants Pepper got him last night were too short. Also, the roombas, great idea. Fancy Pants if I find another six-foot-long silver hair on my floor, sheets, bathroom, whatever, Rin isn't getting another bedtime story." Clint pointed, face scrunched in a scowl and Loki stilled.
Clint had no idea Stark was jealous of him. He also may have little idea that Stark fancied Sesshomaru deeply.
Loki edged a stare towards Stark, his gaze had blanked out into a thousand-yard stare. It then lasered over to Sesshomaru who impassively ran his hand on the back of his neck. Drumming his fingers on his thigh, Loki contemplated two options. One, he could clear up the clear misconception that Clint and Sesshomaru had been intimate. Two, he could let it play out and see what happened. It would be a good test for the two of them.
And of course, plenty amusing for him.
"Oh, um, wow Moonie. Your hair's…different. Thought you said you'd keep your hair. And those were my swea...nevermind." Stark's taut voice stumbled along with his fingers, dropping a cufflink to the tile floor. The sound tinkled through the room. Stark didn't utter one sassy remark about Sesshomaru's haircut! He wasn't even trying, was Stark really the type to simply give up if challenged this indirectly for Sho's attentions?
Loki inwardly huffed; he wanted a more entertaining reaction than this.
As Stark bent down to search for what Loki had to assume was an audaciously luxurious platinum and yellow diamond cufflink, Sesshomaru's and Clint's sharp eyes locked onto it.
"It's under Ste-Rog-ve's-er's chair." Sho and Clint chorused at once.
"Nice spot." Steve admitted quickly, arching back to see the glinting trinket. Even he had missed it.
"…I see you're so close you're speaking in unison now. Well, it's showtime. Time to face the music. I told them band, not DJ, open bar, with good scotch this time, and ladies in the VIP instead of the windfarm people." Stark grinned, crouching low to retrieve the cufflink. Loki picked up, being the God of Lies after all, that the lightheartedness screamed forced. Stark didn't sound like himself, he sounded stiff, on edge.
"…what was it you wished to discuss with me, Stark?" Sesshomaru definitely still sounded like Sesshomaru, even though he looked fairly far from it. It was the first thing he had said all morning in front of the Avengers, he could tell some of them were a little spooked. Jaken becoming Jack was one transformation, Sesshomaru was another.
Tony's face darkened into a flush and Sesshomaru's expressive brown eyes furrowed slightly.
"Yeah, about that…" Stark tapped his arc reactor a few times with a frenzied flexing of his fingers. He was debating something.
"Tony. Jet. Now. I have six thousand other things to do besides force you in the limo with Happy." Lady Potts urged from somewhere out of sight and Stark pointed his finger between Sesshomaru and Lady Potts a few times.
"Convo's gotta wait Moonie. Daddy's gotta fly. Don't go anywhere and attack any star destroyers solo. Capiche?" Stark mustered a smile that he was sure Sesshomaru would even see was strained and turned and left the room with Lady Potts following, still chattering on the phone.
"I would never allow Son of Taisho to go into battle alone! I must obtain some of the glory!" Thor bellowed, and Sho glared at him, but with his current appearance it lacked a lot of heat.
Oh yes, like Sesshomaru, Demon Lord of the Western Lands, cared for anything like glory amongst the mortals.
"Clint. It's time we checked in with Fury too. Wheels up in ten." Loki flit his green eyes to Clint and caught his and like a panther he swayed to the right, lips curling upward. He mouthed the words 'later tonight, Clint.' And he reveled in his cheeks flushing a brilliant shade of magenta. Those words were, of course, a lie. Once Clint had left the kitchen to presumably go get ready to pilot the jet, Loki made an illusion of himself and teleported to Clint's bedroom.
He had Clint pinned to his bed by his wrists before he could utter one syllable of protest.
"You do not leave me for Fury without givng me some sort of reward. Do I make myself clear, Clint?" Loki pounced on his lips deftly, teasing his tongue into Clint's warm, inviting mouth.
Clint massaged his own lips back, and bit Loki's bottom lip and sucked it with fervor.
"Reward, huh? You think this isn't going to be some punishment for me too?" Loki's eyes lit up, piercing Clint's light brown ones. Punishment? So, Fury decided to punish him…
Obsidian and Green magic coiled out of his eyes and his mouth sliced into a wicked grin.
"If Fury intends to punish you, my wrath will know no bounds. Invasion or no invasion, I will raze SHIELD to the ground. I will plunder their bunke—" Loki hissed out and stopped as Clint started to chuckle a bit.
"No, no, that's not what I meant, you diva. I meant the meetings and debriefings will be tedious as all hell. Not to mention the spaceship they recovered from the harbor. Nothing like what you probably had spinning in your head. Besides, I'm a big boy, I can handle myself." Clint smiled reassuringly and Loki scanned his face for any signs of insincerity. He was telling the truth.
"Oh, but I'd much rather handle you, instead." Loki's voice curled in the air foreboding and promising. He possessed Clint's mouth with fervor and he could tell by Clint's squirming he wanted to get away.
But like was really going to let him et away.
"Loki… " Clint protested mildly as Loki shifted to biting and sucking all up and down his neck. "When Nat says ten, she really means eight." Clint moaned almost against his will when Loki clamped down on his earlobe.
"I don't care what that spider wants." Loki mostly lied as he magicked the buttons loose on his button up, and there went the belt, and his fly….
"Aww Glow Stick, you've hurt my feelings." A strikingly sarcastic and undoubtedly feminine voice rang from behind him. Loki's eyes flashed back from lust to agitated as he contemplated his options.
He could teleport her somewhere remote on Midgard, such like that dull desert out where mjolnir fell. He could silence her with a spell, or turn her…
"I know that look. You're scheming. Don't scheme against Nat. You owe her by the way, she's practically the only reason I cooled down yesterday." Clint pushed Loki off of him and Loki scowled. He hated being interrupted especially right before he got exactly what he wanted.
It was almost as if she had Odin's or Thor's sense of timing.
"I'd never dream of doing anything of the sort." Loki smiled innocently. Not innocently enough since Nat and Clint both snorted.
"Just because you stepped in and covered me from your Father's tantrum doesn't mean I don't think you're above your tricks." Nat chided and the color drained from his face like water off a window.
Asgard.
His heart skipped precisely three beats. He had nearly forgotten it.
"Yeah, Nat told me about that. She said you saved her and Rin, what happened?" Loki's hearing buzzed and he swore his temperature dropped. She told him about the throne room incident. Did she tell him about his Jotun form? About his disappearance with Rin?
NINES.
Did Rin tell Romanoff about the casket? The Tesseract?! Did she tell Sho about the Tesseract, the Casket? His Jotun skin? If she did, would he tell Stark? Clint?!
Why had he forgotten to go over this with him?! Did he make Rin promise not to tell anyone?! He couldn't remember. Why had he let Romanoff live after seeing his true nature? Why did he not compulse Rin to silence?
Clint would find out. Clint would uncover everything. He would reject him, again.
'Just yesterday he said to me I was what Gods should be… now… now he is going to know that I am nothing but a fraud! A false idol! A monster!' Loki's mind spun and his magic gnawed like eels in his gut.
But… wasn't that what was supposed to happen? Wasn't he supposed to drive Clint away?
"Loki? Loki, hey you don't have to tell me. I know your dad went on the warpath. You don't have to relive it. Okay?" Clint swerved his head to be in full view of Loki's scattered stare. She didn't tell him. Not yet, anyway. He needed to speak to Rin. He couldn't for the life of him remember if he told her to not tell anyone what she saw.
She could tell Sho regardless; she was unerringly loyal to him.
"It was nothing, I assure you. I merely used Odin's unbridled rage as an excuse to test my newly found link to Yggdrasil. I used their moment of vulnerability to my advantage. They were pawns for me to use to counter Odin, nothing more." Loki's green eyes crystallized and Clint's eyebrows furrowed and he stepped back.
"What? You can't be serious, you love munchkin." Clint replied none-too-articulately.
"Love is for children, Clint." The words fell off Loki's tongue before he knew what he had said. So much for his silver tongue. Where had he heard that line before originally? He couldn't quite remember, but the scepter liked it and repeated it to him often.
Loki refused to look Clint in the eyes as he turned away. He had gone and done something right…hadn't he?
Then why did he want to slink into the shadows and his lungs snap with regret?
"Let's go Clint." Romanoff more suggested than commanded. He caught her sharp blue gaze before she turned. It was almost a look of pity if she hadn't looked so irate. Or maybe irate wasn't the correct word, maybe the spider was able to mask another emotion even he couldn't identify. Loki teleported and luckily found Rin with Jaken alone in their quarters. Rin was drawing Sho's markings on Jaken (rather Jack's) face.
"Hello Uncle Loki! I think today I'm going to try cookie dough ice cream. Jaken said he wants coffee." Rin said, but didn't turn her head to face him.
"Rin, dearest, did you tell Sho about what happened in Asgard, specifically pertaining to my appearance?" Loki opened and Rin straightened.
"What Rin tells our Lord is between Rin and Lord Sesshomaru! Mind your own busi—" Loki spelled Jaken into a quick sleep and Rin whipped around, eyes wide in confusion. Loki knew he shouldn't have really done that, but this secret was important. He couldn't kill Rin out of good conscience, and he wasn't sure about Romanoff…but perhaps he could.
"Wow, I've never seen Jaken so still when sleeping. Will it hurt him? Does Lord Sesshomaru not know about your true form Uncle Loki?" Rin finished inking in the blue moon on his brow. It didn't occur to him that she would have assumed Sesshomaru already knew.
"No, and I wish to tell him myself when the time is right. Please keep this to yourself Rin." Loki ran his tongue along the roof of his mouth as if a chalky taste had dried it. Had he really just plead to a mortal child?
"Um, well, I guess it's ok for now." Rin bit her lip, face scrunched up examining him.
"Loki, what have you spelled onto my retainer?" Sesshomaru asked placidly and Loki jolted from having his full attention on Rin.
He locked eyes with Rin as he snapped his fingers and slowly Jaken awoke. He would have awoken later in any accord.
"Nothing, Sho, let's be off, unless of course you wish to mull over Stark's cryptic discussion topic more." Loki redirected effortlessly and again Sesshomaru glared, but it lacked its usual glacial intensity. Rin scrunched her lips into a frown, then brightened into a smile.
Loki went to the park with Sesshomaru, of course in disguise and they aroused no suspicions as Loki had predicted. They discussed upcoming battle strategies but Loki could tell Sesshomaru was indeed distracted. He couldn't place all the blame on Sho, for he too was distracted.
His thoughts orbited around a certain archer and when that blasted Fury would let him go.
The day went by fairly uneventfully. Loki enjoyed Polly. She was entertaining and liked to call Sesshomaru out on his nonsense. It was nice to have someone to team up with in the that regard. He also felt hope if this one mortal could like him, then perhaps the rest may come around.
He would not be getting a tattoo from her, however.
Rin, again, managed to get Lady Potts, Rogers, Thor, and Banner their favorite ice cream flavors.
The press statement, in which Loki only said the words "Thank you for your time, and we will continue to work with the Avengers to thwart the invasion." Sho said even less with "...". They were indeed was taking it seriously. Lady Potts nearly hugged Rogers it went so smoothly. He looked like he wouldn't have minded if she had. He and Lady Potts also decided to spend the day outside the tower.
The rest of the day Loki had spent mostly avoiding Thor getting him into a one-on-one conversation. Loki could sense he wanted to talk to him about some banal brotherly nonsense he had absolutely no interest in.
Loki, would never admit to being bored and would certainly never admit to phrasing something the wrong way. But… he itched for Clint to come back with Romanoff from their meeting. He had a slight pinch in his gut about how his last conversation with him went.
He was someone he treasured above all his other treasures, above perhaps everyone else. But. To love was a foolish endeavor he could not get behind, especially the way he was now.
Loki wasn't protective over many people. Sho to an extent yes, Thor supremely rarely, Clint however….
Loki's magic percolated through his fingers and arms at the thought of Fury. He would get his revenge in his own time and way against Fury for position he had put Sho into and what he subjected Clint to. It would be creative, fun, and perhaps a bit messy.
Loki internally debated asking Sho to scry Clint so he could teleport directly on his lap wearing nothing but leather...but he doubted that would go over well. He was positively at wits end, at least until eleven that night. Because that's when Stark returned to the tower.
Early.
Sesshomaru had just ordered Jaken put Rin to sleep, where the imp too retired. Loki had successfully managed to use Sho as a buffer between him and Thor as to avoid being alone with his former relation.
Loki began to think Thor and Sesshomaru knew exactly what his tactic was.
Loki, Sesshomaru, and Rin witnessed Jaken defeat Thor five consecutive times in the video game Mario Kart. This surprised everyone, save Sesshomaru. He, along with Thor and Rin, assumed Jaken would be beaten soundly. Thor put the controller down like it let him down. Loki smirked, maybe he would have to try the game.
"Home sweet, home!" Loki heard Stark slur and about three things happened simultaneously.
One, he instantly recognized by Stark's swagger into the room that was incredibly intoxicated. He either must have continued to drink on his jet or gotten out of control at his gaudy Midgardian ball.
Two, that Sesshomaru's shimmering blue youki flared out like a shockwave, disrupting the drinks on the table. It began to spark red, and Tenseiga rattled and buzzed.
Three, that Loki noticed Sesshomaru's knuckles cracked and his eyes were pooling blood red.
"Thor restrain him now!" Loki shouted, voice high. Loki wanted to smack Stark, but, truly, he saw this coming. Stark did exactly what Loki knew Stark would do: he fornicated with another human, or at least dabbled in physicality with another.
And of course, Sesshomaru smelled the harlot on him.
Thor reacted a split second too late. Sesshomaru did have a natural speed advantage over Thor and Loki barely had enough time to teleport to see that Sesshomaru did indeed have Stark harshly by the neck in the air. Wonderful.
"To think I could have thought you were of sound honor and worthy of my fidelity!" Sho's bared fangs lengthened impossibly. Loki caught the raw emotion piercing Sho's voice like icicles.
Did Stark really have some sort of death wish?! Out of the corner of his eye he saw Thor hurl Mjolnir and Sesshomaru dropped Stark to dodge the hammer as it impaled itself deep in Stark's wall with a crunching of plaster. Stark crumpled to the ground coughing and Loki bent down to help him up and heal his bruising, bleeding throat. Though his talons broke his skin, no major nor internal damage was done.
'Sesshomaru must really like this one, he didn't even use his toxin.' Loki mused, smelling the scotch on Stark, his suit rumpled, tie loose. Stark stumbled up, swaying, eyes red and unbelievably, trying to say something. Loki wasted no time teleporting Stark to his quarters and dumping him on his bed. Loki sneered.
"You dull and wasteful mortal." Loki bit darkly. Stark didn't do anything wrong per-se, but it didn't mean Loki had to like it or him.
"Fuck that hurt. Damnit, it's not what you think!" Stark started but Loki didn't have the time nor the inclination to listen to him. He had to stop Thor and Sho from tearing each other apart.
"I'd stay here and out of Sho's way if I were you, Stark." Loki warned with a hiss and Stark instead leapt to his feet.
"Well, I'm not you and I—" Loki cut off Stark with a quick, but potent sleep spell, much like the one he spelled on Jaken earlier, and teleported back into the main room.
"Son of Taisho what possessed you to attack Man of Iron so?!" Thor had Sesshomaru pinned by his muscular forearm to the wall he threw Mjolnir into. Thor had a gash across his cheek and claw marks down his arm and across his chest, but no sign of toxin. Nothing life-threatening.
Sesshomaru had already regained composure, his shimmering youki had faded away and a bruise began to form on his left side of his face.
"Thor, he's fine. You can let him go. They had a misunderstanding." Loki explained vaguely and Loki turned to Sesshomaru, sighing. Great. No dirty sex for him tonight, even if Clint looked over his earlier outburst. It would be as Sesshomaru would put it 'unwise' to leave the Demon Lord to his own devices tonight.
'Well, a great spar will wear me out just as well.' Loki watched as Thor let up on Sesshomaru and he immediately pushed away from the wall that now had a sizeable dent.
Loki studied the sharp, icy look in Sesshomaru's eyes. He knew it well; it was the same gaze he had when he fought off those five Aesir long ago. His face looked impassive and as bored, but Loki knew it was a well perfected veil. Sesshomaru's rage was glacial and cold as Jotunheim could ever be.
Loki, this time instead of his daggers, conjured an ornate uru spear.
"I warned you, Sho." Loki teleported to the roof and it wasn't long after that Sesshomaru appeared Tenseiga drawn.
"My father's vices have become my own, it seems." he advanced, his ears low, as he sliced Tenseiga through the air in a horizontal strike, blue youki shimmering. Loki responded with a showy flourish of his spear and twining green magic. The weapons clashed and shrieked as their energies burst into teal.
Loki knew how to be an outlet for anger, yet he knew Sesshomaru wouldn't take his anger out on him maliciously. Sesshomaru twisted to the right and stabbed forward and Loki responded by using the spear's advantage of length and parried. He then came down in a great arc, almost clipping Sesshomaru's shoulder.
Sesshomaru acted a bit recklessly when angered, so Loki took advantage and sprung forward with another twirl of his spear and they continued. Loki's blood began to pump and his heart rate picked up.
They blurred in and out as flashes of a sword and strikes of a spear. Green magic bolts hit blue walls, dark genuine laughter flooded the spar and cold glares punctuated it. It had been far too long since Loki actually employed his jo-kata training. He let his experience and fervor for it show. Though he was much more adept at his daggers, he had practiced in secret with a spear.
He once thought he would need to once he held Gungnir and perched himself on the gilded throne of Asgard. What a misguided waste of time his training ended up being.
Loki could feel Thor's eyes drill into him the whole spar. Thor had never watched him and Sho spar in the past; he showed no desire to. He favored hunting, making merry, and fighting with the Warriors Three and Sif. Sesshomaru certainly had no desire to spar with the 'Storm God's barbarian flatterers'.
Their spar was interrupted again by Romanoff and Clint returning, finding them on the roof. Sesshomaru turned to Loki after looking at Clint and Loki's eyes sharpened in recognition.
Sho wished to go see his mother tomorrow and wanted to ask Clint. What a horrid evening this turned out to be.
"Hey, what's up with the hole and dent in the wall? Thor, did you see another bee?" Clint asked, brown eyes warming Loki's skin but never reaching Loki's own eyes. Apphrensiveness and arousal coursed through his veins at the same time.
Thor was no idiot. He wasn't about to share what happened downstairs with the others with Sesshomaru present, nor before he had a better handle on it himself.
"Thor lost to Jaken in your Mario racing game more than a few times." Loki supplied and Romanoff eyed him, half believing him. It wasn't a lie.
"Barton, would you like to accompany me on a treasure quest tomorrow?" Sesshomaru's voice startled Loki somewhat, he had regained almost full composure. Clint's eyebrows went to his hairline and Loki chuckled. He hadn't seen that one coming. Loki gave Clint a warm smile and jutted his chin up in a 'go for it if you dare' gesture.
"Um…ok sure, where are we questing Fancy Pants?" Loki's cheeks flushed a bit at seeing Clint so surprised, and almost flattered.
"We may discuss the parameters of the quest now if you wish." Sesshomaru sheathed Tenseiga and walked calmly towards Clint, showing no sign of his inner turmoil.
"Yeah sure. Just don't make it too long, I'm beat." Clint ignored Loki, which he noticed. They made their way down and Romanoff approached casually, but with purpose. He conjured away the spear.
"Are you going to tell me what really happened downstairs?" Romanoff finally asked and Thor stood off to her side.
"I wouldn't worry about it; it's been resolved." Loki knew that Romanoff knew he was somewhat stretching the truth. Sesshomaru wouldn't attack Stark again yet the situation was far from resolved. Loki knew something significant had occurred between Stark and Sesshomaru for him to take this new inclination so seriously. Sesshomaru was not one to blindly assume things like fidelity.
"…alright Glow Stick, you may want to magic the hole away though." Romanoff finally responded and walked back inside leaving just him and a silent Thor.
"Brother…" Thor started and Loki sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes.
"Stark and Sesshomaru have been having relations. Sesshomaru, with all arrogance, most likely assumed Stark wouldn't pursue a mortal over a Demon Lord like himself. Stark, however, apparently did just that. Sesshomaru misunderstood their arrangement as one of exclusivity when clearly it wasn't and overreacted. Stark, technically, did nothing wrong; Sho won't lose face and attack him again." Loki explained quickly, fists clenched in anger as he too went inside to mend the hole. Loki hoped that was exactly what Thor wanted to hear.
"I see. You harbor anger towards Man of Iron though. It sounds like Son of Taisho is taken with him." Thor poked the sore wound and Loki twisted his face into one of disgust as he mended the far wall.
"As Clint would put it…Stark isn't wrong, he is just an asshole." Loki stated with some venom, tonguing the unfamiliar word 'asshole'. Before Thor could say anything else, Loki decided he had enough of mortals and emotions and with a cloud of black and green magic he teleported to his secret cove.
After the demons disappeared from Midgard, Loki had constructed a small living space on Asgard, cloaked from Heimdall's gaze where he kept his few special belongings. Old spell books, scrolls, his spear, daggers, Odin's bow: Ichaival, and of course his most treasured, azure, possession. He also kept the treasures Sho and he found on their quests.
He had only remembered how to access it when he reconstructed his mind somewhat in the dungeons of Asgard.
Feeling nostalgic and in a rotten mood, he picked up the magic amplification crystal he and Sho acquired after defeating some Weasel Demons. He turned the round, green crystal in his hand warming it and it phosphoresced a deep purple. He sat down on the black bed in the middle of the room, a dark green blanket over it.
'We are both such a mess now. Really. It is good Sesshomaru and Clint will be gone tomorrow, it will give me time to think.' Loki drew some runes in the air, plotting and scheming with the crystal in hand. Loki hadn't intended on falling asleep yet the spar must have worn him out more than he thought, angry Demons, even when holding back were an energetic lot.
When he awoke, he teleported back into the tower refreshed, only to see Romanoff, Thor, Banner, Jaken, and a horridly hungover Stark at the counter. They didn't appear to be having a good breakfast. Loki knew he didn't sleep in late, so he was surprised to see Stark functioning so early.
Then he saw a scuttling vacuum robot, labeled 'Desjardins #11'. Ah, so Stark ended up talking to Clint about his Midgardian sport team, the NHL Chicago Blackhawks, and indeed purchased the cleaning robots.
"Good morning Glow Stick. Thor here sang like a canary right after you left." Loki rubbed a hand down his face. He should have foreseen that.
"Oh great. I bet you're going to harp and monologue about how even though I was nearly killed in my own house, that I should somehow feel guilty." Stark sounded muffled with his hand propping up his head on the counter and Loki scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"On the contrary, Sho overreacted; he should have never attacked you. I even warned him this would happen." Stark looked up in shock. Loki's lips thinned into a slight frown as he went to the kitchen to cook some breakfast. Maybe pancakes?
Loki truly wasn't lying when he said it was for the best things ended as they did. He slept on it. He came to the conclusion that Sesshomaru and Stark were not a good match. They were far too different and circumstances were strained and complicated at best. Sesshomaru would be better off finding a mate of his own kind in his own time.
It didn't mean he wouldn't make Stark realize what an opportunity he passed up.
"Wait, what exactly did you tell him about me?" Stark straightened back and Loki tilted his head and hummed.
"Something I don't do often: the truth. That you're a fickle, narcissistic, self-destructive, tramp." Loki quipped, maybe with a shard of resentment, maybe not. Loki magically plucked the ingredients from the cabinets for pancakes. Maybe he would be lucky and blueberries would be left.
"Um. Harsh." Stark frowned, finger in the air.
"I don't know what my Lord saw in you! He was better off still hating your kind!" Jaken exploded and waddled over to the refrigerator, reading Loki's mind and retrieving blueberries.
"He hated humans?" Banner asked and Loki rolled his eyes to Thor.
"Aye, he was raised to hate and dislike anything that could weaken him, including humans and Half-Demons. Son of Taisho has matured surprisingly in that regard." Thor informed, now too interested in the pancakes.
"It takes a lot to get over ingrained indoctrination like that." Romanoff sounded like she was catching onto Loki's game as he buttered the now hot pan.
"Guess he never really got over it, since he nearly decapitated me before even listening to me." Stark white knuckled his coffee mug, something clearly angered him.
"As he should have! My Lord's judgment in taking a human as a mate is a valid sign he is still too young to take a mate at all." Loki's eyes bugged out of his head while measuring the milk. Loki knew what Jaken said was truth, he hadn't expected the Water Demon to say it! The nines….
"Young? What do you mean? I heard he was around five hundred years old." Lady Potts, who had been apparently listening the whole time walked into the room, looking a little annoyed. Loki slipped into damage control. He knew the mortals wouldn't understand how Demonic aging worked.
"Sesshomaru is indeed almost five hundred human years old. What Jaken is referring to is his Demonic age. He is quite mature for his Demonic age; I wouldn't put much more thought to it." Loki attempted as he mixed the batter with extra force.
"Indeed! My Lord is just as strong, if not stronger than Inu No Taisho was and he isn't nearly fully grown!" Loki face palmed, Jaken had quite a mouth on him.
"Fully grown? What do you mean by that? How old is he really?" Lady Potts asked, but she wasn't the only one who sounded curious. Loki sighed, there was no getting out of it.
"Son of Taisho would be…nineteen by your mortal standards. A Demon year is around twenty-six of your human ones. Jaken is correct in that it would be early for him to settle on a mate, but he did seem taken with you, Man of Iron." Thor grinned out, shooting a look to Loki. Loki furrowed his eyebrows as he poured the batter into the pan.
Pause.
"You mean ninety right? Like ninety, ninety-one." Stark sounded a bit surprised and Romanoff's blue eyes sparked.
"Oh no, nineteen as in about to be twenty. The story we told you about, when his father passed, he was around seventeen." Thor explained and Loki let that sink into Stark and the rest. Loki resented having to help tell that particular tale. Sesshomaru refused his help during that time. That didn't mean that he didn't take out most of the Northern Land's sorcerers in secret, however.
"That explains his invincibility complex." Romanoff pointed to Loki. Loki flipped his pancakes. Reveling in the ghosted look on Stark's face.
"It explains the Nirvana too; I think it's a rite of passage for every teenager to have a grunge phase." Banner agreed, chuckling.
"Oh. My. God. I chewed out a single teen father! I am one of those people! Tony, we talked about this! He isn't even old enough to drink! And we shot him? He's a kid!" Lady Potts shook her hands in horror.
"Whoa. If anyone here is a cradle robber it's him! He is 493 years old." Stark defended, though a flash of amusement on his face seeing Miss Potts react.
"Sounds more like nineteen with 474 years of experience." Romanoff waggled her eyebrows and Banner chuckled. Stark rolled his eyes and then turned to Loki.
"Who's nineteen with 474 years of experience?" Rogers walked in, all muscle, apparently just getting back from a workout of some sort. Loki plated the first of the blueberry pancakes.
"Pretty Boy. Isn't even fully grown apparently." Romanoff took a sip from her coffee letting the news sink into Rogers. Instead of freaking out like the rest he turned to Loki.
"Explains you then." Rogers pointed a finger at Loki as he started the next batch of pancakes with a whirl of green magic. "Sesshoki. You're his big protective older brother." Loki could see the attention from Stark and he wasn't going to let him off the hook so easily.
"I wouldn't overanalyze what our friendship is or isn't. What I can say is that Sesshomaru's attentions do not come easily." Loki flipped the second batch of blueberry pancakes magicking the plate to the counter and one down to Jaken.
"Yeah. I can say so. It's why he is off with Legolas 'treasure questing'." Stark shot back and Loki straightened tilting his head in visible confusion.
"He only took Clint because of that asinine request you made of him to take one of you 'lost creatures' when he leaves this city." Loki felt a certain pang of irony coupled with an equally strong pang of sexual frustration and awkwardness. Loki had half a mind to teleport to them but Sesshomaru needed space and someone who couldn't read him as well as he could.
"Are you sure it wasn't to have some more hanky-panky while playing Tomb Raider?" Stark quipped. Sho told him about his mother and her tomb? Loki nearly dropped the spatula and Banner face palmed. Romanoff pursed her lips.
"Don't be ridiculous! My Lord has not, and will not couple with that Archer." Jaken ate his blueberry pancake with glee, avoiding an encroaching 'Patrick Kane #88' cleaning robot.
"You're blind, bald, and short, Frogger. That's unfortunate combo for the ladies. He was wearing Clint's clothes yesterday; his hair was in his bed. He also opened up to him and Clint made him laugh. Laugh! I watched your conversation, the one you four had the other night, the spar, Operation Sesshoki down? He even confirmed what he had was just a casual fling. You know, the kind he attacked me for last night. Hypocrite." Stark counted with his fingers and Loki couldn't help but laugh heartily. Stark had indeed been looking for any reason for their whole arrangement to fail.
Pause.
"Tony, do you really think that Clint would sleep with someone he calls Fancy Pants? Oh, and check the pronoun use on the 'Operation: Sesshoki down' video. He said 'he' not 'we', master spy." Romanoff's face had flushed to a rare shade of pink from entertainment. Loki, still laughing, ignored the stares from Rogers and his brother.
"Um…well. Sailor Moon also said, in the conversation with Bambi over there before they sparred, that he would go after Legolas." Stark spat and Loki's jaw dropped. That swipe was meant to provoke his own jealousy, not to imply he was serious about Clint.
"That miserable Magic God is coupling with the Archer. He didn't even ask my Lord before using our quarters! Such rudeness. Humans in this era are so unobservant! You'd be Demon Fodder back in my time." Jaken levelled a glare up to Loki who finally was getting his laughing fit under control. Loki's smile was all teeth when he finally looked back to Stark.
"His remark about having an interest in Clint was to provoke my jealousy because I provoked his in you! I am having relations with Clint. He practiced archery with Clint as a favor for me. Last night, Rin wouldn't sleep without her Lord present so she slept in his quarters where Sesshomaru returned to as well. Dog Demons are obsessively loyal, and monogamous." Loki's eyes took on a 'challenge me' glow and Stark's eyebrows shot up.
"Brother, you and Hawk's Eye are together?!" Thor looked like was chewing over it and Loki nodded, still smiling.
"You know Tony, for a genius you can't read people well. Glow Stick has been on Clint since he arrived. Pretty Boy even got them both green ice cream." Romanoff got up to get pancakes.
Stark looked to Banner and Banner sighed.
"I hate being in the middle of this stuff but they're right. Sesshomaru even helped set them up." Banner backed up as if that's the only thing he wanted to contribute.
"What!? When did all start to happen?! This can't be good fo—" Rogers was cut off by Romanoff handing him a couple of pancakes.
"Him having sex with Clint or not doesn't change anything. You two were ill-suited, practically night and day. It's for the best whatever you had ended early. Especially since he advised me he wished to take you to his meet his mother over Clint." Loki finished up the rest of the pancakes, plating them with a swirl of magic on the counter. Loki's smirk was all dark magic as Stark hid behind his coffee in thought.
"Hmph, them being ill-suited didn't prevent his markings from changing!" Jaken tutted and Stark rubbed the back of his neck. Loki studied the inventor, he wasn't reacting the way Loki anticipated.
"Nothing even happened. She came on to me, hell she was all over me, and the thanks I get for turning her down and going home is getting strangled, again. Last time that will happen." Stark muttered, pushing himself away from the counter and Loki's mood soured despite himself. So, he hadn't fornicated with another human, he instead spurned an unwanted advance. That was what Stark meant last night when he said it wasn't what he thought.
"Ah, then it should be easy to straighten out your misunderstanding with Son of Taisho then!" Thor snapped out of his stupor and Loki thinned his lips. He doubted it would be that easy, and doubted that they should.
"Um….what point of 'strangled again' doesn't click with you, Point Break?" Stark dead-panned.
"What!? Tony? Someone came onto you and you turned them down? So, you didn't take her back to the jet?" Lady Potts accepted pancakes that Romanoff handed her.
"No, I didn't take her back to the jet. For the record, I don't do that at every gala." Stark explained running a hand down his goatee. Well, it still didn't change anything. They were still as ill-suited as a Dark Elf and a Vanir.
Romanoff abruptly reached in her pocket.
"Speaking of jets…Hey, did Pretty Boy crash the Quinjet yet?" Romanoff answered her phone which got a lot of glances her way including Stark's. One of the cleaning robots fhit Stark's feet and he didn't even react.
"Oh really? Piloting better than that one recruit with the hair?" Romanoff provoked and curiosity won out across the room. Pepper leaned back, eyes wide.
'That clever dog. He learned how to pilot the Quinjet. I guess the phrase on Midgard is incorrect, you can teach an old dog new tricks.' Loki bit into his own pancake, sliding two to Stark on a plate, monitoring Stark's floored expression. A peace offering.
"Is he...is Sesshomaru piloting the Quinjet with Clint?!" Rogers stammered out and Loki quirked another grin, eating his pancake. He knew that Sesshomaru was up to something with those technical documents he was reading at night, but he didn't think it was that.
"Yeah. He read the manuals…No, that was Steve. You owe me that one hundred dollars by the way…oh you know? Ok—" Romanoff stated completely nonchalant and got cut off by Stark asking Jarvis to put the conversation on holovideo.
Loki grinned ear to ear as the video of Clint and Sesshomaru, in his complete traditional attire came up. Sesshomaru held the controls and was checking a few gauges looking serene.
"We're going to the Bonneville Salt Flats and we're going to race motorcycles, Ducatis! I already called it in! Apparently Fancy Pants hates cars." Clint gave an excited thumbs-up into the camera mounted in the Quinjet and Sesshomaru, bored, merely glanced towards it. Loki laughed again, Stark looked like he saw someone steal one of his battle suits.
"Sounds good. Report back in when you're wheels up en-route to the tower. Out." Romanoff sounded off and Loki heard a Roger from Clint and a quick wink and the image faded. Loki knew exactly who that wink was for. He leaned back against the kitchen counter and chuckled at nothing but air.
"Manuals? To fly the Quinjet? How did he know about those? Who gave those to him?" Stark asked to no one in particular and Jarvis answered.
"I did sir. You stated when they arrived initially you would supply them manuals so when Lord Sesshomaru asked for some for piloting the Quinjet I obliged. I would have thought you'd expect him to ask for them." Jarvis supplied and Loki swore he thought the AI sounded cheeky.
"Natasha, Rin is ready for training!" Rin flew into the room, dressed in athletic shorts clearly too large for her and an oversized 'Powerpuff girls' T shirt, clearly Romanoff's. Romanoff took a last bite of her pancake.
"Good. Let's go shrimp. I promised your Demon dad you'd be a sharpshooter in no time." Romanoff stood up and Rin cartwheeled towards the elevator.
"Wait, did you just make pancakes in my kitchen? There isn't anything in these is there?" Stark asked, finally taking a bite. Loki flicked his fingers and the dishes and pan were cleaned instantly. Loki smiled crookedly, it had been the most entertaining morning.
"Yes, and no. I do recall you advising me I didn't need to fear poison in your food, likewise Stark." Loki's green eyes glowed in amusement, eating his own pancakes.
"This is all too much. I'm going into work. I'll talk to you later Tony." Lady Potts put down her plate, stress and confusion eating away at her appetite. Rogers straightened.
"I'll walk with you." Rogers offered and Loki drummed his fingers on the counter, mortals were most amusing.
"Brother…" Loki turned to Thor, not expecting him to address him. "I would like to spar with you today." Loki choked on his pancake.
"I think I'll pass. I can think of many other ways to spend my day than being humiliated, and if I wanted that it'd be far quicker to provoke Banner there." Loki recovered, banging on his chest to stop choking. Thor wanting to spar with him? With mjolnir? What had he done to anger him so?! Loki thought he'd be settled down from the whole sniping scheme by now.
"Please, just leave me out of all of this. In fact, I think I'm going to go on a walk." Banner retreated, leaving just him, Stark, and Thor in the kitchen.
"I saw you spar Son of Taisho with your spear. The passion and skill with which you fought with him greatly exceeded our own fight when you wielded Gungnir on the bifrost. I wish for you to spar with me with the same intensity." Thor sounded serious and Loki put his hand to his forehead. That fight was a lifetime ago, how did he remember it?
"Thor, it's not the same. Sho and I have sparred like that countless times." Loki huffed and finished his pancakes, levitating the plate and cleaning it. Loki went to leave the room but Thor stepped in front of him.
"You claimed the other day that I did not like you as you. Not only are you wrong, but you do not make it easy to know the real you, brother. I dislike this rift that has grown between us. I want to enjoy the bond that you and Son of Taisho share, that we once did. Spar with me." Loki dramatically rolled his head on his shoulders. He hadn't expected Thor to suddenly give a damn about his friendship with Sho, nor what he said the other day, much less feel envy over it. Thor must really want to get back at him.
Loki decided there was no getting out of it, Thor could be quite dedicated. Loki weighed his options and decided to get the eminent defeat over with. Loki's eyes dimmed and he summoned his spear, shoulders already slumped. He quickly teleported them to the gym where he and Clint sparred.
"Alright Thor, let us proceed." Loki frowned, holding his spear in front of him vertically with one hand.
Thor tossed Mjolnir in his hand and with a ripple of triceps and a streak of blond hair he charged forward. Loki pursed his lips parrying the blow just barely Mjolnir clanging off the spear with an almost musical note.
Loki struggled to care.
He and Thor were simply too mismatched. Loki had no idea how Sesshomaru managed to go even with Thor in those melee fights, he must have used every scrap of wit at his disposal.
Perhaps he could just fake an unintentional opening, have Thor take it, and be done. It would be so much easier than trying to salvage any of what they used to have.
Loki dodged another blow and spun his spear out horizontally, point catching nothing. He reversed his stance and struck out with the butt of his spear at Thor's back, knowing he'd simply turn and hit him with Mjolnir with a horizontal blow in the side, ending it.
Instead Thor took the blow on the back on purpose, staggering a bit and turning to face him, face dark.
"You're not even trying brother. Why are you so afraid to succeed here?" Loki's eyes narrowed. What in the nines is he blabbering about now?!
"Succeed? In a spar against you? Please Thor, I think we know who the greater warrior is." A dart of anger quickened Loki's pulse and he whirled around spear extending fully out, almost clipping Thor in surprise.
"No. In giving our brotherhood a chance!" Thor retaliated by throwing Mjolnir and Loki quickly teleported behind Thor drawing back his spear to bring it down upon Thor's head in an orbiting sweep. Thor twirled out of the way, aiming a roundhouse kick to Loki's side which Loki blocked by bringing up his spear at the last second.
'How dare he?! How dare Thor now want to resurrect our bond?! What right? What right does he have to ask that of me?!' Thorns spiked through Loki's bloodstream. His magic jittered inside of him like static.
"We. Are. Not. Brothers. We aren't by blood, and we aren't even by name any longer!" Loki yelled as his green magic gushed onto the floor, spinning his spear all around him and in a fancy, well-practiced attack brought the spear down upon the retrieved Mjolnir, sparks shooting.
"You and Son of Taisho are not brothers by blood nor name yet you claimed Lady Rin as your niece! Steve Rogers was correct; you have always seen him as a younger brother. You treat him as your brother more than I, and we were raised together! You have given up on us!" Thor thundered and pushed back against the deadlock, causing Loki to backflip and hastily gain his footing to bring his spear up in another defensive parry.
Loki saw red.
'Now. Now he cares. Now he wants to fight for us.' Loki teleported next to Thor and with a flip of a spear brought the spear down on Thor's left arm. Thor responded with swinging his right leg over the spear and swinging down with an overhead strike with Mjolnir to hit Loki on his shoulder. Loki dropped to the floor in a crouch and brought the spear up to block.
"I see. You only care if you think you have competition! You, heir to the Throne of Asgard, defender of Midgard, jealous of a surly Demon! What of the three years I spent in your prison?! Where was your effort then? Where was your professed brotherly bond when my laughter finally stopped to echo down your marbled halls? When they silenced me, when you silenced me?!" Loki's magic erupted and his spear now absorbed his magic and glowed a luminescent green. He flashed out, twisting counterclockwise thrusting the spear forward, forcing Thor to take the blow with Mjolnir at an awkward angle.
"You already know I regret that! It is unfair to continuously throw it in my face so. I may be somewhat jealous, but it has little to do with that. We have a second chance and you let Son of Taisho in, and keep me out while scorning me for it!" Thor attacked back, barely managing to regain a proper stance and hammering forward with a short-range burst with Mjolnir which was met with an abnormally strong magic cancelling wave.
'I don't want Thor to incite such emotions in me ever again. To make me believe that the brother I once grew up idolizing, emulating, striving to be could ever see me. I am too far spent, too far damaged, too far gone. There isn't any point anymore.' Loki was on the edge of calamity and he could feel his mind begin to split.
And that's why Loki couldn't pretend with Thor. With Sesshomaru, yes, because they had shared life and death scenarios together and both came out on top. With Clint, yes, because all he wanted was for him to be happy before he accomplished his goal and snuffed himself out. Not with Thor. Thor would never get it because Thor wanted everything and didn't know how to deal with settling for less. Loki couldn't be Thor's pet project; his little sculpture he could mold into what was convenient.
"You have everything!" Loki shrieked. "You are Asgard's heir! You are Midgard's hero! You weild Mjolnir! Your destiny is in your hands and you have everyone's accolades and love so why can't you be satisfied?! Why can't you leave me alone!? What else could you possibly want from me?! I have nothing else to give you!" Loki finally detonated. He finally let his face twist into the grimace of anguish that coursed deep inside him.
He swung hard and without hesitation at Thor with his magic charged uru spear he created long, long ago. Long before Thor cared about Loki's weapons training, but not before he almost saw Sho get killed by the uru dragon. Loki's eyes saw nothing but a target. A target painted red.
'Why can't Thor just be happy, like Odin wished I could make him be? Why was Thor, practically everyone, always unsatisfied no matter what I do? Why did Thor jet his blue eyes into mine in alarm when my spear sliced into his arm? Why couldn't Thor just accept that we were never meant to be? That we were just too different! Thor was what everyone wanted, but I was who everyone called when times turned dark?' Loki didn't notice the liquid prick in his eyes until he saw the blood pool on Thor's arm and a wave of self-revulsion instantly sloshed in his gut.
He never meant to hurt Thor. Sure in the past he enjoyed seeing him suffer for his mistakes and his naivety, but that was so long ago. Yet, his emotions surged supreme and he cut his brother with his spear. He now was meant for nothing but destruction, a broken blade, just like the Other intended.
Collapsing to the floor, Loki magicked the spear away. He had nothing else to say. He didn't even know he had that much to say in the first place. He huddled into a ball and his breathing and his chest heaved too erratically to do much else except constrict.
Pause.
Loki had almost nothing, except Sho's regard and Clint's attention. He couldn't compete with what Thor had, but he wouldn't relinquish the little he had left. Trapped and scared and the only reason he didn't teleport away was because in the back of his mind, he knew Sesshomaru would feel it unwise.
Loki knew Thor was above him, hawking over him per usual and Loki didn't have the strength to tell him to fuck off.
"You already answered your own question Loki. I care not for Asgard's throne, nor Midgard's praises if it leaves me without you. You are my brother, and always will be. I can see Son of Taisho like one too, you must remember those damned Scorpion Demons. But please brother, please don't shut me out. I want to comprehend you. I've sorely missed you, and I want you beside me, we are equals. I don't want us to be alone, together." Loki could feel Thor right above him, his blond hair mingling with his dark brown strands. Of course, he remembered the Scorpion Demons, it was the last memory he kept from the Other.
He didn't get it. Not at all. Why did Thor persist so much now? Why couldn't Thor see him as the broken, throttled down being he was now? He was useless. Didn't he see it was much too late? That he was already very dead?
Yet Loki's chest, much against his will, lurched and a strangled cry almost jettisoned from his lips. He never wanted any of this to happen. He never wanted Thor's devotion. Never wanted Thor to see him like this. He was supposed to be the strong one, supposed to support Thor, to be he his shadow. Not this reforged crumpled mass of broken magic and bits of soul. Loki, bereft, had nothing left to offer Thor. Failure flooded his mind into an anxious, crushing void. Loki wanted to disappear.
Countless moments passed.
"Loki. Loki. Speak! It is your gift, please….I can't stand your silence. Regale me with a story, at my own expense, if anything." Loki almost laughed. After all of this, Thor wanted a story? Loki knew he couldn't give him that. Loki, slowly, tilted his head up, catching the soft blue eyed gaze of his brother. He didn't know what to do, and he didn't know why his cheeks were wet, and his body trembled. His magic coiled around him like vines and he couldn't move. Not yet.
"Do you…do you remember when…you first met Sho?" Loki, ever so slowly asked, and Thor nodded and smiled, bringing Loki into a sweaty embrace he forgot he wanted.
Sorry again for the wait on this one, having some health issues and having a lot of work has hampered me cranking out the chapters like i used to. Thank you all for all your continued support, it truly means a lot to me! Please let me know what you think, I tried to do all the characters their due justice :)
-TL