"You're worried about the guy?" Bruce asked he typed some figures into the interface he was using.

Tony had always found Bruce to be an easy person to talk to. The constantly distracted manner the guy had always made Tony feel like his problems were nothing to worry about. It let him talk through them, all the way through them, without being interrupted some panicked comment like he might from Captain Therapist.

The events of last night had been playing on his mind all day. Steve was right out of the question and talking to Thor about the bedroom experiences with his brother just felt weird. The calm scientist had been easily found, in the same lab that Tony had nearly destroyed the previous day, doing his best to carry out his work around the pieces of debris and melted metal work that was littering the place. Bruce listened quietly as Tony gave him a quick run through of the experience of the previous evening. Leaving out some of the more intimate details of course. No need to go into those with anyone.

"Not worried, per se," Tony replied, frowning at the remains of the piece of machinery that he'd broken, hoping to keep himself occupied. He often found he could work things out easier while focusing on something else entirely. "Call it curiosity. I mean this is Loki we're talking about. And he just gives up? That's not normal."

Bruce was silent as he pushed his glasses back up his nose and fiddled with some of the graphs on his screen, thinking. "Well it might not have been entirely by choice."

Tony stopped was he was doing and frowned across the lab at Bruce, who didn't notice for a while until he lifted his gaze for the first time and took the confusion as his cue to explain.

"Thor said he's in a coma-like thing right? Now, I don't know exactly how his might work, but it's lasted what? Three weeks now at least? Judging by Thor's appetite, even gods have to eat," a computer dinged, drawing Bruce's attention away as he finished with, "Maybe he just doesn't have the energy."

Tony looked back to his broken equipment, thoughts cast back over the memories of the state that Loki seemed to be in, plus the credibility of what Bruce was saying. It would make sense. Loki wasn't exactly in tip top condition when he left Earth. Coupled with whatever the Asgardians called 'punishment', it wouldn't be an implausible explanation.

After a second, he realised he had been staring pensively at the floor and gave a quiet snort, refusing to acknowledge that he was feeling any kind of sympathy as he focused his attention on fixing his machine.

"You are worried about him aren't you?" Bruce asked.

Tony gave an exasperated sigh and raised an eyebrow at Bruce who was watching him carefully. "Don't go Rogers on me, Banner," he pleaded.

Bruce just shrugged and went back to his work. "It was just a question. Do you know what he's up to yet?"

Tony blinked. "Pardon me?"

"Do you know what he's doing?" Bruce clarified. "You said it yourself, this is Loki. There's going to be some kind of ulterior motive."

"Yeah, well, if he has, he hasn't shared," Tony replied, beginning to mentally put together an repair strategy for his equipment, if only to stop himself thinking too much about how much he'd probably already given Loki without even thinking about it. The guy was in his head for Christ's sake, Tony only had to briefly think of something and it was Loki's.

"Just be careful Tony," Bruce finished with a small, genuine smile.

Tony pressed his lips together in a thin, humourless line and silence fell in the lab, broken only by computerised voices and the sound of metal on metal as Tony began to slowly bring the equipment back to working condition.

He gave up after about an hour; he found himself far too distracted by the brand new realisation that he could have already effectively spilled every secret about the Avengers, Stark Industries, the Earth itself to the biggest threat it had faced so far. Suddenly, admitting that he might enjoy his dreams was officially knocked from truth.

He left Bruce to his work, promising to return and fix the machine as soon as he could, blaming a lack of tools and time. Both of which Bruce clearly knew were lies but said nothing of it.

Almost everyone that came across him as he slunk through the corridors, head down and hands stuffed into his pockets, knew better than to stop and chat. He was thankfully left to his own devices for at least an hour before he crossed paths with the one person who was not too great at subtlety. Thor grinned as he caught sight of Tony walking towards him and threw his arms out to his sides. Tony didn't have to look up or wait for him to speak to recognise the sound of his footsteps; he simply stopped where he was and waited for Thor to come to a stop, praying to whatever gods apart from those present that he didn't try to hug him.

They were answered as Thor seemed to catch on to his mood.

"Tony," he greeted, frowning, "What has you so low?"

"Nothing, nothing," Tony looked up, grinning his easy, false smile. "Don't you worry yourself big boy. Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Of course!"

Tony licked his lips and shuffled slightly, already a little uneasy about the possible answer. "These little dream trips your brother is a fan of, just how much of my head can he see?"

Thor paused and thought about his answer before replying, "During his visits to my dreams when we were children, he would often leave with knowledge of secrets that I had not told him verbally. I do not know the extent of his vision, however."

"So, theoretically, he could be anywhere from a brand new knowledge of high level weapons technology, to the deepest secrets of the Earth's most recent defences?" Tony paused to purse his lips and look away. So he could have single-handedly handed over everything Loki might need to comeback bigger and better. All because Tony had found himself a lulled into a false sense of security. Sex had always been a blind spot. "Wonderful."

Thor frowned, sensing the effect of his reply. "I doubt that knowledge would interest him, Tony. Human weaponry is rudimentary and weak compared to the kind of power that Loki could easily get hold of," Tony gave an offended frown. His weapons were not rudimentary. "Further to that, there are others with knowledge of more use to Loki were he planning to once again attempt to take the Earth for his own. Something which I highly doubt he will do."

Tony narrowed his eyes. Thor made sense. Surely the one Loki would go for was Fury, the head of the Avengers, with all the knowledge that he kept from those he commanded. As far as he knew, the only one Loki had visited was Tony. So why? If his knowledge was rudimentary as Thor said. He would have had something to say about that were he not so distracted.

Tony snorted to himself and slipped past Thor. There were few times he regretted being Tony Stark. And this was definitely one of them.

That night was another new experience. When the dream took him, Tony expected to once again have to force Loki off with the force of his own mind, since he was most definitely not in the mood for anything else with his sudden questioning of Loki's true motives. But it seemed like he was in control from the beginning. The dream started just like any other might, with no real beginning, simply an inexplicable appearance of Tony's own penthouse living room lit by a false, overly orange twilight.

Tony frowned to himself and turned twice on the spot, urgently, worried that perhaps Loki was about to jump him from behind. However, on the second turn he spotted Loki leant against the wall, watching him with intense, searching eyes. He was still dressed in the same shirt and trousers, looking almost exactly the same as the last time Tony was able to actually look at him, complete with sunken cheeks and bags under his eyes. Though he only now noticed that he was barefoot.

"Not even going to bother this time?" Tony asked with sarcasm he hoped would mask the small reminder of what Bruce had said earlier. He was getting tired.

"You must really try to relax," Loki told him, earnestly. If he had noticed the concern flickering across Tony's mind, he didn't react to it. "It will do you harm in time."

"And you care about that do you?" Tony replied scathingly.

Loki tilted his head with a chastising smirk. "Where would I spend my nights if you were to no longer sleep? Come, tell me what it is that has you so overwrought."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "You want to play therapy? Why the hell would I talk to you?"

"Because you knowI am the only one who can answer the questions that are hounding your dreams," Loki answered, a victorious edge to his voice.

Tony glowered and swallowed back his initial biting remark, well aware of the heavy advantage Loki had over him in a debate. He remained silent for a moment, doing his best to school his thoughts, making an effort to push away to more dangerous secrets-

Loki inhaled through his teeth, making a loud hissing noise that drew Tony's attention.

"What?"

"By trying to ignore the knowledge you deem to be a danger, you think of it," Loki explained, almost wincing as he spoke, "And by thinking of them. You reveal them to me. Do you wish to become a traitor Tony Stark?"

"You want to explain how this works then?" Tony snapped, gesturing to the god in his mind violently. "And while you're at it, tell me why the hell you're here."

The Asgardian smiled a little wider. "That is why you are so stressed? You believe that I, whilst lying beaten and bleeding in a dungeon on Asgard, came to scour your mind for the inner workings of your organisation?" he chuckled at the prospect. "Perhaps in my new broken state I would be able to use the plethora of knowledge I find to perhaps take on the Avengers once again, on my own, with no army and no allies, and win. Yes. That was my mistake previously. With your mind I could try once more and succeed!"

Tony gave him a flat look. "You gonna answer my questions Sparky?"

Loki had been grinning and it didn't fade as he spoke. "I can enter the dreams you create as an image of myself, as you create an image of yourself, and work in tune with your mind, manipulating it if I wish or, as is easier, simply existing and allowing your mind to do as it will. If your thoughts stray away from the current then, yes, I can see your secrets, but only if you see them. Do you understand? That is as simply as I can explain it," he finished with a shallow shrug.

"Then why the hell are you here if you're not snooping about my head?"

Loki looked away at that, glancing around at Tony's penthouse as the humour dwindled from his features. It was an old memory, meaning that Tony was entirely in control. Loki wouldn't have seen it like this. There was a note of curiosity in his glances.

"Would you believe that I sought an escape?" Loki replied quietly a second later, no hint of deception or sarcasm in his voice.

Tony frowned at that. It caught him so off guard the only comment he could find was a soft, "Why me?"

"Well, I was not about to venture into the mind of the good Captain," the Asgardian responded, once again breaking eye contact. He had not moved during their entire conversation. "Your assassin friends would unlikely be entirely welcoming. And quite frankly I fear for the mind of the Man Holding Back the Monster. If my memory serves me correctly, you did not include yourself on the list of those I had 'pissed off'. Naturally, I had few options."

"What about your brother?"

At the mention of Thor, a look of annoyance flickered across his face before it was gone. "He lost my interest a while ago."

"And I gained it?"

"You could say that," Loki agreed, coming out of his lean for the first time, standing at ease. "Now, do you trust that my being here is not going to bring about the end of your world?"

Tony gave him a sceptical glare but didn't back away as he began to cautiously approach, "Trust is a strong word."

"Then perhaps faith?" Loki ventured, closing the gap between them in long, cautious strides.

Tony pulled a face a shook his head. "Let's just leave trust issues alone. I get enough of that when I'm awake."

Loki chuckled, now in the familiar territory of Tony's personal space, one hand sliding possessively up his arm. "Then shall we agree not to trust each other at all? It seems far less complicated that way."

Tony pretended to think for a moment as he slowly eased up onto the balls of his feet, closing the final gap between them. "Agreed," he whispered.

Loki smirked, "Good night Tony."

Tony awoke with a frustrated snort, blinked a few times and dragged himself to the shower with a frustrated grumble of, 'Fucking cocktease.'