Just a quick note that this picks up immediately after the last chapter, in case there's any confusion. Also, I don't know if it's me, but I felt like there's some OOCness going on this chapter. Obviously it'll happen with the situations I'm putting them in, but in some cases more than others, so apologies for that and the lateness. Enjoy!
Loki walked into the kitchen, not expecting anyone to be there as late as it was, but not surprised to find Natasha at the table, carving an apple up. Loki grabbed one as well, acknowledging her with an "Agent.". She nodded back at him and only watched with hooded eyes. He sat down at the table silently, and then looked down at the apple in slight dismay. Normally he would carve it, but he didn't want to give the assassin sitting across from him any mistaken theories.
"Here." He looked up and barely caught the knife turning through the air towards him. He looked at Natasha, surprised.
She shrugged. "I want to see what you can do with a knife when you're not gutting people with them."
Loki smirked and proceeded to show off. When he was done, he turned his apple towards her and she looked at it, eyes widening. It startled a laugh out of her.
"Barton would love that." She cackled, staring at the likeness of his face on the apple.
Loki smiled. "Only if he doesn't know it comes from me." He gestured with the apple and she shook her head.
"Keep it, leave it where he'll see or eat it, I don't care. I'm not here to talk about that. I wanted to ask about Tony's heart. He's always been really sensitive about it, but I think you can understand if I ask what exactly is going on in case something happens in the field." Natasha was in full SHIELD agent mode now, piercing him with a stare to read the secrets of his soul.
Loki grimaced. It was a difficult subject. If he made Tony out to be too weak, he wouldn't be allowed to fight, and Loki knew he wouldn't stand for that. Loki was truly worried for him though, having found him pale and sweating from pain all too often lately.
"He's having an issue with his heart. It is not the shards, the reactor is still working on that. It is something else, and since he refuses to let me do anything about the shards-"
"Why?" Natasha cut him off, looking surprised at this revelation.
"Because he says they made him who he is, what he is, today, and I won't go against his wishes. He is so incredibly vulnerable with it however..." Loki trailed off, hand clenching in frustration.
"Stark may be one of the most vainglorious and narcissistic men I've known, but he's also a genius and takes care of his own in that weird way of his if you bother to look deep enough. He takes unnecessary risks, but that suit defines the better side of him, and I think that's why it's so important to him, why he needs to keep that reminder so he doesn't forget what he could become." Natasha said it quietly, but with feeling. Loki stared at her for a few minutes, turning it over in his head.
"I tried." He admitted after a few minutes. "I tried to do it without his knowledge. It was after he came back from a fight, and had a close call with his reactor being damaged. Ever since he told me what it does, how crucial it is, I couldn't live with myself if I hadn't tried."
"What stopped you?" Natasha asked softly, an eyebrow raised at seeing this side of Loki.
"The reactor itself. It guards Tony's heart in every way possible. Even against magic." Loki sighed.
Natasha mulled this over for a minute. "How's that possible? I mean, it's just the arc reactor, nothing magical to it."
"Actually, there's more magic in it than you might think. The reactor was built from Tony's fathers design, correct? And his father had access to study the Tesseract before it was lost."
Natasha nodded, eyes going wide as she connected the dots.
Loki nodded in confirmation. "Yes, what you're thinking is right, in a way." Natasha eyed him oddly at that, wondering how he had read her mind like that when no one else was able to. Loki continued, paying no attention to the look he was receiving.
"Since the arc reactor was built using the Tesseract as a guideline of sorts, it is able to nullify any magic it comes into contact with. That alone prevents me from ever doing anything related to taking over his mind or healing his heart." Loki finished. He looked at Natasha, face drawn with weariness. "Stark practically had a heart attack the other day, but those were under different circumstances, so I do not think he is in danger - yet."
Natasha simply nodded, watching as Loki put the apple he had carved on the counter, along with the knife she had thrown him, and walked out, leaving her alone in the kitchen. She stayed there until dawn, contemplating what she had learned, both said and unsaid.
Walking to Tony's room, Loki stumbled across the Captain coming out of a bedroom. They both paused in the hallway, unsure how to proceed. Steve narrowed his eyes at Loki, who simply gazed back. It had been a long day even before he met up with Tony and they were discovered, so he was weary and not seeking amusement, as fun as it would've been to play with the mans head.
"You." Steve growled. "I don't know what the hell you think you're doing, but I've got my eyes on you."
"Very good, Captain. I would expect nothing less," Loki said quietly. Steve looked slightly taken aback at this before grunting and shoving past Loki. Loki sighed and continued on to Tony's bedroom, where he found the man twisted in the sheets, sweating and mumbling of things from his past.
"Stark, shhh." Loki soothed, going to his side and laying a cool hand on his brow. Tony stilled, quieting under his touch. Loki gently untangled him from the sheets and then used magic to undress himself from the casual clothes he had on, joining Tony on the giant bed. Tony mumbled as the bed dipped under his weight, before settling into sleep once again when Loki wrapped an arm around him.
Loki lay in the bed for hours considering the past couple days before finally relaxing enough to sleep.
The next morning both god and mortal were awoken by a loud shriek. Loki jerked up, hands glowing before he dropped the defensive pose and glared at the person in front of them.
"Clint, what the hell are you doing in MY bedroom at this godforsaken hour?" Tony growled.
"I... you.. Nick wanted to talk to us later on, so I thought I'd let you know. What the hell is he doing here?!" Clint looked revolted, as if he could puke, at the sight of Tony and Loki in bed together. When he had come in, they had been curled around each other. It had been sickeningly sweet, and he couldn't stand thinking about it.
"Well, aside from him being my boyfriend and lover, what other reason does he need?" Tony questioned sharply.
"He could still be using you!" Clint protested.
Tony snarled. "Go shoot yourself with an arrow bird brain, before I'm tempted to take the honor."
"I need to go gouge my eyes out now," Clint muttered after Loki pressed a kiss to Tony's shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. Loki waved a hand and Clint squawked all the way to the door, where Loki's magic deposited him, slamming the door in his face.
"Now, where were we?" Tony murmured, turning to Loki with a hopeful expression. Loki merely lifted an eyebrow and got out of bed, going to the bathroom and closing the door silently. Tony pouted the rest of the day.
A week or so after they told the Avengers, during which time the whole team had gotten used to finding Loki with Tony or simply somewhere in the Tower(certain incidents involving Clint were not brought up ever again), Tony was pulled out of his contemplation of a project he was working on by a voice.
"Sir, I do believe Mr. Laufeyson requires your immediate assistance in the kitchen."
He looked up, and immediately put down the tablet.
"How immediate is immediate, JARVIS?"
"Sir, Mr. Laufeyson is rather red in the face. I do believe it's urgent."
At the AI's words, Tony ran for the elevator. Arriving in the kitchen a minute later, he scanned the room frantically.
"Loki?!" He called out. There was a gasping sound, and he looked behind the counter and discovered the god on the floor clutching his throat.
'Poison? Choking?' Tony wondered worriedly as he knelt down beside him.
"Tell me what's wrong!" He demanded as he glanced around checking for spills of any kind. The god glared at him and wheezed slightly. He could still breathe apparently. A shaking hand was lifted, and Tony followed the direction it pointed in. There was an open container on the counter. Tony stood up to look at it, and paused, frowning at the symbol on the top.
"Why is there a symbol for toxic material on the lid? This was in the fridge, correct?" He asked the still wheezing god. He received a feeble nod in response. Tony groaned and yelled down the hallway for Bruce, then got a cup of water and tried to help Loki drink some of it. It was spat out immediately with a look of distaste.
"Tony? Where are you? You better not try pranking me again." Bruce's voice sounded from the doorway.
"We're over here, Bruce." Tony replied. Loki was red in the face, wheezing and still clutching his throat, but he didn't think it was poison. Footsteps sounded, and he looked up. Bruce wasn't that loud. He shouldn't have been surprised to find the rest of the team peering around Bruce when he rounded the corner and crouched down beside the god.
Loki cringed back, and coughed harshly. "What did he eat?" Bruce asked Tony, examining the god quizzically.
"There's an open container on the counter, but I have no clue what it is," Tony said. Bruce, as well as the rest of the team, looked up at the counter. There was a gasp, and then chuckles. Tony's head flew up and he glared.
"Mind letting us in on the joke, Clint?" He asked the archer who was bent over laughing. Natasha had a slight flush to her face, and there was laughter in her eyes, but she maintained most of her composure.
She stepped forward, and looked Loki in the eye. "How much did you have?" She asked him. The god glared up at her and lifted a hand to indicate a small amount.
The assassin shook her head. "That's hot sauce. I put it on my food to spice it up. Tony's too unobservant about what goes on around here, so he couldn't have told you."
She smiled and Tony shivered. Loki sputtered, and didn't bother to look at what Bruce handed him before he gulped it down. There was a look of surprise on his face, and he turned to him before asking in a raspy tone, "What was that? It doesn't burn so much now."
Bruce smiled and shook his head. "It was milk, with some honey in it. Milk coats your tongue, so it should provide a slight relief. Just remember not to eat anything in the back of the fridge. That's where Natasha hides her food, for good reason."
There was a chuckle from the group gathered around them, and suddenly things were more relaxed than they had been in days. Clint was still wary, but the rest of the group had seemingly seen a side of Loki that they could relate to. Tony smiled, and pecked the god on the lips, only smirking when he tensed.
He drew back suddenly, a hand on his lips. "Ugh, Loki, there's still hot sauce on your lips. It burns!" He went to the sink and started scrubbing at the burn, only making it worse. There was a hand on his shoulder, and someone handed him a spoonful of... peanut butter? He looked up at Natasha. There was an exasperated look in her eyes.
"When will you men learn?" she muttered before stalking off.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Tony yelled out.
"Eat it! Put it on your lips! It helps!" She yelled back before she disappeared into the hallway. Clint followed, posture still wary, but an amused look in his eyes. Steve and Bruce followed after them, the latter chuckling over what had happened. Only Loki saw the look in Steve's eyes as he turned away from the sight of Tony holding Loki's face in his hands.
Hello, my wonderful, faithful readers! I've been loving all these reviews, keep them coming! They're especially heartening as I have finals coming up, but making a push to get a chapter out is the result of all those lovely reviews XD Ok, so, just wanted to make sure everyone knew that Loki is not, per se, an Avenger. He's a consultant. Strictest meaning of the word, no field work unless he does it spontaneously, or something happens that they can't control. Don't want to give too much away, but just thought I'd point that out based on a few people saying something ^^ I'm not certain I'll be able to make a mid week post, but the next couple chapters are going to make up for that ;)
