A/N: Hello our lovelies! We return to you with a chapter filled to the brim with delicious smutty smut smut, (although no actual lemons of course, what do you take us for? We do not rush these things). This is probably my (Trashy's) fave chapter, also one of the trickiest to write, but as per npeg saved the day (because she is phenomenal and just xjshjkgbj -so proud *wipes tear from eye*) ANYWAY, big big BIG thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, favourited, alerted, WE LOVE YOU. Seriously, every time we get an email notification our hearts go all warm and fuzzy and we just want to pick you all up and smoosh you... anyway! I shall stop with this ridiculously long A/N and let you guys get on with it, things get pretty...heated in this chapter, so Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Loki closed the gap between them, his smile widening even further when his movement caused Tony's heart rate to peak again. He stopped just far enough away from the self-proclaimed genius that they weren't physically touching, but if he were to move even slightly, his legs would brush against Tony's knees. The billionaire didn't know why such a simple movement appeared so tantalizing, but then again he didn't seem to know a lot of things recently. Seated as he was, Loki towered over him, a pillar of gold metal and black leather, and Tony had to crane his head back to keep eye contact. He sat rooted in place, taking deep breaths in and out, desperately trying to calm his heart rate down. There was no way he was going to give Loki the satisfaction of seeing the true extent to which the demigod affected him, although he did realise that it was probably a little too late for that…
"Fascinating," Loki purred, folding at the waist to bend over him, bringing their faces into close proximity. The frequency of beeping increased again and the demigod's eyes crinkled at the edges with mirth. "Oh I like this…" he grinned sadistically.
"I should…uh…probably switch that off now…" Tony mumbled, words clumsy from his irregular breathing. He turned his chair around to access the keyboard but a hand suddenly flashed into his field of vision and gripped one of the armrests, spinning the chair back to face the hand's owner.
"No." Loki said forcefully. His lips were no longer stretched into a grin, but it had not completely vanished from his face; shadows of it remained in the upturned corners of his mouth. He's enjoying this far too much, Tony growled inwardly, trying to spin the chair again. But it was no use; the demigod's hold was too strong. "No, I think not, Stark. I would much rather have some fun with this," Loki whispered, his eyes glinting mischievously.
"J.A.R.V.I.S!" Tony yelped as the demigod closed in on him. He had to raise his voice to combat the sound his computer was now making, and a part of him was surprised he hadn't passed out his heart appeared to be beating so fast. "Turn off…the monitor!" He struggled to get the sentence out as Loki closed in to run his tongue over Tony's lower lip in a slow, deliberate sweep. Fuck…
"Pardon, Sir?" J.A.R.V.I.S asked, barely audible over the clamour coming from the computer's speakers. "Terribly sorry, but I can't quite hear you?" The voice oozed with a feigned innocence that barely concealed what Tony angrily recognised as amusement.
"J.A.R.V.I.S!" Tony panted, his heart monitor now going crazy due to the sheer panic he was feeling, "MONITOR…OFF!"
"I am sorry, Sir, but due to the erratic nature of your breathing I cannot I recognise your voice command. I'm afraid I cannot hear you all that well, the heart monitor's audio output is rather loud." The disembodied voice rang out, and Tony saw Loki grin ear to ear at the answer. This was betrayal! This was sacrilege! But upon seeing the mischievous delight glinting in the demigod's eyes, he found he almost didn't mind... Oh god, he thought, I'm going crazy… my body can't take this much stress… I'm falling apart…
"J.A.R.V.I.S, turn the fucking thing off or turn the fucking volume down or something, so help me!" He shouted desperately. He was leaning as far away from Loki as the chair he was pinned to would let him, as the demigod was apparently trying to undress him with his eyes.
"What was that, Sir?" The AI practically fucking snickered. "Turn the volume up? As you wish, Sir. That would probably be the best course of action. In any case, it will drown out your…moans, Sir." And with that the beeping suddenly increased in volume, and J.A.R.V.I.S faded out. Tony realised, with not a small amount of anger, that even if he called out again, the robot that ran his house wouldn't answer. Oh, they were going to have serious words later. And by words, Tony meant he would be ripping out the AI's wiring with his bare hands.
Loki let out a gruff chuckle, and Tony immediately turned his attention back to him. Hands firmly planted either side of Tony's body; the demigod was still bent over him, his head tilted to one side, apparently studying him with great concentration. His lips stretched into a smirk.
"This machine…" he began with a casual tone, his gaze languidly tracing the line of Tony's neck, before sliding over his collarbones and down to the belt, and Tony suddenly realised what it was like to be eye-fucked "…it measures your heart rate, correct?"
"Yes," Tony managed to say quietly, not yet willing to completely lose his dignity and sit panting in the chair like all the wanton whores he'd had over the years, regardless of how incredibly tempting that thought was…
"… Which, if I'm not entirely mistaken, increases whenever you are in my presence…?" Loki continued, his smirk broadening, obviously thoroughly enjoying this torture. Tony's eyes narrowed, and he kept his mouth firmly closed this time. He wasn't going to let Loki have his fun so easily. The satisfied smile abruptly disappeared and the demigod's eyes sparkled dangerously as he growled out, low and suddenly menacing, "Answer me, Stark."
The heart monitor spiked again, essentially answering the question for him, but Tony still muttered a yes, forced out of him though it was. The demigod's smirk returned in a flash, and all Tony could think was jeez, what a head-fuck, his facial expressions change faster than I can blink, but when he saw the look creeping into Loki's eyes, Tony's heart rate picked up again, and sirens flashed in his head, screaming oh God, not good, not good, not good!
"So…Mr. Stark," crooned the demigod, leaning closer until his mouth was against Tony's ear, his breath hot on the mortal's tingling skin. "What will happen if I do this?" He took Tony's earlobe into his mouth and sucked.
"Ah!" Tony gasped involuntarily, and the beeping of the machine increased tenfold, becoming a stream of high-pitched noise, peaks and troughs flying across the screen in rapid succession. His head snapped back and his fingers dug into the armrests. Laughter trickled into his ear as Loki relinquished his attack and a shiver ran through him at the sound. Damn his body to hell it was reacting on its own, and Tony wished that he could cross his legs, but the demigod's own limbs obstructed him from doing so… It was an awful mixture of awkward and terrifyingly arousing, and Tony was again bombarded with the sound of his own frantic heartbeat increasing.
"Interesting…" the demigod chuckled, bringing his face back to hover over Tony's own, holding his gaze. He wore the biggest smile, and it severely irked Tony that it was his reactions to Loki that caused him such unabashed amusement. He was about to say something cutting in order to get some leverage, when Loki suddenly whispered,
"And if I do this…?"
And he lifted a hand and closed it gently around Tony's neck. The billionaire's heart rate rocketed instantly, connotations of strangulation and being thrown out of a window, things he now automatically attached with someone putting a hand around his throat, surging to the front of his mind. But then Loki began to trail his fingers, feather light, down over his collarbones and over the top of his torso, and Tony relaxed, just slightly. When the fingers reached the arc reactor, however, Tony almost had another mini heart attack, but the demigod seemed content not to probe, physically or verbally, for answers about the curious blue disc in his chest, as he almost completely avoided the reactor; his fingers skirting around the edges and over the black belt encasing it. Tony's ears were ringing from the incessant beeping of the monitor, and a small part of his brain, far removed from the current happenings, was patting itself on the back at how well the machine was doing under this stress-testing.
Suddenly he was staring, dazed, into cobalt eyes, unsure of when they had made eye contact again, and the intensity in them woke a feeling deep in him, a fierce ache, hot and primal, uncoiling in his gut. Fuck, he thought, this should not be so hot. I mean, my God, this is better than when Pepper and I…
And with that thought he sobered instantly, like he had been doused with cold water. His first committed adult relationship and here he was screwing around with someone else. Who just, as an aside, a teensy tiny footnote on the entire frankly ridiculous situation, also happened to be an enemy of the Avengers, and one of the biggest threats the planet had faced in centuries. Well hey, when Tony Stark fucked up, he really had to fuck up big, didn't he? What was he fucking doing?
He abruptly braced his hands on Loki's chest, stopping him, and tried to push him away.
"No, Loki, we have to stop," he panted, trying in vain to get his voice steady, but the demigod just smiled at him.
Then Tony really shoved him, "Seriously, Loki, stop."
Forced backwards, the demigod's blue eyes narrowed, and a small growl escaped his lips as he snatched his long fingers away from Tony's naked skin.
Chest heaving, Tony rubbed his hands on the fabric of his jeans, irritably noting that his palms were slick with sweat, and told him, "We can't do this, I have someone..."
And at that Loki merely raised his eyebrows. Then, much to Tony's surprise, he tipped his head back and laughed, a deep rumbling guffaw, as if it was the funniest thing he had heard in aeons. The sound was bizarre coming from someone of such slight build, and Tony didn't know how to react. If nothing else, he couldn't stand being laughed at.
The demigod then rubbed his lower lip with a slim thumb, and Tony couldn't stop his eyes following the motion, skin still tingling.
Loki chuckled again, this time low in his throat. "Do you honestly think I care about that?" he mused, "What a ridiculous notion."
He leant forward, trailing fingers along Tony's abdomen once more, shivers sparking uncontrollably in their wake. When the demigod spoke again, he spoke softly, and Tony had to strain to hear his words over the din of the monitor.
"You presume much to think that this is anything more than a little fun, Stark. It is merely a way for me to idly pass the time." As he inched back in his seat, Tony heard a smile enter his voice, "I am not here to wed you, Stark; to take you to wife. Oh no," he murmured softly, fingers tracing languid patterns across Tony's skin, stomach, to chest, to throat, and back again, "I am here to seduce you; to bed you, perhaps. Do not expect anything else to come from this. It is what it is. Nothing more."
The beeping of the monitor slowed, but only slightly.
"Unless…" and the demigod raised an eyebrow in question, a wicked look in his eye, "Is that something you would want, Stark? To be bound to me?"
The sounds from the monitor rocketed deafeningly once more, and despite the myriad of shockingly wanton images that the word bound had conjured in his mind, Tony lifted up his hands to frantically wave no at what the demigod was insinuating because, dear God, it was too awful to think about. Also, it suddenly occurred to him, did Loki just assume that I'd be the female in this pairing? Because that was just utterly insulting, considering his thighs couldn't be much thicker than one of Tony's arms…
His absurd train of thought cut off abruptly as Loki's tone changed, becoming colder, instructive almost, and the demigod's hand snapped up from tracing patterns on Tony's stomach to roughly grasp the back of his neck. Tony flinched in shock, and the line on the monitor spiked violently.
"Although," the demigod almost purred, "the only reason that I am not at this very moment torturing you to the farthest reaches of your capacity to withstand pain, is that I find you rather…" he cocked his head to one side, like a king cobra poised, considering him, "intriguing, for a mortal."
He bent his head to Tony's chest, just above the black belt encircling it, and pressing his mouth against the bare skin, he confessed, "In a way, I suppose I see myself in you; in your intellect, your curiosity, your… passions."
As Loki slowly increased the pressure of his hold on Tony's neck, the beeping of the machine increased sharply in unison.
"That, and your reactions to every trifling thing I do are, well, how should I describe it, endearing, perhaps?" He smirked.
Leaning down to run tongue and teeth along Tony's jaw, he murmured against his skin, "Do not think I manipulate you only for your knowledge…"
Tony's breath came in short, hurried gasps, panic rising at the tightening grip of the demigod's hand around his throat. He could feel his heart racing under the belt round his chest, and thanks to J.A.R.V.I.S, he could hear it too, the monitor still screeching loudly at his back. Hell, everybody in the entire fucking facility could probably hear it by now, and yet that didn't scare him as much as the iron grip around his throat. His heartbeat was a cacophony in the speakers, a crazed rhythm of panic and bizarre want, though Tony was loath to admit it, despite what his tests had "proved".
At the exact moment another thought occurred to him, the demigod gave voice to it, as if he had read Tony's mind, and maybe he could, Tony didn't know. Breathing against his ear, Loki spoke softly, with a cruel edge to his words, "I expect you understand that if I so wished, I could snap your neck in an instant. In fact, it would be all too easy."
The demigod tilted his head to one side, obviously amused as the mortal's chest rose and fell rapidly at the patent threat.
Loki placed his other hand on Tony's stomach, and felt him shudder violently under his fingers. "Your body burns and your heart races at the very sight of me, Stark, your own machine has testified to that," Loki murmured, his eyes glinting with mischief, and the demigod had never deserved the title he held more than he did in that moment. The manic beeping of the monitor ringing in his ears, Tony tried in vain to swallow past the lump in his throat, mouth dry as sandpaper, and despite his fear, he felt tendrils of desire curl up in his belly, licking across his skin. Somehow, he was enjoying this. Beyond the fear he felt of the hand around his throat, Tony's skin ached and burned for the demigod's cold touch. Whatever he truly thought about it, if he could form a thought at all, his body wanted Loki. Tony felt himself pressing into his touch, and his fingers ached from clutching so tightly at the arms of his chair. He didn't trust himself to speak, didn't trust his tongue to keep his need a secret, though he noted dryly that the monitor had essentially put paid to that concern. He twisted in place, unwilling to give away the fact that all he wanted to do was end the torture of the inches that separated their bodies. He wanted to pull the demigod down flush against him, feel his mouth hot against his own, his body lithe and hard on top of him. He wanted to trace the planes of his queerly cold skin, to touch and taste every inch of him, to savour and memorise every angle, every surface, every join. His scent was like the hint of ice on cold air after snow, fresh pine and still darkness, earth after rain. It enveloped him, and Tony briefly thought of mountains, of cold expanses, stretches of earth, of desert plains and stars at night when all was quiet and still. And he lost himself in those deep, dark eyes.
And then, Loki lifted the hand from his stomach, fingers flexing in some bizarre pattern through the air as he turned his palm, and simply uttered the word, "Silence."
Tony's ears stung as what must have been magic hissed and crackled in the air around him, and to his utter shock, the heart monitor fell abruptly silent, though the screen still flashed with the spikes of Tony's pounding heart. His mind raced. How had Loki done that? If the demigod's magic worked on his technology, if it was capable of shutting it down, incapacitating it, then he was well and truly finished the next time he faced him in a fight…
Suddenly, Loki swept down, his face stopping scarce inches above Tony's own, and all rational thought fled as his mind went blank with shock, and he felt his body stir of its own accord.
Tony's eyes flickered from mouth, to eyes, to hands, and mouth again. His breath had escaped him, lungs gasping for breath that wouldn't come, and his heart constricted in his chest. What the fuck is happening to me?
And then the demigod growled, and the sound sent a shiver of something primal, something feral, racing through Tony's body. It sparked a need in him, too strong to be ignored. It scared him, shocked him, but he was powerless to resist the undercurrent in the cold gaze of the demigod before him. His eyes were ice, and those eyes burned into him with such an intensity that the sudden violent wave of desire that they awoke in the pit of his stomach eclipsed even the suffocating fear they inspired; it swallowed him whole.
Suddenly, Tony wanted, desperately, he wanted more than he had ever wanted anything. Desire threatened and consumed him, overpowered his judgement and his reason, and suddenly Tony was drowning in pools of cold blue.
The smile that crept into the demigod's eyes told Tony that he knew exactly the reaction he was causing in the mortal's mind and body, and as Loki's fingers tightened on his skin, Tony realised he was going to do something about it.
He crushed his face to Loki's in a frantic rush of hot breath and violent need, and moaned when he felt the god's cool touch respond in kind. His naked skin was awash with the burning cold of Loki's hands against it. Tony couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, but all he knew was that he needed the demigod so much closer. He needed to feel that curiously cold skin slide against him, and the desire to press his whole body flush against Loki's raged through every fibre of his being. Suddenly, the demigod pushed forward onto the chair, straddling Tony as he did so. The sudden weight against his stomach, against his legs, and God, against his crotch, made Tony's head spin. That familiar delicious heat uncurled in his stomach, rushing through him, setting his skin alight. His sudden peak in body temperature meant Loki's skin felt all the colder against him, and he relished it, the difference sending jolts along his limbs, and when the demigod suddenly rolled his hips down against Tony's own, the mortal groaned, long and low, at the pressure hard against him, and Loki rewarded him with a slow, wicked smile. Tony reached up and seized him with both hands, fingers trickling over the plates of armour, metal and leather alike sliding under his grasp.
Something danced in the demigod's eyes as he felt Tony writhe beneath him, and he indulgently returned the mortal's fevered kisses with equal enthusiasm, hands trailing fire across his skin, capturing his mouth with hungry tongue and wicked teeth.
Tony's hands moved frantically over Loki's armour as he tried to unfasten it, itching to have the demigod's naked skin under his fingertips.
"Too…many…clothes…" he gasped out between kisses, "What the fuck…is this armour anyway...some kind of Asgardian chastity belt?" Loki chuckled into Tony's mouth and the mortal felt it reverberate down his throat and into his chest, sending another rush of heat through him like a tidal wave, because Lord did the god have an intoxicating laugh…Loki shifted on top of him and muttered something unintelligible as he broke away from Tony's lips and began mouthing his jaw and neck. Suddenly, Tony felt the armour slide undone beneath his hands. He opened his eyes to see it fall away just enough to reveal the pale planes of Loki's chest, and for a moment he sat stunned. Loki moved his head from the crook between Tony's neck and shoulder and leaned back to look at him. The mortal almost immediately tried to follow him, abandoning all previous concerns in the search for that sweet mouth and clever tongue.
But then Loki took one of Tony's hands and placed it palm down against his sternum, holding it there in a fierce grip. The billionaire stared at his hand on the demigod's chest, transfixed. Tony could feel Loki's heart pounding furiously through his skin. His eyes snapped up to meet with familiar icy blue in a stare that all but burned him, sending shivers down his spine. Behind him the heart monitor spiked once more. He slowly opened his mouth to speak.
Loki raised a hand to his mouth to halt him, and whispered softly, an icy hint of menace clad in silken tones, "Make no mistake, mortal, regardless of how I may wish to possess you, I will have you tell me your secrets. You will lay bare your soul to me, in time." His fingers traced slowly along Tony's lips, sending tremors racing in their wake.
And suddenly Tony felt exposed. Too exposed. Here he was, with his very heart laid out in a series of green peaks and troughs behind him, an open book just waiting to be read. He had lived his whole life behind carefully constructed masks, wrapping himself up in the safety of mystery and ambiguity like it was armour. Yet now the demigod had literally threatened to prise his secrets from him, his darkest truths. He would be unravelled, and this scared him more than words could say.
But then again, he realised slowly, he wasn't the only one exposed. Because here Loki was, with his heart beating underneath Tony's palm, speaking to him in a Morse code of heartbeats. And there they were, locked together in an embrace, legs entwined, and their eyes boring into one another's; and it frightened him. Surely Loki had not meant to bare himself in this way. It had to be a plot to get Tony to let down his defences, it had to be. Because to Tony this was no longer just a matter of thoughtless, senseless lust, a baseless physical reaction. This was an invasion. Regardless of his true motives, this interaction broke down all the barriers and forced physicality into the form of intimacy. And Tony Stark did not do intimacy. Even with Pepper he'd maintained a certain amount of distance, never letting her get too close, never truly letting her in. He liked to keep himself firmly locked up, and no one, no one, especially not a fucking alien demigod, was allowed to pick open that lock. He snatched his hand away from Loki's grip.
But Loki was not about to let him stop. The demigod growled and pushed down on him, demanding hips and hungry mouth, capturing Tony's lips in a fierce, relentless kiss.
"Did I tell you to stop, Stark?" He growled, biting down on Tony's mouth, and the mortal yelped in shock at the sudden pain. Loki's eyes bore down into his, suddenly feral, demanding and unyielding, and he clamped down hard on Tony's wrists.
"I am not finished with you yet."
A/N: And so! The plot thickens... The next chapter will be up soon(ish)...you know, once we've written it XD. Please review, we love hearing your thoughts and opinions! And don't forget to head on over to npeg's profile and read her amazing Steve/Tony fic: Drowning in a Sea of Stars, it's really, really fantastic, and I'm not just saying that because I'm her sister, much love and kissies, Trashy & npeg xoxox