"Tom!"
"Loki!"He grinned and both men gave a brief hug.
"How you been?" he said while they got lost somewhere in the bar, Tom sighed.
"I think I have never been better in my life" Loki looked at him.
"You look radiant, in fact, I'm glad" he said giving him a sincere smile, Tom corresponded him.
"How have you been?" Loki sighed and shrugged.
"Well, I think, your husband is annoying and I think Clint and Natasha are getting divorced"
"What?!"
"That woman is a bitch, Clint was, well, is torn but don't worry 'cause I have a plan for that"
"I hope it is resolved soon, Clint is a good person"
"You know? I think Natasha was too, he must have seen something in her to have endured so many years with her, don't you think?"
"When I came into their lives, she wasn't as picky with Clint as she is now, so I guess you're right about that" Loki shook his head with slight regret.
"Well. How is Chris?"
"What? Oh, well, uh... he proposed to Elsa" Loki snorted.
"Well, it was about time, I hardly remember how much time they have been together" Tom nodded wordlessly and Loki evaluated him with his eyes, his lips tightened slightly when he noticed a slight blush on him but he didn't thought Tom felt something for his brother, because who, having freedom, will go and fall for a person soon to be married? Plus, he was currently pretending to be the brother of said person" Everything okay with Darcy?" he asked to distract him.
"Oh, yes, she has been giving me lessons of attitude, how to look more like you and all that"
"That's great, Darcy will teach you everything you need to know"
"She is really good, I'm very happy to have her" Loki smiled slightly then got serious.
"Everything will change when you get back, right? I've seen your life... very close, and Tom it sucks. I don't want you to stay there when all this is over" Tom took a deep breath and released it slowly.
"I've thought about it, I've thought about it many times, don't think I haven't done it... I think if I hadn't known you now, I'd be more lost than ever but now you are. You, Darcy, Clint... Yes, when I return all will be over" Loki smiled and Tom felt proud of himself.
Tom came home and sighed, things were not as good as he had told Loki and he suspected his double knew. The feelings he had whenever Chris spoke softly and looked at him with joy, were doing things to his heart, it make him smile and mourn at the same time, wanting. Is that he was never going to learn? Is that he really liked to suffer? Chris was going to commit to his girlfriend soon, never would look at him, after all he was representing his brother. He entered the house and heard laughter from the room, he headed there and almost wished he had stayed outside.
"Loki, you're here!" grinned Chris.
"Yes... Hello, Chris. Hello... Elsa" the pretty blonde woman smiled and got up to hug him, Tom tried not to tense up and smiled the same way he smiled every time he went to an event with Tony.
"Loki! You've been neglecting me, honey, not a single call. Do I always have to call you?" Said the woman, and Tom realized that Elsa had a loving attitude in itself, it reminded him slightly to Frigga.
"I'm sorry, you know how I am" she laughed and patted his cheek lightly.
"Of course I do but it won't kill to call" she winked before getting next to Chris again, he ran a hand over her waist and smiled lovingly.
"I'll... go to rest now" said Tom, wanting to escape from that place.
"Loki, is everything okay?"
"Yes, of course..." He said with a slightly nervous smile.
"You're a bit pale" Chris said worriedly.
"No, everything is fine"
"But..."
"I said I'm fine!" the three of them were surprised of his sudden scream, Tom smiled but it looked more like a grimace and he quickly went to his room 'Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid...' he thought, he wanted to hit himself against a damn wall, he was better than this, he had always known how to control himself, all his time with Tony had taught him that, to not be swayed by what he felt. And he had to lose control now that he needed it more? The door opened and Chris walked through it.
"Loki, are you all right?"
"I said I'm fine, Chris" said Tom, giving him his back 'Please, just go, just go, before I do something crazy right now...'
"I know... I appreciate it but I just need to be alone" he wasn't glancing at him yet, Chris put a hand on his shoulder and made him turn. Tom stared at him, admiring how beautiful were those eyes and he suddenly couldn't control it anymore, he couldn't contain the urge that was eating his soul for days now, that feeling that makes him feel happy and unhappy at the same time. He put his hands on both of the cheeks of the blond, barely registering the gesture of surprise, and kissed him. Just a light brush of lips, a small touch but that filled them with electricity, which made them shudder beyond the body, deeper than the heart, somewhere near the soul. When Tom left him and watched Chris surprised face, he felt the world was falling apart. He separated from him, trembling like a leaf, and ran out of the room, out of the house and away from the place. At some point in his flight, tears began to fall from his eyes, stifled sobs accumulated in his throat causing him to lose his breath faster and the pain he felt at that moment, the stupidity of what had just done threatened to drown him from one moment to another. Tom paused, gasping for air and pulled out his cell phone with shaking hands.
"Darcy... I need you"
"Sir, you have a guess" said Jarvis when Loki entered.
"A guess?"
"Yes, sir, it's..."
"BROTHER!" Cried a big blond guy before catching Loki in a bone breaking hug.
"...His brother, Thor" Jarvis ended very late, Loki rolled his eyes and reached with his left arm to the side of the neck of Thor and pressed hard making the blonde let out a surprised exclamation and put him on the floor.
"You want to kill me, Thor? Can't you say hello like a normal person?" He said as he arranged clothes then glared "Say hello. Correctly. Now!"
"Hello, Tom" said Thor with a low voice.
"Hello, how are you, Thor?" Loki asked with a fake smile.
"Very well, thank you and you?"
"Well, thanks. Was that so hard?" he sighed.
"But wow, bless the eyes that see you, it seems that in the time that we haven't seen you, you created a new character, it has been a long time that didn't see Thor so quiet" Loki turned and watched a small woman with brown hair and kind face" I missed you so much, brother in law" she hugged him then separated to smile him, her eyes widened slightly "Thor, can you bring the things from the other room? The surprise?"
"Yes, Jane" said the blond with a big smile and left the place, the brunette turned immediately to Loki.
"You're not Tom" Loki smirked.
"No, I'm not. You are Jane, Tom told me about you"
"Where's Tom?"
"In my house, living my life"
"Why are you here?"
"Because I offered this change"
"Why?" Loki looked at her seriously.
"Because they were killing him here" Jane stepped back, opening her eyes large "perhaps not by putting poison in his food or pointing a gun at him... but they were killing his soul. When I met Tom, his eyes were so empty of life and hope... he told me what happened in this place and I could see it for myself the time I've been here. Jane... Tom was incredibly unhappy here, drowning and I gave him a chance to be free, to re-find himself" the brunette approached Loki and knelt before him.
"What can I do?" her eyes were filled with tears, she loved Tom, he was such a sweet person, so good. How had they been so blind?"
"Keep the secret, there are a few who know, counting Jarvis" she nodded, they heard Thor and Jane got up quickly, turning away and wiping the tears from her eyes.
"I brought the surprise!" the blond smiled and put in the hands of Loki an envelope.
"What is this?"
"Open it, brother" he said with an excited voice, Loki smiled hesitantly and he opened the envelope, it was from an hospital, it said...
"Are you pregnant?" he said looking at the brunette surprised, she nodded with a big smile. Loki hugged her as he knew Tom would have done, he had spoken so much about her, Jane, the wife of his brother, a sweet and intelligent person, one of the many people he wanted to protect from the truth of his situation. Loki would tell him the news as soon as possible "I'm very happy for you, congratulations to the two of you" he approached Thor to hug him and let him crush him a bit, after all he had every right in the world to be excited.
"Congratulations, sirs" Jarvis said with a slight smile "Would you like to celebrate with champagne and fruit juice for the new mom?"
"Thank you, Jarvis, you have always been the most considerate" smiled Jane, the three took their drinks smiled.
"For this new baby about to come, I know he will be loved deeply by his parents" the couple smiled and Jane wiped her eyes, excited, she knows that Tom would have said the same.
"We wanted to ask you to be the godfather of our son, brother" Thor said putting a hand on the shoulder of the raven-haired, Loki looked at Jane and she nodded.
"Of course I will" 'or Tom, actually" he thought and smiled.
"Tom, I need you to calm down" Darcy said, stroking his hair. The raven-haired man had been crying in his lap since he arrived at the house, the girl didn't understand what had happened to put him in that state "You want me to call for Loki to...?"
"NO!" Darcy jumped at the scream and Tom looked at her with regret "No, I didn't... just... just don't call him, okay? Please"
"I won't, okay, but you have to tell me what is happening" Tom swallowed and fresh tears slid down his cheeks.
"I... I'm so stupid, Darcy, I knew better than to notice him, it was forbidden, my God, I don't even... I don't even know at what point I started to see him in another way but today... today when I saw him with her, I was so... angry, jealous... and he followed me and..."
"Wait, wait, wait, who is he?" Tom looked down at his hands and murmured something "a little higher, dear, I don't get it"
"It's... it's Chris" Darcy looked at him with her mouth open.
"And... and when she say..."Tom nodded.
"I meant Elsa" Darcy let out the air from his lungs for a moment before retaking it.
"What happened then?"
"I... he came to the room, he was worried... he wanted to know if I was okay and... and suddenly he was so close... I couldn't..." the brunette covered her mouth with one hand and opened her eyes wide.
"Oh, my God... you kissed him?" Tom nodded, stifling a sob "And are you gonna tell Loki?"
"NO!" he said opening his eyes in panic "he gave me this life and offered me freedom, if I tell him I kissed his brother, he's gonna kill me, he's going to decide that he wants his life back. Darcy, Darcy..." He took the hands of the girl "please, don't tell him"
"All right, Tom, I won't tell you but you have to, there are few things that Loki doesn't know and is best if he knows from you, don't you think?"
"I... I'm so scared, Darcy, it frightens me to think that he'll be upset with me and that he would hate me for what I've done"
"Hey, Hey" she said, lifting his face "Loki considers you a brother, he'll never hate you" she smiled slightly "just be honest, right?" Tom replied with a weak smile.
Tony Stark looked through the window of his office silently. The sun was falling at this time and the room was bathed in a soft orange light; however, none of that seemed to care to the millionaire. His thoughts were being the same for days, always focused on the same topic... or in the same person.
Tom.
He thought that after having him, he could forget him, that that bloody lust would leave his body. But he was wrong. In any case, it was even stronger. The desire ran trough Tony, reminding him each of the raven-haired's gestures, his muffled sighs, his groans, his blushes. Tony wanted more, he wanted it all, he wanted to have him again that way, sweating under his body, his breathing altered, so beautiful and unreachable at the same time...
"Tony" the brown-haired man sighed. He had been avoiding Steve for days now, his thoughts far away and something close to guilt came whenever the blond spoke.
"Hi, Steve"
"Is... is everything okay?" he turned when he heard the doubt in his voice, Steve was not looking directly at him but the brown-haired man could see that his eyes were slightly red. His heart sank as he quickly approached him to hug him.
"Sorry, sorry" he murmured into his neck "I had so many things on my mind that I've left you aside, I'm sorry" Steve wrapped his arms around him tightly. Tony chided himself, he shouldn't let the lust possess him , Steve was a creature of fragile feelings, easily breakable and Tony didn't wanted to hurt him, he would never want to hurt him. It was decided then, it didn't mattered the desire, he wouldn't harm Steve more than he had done so far, Tom would be an issue forgotten and period.
If only he could believe himself...
"Tom" Loki smiled when he saw him, giving him a brief hug, Tom gave him a hesitant smile "I have something very exciting to tell you!"
"Loki, before you start, I... I would like... to tell you something" his double fell silent, looking a little confused.
"Is there something wrong?"
"I don't know how to tell you this... Loki, I..."
"Tom, you're worrying me. What...?"
"I kissed your brother" Loki remained silent for a few seconds, not reacting then looked at him with shock.
"THAT YOU DID WHAT?!