Three days later...

"Loki, why do you panic?" Loki ran from his closet, wrestling into a pair of jeans before looking at his brother who observed on with amusement.

"I need to make an impression Thor, this is my first friend and I'm meeting his parents, I need to look to some formal standard!" he shook off the jumper, hissing at the bitterness of the room.

"Do you need my help?" Loki nodded helplessly.

"It's of a fancy sort but I don't want to make it too obvious that I am trying to impress them." Thor stood up from his previous position on the bed. He stroked his chin in thought, his eyes scanning over his brother's body.

"Change your hair to black again; it brings out your eyes." Loki rolled his eyes but continued to listen. "Dress darkly, with black and white contrasts, maybe a green scarf." Loki nodded.

"You do realise I will use this against you when you wear that winged helmet of yours?" Thor chuckled darkly, reaching out towards Loki and embracing him softly, when he broke away he rested his hand on the back of Loki's neck, drawing his brother to look at him.

"Brother, it is yourself that will give these people judgement, not your armour."

"You don't know these people Thor, they run differently to us. It seems the more wealth they acquire the more difficult it is for a person to impress them. Unless I require the same wealth, I don't stand a good chance." Thor chuckled again, tightening his grip slightly.

"These people are fools if they judge you badly, and you forget these people don't know you, you can be as rich or poor as you want…" Loki couldn't hide the dirty smirk that formed onto his mouth.

"I didn't forget Thor…Mischief is my gift if you do remember..."

"Anthony, who is this friend of yours?-"Tony looked up at his dad, who was dressed in a neat suit familiar to his own. He clenched his teeth at his father's tone, trying hard to show no love for his so called father. Before Tony could answer, his mother crashed through the door, rather elegantly still for a woman of her petite size. She wore a black dress, not her choice but rather Howard's, she would prefer colour as they are all aware. She smiled at him, warming the cold tension between the two men crowded in Tony's quarters.

"He does sound very lovely this Loki character, very interesting and smart-" she pushed his earrings in, smiling at her son.

"He's very pretty too." He smiled back, scratching his untrimmed chin. Maria laughed silently while his father watched on from the doorway with selfish eyes. Tony liked to annoy his dad, it was no lie and though his mother would prefer otherwise, he couldn't help it. She ruffled her son's hair, walking back to the door.

"But honey, make sure you tidy up, your friend doesn't want to see all this mess-"He blocked her out from then, turning back to his desk to continue with his sketches. He felt the presence of his father behind him, looming, waiting for something.

"I don't want to be your enemy Tony…but you pull anything I will make sure you never see this Loki character again. Understand?" Tony shifted and sighed, nodding ever so slightly. The house suddenly shook with the familiar bell. Tony practically sprang to the door.

"I'll get it!" He collided with the tall metal structure, ignoring the looks he got from his parents as he yanked it open.

"Loki?" Tony called out to the familiar taller man. "Since when did you have black hair?" The man jumped up a few of the stairs, shyly running his fingers through the slick, jet black locks. Moving into the light of the house Loki became clearer. Over two days he had grown a slight amount neat of stubble, also black, making his skin ghostly white. Instead of the glasses covering his face they remained unseen, showing off his pale green eyes in the dim outdoor light. He wore a black suit with white shirt, the first two buttons undone. Around his neck was a green and gold scarf, stopping at his hips; he had a cane, a matching green colour to the scarf with a bright blue light burning against his slender hands. "Wow you look…wow." Loki laughed lightly.

"Why thank you. You look rather tasty yourself." He smiled at Tony. "May I come in?" His friend shrugged.

"I don't see why not." He opened the door wider, allowing Loki to slip in through the small gap. The room was large, topped with fine articular technology. The room consisted mostly of neutrals and screamed for personality traits rather than a show room. Loki removed his scarf, folding into his hands and looking back to his friend. "It's all rather…bland don't you think?"

"With the amount of people coming into our house, bland is defiantly the hip new thing with the old and boring." They laughed for a moment, before a soft cough brought them out of their moment. On the staircase in front of them, Howard and Maria stood. Tony swallowed the developing lump in his throat, moving towards his parents. "Mom...Dad…this is Loki."

Loki smiled at the older two; holding is hand out to Maria. She took it, but he twisted it in his and brought it to his lips, kissing her knuckles softly.

"Tis a pleasure Miss's Stark." She blushed before removing her hand. He turned his attention to Howard, bowing ever so slightly. "It's a great pleasure to be in your presence Mr Howard; a man of your status is remarkable." Howard couldn't keep the smile off his face and Tony could only smack his jaw open and close in confusion.

"How very polite of you, well it's very nice to meet you Loki, a young boy of such class." Maria cried out with joy, looking to Tony with happiness that he found a friend made of pure innocence. "But please call me Maria." She cocked her head to the side, fluttering her long eyelashes.

"Tony never told me he had such beautiful parents." Howard glared slightly at Loki's tone and Tony's insides began to burn.

"You…swing that way Loki?" Tony bit back his anger; but to his surprise Loki just shrugged, taking no harm from the elder and his words.

"I appreciate all aspects of beauty Sir; skin deep and surface. I don't disregard a person's good looks purely of their gender or preference. With my family's order it would be considered highly disrespectful to make a judgement entirely of sexual orientation."

"And your family, you come from a rich background?"

"I suppose you could say that, my father deals with records across a wide population, he is seen as a king to many." That seemed to win Howard over. The two bided them goodnight and hurried off to their own party schedule. Tony edged closer to his friend, hitting his side slightly, a smile across his face and his eyebrows rose.

"I can see why you like psychology…"

"I did not lie to them before you say so."

"But I didn't know you…swung both ways. I didn't even know you were of some form of royalty." Loki's eyes sparkled for a brief second; he ran his tongue over his teeth with a soft smile. He shrugged, tugging at the roots of his hair again.

"…you never asked."