Summary: Stark Mansion attracts another unexpected visitor, and of course everybody turns to Loki when they need help breaking the law.
Chapter II–If It's the Postman
Consternation (noun): a feeling of anxiety or dismay, typically at something unexpected.
He missed the sun stirring him awake, but feeling Loki's warmth beside him made up for it in a very nice way.
Tony propped himself on an elbow and caressed Loki's cheek with his free hand. The god's sleep seemed peaceful; no frown marred his brow, no sign of another nightmare present. He still hadn't told Tony what dream had upset him so two days ago, but at least he'd been sleeping since then. A soft smile stretched Tony's lips. There were times Loki was hard to deal with, but there were moments like this, too, when he was so incredibly thankful to have the Trickster.
Feeling lazy, he shifted a bit closer to Loki and lay back down.
The doorbell rang. Before Tony could even groan in annoyance, Loki twitched in his arms.
"If it's the postman, tell him to go away," the man groaned.
"No, sir. It is Ms Foster."
He felt Loki tense at that.
"Jane?"
What the hell was Jane doing here?
"Let her in," he said, pushing the blanket away. "We'll be right there." He switched sweatpants for jeans and the stretched t-shirt he slept in for a clean whiter shirt. From the corner of the eye, he saw Loki changing, too. They strode out of the room almost at the same time, Tony at Loki's heels, and walked downstairs. Suddenly, Loki stopped. Tony just barely avoided bumping into him. He stepped to the side.
Jane was standing in the hall, hands crossed on her back, and observing the pieces of abstract art that were hanging on the walls. A long cloak fell over her left shoulder and covered parts of her creamy dress. Tony had never seen her wear anything like this. It was very, very odd, and seemed to scream Asgard at the top of its lungs.
"You seem to be holding up well."
Tony glanced to his right, catching sight of Loki's narrowed eyes and closed-off face.
Jane turned to face them.
"For now." Her gaze settled on Loki. She took a breath. "Look, I know you don't want to help us, but this isn't just about Thor and me. The whole of Asgard is in danger. And I'm not"—she sort of chortled in a way that had nothing to with humour and everything with nerves—"I'm not the one who should be asking this, and I know you must hate me for what happened, but Thor is discussing things—"
"What do you mean, what happened?" Loki cut in.
Tony frowned. He was missing something. A big something. This whole conversation was about a topic he knew nothing about, and when had Loki and Jane spoken since that time when the movie night had gone wrong?
Jane blinked. "Well, the attack and—and… I'm so sorry for that. She was protecting me, and—"
"For what? Who?" Urgency coloured Loki's voice. "What are you talking about?"
Jane's eyebrows arched. "Thor said he'd talked to you… That you'd already refused him…"
"Yes," Loki snarled. "Two days ago. What of it?"
"Two… two days? Oh my god… He didn't…" She covered her mouth with her hand.
"He didn't what!? What are you not telling me?!"
Tony automatically grabbed Loki's hand. He didn't want to see Jane held by the collar and shaken like a small kitten.
"Malekith lead an attack on Asgard," Jane said quietly, arms wrapped around her torso. "Frigga was killed."
"What?"
"I'm sorry—"
"What?!" Loki jerked forwards. "She wasn't—She can't have—She's not—You're lying! You're fucking lying!"
Jane retreated even as Loki reached for her, and Tony gripped his elbows and jerked him back hard enough for Loki's back to hit the inventor's chest. Tony's arm wrapped around the god's torso.
"Loki," he said urgently. "Loki."
The god shook his head. "No. No, no, no!"
Tony managed to catch Jane's gaze and jerked his head in the direction of the kitchen. She pointed the same way, a question in her eyes, then nodded and walked away without letting Loki out of her sight.
"Snowflake…"
"No. No, she can't be dead!"
"Loki." Tony walked around to Loki's front and hugged him more tightly. Hands clutched him, fingers digging into his shoulder and middle of his back.
"She's lying," Loki muttered into Tony's neck. "It's a lie, it's a filthy lie."
"Breathe, babe…" Tony started rubbing Loki's back.
"Tony..."
A pause. A shaky breath.
"Tony…"
Fingers dug into the man's skin.
"Tony."
"I know…" He unwrapped his arms from around Loki and made a step back. "Let's sit down, okay?" He took Loki's hand and led the way to the couches. Loki dropped down on the cushions as if he had no energy left to keep on standing. His eyes were glistering and dark, but there were no tears.
Tony settled down next to him. He squeezed Loki's hand; it was trembling in his grip.
"I'm sorry…"
"She's dead."
Loki's voice sounded much too close to the same state, too.
"I'm sorry, babe."
He remembered coming home in the middle of the night, not even completely sober, to find the police in front of his house. He'd thought they were there to arrest him or something.
"I'm so sorry."
Remembered throwing up on somebody's shoes when they'd delivered the news. Remembered feeling numb. Screaming. Passing out.
Loki gripped his hand strong enough to cause pain. He seemed to realize it a second later; the hold loosened.
"You didn't do anything. Don't be sorry."
"My condolences then." But that sounded so formal, so much like he didn't care at all when in reality, he did.
"Why?" Loki exhaled. "Why her?"
Tony imagined he could read Why the only person I care about? in his eyes. He shifted closer to the Trickster, freed his hand, and placed his arm around Loki's shoulders.
"The woman." Loki looked at him. "She must know what happened."
"Perhaps. I can ask her to—"
Loki was on his feet in a blink of an eye, striding towards the kitchen.
"You," Tony heard him say before he entered the room as well, "you know how she died? Who killed her?"
Jane, who was sitting at the table, looked up. The frown on her face made it clear she disapproved of the way Loki had addressed her.
"He was with Malekith," she said, "but I don't know his identity."
"Malekith." Loki began pacing like a caged beast. "Tell me."
She crossed her arms over her chest. "You could at least pretend to be thankful to me."
For a moment, Loki stopped. "For what? Delivering the news of my mother's passing? She is dead! I cannot be thankful!"
He kept glaring for a second longer before he resumed the pacing.
"Would you rather I didn't?" Jane countered.
Loki snarled something that may or may not have been a word. He flexed his fingers. Tony opened his mouth and closed it again. His gaze was on Loki's back now.
"Did she suffer?"
Jane shook her head. "No. She was... very brave. She sacrificed herself."
Loki turned to face her again. "You were there." His voice was level and calm, but a thick, protective wall.
Jane nodded. "Malekith wanted the Aether," she said quietly. "Queen Frigga hid me from him, left a doppelgänger in my place. I was wondering why she didn't do it herself, too." She paused for a second. "But then I saw she meant to kill Malekith. And she would have succeeded if it wasn't for his… henchman. She was stabbed from behind. It happened quickly."
Loki shifted. He leaned on the backrest of a chair, hands gripping the wood. He stood still for a while.
"Thank you," he said finally. "For telling me."
"I thought Thor had told you," she said.
Loki ignored the comment. His voice was level and blank. "What did you want my help with?"
Yes, excellent question. Tony wanted to know that, too.
"Thor said the Aether guided Malekith to Asgard. He wanted it back, that's why they attacked. Since they failed to get it, they will try again. As far as I understood, Asgard has no way to fight them. Its defences don't work. Malekith can make his ship turn invisible."
"What do you want from me? I already told Thor I can't get the Aether out of you."
Jane cocked her head. "But is it the truth?"
Loki's fingers twitched in a way that never meant anything good. The tightness in his jaw told Tony enough about the damage that remark had done.
"So you thought under the pressure of having the destruction of Asgard on my conscience, I would admit I refused just to spite Thor?" Loki's fingers gripped the backrest tighter for a moment, then released it, and he began pacing again. "Listen well, Jane Foster. I do not have the knowledge to pull the Aether out of your body. Given enough time, there is a big possibility I could acquire it, but you do not have time. If accusing me of having lied is the only reason you've come, you may as well take your leave."
"It's not," she said, levelling Loki with a stare. Tony had to hand it to her, she was holding her ground rather well. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that—if that was what Loki had meant with the lack of time—she was dying.
The Trickster made a swirling gesture with his hand. "Enlighten me."
"They came up with a possibility," she said, and Tony decided it was high time for him to sit down. Loki didn't seem about to strangle the scientist, so Tony could probably relax a bit.
"Thor, Odin, somebody else perhaps. I think it's still being discussed." Jane took a breath. "The Aether is Malekith's weapon. He can control it, and so he should be able to get it out of me. Thor thinks he could destroy it and Malekith at that time."
"Ah, then it must be true."
The sarcasm wasn't lost on Tony.
"I don't know about that, but there's a problem—Odin won't let Thor do that. As far as I know, he is afraid that if Thor died, Asgard would be left without an heir and exposed to the threat of a civil war."
Loki huffed. "Now he is afraid of that? Have you any idea how many pointless battles Thor has engaged in during his life? No"—he stalked behind Jane like a predator—"I think you are the problem. Thor likes you too much."
Jane fixed him with a glare. "Odin doesn't seem to be complaining about your choice of a partner."
"Well, I'm not the future king of Asgard, am I?"
What was he to Asgard? Tony had never asked about the details. As far as he knew, Loki was happy staying as far away from Asgard as possible. Would he be accepted back? Better question, would he be allowed back? Was he still a prince there? He hadn't been renounced, right?
"Asgard needs a future queen. They want little princes and princesses. A romance with a mortal is not what they expect from their king-to-be."
Jane lowered her eyes.
"You will be dead so soon in their eyes. Perhaps you won't matter long term, but you cannot expect anyone but Thor and those few Aesir who would go out of their way for him to help you."
Loki walked around the table and sat down on the chair across from Tony's. Their feet touched for a moment.
"Does Asgard still require the Tesseract for travel or have they rebuilt the Bifrost yet?"
"They have the Bifrost."
"I assume Odin won't let you use it?"
Jane nodded.
"And Heimdall must have told Thor about the existence of the secret paths."
She shrugged. "I don't know about that. But Thor said you'd be able to get us to Svatl—Svarf—"
"Svartalfheim."
Were all Aesir words such tongue twisters?
"Yes. Is it true?"
Loki pressed his lips together. He nodded. His foot came to rest against Tony's, seeking contact.
"Will you help us?"
Elbows resting on the table, the god clasped his hands in front of his chin. His eyelids slid about halfway down, his eyebrows wrinkled just the slightest.
"Perhaps. Where is Heimdall in this?"
"I don't know. I think Thor talked to him?"
"Hm." The chair's legs screeched against the floor as Loki got up. "You will go back to Asgard. Tell Thor I will let you know by dawn."
"How?"
"Simple." A crooked grin spread over his face. "Either I will be there, or I will not."
~*oO*o*Oo*~
"Huh." Tony leaned on the door he'd just closed behind Jane. "I've got so many questions."
"I was wondering how you managed to keep silent the whole time."
Tony shrugged. "I wanted to hear what you had to say."
A barely-there smile formed on Loki's lips. "Ask away," he said and pushed strands of hair out of his face. He was starting to leave it loose and completely untamed like this more often. Tony's fondness for running fingers through it may have attributed to that.
"You can walk between the realms?" Tony tugged at Loki's sleeve and began pulling him towards the living room.
"Yes. The Nine Realms, they… coexist at the same time on different planes. I imagine you might call it alternate realities, though it is not quite like that. Perhaps you could say they exist in the same place on different wavelengths. Be that as it may"—he curled up in the corner of the couch and Tony made himself comfortable beside him—"there are places where the boundaries between them are blurred. It is possible to cross from one realm to another there. Of course somebody who can walk through the in-between doesn't need a fixed tunnel…"
"I imagine you can do that?"
Loki nodded.
Tony pouted. "And you didn't tell me before. How does it look like? Is it dark? Like the space? Can you get lost? Could you take me with you? I really want to see if it's anything like… Loki?"
The god's hands were clenches in fists, his eyes glistening.
"I didn't even get to see her," he whispered.
"Your mother?" Tony asked quietly and placed his hand over Loki's fist.
"I wanted… I would have gone to see her, but I didn't want to go to Asgard again and… We live so long; there should have been time. I needed time." He turned towards Tony, eyes pleading. The billionaire nodded.
"I just needed time," Loki repeated more quietly. "And now she's gone."
A tear drew a line down his pale cheek. Tony brushed it away with his thumb. Loki leaned into the touch, and his eyes slid shut. Then, his whole body stiffened, eyes snapping open.
"The funeral," he whispered and gripped Tony's forearms. "I forgot to ask. How could I forget?"
"You were shocked." He was holding it together well as it was.
"No." Loki shook his head. His grip tightened. "No, how could I forget?! How?!"
"Shh…" Tony pried Loki's fingers apart and pulled the god closer; he could feel the other's body tremble. "You were shocked. It's okay. I threw up on a police officer… Admittedly, I may have drunk a beer or two… I took it a lot worse. Not that this is helping you, just, um…"
Loki's hands moved to Tony's shoulders, fingers desperately clutching at the fabric, and he pressed himself against Tony. His body shook even worse than before.
"I've got you," Tony murmured as he wound his arms around Loki. "I've got you, babe."
Loki nodded against the man's shoulder. A strangled sound fought its way free of his throat, and he cried.
~*oO*o*Oo*~
It took a long, long time for Loki to calm down. Tony mostly registered the passage of time as a feeling of hunger that, once formed, refused to go away. It had to be around midday, and he'd skipped breakfast, but he didn't want to bother Loki, so he let it be.
Until now.
"Hey." He gently shook Loki's shoulder. The god was sort of curled up on his lap, legs tucked under him, and more than halfway lying on Tony. He didn't even move.
"Hmm?"
"I'll go grab something to eat. You want anything?"
"Nn—nnh."
"Sure?"
"Mm-hmm."
"Okay. Come on, let me up." He pushed at Loki's shoulders to get the god to roll off him, then dragged himself into the kitchen. He made a sandwich from whatever was at hand, and grabbed a bottle of water and orange juice from the fridge. When he came back, Loki was sitting up with both feet on the floor.
"I'm going to Asgard," he said, accepting the orange juice Tony offered without a word. He didn't open it, though.
"That's…" The right thing to do, probably. People friendly. Saving-Asgard friendly. "Nice of you."
Loki looked up at him. His eyes were… strange. Not empty, no, but it seemed like all the emotions were separated from the reality by a thick layer of ice.
"I need to see her funeral."
Tony nodded. He sat down.
Loki finally took a long gulp of juice.
"They always seem to remember I exist only when they need me, either to help them or merely serve as someone to blame."
Tony wished he could argue against this, but he really couldn't. He didn't know nearly enough about what Loki's life in Asgard had been like, and what he did know had come from Loki with all the biases, prejudice, and pain. Yet, despite knowing that, he took Loki's side readily. Loki's pain was real; everything else was a distanced golden kingdom in the sky.
What he didn't agree with was Loki exposing himself to danger. It wasn't really his choice, he knew that much, and he had no right to complain (being Iron Man came with a few occupational hazards). But he worried. Loki could be a capable fighter all he wanted to—and he was, too, Tony had been thrown onto his ass enough times to be very aware of that little detail—it didn't matter. He still didn't seem completely comfortable with magic, and in the past months, Tony had occasionally found him sitting on the foot of the bed or on the balcony, just staring at his fingers.
"Perhaps. I..." Loki lowered his eyes. "Would you...come with me?"
"To Asgard?" Hadn't Loki said taking somebody through the in between wasn't a good idea? Or was he planning to lead them through a passage?
"Yes, I..." Pleading green eyes turned to him. "Please," Loki said in a small voice. "Please..."
"Yeah." He hadn't been about to refuse. There was no reason to, anyway, and going with the god had a few good sides. First, new data. The scientist part of Tony's brain couldn't resist the offer of new knowledge. He'd been in Asgard before, but it had been very brief, and he hadn't had the opportunity to explore anything. There was also the little matter of intergalactic travel. Most importantly, he'd get to be close to Loki when the latter needed him.
"Sure I'm going with you. When are we leaving? Where's the passage? We are using a passage, right?"
Loki twisted his lower lip between his teeth. Slowly, he gave a single nod.
"Okay. And where can we find it?"
"Central park. The barrier is thin there. Thor chose the spot that time without knowing it, but I think, on some level, he felt it."
"So there's some spot you can just walk through?" It didn't sound very probable; somebody would have stumbled upon it, and Tony would have probably heard about people disappearing.
"Not exactly, no. It only serves as a door; it still needs to be opened."
Hm. That made more sense. It also made his brain shuffle through the possible explanations for the phenomena. He would have to bother Loki about it sometime later.
"Uh-huh. I'll leave that to you, I suppose. When are we going?"
"Now?"
"You sure? We can take more time if you need it."
Loki shook his head. His eyebrows formed a determined line.
"We're going."
"All right." He wasn't about to oppose. "I'll just get my suit and all that. I guess we'll be gone for a couple of days?"
Loki shrugged.
"Jarvis, if Pepper or Bruce need anything, tell them we've got business in Asgard. Oh, and have them feed the cats. Babe?"
Loki's eyebrows rose just the slightest.
"Try to eat something. And I still want to hear about the whole Aether thing."
A/N: Thank you for reading. Reviews are appreciated.
Also, I'll try to keep the updates regular, but it's unlikely they will be up more often than every two weeks. Real Life is being a terrible bitch right now.
~shades