A/N hello again! Thanks for all your reviews, here's a new chapter! Dun dun duuun!
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Chapter 3- Understanding is an Understatement
They looked into each other's eyes, Tony grinning for a reason unknown to Loki and Loki a small smile tugging the corners of his lips. And a single thought echoed through their minds as they drifted off to sleep I love you…
Tony Stark is not a morning person. As it turns out neither is Loki. So neither of them was pleased when a klaxon alarm sounded at 5am.
"Turn off that cacophonous sound you imbecile!" Loki moaned grabbing two pillows, throwing one at Tony and the other thrown over his head, attempting to block off the rude awakening.
"JARVIS, what is that noise?!" Tony grumbled, throwing back the pillow and assessing the situation.
Loki was in his bed. Tony was in bed with the enemy. Was he compromised? His mind was whirring, trying to figure out his awkward predicament.
"Sir, that is the alarm to indicate a SHIELD helicopter is landing. Nick Fury is on the roof this very moment. You set the alarm when he walked in when you were with Natasha in a compromising situ-"
"Mute" Tony muttered while running his hands through his hair *it's way too early for this* he thought.
"Right, Loki, stay here, don't move, don't speak, don't even breathe until I come back. I presume he's here to talk about repairs for the helicarrier, he does not need to know I've just been asleep next to one SHIELD's most wanted." Tony said, grabbing his shoes.
"Why? Think you've been compromised?" Loki said, with a grin that could only be described as seductive, as he sat up.
"Do you want him to know you're here? Just keep quiet" Tony snapped, purposely avoiding the last question, while pulling on his shoes and shutting the door behind him.
Once he had left, Loki flopped back down on the bed. He guessed Tony might be a while. He looked around the room seeing every aspect of his ex-enemy's personality, from his Black Sabbath t-shirt, to his Ipod. Loki wasn't an idiot, he knew heaps more than his brother about Midgardian music, from AC/DC to ABBA. He flicked through the playlists, while putting on the ridiculously expensive ear phones. As he scrolled down, he was surprised to see most of his favorite songs, everything from 'shoot to thrill' to 'I love rock and roll', selecting his favorite song he increased the volume full blast, while pulling on one of Tony's T-shirts and a pair of black skinny jeans, a tad small for him, given the height difference, before walking over to the coffee machine singing "That don't impress me much".
Soon he was getting into the song, swaying his hips while making pop tarts, the one thing him and Thor agree on, pop tarts are the best breakfast on Migard.
He was singing, perfectly in tune of course, "So you've got the brain but have you got the touch, don't get me wrong yeah I think you're alright-"
"I'm a hell of a lot better than alright, I'm the best" Tony chuckled, trying not to burst out laughing when Loki turned around, red faced and totally embarrassed, "Is that my Black Sabbath shirt?" He asked, one eyebrow raised "And you're listening to my music, okay, well now that Fury has left the building, JARVIS, connect to my Ipod and play"
"But that won't keep me warm in the middle of the night..." The music was blasting out of hidden speakers in Tony's floor, the man himself singing along, almost skipping to the coffee maker, brushing past Loki as if he was just a friend that stayed the night, and not a so-called lunatic with a mind like a 'bag full of cats'. This had astounded Loki the most, Tony's attitude towards him, he understood him, he kept his distance yet at the same time, he managed to come closer to Loki than his own mother.
Frigga was still his mother, she was the one who raised him, who cared for him. Loki didn't want to bring up childhood memories that, even though they were happy times, he looked upon them in despair, knowing things could never be the same.
"What's got you down Rock of Ages?" Tony asked, puzzled at Loki's posture. He looked like he was reliving a ghastly memory, locked in a trance of the past. Tony knew this look, he often wore it himself after coming back from Afghanistan, not even Pepper could keep the nightmares away, they still haunt him.
"You could never understand Stark," Loki said looking down.
"Try me," Tony challenged, knowing that the gods past was horrendous, or at least that's what Wikipedia says. Apparently, he was tied up to a rock with his own child's entrails, while snake venom was dripped on him. He also had daddy problems, at least from what he gathered from Thor. Loki is adopted, but since when did being stolen from a temple or something classed as adoption? Tony figured he has had millennias of family problems, grief and pain. And he was gonna drag these problems up from the hidden corner of Loki tortured mind and supposedly help him. Worth a shot.
"You don't know what it was like. I was standing in Thor's shadow for so long. I tried to please my- Odin, to make him feel proud of me. So I built something for myself. I invaded Migard and failed. I am a failure. I don't deserve your help. I deserve the fiery pits of Hell."
Loki looked up as he said the last sentence. He gazed up at Tony, who had chosen to sit on the kitchen counter top, challenging him to contradict him. Tony loves a challenge.
"You think you deserve Hell, okay how about this: My father only ever talked to me about one person. Good old Captain America. He never stopped talking about him, he practically worshiped him. He always talked about his achievements, his triumphs and how he was the greatest person in the world. He never had any time for me, I would come top in everything trying to prove myself to him, it was never enough. I was always in the shadow of someone who was presumed dead while stuck in a capsicle. So I carried on his company, making it better than he ever could. I built the biggest weapons made the best technology but in the end I had made a monster I couldn't control. My company and my only father figure had been dealing under the table. Millions of innocent lives of men, women and children where destroyed. I am a murderer. But I saw my mistakes, I was almost killed by a rocket that literally had my name on it. That was where I got my arc reactor, I was wired up to a car battery at first. I had been kidnapped by the Ten Rings, they tortured me into building a weapon, the Jericho missile. I knew I couldn't, they would of used it to slaughter millions of women and children, so I built mark one, the first iron man suit, in a cave with a box of scraps. I had help from a doctor there. He didn't make it..." Tony broke off, tears threatening to spill. He carried on "I survived, I built myself a new arc reactor. Unfortunately the Palladium in ny arc reactor was poisoning me. That's when I got a swift kick up my backside from SHIELD. They gave me time and they gave me some stuff of my old man's. My father was limited by the technology of his time but he left me a hidden message in the diorama of the 1974 Stark Expo which turned out to be a diagram structure of a new element. With a little help from JARVIS, I created that new element, remade my arc reactor and saved hundreds of lives. I was self destructive, possibly even suicidal. I got low, for months I can't remember a time when I was actually sober. But people helped me. Hell, Fury even helped me. I got out of weapons manufacturing and into clean energy. I was a monster. I was the merchant of death. Now I am Iron Man. Now I save the world. But I am not a hero. I am not Captain America. I can never be Steve Rogers, but I can be Tony Stark, Iron Man and a changed person. I may not be a hero but I am not a monster, not anymore. I deserved Hell, but then I got a chance of redemption. We all need a second chance." Tony started walking towards Loki, there were tears in both men's eyes. A single tear fell from the dark green, glittering eyes. Tony couldn't help himself, he had to wipe that fallen tear away. His hand rose, caressed Loki's cheek, seeing the confusion in those eyes, before he brushed the tear away.
Loki looked into his eyes before slapping his hand away and bolting to the nearest exit. Tony looked down at the space Loki had occupied before quietly whispering to himself "Why?".
He was such an idiot. Why, when he had just started getting to know him, had he touched him? He had no right to expect him to return his feelings...
TBC
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