Lots of trigger warnings in this chapter

Loki was being paranoid, or at least that's what he told himself. Even in his own house he had taken to trying to act normal, reading the books that he had around the house as he reminded himself that he was listening to the ramblings of a crazy person.

The day before he returned to work, he left his house and made his way to the library. If he was being watched, this would be the easiest place to hide. He made his way through the stacks, staring at the small paper in his hand with the jumble of letters that Tony had traced on his hand. A tall boy looked over his shoulder "There is supposed to be a space there." He said and pointed between the R and P. Pepper Potts. Loki tensed at his closeness but then relaxed when he saw the library employee tag around his neck. "Good lady." The boy said and got closer to him "too bad she died in that plane crash." He said and bent his head down close to Loki's ear. "There's a big guy in a brown coat following you." He said softly and grabbed a random book and gave it to Loki. "I'll walk you to the front." He said, pushing the book into his hands.

Loki nodded mutely and followed him, trying to look natural. "Was he close enough to hear you?" he asked, flipping through the pages of the book, and the boy shook his head. "Thank you." He said and gave him his library card once they reached the desk.

"Spell your last name, please?" the boy asked, just trying to stall so the man would wander away a bit and Loki could get out.

"Uhm Adrian? A-d-r-a-i-n." he said slowly as if it was the first time he had spelled it out "sorry, i-a." The boy gave him a strange look at his slip but figured that Loki was just scared.

"Here you go." He said and handed him the book and Loki walked out quickly, trying to convince himself that maybe the boy was wrong as he hailed a cab to take him back home.

The two days dragged on slowly and Tony passed them in a mindless daze, drugged enough that he barely felt himself being dragged back to his room every afternoon by his guards and abused until he passed out.

He would wake up long enough to get force fed by Bruce; pieces of dry bread and water being forced down his throat into his arching stomach, and then would pass out again until the night rounds began. "This isn't as fun when he's like this." One of the guards muttered as they cleaned him up, thinking he as passed out again, and they dragged him up onto his bed.

"I know, but it's just until tomorrow, Fury says if we go too far on Stark's doses, Loki will start to suspect something is off." The first guard sighed. "This is just to make sure Stark understands what will happen to him if he tries to say anything. Never know what could jog the ice-princess' memory."

Steve woke up first; his body warm with Natasha curled up into his chest and reveled as he felt Thor's arm tighten around his waist as he shifted, the light from the hall filling their room as the door opened. The larger man took slow deep breathes as he began to wake up and yawned, making Steve laughed. "Right in my ear." He half complained but turned his head to look at Thor as the man smiled, his eyes still bleary from sleep.

"Forgive me" he chuckled softly, his voice much softer than Steve remembered it but it sounded better than when they had first arrived to this prison. "I thought you'd still be asleep." He began to move his arm away but Steve caught it, holding Thor's arm to his chest, not meeting his eyes.

"I don't want to move yet." He said quietly and looked down at Natasha, who hadn't moved at all but Steve doubted she was still sleeping. "And Natasha's still asleep." He held onto him a bit tighter, not liking how slack Thor's arm was around him.

Thor stared at the back of Steve's head and smiled as he felt his hand tighten around him. "Alright." He said and held him a bit closer. "Until the others wake up then." He told him and Steve nodded. He relaxed as Thor's arm tightened around him and felt him press closer and bury his nose in Steve's hair, the smell of generic shampoo surrounding them as they enjoyed the silence and warmth. "…do you think everything will be okay?" Thor asked, after a while "That we'll get to go back to our normal lives someday?" He felt Steve's hand rest on his arm.

"I learned something after I got out of the ice" he sighed "When locked away from reality… the world goes on without you." He turned in his arms and looked up at him. "That world that we knew, the people that we were in it are dead." He said and pressed closer to him when he saw how hopeless Thor looked. "But we're not going through it alone." He said "I was alone in the ice, but this… you have all of us with you." He stared into his eyes. "Especially me." He smiled.

Thor held onto him and pulled him a bit closer and sighed. "Thank you." He breathed and rested his forehead on Steve's until they heard the movement in the hall. "…we should go out. Loki will be here soon." Steve smiled and nodded.

"You go wait for your brother, I'll get Natasha up." He said as Thor's arm slipped off his waist. He watched him go before sighing. "You know it's rude to listen into other's conversations." He said as he turned to her. A laugh escaped her and he frowned as it escalated until she was shaking with laughter.

"I'm sorry." She laughed "it's just… you two, I wouldn't have guessed it." She smiled. "It's the first good thing that's happened in here." She sat up slowly with his help.

"Nothing is happening." He said "we're prisoners, we're friends, and we both need the…"

"Affection?" she finished and held onto his arm as they began to go outside. "You do have a habit of forming attachments in the middle of war, and this is war Steve." She gave him a hard look. "You know it just as much as I do, something is coming." He nodded slowly. "…be with him, if you can." His head snapped to her and they stopped walking.

"Don't joke." He said sternly.

"I mean it." She said seriously, meeting his frown easily. "We're what's keeping us sane, how long do you think before they begin to split us up or pit us against each other?" they began to walk again. "Whatever ties we have, it's time to make them stronger." She breathed, barely moving her lips because of the camera. He kept his eyes on Thor, who waited at the door for Loki and nodded. He left her on her couch and walked over to the man, wrapping his hand around the man's arm. Thor looked at him, surprised, and Steve smiled at him.

"I told you, we're here together." He said softly, his chest hurting with guilt as Thor beamed at him.

"Morning." Loki smiled as he came in with their food and began to hand out the trays, checking them to make sure they were all okay. Clint still watched him carefully as Bruce accepted their food.

"Tony...the room." he slurred and Loki nodded and held the tray close as he walked to the room. He heard a heavy footsteps behind him as he went into the room and looked at the man. He was slumped in on himself, holding his knees to his chest as his eyes were closed in thought but there was that same exhaustion in his face that he had seen last time. Loki knocked gently and his eyes snapped open.

"I brought you your food." he said and crouched down by him. "come on." he said and grabbed his hand, putting the apple on the tray in his hand, and moved it to his mouth, tracing his finger over the back of Tony's hand.

D-E-A-D

He watched the man carefully as he looked at him and let go of his hand. It was like watching a car crash in milliseconds and he felt the air go out of his lungs as he was kicked in the chest and he flew back and hit the wall. "Don't touch me!" he screamed. "Don't touch me!" he lunged for the guard, who was scrambling to get something out of his pockets. Tony brought his down to the ground and Loki watched as the man cried as he punched in the man's face, each punch accompanied with a wet crack until the man held under Tony stopped moving, save for the occasional twitch. Loki's head spun from where he had hit the wall but he watched two guards pull Tony off the man and hold a knife to his neck as they dragged the probably dead guard out.

He wondered if he imagined or saw Tony smile before his hand his hand came up and grabbed the hilt of the knife and pulled it, pressing it into his own neck before the guards could pull it away. He watched the blood soak the man's hospital clothes before the darkness finally took him and he lay cold on the ground.

So, people seem to either really enjoy me torturing Tony or feel bad for him, so a little bit of both for the next chapter. Review if you liked it!