A/N: I hope you all had a lovely New Year's celebration! Thank you for reviewing and following, it means a lot!

Chapter eight) A newly found game.

Tony hadn't yet shown the book to Thor, as he was unsure whether that was something he should do, as Loki probably didn't like the idea so much that he'd unwillingly share so much. It didn't seem fair and therefore Tony spoke little about it. They had stringed together the reason Loki's thread had disappeared when they did, however. It was quite simple… Tony had read the truth. But apart from his fear of falling, so much more was explained and expressed. Some things Tony didn't even dare read. He felt enough pity for the God of Mischief as it was and he definitely couldn't do with anymore of it.

"He's growing only weaker and weaker," Tony said, thinking out loud. "That's good in a way, but… not so good in another." Thor stayed silent, wishing there was a way to help his brother. Bruce joined them soon thereafter, though the mood lightened little. In fact, it seemed to get only worse, as Bruce admitted not being able to stand watching Loki's pain any longer.

"What are they doing?" Tony asked bravely, though Bruce waved the question away, a somewhat disgusted look on his face. Whatever it was, everyone seemed to agree that it was better than nothing. SHIELD was getting results, where they weren't. They were triggering responses from Loki that could help them differentiate between the moments Loki was himself or merely inspired by the Tesseract's strong will to overpower and destruct.

"It is not right," Thor said. "He deserves the punishment, but it will not help him. No punishment ever clears him of sins. He grows only more distance."

"Well, he was doing pretty alright when he was at the Tower, before he decided to kill those agents that came after him," Tony replied with a shrug. "I mean, he went through tough shit not too long before that and I wasn't really… helping him get better. Yet, he wasgetting better."

"He's… remarkably strong, yes," Bruce suddenly spoke and it caused both Thor and Tony to look up at him with a frown painting their faces. Bruce had never spoken of Loki in any other way than disgust. What was this sudden liking for the God? Or had they misinterpreted the tone in the scientist's voice? "Well, something happened between us, I can't really… explain it. I can, but…"

"What do you mean; 'something happened between us'?" Tony asked, repeating what Bruce had said. "Something doesn't just happen between you and that… err… between you and Loki."

"He couldn't talk, so he showed me. It was quite respectful, actually."

"Showed you what?" Tony asked and to his own horror he recognized the tone of jealousy in his voice. Luckily Bruce wasn't attuned to picking these sorts of things out. Thor suddenly interrupted them;

"His Jotun form," he said. "Did he show you?" Bruce nodded and it seemed to confuse Thor, even when he'd already expected that answer. "He's never even showed mehis Jotun form."

"Not to burst your bubble or anything," Tony spoke, "but he doesn't really think much of you, other than… an intense hatred and the will to kill you." Thor ignored it, wisely, as his point had been made and it seemed to move Bruce quite a bit.

"It's wrong what they're doing…" he spoke. "The experiments. They need to be stopped."

"Is there another way?" Thor asked. "To find these answers."

"If there isn't, there's noway," Bruce replied determinedly. "I won't stand for this any longer. Have you seen him?"

"I do not think it wise to burden myself with a sight I cannot change," Thor replied, looking down.

"Well, as of this moment we will change it. No matter what SHIELD says."

"I like this new attitude, Banner," Tony said, nodding appreciatively. "Alrighty then, let's go. It seems we have a damsel in distress to safe."

"Don't ever tell him that," Thor replied, though he was grinning widely at the prospect of saving Loki from all the pain he was enduring.

"Oh, I'll be damn sure to tell him."

Loki had lost the feeling in his legs a while ago and he'd come to understand exactly what the collar around his neck was for.

Whenever he was about to slip into exhaustion or slum down, electric shocks were made to run through his body, causing his mind to immediately snap awake again. Slowly, but surely, he was finding himself in an inescapable prison of half-reality. He was quite capable of handling pain and torture, but this was something else entirely. His mind was weakening and so was his ability to remain silent and still and unaffected.

Was this their plan? To break him down, so they could slowly start to dissect every vessel of his mind? What did they think they'd find? Loki was afraid of the answer himself and tried his hardest to stop them from coming in, from truly breaking him up, tearing him apart, but it was so very hard…

The Tesseract's powers were all that kept him going, but it was tiresome. This mortal body was not made to sustain torture of this sort. He'd been through much worse, but never had he felt so belittled. These were humans, with no particular talents or powers. They had no magic and yet they controlled his every move. The only thing he had control over was what he saidand he didn't say anything.

No matter the question. No matter the innocence of the matter. Did he want something to drink? Of course, but he wasn't going to admit it. He wasn't going to let someone help him! He would not sink so low…

But he was slowly growing more and more desperate. He knew not where Thor was, but knowing he was aware of the torment Loki went through and yet not stopping him, once again proved the point; he was made to be betrayed. He was prepared for it and the sting was only mild. It was nothing, but justanother confirmation of what he already knew. He was worthless and Asgard was better of without him. The people he once saw as family were glad to be rid of him and he stood alone on a planet that wanted him dead and held him a prisoner on his knees.

He would not break. He would rise once more and he would kill every single one of these people. He memorized their faces so he wouldn't forget who had brought this torture upon him. He would not let them roam freely again. He would project all his pain on them and they would scream and break where he had managed to stand strong. And he would look down at their dying faces and tell them this was what they were made for; to be murdered by him; their king that had suffered at their hands. He would not allow it!

Often he found himself hallucinating, watching these people sink to their knees before him, while pleading for the mercy he would never grant them. He would be laughing manically, while they tormented his body. It did nothing to him. The pain meant nothing, but it was yet another reason to hate these mortals. And oh, he harvested so much hate for them in his heart that it would take half this planets population to right what had wronged him. He would stop at nothing! And all would fear and admire him.

"Loki," a voice spoke and he was snapped out of his thought to look at a woman before him. Her voice was monotone, as was the expression on her face.

"You will die, you hear me?" the God replied, voice low.

"You need to answer me," she spoke. Here they went again… and he wouldn't answer. Didn't they know? They weren't capable of such deeds!

"What lousy questions will you be boring me with today?" he asked. His voice was hoarse from the lack of hydration, but as he hadn't been screaming like one might've expected him to, he could still manage to control his voice perfectly.

"You are not planning the destruction of this planet on your own," she stated and it caused him to laugh.

"Stupid bitch…" he sneered. Sometimes there were no better words than the first that came to mind. "I am alone."

"You have allies."

"You are mistaken," he said, smirking. "I have no equal, thus I have no allies."

"Someone ordered you to get the Tesseract. Someone imposed on you the will to yield its powers," she said, probably puzzling together the things Thor had told her and their own research.

"Listen to me," he said, frustration shimmering through. "If I had allies, then where are they now? My brotherdoes not come to my aid and you believe me to have made allies?"

"Then is it somebody you work for?" the woman carried on, despite his fierce answer.

"I do not work for anyone," Loki retorted, his eyes narrowing up at her. "There is nothing alive whom I stand under, therefore there is nobody who can give me orders."

"Perhaps you have been made to take orders," she said, stepping forwards, bending over so she got a little closer to him. This angered him and if it were not for the lack of water he still had in his body, he would have spat in her face.

At that moment, the door got Forced open, Thor, fully suited, stepped inside. "I apologise for my interruption, my lady. You would be a dear woman to wait outside," he said, taking her by the shoulders and standing her in the door opening. Thor spun his hammer in his hand, then raised it up high. Loki already braced himself, but as something else than expected happened, he let his breathing go. His throat was freed, suddenly causing him to fall forwards, with nothing to keep him up.

Bruce, daring to take a look at Loki, daring to be in his presence, rushed forwards and took hold of Loki's shoulders, not speaking, but keeping his head from hitting the ground. Thor continued to free his brother and if Loki had the power, he would have escaped, but now, nothing like that went through him. Nothing, but relief did. His body was once again free... free to move...

Thor leaned over, scooping Loki up in his arms, seeing how his brother's eyes were falling shut. Whatever they had done to him, it was not good.

"You can't do this," one of the scientists said as Thor left the cell with Loki. "He is a danger to all."

"You can't stop me," Thor spoke. "He is my brother and what you are doing is torture. That is not righteous in any way and thus, I will not let you continue," Thor spoke, looking the scientist over before stepping further out. Bruce gave the scientist a few looks, apologetic ones, all saying: Thor has a point.

And so they left, getting in Tony's car that waited outside for them, taking them back to the Stark Tower. If SHIELD was going to torture Loki to get him better, they were wrong. Thor, Stark and Bruce would fine a good way to figure this out... right?

The way to the Tower, Thor spent running his fingers through Loki's black hair, whispering to him that he would be fine, that he would be taken care of and that he was safe. Loki's safety and sanity was a definite priority right now. And they were both at risk. Loki didn't once wake on the journey to the Tower, but neither one of them said a word about it. Everyone was anxious... anxious that perhaps they had been too late in the decision they should've made from the start. But how could they have denied SHIELD, when there had been people almost them tortured by the very God they held captive?

"It will probably be a matter of days before they show up again with another few good reasons why they should take Loki," Tony muttered, while they were taking the God up to the room he'd made his bedroom. At least some recognition might do him good, Tony figured. "So, any ideas on how we are going to get him back?"

Loki lied on the bed and they were all watching him. It seemed almost surreal, as they weren't supposed to give a fuck, let alone give multiple fucks, about the God that had actually stood a chance at ending them once.

"He needs to drink," Bruce said, probably having noted the God's chapped lips. He was so very pale... One might almost think him dead. Tony had gone to get a drink, while Thor stood leaning against one of the cupboards in the room, observing his brother. "Certainly there must be a way...?" Bruce started, probably trying to clear away the silence in the room, as it certainly wasn't a comfortable one.

Not at all.

As Tony returned with the glass they were still silent. "It seems like the ice needs to be broken, hm?" Tony said, putting the glass down beside Loki. "Who's going to do it? Thor, I'm sure you fed him as a baby once you can do it now too," he said, stepping back with a slightly annoyed look on his face. He didn't like this situation.

Thor only let out a sigh and stepped towards Loki, moving his hand under his brother's head, slowly pulling him up. He brought the glass to his lips and poured a small amount of water into his mouth. Nothing happened for a while, not even when Thor pushed his mouth shut and stroked his throat to make him swallow. "It's not working, he won't swallow," Thor said, looking around.

"Well, is he breathing?" Tony asked, taking a step towards the God. He leaned over and felt his soft breath on the back of his hand that came out of his throat. "Good," he said, then grabbed hold of Loki's nose, stopping him from breathing. A frown appeared on Loki's face and his mouth opened once again, but as he could not move his body, he panicked, not being able to breathe in the water. Then suddenly he swallowed and Tony let go of his nose again. "Now carry on, he'll remember he needs to swallow now, or at least, his subconscious will," Tony spoke, walking away from Loki, looking at Bruce.

"Banner, come and show me those records of yours, leave those two alone," he said, motioning to Thor and Loki. Bruce followed Tony down a floor and to the labs, leaving Thor alone with Loki and slightly clueless.

After a while, Thor got his brother to have quite a few sips and he could see that it was going a little better, somehow. "I wish you could hear me..." he said, stroking Loki's hair. "I wish you could know that we don't hate you, Loki, but that we do care... We want the best for you, Loki, everyone at home... they want you back, my brother, they want you to get well again and come home," he said, leaning down to press a kiss to Loki's forehead. This, made him stir and as Thor moved up to look Loki over, he saw that his brother was once again frowning.

The helpless look that had overcome Loki made Thor think of when he indeed was a young boy, when Loki had fallen sick and he had to care for him. Loki never liked it and thus Thor only came when he slept, but mostly, thinking back at the times now, he was gone. He had his friends to play with. Mother could look after Loki, but she was so often busy. A sigh left him and his hand moved over the side of his face. Thor had always been just a naïve and young child. He had been ignorant of Loki's unhappiness and unaware of his loneliness and so he had not lingered on it, but carried on to lead the life he wanted to, with his own friends.

Loki came along, because he wanted him to, but never did he ask Loki if that was what he wanted... Thor ran his hand over his own forehead this time, letting out a sigh. How could he have been so stupid? There is was; stupid. Loki always called him that and now he realised just why.

"Knock, knock," Tony stepped into the room, "any improvement?" Thor looked up at Stark and shook his head, sighing a little.

"He's had something to drink and he frowned," Thor spoke, looking down at Loki, whose lips were again parted. "I don't think he can properly breathe through his nose, like it is stuffed," he said, again brushing a hand over Loki's hair. Tony stepped closer, looking him over slowly. He looked at his nose, wondering if it was perhaps broken. He'd heard the story of Loki's nosebleed from the scientists and wondered if anyone had bothered checking his nose.

"It looks swollen slightly, maybe it's swollen from the inside," Tony said, to which Thor nodded and looked at him closer.

"I might have healing stones-"

"He is mortal now," Tony retorted, holding his hand up to stop Thor. "Let him heal in the natural way, not with magic."

"But it is magic that is paining him," Thor spoke, turning towards Tony.

"Then don't make things more complicated and send him in a turmoil of a magic fiasco," Tony said, not so sure what he was talking about. Thor only frowned. "I mean... just, don't."

"Okay..." Thor replied, looking down at Loki, his pale brother. At least he was still breathing...

"We'll think of something," Tony said. "Hey, it might even teach him the lessons the thread never could." Thor didn't look up at Tony, but kept his eyes fixated on Loki, who did not seem to be waking at all. What was happening to him? Ever since they'd taken him away from SHIELD he'd been unconscious, while he'd seemed fine - close enough to it, anyway - when talking to the woman Thor had kindly asked to step aside.

"He is such a brilliant liar," Thor spoke, bitterness in his voice. "And there's no one that will ever be able to know his absolute truths, for he will never speak them. No one will know of his true feelings, for he does not trust anyone with them."

"Don't burden yourself with thoughts like that," Tony replied. "I mean... just tell him that when he wakes up." Certainly there was no reason for Loki not to wake up, after all.

"What troubles me most is that he does not dream now," Thor replied, lying Loki down somewhat more comfortably than he'd been lying before and making sure the covers were covering him properly. "It's almost like his mind is gone."

"Don't be ridiculous," Tony replied. Thor stood up from the bed a moment later and was on his way out of the room.

"Oh, I don't like the idea of him being alone. Will you please watch over him?" Thor asked.

"You mean, make sure he doesn't escape?" Tony replied, but he was already stepping to Loki's bed. "Yeah, I can do that."

It was strange to watch over Loki as he 'slept'. He could not do anything at this moment, but lie there. He was so vulnerable to Tony, he could do anything to him! Tony let out a soft laugh at the idea. If Loki wasn't sleeping, whatever Tony did to him, would be stopped. But Loki was asleep.

Tony had his feet up on the bed, sitting back in one of the chairs, just looking around the room, then taking out a small screen from his pocket. He pulled on the corners making it bigger. "Lock," he spoke, hanging the screen in the air. He started to type things in about muscle failure, but everything he found was unrelated to the torture Loki had gone through and he wasn't about to go through all the long lists of torture methods. Of course Loki had been deprived from sleep, for days on end, and thus it was logical that he had fallen into this state. Tony hoped that Loki truly only was sleeping and that he was not slipping into some kind of coma, or a Tesseract-induced sleep. He was about to laugh at his own words when he saw movement from the bed: Loki's hand suddenly squeezing shut.

"Unlock," he spoke and pushed the screen to a smaller size to fit into his pocket. He got up and looked over Loki, seeing the frown on his face. He seemed to be in pain...

Tony looked him over for moments, then suddenly realised something. He didn't like what he would have to do, but as he moved forwards and took hold of Loki's shoulders, he started to rub them regardless of what he thought of it himself. A more pained look spread over Loki's face, but it looked the same, which meant that he was right about the pain in Loki's back and shoulders. He must be hurting everywhere...

A gasp left Loki as Tony rubbed a little harder, to which Tony found himself shushing him, in an almost sweet manner. Tony Stark... sweet? He continued to rub Loki's shoulders, feeling his muscles were trembling beneath his fingers, but were slowly becoming less hard too. It took longer than fifteen minutes until he finally gave up. Loki's face was already a lot more content and thus, he felt like he could take a break before his own shoulders were going to hurt.

The bruises covering the God's neck had also not gone unnoticed, but Tony wasn't all too sure why they were so awfully reddened. This wasn't merely something a tightened collar would do, but he was afraid to find out what had caused his skin to seem so incredibly sore. It almost seemed burned, in a way...

"Loki..." Tony whispered softly. Hey, it was worth a try! If he could get Loki to wake up, they might find out just how this whole thing with the Tesseract was shaping up. At the moment they had no idea, after all, whether Loki was even still there. In fact, the longer he stayed out of it the closer the Tesseract might get to the surface. None of them knew exactly how this worked, but Tony had the strange idea that only Loki could stop it, simply by wanting it. His body could fight the Tesseract, like it would fight a decease. It would probably be quite the battle, but it should be doable for one so determined as Loki. Right now the problem simply was that he didn't want to fight it. He liked the Tesseract's powers and he liked how it seemed to accept him, regardless of what he was. Ah, but it was only using him. It would accept any victim, especially a willing one like Loki.

But how, exactly, where they going to bring this to the God and why would he believe them? More so, what was he going to do to change his mind about this thing? It wasn't like he was suddenly going to find a love for all things living, or something...

Loki didn't even believe them when he said he was controlled during the would-be destruction of New York city. Tony did not know by who or how, but it had something to do with what was going on now. Had he then too been powered by the Tesseract?

Tony suddenly grabbed his screen from his pants and searched for Loki's sceptre. He had information on it somewhere. A picture came up, which he zoomed in on. Yes, that was also blue... it was a long shot, but what if that was also powered by the Tesseract?

Tony then sat down on his chair, sighing. Now he had that knowledge, what did it help, what did it change? Would it help to convince Loki that he was being overpowered by something? Would it show Loki that he was being controlled and that, if he truly wanted to rule on his own, he would have to break these bounds.

But under the influence of the Tesseract, wouldn't Loki be oblivious of such thoughts? They needed to catch him off guard, they needed to catch him when the Tesseract was not taking him... but once again: how?!

The Tesseract was merely a thing, an object, an energy, it did not feel. Loki, on the other hand, felt very much, which probably made it only more difficult for him to stay away from the 'blissful emptiness' the Tesseract offered. It served as a relief to his pain and it was a relief Loki very much longed for.

Perhaps if there was a way to dull that longing somewhat and to bring forth emotions and feelings that would stir Loki. Things that would actually make him feel good. That seemed an impossible task, however, as the only happiness the God seemed to feel was sadistic humour at those that were below him. And it was no true happiness.

But there had to be something the God wanted?

Immediately Tony was up on his feet and rumarging through his stuff to get that book out. The book Loki had written full of thoughts and secrets, that for some reason he seemed to need to get out of his head. Parts weren't eligible to Tony, as they were either written in languages he did not understand or so abstract that they didn't form proper sentences.

"First of all," he said out loud then, as he sat back down on the bed and watched Loki. "It's about time to wake you up."

He opened the book and started reading, not in the softest of voices:

"I would be there, but never did it feel like I was a part of something. Surely they spoke of their many plans while in my presence, but they didn't truly care whether I would be there on the night of their adventures, even when I always had the best ideas.

I remember always being asked first whether Thor was coming, before being acknowledged myself."

Tony cleared his throat, gave Loki a look and he was about to go on when he realized the green eyes staring straight at him. It caused him enough of a shock that he shut the book with quite some impact and he was off the bed immediately.

"You're awake," he stated. Loki did not speak, but he was definitely looking Tony over in quite a malicious manner, yet his eyes remained green. Tony looked at the book and decided it was better to lay it aside for now and pretend that he had not read any of it, as clearly Loki wasn't so pleased with the fact.

"That's good," Tony said, looking at Loki, walking around the bed to pass some time. Now he had Loki's attention, he wasn't all too certain what to do with it. He wondered whether grabbing the book and continuing to read would make him trust Tony because he wouldn't react strangely to all Loki's truths, but on the other hand, by the glare he'd just received, he figured that staying away of that book for a while would do a better job.

"So, are you still able to talk, or not?" Tony asked then, as he was getting fed up with the silence. He wanted to get this thing sorted. He wanted Loki cured of this Tesseract thing and back to... well... his usual unpleasant self.

Loki just glared back at Tony, which was giving him the creeps and he didn't want it anymore. "No?" he asked. "You aren't able, or you don't want to?" he asked. Loki's eyes looked away from him for a short moment before returning. Tony laughed softly. "You don't want to? Good," he said, walking to the other side of the bed. "If you're not going to make a fuss about it, I might as well carry on reading in that book of yours," he said.

Loki stayed silent, until Tony actually held the book and started to open it. "Don't," he said, though as he spoke his voice was husky and dry. His eyes shot away from Tony, to spare himself the embarrassment of not even having a working voice.

"Ah..." Tony started, "so you can speak?" he asked teasingly, though this was humour of a bit of a low standard, must he say so himself. "Now don't be annoying and keep the talking up," Tony spoke. "What is the Tesseract to you?"

Loki turned his eyes to Tony, his mouth turning into a slight grin. "Why would I tell you that?" Loki asked, looking up at the engineer.

"Because I need to know," Tony spoke. "We want to help you," he said, "but we will need to know this before we can. You see, you are being powered by the Tesseract, physically, but mentally also. Your mind is possessed by it and that is not by your own free will and thus, we want to rid you from it," Tony spoke. It was quite the friendly deed, coming from an enemy, right? Loki had nothing to get annoyed about. In fact, he should be damn thankful.

"I do not know where your words come from. I am my own mind," Loki said, his eyes narrowed. His voice was still hoarse, but he continued to speak through it. "The Tesseract merely makes me stronger, it does not tell me what I need to be strong for, for I know exactly what I want."

"To rule, yes," Tony spoke, "but the Tesseract is powering your desire to make you want to rule all the nine realms. That is not what you desire, Loki. You want to be acknowledged for what you are good at, which you will be, would you do things that are... well, good," he spoke. "The way you go about it now will only cause people to disrespect you. And unless that is what you want, I can't imagine it would be, but with you one never knows, you would do good to listen to me."

Loki looked up at the man he had somehow grown a little comfortable with, though now despised. "You do not know anything," Loki replied. "You know nothing of what will befall me, or what the people of Midgard will do when they see what I am capable of," he spoke.

"But they never will know, because we're going to get this Tesseract stuff out of your body," Tony spoke, raising his eyebrows. "Then you'll be all nice and dandy and brand new again. You can go back to your own world and be a bit of a pesky God, but that's what you're supposed to be: a prankster, trickster... no murderer."

"You know not of what you speak," Loki sneered, but something in his voice said differently. Or, at the very least, seemed broken down. He was not merely trying to oppose Tony, but something told Tony the God actually wished Tony didknow of what he spoke.

"Perhaps I don't, but then you should tell me," Tony replied. He'd sat the book down on the nightstand, though felt almost inclined to pick it up again. Just to edge Loki on to indeed speak, for if he didn't Tony could read everything in the book. Possibly, he could even get quite a good translation of all the strange languages. "But how am I to believe what you tell me, when you're not even yourself?" Tony pressed on, spoken in an afterthought. Loki seemed hesitant, but didn't he always?

"You wish to burden me with trivial questions," the God finally replied.

"No, I don't wish to burden you with anything," Tony replied and to his own amazement his voice didn't sound half as scolding as it should have done. In fact, he sounded quite sincere. Not necessarily a trait he wished to use often when in the presence of someone he ought to hate. He ought to... but didn't.

"Is this so?" Loki's green eyes had locked upon his once more, in their tightest of grips and Tony could not rip away from this newfound link between them. Surely, the God was playing games with him, for it could not possibly be that Loki showed true hope at the prospect of Tony's care.

"Yes, sure," Tony replied, trying to sound casual, but failing. What was happening to him? He was supposed to be an asshole. Not as much an asshole as Loki, but certainly not a pleasant guy, especiallynot to Loki, who should be the very reason for his assholeness. Oh, the world was going crazy.

"This is... new," Loki commented, though he showed a hint of amusement that caused Tony to grin. "But I will not fall for this trap."

"What?" Tony asked, the grin falling from his face immediately. "It's not a trap!"

"You would try to keep the act up, even when I saw right through it."

"There is no act!" Tony replied, feeling awfully hurt by the fact that Loki wouldn't believe Tony could actually want him better. It was the very reason he would not get better, for he thought no one would care. "You think this way is the only way you will get any attention. You think that if you got better... we'd all go back to hanging with Thor and ignoring you. Is that so?"

"I think little of it, but it is a thought that has occurred to me, certainly. It is just another truth and I do not care for it. Your company means-"

"Loki, no!"

"-little."

For the longest of moments their eyes stayed connected and it almost seemed like they were rooting for their truths. In fact, Tony suddenly felt horrified by the prospect of those threads notappearing, while Loki seemed certain they wouldn't. But how could it be that it meant so little to the God?

Time seemed to be passing slowly, but suddenly Loki's body arched and he let out a loud groan, as the strings were appearing, pulling his lips together and forcing his almost-scream to end. Tony watched as the bluish blood started to run down his face and felt horrible for not being able to stop Loki from telling the lie, but simultaneously he was glad to know it had been a lie.

Immediately Loki's hands moved up to the thread and he was pulling it, angrily. Tony shivered as he could see the thread tear through parts of his skin and immediately he rushed forward to pull his hands away.

"Just look at me," Tony said and soon enough the green eyes linked to his, their depth was once again astounding. "Don't worry. I know you can hardly breath through your nose, which is why you need to keep looking at me, okay?" Tony had moved closer, almost leaning over the God as he sat on the bed. Loki indeed kept looking at him, which Tony was glad about as it made this a whole lot easier.

The next thing that happened surprised Tony. Surely, the God was having trouble breathing and it probably wasn't so comfortable to know it might choke him to death if he wasn't careful, but Tony hadn't expected him to take measures of this... extremity.

Loki's hand moved up, though slightly shakily as he wasn't all too stable at all. In fact, it was a wonder he managed to move at all, after having suffered of some sort of muscle failure for the past few hours. It was a point Tony kept to himself, as it was of little importance at the moment anyway. The God's pale hand had taken hold of Tony's shoulder and the next he felt a slight tug that indicated he needed to move closer. The God's head moved back slightly as he did another attempt at breathing properly, but it hardly worked at all and the noise of discomfort pained Tony, but there was hardly anything he could do at the current moment, than await whatever it was Loki was doing.

The next moment his other hand moved up, but before he could touch Tony's forehead, which had been no doubtfully what he'd wanted to do, the engineer had sprung back from the touch.

"Woah, no creepy magic stuff, okay?" Tony said, having raised a finger towards Loki warningly, who's hands had fallen back down to the bed. Instantly he felt bad about having made a difficult task impossible, but he could not fall into more of Loki's traps. "I don't trust you one bit, okay? Let's just make that clear right now. If you want to be trusted, you shouldn't have made me get this book for the single purpose of escaping. That, and making the curse lift."

Loki looked at him and it was clear he had much to say, but no means of doing so. Simultaneously his breathing was getting faster and even more uneven as it had already been. If he was going to burst out into a panic now, he was screwed and Tony immediately lowered his finger and moved that bit closer again.

"I'm not sorry, but... I'm not sorry," he said.

Loki's fingers once again reached out for Tony's shoulder, who he pulled closer. This time he seemed to have even more difficulty, his arm trembling as his muscles were so weak. His other hand moved back up and touched Tony's forehead. He braced himself for what was going to come, his eyes not shutting, however, as he wanted to keep looking into Loki's, mainly to make sure they remained green.

Soon, he felt a rush go through him and he wanted to back away, but no longer could as pictures ran through his mind, pictures he did not know. They were pictures of Asgard, he knew that, pictures from Loki's mind. He looked better and could see that it was just a room, a room with Thor and a group of people around him, but no Loki. The message was clear, but not yet over.

The picture left his mind, but pictures of when Loki was in the Tower last ran through his mind, his own memories... It was his own sight, looking at Loki eating, looking at Loki reading, talking every now and then. Even a memory of them cracking a joke together. "You do like my company," Tony spoke, his eyes opening as the memories faded. It was proved. Loki didn't even have to nod, but he did anyway, the threads disappearing from his lips. Tony moved to the night stand and took some tissues, wiping the blue blood away from his mouth, despite how Loki tried to move away from him, a frown already on his face.

"Oh, shush, I'm trying to get you not to like my company. Now don't make it more difficult than it should be," he replied and to his own amazement Loki didn't respond with a sneer of himself, but with a smile instead. "That's new, too," he said.

"Don't get used to it," Loki replied, but there was little venom in his voice and the only bitterness that did shimmer through was not directed to Tony, but to the fact that he never smiled to begin with.

"I'll never get used to smiles," Tony replied. "But hopefully you can be the exception to that. Who knows? Crazier things have been said."

"Like what?" Loki asked, as if he truly thought nothing could beat this. It saddened Tony to think that the God truly believed his own happiness was the one goal he would never reach, but he figured he'd make a joke out of it anyway.

"You not liking my company, for one thing."

"Don't start that again," Loki replied, though there was a strange sparkle in his eyes.

"So, you seem to actuallylike my company a lot." Yep, the arrogance was definitely there and he felt no shame because of it. He grinned down at the God, that seemed to get more and more annoyed by the moment. "What? Cat got your tongue? Too afraid to lie about it?"

"I wish not to discuss this topic any further, for it is hardly of much interest."

"Ah, is that so? I'll make it more interesting then," Tony said, sniggering. "On a scale from one to ten; how much do you like my company?"

"That's childish."

"Alright, alright... would you cry if I died?"

"That's even-"

"It's just a question! Answer it!" Tony said. "Well, would you?"

"I don't think so," Loki replied, probably having wanted to say 'no', but too afraid the curse would seal his lips once more.

"Aw, seriously?"

"I don't cry," Loki replied, quite fiercely, but then quickly added; "over such matters." Clearly he'd realized it would've counted as a lie, otherwise.

"Okay, fine," Tony said, thinking of something else to ask the God instead. Surely there were trick-questions he could use to his advantage? "Would you miss me?"

Loki sighed, clearly frustrated at all the questions he'd ask. He'd say 'no', if it wasn't for that curse, which was exactly what amused Tony so. And, besides it being hilarious, it was quite handy too. At least this way he could come to some kind of understanding of Loki. "Possibly."

"That's just another way of saying 'yes'," Tony replied. "Isn't it?"

"...yes."

"I knew it!" Tony said, quite triumphantly.

They spent about three hours going on like this. Tony never bored of the game and Loki was slowly starting to accept that not being able to lie meant that he had no choice but to speak the truth and it had become some sort of relief. A good excuse to tell Tony what he truly felt. From time to time they'd fall silent and at quite a few moments Loki had been about to fall asleep. But the questions kept coming.

Tony learned that Loki, indeed, had always felt lonely. That he had never considered anyone a good friend and that he definitely wasn't planning on making the same mistake again, which basically meant he would never trust anyone again. Tony said that he wasn't too keen on making friends either, but he pretended loads of people were his friends, for the sake of having them do things for him. He also told Loki that he wasn't too keen on betrayal and quite sure he'd never betrayed anyone. Not without apologizing afterwards, anyway.

Loki's stories ranged from trivial memories to dark places that he never spoke enough about. Tony wanted to know what went on in his nightmares, but the God kept them to himself and would simply look away when the questions became too personal. Tony knew not to press it too much and would change the subject eventually. Still, he came to learn a lot about Loki.

So much even that he was unsure whether he could still think of Loki like the wrongdoer he was.

In fact...

He found himself lying down on the bed, looking at the sleeping face of Loki, after yet another tiring talk. The God was so very exhausted and Tony wondered whether he should worry about it. Yet, he wasn't worried at all. After everything they'd just shared things simply had to get better.

And at some point he fell asleep.