A/N: Thank you all so much for the reviews, the follows, the favourites. Thank you for reading and I hope you're enjoying it so far!
Chapter ten) Embarrassing moments and sick times.
Tony did not fall asleep, although he knew that to Loki having Tony awake while he slept was only making it worse. To Tony, however, it was already bad enough that he had slept in the same bed the God had. Was he really turning so soft? He could hardly believe it himself.
This time he spent mostly studying the God's features and wondering what he dreamt of and occasionally soothing him whenever a frown appeared on the God's brow. It happened often... every ten minutes at the least. He wondered what troubled him so, apart from the obvious: being sick. He wondered what the exact thoughts were that tormented Loki so and wondered too if they would ever go. Had it been too long? Had all these years of torment caused for Loki to be forever broken or was there always hope? He wished to believe in the latter, but couldn't deny the pessimism he felt at such things. How could it possibly be so that every wound could be mended? Did not many scar and would that scar not be as visible as the wound itself? No time for metaphors like this.
A moment later a twitch went through Loki's body and the next his body was arching. He let out a pained noise and a moment later he snapped awake, kicking the covers away quite violently.
"Woah," Tony said, not having expected that to happen. Loki's eyes shot to look at his and he was glad to see they were still green. Loki was breathing heavily, though and seemed to be in quite a bit of pain. "Loki, calm down," he said, wanting to move his hand towards the God to brush his hair out of his face, but Loki flinched back and a moment later was trying to get up. He seemed incredibly disorientated, however. "What's wrong?" Tony asked, getting up as well and stepping around the bed to Loki, but making sure not to get too close as he knew it wouldn't be allowed.
A moment later Loki muttered something inaudibly, possibly in a tongue Tony did not speak. He watched Loki's frown increase and his eyes seemed saddened and pained. He seemed awfully pale, lips almost as white as the rest of his skin, yet around his eyes the skin was red. He looked around himself, focusing on nothing in particular and seemingly seeing things that weren't there. Great.
"Loki, you should lie down again," Tony spoke, but Loki did not seem to hear him. Instead he swayed on his feet, before he let out a series of groans and whimpers, while stepping forward. When he collapsed Tony had wanted to catch him, but Loki violently pushed back from him. "What's going on?"
"Leave me!" Loki shouted suddenly. "'s enough!"
"What's enough?" Tony asked. Great, was he truly hallucinating? If so, why? His eyes were still their usual green, so it probably wasn't the Tesseracts doing. Not directly in any way.
Loki fell down to the ground entirely and Tony was immediately by his side, moving a hand to touch the God's forehead. He immediately pulled his hand back as he felt the temperature and not a moment later, right when Loki let out the most mortifying scream, the door opened and an incredibly worried Thor appeared.
The scream had sent shivers up Tony's back. Never had he heard the God make a noise like that... He'd not let out a single scream while at SHIELD, but this pain seemed to be so overpowering that it took away his capability to keep from screaming out. "He's burning," Tony said, as Thor was picking Loki up from the ground.
"Loki, it will be okay, my brother," Thor said and for a moment Tony thought about reminding Thor how he wasn't supposed to call Loki that, but it wasn't like Loki was paying all too much attention to it. Loki hung limply in Thor's arms, an expression of pure terror on his face, though his eyes weren't seeing.
"Let it stop! I- I beg of you!" Loki's voice was breaking, along with his dignity and it wasn't something Tony had ever wanted to witness. Thor was stepping towards the door, Tony in his wake, hoping that Thor had some kind of solution.
"Loki!" Thor spoke firmly, almost angrily and Tony realized the God's eyes had gone strangely unseeing, his breathing almost absent entirely, while his entire body seemed to tremble. "You will be fine."
Tony found himself having followed them into the bathroom and the next moment Thor was laying Loki down in the bathtub. "Drowning him won't help," Tony said, feeling the lack of stupid remarks truly needed fixing. Thor ignored the comment, but did turn towards him.
"Make this device spew water," he ordered and Tony stepped forward to turn on the tap. If the situation was anything else than this, he would have laughed at Thor's remark, but right now he was too busy with indeed, turning the tap on while Loki was freaking out in the bath. His eyes were looking everywhere, but focussing on nothing that was truly here. The water was cold, which made Loki flinch and he tried to move away, trying to climb out of the bath, but Thor leaned over and caressed his forehead. "Loki, you need to calm yourself," he spoke.
"I - I can't d-do anymore!" Loki shouted, his entire body trembling severely. He let out another scream suddenly, which stung, again. Why was Loki suddenly shouting and screaming, pleading like this. "St - top!" he screamed, his body arching once more, withering in pain.
"What is happening...?" Tony asked, letting the bath fill with lukewarm to quite cool water, hoping this would cool him down.
"He's... panicking, he's hallucinating, as if he's thinking back at things," Thor spoke, frowning a little, trying to calm Loki down. Tony moved closer, moving his hand into the water, cupping water in his palm, then gently letting it run over Loki's face. Loki froze for a moment, let out a soft noise and a shudder, then stilled suddenly. Both Thor and Tony waited for a second, but Loki's back again arched and he carried on moving about, withering in pain. Thor then started to do what Tony had, wetting Loki's hair, getting the sweat and hotness off his skin. Loki was still moving about, but slowly he was starting to relax, his body giving in to the cold water cooling him. Eventually, even Loki's eyes shut, which Thor let water run over, the skin around Loki's eyes being very red. Tony watched, despite the fact that he maybe should leave. It was quite... nice to see how gently Thor was treating Loki. It showed how much he cared for his brother, what they all already knew, but this was... new. This care, this affection.
Loki was starting to tremble again a little, but they both knew that that was from the cold water and not from his dreams. Thor continued to keep his face cool, especially his forehead and eventually, a frown formed on Loki's face and his eyes blinked, slowly opening to look around. They first rested on Thor, then on Tony. He was exhausted and couldn't even speak. He didn't know what to say, even if he could say anything.
"It's okay, you'll be fine," Thor said. "Your body is fighting, you will be tired and feel like this, it is normal," he spoke and Tony found it rather entertaining to hear the God speak in such a 'human' manner, speaking about the way humans and their illnesses worked. Loki would panic, would he have the energy. Thor shouldn't come so close and touch him so much, let alone see him like this... nor should Stark. But he couldn't tell them to go, he was too tired and he felt so sick, so ill...
"Are you in pain?" Tony then asked, to which Loki nodded a little. They had to go through all of his body parts to figure out what was hurting exactly. His head, his stomach, his shoulders and neck, his eyes, his knees were aching. And so, Tony left for a moment and returned with Advil and a big glass of water. "Help him drink this," he said, handing Thor the glass. But before Thor could take the glass Loki did that strange thing again where he looked at Tony, unspoken words clearly on his lips. And a strange, almost embarrassed, look in his eyes. Tony let out a sigh, clearly not entertained by what Loki was silently asking.
Thor stepped back and said nothing of the disappointment he would no doubtfully feel as once again Loki preferred another's closeness to his brother's. Tony stepped forward and put the glass down on the side of the bath, so he could help Loki sit up. The God's skin was freezing, yet Loki didn't seem to feel it. "Okay, different plan," Tony said, turning to Thor once more. "Take him back to the room." And a moment later Loki was in Thor's arms again, though he was not amused in the slightest.
"Don't you dare! I'm capable to walk myself!" But no matter the comments Loki made, Thor did not let go of him. Though, Tony had the odd feeling that Thor was not going to tolerate Loki's snide responses much longer. "You should not dare come near me, Thor, for I am your worst mistake."
And right then, before entering Loki's bedroom, Thor hurled Loki across the hallway.
"Err... Thor..." Tony said, holding a few towels which he was going to lay on the bed, so Loki wouldn't wet the covers. He had also wondered what they were going to do with the God's clothes, as it certainly wouldn't be comfortable to keep them on now they were drenched. "Thor, really... that won't help him."
Loki was trying to get up onto his knees to stand up again, but having been flung for a good three metres and having hit his head surely didn't help his fever.
"Loki," Thor spoke, his voice firm as he stepped towards the God that suddenly, truly seemed nothing but a small boy, in comparison with Thor's greatness. "I have respected all your comments and all your condemnations. I've taken every single word, be it truth or lie, and have considered them. I have offered you many apologies that you have not accepted. I've asked for a second chance that you will not grant me, no matter the chances I've granted you." Thor had come to a halt before Loki's trembling form, who was still on his knees, unable to muster the strength to get up.
"And now you are out to prove me right?" Loki sneered vilely, eyes fierce with a burning hatred that radiated from his every move.
"Do not twist my words, Loki!" Thor replied angrily. "I merely state what is true."
"So do I," Loki spat, "for I can't tell lies."
"No, but your accusations are but yourtruth and they are not composed of wisdom."
"Maybe not, but certainly they come from experience." Loki once again tried to get to his feet, but when he actually started to manage it Thor's hand moved to Loki's shoulder to stop him, pushing him back down onto his hands and knees. "Once again you are incapable of understanding and how dare you oppose me like this? I am notyours to command."
"You are," Thor replied harshly. "And you will hear me now." Loki didn't look up at Thor, which caused Thor to grab hold of his wet hair and yank his head back, forcing the God of mischief to lock eyes with him. "It was but my mercy that saved you from father's punishment. He would have let you suffer to death, to balance what you had done and to reassure those that you had wronged their pain was avenged. It was Iwho spared you."
"And I am so very grateful," Loki spoke, venom in his voice and sarcasm so thick that it caused Tony's heart to skip a beat.
"You should be."
"Err... Thor... he is," Tony interrupted, although he felt weird for doing so. "The thread and all that..." And indeed, the lie was not sealed, for it wasn't a lie at all. For a moment it was silent, Loki trembling on the ground, attempting to stay steadied, while Thor looked down at him.
"You never show me this gratitude," Thor said. "For your pride forbids it."
"No, it is not my pride," Loki replied, sneer still in place. "It is the knowledge that you will use my every weakness against me eventually, that keeps me from speaking."
"Showing gratitude is not weakness," Thor replied, but Loki only laughed. "And I would not hold anything against you." At that Loki laughed even louder, though any sign of true happiness was void entirely.
"You have me on my knees, brother," Loki replied. "On my knees!"
And Tony had to admit the God had a point there. Thor obviously thought the same as he stayed silent, they all did. "Right, I think all had been said, now let's go to the bedroom. No throwing Loki around, okay?" he asked, looking at Thor, now moving through to the bedroom, lying the towels down. Thor lied Loki down on the bed, who seemed more annoyed than ever now that he needed to be carried.
"Leave!" Loki shouted at Thor, his eyes fixed on his brother's blue ones, fierce, vicious. Thor just sighed and left, which left Loki and Tony in this room once again. Tony would question Loki's trust in him, were he in a better mood. "You should change, that can't possibly be comfortable," Tony laughed softly, stepping towards the cupboard to get some new clothes out for him. He'd given Loki a pile of some old clothes for him to wear and since Loki was at SHIELD he hadn't had any time to make a difference in it.
"I don't care," Loki replied, with quite a sneer. Tony sighed and sat down on the bed, looking at the God.
"You do realize I don't actually approve of what Thor just did, which basically means I'm on your side. If I were - you know - the kind to pick anyone's side, but my own." Loki looked at him for a moment, but turned his gaze away then.
"This is just a game you play to win my trust, is it not?"
"No, it isn't," Tony replied, trying to make it sound like he had indeed not meant that to be his intention at all. "What would the point of that be? I don't actually care about you that much and you don't propose any sort of danger, which means I have absolutely no reason, at all, to win your trust. If I were bored and had some time on my hands, then sure, but... I don't do 'free time'."
Loki didn't look at him and seemed to be considering what Tony had said, but instead of coming up with a decent reply, he merely disappeared into trails of thoughts. Tony watched him for the longest of moments, until he figured he should get back to the task he'd initially announced.
It was awkward to say the least, to step towards Loki with the intention of taking his pants off in his mind. And with that, probably also his underwear. He cleared his throat as he leaned over and started at Loki's pants. "What do you think you're even doing?! Stop that!" he shouted, his hands moving down to Tony's to push his hands away.
"Well, you're not wearing anything up there, I might as well see the rest," his stomach churned a little, which it shouldn't, before he carried on.
"Don't disrespect me!" Loki shouted, really not wanting this.
"I am helping you. Leaving you in soaking wet clothes will make you even sicker. Do you want that? No? Can you do this yourself? Probably not. Now shut your mouth, Loki and let me do what I need to do," he spoke, shoving Loki's hands away, upwards, which probably would hurt quite a bit. "Just remember I don't want to do this either," he said, pulling Loki's trousers off and dropping the soaking material onto the ground.
He dried Loki's legs off, which Loki surely wasn't happy with in the slightest and Tony found it more than a little awkward. He was touching the God way too much for his own liking and it was making his stomach churn only more and more. No... really, this had to stop, this strangeness.
He was a little unsure what to do with Loki's underwear, which was wet enough for him to be able to see pretty much all there was too see anyway, but he felt too awkward to do so. He scratched his face for a moment, seeing how Loki was looking the other way with his slightly reddened cheeks. He then decided to just carry on. It was nothing bad, or strange, just... plain awkward.
He moved his hands to Loki's underwear, starting to pull them down. "No," Loki sneered, moving his hands down again, looking up at Tony, who leaned down a little. "You can't do this," he spoke. Oh? So this was a battle?
"Loki, don't make this more difficult," Tony said, looking down at him. Loki's grip on Tony's wrists was quite tight and he wasn't sure how soon he'd resume trying to get his underwear off. Again, he tried, but Loki struggled, their eyes locked on one another. Loki's look was intense to say the least, which made Tony only more angry, causing him to pull down Loki's underwear. Loki couldn't stop it and as Tony moved back, his shoulder was grabbed and he was pulled towards Loki's face, his face being held so he couldn't look down.
"Don't you have any dignity?" Loki sneered, holding Tony quite close. Tony reached for the towel and dried Loki's inner thighs, not all too sure what he was going to do with the rest. Leave it, probably. "Don't," he spoke, not wanting to be touched there, at all. Loki sneered a little and he could see the God's cheeks redden in shame. Tony's heart started to race, his stomach doing that stupid thing again. This suddenly felt so... right. Loki's hand on his face, their eyes connected intensely and their stomachs doing strange things.
They were frozen like this, entirely frozen, not moving, not doing anything, but breathing a little quickly and staring at one another. Loki then let out a noise, to which his face then turned away, breaking the contact. Tony let go of the towel and grabbed Loki's face, turning it back to look at his. His heart skipped. Loki's eyes were so... And then he found himself doing one of the strangest things.
He moved down, not being able to bare ignoring the hungriness and the churning in his stomach that only got worse the closer he leaned down to Loki. His eyes closed as he was near enough and within only a fraction of a second, Tony's lips pressed to Loki's. That building of trust, that churning of Tony's stomach and that strange satisfaction in each other's company... it lead to this. Tony just let their lips press together for a short while, feeling Loki tense, but not move away and to his surprise, Loki's eyes were shut...
Then very slowly, he let his head tilt a little, pressing down slightly firmer to Loki's lips, sighing through his nose as Loki had done the same. His lips parted, while Loki's stayed shut, his fingertips pressing into the side of Tony's face, pressing against his jaw, a slight tremble running through the God. But Tony did not cease his affection, his hand sliding down to Loki's neck, his fingertips running into Loki's long hair, pulling him up closer into the kiss, his stomach going so crazy he doubted whether he truly liked it. Moans threatened to erupt because of the feeling and he really didn't want to embarrass himself that much, still, it made his kisses harder, which caused Loki to sigh a little louder and let a few, almost silent, noises out.
What they were doing they both probably didn't know. But there was no time to think about it, it simply happened. Tony vaguely wondered how much experience Loki had dug up over the course of his lifetime, which happened to be quite a long one. It caused him to snigger, although he knew he shouldn't. What? He couldn't be interested in such things? If anything it would surely be entertaining to find out how a God went about these things.
"What is it, Stark?" Loki sneered a moment after pulling away. Cold hands had moved to his shoulders and he was being nudged back, but he didn't listen. "If this is all but a mere joke for your petty entertainment, then I-"
"It's not, Loki, now shut up," Tony replied snappily, not having wanted to admit that it wasn't at all.
"How dare you tell me to-"
"Shut. Up." And a moment later their lips were pressed together again, quite firmly and sloppily. Tony forced Loki into a far more passionate kiss than the one they'd shared before and soon Loki's hand was squeezing Tony's shoulder, trembles rushing through the God's body and Tony could feel every single one of them. He went on and on, until suddenly pulling back. He opened his eyes to look down at Loki's closed ones, though it lasted for a mere second. Loki looked up at him, clearly shocked at the way he'd suddenly pulled back. "So, are we really still on last name basis, or will you finally call me Tony?" he asked, but Loki disregarded the question. His hand moved away from Tony's shoulder and soon his gaze moved away too.
"I would inquire you to take your leave, but I'm certain you will not listen."
"The fact remains that you're naked and that you probably don't want anyone to walk in on you like this, so I guess that answers your question. You won't be able to do much good and I am certainly willing to help. Not because I like helping you, or anything, but because I like the way you blush."
"Do you truly believe you manage to excite me in any way?" the God asked fiercely. Ah, a clever way to escape the curse.
"Yeah. Do I?" Tony dared. Loki merely sneered and looked away once more. "That's a yes then." Loki's eyes locked with his again.
"I do not wish for my lips to be sealed once more, Stark," he replied. "But confirming that you excite me, is far from specific enough to base any of your conclusions on."
"Wasn't making any. Yet." And yes, that clearly stated that he was sure he'd have more to base conclusions on in a later stadium. However, now was the time to ensure things didn't get more awkward than they had to be.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned over Loki. "I guess I should get you dressed then before anyone, like your brother, would come in, hm?" he asked, grabbing the underwear he was going to put on Loki, while still looking into Loki's eyes.
"Have some dignity and let me have some privacy," Loki sneered, which caused Tony to chuckle.
"Ashamed of your manhood?" he asked, his eyes shut as he moved down to Loki's feet, pulling the underwear up his legs. "I'm not looking," he said, his eyes then opening as he got to Loki and looked into his again. "There, done, no shame," he said, his eyes then going down to Loki's clothed crotch. "Now, what's there to be ashamed about?" he asked, a small grin forming on his face.
"I told you to have dignity, you stupi-"
"Hey, I'm a genius, silver tongue, now use that damn thing for the right words," he spoke, looking him over slowly. His body was... sublime. But he wouldn't say that aloud. Hey, he was a God, what could be expected?
"Then I'll use it to tell you to go away and leave me be," Loki said, his voice a sneer, but his face clearly exhausted, very exhausted. After his struggle before and the way Thor had thrown him onto the floor, Tony was surprised he wasn't yet sleeping.
"But you've got the flu, you need to keep hydrated and warm, but not too warm," he said, pulling pyjama pants on Loki, then covering him with the covers. He helped Loki sit up, which Loki seemed annoyed with. Tony laughed softly and brought the glass to Loki's lips, who drank up, seemingly thirsty.
"Look, Loki," Tony then started. "I know you feel like you don't belong here, in this state, letting me help you out, but you should be glad that someone is here to do it for you," he spoke, still keeping Loki up. "I can't say I enjoy it but at least I'm not alone in this Tower," he said, running his fingers over Loki's hairline then softly.
"You have Thor and Banner," he spoke, a coldness in Loki's eyes still.
"Well, yes, I enjoy their company too, of course. But, I liked it when you were here, despite the arguments... I'm quite okay with you being here," he said, looking Loki over. Yes, he was okay with it. It didn't bother him all too much.
He lied Loki down then and made sure he was comfortable, letting him sleep. He stayed for a short while, but knew he had a few other things to do and thus left, letting Jarvis look out for him while he was away. Both he, Thor and Banner sat at one of the tables, reading, researching. "It would help to have Asgardian sorcerers amongst us. They might be able to discover Loki's problem," he spoke, to which Tony shrugged.
"Sorcerers... scientists... yeah, all the same," he said. "Magic is just science people don't understand, right?" Tony added. "We're scientists out here to get this magic of your world clarified. The more scientists the better of course, but for now the two of us will do. I don't want those inhumane bastards from SHIELD messing with my stuff."
Tony carried on for just a second, then looked up at Thor, who had had the same kind of revelation. They looked at each other for the longest of moments. "What am I missing here?" Banner asked, looking from Tony to Thor.
"No... we can't do this, not with Loki here, no that'd be too dangerous," Tony said.
"They can work downstairs," Thor replied, his eyebrows raising. "Loki doesn't need to know that they're there," Thor spoke, suddenly hopeful.
"Have you seen her in the meantime?" Tony asked. Thor nodded, though it inclined that they had only met shortly. "Just don't get all lovey around my house please, I can't have that," he said, letting out a sigh.
"You're getting Jane Foster and Eric Sel-"
"Yes," Thor replied, got up from his chair and headed down the hall.
"Just because I didn't say no, doesn't mean I'm saying yes," Tony said, walking down the hall to Thor. "This won't go unnoticed to Loki, you do know that right?"
"There's hardly anything he can do about it now, is there?" Thor asked.
"And when he's better? He can blow them to pieces. Sounds lovely, but ehh... I've just got this building fixed, okay? I don't want holes everywhere," he said.
"Tony, this is about my brother's well being. I want him to get well as soon as possible and like you said, the more scientists, the easier it will get. Besides, she's good," Thor spoke.
Tony sighed softly, shaking his head, rolling his eyes then just moving his hands before him, pointing at the elevator. "Go, then, just go, get them, don't let them on this floor... and you cook for them, I've got enough on my hands here."