Another chapter for you since it's been a while. I don't know when I'll get the next chapters from my beta reader, but we are both really busy with school.
But enjoy anyway ^^
Chapter 19
The couple walked through the entrance to the hospital and walked up to the receptionist. "Hi, I'm Loki Odinson and my brother Thor Odinson was brought here." Loki said with a worried voice, feeling his genius hand on his back, stroking him soothingly.
"Yes, he is in the room over there to the left." The woman said with a bored look and returned to look through papers.
Loki and Tony walked over to the room the woman had been pointing at and knocked gently on the door before walking inside the room. Thor lay on the bed, dressed in one of those hospital gowns and a big bruise on his jaw. "Thor, oh gods, are you okay?" Loki asked and walked up to the bed and took Thor's hand.
"Just a concussion, so I'm fine." Thor managed a small smile. "I failed to protect her." He looked like kicked puppy where he lay.
"No, you did a good job." Loki said with a warm smile. "I thought she didn't have my number?" Loki asked confusedly.
"I managed to give her my phone before Odin took her with him." Thor explained, looking a little pale. "I think I'm going to puke." He warned and just when it came, Tony handed him the special plastic bag that was meant for puking. Loki walked over to the small sink and filled a plastic cup with water that he handed to his brother when he was done.
"I thought the body guard would make sure you were safe." Tony muttered and placed the filled bag in the sink.
"He was busy holding back Odin's guards." Thor explained sadly and was happy to feel Loki's hand in his again. "We need to get mom out of there." Thor said, looking at his brother with pleading eyes.
"She can live in one of the flats at the tower. It's the safest place for her." Tony said and sat down on a chair next to the bed. "But how can we make her leave Odin?" The genius asked the two brothers, feeling happy to see all the hate that usually lingered in Loki's eyes whenever Thor was around was gone. "He won't let her go alone ever again after this." He stated and rubbed his eyes.
Loki felt tired and looked around for a second chair, but when he didn't find one he walked around the bed and was glad to see that his genius knew what he wanted and let him sit down on his lap, a strong arm wrapped around his waist. "That's the thing though, she won't be safe until she is locked up inside the tower. She would have more freedom staying with Odin than staying in fear with us." Loki muttered and leaned his head on Tony's. "She is quiet a stubborn woman as well and maybe doesn't want to leave Odin." He then said and felt the strong hand on his waist stroke his side.
"But now Odin doesn't even want me close to them." Thor said and broke the cup in his strong grip.
"What?" Tony asked and frowned.
"That was the last thing he said to me before he left. 'You are a disgrace and I wish I had a man for a son. Stay away from us!' And to be fair, I don't want anything to do with him anymore." Thor said and tossed the cup over to the trash can, but missed it. "But I guess I'm free now." He said and Loki could see the little sparkle of happiness in his brother's eyes.
"I'm proud of you… brother." Loki said with a warm smile and was glad to see Thor's face shine by hearing his brother's words.
"Where are you staying Thor?" Tony asked with a smile.
"I have booked a room at a hotel until tomorrow and then I was supposed to go to New Mexico to be with Jane." Thor explained, feeling how heavy his eyelids were.
"Well, you won't be allowed to fly for a few days, so you can come and stay in one of the free flats at the tower." Tony said with a warm smile.
"You really don't have to." Thor started, but was interrupted.
"I know, but I want to give you the feeling of being safe." Tony said and felt Loki's lips press lightly to his forehead.
There was a small knock on the door and then a nurse peeked in and saw the three men. "Hello, I just wanted to mention that the visiting hours are over." She said with a smile.
"Okay, thank you." Tony said and the door closed again. "I'll ask the nurse out there when you can leave this place." The genius said and motioned for Loki to move so he could get out.
Loki sat down on the chair and watched his boyfriend leave the room. "You think he will come after us?" Loki asked worriedly and looked back at his brother.
"I honestly don't know." Thor answered and sighed. "I think he will be busy for a while because people will know about him hitting me and that won't be good for his reputation." Thor said and couldn't help the small smugness that showed on his face.
"Maybe if I told the world my story now, he would leave us alone." Loki said and looked at his bandaged hand.
"That or he will want to ruin you." Thor said thoughtfully.
Tony and Loki went home in silence. What happened before they got the call from Frigga was forgotten and they just fell into bed together, Loki in Tony's arms as he fell asleep quickly. The genius, on the other side didn't feel sleep come to him that easily. He couldn't stop worrying about Frigga, being trapped in a hotel room with Odin, not knowing how he reacted to her lying to him. That she had been lying to him for years. He absently made equations on Loki's back as he thought about ways to get Frigga out of there. But Loki had been right about her just being in another cage in the tower, but at least she wouldn't be harmed here. But the genius knew that the only way for it all to stop, is to make Odin loose his place in the government and having no one left to like him, which meant showing the world what he had done to his own family for years. He would get into jail for abuse and who knows, he might have done something else illegal. But all that meant that Loki would have to tell his story and then it hit Tony that they needed proof like pictures over his injuries. Hopefully, Thor would join them and document his bruise that he got and then people would believe Loki's story as well. The staff from the restaurant might help as well.
"Tony, why aren't you sleeping?" Loki mumbled against his chest.
The genius had been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed that his boyfriend had woken up. "I can't stop thinking." He said and rubbed his tired eyes. Loki moved so he laid his head on the pillow that was meant to be his, but never used it, turning his body so he faced his genius. Tony turned his body as well and looked into emerald pools. They didn't lie far away from each other. In fact, you could only place a book between their heads. Their legs were entangled and Tony's arm went to wrap around Loki's waist.
"What are you thinking of?" Loki asked and reached out his hand and stroked the well-trimmed goatee gently.
The genius relished the gentle touched and closed his eyes for a second, wondering what he should answer the man that had changed his life. "I want Odin to disappear. I don't want to see you that scared ever again and if that means that I have to ruin that monster's career, then I will." Tony told him and opened his eyes again to see glassy eyes look back at him.
Loki moved forward and hid his face in the crock of the genius neck, letting him wrap his arms around him and making him feel safe.
Hold me, tell me everything's ok
Show me there's a way to beat the monster
Save me, make it go away
The song that played in Loki's mind was something he listened to before he met Tony. Was this the man that would save him from the monster? If somebody could, it would be this genius. He was the only one who could. "I love you." He whispered against the man's neck.
"I love you too." Tony answered and tightened his hold on the man. They finally fell asleep like that, wrapped in each other's arm.
Thor got out the next day and Loki was there to drive him to the tower and helped him install in the flat Tony had told him he could have. Thor was sitting on the couch, talking to Jane on the phone while Loki was taking his brother's bag to the bedroom when his phone rang.
"Hello." Loki said and placed the bag on the foot of the bed.
"Loki, this is Steve Rogers, Tony's friend. Tony's been shot." Loki didn't hear anymore as he fell to the floor with a loud thud. "Loki… Loki?"
"Brother, are you alright?" His vision was blurry when he saw his brother's form walk into the bedroom and crouched down next to him.
Tony had been shot. He could be dead. The love of his life might die while he lay here with his weak body. No, he needed to stand up and he needed to go to him. He must be by his side.
One hour earlier
Tony looked through his phone for messages as he walked through the Stark Industries main office, greeting people that greeted him even though he had no idea who they were. He was late, as usual, going to have dinner with his two soldier friends and try to get them to snoop around Odin a little to find something that might not add up. The doors opened for him and he was smiling when he realized that the sun would have almost blinded him if it weren't for the sunglasses he had gotten from Loki on his birthday. He looked around for his friends that had said that they were already there and waiting.
"Stark!" Someone called and when he looked over he saw Rhodey and Steve standing by his car that Happy had brought up front.
He was just about to walk down the stairs to them when the whistling from another car that had been forced to drive on high speed from zero started and a black car with toned windows drive by and Tony just saw the pipe of a gun peek out of a slightly opened window when he heard the gun shot and pain in his lower abdomen spread through his entire body. He fell and landed on top of the stairs, people screaming and hiding from something they didn't know what.
Was this just one of his nightmares? Would the people around him disappear just when he needed them the most? Would pale hands come out of the darkness and drag him to hell? Nothing happened, only screaming, pain and numbness.
"Stark, don't fall asleep. You hear me?" Steve said with a determined voice as he applied pressure to the wound. Somebody picked him up and the pain became worse as they moved down the stairs and was lifted into his own car. "Drive Happy!" Rhodey ordered who sat beside Steve and tried to keep the genius from falling into darkness, into nothingness.
All the genius could think of was raven black hair, emerald eyes, thin smooth lips shaped into a warm smile, marbled skin and he heard a voice. 'I love you'. Where was he? He could hear him, so he must be close. Was he safe? He needed him to be safe. He needed him. He couldn't die alone. "Loki." Tony managed to say with a hoarse voice.
"We will call him when we get to the hospital." Steve told the genius.
Thor was not allowed to drive yet, but who were they kidding. He was more suited to drive than his brother right now anyway. He glanced over to the passenger seat where he sat, looking straight forward, but not looking at anything. He was pale, absent, lost, sad, all written in his face. Thor realized that he had never seen his brother so broken before, not even when Odin told him to break up with Fandral… or when he hit him. They parked close to the entrance and Loki was quick on getting out and ran into the emergency room.
"Loki, over here!" A man's voice was heard over all the commotion in the hall. They walked over to two men they had met before, briefly. For once they weren't dressed in uniform, but in leather jackets, shirts and old jeans.
"Where is he? Is he going to be alright? Where was he shot? Who did this…" He was cut off when he felt his brother's hand on his shoulder.
"The nurse said that we got here just in time and that he will be fine." Rhodey said calmly. "He is still in surgery." He then said and sat down on the bench he had been sitting on earlier.
"All we saw was a black car that drove by and shot him." Steve then informed the pale man, who got paler. "Loki, are you okay?" He asked and narrowed his eyes.
"Brother, sit down before you pass out again." Thor said and moved him to the bench.
"He has no limits." Loki mumbled and hid his face in his hands, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Rhodey looked at the man beside him. "Is he talking about Odin?" He asked and looked up at Thor, who simply nodded sadly.
"Do you have any proof?" Steve asked seriously to the only brother who seemed present.
Thor shook his head. "No, but we waited for something to happen since we all have turned against him more or less." Thor explained.
"Are you here for Tony Stark?" A man with glasses asked the group of men.
I feel kind of mean to leave you with a cliffhanger, oh well :P
