A/N: Guess what? I'm going to be teaching a class on Norse Mythology this summer! I not only get to rant about Loki, but I'll get paid to rant about Loki! Life is awesome, sometimes.
Oh, but you don't care about that, do you? One more chappie after this, methinks, and then on to the next story! More info on that in the footnote.
Enjoy! ^_^
Succumb
When Loki next opened his eyes, sunlight cut across his vision with a clarity he had forgotten existed. He pushed himself up to a sit, and his stomach and arm muscles ached and shook. His... sleep must not have been a restful one.
He looked around the room, at the clean, modern lines and spartan furnishings, and realized that all of it was familiar. The Stark mansion, his brain supplied. The room he had inhabited after his last brush with the Horseman.
Speaking of which...
Oh.
Oh.
That was what happened. Loki pursed his lips, dug long fingers into the sheets and felt the stiff fabric crinkle. Oh, Victor, Victor, Victor. He was going to regret ever having been born.
He reached for his magic and sighed when he felt almost nothing. He was practically mortal at the moment, uncommonly vulnerable and in the home of his greatest enemies of all places. Yet he knew he was safer here than he had ever been in the home of one of his supposed allies. Loki blew out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair, which was stringy with dried sweat, and crinkled his nose in disgust.
Were he any less stubborn, Loki would probably pause to reconsider his definition of the word "enemy". As it was, he allowed the more pressing needs of his bladder to occupy his full attention. If he remembered correctly, there was a bathroom in the adjoining room.
He pushed himself to his feet. He didn't expect the world to lurch thirty degrees.
"Oh dear."
Pepper muttered to herself as her fingers danced over her tablet. She paused to press at the knot of tension coiling in her forehead and sighed as she tried to figure out how best to deal with all the –
She checked in on Loki just in time to see him sway and topple over with a crash.
Pepper drew in a sharp breath and tossed her tablet onto the sheets, rounding the bed as quickly as she could in a pencil skirt and heels. Loki was pushing himself back into a sit, eyes owlish and glazed. Pepper crouched by him and checked him over for any injuries.
Aside from some rug burn and a bruised pride, he seemed fine. Relatively, anyway.
God, what was her life like that this all seemed perfectly normal to her?
"You okay?" she asked. That was the sort of thing you asked people who have just fallen on their asses, even if said ass belonged to the God of Mischief. Loki shook himself and blinked, looking at her as though only just realizing she was there. He stared at her for a long moment, brows furrowed in concentration and eyes mostly unfocused.
"Pepper," he finally said as though in answer to some question. His voice was little more than a rasp, and Pepper winced in sympathy.
"Are you okay?" she asked again, firmly and more slowly. She fought back a smile at Loki's dazed expression.
"Oh," he mumbled distractedly, scratching his head. "Yes, yes."
"Then maybe you should get back into bed?"
Loki's brow furrowed again. He looked up at her. "I have to pee," he said simply.
"Oh." Pepper wasn't sure how else to respond to that. "Right, uh..."
She chewed her lip and looked at him, clad only in a pair of Tony's boxers, legs sprawled out in front of him, and wondered how she was going to transport him the few remaining feet. She glanced at the doorway.
"Why don't I get Thor or To –?"
"No."
A hand on her wrist, green eyes clear and wide.
"Okay," Pepper said quickly, holding up her hands palm-out. "Just trying to help!"
She really needed to ask Tony for a raise.
Loki sighed and released her wrist. "I'll be fine, just..."
He grabbed hold of the bed-frame and clambered to his feet. Pepper watched him closely, watched his face turn gray and watched him wobble back a step. She caught his elbow to steady him, and he paused with one hand flat on the wall. He frowned at her but said nothing.
Pepper sighed and tried not to roll her eyes. God or not, men were always too proud to ask for help. Good to know some things carried over into immortality.
She guided him to the doorway, one slow step at a time. "Okay," she said as she turned the knob, "this is where my help ends."
Pepper motioned at the toilet, and Loki blinked and nodded. She watched him wobble into the room and closed the door behind him, leaving it slightly ajar in case he needed anything.
Pepper poked her head in a room a few doors down from Loki. Tony and Thor looked up from Mario Kart.
"He's awake." There was another resounding crash from Loki's room. Pepper winced. "Ish."
The tile felt cool against his cheek. The past minutes were spotted and grainy, but he remembered being sick and "kneeling before the porcelain throne," as Tony would put it. He should move, he knew, but the world spun when he tried and the tile felt good against his fevered skin.
A knock and then, "Loki?"
A male voice.
The line of light across the floor widened, and then there was the warmth of a body kneeling next to him. A callused hand on his shoulder and then the back of his neck.
"Tony?" Loki slurred.
"No, Loki. It's me."
Loki squinted up at the dark shape above him, and watched long blonde hair spill over one massive shoulder. Loki closed his eyes and groaned.
"Come."
A hand on his arm, an arm around his waist, and Loki felt himself pulled to his feet, moved about like a ragdoll. His stomach heaved at the change in elevation, and then Loki was back on his knees, dry heaving into the toilet.
"It's okay," Thor murmured over and over, rubbing soothing circles across Loki's shoulder-blades.
"Is it?" Loki rasped waspishly. "Would you like to trade places?"
A chuff, and then, "Don't snap at me, Loki. I'm not the one who did this to you."
"I can snap at whomever I please," Loki muttered mulishly. At the moment, that meant anyone in sniping distance.
Thor chuckled and pulled him to his feet again, this time more slowly. He all but carried Loki back to bed. He smiled at Loki's curses and insults.
"Do not read too much into this, brother," Thor said as he helped Loki sit up against the headboard, "but 'tis good to hear you speak."
Loki frowned, gaze skittering to the side. The idea of Thor – or anyone else for that matter – seeing him in such a state was humiliating, at best.
He hated that he immediately thought of Tony, the fool...
The fool who had looked for him and saved his life. Dammit.
"Oh, I trust you'll be regretting those words soon enough," Loki replied with a tight smile.
"Perhaps." Thor regarded his brother for a long moment. "Do you – ?"
"Just go, Thor." Loki stared at the wall, keeping his expression closed off. His voice had come out softer, wearier than he would have liked.
A long, heavy pause, and then, softly, resignedly, "Very well."
Loki didn't look up as Thor left him alone with his thoughts.
Tony was not surprised to see Loki padding down the hall in borrowed clothes, his face pale and drawn but his eyes sharp and alert. Tony folded his arms, leaned back against the door and cleared his throat, watching as Loki flinched and drew to a stop.
God, he hoped he was ready for this confrontation.
"And where do you think you're going?" Tony asked with authority he did not feel. He studied the sharp angles of Loki's profile, watched his eyelashes flicker as he looked at everything but Tony.
"I have not yet decided," Loki said, clearing his throat when his voice rasped. "Anywhere but here will be fine."
Tony ignored the bite in those words and smiled. This was the moment of truth. "No," he said simply.
Loki's eyes finally landed on his, sharp and green and questioning. "What?" One word, tone flat but dangerous.
"No," Tony repeated with a shrug. "You're still recovering."
Loki stared at him for a long moment and then scoffed. "Like you could keep me here," he sneered.
"Oh, I can," Tony blithely rejoined. His heart was thudding in his chest, but he would not let Loki know that. "With your magic all but nonexistent right now and a veritable army at my back, yeah. Yeah, I can."
Loki's lips pressed into a thin line.
Tony was pissing off the God of Mischief. Yup, self-destructive tendencies still very much in place.
"I just want to talk," Tony added softly. He stayed leaning against the door, the very image of indifference, but held his breath and waited.
Tony could not identify half the emotions that flit through those startling eyes before Loki could school them back into blankness. Loki pulled at a seam in his borrowed shirt.
"Well, I don't. Good day, Mr. Stark." He walked past Tony without a second glance.
Asshole.
So predictable.
Tony pursed his lips, grabbed Loki by the arm and spun him back into the wall. Loki grunted in surprise and glared at Tony, obviously chagrined that he didn't have the strength even to pull his arm free.
"I don't think you get it, Loki," Tony said, his expression as stern and impenetrable as his iron mask. "This time, you are my hostage, and you will shut up and listen to me for a minute."
Loki clenched his jaw but dared not argue. He stared at Tony, at the grim set of his jaw and the fierceness in his eyes, and a cross between fear and excitement thrilled in his stomach. Tony was still holding Loki's arm, firmly but not hard enough to bruise, and their faces were mere inches apart. Tony wanted to touch the sharp angles of that face.
"Alright," Loki muttered. Tony's grip loosened, but neither moved to put any distance between them. Tony eyed Loki, noted his dark eyes and flushed face, and smirked.
"You're turned on by this, aren't you?" he asked. Loki bristled. Pursing his lips, he pushed Tony back and took a few steps away.
"No," he snapped. Tony was not convinced but gave him his space. "Well? If you have something to say, then say it." He stared Tony down and waited.
Tony couldn't match the hardness in Loki's eyes so he looked at his feet, putting his hands in his pockets.
"Look," he said. "I'm sorry." When he looked up, Loki's eyes had narrowed but otherwise his expression was still as stone.
"For what, exactly?" Loki asked in a steely voice.
Tony winced. Dammit. Loki wasn't going to make this easy on him.
"For the... well, for being an ass, for one," he began. "And for the... for that thing with that girl at that bar."
Loki scowled. "How eloquent," he muttered.
Tony bit back a frustrated groan. "Look, Loki," he said, "this sort of thing isn't easy for me. I'm no speechwriter, I know. I'm just – God, how do I say this without sounding like a dork?"
"Just spit it out!"
"I want to be with you!" Tony said in a rush. "God help me. You've got to be the most self-centered prat I've ever met, you drive me insane, but, damn it, nothing in this world seems worthwhile unless you're there."
Oh man. He couldn't believe he had just said all that gooey crap. Worse, he couldn't believe he'd meant it. Tony held his breath, feeling torn open, vulnerable and exposed.
Loki's eyes widened marginally, and his hands slipped to his sides. He looked to the side as he said, "And the girl?"
"Was just a distraction because I thought you were done with me."
Loki did not seem completely convinced, but he relaxed inch by tightly wound inch. Tony allowed himself to breathe and to hope. "What makes you think I wasn't?" Loki asked, obviously struggling to keep his voice cold.
Tony took a few wary steps towards him, dark eyes locked on green. Careful now, Tony, he told himself. One wrong step and you'll end up with your manly bits on fire. Again.
"Your reaction," he said, "when you saw me with that woman." Loki shifted uncomfortably, and Tony smirked, just a bit. "Now please, just... for once be honest with me. Do you want to... be with me?"
Because "do you want to be my boyfriend?" just sounded so... weird. Here he was, Tony Stark, enemy of all things related to commitment, offering to commit to the God of Trickery. And for some reason that just seemed so... right.
His life was so fucked up.
Loki passed a hand over his eyes. "Tony, I can't – "
"I didn't ask if you 'could' or 'should' be with me. Do you want to?"
Loki searched Tony's eyes, and his expression just looked so trapped and childishly vulnerable that Tony reached out to cup his cheek before he could think better of it. Loki sighed wearily but leaned into the touch, bringing up long fingers to lace with Tony's. "Yes," he said, voice barely above a whisper. "I... want to, Norns help me. But I can't." Loki blinked as though waking from a dream and moved away from Tony's hand.
Tony frowned, searching Loki's face and trying to understand. "What do you mean, 'can't'?" he asked.
Loki sighed and shook his head, suddenly looking old and inhumanly tired. "You are mortal," he said. "I am not. I do not want to... get attached." He looked immensely uncomfortable just saying the words.
"Oh." Tony hadn't really thought of that. Suddenly Loki's contradictory behavior made so much more sense. "Well, you know, we don't have to think that far ahead just yet." He reached out to grasp Loki's hand and held it between them, thumb rubbing circles into the back of his fingers. Loki let him, studying the contrast between their skin. "I mean, I'm not asking you to marry me or anything." Tony banished the mental image of Loki in a white dress. "I just want to see where this goes, one step at a time. One day at a time. We can cross that bridge when we get to it."
Loki smiled softly, sadly.
"Please?" Tony surprised himself by saying. "Chances are, we'll date for a few weeks or months, then I'll do something to piss you off and you'll throw me out a window. Doesn't mean we can't enjoy the sex between now and then."
Loki chuckled, and his gaze was unusually soft as he looked at Tony. Loki hooked his fingers in the front of Tony's shirt, the glow of the arc reactor backlighting his hand, and pulled the human to him, so that they were standing nose to nose and hip to hip.
Tony wrapped his arms about Loki's waist, and his lips moved against Loki's as he asked, "Is that a yes?"
Loki chuffed and smirked. "For now," he said. "Mostly because I don't think you've thought through how Fury is going to react to this, and I find that funny."
Oh yeah. He was right, but... well, Tony would rather focus on something other than Fury right now.
Footnote: As I said, one more chapter to tie up loose ends, and then onto the sequel(s).
Ladies and Gents, I present to you the Mortality series:
Nine Lives: pretty much the Tony/Loki "get together" story. Huzzah!
The Devil You Know: a series of one-shots, mostly humorous, showing the evolution of their relationship. Also includes the reactions of the other Avengers, etc. when they find out that Tony is fraternizing (fornicating) with the enemy. Mostly silliness and a build-up to...
Mortality: Loki and Tony have been together for a while. Loki starts to worry about Tony's mortality again and starts scheming up ways to fix this little... "problem". Crossover with Egyptian Mythology, because Seth is awesome.
(There also may or may not be a "Tony meets Loki's kids" fic somewhere in there, which may or may not crossover with BBC's Sherlock. Thanks to Limited-Fantasy on this site, it has now become part of my headcanon that Loki is Sherlock and Mycroft's "Mummy". xD)
BECAUSE APPARENTLY I CAN'T DO ANYTHING THE EASY WAY AND JUST WRITE SHORT FICS AND BE DONE WITH IT. PFFFT.
Life. Asjhdkajshdafjagsdkjfgahs!