The door closed behind him with a soft clicking noise and Tony looked the hallway up and down once. To his right were Loki's rooms, but he had to go in that direction in order to leave Loki's wing of the castle because he had honestly no idea where he would get if he turned right. It was unlikely that the god would hear him anyway, since it wasn't exactly daytime and he didn't plan on stomping by.
Quietly, he sneaked past the door that was only a few steps away from his own. His heart was hammering in his chest and against his arc reactor, but the door didn't suddenly burst open to reveal a screaming and raging Loki. With a sigh of relief, he went a little faster until he reached another door. Pushing at it with his full weight, he shoved it open wide enough to slip through.
"Where are you going?"
The inventor winced at the foreign voice and whirled around, exhaling as he spotted a guard beside the door. Clearing his throat, he answered: "Loki sent me to... get something for him."
"In the middle of the night?", the guardian asked.
Tony decided to dare challenging the guy instead of scrambling for excuses and retorted: "Who are you to question your prince's choices?"
That seemed to be enough of an argument because after a short hesitation, the guard nodded and waved for him to go on. Trying not to show his relief too openly, Tony nodded and walked into a random corridor, acting as determined as he could. This couldn't be too hard, right? There had to be an exit somewhere. Probably even several, so he was going to find some way out.
Half an hour later, he wasn't all that sure about that anymore. He was pretty sure he had seen the hallway he was in now at least twice before, although it could be a completely different one, too, because everything looked the fucking same here. Also, he kept meeting squads of guards patrolling the castle which gave him a shot of adrenalin every time. He was certain that his poor old heart wouldn't stand this much longer.
The sound of heavy boots alerted him of another patrol coming his way and he quickly cast his eyes downwards as he moved closer to a wall. Only seconds later, a group of four guards rounded the corner, all in matching step and with clattering (golden) armour. Tony glanced up between the unruly bangs of hair hanging into his face and saw one of the men staring at him, then turning to say something to one of his comrades. The engineer passed the group, catching hushed whispers exchanged ("Isn't that the prince's new slave?" – "What is he doing here?" – "Look at his clothing!") and was now with his back to them as he heard their steps come to a halt.
"Hey." Fuck. He picked up his pace, just as his heart rate did, and acted like he didn't heard them or didn't know it was directed at him or whatever. "You. Slave." Shit, shit, shit...
Tony turned around to face the group. "Yeah?"
"Where are you going?"
Oh, how much he hated this question. As confident as he could, he replied: "I don't believe that's any of your business, is it?"
One of the guards took a threatening step towards him. He was still a few metres away, but the gesture was clear and quickly underlined by his words: "You are not in a position to contradict me, slave." Fucking great. "Where is it that you're heading?"
"I'm, uh... searching for the... kitchen", the inventor lied.
"The kitchen", the guard repeated with a slightly mocking tone. "And because of that you bypassed us three times already?"
Alright, he was in big trouble. "Yeah, I'm... kinda new here. And... lost. So I think I'll get..." He made a vague gesture towards somewhere behind him. "...going. Have a nice day, bye!" Tony spun on his heel and ran down the corridor. He heard the guards shouting and starting to run behind him, but he had started way earlier and they were wearing heavy armour that would slow them down.
Or so he thought.
In fact, he was wheezing for air only a minute later and they were getting closer, seemingly not affected by the weight of the metal on their bodies. Goddamn gods. The sheer panic kept Tony going for another minute, but then, he was grabbed from behind and pulled backwards. He thrashed out, cursing and spitting insults, but the only thing he got was an elbow that hurt like hell from where it had hit metal and a sneer from the guard who twisted one of his arms behind his back and held the other in a tight,, maybe even bruising grip. Tony cringed and then had to suppress a pained groan as the casing of the arc reactor shifted in his chest, feeling like it ripped something important in there. It caused him to give up most of his resistance to focus on breathing, breathing without screaming in pain (because that would hurt even more). He heard the voices of the guards only distantly, the pounding of his blood in his ears drowning out almost every other sound.
"...bring him to the prince."
"...going to punish him?... hates when ... breaking … he set."
"So he … that strict with … ?"
You're so goddamn screwed. Slowly, the pain radiating from the reactor began to recede and Tony began to walk rather than let himself be pushed forward. His vision cleared again and he looked around, frantically searching for a way to escape the punishment that was inevitably going to follow. There had to be a way out, even when he was surrounded by gods and his arm was still twisted behind his back and his lung volume was limited by the arc reactor and – yeah, actually, screw that. He was trapped, and the door to Loki's chambers was right in front of him.
The guard holding him forced him down onto his knee while pulling his arm even further upwards. Tony groaned in pain and heard the dull sound of someone knocking at the door, followed by a few beats of silence until it was opened and bare, white feet stepped into view. He kept his gaze fixed on the toes in front of him instead of looking up.
"What do you think you are doing?" Loki's voice cut through the air sharper than a knife and the inventor felt the panic well up inside of him even stronger. He hadn't got the faintest interest in learning what the god was capable of, but it seemed like he was about to do it anyway.
"He tried to escape", one of the guards explained.
"I see that", the prince replied, obviously annoyed. "There is still no need to break his arm, or does he look like a threat to you?" There was a muttered answer and then, the painful grip on Tony's arm was suddenly released. It caused him to lose his balance and he fell forward. Out of a reflex, he used both arms to steady himself and cursed when his strained shoulder flared up in pain at the weight. "Anthony, come in." He gritted his teeth and took a breath as deep as possible without hurting himself, still staring at the marble floor. "I am not going to ask you twice", Loki said icily and dangerously low.
Biting his lip, Tony got to his feet and complied, stepping into the room and continuing to muster the floor. He heard Loki send away the guards, then the sound of the door closing, and after that the god's sharp hiss: "What was that just now?"
Tony swallowed and crossed his arms in front of his chest in a gesture that should signal defiance, but was actually meant to protect his arc reactor while Loki stepped around to look at him. He could be an actor if he wanted. As insolently as he managed, he replied: "I think that was obvious, wasn't it?"
"Yes, very much so. I am asking you why." Loki's tone seemed sharp enough to cut through bones. "Have you any idea how actions like these are punished in Asgard?"
He took a step towards Tony and the engineer flinched backwards, but still kept his voice snappy as he shot back: "Well, I didn't exactly choose to come here!" The god came another step nearer and Tony retreated again, his back hitting the door now. It caused another surge of panic as he saw the anger on Loki's features.
"I don't think you get my point", he snapped. "As a prince of Asgard I will – " He raised a hand and Tony stopped listening as he pushed himself backwards, flush against the door, and raised an arm over his head to protect himself, the other one covering his arc reactor, as he blurted out: "Don't touch me!" There were a few beats of silence in which the engineer had his jaw clenched so hard it hurt and his eyes squeezed shut as he waited for a blow to hit.
"Anthony", Loki said quietly. If anything, Tony only tensed more. "Anthony." Every bite was gone from his words. "Look at me." Some of the tension left the inventor's body, but it was immediately back when he felt a hand around his wrist. He jerked it away and his head snapped up with a sharp intake of air. He met Loki's green eyes, bright in the dark, but they were not narrowed in anger like just a minute before. No, they were wide and... yes, what exactly? There was something in them that Tony couldn't quite read. "Relax."
The engineer snorted and shot a pointed look to his wrist held by Loki before he replied: "Yeah, because that makes me feel so relaxed."
To his surprise, Loki let go immediately and took a step back, raising his hands like he was admitting defeat, although his tone was dead serious: "Whatever you do, Anthony, I am never going to harm you, starve you, ...rape you or use any of the torture methods your former owners seemed to favour." Tony stared at him with wide eyes. He definitely hadn't seen that coming, and normally he would have taken it as another farce, pulled to hit him with the truth unprepared later, but the sheer disgust in Loki's voice as he talked about what had happened in these past few months (and it was shockingly accurate, although he'd never admit that) made this one sentence so far more believable than it should be. "Do you understand?" Slowly, he nodded and hesitantly lowered the arm that had been draped over his arc reactor. Loki smiled, actually smiled, and it was only when he relaxed Tony noticed that he had been tense, too. "Then let me explain."
The god sighed and smoothed his hair back while staring off into nothingness before he spoke up again: "Here in Asgard, our traditions and customs are very... fixated, you could say. I already act against many of them by using magic and, usually, slaves defying the will of their masters are severely punished – which I am not going to do", he assured hastily at seeing how Tony instinctively tried to merge into the door at the sound of the words. "But the court is full of chattering mouths and word about this will spread, be sure of it. It is not going to be fortunate for my reputation because as a prince of this realm, I am usually expected to honour our traditions with eagerness. Of course", he added with a grimace, "no one is actually asking if I see them fit, but complaining will get me nowhere. Just, Anthony, never do something like that again, do you understand?" Tony nodded slowly, not sure himself if he meant it or not, and Loki smiled. "Then come now."
He ushered the engineer aside and opened the door again, stepping out into the hallway and motioning for Tony to go ahead. He didn't resist, because he was tired and confused and really just wanted to sleep now. Everything else could wait until it was morning.
Tony laid down on the bed (on his back, because everything else hurt the reactor) without waiting for Loki to leave again. He tugged the blankets up to his chin and was almost asleep in a matter of seconds.
He was so exhausted that the hand softly threading to his hair didn't even startle him anymore. Neither did the whispered words that he wasn't even sure he really heard: "Oh Anthony, what did they do to you?"