Bend or Break: Chapter Two
Thank you guys for your reviews! I'm glad you all like the story so far :) this will eventually lead to Tony/Loki romance to those who asked. And I'd just like tos ay sorry for the wait. When I posted this it was literally ten minutes before I left for vacation and I was in South Carolina for a week. And I had some things to do when I returned. But expect another chapter this week to make up for the wait.
The amount of time Tony spent looking up Loki and his background was nothing compared to his family history as well as his family. But the hunt for information on Loki was far more frustrating, hence why he saved it for last after a good five minutes of looking. The information on the company was interesting to say the least. Tony learned that Odin Corporation was formed in the early twenties, doing fairly well by getting a factory in the outskirts of London but when the Depression hit the United States, business fell just like any other. It began to gain momentum during the Second World War, having a high demand for workers in London due to the loss of jobs. Because of that, Odin Corporation began to expand to other cities in England and soon earned the title as the biggest weapons manufacturer in all of England and Europe from 1946 up to now. After reading the numbers involving factory locations, employees and salaries, Tony found a headache begin to emerge from all of it.
When he first Googled the name Loki Odinson, the links were in the far hundred, by far a lesser amount than if you were to look up Tony. But many of the articles were mostly spotting of the young billionaire, his choice of clothing, how he was mostly alone when he decided to venture out into the public and the ever present emotionless expression he had on. A smile on the teenager's face was a rare occurrence. It was as if Loki didn't care for all the attention he received and didn't live for the public's entertainment. The only pictures where a smile grazed his lips were when Loki was in the presence of his older brother Thor.
Tony brought a hand up to rub his eyes tiredly before glancing down at the clock on his computer and groaning once he realized it was half past one. Almost all the results on Loki were the same and gave away nothing on his personality.
He was about to give up on his search when a link that was most recent caught his eye. Tony clicked it and was lead to a gossip site of which he wasn't familiar with. There were few pictures of Loki walking around London with the same indifferent look on his face, but for once it held a hint of another emotion: annoyance. Tony's guess it was due to the semicircle formed around him by the paparazzi. The first thing that captured his attention were the boy's emerald green eyes that stood out from his ivory skin and dark hair, and seemed to be looking past all the cameras and towards his destination.
Tony found it ridiculous how Loki shunned the press. If you had the money and fame, why refuse to be part of it? Plenty of people would be glad to step into the teenager's shoes.
Even in the press conference videos he found on YouTube, Loki's father made both of his sons present, probably for whoever would take over the company when the time came. But a good majority of the time, Thor and his father answered most of the questions. Only when needed or addressed with a question would Loki speak.
Tony had to admit, he was actually curious as to what Loki did in his free time and could see why most of England was captivated by him. He was hardly ever seen with anybody besides Thor and his small group of friends which made Tony even more interested in what he did.
Loki's usual outings were either to the same café, small bookshop and the mall. All places that grew accustomed to their celebrity visitor and blocked paparazzi from entering said place. Other than that, hardly anybody knew what he did in his free time. Surely Loki didn't just sit around brooding all day long and vowing silence. But there was indeed something alluring about him...be it how Loki seemed mysterious to the public eye from the little knowledge about him. Tony decided that he would have to point out that the saying 'less is more' wasn't helping him out in the slightest.
There was little left to the article besides a video at the bottom with the caption 'Thor discusses his brother in interview'. Intrigued, Tony pressed play and was soon to find out that the interview wasn't much of an interview; mostly a pretty redhead, in what he assumed to be downtown London, trying to keep up with Thor's pace whilst spewing out questions.
"The public seems to have more knowledge on you than your brother, Loki. Is there a reason or...?" She asked, trailing off her sentence in hopes that the blonde would respond with an answer.
"My brother is one for privacy whereas I am more open with myself to the media. It is the way he is. Ever since he was a youngen." Thor replied, not at all fazed by the question or the women's presence.
"I, and along with many others, are quite curious to what Loki does in his free time. Would you mind informing us?"
Thor seemed to perk up a bit at the question. "Loki is an intellectual person. His mind and wit have no boundaries. He is devoted to his studies and when he is not studying or involved in the sciences or literature, Loki takes a great interest in reading as well as mischief, which he is known for but can also get him into troublesome waters at times." The blonde suddenly had a nostalgic expression and took a momentary pause before speaking again. "That is all I shall say for fear my brother will not be too keen on me giving out too much information on his life."
Tony noticed the frown appear on her face as if she expected more from Loki's brother. From the determined look in her hazel eyes, she wasn't done yet with the eldest Odinson. Although Tony wished to know more, he couldn't help but feel like this was an invasion of privacy by asking Thor about his younger brother and not Loki himself. But from what he was seeing, the blonde seemed to adore him and obviously thought very highly of his brother.
"I am sorry but I have appointments of which I shall be tardy to if I do not quicken my pace." Thor said, actually sounding sorrowful.
"One last question, is there anything else about Loki that we should know? And his female followers are curious to know if he is in a relationship."
"Loki is very much single. But to answer your first question, if you shall ever fall into a conversation with my brother, he is very opinionated and has quite the silver tongue when needed and desired. The last thing I speak before I venture off is when Loki has his mind made; it is very rare that he changes it. That is all; I bid you all a good day."
The video abruptly stopped and a black screen took the place of where the eldest Odinson was. Tony still didn't want to have to give up time in order to go gallivanting around downtown Malibu with Loki, but he at least seemed interesting. Thor mentioned that his brother was interested in the sciences so that was something they could discuss when they meet.
Not long after, Tony decided that it would be best to finally go to sleep since he had to be up early tomorrow to get a head start in the lab. Not to mention he had school at eight so that left him with a good four hours of sleep.
The next few days went by slowly. He went to school, hung out with his small group of friends and did his homework in a breeze. The typical school week besides some press releases and photoshoots for magazines, although the press conference incident the night before had him treading on thin ice with his father. Even Tony had to admit, him showing up drunk to the event that could maybe sway others minds about the companies merging wasn't one of the brightest things he's done.
His dad took away his lab privileges this morning once Tony was sobered up enough. He had gone to a party the night before and his explanations definitely didn't please his dad. The date of which he could gain access back into the lab wasn't mentioned, only some yelling about how irresponsible he was, how Tony almost cost the company a loss in votes and being reminded that the Odinson's were flying in the next day and how he should apologize to Odin for his reckless behavior.
"Tony, you should think of the positives of not being about to go inside your lab."
He glanced over at the blonde with a surprised look before giving an exasperated one to Bruce and Clint who were at the table with them. "Enlighten me, Steve. What positives are there?"
"Well for one, you won't look like the walking dead when you come into school." Steve responded which earned a snort on Clint's part.
Tony glared at Clint who shrugged in a 'what can you do' kind of way before focusing back on his homework. "And to think you always said I looked good." The brunette said with a hint of annoyance in his tone. By the way he was described looking from Steve; Tony didn't want to imagine what his appearance was over the last few weeks.
"Yeah, it's a new thing called lying. We all do it quite often to you when you won't shut up on what you look like, now can I please do my homework in peace?" Clint spoke up, earning him another glare from Tony. "I'm sorry, not all of us are rocket scientists when it comes to Physics."
Tony rolled his eyes at his friend, knowing how irritated he got when he had to do his Physics homework. Sometimes he wondered how he and Clint were friends since he was more outspoken at times, yet also quiet whereas Tony was talkative and was more out there. "Maybe if you actually paid attention and weren't too busy staring at Natasha then you would know what to do. " Tony said sarcastically and smirking at the red tint that soon covered his friend's cheeks.
"Tony does have a point there, Clint." Steve responded, amusement practically hanging from his words. "You make it quite obvious that you like her."
"I don't like her! We're just friends, that's it." Clint defended himself as his face got redder. If anything, one could easily figure out if he were lying by how much Clint argued back. Usually, if it was something stupid like a rumor going around the school, the brunette would shrug it off and say whoever started it was a dumbass. But when Clint was trying to deny something that was true about him, he defended himself to a great extent and would keep doing so until someone believed him (which is usually never).
It was completely obvious to everyone besides Natasha that Clint was interested in her but considering they were all friends, she was used to him being an idiot towards her and probably saw it as a daily occurrence. Natasha is also pretty hard to read and isn't one to display emotions like Clint or Bruce so Tony could see why his friend didn't want her to know.
Clint was about to retort to whatever comment Steve made when the librarian came over to their table with a look on her face like she just ate a lemon. Not to mention that she actually resembled one with her disturbingly yellow pantsuit that did her no favors in the looks department.
"This is a library if none of you boys realized. Either study or leave, this isn't a gathering place for you kids." She told them, irritation in her tone. Tony guessed it had to do with her job as a librarian since no woman in her right mind would decide to work in a school as a librarian filled with spoiled rich kids. Especially if she was pushing into her mid forties (with grey hairs already taking over her brown hair), hated almost everyone and everything, and had a crappy attitude towards teenagers anyway. Tony made a mental note to send her a fruit basket for her apparent poor choice in work.
Bruce chose then to speak up, not that anyone was complaining since he was every teacher's favorite and always had some sort of calming effect on people. "Sorry, Ms. Curran, we were just trying to help Clint here with his Physics homework. He gets frustrated easily if you haven't noticed." He said, glancing up from his notebook and giving her an apologetic smile.
Tony looked from Bruce to Ms. Curran and noticed that her hard facial features began to soften when he started to speak. He didn't know how his friend did it, but the brunette didn't know if he should be creeped out or relieved that they didn't get kicked out of the library.
"Oh, well then, carry on Mr. Banner. Just don't make me come over here again."
And with that, she was going, leaving Clint, Steve, Bruce and him to themselves and their thoughts.
Everybody went back to whatever they were doing, be it homework or reading or drawing. It was only after ten quick minutes that the conversation started up again when Clint gave up on his Physics and decided to check his emails on his laptop.
"Hey, Tony, isn't this the kid that you told us you have to hang out with?" Clint asked before turning his laptop towards to where he and Steve were sitting.
Whatever Clint clicked lead to an article talking about how the Odinsons were arriving in the Malibu tomorrow but the exact time was unsure. There was a picture of the family of four, all smiles on their faces as they were walking towards their private jet and Loki actually looked somewhat happy. This time instead of talking to Thor, who was several feet ahead with his father, he was with his mother and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. After looking at several candids, Tony saw that a smile eventually grew on Loki's face when his mom placed her hand on his shoulder in a loving manner.
Something began to churn in his stomach and Tony was soon to realize that was he was experiencing envy for Loki. What was going on? He never got jealous of anyone, it was always the opposite, and Tony was the one who usually brought envy upon people. Although he didn't know what the cause of him feeling this way was, it still ate away at him.
Moments passed before it suddenly dawned on Tony why he was jealous of Loki: he had an actual family.
But so what if Loki had a mom and dad that actually got along with him while he was stuck with a father who was hardly around and only ever spoke to him unless it was for a failure he did? And so what if Loki had a brother that seemed to adore him and wanted to spend as much time as possible with while Tony was stuck with an empty mansion with only JARVIS to talk to when his friends had plans that didn't involve him? And so fucking what if Loki had an actual family that he could sit and talk with when he had personal problems that seemed like the end of the world while when Tony tries to talk to his dad about his problems he only tells him to cowboy up and take it like a man? Who needs family anyway? All they do is frustrate you and wish you were old enough to leave and never look back.
"Tony, are you alright? Tony?"
Tony peeled his eyes away from the computer screen to Steve who had a look of concern on his face. He glanced at the clock on the wall behind his friends head and noticed he'd been silent to Clint's question for the past several minutes. Swallowing his pride from his miniature emotional break drown, he gave his friends a forced smile and nodded.
"Yeah, I was just..." Unable to think of a reasonable response for his long pause of silence, Tony skipped back to the question Clint asked. "Yeah, my dad thinks it would be good of publicity if the two CEO's sons are seen together which is completely stupid."
Bruce placed his pen down on his spiral notebook and looked at Tony with raised eyebrows. "He thinks that you hanging out with Loki is going to change people's minds that aren't yet behind the idea of your companies merging?" He asked, confused. "What about his older brother? Thor, is it?"
Tony shrugged. "That's about it. My dad said that Thor is going some college outside of Malibu so he'll make some friends. Apparently Loki isn't too good with making friends."
"Well you could introduce him to us if he needs some friends. I wouldn't mind. What about you guys?" Steve asked as his gaze flickered between Bruce and Clint who both gave their approval.
"Whatever. I don't care, he seems cool." Clint said, turning his Macbook back so the screen was facing him. "When you meet up with him, ask if he'd want to go to the beach with us on Saturday. Dude's like Casper the Friendly Ghost, he needs a tan."
Tony laughed at Clint's comment since it was true and his mood seemed to slowly begin to improve from how it was a few moments ago. Loki did seem pretty pale, like he stayed inside for a month without any sun exposure. "I'll be sure to do that."
"Fine by me, it would-" Bruce stopped short when the loud vibrating of Tony's phone shook on the desk.
Who would be texting him now? It couldn't be his father since he worked until nine in his lab on Thursday's and it was currently six thirty. Tony grabbed his phone to see who it was and stared at it for a moment in confusion when he saw it was his dad. He slid the lock only to curse when he read the message which then turned to messages when Tony noticed he had three other unread texts.
Where the hell are you? The Odinsons arrived an hour ago. I suggest coming home NOW and stop making me seem like a fool with an irresponsible son who doesn't understand the concept of time.
Tony, stop being irresponsible for once and come home this instant.
We've been waiting for half an hour for you. Where are you?
Tony, the Odinsons arrived more early than I had hoped. Come home now.
Well fuck.
Hopefully you guys enjoyed the chapter and the wait was worth it. Tell me your thoughts, comments or questions in a review and I'll be sure to get back to you :)