Quick note: If you are following this story and you recieve updates on the previous chapters later, do not be alarmed. A combination of tumblr and Hiddleston interviews caused me to mis-describe Loki's eye color (Thank you JojoRiver1215 for pointing that out to me. I'm quite embarrassed that I missed that).
Alright a brief trip to the past, folks.
It had been a year exactly from Loki's attack on Earth when Thor reentered the Avenger's Tower with the god of mischief trailing behind him. At first, the entire tower had been placed on lockdown, S.H.E.I.L.D. agents practically crawled the walls; hundreds of red dots appeared on the Liesmith's extremities. The black haired god barely blinked and lifted his empty hands, the leather of his armor audibly shifting as if the suit had not been worn in quite some time.
There was no mischievous flash of the eye to suggest that this was any kind of trick. There wasn't even the slightest hint of magic, elemental or not, in the air. Mjolnir was ever present at the god of thunder's side, but the staff Loki had carried before had seemingly disappeared.
"My brother has atoned for his actions by rule of the All-Father," Thor announced proudly to the assembled group of heroes and agents. Several noticed how, not once, did the trickster's eyes leave the floor.
"That's great news, Thunderbird, but why is he here?" the ever blunt Tony Stark asked. The billionaire held no true ill will towards Loki, though he was a bit suspicious of any purpose the god could have. The other Avengers seemed to require the answer as well, eyeing the silent Silver Tongue.
"Our Father requests that Loki reenter society and battle with the help of my friends. Apparently, word of our shared triumph has reached the ears of Asgard." Thor seemed proud of their accomplishments, of Loki's progress thus far.
"How do we know he won't attack us in our sleep?" Clint asked, wishing he had thought to carry around his bow that day.
"Oh please, you insolent cur," Loki shot at him, finally looking at the group. "Do you not think I would have already attacked you if I could? My magic has been suppressed until all malicious intent has been burnt out, if it ever will."
No one seemed to want to comment on the lack of hatred in his eyes.
Three weeks passed. Three weeks in which Loki was carefully watched by Nick Fury on video monitors. Three weeks in which nearly everyone save Thor avoided him. Three weeks in which Loki grew lethargic and weary. He had finally shaken Thor off—the massive thunder god had taken to following his little brother around to keep him company—and had retreated to the underground pool Stark had built beneath the tower.
The water was warm, near the same temperature of a human's skin. Loki's skin though was much cooler because of his Frost Giant heritage. He wondered for an instant if the water around his feet would turn to ice if he revealed his Jotun form. He nearly discarded the thought, eyeing the barely concealed camera aimed at him, but why not, really? If he fell ill or somehow came in contact with the creatures, the entire organization would discover his secret.
Laufey's son started slowly, with his fingertips. The pale Asgardian skin seemed to melt away to dark blue. The transformation spread across his bare chest, his legs which were clothed in a flimsy pair of trunks, his long neck. Closing his eyes, Loki contemplated the odd sensation that the room was suddenly too warm for him.
"That is a nice trick," a voice called behind him. Bruce Banner was suddenly met with a red-eyed, horrified stare. Markings covered the blue god's face, the water frozen solid around him and continuing to spread to the rest of the pool. The doctor wondered how long it would take for the entire body of water to freeze. "I thought your magic had been suppressed."
"This isn't magic," Loki explained, blue shifting back to milk white. "It is my natural form." The now pale god lifted his feet out of the pool, watching forlornly as the ice heated too quickly, dissipating too suddenly.
Wanting to experiment, he concentrated his energy on a single finger, turning the tip blue, and touched the water's surface. He and the scientist watched as the cold spread to the entire pool, building until it was an entire body of ice. Satisfied, he removed his hand and stared at his creation.
There was shift in cloth beside him, but Loki didn't bother to look at the nuclear physicist. The two sat without speaking as the pool's heater began to melt the ice, the large block audibly cracking. After several minutes, Bruce Banner sighed, turning to the god of mischief with a pensive expression. "I'm sorry for 'smashing' you last year," he announced in a quiet voice.
"Do not apologize for that," the trickster waved at him. "It was a foolhardy venture from the start. I rather deserved the beating you laid upon me and my punishments afterwards."
"You've changed," the scientist noted.
"Hmm?"
"Before you were giving great speeches about how humanity deserved to be enslaved; now you are quiet and reserved. Even your voice sounds misused." It was an accurate statement. Many of the group had noticed how Loki's voice cracked during his halfhearted threat, and those around Thor had commented on the god's lack of verbal response.
"I suppose that is what occurs when one's mouth is literally sewn shut for a better part of a year."
Bruce didn't comment. There wasn't anything that could be said to that.
"Are you sure this isn't magic?!" Loki exclaimed, looking up from the chemistry textbook he was borrowing from Bruce. Since the day at the pool, both males had bonded quickly. Bruce Banner soon discovered that Loki had an eye for technology and science even if he didn't entirely understand how everything worked, thus the textbooks.
"Someone once said that magic is only science we don't understand yet. Or something to that effect," the physicist explained. He picked up the notebook by the black haired god's elbow, impressed by the notes and calculations the trickster had picked up on so easily. "I'm surprised this hasn't made its way to Asgard."
Loki shrugged. "I was really the only one to care about such things, and until recently, quite recently actually, I had my mind on other things."
Bruce merely nodded and sat across from him at their table. The two had commandeered one of Tony Stark's old workshops. In exchange for scientific education, Loki had promised that the physicist could experiment with his magic once it fully returned. With his focus now shifted off pride and war, Loki felt more powerful and knew that it was only a matter of days, if not hours, before he was fully restored.
They fell into a comfortable silence that both of them enjoyed. Bruce worked diligently on notes he had made on the Captain's recent blood work; Loki read and calculated the practice problems in his book. They, therefore, were both startled when Stark suddenly appeared behind Dr. Banner and shocked him with an electric prod.
"One of these days when you choose to surprise me, I'm not going to be in control," Bruce warned, as Tony plopped himself into the only remaining empty chair.
"Well since a certain god of mischief has been less than mischievous recently, I decided that someone had to keep you on your toes," the billionaire laughed. Banner gave a very Hulk-like grunt before returning to his notes. "So Lokes, what have you been up to?"
"I despise that nomenclature."
"Whatever you say, Lokes."
Maybe his magic was going to take longer to return.
He didn't know how they started, these little touches they shared. One day Tony and Loki were heatedly debating some Midgardian political ideal, the next they were quietly brushing hands as the billionaire taught the god how to use a microscope to look at single cell bacteria. Their first kiss had been an accident really. Bruce and Loki had been working on some experiment involving the trickster's duplicates—Loki's magic had returned the previous day—when Tony walked in, arms laden with plastic bags of Chinese takeout. The Iron Man was so focused on watching the Hulk taking swabs from Loki's mouth that he tripped right into a very solid trickster's arms.
Loki, who had been reaching for the food, suddenly found himself with an armful of short billionaire and lip-locked. The mirage that Banner had been working with fizzled out with the god's concentration as both men put more into the kiss than either thought they ever would. The food dropped to the floor, protected by the plastic containers it had been packed in.
"Can you at least wait until after I leave to devour each other?" the doctor asked, throwing his pen at the entwined couple. The writing utensil bounced off of Tony's head, and the genius paused in his suddenly tonguing session to briefly flip the good doctor off.
After four months of living in the Avenger's Tower, Loki had made tremendous progress in the eyes of the heroes. While he still played pranks, most of his tricks were innocent in nature; in fact most were just a tip of the hat to Loki's mischievous personality. Natasha Romanov grew accustomed to helping the god in the kitchen and vice versa. Steve Rogers could be seen sparing hand-to-hand with the Liesmith on nearly a daily basis. Clint Barton, while not as willing to trust the god as the others, didn't mind discussing the many varieties of ranged weapons with the spell castor.
And of course, Pepper Potts nearly fell in love with the trickster after their first shopping trip together when Director Fury finally allowed Loki out of the Tower for a few hours. Tony's old flame was to be married that summer to a CEO of a sister company to Stark Industries, and Loki was more than eager to help her decorate and find a dress.
The genius and the god also grew much closer in that time, going as far as to move Loki's few possessions into the billionaire's room. Bruce approved of their union and even helped them hide it. Thor had his suspicions, but Loki was still adept at keeping things from his big brother.
The first Christmas at the Avenger's Tower was subdued. Most of the heroes had gone to visit friends or family around the world. S.H.E.I.L.D. experienced a rather large lack of disasters that needed attention. Thor had disappeared to New Mexico; he had promised to visit Jane Foster. Only Loki, Bruce, and Tony remained in the Tower.
A certain god of mischief sighed uncomfortably as the machine he was laying started making harsh thumping noises.
"I know this isn't the nicest bed, but try to remain as still as possible," Bruce called to him from the computer beside Loki's prone form. "Really, Tony, where did you get an MRI machine?"
"Do you want the truth or the version I told Pepper?" the genius laughed, taking a swig from the glass in his hand.
"I would rather not know about anything you are implying," Bruce muttered, staring intently at the screen.
"There better not be anything to imply, Anthony," Loki snapped with a growl.
"Hold still, Loki."
Loki bit his tongue as Tony chuckled at Bruce's admonishment. The day was Christmas Eve and Tony had promised something special to commemorate their first Yule together, but the human had been a horrible prick all day. Loki had half a mind to storm out and find a horde of cats to adopt, on Tony's bill, and take over the tower with them. So please he was with the thought of thousands of kittens clawing the Iron Man suit, the Liesmith nearly missed Bruce's order to change forms. He did so quickly—he had so much practice with the way that Tony and Bruce had been obsessively studying him—and smiled to himself.
Even after the test was finished and the two scientists were looking over the scans, Loki didn't drop the Jotun appearance. Sitting up, he glared at Tony's backside, which was conveniently stuck in the air, and shot a harsh blast of cold air before rapidly stomping out of the room.
He was pushing the button for the top floor, where his and Tony's bedroom was, when he heard his small lover call out his name. Violently he pressed the "close door" button, not wanting to look at the man. However, Tony called out to his computer—Jarvis is such a silly name, Loki thought—and the elevator doors were mechanically, remotely opened.
"Loki," the man tackled him, and the elevator began moving rapidly. "What the hell was that?"
"Perhaps you should spend the evening with whoever gave you that machine," Loki replied vehemently Tony flinched.
"You get insulted over the tiniest things."
"Says the one who promised a special day just for the two of us. But seeing as there is another on the side, I'm not inclined to participate in any Yuletide activities and would much prefer to retire for the evening."
Tony tried to stare into Loki's eyes to pick up any deception, but the Jotun kept his red gaze on the steel wall. Loki was actually surprised he could maintain his natural form for so long, but he accounted it to his present anger. A warm hand touched his arm; he tossed it off with a sigh reserved only for the most irritating of situations.
"You'll get frostbitten," the blue god warned. Tony didn't seem to care because he touched the arm again, and when Loki sneaked a glance at the man, he was observing the cold skin with an expression that could only be described as childish curiosity. "Do I not disgust you?" Loki asked, allowing pale white to take over once again, if only to warm Tony's numb fingertips.
"Disgust implies that I do not like it. I find it interesting, aesthetic even," Tony replied clinically, but there was a gleam in his brown eyes that told Loki otherwise.
"I am a monster, Anthony."
"So am I."
"I've killed so many innocents."
"Technically I did as well." The god gave him a pressing look. "My name was on the bombs," Tony supplied. When Loki didn't say more, Tony intervened in his thoughts. "Look, Lokes." The nickname always riled the Liesmith into listening. "That was the past. My jokes are just that jokes. I haven't been with anyone else in the past four months, and I wouldn't rather be with anyone else." The billionaire's eyebrow twitched a bit as the elevator doors opened and he pulled the god into the hallway. "Now kiss me before I get sappy."
Loki smirked, leaning down until he was barely brushing Tony's lips. "What if I preferred you as sappy, pitiful human in love?"
Tony sealed their lips to stop the Silvertongue's speech. Unlike so many of his other affairs, Loki's passion had no heat. In fact, the breath exchanged was frigid, refreshing, winter year round. They broke apart quickly, but Tony guided them to their room with a gentle, hot hand on a pale cheek. Again they kissed; Tony relished in the utter chill when Loki ran a tongue along the human's teeth. The billionaire quickly took control of the kiss though, thrusting his own tongue into the cold cavern.
Their hands weren't idle. Clothing was gripped tightly then violently thrown off. For all their gentleness with teeth and tongue, they were brutal with their hands, gripping, clawing. The lips finally separated, from lack of air or need to do something else, neither knew. Loki viciously bit into Tony's shoulder, pushing the smaller male onto the bed. The genius landed with a pained grunt, quickly rolling over to straddle and capture his god.
Sex, it seemed, was their way of communicating. After their tumble and rough play, which oddly mirrored their fight from the elevator, Loki loosened his jaw, licking and nuzzling the bit mark. Tony pressed a kiss to the god's cheek lovingly before moving down to kiss the pale chest. Loki's fingers traced Tony's own chest, dancing across dusky nipples, scratching at the hair, resting against the vibrating metal of the arc reactor.
It was surprising how disgustingly easy it would be to destroy the man above him. Just a twist and a tug—Yes, Anthony, like that—and there would be no more Iron Man. The whirring of the mechanical heart would stutter to a stop or perhaps even cease altogether suddenly. The man's tan flesh would turn nearly as pale as the god's as the tiny pieces of metal ripped ever so harshly into the mortal heart. It would be bloody, violent, possibly even loud. It would be everything the god looked for in death. Yet Loki could not bring himself to do it. Why kill his last chance at happiness?
Tony's calloused, capable hands were preparing him, and the Liesmith's thoughts were silenced. He couldn't give this up even if he tried.
I did leave a lot of unresolved plot holes (like Coulson), but I need some room to play. I promise pregnancy and angst in the next chapter.