Knock, knock.

Tony was knocking on the bathroom door.

"Hey, you alive in there?" He called out.

The sound of something - probably a roll of toilet paper - hitting the door answered him.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Go. Away."

Tony snorted and began to chuckle.

"Don't get pissy with me, Reindeer Games. I told you not to go eating those hot dogs from that vendor in the park. Something totally seemed weird about him. Dude probably wasn't licensed. I don't even want to think what was in those -"

"Shut up -" Loki started, but was soon brought down by another round of vomiting.

For the past six hours, he'd either been vomiting or shitting. He wasn't sure which was worse. All he knew was that he'd never felt less dignified then he had been when he was perched on the toilet, wastebasket in his hands in case things decided to come out both ends at once.

Hearing Loki groan, Tony stopped laughing.

"Hey, let me in?" He twisted the doorknob to find that it was unlocked.

He walked inside and shook his head. Loki looked a mess. He was sweating, pale and shaky, no doubt from dehydration.

"My poor Loki," Tony said, pouting.

"I don't understand how there's anything left to come up," Loki replied, weakly.

"It sucks, I know."

Right then, Loki's stomach did another flip. He leaned over and began to vomit once again, this time only bile coming up. When he finished, Tony could see tears in his eyes.

After feeling reasonably sure that he wasn't going to be sick again - not for a while, anyway - Tony flushed the toilet and eased Loki back to a sitting position against the wall. He then got up, got a cup of water and wet a hand towel.

"Let me help," Tony offered, kneeling down in front of his lover.

Loki opened his eyes and gave Tony a pitiful look.

Tony used the towel to wipe Loki's lips, then held the glass of water to his mouth.

"Small sips," he instructed.

Loki did as he was told, taking a few small sips before pushing the glass away. He had reached his limit.

Tony put the glass down and maneuvered himself so that he was behind Loki. Loki leaned back onto Tony's chest and sighed as Tony slowly began to rub his stomach. It was soothing. Within minutes, he began to calm down.

"I'm sorry for making fun of you," Tony said, after a long silence. "You should listen to me, though. I know more about New York than you do."

"It looked good," Loki answered.

"I know."

The two sat in silence for another few minutes before Tony spoke up again.

"Maybe we ought to get you to bed."

Loki opened his eyes and did his best to waggle his eyebrows.

"Yeah, not like that. Maybe in a few days though," Tony said, smirking.

"Aw. Well, I suppose you're right, I'd probably not be much fun."

"Come on." Tony stood up and helped Loki to his feet. He led Loki to the adjoining bedroom and helped him get into bed.

"What about Dusty?" Loki asked, yawning.

"Do you really want to risk Dusty getting anything on him?"

Loki frowned.

"I suppose not."

"I'll tell ya what, though. I'll go get you some Gatorade and peppermint tea. It'll probably help settle your tummy."

Loki forced a smile.

"Thank you, Anthony. You're truly too good for me."