Chapter 18

A/N

As promised, the next chapter!

ooOOoo

Loki held his hand out to Tony, who was crouching down next to the puddle of blood. Vali's blood. Not his, because no, Tony was ok. Thor was covered in cuts, but Tony was ok. And Loki, Loki had a gash on his forehead and subtle cuts covering his body and… why was he limping, and where had his sash gone to, and… oh… But Tony was ok. And Vali, poor, loyal Vali was dead, but at least Tony was ok.

Well, Tony was not ok.

Tony was far from ok, Tony was about to break down and cry again, but that would be an insult to the men who would lay down, or actually did lay down, their lives for him. So he didn't, instead he took Loki's hand, got up, and told Loki to lean on him. The damn dancer was going to be stubborn at first but Tony was not having any of that. He'd personally slap the first person who'd say anything about it. The beautiful young man had risked his life after all he had done to him, so this was really the least I could do.

The two of them limped through the hallways into his chamber and he smacked the door behind him. After that he carefully guided Loki to his bed and helped him down on it.

"Easy now, it's clear as day you're hurt, no need to pretend to be the tough guy, we all know you are one." Tony said. He then looked around to see if he has anything to clean that gash on Loki's forehead. He may know nothing of medical care, but he knew he had to get that wound clean and if possible to make it stop bleeding. He found bowl filled with clean water meant to wash his face and a cloth and returned to Loki, who was still sitting on his bedside.

He dipped the cloth in the bowl, wringed it and then gently dapped it on Loki's forehead. Loki hisses in pain but doesn't do anything to stop him.

"Am I hurting you?" Tony asks, wide eyes, worried, looking at Loki.

"Not as much as the actual weapon did…" Loki answers.

Tony can't help but chuckle. It's neither a sarcastic chuckle nor a joyful one, if anything they both think it sounds more like an insane chuckle. Recent events have been quite… eventful and the mixture of emotions in both of them is turning them insane, or so they feel.

And Tony is glad that even though he doesn't know what's going on, Thor and Loki, at least, are alright. He's so caught up in his thoughts he doesn't notice Loki looking up at him worriedly and is startles as he feels a hand on his own. He looks down in green pools of colours.

"Are you alright?" Loki softly asks.

"Am I alright?" Tony sputters. Seriously, this guy, he was sitting there bleeding and god knows what else has happened and he dares asking him if he's alright? "Yeah well considering people I care about get hurt all the time, or accused of things they haven't done, or stabbed to death, at least I can say, I am alright."

"Hurt and pain isn't always physical.." Loki murmured.

"Yeah well, you and Thor are the one bleeding, Vali is dead. I never asked either of you to protect me. I never wanted you to sacrifice yourself for me." Tony crouches down again as he suddenly loses the strength in his legs. Loki grabs both of Tony's hands and holds them in his own. He knows what's going through Tony. He knows like no other. There's no way he can be angry with him if he's been through it himself. He remembers how he felt when he was a small kid, he remembers blaming himself for his mother's death. What if he hadn't been outside… what if… 'What if' never had gotten him far, had it? It certainly had never gotten him his mother back.

"It's not your fault." Loki whispers. It's barely audible and Tony looks up as he asks Loki to repeat himself. "what?"

"It's not your fault, I said. It isn't. You will blame yourself. What if I wasn't there right then, what if I had seen it coming, what if I had prevented it… what if I didn't exist at all?" Loki says, a bit louder this time. "But truth it, you didn't choose to step in to protect you, Vali did, it was his choice and you can only respect that. Me and Thor both choose to protect you as well, it was our choice. As was Obediah's choice to hurt you his. If you really have to blame anyone it's him. He chose to harm you. And as long as there are people out there who want to harm others, people like us end up getting hurt."

Tony looked up at him. Loki looked back and as the tall and lean man was sitting on the bed and Tony was crouching on the floor he was towering over him. Who was the wise man, above all, fit to rule Egypt again? Tony felt insignificant right now. Loki was right, of course he was right. It was all Obediah's fault, but that didn't mean Tony felt bad because he was alive and someone as magnificent as Vali was dead. This beautiful creature, Loki, was hurt, perhaps it would scar and it would ruin his beauty forever.

Then he realized, Loki was still going to be beautiful. The way he cared for others, was rare and beautiful all the same.

He would endeavor to be like that, to be the magnificent ruler Egypt deserved.

To make sure Vali's sacrifice meant something.

He then noticed Loki still held his hands and those haunting green eyes were still looking at him, as if they were trying to unravel his very soul. He was grateful Loki was here. Not to admire him, or, maybe, possibly, undress him with his eyes only, not that he was right now, honest. No, he just didn't want to be alone right now. He had no clue where Pepper was, if any of the guards knew what was going on, or if Rhodey was ok. Thor would take care of that, he was sure.

He got up and sat next to Loki, checking the wound on his head. The bleeding had long stopped but just to be sure Tony tore a bit of the cloth around his waist. It was linen and maybe not the cleanest but better than nothing as he gently wrapped it around Loki's head. "Tell me if it hurts, alright?" he asked softly.

Loki nods, his hands now folded onto his lap.

After that was taken care of Tony proceeded onto inspecting Loki's body for more wounds, but the shallows cuts he cleaned had stopped bleeding altogether now. So far for the visible wounds. His eyes travel further down, to where a hole is torn, no cut, in Loki's pants.

"Were you stabbed there?" he asked, his fingers tracing the unraveling fabric before sticking them in it, only to feel something warm and wet. A hiss escapes Loki's lips. As Tony looks at his fingers he notices it's blood.

"Alright, take them off!" he demands, meaning Loki's pants.

"It'll be fine, I'll have a healer take a look at them." Loki is blushing now, it was so embarrassing to have Tony try and fix him.

"No arguments, take them off. I'm not going to try and feel you up or something, I'm just trying to help here, it's the least I can do!" Tony said, already working on the drawstrings that held Loki's pants in place. Loki gave in and helped him undo the intricate knots. Inconvenient as they were now, they were wonderfully done by Phileas, who was an expert on all kinds of knots. Said he had learned them on the island he used to live on, as it was what the island was known for. That was before he traveled all around the world to see what it had to offer. But as much as Loki was trying to focus on what Phileas had told him about them he couldn't help but feel the blood go to his cheeks and make them red, which stood even more out on his ashen pale skin. When the last knot was undone Tony slided the pants down, careful not to rush or tear anything. For all he knew the fabric could be caked to the wound with all the blood going on. As he carefully slid them down the pale thight, he couldn't help but look. As it happened to be Loki was, as expected, not wearing anything under them and well… yes, Tony was forever ruined now. But not just that, the muscles hidden in the lean legs proved how well build a dancer Loki was.

Right!

Back to what we were originally undressing Loki for, remember? He was stabbed? You were going to treat his wound? Not stare at his package?

Ugh Tony would facepalm himself if that didn't look weird and betray the fact he had been checking Loki out. Instead he focused on the task at hand. He got the cloth and water again and gently dapped the wound. As gently as he tried to be, Loki couldn't help but hiss, moan and grab Tony's shoulder with one hand and clench a fist around a pillow with another, as he closed his eyes in pain.

Ok, Tony is sorry, but by Ra, if there wasn't that wound, Tony would love to see Loki like that, on the bed, with Tony doing ungodly things to him.

Right, the wound! Back to focusing on the wound!

When all the blood was removed, he tore another strip of cloth from the one around his waist, and another one, until it fell of his waist and Tony was just as naked as the day he was born. He carefully wrapped them around Loki's thigh, trying not to blush as he scratched Loki's inner thigh every time he went around it. Loki on the other hand was starting to feel lightheaded. He wasn't sure if it was because it was so warm, because Tony was touching him so intimately or because he had lost so much blood. Oh surely not because of Tony? As he was starting to argue with himself about it, how it did feel nice and how this was exactly what Thor had warned him about, his body betraying his mind, he didn't notice he was slowly leaning further and further backwards onto the pillows, before finally completely laid down falling unconscious.

"There, all done, a healer wouldn't have done it any better, I'm sure!" Tony was indeed proud of his work, especially considering the distractions. But as there was no response to this he looked up to see Loki was out cold. He checked his pulse, only to find out Loki was fine, just unconscious. He would have Thor or a guard get a healer to check upon him, but for now, he figured the man needed rest. "Guess I'll just help you into bed then…" he murmured, thinking about the great sacrifice he had to make, completely sliding Loki's trousers off, throwing them in a corner. As he was tugging the sheets from under Loki he realized he was just as naked and he was hovering over Loki, naked.

He allowed himself to look, just for one second, just to see what he was missing out on, knowing full well he'd regret it. And he did. The full image of Loki naked was almost unbearable. He would have to get the sculptors change all the statues of the gods to Loki's body because surely the gods sculpted this man after themselves. He trailed down Loki's chest with his hand, careful not to touch any of the cuts. Just when he was about to look away and cover them both with the sheet the door opened and Thor stormed in.

Tony thought about two things that exact moment.

Crap, something must be wrong, if he storms in like that; and

Why is he looking at me like he's going to murder me? Oh right? Because I'm hovering naked above his unconscious brother, well damn.

"Eh… This is not what it looks like?" he offered.

Thor's eyes slanted, weighing Tony's words.

"Do explain then…" he decided eventually.

"I had to use the cloth for his wounds." And he threw back the sheet to show Thor. "As he was stabbed in his thigh as well." Thor sighed, he'd think about this later, there were more important things now.

"We'll discuss this later… We need to do something about Obediah. He has escaped. The whole palace is looking for him, and possible guards that may or may not be involved with this, this area is off limits, except for me, Pepper, Rhodey and a handful of guards Rhodey trusts. Vali's body is being prepared for his last journey, no one else is harmed. But we must capture Obediah, before he tries something new."

"He might be in his personal house, you may want to send people there." Tony offered.

"Rhodey already did, twelve men he trusts." Thor answered. He then shakes his head. "I think for now you and Loki rest for a while, I'll stand guard together with two other guards around these chambers." He exits the room but before he closes the door. "Please allow my brother rest, I will have a healer come in in the morning to check his wounds, if you don't mind?"

Before Tony could answer that Thor was gone, the door was closed and he was left to his thoughts. It's not like he was going to fondle Thor's baby brother or anything. No, instead he layed down next to Loki, spooning him, craving the touch of someone he could trust, as he threw his arm around Loki's waist.

A/N That's it for now, I hope to be able to update soon, but with New Year's coming up… not sure when that's going to be… (of course there's the 8 hours bustrip tomorrow…)