Chapter 20

A/N First, let me apologize for the lack of update for a VERY VERY long time. My laptop died, and that while I had written our TWO chapters for this fanfic. After I got my laptop back, basically they replaced EVERYTHING, I lost those (and everything else) and I sort of lost the will to continue this story.

Right till my friend sort of kicked me in the back telling me she sort of really wanted to know how the story ends. Then just tonight I went and checked and I noticed I have 81 followers. 81 people I'd disappoint by not finishing the story. Plus I know all to well what it feels like to read an unfinished story. So here I am, attempting to continue this fic.

Second, I love you all, for the continuing support!

ooooo

Loki woke up, but this time he felt a lot better than he did last time. True, his body still ached and something stung when he moved his head, but he was pretty much ok.

He raised himself from the bed, noticing he was alone in the room. Tony must still be out there, attempting to fix his land. He smiled at the fond memory, as he dangled his legs over the bed to have his feet touch the cold floor. Just them he remembered the quick kiss on the corner of his lips and he moved his fingers to them to gently touch the spot he had kissed him. He had enjoyed it and heaven forbid he'd admit it, but he wanted to feel it again.

"I'm still unwell..." he muttered as he was pretty sure this couldn't be what he was feeling. He never really had time for love, or learn about it. He knew his father had loved his mother. And then there was the brotherly love between him and his brother, but he wasn't so quite sure what it was what felt right now.

He wanted to dress himself, only to notice that his clothes were torn and filthy. So instead he grabbed a silk sheet and wrapped it on as elegant as possible. He tumbled out of the room, noticing a guard standing watch next to the door.

"Loki, you're awake. I have orders to guard you and guide you to Tony as soon as you were awake. Please follow me." the man motioned him to follow him.

Not sure to trust this man, he decided to follow anyway. It sort of did sound like something Tony would do. And sure enough as they walked another guard passed and Loki recognized him as one the guards Thor trusted. He would surely have intervened if something wasn't right?

At long last they entered a room Loki had not been before and before he could ask, without a word, the guard left him and closed the door. Loki noticed a lot of models of machines and plans and papers scattered in the room. As neat as the whole palace was, this room was sort of a mess. He approached one of the models which seemed to a model of a machine meant to do lifting instead of humans, or at least make it easier. It was simply genius and Loki was admiring the fine workings of it when his eyes fell on a different model. This one was pretty easy to work out its intended use. The small barista seemed as impressive as the full-scale model would be and though not a fan of weapons, Loki could only admire the thought process that must have been behind this. If there would be one on every corner of the city walls, it could prove to be a deadly asset to the city.

"Admiring my work I see?" Tony's voice came from behind him. A smug smile on his face indicating how proud he was of his little inventions.

"Yes, yes I was. These are all great." Loki said, in awe of the man's work. "How did you come up with these?"

"Oh you know, being a genius it just comes to me, naturally." Tony said while shrugging his shoulders. "Basically I see a problem and then I start thinking what would solve it and how to create that solution. The problem usually lay in the actual making of the tools. They don't proof to be as sturdy as I had hoped." Tony crossed the distance between them while wiping his hands on his skirt, leaving smudges on it.

"I see you've returned to being a modest man." Loki chuckled. "And stop ruining your clothes, you're the pharaoh, not some unrefined peasant!"

"You're one to talk, mr Bedsheet. And you sound like a nanny." Tony retorted. "An unrefined peasant you say. My, that's quite some vocabulary you have there."

"Well, one of us has to be the grown up, I guess. And yes, just because I lived in the slums doesn't mean I'm an idiot. I'm fully capable or reading, thinking of my own, creating things… you name it. And you'd do we.." But he was interrupted by Tony.

"Us?" He asked, his brown puppy eyes going full blast at Loki. "You said us! That means we're a we!"

"I'm fully capable of understanding the concept of us and we, Tony." Loki said, looking at the Pharaoh while crossing his arms.

"Yes but that means we're an item. Inseparable!"

"No it doesn't. I honestly wonder what your point is, one moment you're like this incredibly intelligent man and the next you're like a toddler going on and on about his latest toys and I'm quite confu.." again he was interrupted by Tony. This time however it was Tony pressing his lips against his, effectively stopping the flow of words as he kissed the pale lean man.

And all Loki could think was how right this felt. How much he loved Tony's hands grasping either arm pulling him closer. Or how the shorter man closed his eyes, enjoying this. He did the same as he felt his body relax.

After what seemed like an eternity Tony moved back, to gasp for air.

"Okay, I'm sorry but you look absolutely adorable when you bicker and I couldn't help but do that and I didn't mean to force you into that kiss, but I didn't hear you complain and you didn't push me back so I assumed it was alright and…" This time he was the one being interrupted as Loki pressed his lips against Tony's for a short and gentle kiss.

"You talk too much, Tony." Loki smiled smugly as he turned around. As smug as he must have looked, he was pretty much shaken to the core and couldn't wait to get out and ask Thor about what he felt right now. His heart was literally beating almost out of his chest and his cheeks must have been as red as the setting sun.

"Is that right?" Tony asked. "Well, sir, I'll have you know, that is my bed sheet, and I want it returned… right now."

Loki turned around uttering a shocked 'What?' as he did.

"You heard me, the sheet if you please." Tony emphasized his words by holding his hand out as if indicating for Loki to hand him the sheet.

"You would have me walk around naked in the palace for all to see?"

"Well I don't care about the others, but it seems amusing to me and I get to see you naked." Tony answered.

"You'd embarrass me over a quarrel… a quarrel over nothing?" Loki asked.

"Oh come on, Loki, it's not like you haven't walked naked around before have you? I mean I'm sure in the slums people do it all the time…"

Tony was quite confused when he felt Loki rush to him and push him into the wall, holding his arms with an incredible and surprising force. His face was the embodiment of anger and he regretted saying whatever he had said to piss him off. "You have no right!" Loki hisses. "No right to assume anything about me or any poor bastard out there. I've been fighting for my life ever since I was a kid, while you had your food dished up to you on golden plates. You didn't have to pray every night for food for the next day, work hard to earn a cup full of rice or wish your brother would not get sick. And no, I never walked around naked before, for everyone to see, thanks to my brother. And if I had, it would be none of your business!" He let go of Tony and stomped out of the room, clinging one hand around the sheet as if it was his most prized possession.

Phew

Okay, Tony, you are one big idiot sometimes. He all but facepalmed for his own stupidity. How dare he indeed to assume what other people have done and what not if he had lived all his life in the safety of his palace.

He gathered his wits and followed Loki out of the room, but Loki had been long gone.

"Damn, damn, damn!" He muttered as he tried his chambers as well as Thor's and couldn't find him. When he run into Pepper in the kitchen he asked her but she didn't knew either.

"What did you say this time?" She had asked and Tony only half-hissed as he left her to arrange dinner. This time? Did he say stupid things all the time?

Eventually he found the moping dark haired man in his gardens. He had almost missed the tuft of ebony hair behind his Rhododendron. When he went around it he found Loki crouched, eyes red, cheeks red poking a stick in the ground. He crouched down next to him and noticed he wasn't just poking the ground, he was writing.

"Loki, I'm sorry…" He started, then pinched his nose as he wasn't quite sure what to say. When he finally knew what, Loki started to speak as he just finished the last hieroglyph on Thor's name.

"You were right though. I'm only trash from the slums. I should not have raised my voice against you… I'm pretty sure there's a law somewhere that states I should be hanged now, but people forget that people from the slums are just that. They're people as well. Just less fortunate to be born in the circumstances they were, or had disasters happen to them. I'm sure Thor told you of our parents?"

"He did."

"Well, as fate would have it, I met the brother of the man who had trampled my mother." He sighed. "That man could not cope with that and had drowned himself both in alcohol and the Nile. One's misfortune is apparently also someone else's. It should not have happened, but it did, and it left us where we were. Thor had to work hard every day while I baked bread, we had barely enough each day and we were the lucky ones. There were plenty of people who couldn't afford to buy clothes. So yes, people in the slums do walk around naked, but it's neither their choice or hobby to do so."

"You're right." Tony said admiring the writing Loki had made in the sand. "About everything."

Loki looked up at that.

"I've led a shielded life here in the palace. My father or priests worked hard to cover up the bad sides of life whenever I did came out of the palace, so I never knew. That's why I want to work on those machines, to make life better for everyone. And I know I can't do that alone and maybe not in this lifetime, but I want to try."

Loki smiled fondly.

"I'm sorry for the things I've said. Now please come back to my chambers, all that frowning has got your cut open again and I'm afraid you're ruining that fabulous bed sheet of yours with the blood dripping on it."

Loki looked down to see what the man had said was true. His wound had indeed reopened and he reached up to feel the warm trail of blood at the side of his face. He accepted Tony's hand who had stood up and now helped Loki up as well. Silently he followed his Pharaoh back to his chambers and willingly he sat down on the bed while Tony, yet again, tended to his wound and checked his other wounds and bruises.

"Alright strip!" Tony said, making Loki look up in shock.

"No worries, you can wear that bed sheet of yours again afterwards, but I need to check all of your wounds and it's just me."

"You're a lecherous pervert, that's what you are.." but Loki undid the bed sheet regardless, draping and holding it over his private parts as Tony checked the nasty bruise on his thighs.

"I keep getting angry at the thought of what that… Obediah would have done if your brother hadn't stepped in." Tony all but growled.

"Why? I'm just your servant." Loki asked.

"You. Are. Not. My. Servant." With every word he pushed Loki onto the bed, cradling Loki and lowering his head, hissing the word servant. "You are something else."

Loki only looked confused, but couldn't help but feel that confusing feeling go through his body as he realized how close Tony was and how there was only two layers of fabric between the both of them.

"What then? Your personal dancer? Your entertainer?" Loki asked.

"Oh you entertain me alright." Tony said, lowering his head some more. "I'm not sure yet what to call you, so for now you're just Loki." He quickly added. " And just Loki is amazingly attractive." He planted his lips on Loki's again, but this time he felt hands pushing his chest. When he raised his body from Loki to look confused at him he noticed fear and confusion in Loki's eyes.

"I'm sorry… but I'm confused. I'm not sure what I should feel and… I need to discuss this with Thor." Loki said. He was clearly in distress.

"Discuss this with Thor? Oh my Ra, he will chop my balls and force-feed them to me, loyal or not. Do you know how big brothers generally react to the news of someone courting their baby sibling?" Tony asked Loki who shook his head. "Well in general, not so positive. What is it, you're confused about?" And Tony climbed off Loki to lay next to him, his head propped up by his arm.

"I.. I think I like you." Loki admitted.

"Well that's great I like you as well, just like your brother does and…"

"I mean a little more than normal." Loki looked anywhere but at Tony. "You make me feel things. While I always thought that these things normally only occur between two people of the opposite sex."

"Oh…"

"And I'm sure there are exceptions, but I'm also pretty sure that's not how you see me. If anything, I think you only like to tease me because my reactions are hilarious to you. And if you truly want to… be more intimate with me, as you made clear that first night, it's only for that. And I don't want that, as hard as it is to admit, as I didn't think it was possible to like someone like you, I want more than that." And Loki got up, wrapped his sheet around his waist and walked out of the room, in search of Thor.

It took several minutes for Tony to fully process the information that had just been dished out to him. It took another several hours for him to think about it. He missed dinner and barely slept. But he woke up the next morning with the most incredible headache. But things had never been more clear to him as they were now.

Loki liked him, one could even say, loved him.

And Tony loved him.

Ooooo

A/N sorry for the incredible slow and probably boring chapter. I really have to get back into writing again. Originally this was spread over two chapters. As always, read and review, please!