Sorry it took so long! I have another chapter in the works to I though that I should post this one now. There might be a few typos but there shouldn't be very many. I hope everyone enjoys.
Now edited because I was too lazy and impatient to do it before.

Not mine, never mine, usual disclaimers

Tony Stark was voluntarily inviting a known criminal that everyone thought was dead into his home and taking care of him, instead of turning him into the authorities like he should, and he didn't give a damn.

o~*+*~o

Loki looked simultaneously better and worse after he had been cleaned up.

Most of the grime that had been layered over porcelain white skin had been washed away by the two destroyed towels Tony had flung into the corner but, now that the dirt was gone, the half healed cuts and bruises that were layered upon each other were more visible than before. It made Tony sick to imagine anyone inflicting this much damage on anyone, but he also gained an admiration of the strength Loki must possess to survive through the agony of the torture he had obviously endured.

In addition to the extensive cuts and bruises there were at least four broken ribs, two cracked ones, and, according to JARVIS, there was evidence that Loki's captors had broken most of the bones in Loki's body at one point. Luckily, the cracked and broken ribs did not need to be set and were the only bones that had not yet mended, the rest had healed properly. All that Tony needed to do was make sure that Loki did not hurt himself more than he already was.

The injury that worried Tony the most was a large gash across Loki's chest that stretched from the the right side of his collar bone and tapered off near his left hip. Tony had managed to stop the bleeding for the moment but he knew that what he really needed to do was remove the filthy tunic and bandage the god's chest before it got infected or started to bleed again.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty?" Stark asked quietly as he lightly touched the foot that lay closest to him. Startled, Loki immediately pulled his feet closer to himself as his eyes snapped open and locked onto Tony's, who remained unmoving in an effort to not startle the injured man more than he already had. "It's ok," Tony said soothingly as he raised his hands in surrender, "I'm just trying to help."

Loki glared silently at Tony for a moment before tilting his head in question. Tony took this as his cue to continue. "I need you to get out of your tunic armor thing so I can bandage your chest," Tony explained slowly as he leaned forward slightly and tried to make sense of the buckles and ties on the vest.

After a few minutes of useless plucking and tugging, Tony sighed and leaned back in defeat. For all of his intelligence the inventor could not figure out how anyone could possible put on, much less take off, a vest like the one Loki was wearing. Glancing up at the god, Tony noticed that the emerald eyes were no longer quite so flinty and seemed to be almost sparkling with amusement.

With another sigh, Tony reached into the first aid kit he had set aside and pulled out the scissors with the idea that at the very least he could try to cut away the leather. Upon seeing what Loki perceived at a weapon, all traces of the previous amusement fled and the injured god attempted to find a way to defend himself but was simply too tired and too hurt. The only thing he succeeded in doing was moving his arms over his chest where the pressure irritated the chest wound so that it began to bleed again.

A small whimper of pain and fear escaped Loki's chapped lips, the small sound making Tony turn and see the exhaustion and pain in Loki's eyes and the defensive posture. Moving very slowly, Tony lifted the scissors and dangled them on a finger to show that he wasn't going to do anything. "I can't get your vest thing undone so I'm going to try and cut through the leather with these. I'm going to only cut through the vest and the tunic and I'm going to try move you as little as possible, ok?"

There was no nod in response but Loki's arms flopped back to his side, leaving his chest open. Tony can see the effort it takes the god to simply move his arms and remembered how the god had crawled out of his floor after being swung around by the Hulk. Granted, he had gotten up a few hours after being swung around but the wounds were not healing as fast as he would have expected so it was likely Loki's magic was either completely depleted or bound in some way.

Dismissing those thoughts for later, Tony began to cut through leather and fabric alike to get to the reopened cut beneath. The inventor then carefully removed the tunic and vest from Loki with as little movement from the god as possible. When the gash was fully visible Tony glanced up and found himself locked in the raven haired man's unwavering stare. They remained that way for a moment before Loki looked away and Tony, taking the move as permission, immediately began to carefully clean the area surrounding the wound and then the wound itself.

The cut was a deep red line that stretched across Loki's chest, crimson tears dripping from the reopened gash where the red ribbons traced their paths down the god's torso. The god's chest and the area surrounding the gash were covered in bruises and the occasional burn mark, more damage than any other place in the raven haired man's body so far. Tony was loathe the see the damage that had been done to Loki's back if this is the lasting damage that was done to the god's torso.

Despite being as gentle as he could when cleaning the gash, Tony would occasionally hear a soft whimper or moan of pain from Loki, pain and exhaustion slowly overtaking the injured god. Tony had to be extra careful when wrapping the gauze around Loki's chest because of the broken and cracked ribs, making sure that the wound would stay clean and the ribs would heal properly.

It was not long before the wound was clean and the god's chest was bandaged and wrapped but it felt like much longer. Now that the adrenaline from seeing Loki and the subsequent panic attack drained away, the weariness that stemmed from not being able to truly sleep in nearly seventy-two hours caught up to the inventor. Hopefully, the new information he had learned about Loki would help stave off the nightmares for a while.

Tony reluctantly pushed himself off of his oh so comfortable couch with a soft groan as he stretched. Turning to his new houseguest, Tony clapped his hands and announced, "All done! Now for your room..." Tony trailed off when he noticed that Loki had finally succumbed to his large array of injuries, exhaustion, or, more likely, a combination of the two and was laying peacefully on his couch, oblivious to the rest of the world.

For once, the raven haired man looked almost completely relaxed, making the god look younger and happier than he did when conscious. The only problem was that Loki was passed out on his couch where, he knew from experience, waking up in the morning was painful. It was a comfortable couch for sitting and resting on but definitely not sleeping.

"Change of plans. JARVIS, do we have a guest room on this floor?" Tony asked as he bent over to pick up the sleeping god.

"Indeed we do, sir," JARVIS quickly replied. "There should be an available room at the end of the hallway, last door on the left."

Tony nodded in acknowledgement and carefully wrapped his arms around Loki, careful to avoid the newly wrapped chest, and lifted the god into his arms. The breath whooshed out of the billionaire's lungs as he almost dropped the unconscious man back onto the couch. For being such a skinny guy Loki was deceptively heavy, so as Tony struggled under the unexpected weight he grunted out, "Forget about the guest room, J. Where is the closest room with a bed?"

"The closest room is located just around the corner on the right," JARVIS answered smoothly. As quickly as he could, Tony carried the unconscious god through the open doorway (Thank you JARVIS) and swiftly deposited his burden on the bed as gently as his straining muscles would allow before sitting down on the bed next to Loki's sleeping body.

"Damn! How heavy can such a skinny man be?" Tony questioned in confusion. The inventor wasn't exactly weak, he couldn't afford to be. After all, the suit wasn't just controlled by JARVIS, he had to be strong enough to move in the suit without JARVIS's help and even though Iron Man wasn't made of iron it was still pretty damn heavy.

"His bone structure does appear to be significantly denser than a humans resulting in a higher weight," JARVIS helpfully supplied and Tony rolled his eyes. "His core temperature also appears to be lower than the human average by 9.64 degrees and I have adjusted the room temperature accordingly," JARVIS continued.

"Thanks, J," Tony said with a small smile. He hadn't even noticed the change in temperature but he wasn't exactly a normal human. The arc reactor emitted enough heat to warm the surrounding casing that rested in his chest making his body was a few degrees warmer than it should be, so the cooler air was quite comfortable to him.

He only gave himself a moment to rest though before getting up to make sure Loki was comfortable and it was then when he really opened his eyes and looked at the room he was in that he remembered. In the midst of struggling with the deceptively heavy god and the bliss of the colder air, Tony's mind had not fully registered the significance of the room he was sitting in. In a moment, the inventor's eyes snapped shut as he tried to block out the painful memories the room provoked in him.

This was the room that he had previously shared with Ms. Potts before her abrupt departure. With her and her nagging gone the room had been abandoned, Tony opting to work as long as he could in the lab before passing out either on his desk or managing to drag himself to the bed he had moved to the lab with the hopes that he was tired enough that his nightmares never invaded his mind. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't, but the work had let him successfully block out the loss that was associated with this room.

Pushing the memories aside for the moment, Tony slowly moved the raven haired man beside him into a more comfortable position before pulling the thin, silk sheets up to the god's chest. With a sigh, the billionaire brushed the inky black hair off of Loki's peaceful face. It was unlikely he would be able to get much rest tonight despite being as tired as he was.

"Notify me if there are any changes," Tony requested as he rose and walked out of the bedroom.

"Yes, sir," JARVIS replied softly as Tony continued on his search for a distraction, answers, and new clothes that would fit his new house guest. He anticipated Loki would be here quite a while.

Since school is finally out I will be posting more often. At least I hope I will. I have another story that I am working on that is a Star Trek AU. I love it and hope that if you like this story you will read my Star Trek AU.

A big thank you to the people who wished me luck on my finals! I got all A's!

Please review!