Hello everyone! I am so sorry it has taken me so long to post this chapter. For some reason I thought that I was on chapter 11 instead of chapter 10 so chapter 11 is practical done and I am going to start of chapter 12 sometime later today. Hopefully. I hope everyone likes this chapter!

Not mine, never mine, usual disclaimers

"Rudolph?"

Tony fell asleep smiling.

o~*+*~o

Loki glanced over at the mortal who was, for once, not talking aimlessly or answering his question. It wasn't all that surprising that Stark had fallen asleep in his bed after he had told him to go to his own room, but it was strange how the other man was so relaxed next to him, a small smile curling the ends of the mortal's lips upward. It was also not so surprising that Stark was a restless sleeper.

The human gravitated naturally to the center of the bed, a gradual process but the soft rustling of sheets were audible when silence reigned in the room. Though it was very late by Midgard standards, Loki was wide awake and passed the time by speaking to JARVIS, a fantastic wealth of information.

"Why Rudolph?" JARVIS had kindly explained to him that Rudolph was a flying reindeer that had a glowing red nose and saved a special Midgard event called Christmas but Loki still could not fathom why Stark would call him that. He did not have any of the attributes that the odd deer did.

"I believe Sir was referencing the horns on your helmet that you wore during your previous visit to Earth. While they did not resemble antlers, they were close enough for the analogy to be distinguishable," JARVIS answered from his many speakers. It was still somewhat disorienting to speak to the air so Loki settled for leaning back and talking to the ceiling, where Loki believed most of the speakers were located.

For a while Loki simply asked whatever came to his mind; when had Stark created JARVIS, why JARVIS was named JARVIS, what damage he had caused during the invasion and what they had done in the recovery. JARVIS outright refused to answer some of Loki's more pointed questions and the god of lies suspected that JARVIS's answer on why he was named that was false. Even Stark was not eccentric enough to have JARVIS be an acronym for Just A Really Very Intelligent System.

Despite the omissions, Loki learned more about the planet he was now stuck on. It was interesting to hear about how this race of people had multiple groups of beings that were lead by different people and how none of them connected. It was all so different than any other way of life on any of the other realms.

The humans lives were so short but they accomplished amazing feats in their short times here. They had successfully manipulated the world around them without the use of magic, a feat that not even Asgard could rival. There was also the fact that there were more than 7 billion people living in this one realm and the number was steadily increasing.

On Asgard, or any of the other nine realms, the inhabitants were nearly invincible and lived for thousands of years but there were rarely any children and things rarely changed. Midgard, on the other hand was full of life and death, creation and destruction, and many innovations. There was beauty in the chaos of Midgard where there was the darkness of crimes and wars and rebellions but the dark was overshadowed by the light of peace and innovation and the abundance of life in general.

Loki supposed it was because of the constant changing of Midgard that the inhabitants of the realm were so open minded. It probably helped that they had never really come into contact with any of the other magic filled realms, but it was completely different from anything else he'd grow up with. On Midgard they had myths and tales of creatures and monsters that everyone learned were not real when in reality they existed in another realm that would likely never come into contact with them.

Despite knowing that this is the way humans lived their lives, the injured god was still reeling from Stark's reaction to hearing about his true race and form. Surely when Thor had told the stories he had mentioned how savage and merciless the Jötun race was, if only to make the battles all the more heroic for himself. Even after Loki himself had admitted to his heritage the mortal had requested that he be shown what Loki really looked like.

On one side Loki wanted to show Stark his true form to add evidence to his story and to scare the seemingly suicidal hero. After all, only someone who had a death wish would welcome a monster like himself inside knowing what he was and what he could do. Stark did seem to be very deceptive in his own ways though, using humor to cover up both his failures and distract from his accomplishments, so much so that he was literally seen as two separate people; Iron Man and Tony Stark.

On the other hand Loki wanted to hide from this surprisingly perceptive man and keep the most vulnerable part of himself hidden. But Stark had shown him his arc reactor, a device that's true importance escaped him, but also a device that held personal meaning to the mortal, a device that had kept Stark alive, became his heart, and the most vulnerable part of him. A part of Stark that the mortal had, for reasons strange and unknown, shared with him.

It was almost as if it were a challenge.

But that was highly unlikely. It was possible that the mortal had simply been rambling and truly didn't believe that Loki would or did listen to his tale about having the construct that functioned as his heart ripped out of his chest by the man he had considered father. It was possible that the human simply didn't care if Loki heard or not. The only problem was that those scenarios actually were not all that probable.

If Stark was anything like himself, and Loki was starting to think he might be, the human genius would never reveal anything to a being that could be considered hostile. Yes, the man could ramble the entire day away but there was something more in his soliloquy than initially perceived.

The things the human had spoken about were defining moments in the man's life, the people that had shaped him, and the innovation that changed everything. While Stark had neglected to elaborate on any of the details, the man had mentioned, in a somewhat gloating fashion, that Stane had been unable to do with SI's best scientists what Stark himself had been able to do in a cave with scraps while dying a slow and painful death.

It was easy to assume that Stark had not been in that cave under the most optimum circumstances. Loki had asked JARVIS all that he had deemed safe to ask the sentient construct and found out very little. JARVIS could show him the things that were played on the news but those were the same as any media in any realm; full of opinions and scarce in facts.

Fortunately, the decades that Loki had lived granted him some small abilities of deduction.

Stark's reveal that he is Iron Man was obviously not previously planned and was more impulsive than anything else. The scene at the race track had the same feeling but was different. Sure, Stark seemed insane and took risks that would be too high for most mortals but the man was a genius and didn't put himself into too much unnecessary harm most of the time. The race track was different because the man had a focus, the Stark Expo, and was now doing something as dangerous as that, almost dying when a man with electric whips attacked him. JARVIS didn't say anything, there was obviously something wrong, but without any hints he would never know.

Suddenly, Loki was startled out of his musings by a warm hand grasping his arm. The injured god couldn't hide the flinch the action caused but Stark was not conscious enough to see it. Looking at him it was obvious that the mortal was still asleep but the reasons why the other man would have the compulsion to move towards and not away from him subconsciously were completely beyond the raven haired man.

What was even stranger was how, gradually, Stark squirmed even closer until he was laying right next to him, almost wrapped around him, and the faint creases on the mortals face eased as the man sank into a deeper, more peaceful sleep. For some reason Loki found himself wanting to move closer to this eccentric mortal that was crazy enough to welcome him into his home.

In his defense, the injured god tried to remove Stark from him but the man had only gripped tighter with a surprising strength that irritated Loki's healing wounds while whimpering quietly that he didn't want to be alone. After hearing that and feeling the tight grip slacken slightly when he moved closer, it only made sense to stay still and try to get some sleep.

There was also the matter of the delicious warmth that the mortal seemed to emanate. It was likely unhealthy for the man to be so warm but Loki could not find any fault in it because the heat felt so wonderful and was so relaxing the injured god found he could hardly resist moving closer to the warmth that just so happened to be Tony Stark.

The comforting feeling that the warmth created was reminiscent to what Loki felt when his mother used to hold him as a young child. Strange as it was, Loki could draw many connections between his now deceased mother and Stark. Both had helped and healed and comforted and given warmth. Both were safe.

Loki shoved that thought as far away as possibly. As long as he didn't think Stark was safe he couldn't get his hopes up and his chances of being tricked decreased. Stark was not trustworthy or safe. Loki decided to ignore the treacherous voice in his head that said that Stark wasn't safe yet as he drifted off to sleep.

So what if the two had gravitated towards each other in their sleep, Stark seeking the coolness and Loki the warmth, and they ended up wrapped around each other.

They both slept soundly for the first time in years.

Ok, this chapter is a little bit shorter than the others but I am making up for it in the next chapter. I hope everyone liked how Tony moves towards Loki in his sleep and how Loki is sort of kind of ok with it. The next chapter should definitely be posted in a week. At least I really hope so.

Please review!