Author's note: And now, for the mysterious much-asked-for thing that was promised in the previous chapter. Enjoy! ^^

Absentmindedly, he twirls a strand of hair between his fingers as he looks down at the board spread out on the table in front of him, waiting for Tony to make his next move. The man is perched on a chair opposite from Loki, his legs crossed and drawn up beneath him as he balances rather precariously on the piece of furniture, forehead creased in concentration. The two sets of game pieces have been arranged in complicated patterns, an outcome of intricate strategies constantly changing in response to the opponent eventually seeing through them, each shift adding another layer of complexity to the set-up.

Once, he had suggested that Tony open the game with five moves of his own before Loki got to make his first one, alternatively that Loki play with one or two pieces short to make the playing field more even, but Tony had flat-out refused any head-starts like that. Loki has to admit that he admires that in the man, his stubborn determination and genuine will to achieve mastery without resorting to simplifications and shortcuts.

Smacking his lips a few times, Tony eventually lifts a hand and moves one of his front pieces three steps over to the side, and then leans back in his chair with a contented grin. "How about that, eh, Bambi? Cut your planned little sneak offensive right off there, didn't I?"

And there's that word again – Bambi. One he's heard so many times by now, along with the ubiquitous 'Rudolph' and 'Reindeer Games'. He supposes he could have added 'princess' to that list as well, but it's actually been a while since Tony last called him that, though.

And he doesn't even know what 'Bambi' is supposed to mean or refer to, just that he would have liked for Tony to call him by his real name, even if it's only once. He's not quite sure why that should be important, he just knows that it somehow is.

Granted, that had used to prickle him at first, the way it had seemed like another one of those many things denied him as a slave, along with his freedom and status and rights and everything else he had once had, as if even such a small and simple thing like his name was no longer his to claim. Somehow, it doesn't actually feel like that any longer, like Tony is robbing him of one of the precious few things he could still lay claim to when he came here, but it doesn't change the fact that he would have liked for Tony to actually speak his name.

Sure, he knows those are only inconsequential nicknames, and he's heard Tony use similar addresses when talking to Thor and even Bruce during the man's short visit in the tower, but still…

"So how are you planning to get yourself out of that one, huh, Rudolph?" comes Tony's boastful voice a few feet away, pulling Loki's focus away from his little reverie and back to the game.

His gaze sweeps over the board and the white piece that is now snugly nestled in between two of Loki's black ones. "I think I will recover," he says, quickly deciding for a countermove that has Tony cross his arms, apparently trying to figure out Loki's new strategy and how he should best respond to it.

As Tony ponders his next move, Loki's mind sinks back into the previous whirl-stream of fleeting thoughts, wondering if Tony will ever put a hold to his nicknaming habit. Of course, in the big picture it's not important and there should be a thousand more pressing issues for someone in his position. And yet, he realizes that no matter what the future might hold for him, right now, this is the most pressing issue for the time being, since all those other issues that should have been more pressing just aren't there anymore.

And it's strange how he's been given so many epithets in his long life – Liesmith, Silvertongue, Deceiver, and worse still – without ever having cared overly much, and yet, all these Midgardian names, harmless as they are, bother him so much more.

Or perhaps it's not the presence of those names as such, but the absence of his real name that is bothering him.

And maybe he's making too big a deal out of something that really should be nothing.

But it still feels important, somehow.

Then again, it would be a trivial thing to bring to attention. Sure, it would of course have been unthinkable in Asgard, a slave presuming to tell his master how he would have liked to be addressed, but he's not in Asgard and he knows Tony won't take offence. Perhaps the man would even indulge him, but it's still not an issue that he particularly wants to bring up. Because he would have liked for Tony to say his name without Loki asking him to. He would have liked for Tony to-

And that's when he realizes something. He's never called Tony by his name either. Not something a slave would ever have done under normal circumstances, of course, and such frivolities would have been swiftly punished by any master, but Tony isn't any master and had even made it clear once that that's how he wanted Loki to address him.

And yet he's never done that. Not even once. In fact, he's never addressed Tony as anything, except for that one time when he had needed to call Tony's attention in the workshop and had assumed that the expected standard address of 'master' would please the man.

It hadn't.

And even if Tony had informed him of his preferences in that regard back then, Loki hadn't been able to bring himself to actually call Tony by his name afterwards. It had felt too odd, too out of place, too incongruous, so he had opted for nothing instead. After a while, he had mostly forgotten about the issue, not having had any pressing need to directly address Tony since, and he had never thought much about it again until now.

But perhaps he should do just that? As alien and foreign as the concept of a slave doing such is, it appeals to him more and more the longer he thinks about it – to call Tony by his name. Not 'master', not some fancy title, but… his actual name. As if Tony isn't his master, and Loki isn't actually his slave.

He licks his lips that seem to have gone dry during his pondering.

"Tony?" he says, and oh, does it feel strange to speak that word to the man. But, he realizes, not nearly as strange as speaking the word 'master' would have been. Back in the workshop, it hadn't felt out of place as he had forced the word past his lips, just unappealing and humiliating. But now, despite his and Tony's relative positions, it wouldn't really have… fit. And strange as it may feel, it also feels good speaking that name aloud for the first time.

At that, Tony raises his eyes from the board to look at him. "Yeah?" he inquires, eyebrows slightly raised.

"I was just wondering," he says. "What does… 'Bambi' mean?"

Okay, that was not what he had been expecting Loki to say. Nope, in fact, he'd been expecting something along the lines of 'I admit defeat' or 'you win this game'.

Alright, so he hadn't actually expected that either, but it would still have been less surprising than what actually did leave Loki's lips mere moments ago.

And fuck, how do you explain that to an alien god who doesn't know the first thing about cartoons or Disney or Earthen wildlife?

"Uh… it's a fictional character… like a cartoon, you know?" he offers. "As in, animated, moving pictures. So yeah, a character from a famous, eh, cartoon children's story, with… horns. Or at least I think he has horns. Well, at least as an adult or something. Though, I'm not sure if he was ever an adult in the story. Or cartoon. But if he were real, he would have had… horns. Yeah."

Wow, who would ever have imagined that the simple act of explaining a cartoon character would have him sounding like a babbling moron – the great Tony Stark who could give an eloquent lecture on the spot about advanced nuclear physics if someone were to wake him up in the middle of the night? And what prompted Loki to bring that up in the first place now that they are right in the middle of a Hnefatafl game?

"So, any further clarifications needed on that, Rudolph?" he says flippantly, moving a piece halfway across the board.

"No, I… see," Loki says slowly as a hand reaches out and impassively scoots the nearest piece over a short distance towards the middle.

And Tony gets the distinct impression that he's just said something wrong, but he has no idea what. Still, there's no denying that clear look of disappointment on the god's face, as if he had been hoping for Tony's reply to be something different entirely. Maybe he didn't appreciate the fact that Tony has named him after a character in a story for children. But it's just a cartoon, after all, and there are definitely worse nicknames to be had, aren't there?

They sit there for a while, continuing their game in silence, the only sound in the room being the faint click of the pieces being set down at their new positions on the board.

And it's not until several long moments later that he realizes that there had been something different about this short bit of conversation compared to all their previous ones, something that he had failed to take note of until now, fully immersed in the game as he had been.

But this was actually the first time Loki has ever called him 'Tony'.

Blinking in surprise, his head snaps up to look at Loki, but the god's gaze is directed at the board between them and doesn't meet with his.

Well, there's definitely a first time for everything.

And damn if this isn't a billion times more preferable to that dreadful time that Loki had called him 'master'. For some reason, the idea of his name from Loki's mouth is oddly appealing, even if it was just spoken normally and not moaned in pleasure while Tony…

He squashes the thought as quickly as it came. Don't even go there, Tony.

And maybe it's a sign that Loki is feeling more comfortable around him now, that he has shed another layer of those fucked-up concepts imprinted into his brain of how it's appropriate for him to act based on what is expected of slaves back in Asgard.

But regardless, it had been nice hearing his name like that…

And that's when the realization strikes him like lightening from a clear blue sky, and it's so obvious that he can't help but feeling like an idiot for not seeing it immediately. Of course, Loki doesn't care about who Bambi is, or whatever harebrained Midgardian story he appears in. No, he had asked because he had been hoping Tony would reciprocate and call him by his name in turn, as opposed to all these nicknames he's been calling the god ever since he came here.

He also realizes, then, why such an ostensibly simple thing might be so significant for someone in Loki's position. Not that Tony has any idea what slaves in Asgard are usually called, but maybe they're not actually addressed by their real names, but merely as 'slave' or 'you' or 'number thirty-seven' or whatever Asgardian conventions dictate.

And as nice as he had found it to hear his name spoken by Loki, he doesn't doubt that for the god, any such feelings on his part would be multiplied if Tony were to speak his in turn. A small token of recognition, perhaps, but pivotal nevertheless.

He can't help but feeling like an idiot. How come he didn't see this before, given how obvious it seems to him now?

His gaze drifts down to the board, then back up to the unmoving and silent god where it lingers for a few seconds before it returns to the board again. Then, he gives a broad smile.

"Loki?" he says, the grin on his face getting even wider as he reaches out and scoots forward a white piece. "I'm not sure if there's an equivalent expression in this game, but here on Earth, this is the moment where we would have said 'check mate'".

The Hnefatafl game is long finished and Tony out of the tower again for some meeting, but the memories from their game are still lingering. For the first time, Tony had actually won.

Of course, his victory had only come about because Loki had totally lost his focus during the latter stages of the game, deep into his own mulling thoughts as he had been. The game hadn't seemed important, then; all he could think about was Tony's stubborn refusal to speak his name, even once, and even though Loki had only moments ago spoken his.

But then, Tony had suddenly broken the silence hanging between them.

'Loki', he had said, and he can't remember his own name ever sounding so sweet to his ears.

And it's amazing, really, how much power one single word can hold, because in that moment, he hadn't felt anything like a slave, or like property, or like a thrall, but like…

… like Loki.

Yup, Tony finally calling Loki by his real name... ^^

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