I had the worst time picking a theme song for this chapter. I think I'm going to go with "The Pretender" by the Foo Fighters… not sure if it fits, but it's a good song anyway, and it has a good sense of tension.
Chapter 38: The Calm Before
Loki tried the handle of the front door to his apartment. It was unlocked. "Damn," he muttered. That meant Thor was home. It was later than he had thought, but one could always hope that Thor had stayed late at Jane's new place. He slipped inside, and was relieved to see that Thor's door was closed and the lights were all out. Perhaps he had turned in early.
He made his way across the living room and had almost gotten to his own door when the light next to the couch turned on. He whirled around, but it was only Thor, looking very disappointed.
Loki laughed breathlessly. "Bor's boots, you startled me," he joked.
Thor merely continued to frown. "Where were you?"
Loki gave him a sarcastic look. "You know the whole melodramatic, concerned older brother routine may work on Her, but I find it quite funny."
His scowl deepened. "I was expecting her."
Loki sighed, remembering that Thor had not been witness to Natasha's anger. "It's complicated. I made a bit of an ass of myself, with Her unwitting help. I apologized to Natasha, and took her home. She invited me in, and we talked."
Thor glanced at the clock skeptically. "Until two o'clock in the morning?"
He scowled. "We had a lot of talking to do."
Thor's frown melted into a teasing smile. "Talking? Is that what Midgardians are calling it these days?"
Loki's mind raced. He had to think fast. "You have a lot of nerve, you know, pretending to be a bastion of righteousness, and then make those kinds assumptions about Lady Natasha," he hissed.
Thor had the decency to look ashamed. "My apologies, brother. You are right. Will you be staying, then?"
He shook his head, calming. "I'll switch back in the morning, when I've finished apologizing."
"What more is there to do?" he looked confused.
Loki sighed. "I'll think of something. A gift, perhaps. For both of them."
He looked impressed. "Very thoughtful. Do you have the money for it?"
Loki nodded, and went into his room. He shut the door and leaned his head against it. That had been very close.
The next morning Loki took the company car that usually took his counterpart to work. Since his eventual destination was Stark Tower anyway, they didn't seem to mind. When he arrived there, he handed one of the two bouquets he carried to a receptionist at the front desk.
"Would you see that Agent Romanov receives these?" he said in his most solicitous voice.
"Certainly," she smiled flirtatiously.
He nodded and began to walk away.
"Sir," called the other receptionist, a phone in her hand.
He paused, turning back.
"Mr. Stark would like to see you immediately," she said, a note of apology in her voice.
Loki raised both eyebrows. "Really?"
She nodded, gesturing to the elevator. "Jarvis will take you there," she offered.
He shrugged and walked into the elevator. As it hurtled upwards, he tried to distract himself from the unpleasant sensation by wondering what Tony could possibly want to speak to him about. It didn't help.
When the doors opened, it was to a small, well-appointed waiting room. Another very attractive secretary sat at a desk in front of the door, filing her nails. "Mr. Stark will see you now," she said absently, then glanced up. Catching sight of him she smiled and amended, "sir," to the end of her comment.
Loki raised an appreciative eyebrow, but said nothing as he passed into the next room. "Nice office," he said, admiring the open space, larger than the room he had just come from. "I like the decoration out front."
Tony laughed. "Yeah, I wanted a calendar but Pepper said she'd throw it away, so..." he shrugged.
Loki tossed a bag containing the leathers he had borrowed onto the desk. "Thanks," he said shortly.
Tony raised an eyebrow and nodded to the bouquet he still carried. "Those for me?"
He laughed and sprawled in one of the chairs facing the desk. "They're for Her, actually. As an apology. I was planning on switching before you called me up. What is it you wanted?"
Tony drummed his fingers on his desk a little. "Actually, I was kind of wondering what happened yesterday. Natasha was pretty wound up, and then you guys just left.
I thought one of you might kill the other. Or do other stupid things."
Loki glared at Tony. Was he going to be interrogated by every member of the Avengers Initiative? "I took her home and we talked. I made her dinner, and then went home."
"Riiiiight. Made her dinner. That would explain why you moved to the kitchen at one-thirty in the morning..." he muttered.
"What?" Loki said, all pretense of friendliness disappearing.
"You see, I got this call from your brother last night, saying that you hadn't come home yet, and could I 'discretely ascertain your whereabouts without unduly alarming SHIELD,' and is he a walking dictionary or what? So I looked. Since you still have a tracking device on that pretty necklace of yours," he pointed to the ruby, "I just hacked into the signal to see where you were. Oddly enough, it said you were at home, at the apartment complex. So I zoomed in."
"I said I was at Natasha's," he ground out.
"Way, way in. Do tell, why did the majority of your conversation take place in Miss Romanov's bedroom?" Tony laced his fingers and gave him a cheeky smile.
Loki glared at him a moment longer, and then sighed. "I'm afraid I've been sworn to secrecy," he admitted.
Tony's smile grew to a triumphant grin. "Say no more," he held a hand out, which Loki stared at. "C'mon, you gonna leave me hangin'? Down low instead?" He flipped his hand so it was palm up.
Belatedly, Loki remembered how much his counterpart enjoyed high-fives. Grinning, he leaned forward and slapped Tony's hand.
"Damn, man" Tony shook his head, still grinning. "Was she...?"
"Oh yes," he chuckled. "Everything I'd imagined and more."
Tony whistled.
"But you can't tell anyone, or I shall be in serious trouble," he warned.
" 'Course not. Your secret's safe with me," he assured him.
Loki frowned a little. "Why the change in heart? I thought you were going to kill me. Or at least try."
He shrugged. "I trust Natasha's judgment. If she thinks you're worth salvaging, then you're probably not a lost cause. Turned me around, although I'm sad to say in a more conventional way." he shook his head. "Damn," he swore again, shaking his head. "I have wanted to tap that since day one," he lamented.
Loki glared at him, and Tony held up his hands. "Not cool?"
"No," Loki said shortly.
Tony gave him a suspicious look. "You're not... falling for her, are you?" he teased.
He scoffed. "Don't be absurd, of course not."
Tony enjoyed another grin as he looked at a very confused Femme Loki. "Hi!" he said cheerfully.
"Um... Hi." She stared down at the bouquet in her hand.
"Those are for you," Tony said helpfully. "From Him."
She frowned. "How long have I been gone?"
Tony glanced at his watch. "About 15 hours."
Her frown turned to a scowl.
"In His defense," he offered, "You probably would have slept through most of that."
Loki gave him a sarcastic look. "And He found a better way to spend the time?"
He shrugged. "He apologized to Natasha."
She looked impressed. "Did she accept his apology?"
Tony shrugged again, his grin widening. "I guess so," he said casually.
"Right... Look, can I take the day off? I'm feeling a little worn out." She rubbed her forehead.
"Sure! You can probably make it up tomorrow with the extra magic, right?"
"I guess so." She smelled the flowers absently, noticing that there was a card included with them. Standing, she waved absently to Tony and walked away.
He couldn't help noticing a particular sway to her hips that had not been there the day before. Once she had left the room, he giggled to himself. "I love secrets."
Natasha popped into her office to grab some reports and discovered that someone had left a bouquet of flowers on her desk. They were unusual, a kind she had never seen before, dark purple with velvety petals. She plucked out the card and read it.
I looked myself up on Wikipedia, as per your suggestion. It would seem that these flowers, called Velvetbells, are my purview. I could only find one florist in New York who had them, and she had only a dozen, so I suppose this constitutes half my kingdom.
In place of a signature, he had left the same sharp-angled B that had been used in her tracking spell in Poland. It reminded her instantly of the conversation they had had there.
Were I king, as I once was, I would give half my kingdom for you to grace my bed a single night.
She allowed herself a private smile. For all his lies and deceptions, he was a man of his word, in a strange, twisted way. She liked it, it kept her guessing.
Suddenly, her phone rang, and she recognized the number as Loki's. But which Loki? She wondered.
"Hello?" she answered in a neutral voice.
"I cannot believe you," said the voice of an exceptionally angry Femme Loki. "Him, I can believe, but I thought you were smarter than that!"
"Woah, slow down," Natasha's mind reeled. It was obvious she knew, but this was not the way to discuss it. SHIELD tapped all of its agents' phones for security purposes, and until now she had never minded. "Where are you? We need to discuss this privately," she emphasized the last word.
"I'm at the apartment," Loki said, and now she sounded as if she would cry.
Oh great, Natasha thought, instead of emotionally stilted Loki, now I have to deal with overly-emotional Loki. She sighed. "I'll be there in twenty minutes," she said, and hung up.
A/N: Remember when I said the stuff was about to hit the fan? Oh yeah.
I got a couple of reviews for the last chapter that described it as "sweet." While I'm always flattered any time anyone takes the time to review this story, "sweet" wasn't really what I was shooting for lol. I even said to Brian (my hubby) "what's sweet about talking about killing each other?" and he said "the cooking. It's definitely the cooking." Lol. But yeah, I hope I'm not getting too mushy on you guys! Tell me what you think: should there be more mushy? Or should I try to keep things dark?
Up on Wednesday, Chapter 39: The Storm
