Chapter Nine
Tony kissed the sleeping raven's forehead before writing him a quick note. He finished the note before dressing and leaving. He went to get in the car and started it. He drove to the address that Victor had scribbled for him. He got out of the car and entered the building only to be nearly railroaded by a familiar black/red head.
"Oh hey. Tony, right?" Harley said.
"Yes."
"I don't think we've met properly," Harley said sticking her hand out "I'm Harleen, but call me Harley everyone does."
Tony shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Harley."
"So I was really surprised you wanted to get in the ring with Vicki," Harley said, beckoning him to follow her.
"Why is that?"
Harley raised an eyebrow and said "You do know Victor's a qualified MMA fighter, right?"
"Uh . . ."
"Oh dear god almighty," Harley said "I'll pray for you sweetheart." Tony was quiet.
Harley lead him to a locker/ changing area. "Okay, I'll get you some clothes and gear to prepare for your sparring match and I'll tell Victor you're here."
"Thanks." Tony gave a smile.
Harley then left and came back in under five minutes with his gear. "Okay, so just walk right out that door and I'll be waiting for you." Tony nodded and began to strip. When he was done, he walked outside to see Harley texting someone before she looked up. "Ready to die?"
Tony twitched. "You have so little confidence in me." He huffed.
Harley gave him a look and said "I don't think you've seen what that man has done to some people in the ring."
"Yeah, well I'm not like some people."
"Victor once dislocated someone's jaw in only the second match," Harley said "The guy has to use ASL now."
"Yeah, well, I have a feeling he's not going to try anything stupid like that with me."
"Keep telling that to yourself, pretty boy," Harley said patting his face, before calling out "Victor! Fresh meat!"
"Am not." Tony mumbled before he jerked in surprise as a loud crash sounded. There was Victor with a torn sandbag that had a punch hole in it.
Victor turned around, sweating and breathing heavy before taking headphones out of his ears. "Hey, Tony, I was about to think you weren't going to show up."
"Yeah, well, Loki and I were busy fucking like rabbits. We went thirteen rounds." Tony boasted.
"Nice to see you two getting along again," Victor said gulping down water, before turning to Harley "Can you tell Namor I'm going to be late from the shoot?"
"Already have." Harley said before looking at Tony and sing-songed "Dead man walking, dead man walking."
Tony frowned. "Thank you so much." He muttered.
"Don't mind her," Victor said "She does that to everybody."
"I can tell." Tony replied sarcastically.
Victor rolled his eyes. "Ready for this?"
"As I'll ever be, I suppose."
"Harley warned you I'm a trained fighter, correct?" Victor said, opening the cage.
"Yeah." Tony sighed.
"Good at least she warned you," Victor said, putting in his mouth guard.
"Thanks for telling me that before you invited me to fight you." Tony snapped.
"No offense," Victor said with a slight lisp "I can't tell you everything."
"You could've told me that at least!" Tony retorted.
Victor rolled his eyes and said "So are you kick my ass or what?"
"You know what?" Tony put his own mouth guard in. "I'm going to fucking try my damndest." Victor put his fist up and waited on Tony to take the first move.
*o*O*o*
"Well it looks like Harley underestimated me." Tony stood over Victor.
Victor was flat on his back, breathing heavily as he looked up at Tony with a glossed eye. "Go ahead brag about it. I need air . . ."
"How's your eye? And your nose? Is it still bleeding?"
"I'll live," Victor said "Can you help me up, I can't move my legs."
Tony stuck out a hand and pulled Victor up. "Do you need help limping somewhere else?"
"Yes," Victor said "Help me back to the locker room."
"Sure." Tony moved Victor's arm so it was around his shoulders while he held onto the other's waist.
The two managed to make it to the locker room with injuring themselves any farther. The two plopped themselves down, Victor started checking his phone before mumbling "Aw crap…"
"What?"
"I'm supposed to model in an hour," Victor said "I don't have the energy right now, and on top of that I don't even have my makeup kit to cover up the number you did on my face."
"That sounds like a personal problem." Tony huffed. "After all, how was I supposed to know Harley was making you sound like you were undefeated?"
"He is undefeated," Harley magically appearing out of nowhere "I've seen him fight before and he let you win."
"Harley," Victor said giving her some sign that probably meant don't tell Tony.
"What do you mean he let me win?!" Tony snapped.
"Harley, please don't . . ." Victor said but Harley ignored him.
"When you were swinging at him, Victor used his right arm to block you. He uses his left arm to block heavy attacks; When he attempted to hit you, he purposely missed your weak points so you didn't fall easily; when you tried to kick him, he didn't do his usually maneuver to throw off your weight against you."
"You have got to be kidding." Tony snarled. "You know what, Victor? Fuck you. I don't need your god damn pity fights. You may have your skills as a fighter but I have Loki and that's all that matters." He stormed off.
"God damn it, Harley," Victor said, "Did you really have to do that?"
"What?" Harley said. Victor then groaned in frustration and attempted to caught up with Tony, limping a whole lot. By the time Victor caught up with Tony, he was out of breath again to the point where he was wheezing.
"What the hell do you want? Challenging me to another fight that you'll throw to my advantage?" Tony sneered.
"No . . ." Victor said, giving him the one second sign so he could catch his breathe and said "Look I let you kick my ass for a reason."
"And what is that?"
"Because you need it," Victor said leaning against the wall "You're mad and upset that Loki cheated on you, and you're even angrier at me for letting it happen; I was just trying to help you by releasing your anger by doing what you wanted to do in the first place which was kicking the living shit out of me."
"Yeah but I didn't want to do it where it's a thrown match!" Tony snarled. "There's no help in damaged pride! That just makes me worse!"
"You what you're right," Victor said "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that; Look let's just forget this happen, I'll leave both you and Loki alone and you'll never see me again."
Tony gave him a suspicious glance. "You swear?"
"I swear," Victor said "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go see if Harley has any concealer for my face."
Tony gave a short nod. "Sure." He murmured. "I'd say I'll see you later, but . . . I hope I never do."
Victor then pushed himself off the wall and started limping again in the other direction; Tony was about to head outside when he was meet with Harley staring at him. "You're a pompous ass, you know that."
"Excuse me?!" Tony snapped.
"You're an ass," Harley said "Victor was trying to be nice, before I accidently blew the whistle on his intention."
"Do you even know the situation that caused me to want to kick his ass?!" Tony snarled. "No! And until you do, you have no right to talk about me being an ass!"
Harley raised an eyebrow. "He banged your insecure husband more than once because you're an insensitive, egotistical jerk who can't tell the difference between right and wrong, or you just don't care."
Tony's eyes flashed. "You don't know my story."
"Sweetheart, ninety percent of planet knows your story," Harley said before sighing "Look, just give Victor a chance. He's a kind hearted person and he really has more patience than I do when it comes to this."
"You may think you know my story, but you don't." Tony hissed. "And I did try. Then he threw a fighting match. I'd rather fight and get the shit beaten out of rather than have a pity match!"
Harley sighed and said "Look, Victor was wrong for sleeping with your husband. He knows that, which is why he let you win, and which is also was he's currently limping; but you need to realize that everyone has their own baggage, even the ones that throw a fight for little guy."
Tony was about to snap back a reply before his eyes widened as he took in his husband who was standing behind Harley. "Lokki!" He gasped as he took in Loki's stormy expression.
"Excuse me, but I suggest you leave my husband alone," Loki said, crossing his arms.
Harley looked behind her. "Oh, so you're Loki; Okay, now I can see why Tony is pissed." Harley then shrugged. "Well, bye. I got to see if Victor managed to cover up the bruises without me." Harley then skipped off leaving Tony and Loki alone.
"What was that about?" Loki asked.
"I don't know." Tony sighed. "Let's just go."
Loki looked at Tony before kissing his cheek and said "I'm making dinner tonight. Anything in particular you want?"
"Your pick."
"Steak and lobster it is then," Loki said.
Tony grinned. "Steak is good for me." Loki ended up wrapping his fingers around Tony's and the pair drove home just smiling to each other, enjoying the others company.