"That's a cool accent. Is it Scottish?"
"English," Loki politely replied with a small smile. "I can assure you the Scottish sound very much different."
"I'm sorry," said the teenage boy holding a tall glass close to his chest. "I'm such an idiot, wow, I knew that."
The two stood off to the side, away from the dance floor but right next to the bar. Loki was not too sure why such a young person was attending a party clearly made for adults, but he decided to just roll with it. He'd spent the last ten minutes now talking to the boy who he found to actually be good company.
"It is fine," Loki said. "Perhaps I'm being an 'idiot' too because I really do not understand what you're supposed to be dressed up as."
"Oh! The press, get it?" he said, lifting the camera slung around his neck to his face and snapping a quick picture. Loki flinched and simply nodded. The "Press" must be some type of photographer.
"Parker!"
They both looked over to the side when they heard Tony's voice and watched him approach. Loki couldn't help but smile.
Lit up like a candle amidst the otherwise dim room, thanks to his costume plus the arc reactor, Tony was sporting a fake spider web tangled in his sweat-slicked hair. He also looked tired out which Loki recognized as a sign that Tony was ready for either a drink or fast food. Loki opted to twisting around and pouring a small glass of scotch to press into the iron man's hands. Tony looked up, alarmed that he was being given some alcohol, but Loki simply shrugged. "One drink. One in the spirit of this holiday."
"Thanks Lokes," Tony smiled warmly then turned to the teen. "Peter. What the hell are you doing here?"
"You invited me!"
"No way," Tony said. "Adults only. Special people who are cool are only invited too."
"JARVIS specifically asked for Spiderman." Peter said with an expression that read, 'ha! what now?!'.
"Then why aren't you currently wearing the suit? I was looking forward to it." Tony chuckled.
"Children." Loki muttered to himself.
"Lokes," Tony turned his attention to the frost giant abruptly. "Why did you let him get a drink? As in, my expensive alcoholic shit? He's sixteen."
"Seventeen." Peter interrupted.
"Sparkling water," Loki replied with a smirk. "Steve made sure he was accounted for."
What a goody-two-shoes, Tony couldn't help but think. Making sure the law is being followed.
"I guess that's good," he ignored Peter's indignant huff, "So enjoying the party so far, Princess?"
"Of course." Loki said. "Though I could do more dancing."
"That can be arranged." Tony smugly replied and finished off the drink in his hand. He casually pushed it aside onto the bar and grabbed one of Loki's hands. Peter watched with a brow raised questioningly, taking a deep swig of his sparkling water.
"Sorry squirt, we'll probably catch up with you later." Tony said before pulling Loki with him towards the dance floor.
To Tony's surprise, Loki was actually a much better dancer than him. Of course Tony knew Loki was graceful, slim, and so on so forth, blah blah, but he expected to be able to keep up with him at least. Over his years of one night stands, Tony had pretty much mastered the art of dancing to fast pop songs. Instead, in this instance, he was like the two second delay you'd get on a phone call, just barely missing Loki's cadence. After a couple of songs, Tony was totally off beat from trying to keep up with his companion. Of course Loki noticed.
"What's wrong, Tony? When did you get two left feet?" he teased.
"Maybe you just have-" Tony trailed off as the music changed and a song with a much slower beat started playing. Without putting any thought to it, Tony smoothly wrapped an arm around Loki's waist, pulled him close to his body, and fell into the step of the new song. Loki just blinked before relaxing his shoulders.
"How smooth." Loki said.
"Of course," Tony had to look up in order to reply. "I never noticed how freakishly tall you are."
Because they were chest to chest with little room between them. If Tony was with someone else, say Bruce, the situation might have been awkward. But with Loki...he felt fine. Almost as if it fit, he'd dare to say.
"You're tiny." Loki snorted.
"How's the party now?" He glanced around the room, eyes resting on Steve dancing by himself while Bruce was being a total wallflower. Of course. "Please tell me you're having more fun than Spangles and Wallflower over there."
"Well the costumes are nice."
"And?"
"The food is adequate and the music is tolerable enough," he said slowly, relishing the impatient look that Tony was trying to hide. "It's all fine."
"Okay." Tony matched his tone.
"But I have to tell you," Loki said in a more hushed tone and leaned forward.
"And what would that be, darling?" Tony could feel his heart beat speed up. Why?
"I love dancing with you.."
They could feel the wisps of each other's breath now, noses nearly touching, they were so close. Time seemed to slow down for Tony and he glanced down at Loki's lips. He ran his tongue over his own before his eyes darted up to meet dark green. He-
"Mr. Stark!" Parker hastily grabbed his shoulder, looking every bit anxious. It snapped both Tony and Loki out of their daze.
"What?" Tony snapped, backing away from Loki and glaring down at the kid.
"Dr. Banner asked me to find you," Peter spilled out quickly. "We have trouble."
Tony looked over to where Peter quickly pointed and immediately recognized what the urgent issue was. Clint Barton was threading his way through the crowd in jeans and a tee. Tony recognized from the subtle way the agent shifted through the crowd that he was searching for something. It didn't take a genius to know who but he couldn't help but wonder how he got here or how he knew.
"I see Steve, Tony. I'm going to head over there." said Loki who already left before anyone could reply.
The iron man watched him go, wondering in the back of his mind, what happened? What was happening before Peter interrupted...what was that? He bit his lip and shook the thought away. He had a more pressing matter to deal with at hand.
"Peter," Tony turned back to the teen. "Wanna' know a secret?"
"Will I get to join the Avengers?" he replied eagerly.
"No." Like Tony would ever let some kid join their team of superheroes that fought dangerous genocidal sociopaths like Loki. Their badassery would go down seventy percent before they even leave for the city. He might find Peter a cool kid, but not cool enough to see him every day in his tower. Maybe he'd consider pitching the idea to everyone if Parker turned twenty.
"Then what's up?"
"Now, I'm only letting you know this cause' you're going to help us...right?"
"Of course!" Peter said, looking like a bright-eyed puppy.
"Promise you won't do anything stupid and listen?" Tony waited for him to agree. "Good. Jack Skellington over there? Guess who he is."
"Your boyfriend."
"What?!" Tony nearly choked. Peter's only response was an eye roll and Tony elected to ignore what he said/did completely. "Jack over there is really Loki-"
"What?!"
"-who happens to be good and not evil as you can see. Anyway, his stay here is supposed to be a secret. See Barton over there? Distract him, find out how the hell he got in here when this is a private party, and get him out of here. I think Steve will be able to help you. Bruce and I are going to end this party cause' this is too risky, and Loki's going to go to his room. That's the plan. I'm going to run this down with Steve and Bruce, but I'd like it if you get a head start." Tony finished with a challenging look on his face. However, Parker didn't see it as he was eying Loki from across the room with that puppy-dog expression of wonder.
Finally, after a few beats, he grinned and nodded, blending into the crowd with ease. Tony let out a relieved sigh before doing as he said.
Loki slipped into his room without anyone noticing thanks to Bruce. He closed the door quietly, facing it as he reflected for a moment. What happened? And he didn't mean the whole Hawkeye somehow slipping in, though it was a major part of his confusion, but this time he was referring to the time he spent with Tony. The two were dancing, were so close, and they almost...
"It's over, Loki."
His thoughts were jarred by a very familiar feminine voice that made his blood run cold. He fell into a frenzied panic, half way confused again, before turning around to meet the red head sitting on the edge of his bed. The frost giant had half a mind to just fling the door open and run away. Of the two agents, he'd rather have a run in with the male as he was a little more predictable.
"There's no point in running." she cooed, as if she read his thoughts. "I come here to talk."
A/N: It's been a while, but have I mentioned Peter yet? I love the Spiderman and The Amazing Spiderman movies so I figured I'd include him in the mischief~