"You know Loki, you can be an idiot at times." Tony hissed as JARVIS closed the elevator doors closed. The short man crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, waiting for the descent down to the ground floor. Loki stood sulkily at the opposite end of the elevator, Peter sandwiched between the two men. "If you're trying to kill Thor, I suggest you use a knife filled with some of your hocus pocus juju cause' there's no way in hell a regular kitchen knife is going to do much damage. Bullets bounce off that guy's skin and handling lightning is his party trick."
"Stop chiding me as I am not in the mood."
"Stop trying to get yourself killed, I'm not in the mood for that!" Tony shot back harshly. It silenced Loki for the moment so the iron man continued. "Damn it, why didn't you just let me suit up?! Stabbing him didn't help anything, you're lucky he didn't hit you because he looked just about ready to!"
"That oaf put his arms around me! As if I had forgiven him for his actions!" Loki yelled back. "What was I supposed to do? Allow him to simply say those empty words and then whisk me away back to Asgard? To rot away in a cell once again?"
"No!" Tony said, exasperated. "You could have- You just- Ugh!"
The iron man pounded his fist against the wall. Peter jumped at the sudden movement and sniffled. The teenager felt very much out of place, a little anxious, and really did not want to be caught in the middle of any of this.
"Guys..." Peter began hesitantly, not wanting them to continue shouting around him.
"He is going to come back." Loki remarked as if the teenager hadn't spoken. "He is. Thor never gives up and he is going to return to try to take me once again!"
"No he won't," Tony said, tone a little softer than before. "I won't let him take you."
"With what power? You are only mortal. He is Asgardian, and though I have no doubt you can hold your own against him, he is far stronger when in rage."
"I promise you, Loki. He's not going to take you." Tony said seriously, jaw clinched. "Sure, I can't ensure you won't see him again, that he won't break me, or that he'd break down a window or two, or convert New York into New Seattle-"
"You are rambling."
"-but I will not let him hurt or take you away. Not without a fight."
"Hmm." Loki hummed quietly. "I do not do well with promises. They tend to lead to a false sense of hope."
"Trust me on this." Tony reached around Peter to grab Loki's hand. "I swear, this promise will be kept."
"Okay." was all Loki said as the two met each other's gaze and Tony let a lopsided smile form on his face.
"Okay." He responded.
"Okay," Peter said, squirming uncomfortably. "Can you two save this weird suspiciously non-platonic stuff for when I'm not in the room?"
The spider man was ignored.
Steve looked like absolute hell when they finally arrived on the ground floor. Blond hair disheveled and button-up shirt wrinkled to a point of no return, the captain's expression was hard. He was in one of those moments where he appeared his true age almost like a typewriter in the middle of a computer lab. And he looked very tired. Oh, very tired.
The trio stepped out of the elevator and walked up to the captain who was hunched over on a couch against the wall facing them.
Underneath their feet they immediately heard dull thudding and roaring. Something on the floor below was pounding away at the ceiling, causing the floor to vibrate softly. The other guy was obviously out but safely in the basement. Tony took a moment to sigh and appreciate the fact that the basement had been reinforced and designed specifically to contain the hulk. He swallowed a few pangs of guilt about the room as he remembered exactly who was behind the rage monster - Bruce Banner, one of his best friends.
"How long has he been hulking out?" Tony asked, not missing a beat.
"A good fifteen minutes. The Other Guy will probably be at it for about thirty more." Steve replied, shifting so that he appeared ready for action. "What happened? Are you all okay? What does he want?"
"Me of course." Loki sniffed. "We are as I speculated - unharmed."
"Princess here stabbed Thor with a knife after Blondie tried to bear hug him." Tony snorted at the surprised expression on Steve's face before continuing. "But Thor left. He's going to come back anytime soon."
"So...what next?" Peter asked as he sunk down next to the captain and tried his best not to look like a lost puppy in all of the drama unfolding.
Loki shrugged. "I would say we flee, but it would do us no good. He would simply follow us."
"Wouldn't want to bring the thunderstorms with us." Tony said.
"Thunderstorms?" Steve asked before a roaring clap of thunder shook the building and all eyes turned to the glass door to see the first heavy sheets of rain to fall.
"It's raining because you fucking stabbed him." Tony whined, really really really tired of it being dreary with rain.
"Can we move past that, Tony?" Loki snapped back. "I believe we have more to worry about than some mere rain."
"The Hulk is in the basement." Peter offered up helpfully.
"Can you just go somewhere? Like, do your web thingy back home?" Tony jabbed a finger to his shoulder then pointed to the doors. "Away? You're one of our problems right now."
"What did I do?"
"You're just here. You know you're still a minor and though I'm pretty confident in the way we built those walls down there," Tony pointed to the floor, "I don't think we should take any chances and have you get hurt. Not to mention we don't know when Hammer Time will come back. It could be a few days, an hour, hell, even a month. But until it all calms down..."
"...It is best for you not to be in any possible danger." Loki finished. "You have become a friend of mine and I would hate to see you harmed in the middle of my fight."
"I don't want to get sued either for having a teenager get injured on my grounds." Tony mumbled.
"The rain is pretty heavy though.." Peter drawled slowly, not liking the look of it. A nice puddle that was probably a half foot deep had already formed outside the door and he wasn't too keen on putting his foot in it. Not too mention how it was hard to see anything past the gray blurs that was the pounding of rain.
"I'm sure Happy can give you a ride home." Steve offered up, giving a pointed look to Tony. Tony waved his hand as if it was all cool with him. The iron man quickly asked JARVIS to call Happy and the arrangements were made. Once Peter left, they all took a seat on the couch and sat in silence, each one of them trying to think of a way out of their situation.
After thirty minutes the pounding underneath their feet did not stop nor did the rain. Tired of thinking about the subject, Loki opted to rest his head against Tony's shoulder and watch the rain fall. Eventually Tony gave up on the subject too and responded to the physical contact by resting his head against Loki's. The silence stretched on from something dreadfully empty to companionable as the two tried to think about anything other than Thor. They didn't even notice when the din underneath them finally stopped or Steve getting up to leave.
A/N: Why didn't anyone spam me with Leonardo Dicaprio pictures?! If I don't update within a week, please drop me a PM or an ask on my tumblr (my blog moved to assguardingloki). Really, I need to stop being lazy with my free time and write! I have everything plotted out so all I need to do is write it!
Thank you so much for the reviews as they do motivate me! They make my day and bring a smile to my face. ((:
I'm SO sorry if the fic does not make sense or if their characters are off! I'll try my best to write them as well as I can. Anddd don't hate Thor. I love Thor, he's actually my favorite Avenger. One, because he can be so chill and I love it. Two, the relationships he has with characters around him are so beautiful just like with Loki. I seriously love the dynamic the two brothers have as well as the relationship the two have with other characters. I honestly have trouble writing them in this particular story because I feel like I struggle with capturing the dynamic.
I also am sorry Loki isn't "Loki enough", whatever that means. He isn't as aggressive or deceitful or violent enough apparently. I'm soooo sorry, I can try to add more of that in, but to be honest this isn't really the story for loco!Loki. If you want loco!Loki I'm sure A Winter Flight can satisfy you? I don't know, sorry!
Just a warning, we haven't seen the last of Pepper Potts. Please, please, please try not to hate on her for getting in the way of your ship! She's a beautiful character and I have received some anons over tumblr slamming her. Not cool
I apologize for the long author's note! I have just been getting a lot of commentary over time that I could not quite answer privately because it was done through anons. Anyway, until next week!