disclaimer: still i do not own marvel.
Chapter 26
Early morning coffee had never tasted better or more victorious than in this moment. This day started out so differently from his usual pace. Not for one moment had he thought that sharing a room with the mischievous Loki was strange. Somehow, he felt he could actually get used to having another person with him in his private quarters, be they the bedroom or his workshop.
He trusted the ex-god for some obscure reason - that former evil mastermind who had slept in soundless comfort, waking up with a soft, graceful, but all-too-knowing smile on his face. Just before Tony left the room, the tall trickster rose from the bed and stretched his naked frame like a lean cat before walking toward the engineer. Tony could not remove his eyes from this entrancing vision of Loki, who still held a peculiar expression of contentment on his face.
The brown-haired engineer was expecting the ex-god to stride to the bathroom, but those insufferably beautiful blue eyes were locked on his own. "I do expect a hot beverage when I return from the shower, Anthony," demanded the man before him. At that moment, Tony half expected to see Loki stride out of his room butt-naked, just because the ex-god was too proud to use his facilities, but no, the golden-haired man stayed, showing that nobody could predict his movements. In fact, Tony could never have predicted Loki's next action.
A real kiss.
Not a hasty peck on the cheek or a fast touch of lips, but a real, even tender, kiss claiming Tony's mouth. Loki's hands ran through his hair, stroking his scalp as the kiss deepened and caused a pleasant fire to burn inside him. Reluctantly, they parted and the ex-god only spoke the following words before he sauntered into the bathroom, "I'll see you soon."
Tony headed to the kitchen, finding himself starting the same morning ritual of the past weeks. Bruce was already there, biting down in a green apple, deep–brown eyes scanning what was apparently an important note. Tony peered over the Bruce's shoulder to see what was so interesting. The scientist acknowledged his presence with a nod before returning to the morning lecture he had brought with him. It was fun having another person around that shared the same love of knowledge and science. Sometimes, neither of them used words during work, those things simply became obsolete after a while.
After preparing his own large cup of hot, black coffee, Tony started to prepare a second one when a familiar voice sounded from behind him. "Stark, it is unusual to see you up this early." Natasha, my favourite ex-assistant.
"Why are you preparing coffee for two?" she asked, immediately questioning the one thing in the kitchen area that seemed truly off.
Tony heard the sound of more footsteps behind him and decided to ignore them. He continued to make the blasphemy of a drink Loki called coffee. The sound of high heels ticking on his floor made it very clear Pepper was among the owners of the footsteps while the heavy, sturdy steps surely belonged to the good Captain.
"It's probably for his assistant, Locke," Steve said, answering Natasha's question. "According to Tony, the man gets crabby when he doesn't drink caffeine in the morning. But I think he's an okay guy."
The engineer heard the widow give curious "hmmmm" to the answer. No doubt, she was well-informed of his current personal assistant, knowing all the finer details and specifics by now. He would have been disappointed otherwise, but he also feared her interrogating gaze. He knew how easily she would know that he was holding something back, something unsaid, something hidden. It was an incomplete puzzle and he and Loki held the important parts. He knew it was only a matter of time before she ferretted out the information, but he was determined not to let that show on his face as he continued to stir the coffee.
"Where is Robin Hood?" Tony asked her directly, turning to face the woman, whose normally emotionless face was no less intimidating at the moment. Tony knew exactly how dangerous the Widow could be and of all the Avengers, how very dangerous she was to Loki right now. "Now that I think about it, he probably…"
"What the heck, Tony?" Tony blinked at the All-American superhero who was looking at him with a disappointed puppy-eyed look on his face. "You've got to be kidding me. At a time like this? If she's still here, I want her gone."
What the...? Oh. Right. Loki had kissed him and tousled his hair to an even more insane state than it normally was, not to mention the evidence of a rather recent love bite half-hiding under the hem of his t-shirt. He scoffed. "Since when can't I get laid in my own house? Everybody in this place should have sex at least once a week. Especially you, Captain Virginity," Tony grinned, pointing at Steve. "Seventy years on ice is too long."
"Wait a minute here," noted the Black Widow, who was still looking at him curiously. "Stark, what you do with your private life isn't our business, even if I agree with Rogers that bringing women here is really not appropriate at the moment. But," she questioned, looking at him with prying eyes, "more than that, why are you personally preparing coffee for your assistant?" With this, she crossed her arms, putting emphasis on the "you" part of her inquiry.
Tony fought the urge to squirm under her gaze. He was feeling more and more like a curiosity about to be dissected and he was getting annoyed with the impromptu interrogation. He couldn't blame her for the question, though. If someone had told him months ago that the great Anthony Stark would be pouring coffee voluntarily for another man, he'd have called them mad. "Can't I be nice?"
"No," replied Natasha immediately, giving him no choice but to further the discussion.
Tony let an annoyed sigh escape his lips. "Look, if I don't get the Prickly Princess his morning coffee, I'm stuck with a cranky pain in the ass all day." The engineer was so engrossed in his conversation with the black-clothed spy that he failed to notice the soft footsteps of Loki as he entered the room. It wasn't until Natasha's eyes moved that he noticed the other man, but by then, it was already too late. He was a sitting duck.
With an air of grace, Loki retrieved the mug of coffee from Tony's hand, placing a rather modest peck on his cheek. Instantly, Tony knew he was doomed and inwardly, he begged the ex-god not to open that devious mouth.
"I have yet to receive complaints about the pain in your ass, Anthony," Loki commented in that seductive voice of his. The trickster smiled wickedly, lips curling upward in a smile that made Tony truly wonder if he was friend or foe.
And fuck, this wasn't how it was supposed to go! There was no way that the hint of red he could feel creeping on his face was real. Tony Stark never got embarrassed, let alone tricked into something like this. That sly bastard had planned this whole thing before he even left the room, messing up his hair to make sure somebody would notice. And boy, had they! Now the entire room, including Pepper, was drowning in disturbing silence. He needed to get a smart-ass comment out right now before it was too late, but the hand Loki left lingering on his shoulder drew all his attention. The tiny, out-of-place blush across his cheeks was perfect blackmail for either Pepper or Natasha if they wanted something from him. He mentally facepalmed.
I'm so screwed.
Pepper was the first one to let out a snicker and the Russian redhead just smiled knowingly. Bruce already knew the situation, so he just carried on eating, merely observing everybody's reactions with a small, amused expression. Steve was as white as a sheet when realisation sank in and the tall blond just had to say it out loud. "You never had haemorrhoids." It only made Pepper's laugh more apparent when she tried to hide it behind her hand. Even Bruce was starting to grin.
But Tony wouldn't be Tony if he hadn't formulated a reply in those long seconds. Better late than never, of course. "I can't help being this irresistible, so it was bound to happen. Of course, there hasn't been an assistant I haven't slept with; can't ruin that reputation because of a silly thing called gender. And no," retorted the genius, pointing his finger towards the Russian women's general direction, "you don't count." He grinned. "Imagine the possibilities I have now as the most handsome bisexual man on the planet."
Loki removed his hand from the engineer's shoulder, sliding it teasingly down his arm. "I do hope you are not insinuating that you will share a bed with another, Anthony," he said, voice laced with something unidentifiable. All Tony heard in that sentence was, "You are mine."
"Wait! Are you jealous, darling?" Tony mocked, looking straight at the trickster, who had resumed drinking his coffee with a deadpan look on his face. But the engineer saw he had struck a nerve in those mesmerising blue eyes; there really was a gleam of possessiveness shining deep within them, something he actually found himself enjoying. "You are, aren't you, Highness?"
His statement didn't make Loki's calm face falter in the slightest; in fact, if it wasn't for those emotion-filled eyes, Tony would have thought he was a heartless man playing a cruel trick. "Stark, don't be silly."
"Okay, this is it. You two sound like a married couple arguing over home decoration." The others snickered at this, but Steve ignored Tony's eyebrow raised in question and said, "Dear Lord, this explains so much. So does this mean that you two are boyfriends?"
Tony had fallen silent at the words of his broad-shouldered friend - did they really sound like that? - but he couldn't let that comment go. "I'd hardly call myself a boy, Steve, since I can take it like a man," replied Tony lewdly, with a wink. He basked in the small victory as his heroic friend turned that lovely shade of tomato-red. "Now, Natasha, to what do we owe the pleasure? I'm sure you're not here to ask how I am in bed?"
The spy leveled her gaze at him. "I am here with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s reports on disappearances and missing persons during the past few weeks, as well as spots where the homeless tend to gather. Clint and Thor are checking out some of the areas in hope of evidence, but we didn't find anything in the area where Locke used to stay. It was emptied out." Tony kept looking at her, knowing that it wasn't the last of it. "Fury expects your call."
Figures. "I'll get back to him later, when I feel like it. Will you guys be staying at the tower?" enquired the engineer.
"Yes," Natasha replied, nodding slightly. "I'll be going now, but Clint and I will back in the evening with useful Intel." Tony saw her eyes scan Loki; intelligent eyes taking him in and deeming his worth. He knew that the trickster chose not to stare back, but nevertheless, the genius could feel cold sweat running down along his spine.
How long did they have before everything came crashing down violently? Natasha was as deadly a force to be reckoned with as any. If any of them could pry the truth from his lips, it would be the Widow. It didn't matter that Loki was no longer was the brooding, dark god locked in a glass cage. Yes, the tall man had changed for the better, if Tony out ruled the mischief. True, his golden locks, sky-blue eyes, and slightly altered face would never give away his true persona at first glance, but the Russian spy had the power to look beyond that. The short time she spent interrogating the previously caged god would have given the woman enough information about his mannerisms and quirks. In the end, Tony thought she would be the one to truly recognise the god, she would notice the way the edge of his lips curled upwards when he smirked. And honestly, he had no idea how to handle the inevitable.
Tony saw Loki finally meet her prying gaze and the mischievous one spoke. "I do not believe we have been introduced." Loki reached out a hand. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm Locke Ladislav." Politely, they shook each other's hands, the Black Widow still wary of the actions of a stranger.
"Natasha," she stated, returning the handshake. "I respect what you did, but that doesn't mean I trust you." Her voice betrayed no emotion, but Tony knew Loki would be a wild card in her eyes until she could decide his role in all of this. If he wasn't careful around her, their house of cards would fall.
"He has my trust, Natasha. That should say enough." Of all people, Tony knew that Natasha was one of the few who would understand that his trust never came easy, not with all that had happened to him in these past few years. Right now, he trusted only a handful of people and even then, he kept certain thoughts and emotions to himself. Opening up to a person meant showing his wounds, his vulnerability. Why he tried this with an ex-super-villain, of all people, was beyond his own knowledge. He was probably going crazy.
Steve noticed the subtle tension in Tony's posture and tried to defuse the situation a bit by pulling the conversation back to more immediate needs. "I'll also be taking my leave, but I'll be going in conventional clothing. The Stars and Stripes would get too much attention on the streets. This way, I'll cover more ground." He nodded toward Tony, Bruce, and Locke. "I trust that you guys can handle the information search. If you find anything, even a speck of dust in the wrong place, let us know."
Steve continued, moving toward the door with Natasha in tow. "If we find anything, you three will be the first ones to know. Tony, we might need your help later if anything shows up." Watching them leave, it never ceased to amaze Tony how Steve swapped from an earnest man-out-of-time to commander with just a few words.
When the two scientists and ex-god reached Stark's large workshop, the lights had been turned on and Jarvis had prepared an impressive scale-sized three-dimensional blueprint of New York City. Tony clapped his hands and grinned, ready for science to take place. "Okay, kids, let's get to work!" A small robot parked in the corner whizzed enthusiastically. "No, not you Dummy, go and make some tea for Bruce or something." His words resulted in the robot riding down the lab in the wrong direction, almost like a sulking child. "Jarvis, have you decoded and stored all of Natasha's data?"
"Yes, sir, and I have proceeded to trace it to its origin, 'digging deeper' as you once recommended."
"You sneaky bastard, I didn't program you for that," Tony commented with a cheeky grin on his face. "I like it. Found anything interesting yet?"
"No, sir, but it is just a matter of time."
Bruce glanced his way. "Fury?"
"So far, he's done absolutely nothing to earn my trust, always hiding half of what we need to know somewhere up his sleeve. I don't expect it to be any different this time with that one-eyed fucker." The engineer used his experienced fingers at the holographic lay-out, making certain areas light up in a blue shade. One bright spot marked their starting point: the abandoned box-filled slum where Loki had killed one of those creatures.
"Sir, I have located something that might be of use."
"Bring it up, Jarvis." A new display appeared suspended in mid-air: documents about defective Chitauri weaponry. In the final moments of the invasion of New York, Tony steered a nuke through the portal, the warhead creating an explosion large enough to bring down their impressive mother ship and disable its smaller sub-units. In the almost deafening silence after the portal closed, the alien invaders, their artillery, and their vehicles had dropped down to the cold earth, completely inert, only to be whisked away by S.H.I.E.L.D. with impressive speed. Tony frowned in concentration as he started parsing through the images, his mind running through all the variables and not liking any of them.
Loki recognised it - the passion igniting in the engineer's eyes when ideas flickered to life behind them. He understood the way the genius's mind blocked out all of reality as he worked for hours, uncaring regarding health and need of sleep. Loki knew it took years of learning and struggling to achieve the level of ease which the man used to skillfully craft and manipulate his inventions.
It was as if a mirror had been held in front of him, mimicking his dedication to gaining control over his talents and learning ancient lore. He remembered well those long years he had spent alone in a dusty library, accompanied by nothing but his passion while poring through the invaluable books of old by candlelight. Few within Asgard knew or appreciated the written knowledge, preferring to replace it with mindless battle and drinking contests. No one had recognised Loki's powerful magic for its true worth, deeming it nothing more than petty tricks.
It was a mistake the trickster had made himself upon his earlier "visit" to Earth, dismissing the red and gold Iron Man as merely a flashy, victory-hungry warrior. He had failed to recognise what lay beneath the shining metal exterior. The ex-god had come to terms with the man inside of that metal harness: Anthony truly had a brilliant mind.
For a Midgardian.
Loki grinned mischievously at the engineer as he watched, his intelligent eyes absorbing every detail in the files maneuvering in mid-air, finding nothing out of the ordinary or noting forgotten details. As curious flickerings in the genius's brown eyes alerted him to new findings, he scanned over the text and images now being shown. The ex-god could not hold the surprised gasp that escaped him at what he saw before him.
Trickery. Loki thought his eyes must be betraying him. The hive had been vanquished, destroying the signal that kept the Chitauri and their organic built weaponry pulsing with life. He had seen the result himself as the Avengers dragged him, bound and gagged, through the streets to his new cell. Every Chitauri soldier passed had been reduced to cold flesh, their guns and vehicles rendered useless. What Loki saw before him could not, should not be, yet evidence to the contrary was blazing with life in the hologram, file labelled Item 47.
"Anything you'd like to share with the rest of the class, Locke?" asked Banner, looking at Loki with concerned eyes. He must have looked skittish in his human skin. The scientist was right; Loki did feel a hint of distress surging through his veins.
"They never left," said Loki through clenched teeth, the sound almost a hiss. Two pairs of brown eyes looked at him in confusion. It was obviously an answer neither of the two other men had expected and the unasked question was apparent on both their faces. There was no way around this except a clear explanation. Loki knew any other words and stories would ring false, ending in unfavourable outcomes for all involved.
Banner looked curiously at the tall man, noting the familiar and sudden stillness of holding distress at bay. "What do you mean they never left? All the dead were taken care of; none remained, not even for research." He wondered how such a thing could be possible, that even S.H.I.E.L.D. could have missed a continuing Chitauri presence on Earth. More importantly, how could Locke have seen this when no one else had?
Loki could see recognition dawn on Anthony's bearded face. "Don't," asked the genius quietly, his enthusiastic behaviour of earlier long gone.
The engineer knew that any word spoken now could ruin any chances of nights spent together in passionate touches. The charade would be shattered and peace long gone. Brown eyes held sorrow for the choice Loki had to make, secretly hoping he would choose to be selfish, for both their sakes.
But Loki spoke.
thank you for reading as always
feel free to leave some soulfood (review) to fill my brain.
chapter beta'd by weniebond and swordmisstress.