Fifty Six

The next few days we tried to avoid the common room. But it was inevitable that we come out of hiding or face the wrath of Pepper and Jane who had become good friends. The pair watched us like a hawk. They even showed up during training and sat in the control room. Sometimes one would watch Loki and I spar while the other entertained Lana upstairs and compared stories later. There was once, Pepper and Jane had talked Lana into watching us train.

This was rough on Loki, spending so much magic covering everything up. He'd make Loki teleport away and Lana collapsed from exhaustion as soon as we arrived to our penthouse. Loki tried to keep the guise of Lana up overnight, but always reverted by morning.

"Loki."I lectured. "You need to stop doing this, take a break from training."

"I can't, they'll know something's wrong. We just need to do this a few days longer and they'll lose interest and find something else to do." Loki explained sounding rather tired.

"Loki, you're taking a sick day. You will spend all day in bed with me."

"Hold that thought." He covered his mouth and bolted for the bathroom. I followed and leaned my head to the door.

"Love bug? Are you alright?" I was answered by the sound of puking. I tried to open the door, it was locked. I broke the door open with my shoulder. Loki was kneeling, covered in sweat, trying not to puke again. I turned on the shower and started stripping him of his soiled clothes.

"I don't know what happened." He muttered. I undid myself of my clothes and hauled both of us into the shower. He sat on the floor letting the water roll off him. I sat with him, scrubbing him with the loofa.

"Are you okay?" I asked again.

"I was okay one minute and not okay the next." He was still mumbling to himself. I added shampoo to his hair, rubbing my fingers into his scalp trying to relax him.

"Loki, you're going to be okay. You probably picked up the stomach virus that's running around the tower or you ate something that didn't agree with you. I think it's the amount of stress you're under. You have been doing a lot lately." I tried explaining to him, kissing his neck. He turned to me with tears in his eyes.

"I don't understand!" He fell sobbing into my chest.

"Loki, it's okay. Baby, you hear. It's all alright. It happens." I cooed and ran my fingers through his wet hair. I didn't want him to catch cold, so I shut off the water and wrapped him in a towel.

"I'm calling the star spangled ass and telling him I'm taking a sick day because you're sick. If he doesn't like it he can find a new home." I got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist. I called Cap and told him the situation. He actually agreed and told me to take care of her. Said Lana looked a little out of it the last few days. I hung up the phone and set it to silent. I grabbed a hair tie that was left one night, many years ago by Pepper and a brush for Loki. I returned to Loki vomiting once again. I grabbed ahold of his hair and held it out of his way. He sat moaning, holding his stomach. I rubbed his back gently.

"Loki? I'm going to brush your hair out so it doesn't set this way." I cooed. He nodded. I brushed him out, taking my time, massaging his scalp. I looped the tie around his hair pulling it safely out of the way. I admired how long it had gotten since I first met him in Germany two years ago.

"Can we lie down?" I asked. He nodded and I helped him to his feet. He did feel exceptionally warm. I got him into bed.

"Thank you, Tony."

"I'm going to find some fever reducer. You're a bit warm for you." I felt his forehead before running back to the bathroom looking for anything that would take his fever away and let him sleep. I found a bottle of Advil. I started reading the bottle only to be pushed aside by Loki. I sat with him on the floor as he dry heaved. I rubbed his back some more. He was crying again.

I got up and found him some sweats and a glass of water. I convinced him to at least put on sweat pants. I got him back to the bedroom and gave him the Advil and water.

"What do I do with these?" He said weakly.

"You've seen me take pain relievers, you put them in your mouth and swallow them. It'll bring this fever down so I hopefully don't have to get Thor and explain why you're puking in my penthouse." I dropped them in his hand and he took them. "Lie down, get some rest. I'll be right back."

I finally put some jeans on and went to grab a wash rag. I soaked it in cold water and refilled Loki's glass. I came back and he rolled his head to look at me.

"Tony, what's wrong with me?"

"I don't know baby. I don't know." I laid the wash cloth on his forehead. I laid with him until he fell asleep. I fell asleep next to him soon after.