"I'll have a soy white please." The waitress took Loki's order and him and Tony went back to their booth. They got heaps of strange looks as they entered, due to their hands. Tony already had a muffin and an espresso shot in his hand, and was struggling to balance them. Loki didn't know how his body managed to contain so much caffeine. Or alcohol, actually. They hadn't had time for Tony to shower, so he still looked like he'd just woken up. Although Loki hated to admit it, he looked really cute with his hair all tussled and curly, and Loki had an urge to smooth it down or run his hands through it. But that would mean that he liked Tony, which he didn't. Loki shook his head and sat down next to said man. Clint was talking animatedly to Nat about something to do with Karate or self-defense.
"Then, I threw him down, but on the way down he managed to twist out of my grip and punch me in the balls!" The boys made oooh sounds, Natasha just laughed.
"Never assume your opponent is defeated, until you know for sure." She said with a grin.
"Yeah, yeah. But when you're in the middle of sparring you don't have time to reflect on those unimportant details!" Clint complained, he hated being shown up by Natasha.
"Unimportant? Tell that to our instructor." Muttered Natasha.
"Look at you two! Fighting like a married couple! How sweet." Tony chimed in. Natasha's eyes narrowed. "Say that again Stark, and I'll murder you." Tony raised his free hand up in surrender. "Just joking, Nat."
"You better be." She growled.
Loki laughed. "Isn't she just delightful?"
"Watch it, silvertongue." She retorted. Loki glared.
"Am I missing something here?" Tony asked.
"Long story." Natasha and Loki replied simultaneously.
"Fine then, don't tell me." Tony sighed.
"Oh I won't." Loki smirked. Clint glanced at his watch.
"Guys, it's quarter to eight, I wouldn't mind heading back to campus to get ready." There were murmurs of agreement. "You guys want to go out tonight?" Clint asked, hoping Natasha would say yes.
"Sure." Loki agreed. Tony didn't look so sure.
"Well, I kinda promised Obi that I'd go to a Stark Industries charity event tonight."
"I am not going to a gala." Loki scowled.
"Well, it's kind of my duty to go, seeing as I own the business."
"I'm not going."
Tony sighed, he seemed to do that a lot around Loki. "Whether I have to drag you there or not, you're going."
"No."
"Loki, stop being a stubborn ass for once in your life."
"I'm not stubborn." Loki cried indignantly.
Tony looked at him pointedly. "You wanna say that again."
Loki huffed and folded his arms.
"Let's go back to campus." Loki said in a dejected tone.
"I'll take that as a yes then."
"Shut up, Stark." He snapped.
"Why," Tony asked, irritated, "Does no one call me Tony?"
They were in a car on the way to the Stark event, much to Loki's annoyance, when Tony's phone rang.
He glanced at the Caller ID. It was Pepper. "Hey babe. You joining us tonight?"
"Yup. Us?" Loki heard through the receiver. It was hard to sit far away with handcuffs on.
"Good luck explaining our current predicament." Loki said with a snort. Tony made a shushing gesture and went back to the call.
"Yeah. I have a, uh, surprise for you." Loki snorted again.
"Tony, who's that?"
"That's Loki."
"Loki Odinson?"
Loki scowled at the last name.
"I prefer Laufeyson these days." Ever since he found out the truth about his real father, and about his adoption, he used his biological father's last name. Not that his real father was a lot better than Odin.
"Tony, why are you in a car with Loki?"
"It's a long story."
"You better tell me, Anthony." Loki was starting to like this woman more and more, although he questioned her taste in men.
"Well, Clint may or may not have handcuffed us together." Tony waited for the angry rant. It didn't come. In fact, Pepper laughed. "Are you serious? That's the best thing I've heard all day. Even I'd become bored of your ridiculous arguments." Tony gaped. He'd been expecting something more along the lines of; "How drunk were you in order to do something as stupid as that?" But her actual reaction was much better.
"So you don't mind that I'm handcuffed to the most stubborn person in the entire universe?" Tony said. Loki hit him.
"Am I supposed to be? How far away are you guys?" Tony looked out the window.
"We're here. Where are you?"
"Just pulling in now. See you soon." She did. As soon as she exited her car, she was met by a grinning Tony and a scowling Loki.
"Hey Pep." He kissed her, as deeply as he could with Loki 's arms folded. She broke away, mainly out of pity for Loki, who had to endure this for, most likely, the entire evening.
"Hi Loki." She went to kiss him on the cheek, but he stopped her.
"I saw where those lips have been." She laughed.
"Too true. So how's school?" And the awkward small talk had begun.
Tony answered, "Its great! Weapons development is really good, we're currently-"
"I was talking to Loki." Pepper interrupted. "What subjects do you take?"
" Well, I major in Psychology, if you can even call it majoring. I do a lot of defence stuff as well, but I've been kind of restricted this week, so I need to catch up."
"I figured. If you don't mind me asking, why do you find Psychology useful in intelligence training?"
"Yeah, Loki, why do you find it useful?" Tony echoed in mock interest.
"Have you ever seen C.S.I or and criminal investigation programs?" The others nodded.
"Well a lot of that is Psychology. It helps you to infiltrate clubs or gangs, because you can understand how they act, and act that way yourself. You can also predict how someone is going to react, and what they're thinking by their body language. That's just a few reasons why, but there are loads more reasons why I take it."
"So you want to be a field agent then? Rather than building weapons?
"Hey, I don't just build weapons." Tony argued.
"Tony, you take Weapons Development. I doubt you all sit down learning about fashion or something." Pepper retorted. Oh yes, Loki liked this woman.
"Yes, I am aiming to be a field agent." The conversation was put on hold as they walked through the entrance, and all the stares that followed. Pepper had to run off and say hello to Tony's good friend James, more commonly known as Rhodey, leaving Loki bored and Tony being the charming host he is.
"Tony!" A bald man with a beard came up to Tony and shook his hand.
"One moment please." Tony said goodbye to the woman he was talking to/flirting with and turned to his guardian. "Obi! Nice to see you, how's my business?" Obi's eyes went dark as Tony said this, giving Loki the tiniest bit of suspicion about him.
"Good, good. How's school, doing well?"
"Of course."
"Weapons development going alright?" Tony's eyes lit up.
"Finally, someone that's interested." Tony nattered on about this, giving Loki sometime to work on his opinion of Obadiah. He seemed like a decent person, who was genuinely interested in Tony's intelligence. However, Loki didn't miss the slight frown and darkening of the eyes whenever Stark Industries was mentioned. It was commonly known that once Tony turned 21 he would become CEO of Stark Industries, kicking Obi out of that much-desired position. But Loki was probably reading too much into this, so he just grabbed some champagne for him and Tony and went back to listening to Tony drone on about new nano-technology.
"Hey is that for me?" Tony pointed at the other glass in Loki's hand. He took it without waiting for an answer.
"Watch your drinking Tony, we know what day it is tomorrow." Tony paled, and then downed the rest of the champagne in seconds.
"What day is it tomorrow?"
"None of your business, Shakespeare. Let's go to the bar." Alright, then. Whatever day it was tomorrow, it was clearly a sore spot. No matter how much Loki despised Tony, he wouldn't push it. At least not yet.
"Can I get another scotch?" The bartender raised an eye at Tony.
"Sir, you've already had three, along with a shot of tequila. I'm afraid I can't serve you any more." Tony banged the glass down on the table and looked ready to start a fight.
"Tony…" Loki warned him.
"Shut the fuck up, pretty boy. I don't need you to look after me, alright?" Luckily, Pepper chose that moment to come marching over. "Come on boys, we're going home."
"Fine with me." Tony winked at Pepper and put his free hand around her waist. Loki just rolled his eyes and followed them to Pepper's car.
When they arrived back at Pepper's dorm (they weren't allowed anyone that wasn't family at campus except on weekends), Tony locked the door and proceeded to make out with Pepper against the door. This was both embarrassing and uncomfortable for Loki, as wherever Tony's hands went, Loki's went too. Loki was fine with this arrangement for a while, he understood Tony's, er, needs, but when Tony attempted to take Pepper's top off, both Pepper and Loki realized there was a line.
"Tony, stop. You're drunk." She tried to push Tony off.
"That's never stopped us before." He kept on trying to force himself on Pepper.
"Just stop." Loki dragged Tony into Pepper's room, leaving her to fix her top.
"Tony, you need to sleep."
"Yes mum." Tony dived onto the bed, twisting Loki's wrist in the process.
"Could you've at least tried not to do that so painfully?" Said Loki as he tried to arrange himself in a way that was comfortable for the both of them.
"Could've, should've, didn't." Tony lay back and stared at Loki. Tony's eyes were already starting to droop. He was struggling to keep them open. But before he fell asleep, he muttered a sentence, just audible enough for Loki to hear.
"You have nice eyes." Loki stopped breathing for a moment. Pepper entered the room.
"He off to sleep?" Loki nodded. Tony was sprawled across the bed, leaving no room whatsoever for Loki. Meaning that Loki would have to sleep sitting up against the bed.
"He's not that bad, you know." Pepper was talking to Loki.
"Who, Tony?"
"Yeah. He's the funniest guy I know, and at the start of our relationship, he was very protective, but not clingy. He's a good guy, but I worry about him."
"Why?"
Pepper sighed. "He's gone through a lot. Drinking and making jokes is a coping mechanism. Aside from that, he's got a good heart. But there's still one thing I can't figure out. Why don't you like him? What's he done to you? Like I'm sure you have your reasons, but I guess I'm just curious."
It was Loki's turn to sigh. "I don't know. I guess I didn't like his attitude, he was extremely cocky and arrogant when we first met, but after that he wasn't too bad, weirdly enough. I guess first impressions make the most impact on my judge of character. Plus, he didn't seem to like me too much either." Pepper looked at Loki, deep in thought.
"When did you first meet Tony?" Pepper asked, hoping she'd be wrong.
"First day of college last year." Loki remembered that day very clearly.
"No, like the date." Pepper shook her head.
"September 6th."
Pepper's eyes widened. "Of course he was a prick then, his parents had just died!"
Loki swung his head back to her. "Wait, what?"
"I thought you majored in Psychology. You should know that a drinking problem is usually a sign of repression and blocking things from the past, namely traumatic experiences such as death of a loved one, or in Tony's case loved ones."
"Well, I knew that, but I didn't know about his family! And since when were you a Psychologist?" Loki was dumbfounded, and slightly pissed. Psychology was his thing.
"He's got no one left. Except Obi, but I don't trust him."
"Neither. How did his parents, you know, die?"
"Car crash. Tony didn't want pity, so he acted like it never happened, like he wasn't close to them. Maybe not close to his father, but him and his mother were very close. It hit him hard, not that he showed it to anyone but me. And Rhodey."
"I-I didn't know…"
"The less you know the better. Tony almost kills anyone that mentions it. What time is it? I have an early class tomorrow."
"It's-" He glanced at his watch "Eleven o'clock- wait is today the 5th of September?"
"Yup."
"That means that tomorrow is…"
"Why else do you think Tony's been a dick tonight? Coping mechanism, remember? Go easy on him; don't mention anything about his family. Everyone else knows to leave him alone, he gets really snappy."
"Thanks. Good night."
"Night." She smiled.
"Oh, and Pepper?"
"Yeah?" She turned as she opened the door.
"You guys are good together."
"Thanks, but I don't think it's working out."
"What?"
"Night."