The rest of their evening was spent lying together on Tony's bed and watching Fight Club, until one of them fell asleep. Tony was reclining against the headboard and Loki was curled up on his side, his head resting on Tony's chest.

Tony had been so engrossed in both watching the movie and running his fingers through Loki's hair, that he hadn't realized that Loki had fallen asleep on him, until the movie ended, when Loki didn't move or speak. Tony smiled softly, before shutting his laptop and sliding it under the bed. He didn't want to move, in fear of waking Loki, so he just pulled the duvet over the two of them and put an arm around Loki, holding him in place as he closed his eyes.

For the second time in 24 hours, Natasha found herself at Tony and Bruce's door, having left her jacket there the previous night. She couldn't be bothered knocking, and didn't want to disrupt Bruce, so she used her expert espionage skills to pick the lock with a paperclip.

To her surprise, the dorm was silent, neither Bruce or Tony were up, and both doors were closed. Not sure whether they were sleeping, out or just doing something quietly, she opened Tony's door slightly, smiling to herself when she saw Loki and Tony snuggled up together.

Unable to resist taking a photo of them, she whipped out her phone and opened up the camera, accidentally leaving the sound and flash on, causing Tony and Loki to wake up with a jolt.

Tony sat up straight, flinging the covers off in the process and resulting in Loki falling backwards and hitting his head on the wall, Tony's arm no longer supporting him.

Loki yelped in protest, rubbing his head as he sat up. Tony, upon seeing it was Natasha, relaxed and rubbed his eyes.

"Don't let me interrupt you two, I was just getting my jacket." She smirked.

"Nothing happened, Nat. We just fell asleep watching a movie, that's all." Loki muttered.

"Yeah, that's what Steve said to me when I walked in on them. Peggy told me otherwise." She said with a grin.

Tony's eyes widened. "Steve and Peggy? What? No… Steve doesn't even know what sex is… It's too early in the morning to comprehend this, I need coffee." Tony said, both confused and stunned.

Loki looked at him, amused at his reaction, before turning his attention back to Natasha, who was grinning at them.

"You two are adorable." She simpered, ignoring the scowl from Loki. "So are you guys planning on telling anyone about…" She gestured at them. "Whatever you two are now?" She finished.

Loki nodded, but Tony shook his head. "Well… Obviously we'll tell people eventually, but there's no rush." Tony shrugged.

Loki looked confused and frowned. "I thought we'd been over this…" He muttered to Tony.

"Yeah, and look at how well that went last time." Tony said sarcastically in response.

Loki opened his mouth to retort, but Natasha interrupted him. "Please don't start fighting again, it was bad enough last time. Now, I'm gonna grab my jacket and go, so you two can continue your…activities." She said, smirking as she left.

Tony flopped back down onto the bed, looking surprised when Loki stood up.

"Where are you going, Shakespeare?"

Loki had to resist the urge smile at the familiar nickname. "To my room. I mean, we don't want Bruce to find out, do we?" He sniped.

Tony groaned. "Loki, I didn't mean it like that…"

"I know, but I don't see what your problem is." Loki stated.

"It's…complicated. And it's kind of stupid." Tony admitted, sitting back up.

Loki shrugged and sat back down cross-legged on the bed. "I don't care."

Tony smiled softly at him. "Well… I guess it just makes it more real, not that that's a bad thing though. And I'm just worried that what happened last time will happen again, and I really don't want that to happen."

Loki grasped his hand and held it. "It won't. I promise." He said firmly.

Tony sighed. "I know, but can we at least wait a bit?" He asked.

"Fine. Whatever you feel comfortable doing." Loki said.

Tony smiled at him, but frowned when he stood up and headed to the door.

"Hey! Don't leave!" He cried out in protest.

Loki turned around. "I need to take a shower, Stark." He said, exasperated.

Tony smirked. "My shower works perfectly fine."

Loki rolled his eyes. "I still need my clothes."

"You can borrow mine." Tony said, smiling as he imagined Loki wearing his clothes.

"Yes, then everyone would definitely still think that we hate each other." Loki responded sarcastically, reaching for the door.

"Wait!" Tony called out, getting out of bed.

"What now?" Loki said irritably.

"I didn't get to say good morning to you properly." Tony smiled smugly.

The corners of Loki's mouth turned up. "And how might that be?"

Tony walked forward and closed the distance between them, kissing Loki and pulling him closer to him. Tony slipped his tongue into Loki's mouth and slid it over Loki's own one, making Loki moan into his mouth, before pulling away, flushed.

"Stop distracting me." Loki scolded, hitting his arm playfully

"You like it…" Tony teased, earning another shove.

"I'm going. Goodbye." Loki stated, turning around and tiptoeing out of the dorm, ignoring protests from Tony.

Tony grinned to himself once Loki left. Everything was back to normal. Well, at least as normal as what was possible for them. Yeah, it wasn't going to be easy to maintain a relationship with someone as insecure and dark as Loki, not that it was in anyway a bad thing, but Tony was prepared to work for it, something he'd never done in previous relationships. This would've terrified him any other time, but after spending the night with Loki, even though they didn't really do anything, and still feeling like he wouldn't want to be anywhere else, as lame as it sounds, it just felt normal.

Loki stepped under the warm jets of the shower, allowing himself to relax under the soft spray of water. He'd missed having his own bathroom, one that wasn't cluttered with Thor's things like his home one. Loki didn't understand how even when Thor was at school, he managed to keep hundreds of bottles of varying lotions and oils (Loki didn't want to know what for) in their home bathroom.

Despite his efforts to take his thoughts away from miscellaneous things, his mind turned back to the events that occurred a month prior, like they always did when he was alone. He couldn't remember much about being admitted to the hospital, only multiple beeping noises and blurs of colour, until seeing Tony again. But the hour before falling unconscious, Loki remembered a lot more clearly than he would've liked.

"Do not touch me again." Loki warned, trying his best to fight his way out of Fandral's grip.

Fandral laughed menacingly. "But you like me touching you, don't you pretty boy?" He purred, his hand stroking Loki's inner thigh, as his shirt was pulled over his head.

"I am warning you, get off me or I will scream!" Loki said through gritted teeth.

"But there's no one here to listen." Fandral pointed out all too happily.

Loki refused to look down as Fandral aggressively bit and sucked his way down his chest, drawing blood. Upon seeing Loki's resistance to react, he clutched Loki's neck tightly, choking him, before placing his lips onto Loki's flesh, and sucking painfully, not in a sexy or hot way. Loki knew there would be bruises there that would last for months, and scratch marks down his back that would stand out, along with a matching set of bruises on his thighs from being prevented from moving.

Fandral, in attempt to get Loki hard, began palming him through his jeans, without much luck. He was angry now, and cupped Loki's chin.

"Moan for me." He demanded angrily.

Loki's eyes met his defiantly. "Never."

Fandral grinned back at him, a feral snarl lighting up his features. "I guess I'll just have to make you, then."

And before Loki could register what was happening, Fandral was slamming his fist repeatedly into Loki's stomach, leaving him no time to catch his breath between blows. He was coughing up blood when Natasha suddenly appeared and the last thing he knew before he blacked out was that the hammering on his guts had stopped, but the pain certainly hadn't.

Loki opened his eyes and abruptly turned off the shower, hoping to make the memories join the water in disappearing down the drain. He wrapped himself in a towel, and stared at his reflection. The bruises on his legs were fading, but the ones on his neck still stood out, he'd have to continue wearing a scarf so that rumours wouldn't start, god forbid Tony to find out, he didn't need to give him more reasons to worry about his health.

Tony made a coffee and idly made his bed, debating whether or not to cross the hall and see Loki again, wondering if it would make him clingy. But the prospect of maybe seeing Loki in only a towel won him over, and he threw on some clean clothes and headed across the hall, not bothering to knock on the door.

Much to Tony's delight, Loki had just emerged from the shower, in all his wet-haired glory, with only a towel wrapped around his bottom half.

Loki, even though he was surprised, still managed to get out a sarcastic remark. "Miss me already?" He said, quickly grabbing another towel to dry his hair with.

Tony scoffed. "Don't flatter yourself, Laufeyson."

"Oh I wouldn't, if it wasn't for the fact that you won't stop ogling me." Loki smirked, tilting his head carefully to the side and toweling his hair.

Tony's eyes snapped back up from where they were roaming Loki's well-built torso, and grinned somewhat sheepishly.

"Sorry." He said, but they both knew he didn't mean it.

Loki rolled his eyes. "You want something?"

"Your company's fine, thanks." Tony said, throwing himself down on the bed.

Loki sighed and resumed the drying of his hair, but in the process the towel slipped too low, accidentally revealing his neck, dark bruises and hickeys littering the pale white of his skin. Loki, after realizing this, quickly flung his hair back over his shoulder, hoping Tony hadn't noticed.

He had.

Tony's eyes narrowed slightly as stood up and slowly walked over to where Loki was standing, and parted the hair away in order to take another look. Loki stiffened, bracing himself for a verbal attack. It didn't come.

"He did this to you, didn't he?" Tony's voice was low, as he struggled to keep his temper. Loki didn't make a sound, but Tony knew he was right. The blow to his stomach was horrible enough, but he'd tried to strangle Loki as well? He stepped back, so that he was directly behind Loki, and continued to observe the bruises on a different angle, noticing something familiar about them. They weren't just bruises, some of the marks were very distinctive, like hickeys. That's when it clicked. Loki's subtle reluctance to initiate any sort of sexual contact and his refusal to share what had happened to him.

"He didn't just beat you up that night, did he?" It was more of a statement than a question, and they both knew it.

Loki slowly nodded, his eyes closed, not expecting the arms that snaked around his waist and held him close, as a pair of lips gently kissed every bruise on his neck in a way that wasn't intended for pleasure, only to show care.

Tony's lips were now at his ear. "I promise you, I will never hurt you like he did."

Loki let out a shaky breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding in. "I know." He murmured, leaning back onto Tony. "I trust you. Fandral didn't get all the way though, Natasha wouldn't have left him alive if we had. But please, don't let this hold us back, alright?"

Tony let out a weak laugh. "I'll try."

Loki turned around in Tony's arms and rested his head against Tony's. "Thank you." He murmured. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I should probably put some clothes on – don't leave though, I'll be out in a mo."

Tony nodded. "I won't."

Loki pecked him on the cheek before walking into the bathroom with his clothes.

Once the door had shut, Tony had to resist the urge to punch another wall. Why? Why had this happened to Loki of all people? His Loki. He didn't deserve it, nobody deserved it. Lucky for Fandral that he'd resigned from college, or else Tony would be storming over there and personally making sure he never touched Loki again. But Loki didn't like people fighting his battles for him, or being treated like glass. He was emotionally strong, yet also sensitive at the same time, an odd mix.

The man himself walked out of the bathroom at that very moment, wearing black yoga pants and a green hoodie.

Tony grinned, all loathing towards Fandral forgotten at seeing Loki smile at him.

"New look?" Tony asked, so used to the tight jeans and leather jackets that he'd forgotten that Loki actually owned other clothes.

"It's cold." Loki shrugged, pulling a pair of socks on.

"Yeah, it's snowing now." Tony remarked, absently looking out the window. "Do you like winter?"

Loki nodded. "It's my favourite season, actually."

"I should really be getting used to your weirdness by now, shouldn't I?" Tony smirked.

"Says the man who has an abnormal fixation on technology." Loki retorted.

"Well, I wouldn't be a Stark if I didn't." Tony said, sitting down on the bed, and gesturing for Loki to do the same. Loki did, crossing his legs.

"Speaking of technology, how is Weapons Development?" Loki asked.

Tony's eyes lit up, both at Loki's interest and at the fact he could show off his skills. "Well, I had my exam on it on Thursday, I think it went well, well, of course it did, but I don't get my results back until Tuesday. There are some complete idiots in my class though. You know Justin Hammer?"

Loki nodded. "The one that thinks he's a genius, yeah?"

"He has got to be the most infuriating person I've ever met. His technology sucks he's completely sexist and he almost set the classroom on fire."

Loki laughed at the last part.

"And it wasn't even a practical lesson!" Tony continued to rant.

"What, so he just accidentally had some matches and accidentally rubbed them against something?" Loki asked, smiling.

"Pretty much, yeah! How he got into the school, I have no idea." Tony huffed, just as his phone rang.

Tony rolled his eyes and answered it. "Hello?"

"Tony, it's me." Bruce answered.

"Brucie! What do you want?" Tony replied cheerfully.

"For you not to call me that ever again, for one. Also, I managed to finish our Physics project, I just need you to take the readings and then we're finished."

Tony groaned. "Can't you take them?"

Bruce sighed. "You know I'm no good when it comes to taking readings. Remember last time?"

Tony laughed. "True, true. I'll be over in a minute."

He hung up and put his phone down.

"Look, I have to go now, Bruce needs me." Tony apologized.

Loki shrugged. "See you later then."

Tony leaned in to kiss Loki, only to be pushed back.

"Wha-?" Tony asked, eyebrows raised.

Loki smirked. "You said yourself you didn't want people to find out about us. So I came up with a deal that works well for both of us. You can't touch me, until you figure out a way to tell your friends that we're together."

Tony looked at him open mouthed. "Are you blackmailing me?"

Loki thought for a minute. "Yes, I suppose I am."

"You're joking. We just got back together!"

"I know. And we still are together, We're friends with benefits, just without the benefits part." Loki explained.

Tony stood up, not quite believing Loki. "Yeah, okay then. See you later, friend."

Loki smiled at his retreating back, "I do not doubt that you will."