I am so sorry about what happened! I don't how/why it happened, but I'll try make sure it doesn't happen again! Thank you everyone for pointing it out!
Mid-February in New York was awful. It was freezing, the sky was a dark grey colour, and everything was covered in snow. Everything.
But for Tony Stark, Bruce Banner and Jane Foster, it was the perfect day for science and hot drinks.
Tony had been reading up on some the work his father had done before he died, and had become especially interested in clean energy. He knew Stark Industries wanted weapons and weapons alone from him, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from having a project on the side.
Although each member of the trio had a slightly different field of expertise, they all knew what they were doing and got off to a good start.
However, as they progressed, they started to get further and further off topic until they'd given up on what they were doing completely and decided to just relax in the common room.
"We should do this more often." Bruce remarked, sitting himself down in a green beanbag. Jane nodded her head and Tony raised his cup of coffee in agreement. "Too bad we never have any time."
"You can say that again. Is it just me, or has our workload tripled in size since we've come back from our holiday?" Jane asked, settling into her beanbag as she spoke.
"Trust me, it's not just you. In my weapons development class-"
Jane tutted, "I still can't believe you take that class."
"You and Loki should get together some time. He hates it, too."
"Speaking of which, where is your better half?" Bruce asked.
"He's on that training exercise. You know, the one Natasha and Clint are on?" Tony replied.
Bruce nodded. "Yeah, I remember now. I heard them talking about that last week. How long is it for?"
"Two weeks." Tony smiled at their wide-eyed expressions. "Yeah, it's the longest we've been away from each other since we got together." He sniffed. "I don't know how I'll cope." He pretended to wipe tears from his eyes.
"Oh, shut up." Bruce nudged him with his knee. "It's only two weeks. I once had a girlfriend who lived in Australia, that was hard to cope with."
"I'm afraid I can't contribute to this conversation. My first boyfriend is Thor, and the furthest he's been away from me is Chicago. Even that was like, a year ago. We haven't been apart since." Jane added.
"Seriously?" Bruce gaped. "Not even in the holidays?"
Tony answered for her. "No, he went to visit her foster father in New Mexico with her and then they went to see Thor's family in Chicago."
"What, for the first time?" Jane nodded. Bruce raised his eyebrows. "But you two have been together for what, eighteen months? What took you so long to meet each other's parents?"
Jane shrugged. "I guess New Mexico's a bit too far away to travel for the weekend, and Thor's father can be a bit intimidating."
Tony snorted into his glass. "That's an understatement. I know he's Thor's father and he's probably going to be your father-in-law one day, but I don't like him. I don't like the way he treats Loki."
"Aren't you being a bit biased here, Tony?" Bruce interjected. "From what I've heard, you've barely talked to him. I know you've heard stuff from Loki, but he could be exaggerating?"
Tony was prepared to retort with something about him trusting Loki, but Jane replied. "I was there for four days with Loki, Thor, and their family. Tony's right – he treats Loki like he's below all of them. I know it's none of my business, but whatever's going on in their family – it's a lot deeper than Loki being adopted." She lifted her shoulders and turned to face Tony. "Do you know what happened after you left?"
"No clue. I know Loki talked to Thor about it, but he didn't tell me."
"Thor got really mad. He pulled Odin aside and they had a really heated argument. It was a bit awkward after that so we left early and stayed in a hotel instead. His mother – Frigga? – she seemed upset. Her and Loki are close, right?"
"From what I've heard, yeah. I've never met her." The trio was silent was silent for a moment, all of them deep in thought – especially Tony.
"So, Tony. What's going on with the whole Stark Industries thing?" Bruce finally broke the silence.
Tony sighed and put his head in his hands. "Don't even mention that, Brucie. Considering I'm the heir to the company, no one's telling me anything about when I'm actually going to be in charge of it."
Bruce frowned. "That's frustrating, but not surprising. Who's in charge of the business right now?"
Tony lifted his head so that his chin was now being propped up by his hands. "Obadiah Stane."
Bruce carefully chose what he said next. "Is it possible that he might want to delay your appointment of CEO?"
"What?" Tony's head shot up. "No, he's like my second father. Obie doesn't feel that way. He's the one that's trying to get me ready for the job, he's got me going to all the meetings and reading all the paperwork. No one wants me to take over the business more than he does."
Bruce raised his hands placatingly."Okay, just checking. Do you have any idea when you're supposed to take charge? Any idea at all?"
"Well, according to Howie's will, it's when I'm 21."
Jane looked shocked. "Shit! You're 20 in May, so that's almost a year away!"
Tony downed more of his drink before answering. "Yup, and things are only going to get more busy. I'm probably going to end up leaving here by then." He grimaced.
Bruce had always known that there would be a chance of Tony leaving, but he hadn't planned on it being so soon. Jane, on the other hand, knew nothing about Tony's past or the potential in his future. "Does Loki know?" She asked.
"That, Janey, is a conversation that I am not looking forward to having." Tony looked pained just talking about it. "I don't know how long we're going to be together for, so I don't want to make any assumptions and freak him out by talking about our future together. We're only nineteen, after all."
"Tony, can I ask why you're actually here, then?" Jane looked confused. "I'm not as close to you as Bruce is, so I'm not familiar with your past and I think that in order for me to contribute anything of value to this conversation I need to know what's going on."
Tony laughed. "Yeah, sorry. It's complicated, so I'm sorry if you get lost." He took a deep breath and tried to order his thoughts. "Okay, so you know how everyone here is sorted into one or more of three categories? Operations, Communications, and Science and Tech? You and Bruce are Science and Tech, Loki is a combination of all three, as are Natasha and Clint. Me, though, I'm not technically part of the academy. I went to M.I.T, graduated, and now I'm here. I'm only taking classes, I'm not part of any program to become an agent. My father used to work for SHIELD, and I'm helping to carry on that partnership by being here and later on, supplying them with equipment."
Jane frowned and set her cup down. "It doesn't sound that complicated, you know."
Tony laughed and downed his remaining coffee. "It's more complicated in my head."
"Everything is more complicated in your head." Bruce muttered.
Tony let out a dramatic sigh and raised his hand to his head. "The trials of being a genius." He was then hit by several cushions that came from the general direction of Bruce and Jane. "You two just don't understand." He added grumpily, and received another cushion to his face. "Knock it off. Do either of you have the time?"
Jane glanced down at her watch, a Christmas present from her foster father Erik. "It's almost eight." She sighed and reluctantly stood up. "Thor will be wondering where I am. I'd better go."
"Oh yeah, you two room together now, I'd almost forgotten." Tony replied with a smirk.
"Yeah, it's almost uncanny how Thor and Clint got put together, as well as Natasha and Jane. Not to mention you and your boyfriend getting paired up, too." Bruce commented. He was looking at Tony suspiciously.
"Almost like someone hacked into the database." Tony was grinning as he toyed with his sleeves.
"Tony, you idiot! That's illegal!" Jane hissed.
"Do you know what else is breaking the rules, Jane? Switching Natasha with Thor so that you can room with him. I thought opposite-sex dorm mates weren't allowed?"
Jane glared at him. "It's not as if they ever check to make sure we're in the right room anyway." She replied defensively. "If I get in trouble for it, I'm coming after you with one of Coulson's Tasers." She warned, before heading out of the door.
"I wouldn't put it past her." Bruce said, standing up to leave as well.
Tony laughed. "I know. It's one of the reasons I love her."
"You know," Bruce frowned. "You seem to have a weird thing where the more someone threatens to maim or kill you, the more you like them. Natasha, Clint, Loki and now Jane. I'm starting to worry about you."
"What can I say, Brucie? I like to live life on the edge."
Loki stumbled through the door to him and Tony's dorm. He'd barely slept in the past two weeks, so his first instinct when he reached campus was to go straight to sleep, and not wake up for a couple of hours. Since he was barely able to keep himself upright, he knew he wasn't going to make it into his bedroom. So instead of the warm, comfy bed, he settled for the couch and collapsed on it immediately, without even bothering to get changed out of his wet and bloodstained clothes.
He went to sleep at three in the afternoon, and didn't wake up until eight the next morning. In that time, Tony had arrived back from class, laughed and taken a photo of him sleeping, changed him out of his combat attire as well as dressing him in more comfortable sleepwear, and carried him to bed.
When he finally did wake up, he was slightly shocked at how long he'd slept for, yet touched that Tony had put him to bed and was lying in bed with him (not that the latter was rare or anything). Reluctantly, he swung his legs out of the bed and stood up. After two weeks of being shot at and hiding in various environments, he was desperate for a shower.
"Welcome home, little raven." Tony mumbled from the bed. "Little raven" was a nickname Tony had come up with one night when they were both drunk, and despite Loki hating it, it had stuck.
Loki turned around, fighting the urge to smile at Tony. "I told you not to call me that."
"Which is one of the main reasons why I use it." Tony propped himself up against the headboard. "How are you doing? You seemed pretty exhausted and bloody when I found you last night."
Loki shrugged. "I'm okay. Being shot at by BB guns explains most of my condition." Tony raised his eyebrows at the shooting part. "I'm fine. It's just something I have to get used to if I want to make a career out of this, I suppose."
"Considering I'm the one making the guns I can't really lecture you on safety, can I?"
Loki laughed. "No, I guess not." He paused to smile fondly at Tony's sticking up hair and to relish being back in his dorm again. "I'm going to take a shower. Try not to fall asleep while I'm gone."
"What, not even a welcome back kiss? I'm offended." Tony shook his head in disappointment.
"Morning breath." Loki said as a justification.
Tony raised his eyebrows and looked at him skeptically. "It's been two weeks, I don't give a fuck."
"Well, perhaps you could join me in the shower?" Loki twisted the doorknob and swayed his hips as he walked in.
"If you wanna get cleaned up I don't recommend we take a shower together, Loki." Tony called out.
Loki peered out from the bathroom, already shirtless. "Maybe I don't want to get cleaned up just yet. Like you said, it's been two weeks and I missed you."
Thank you again for your lovely reviews, they make me very happy!
Sorry this chapter took so long. Not only did my laptop keep shutting down randomly, whenever I tried to write I would think of previous chapters and cringe. If you've made it this far, you deserve a medal!