Wow, I wrote this chapter really quickly. Sadly, I probably won't be able to update this quickly all the time. I do have my other story to work on, after all.
Anyways, thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, favorited or just read this story. I was amazed and overjoyed by the response the first chapter got- 7 follows and 7 favorites in a day! I thought people would think it was stupid. Special thanks to sk18 for pointing out that Loki is only a runt by Jotun standards. Though in this story, he's a lot weaker than most Asgardians. So I switched that in instead of him being a runt.
Tony stares at the cube in his hands. Loki had solved it in less than a minute. Most people couldn't do that, let alone on their first try.
He looks at Loki, who had wandered into the kitchen and is currently playing with a can opener. Either this guy has some sort of splinter skill with Rubik's Cubes or he's a lot brighter than he appears at the surface.
Being totally entranced by a can opener doesn't exactly portray the picture of intelligence, however. Loki has the thing up close to his face and is turning the crank and watching the sharp wheels that cut the cans spin. A strange smile is on his lips. He opens and closes the can opener multiple times as Tony watches.
Suddenly, Loki goes and sits on the countertop. His legs are long enough that he doesn't even really have to jump up. He still clutches the can opener, but is now turning the crank absentmindedly as he just stares at Tony with his wide green eyes.
Tony stares back at Loki as he goes into the kitchen so they're not staring at each other from different rooms.
"So, how did you solve this?" Tony asks, holding up the Rubik's Cube before adding, partially joking "You didn't peel the stickers off, did you?"
Loki looks at him blankly. "Stickers?"
Tony shakes his head. "Never mind." He looks back down at the cube. One of the corner green squares is still slightly crooked, just like it's always been. So Loki hadn't just peeled the stickers off and rearranged them.
The god doesn't seem to realize that Tony had implied that he could have cheated. Or maybe he did realize and just doesn't care? Anyways, he eventually answers Tony's question.
"I don't know. I just made all the sides one color like you said. It's fun!" Loki says happily, getting down from the countertop and bouncing on his toes, letting half of the can opener swing on its hinge as he clutches the other. Tony sighs. Sure he could describe the math behind how the cube is solved, but most people probably don't realize how they solve it. Still, Loki had done it quickly on his first time, without any hints or guides. It's pretty impressive, and Tony doesn't say that about many people.
At first, Tony had thought of Loki as a broken machine that didn't quite work. But if the Rubik's Cube is anything to judge by, Loki is more like a machine that works in a very different way, such a vastly different way that he appears not to work at first. Being the scientist that he is, Tony wants to figure out how.
"Sir, Miss Potts is at the door. Should I let her in?" Jarvis interrupts.
"Yes." Tony says as he heads towards the door to greet her. "Thanks Jarv."
"My pleasure, sir." The AI responds with a touch of snark as the door unlocks and opens.
There in the doorway is the tall blonde woman who Tony admires so much. Pepper Potts. She and Tony had even been lovers once, but their relationship had eventually turned sour and ended around half a year ago. The two have maintained a strong friendship, despite that. Tony's grateful to have her in his life, both as a friend and as the CEO of Stark Industries. She runs it far better than he ever could.
"Hey, Pep." He says. Letting her in, he offers her drinks. She declines and he pours himself a glass of scotch. He notices Loki is nowhere to be seen, having wandered off somewhere. He assumes Jarvis is keeping an eye on the god and decides to let him stay wherever he is. He still needs to fill Pepper in on what happened and it would be rude to talk about Loki in front of him.
"So, what did you call me here about?" Pepper asks. "Something work-related or personal?"
"Personal. And it might sound crazy at first. Just hear me out." Tony says, taking another swig of alcohol.
It takes him a couple minutes to explain everything. When he's done, Pepper asks "So he's a god?"
"I think so. He shares a lot of characteristics with Thor. He seems indestructible, and he weighs a ton."
"Okay." Pepper says, nodding slowly. "And you say he's... odd? How so?"
Tony sighs. How should he describe it? "I'll just let you two meet. I'll be back in a bit." He says before getting up.
"Jarvis, where's Loki?" He asks once he's out of the room. Hopefully Jarvis has prevented him from going somewhere he shouldn't.
"He is currently in your bedroom, sir." Jarvis responds, somehow sounding amused. So much for not going places he shouldn't.
"Why did you let him in there?" Tony asks, annoyed, once he gets over the initial shock.
"You left the door open, sir. Besides, I was unaware your bedroom is a private location. You have had many people in there. In fact, you have had exactly-"
"This isn't like that! People don't just randomly tour other people's bedrooms." Tony interrupts. "Now shut up, Jarvis."
"I had already shut up when you interrupted, sir." Jarvis quips, before wisely remaining silent as Tony growls under his breath.
He enters the bedroom and blinks at the sight. Loki is lying on the bed, his long hair splayed out around his head. His legs are straight up, resting against the wall and he's still holding the can opener.
"What are you doing on my bed? I wasn't aware we were at that point yet." Tony jokes. Loki seems to suddenly notice he's not alone. He blinks at Tony and says "It's yours?"
"Yes, it's mine. So get off." Tony replies, though he's surprised that his voice sounds gentler than usual. Loki nods and proceeds to just roll of the bed and fall to the floor, lying there instead and staring up at Tony.
"At what point?" Loki asks innocently from the floor, and it takes Tony a second to remember what he'd said. Wow. Loki must have even less experience with romance than Steve "Still-a-Virgin" Rogers, and that's saying something.
"Come on. Get up. I have someone for you to meet." He says, trying to pull Loki to his feet. Of course, Loki's far too heavy. Fortunately, he gets up by himself but then just stands there, looking down towards Tony.
"That's keeping you alive." Loki suddenly says in a dreamy voice, staring and pointing at the glow from Tony's arc reactor. The soft blue-white light reflects off the god's green eyes in an ethereal way.
Tony stares at him in shock. How the hell did he know that? He asks, but the god just says "I felt it. It told me that's what it's doing."
"You heard it speak?" Tony asks warily. No doubt about it. This man is definitely crazy. But Loki's looking at him as if he's the crazy one.
"No. It didn't talk." Loki replies, smiling at Tony in a "You're bonkers, but I'll pretend you're not" kind of way. "But if it could, that's what it woulda said." He nods, as if agreeing with himself and twirls the can opener around in his hands.
"Okaay." Tony replies, deciding not to point out that saying it told him something indicates it talked to him.. He really wants to know how that happened. "Well, there's someone for you to meet, remember?" He turns to leave, but Loki is just standing there watching, giving no indication he's going to follow.
Sighing, he grabs Loki's wrist and leads him out. Loki follows willingly, his eyes staring unfocused and a small smile on his lips.
"Sorry that took so long, Pep." Tony says, leading the god into the living room. "Loki, this is my friend, Pepper Potts. Pepper, this is Loki."
Loki flashes a million-dollar smile at Pepper and bows, leaving Tony to wonder why Asgardians seem so big on bowing. Not that Tony's met any Asgardians besides Thor and now Loki.
Then Loki giggles and says "That's a funny name," which kind of throws the politeness of bowing out the window.
Pepper doesn't say anything and doesn't seem annoyed about Loki's (most likely accidental) rudeness. She just looks at Loki for a bit, curiously. Tony figures she's evaluating what he'd said about Loki being odd.
Loki certainly looks odd. His hair is sticking out in random directions (thanks to Tony's bed) making his wide, wild-eyed look seem even more crazy. Not to mention he's clutching a can opener and bouncing on his toes.
"My real name is Virginia." Pepper tells Loki softly. If she's at all uncomfortable around him, she doesn't show it. Loki nods and perches on the armrest of the sofa, bouncing up and down and swinging the can opener.
"I'm Loki!" He introduces himself, somewhat unnecessarily seeing as Tony had just done it.
"I know. Tony just told me." Pepper says, smiling.
Loki stops bouncing and asks "Tony?"
Tony suddenly realizes he never told Loki his name, so he quickly says "That's me." Loki simply stares at him and Tony grins, a bit uneasily.
Suddenly grinning, Loki nods and singsongs "Tony! Tony, Tony, Tony Tony Tony..." He does his puppy-like wriggle and flicks his fingers a bit. Tony's too busy exchanging a look with Pepper, but he sees a green flash in the corner of his eye.
Sighing, Tony goes and leads Loki over to a seat on the sofa and then plops down on the space between Pepper and Loki. He hands Loki the Rubik's Cube from the coffee table, because it's still kind of strange seeing him fiddle with a can opener.
"I already did it! I made each side a color like you said." Loki says, handing the cube back to Tony. Tony scrambles the cube up and hands it back to the god, while gently taking the can opener from his hands and putting it on the coffee table.
"Think you can do it again?" Tony asks. The god nods and snatches the cube from him. He bounces in his seat on the couch as he solves it, his long hair getting even more wild as he moves.
This time around, Tony watches how Loki solves the cube. Instead of making each side one color at first, he makes the center square of each side a different color from the surrounding eight squares and then proceeds to make the centers the right color. It's a bizarre way of doing it, but it seems to work for Loki because he finishes in half a minute, tops.
"Done!" Loki practically squeals, handing the cube back to Tony before bouncing out of his seat and grabbing the can opener again.
"So, Loki, Tony tells me you're from Asgard." Pepper says.
"I wasn't born there." Loki announces, before looking as if he's said something wrong. Tony has no idea what would be wrong with not being born in Asgard, but Loki apparently doesn't want to elaborate, despite Tony's prompting.
"So, Loki, how old are you? You Asgardians live for a while, right?" Pepper asks, changing the subject once Tony's efforts at the other subject prove futile.
Loki cocks his head, thinking. "One thousand-something. No. Two thousand? I forget." Tony supposes forgetting isn't too odd. After that many birthdays, it would be easy to lose track. Do they even celebrate birthdays on Asgard?
"So you're a god, right? Like Point Break?" Tony asks. He doesn't think Loki's been mentioned in any Norse myths, which he'd only read when Thor had shown up. But just because he's not mentioned doesn't mean he isn't one.
Loki had gotten up and was wandering over to the bookshelf but he stops. "I dunno. I think so?" He shrugs, and then asks "Who's Point Break? That's a funny name!" He lets out a semi-maniacal sounding laugh.
"It's a nickname for Thor. You know, big guy with blonde hair and a hammer he carries around?" Tony says. To his surprise, Loki looks terrified. Then his brow furrows, upset, while the rest of his face still looks frightened. "Don't send me back!" He says, panicked.
"Why don't you want to go back?" Tony asks him. Loki had clammed up about this before, so he's not expecting a reply.
Loki practically shrieks something but Tony can't tell if it's "Thor hates me" or "Thor hits me!"
Judging from Loki's reaction, though, it could be either.
"Thor, like the Thunder God?" Tony asks in disbelief. That really doesn't sound like his fellow Avenger at all. He's certainly going to be asking the god about it the next time he sees it.
Loki just nods his head as his face crumples. Pepper's face softens and she goes over and wraps her arms around him. He leans into the embrace in a way identical to a small child, despite his height.
The embrace seems to open him up. "They never wanted me." He says in a strangled voice. "They just kept me around cause they had'ta. They hurt me and got rid of me as soon as they could."
Pepper just stands there, rubbing Loki's back as she hugs him. Her face is somewhere between sympathy and anger, presumably at whoever treated him horribly.
"Please don't send me back, okay?" Loki sniffles. How can a grown man sound that innocent, like a lost child? It's really not fair, how he's just automatically tugging on heartstrings right now without even trying.
Tony knows exactly what it's like to be unwanted and unloved. His own father, Howard, had made sure of that. He can't help feeling a wave of empathy for the god.
Tony guesses it's going to take a while to figure Loki out. Sometimes he seems like a child, sometimes a harmlessly crazy man. But there's what Tony's guessing is a razor-sharp intellect disguised under the baffling surface. He wonders exactly how strong that intellect is.
At that moment, Tony makes a decision. Without a second thought, he decides to let Loki into his life. What else should he do? He wouldn't send him back to Asgard if he could, and it doesn't feel right to dump him at a hospital or something. The guy may be odd, but he's grown on Tony a lot in the hour or so he's been awake. Tony's shocked to realize how much Loki's grown on him in such a short time, especially since he'd been slightly uneasy around him less than half an hour ago. Normally people don't have such an immediate effect on him.
Tony and Pepper exchange a glance, and he can tell Pepper knows what he's thinking. The look she gives him is asking if he's sure, and reminding him that he often doesn't even take care of himself.
But Tony's mind is set. He has way more than enough money and room to house another person. As for taking care of Loki, he's not even sure the god needs to be taken care of or if he's capable of looking after himself. But it doesn't matter. If he's not, Tony has Dum-E and Jarvis to help.
Decision made, he turns to Loki. "Well, Loki, welcome to my humble abode." Not that it's really humble, but whatever.
He's completely caught off guard when the god, grinning a mile wide, throws his arms around him and crushes him into a hug.
So, I'll be referring to Loki as a god in this fic. Isn't everyone in Asgard some sort of god? But Loki doesn't really have a title like the Trickster God or the God of Mischief in this because of how he was pushed into the shadows. Which is why he doesn't show up in any myths in this story and is totally unknown on Earth. At least all the human characters will think of him as one, since he's Asgardian. Hopefully that clears up any potential confusion.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I hadn't been planning for a can opener to have such a large screen time, but that kind of wrote itself.
Marilyn (a guest reviewer) said that Loki needed a hug. I though so too, and this won't be the last :)
Hopefully I can update soon, but I'm going to work on my other story some too, probably even make myself update that before this, so it might be more than a day this time.