I'd like to give a huge thanks to everyone who's read, reviewed, followed or favorited this story so far. I can't believe it's gotten over 3,000 views this month! Plus, I got 7 reviews for Chapter 6! You all are the best!
Sorry- Bruce is really only at the end of this chapter. But he'll be in the next chapter too. This chapter is the hardest to write so far, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
Tony pushes away from the door and heads towards Loki. Thankfully the wind is gone, because it had been freezing, especially since he's just in his boxers. Where on earth had the wind even come from? And where had the other Loki come from?
Tony has no idea what had been happening, and he hates the feeling of not knowing something.
At least he knows Jarvis' camera isn't messed up, since he'd seen the other Loki there. Of course, that adds a completely different question about who the other Loki was and what he was doing there, and how he just disappeared.
Tony shoves those thoughts out of his mind. He'll worry about them later. Right now, he needs to focus on Loki. The god's muttering has gotten louder, and the nightmare seems to be getting even worse. He thinks the language Loki's muttering might be Old Norse, but he's not sure. That's just his guess, considering Loki's from a place in Norse mythology.
"Dum-E! Get out of the way!" He snaps at the robot. Dum-E had recovered from the gust of wind is back by Loki's side. The robot moves out of the way as ordered and Tony makes his way towards Loki.
The green mist around Loki's hands is getting brighter. That mist and Tony's arc reactor are providing most of the light in the room, casting a strange mix of blue-green light on things. Another Loki appears out of thin air, scaring the living daylights out of Tony. This Loki has his hair slicked back and looks different from the first other-Loki.
This Loki takes over where the Loki that had vanished left off, trying to comfort the sleeping Loki, but it doesn't seem to be working too well.
Tony needs to get Loki out of this nightmare. He places a hand on Loki's shoulder, ignoring the other Loki lying on the other side of the bed for now. Loki's skin is cold, but it's not freezing yet. Though it's steadily getting colder.
"Loki!" Tony shouts, shaking the god frantically, but not roughly. It's hard to tell when the god's thrashing around, but he thinks Loki stirs a bit.
He shouts Loki's name again, but the god doesn't show any further signs of waking.
"NAAAAAANTS!... INGONYAMA BAGITHI BABA!" The opening to Circle of Life blares out of the walls at a ridiculous volume. Tony practically jumps out of his skin, but Jarvis had done the trick. Loki's eyes fly open, and Jarvis stops the music.
Not that Loki waking up is the end of the issue, of course.
Loki seems to have no idea where he is as he sits there, shaking. His terror intensifies when he sees the green stuff that's still around his hands, and he squeezes his eyes shut as if he wants to stop seeing it.
When Loki sees the other Loki, he lets out a horrified moaning sound and swipes a hand through the other Loki, making that one disappear like the first.
"Loki?" Tony asks, cautiously putting a hand on his shoulder again. He quickly yanks it away with a sharp intake of breath. It's so cold it actually hurts. So Jarvis' sensors are indeed fine, and Loki definitely fits the 'cold skin' requirement of Frost Giants. For a couple seconds, Tony just looks at his hand in shock before looking back at Loki.
Loki is rocking back and forth, staring at his hands. He has them clenched into fists like he's trying to smother the green smoke. Said green smoke is reflected in his eyes in an eerie way.
"Loki, calm down." Tony urges. The god's almost manic in his attempt to get rid of the green stuff. Tony sighs and sits halfway down the bed, while Loki sits near the pillows.
For a second, Loki seems like he wants to flee, but the fight seems to leave him as he huddles against the headboard, frightened.
Loki looks at Tony with wide, terrified eyes. He probably just realized Tony was there. The god's staring into Tony's eyes as if he's trying to read his mind. Tony doesn't break the eye contact as he keeps trying to calm Loki down with quiet, reassuring words.
For a while, Tony just keeps repeating himself in his calmest voice possible. Loki slowly relaxes, so slowly it's almost imperceptible. Tony's not sure how long it is before Loki speaks.
"You saw it..." Loki mutters (in English). He sounds terrified and crushed at the same time.
"How could I miss it? You had glowing green stuff around your hands and you had these two clones that just appeared out of thin air and disappeared without a trace." Apparently that comment is too much since it sends them back to square one.
"No! Don't hit me! Please!" Loki sobs, curling into an even smaller ball.
"...I'm not going to hit you." Tony replies, taken aback slightly. He makes sure not to mention what happened for the next fifteen minutes, as he calms Loki down a second time. Eventually, Loki's shaking subsides, though Loki's still not completely calm. He's staring at Tony as if Tony's suddenly going to bite his head off or something.
Tony sighs. As much as he wants answers about about all that weird stuff that just happened, he knows if he brings it up now they'll just go back to square one again. Loki's still too jumpy, but the weird green stuff is finally gone. Tony picks up the Simba toy, which he's just noticed is lying on the floor, and hands it to Loki. The god hugs the toy but continues to watch Tony warily.
Loki needs to be more relaxed before Tony can ask him about what happened.
"Hey, Jarvis, we have the ingredients for hot chocolate, right?"
Ten minutes later he's sitting at the table with Loki. Both of them have a mug of hot chocolate in front of them (without marshmallows, since there apparently aren't any in the tower), because who doesn't feel better after drinking hot chocolate? Normally, Tony would turn to alcohol or coffee, but there's something nice about hot chocolate.
Loki doesn't know about Tony's nightmare, but Tony can't help thinking that this is like some kind of nightmare support club between the two of them. Loki relaxes slightly as he drinks the hot chocolate, but he still casts worried and slightly suspicious looks at Tony.
They don't sit in silence for long. Tony blurts something out, something that thankfully doesn't make Loki panic again. He's still not going to mention the elephant in the room just yet.
"So, Snoopy, I didn't know you spoke another language."
Saying Loki is confused is an understatement.
He'd been having a nightmare where he had to return to Asgard, where Thor and the Warriors Three were all too delighted to resume their treatment of him.
Then he'd woken up and discovered he'd been doing magic in his sleep, which happened whenever he had a bad dream. This was his fourth screw up already, and this time there was another Loki and the green stuff around his hands. If that wasn't bad enough, he could feel his body getting colder and he knew that was the start of showing his horrible Jotun form. Thankfully that part had stopped, though.
Needless to say, it had been a pretty horrible way to wake up. But then he'd realized Tony was there. Which meant Tony had seen his magic. There's no doubt about that, as Tony had mentioned it. He'd even said there were two other Loki's.
Yes, Loki had known that Tony was bound to see his magic soon, but he didn't think it would be this soon. He'd waited for Tony to tell him he was a freak, an Argr. Because that was what everyone would do, right? It was the only logical thing to do in the situation.
But for some inexplicable reason, Tony hadn't done that, nor had he hit Loki.
Now they're at the table, and Tony's given him a mug of some warm brown chocolaty drink. Loki likes it immensely. It helps calm him down a bit, and he sips it as he stares at the mesmerizing, glowing circle in Tony's chest. He remembers commenting on it in Tony's room.
"So, Snoopy, I didn't know you spoke another language." Tony says. Loki looks at him, confused. Where had that come from? "You were talking in your sleep." Tony clarifies.
"It's... Allspeak. That's when you can talk to anyone and understand anyone, I think." Loki says, glad they're at least not talking about magic.
"So do you know every language?" Tony asks, intrigued "Or is there some kind of translator between you and the world?" Loki shrugs. He's not really sure how the whole thing works.
"I dunno. I think it's kind of like a translator? But it doesn't work quite as well for me as it does for others. 'Cause I don't know some words." Loki says. Some words here he just didn't encounter in Asgard. Like waffle. Also, his mind will sometimes just completely blank on a word, like it had with injuries the first day.
Tony says something in response, but Loki's stopped listening. When is Tony going to bring up the dreaded subject of magic? What is Tony going to do to him when he does? It's silent for a bit as Loki's lost in his thoughts. Loki considers lying about the magic, but he can't think of another explanation for the stuff that happened. Before Loki can stop himself, he blurts out fearfully "You hate me, don't you?"
"No. I don't hate you. Why would you think that?" Tony asks, confused. Loki furrows his brow and strokes Simba. Why wouldn't Tony hate him? There are so many reasons to, and magic is only one of them.
"You saw me do it." Loki's mouth doesn't seem to be checking in with his brain first. How had he even managed to avoid this conversation earlier? He wanted to avoid this topic now and his treacherous mouth just brought it up.
"So? Why would that make me hate you?"
"Everyone hates me 'cause it's bad! Magic's bad! I'm bad!" Loki realizes too late that he'd practically shrieked this thought aloud as he kneels on his chair. He freezes before his face crumbles and he sinks down to the floor under the table.
It's over. Tony finally knows that secret, and despite what Tony said, he surely hates him now. He's lost one of his only friends, and Tony will probably start tormenting him like everyone else. Now it's just Jarvis, Dum-E and Pepper, but they'll undoubtedly hate him when they find out too. So then it'll just be Simba as his friend, and he doesn't even totally count.
He hugs Simba to his chest as he sobs under the table. He hears Tony shift out of his chair and join him under it. Loki squeezes his eyes shut. The blows are going to start soon, and Tony's probably going to taunt him for crying too. It'll be Asgard all over again. Loki covers his head and waits fearfully for Tony to start hurting him.
How could he have thought it would be different? He knew the nice times would end when Tony found out about his magic. But he hadn't wanted them to end, ever.
"Hey." Tony says softly. "I don't hate you, remember? And you're not bad." Tony's using the same tone of voice that he used when he'd found Loki yesterday, and when Loki had woken up not long ago. As if nothing has changed. Loki just shakes his head, not wanting to say something that'll make it even worse for him. Tony keeps talking in that reassuring tone.
After a bit, he looks at Tony, but the man doesn't seem angry. If anything, he's looking at Loki with concern. It doesn't make any sense. He has every reason to hate him for doing magic. Why is Tony still being so nice? Doesn't he understand that Loki had just done something horrible and demented?
But Tony doesn't seem to care.
To Loki's surprise, Tony puts an arm around his shoulders and pulls him into something sort of like a half embrace. Tony's body is really warm, and Loki can feel the thing in Tony's chest when he's this close. It's giving off its own sort of energy and rhythm. Loki slowly finds himself relaxing to the touch, leaning into it even. This was the last thing he expected, but he likes it. Tony wouldn't do it to someone he didn't like, right?
Loki's pretty sure that this is the first time he's ever been comforted after a nightmare.
As inexplicable as it is, it seems like nothing's changed, and Tony really is still his friend. Unless Tony hadn't processed it yet? Loki really hopes that's not the case.
Sniffling, he wraps his arms around his favorite person ever.
It feels just as awkward when Loki hugs him as it did two days ago. Actually it's even more awkward, Tony decides, but that's probably because he's still in his boxers. He gently extracts himself from the embrace and looks at Loki, who's fiddling with Simba. The god still doesn't seem entirely back to normal.
Tony never thought he was able to comfort someone, but he's done it multiple times with Loki. He'd just done it three times in less than an hour, for crying out loud. He's as surprised about it as anybody else would most likely be. Normally he was the one who caused the problem that made someone need comforting.
Somehow, though, he can comfort Loki. He's even done it both under a bed and under a table, he thinks, shaking his head slightly.
That whole conversation had gone by quicker than he'd expected, and he hadn't expected Loki to actually bring it up. Though if the look on the god's face had been anything to go by, he hadn't meant to. Loki had still clearly been nervous, so perhaps he wasn't thinking clearly when he blurted it out. Still, Tony's rather thankful for that accidental remark.
Tony had definitely heard Loki mention magic, but as a scientist he's obviously not going to buy into that yet. Maybe he'll be able to run some tests while Loki's doing that... stuff he'd been doing while asleep. The weird green smoke around his hands had to be some sort of energy. And the other-Loki's could be some kind of advanced hologram that's not transparent. Though where those would come from was anyone's guess. Did they come from Loki?
"You're still my friend, right?" Loki asks in a strangely doubtful tone after staring into space for a bit. "Even though...?" The god trails off, but it's obvious what he's referring to. His tone makes it sound like the other-Loki's and the green mist are monstrosities. Like that's some kind of taboo subject. It probably is, in Asgard at least.
Tony hadn't missed the way Loki looked at him, as if he expected to be hit after all that weird stuff happened. Loki had actually begged not to be hit. No, not hit, he amends, even though that's the word Loki had used. Judging from the way he'd curled up on the floor, Loki had expected to be full out beaten, like a dog that's peed on its abusive owner's floor. Unfortunately, given even the little bit he knows of Loki's past, that was probably a reasonable expectation. Tony's blood boils at Asgard, which had undoubtedly been the cause of it.
"Hell yeah I'm still your friend." Tony reassures him. Loki smiles the tiniest bit, which seems like a good sign.
"Why?" The god asks incredulously, smile dropping as he stares at Tony like he's crazy.
"If you think you can get rid of me with some green light, some wind and a couple clones, you're sorely mistaken." Tony answers "Now how about we get out from under here before our hot chocolate gets cold?" Loki nods and they both crawl out from under the table. Finally.
Turns out the hot chocolate has already gotten cold, Tony had basically finished his anyways and Loki is drinking his, apparently not caring about the change in temperature.
"Are Jarvis and Dum-E and Pepper still my friends?" Loki asks.
"My favorable opinion of you has not changed, Mr. Loki." Jarvis speaks for the first time since Tony had made the hot chocolate. His voice actually sounds warm and affectionate. Loki looks very shocked at Jarvis' words, but it's a pleased sort of shock.
"I doubt you could manage to get Dum-E to dislike you if you tried." Tony adds, smiling slightly. "And Pepper will undoubtedly still be your friend, too."
"Considering she puts up with you, sir, I'd be very surprised if Miss Potts didn't remain friends with Mr. Loki." Jarvis snarks.
"Don't push it, Jarvis." Tony grumbles halfheartedly. Though, to be honest, he's amazed he and Pepper have remained friends after breaking up.
A grin is spreading over Loki's face, and he bounces on his toes, laughing.
Although things seem fine now, Tony doubts this whole issue is the sort that can be completely resolved after one small conversation like that. He has a feeling it's going to take a while for this issue to totally be resolved. They still haven't really gone over what actually happened, because all that had really happened was Loki had implied it was magic.
He doubts Loki's going to suddenly stop panicking whenever this so-called magic stuff happens, especially since Loki's used to being treated like crap thanks to a couple thousand years too many in Asgard.
Over the next several days, Tony and Loki fall into a loose routine, which basically consists of them eating together and then Tony working and Loki doing his own thing. In the evenings after eating dinner together, they'll watch a movie, or Tony will continue working and Loki will just keep entertaining himself.
The first two days, Tony relents and lets Loki in the lab whenever he's down there himself. The people fixing the roof are audible from the penthouse, and the sound of them moving around gets annoying.
When he's in the lab, Loki will sometimes just sit and stare at him, which starts to get irritating. When Tony finally asks him to stop staring, Loki usually ends up playing games with Jarvis and Dum-E. Tony quickly learns that Loki and Dum-E playing tag is not a good idea, though they haven't managed to destroy anything playing hide-and-seek yet. Loki also plays pretend occasionally. Tony had smirked when he'd heard Loki mention "Man of Iron" in one of his games.
Tony only notices the weird stuff happening around Loki four or five times in the course of several days, and the majority of those are during nightmares. Both Tony and Loki continue to have them, though Loki has them more often than Tony. A couple times, Tony is actually sleeping peacefully before Jarvis awakes him to inform him of Loki's nightmare.
Tony asks, once, what Loki's nightmare was about. Loki mutters something, and Tony catches the words "Asgard" and "hurts."
Their hot chocolate sessions after their nightmares have become sort of a routine (though Tony's switched to drinking coffee) though it obviously would be better if they didn't have to have those sessions in the first place. One time, Tony vaguely tells Loki that he has bad dreams too, but he doesn't elaborate. He's rather surprised he's even told Loki that small bit of information.
The couple times the strange things happens when Loki's awake and in Tony's line of vision, Loki will freeze and look at Tony anxiously. But Tony will just shoot him a quick grin and say something along the lines of "That was cool!"
Not that saying that has really affected Loki's reactions much. Loki's reactions to the incidents haven't changed at all, really. Tony doesn't react negatively to any of these occurrences, not even when the lamp on Loki's bedside table blows up (which is the only dangerous thing that has happened during these episodes, and Tony can't even really pin that on Loki). But Loki still will curl up on the floor, clearly expecting some kind of horrible reaction on Tony's part, and Tony will have to go calm him down.
Really, Tony thinks, it is pretty cool when he sees a flash of green around Loki's hands, and he's still itching to know what it is. But until Loki's not terrified of it, he probably won't find out, since Loki certainly wouldn't let him run tests on it.
Once, there had been another Loki-clone when Loki was awake, but Loki had gotten rid of it quickly with a panicked look at Tony (Tony's seen plenty of them when Loki's having nightmares, though. It hadn't taken long to deduce that, whatever the other-Loki's are, they're not real). It obvious Loki's been taught to fear these occurrences, and it's understandable that that reaction isn't going to go away quickly. But Tony wants him to know that he's not going to be punished for it here.
Tony tries to bring up the subject a couple times, but Loki either tunes him out or shrieks that he doesn't want to talk about it. He probably wants to avoid another slip up like when he'd said it was magic.
On the bright side, after about four days, they've gradually worked their way back up to Loki being in the penthouse without Tony for a couple hours. The fact that Jarvis is always there is an enormous help, and he manages to keep Loki occupied like he did the time Tony went to Philadelphia. Sometimes Tony sends Dum-E up there to help Jarvis keep Loki company, but that's somewhat rare.
A lot of times, Loki will wander aimlessly around the penthouse. One day, he kills time by inspecting random cases of Tony's huge DVD collection. Tony ends up getting him paper and a bunch of art supplies so he'll have something to occupy his time with, after finding a sheet of paper covered with messy doodles on Loki's desk in the god's room. However, Tony doesn't just leave Loki in the penthouse the whole day. He lets him down in the lab periodically.
Even with the nightmares, life seems less hectic than it had the first couple days.
Loki's drawing a picture at the table, his tongue sticking slightly out of the corner of his mouth in concentration. It's really hard, but he didn't draw or paint much in Asgard due to lack of materials (or rather, his lack of access to the materials. They certainly had paint somewhere, with all the paintings on the castle walls. And someone had to draw the pictures in books).
But here he has all the paper he could want, as well as markers, crayons, colored pencils and even paints, though he hasn't used the paints yet. He's not sure if Tony got them for him or if they'd been laying around the tower somewhere, but they showed up somehow, and Tony had said to make good use of them.
Simba's standing in front of him on the table, and Loki glances between Simba and the paper. He pauses for a bit to make Simba sing, which never gets old, before going back to his drawing.
"Can I have brown, Dum-E?" He asks, and Dum-E beeps before hunting through the box of markers for the right color. Sometimes Dum-E's in the lab with Tony, but right now isn't one of those times. Once Dum-E hands it over, Loki carefully makes two little dots for eyes and giggles. Perfect.
He sits back and studies his drawing. Something's missing. "Yellow, Dum-E?" He requests, putting the brown down on the table. He takes the yellow marker from Dum-E and carefully draws a sun in the corner.
"Mr. Loki, your presence is requested in the lab." Jarvis says. Loki looks up, excited. That means he gets to see Tony! He's not sure why Tony doesn't let him down in the lab sometimes, but he loves it when he can go down and visit (or, even better, spend the whole day there).
He grabs Simba and his drawing and sprints, giggling, towards the elevator, Dum-E following with a happy beep. Loki practically slams straight into the back wall of the elevator but he manages to stop himself in time. He turns around and waits for Dum-E, who's considerably slower.
Loki bounces in anticipation as he and Dum-E ride down, and the elevator doors finally open.
"Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony!" He singsongs, running towards him and practically flinging his drawing down on the table in front of the man. "Look!"
Tony looks at the drawing, and he clears his throat before speaking. "Let's see. It's a devilishly handsome bearded man and a tall pale man with black hair. Now, who do I know who looks like that?"
"It's us!" Loki can't contain it anymore, so he shrieks it out, laughing. He's pretty sure Tony had known that and was just messing with him, but then he hesitates. "Do you like it? I asked Jarvis and he said he thought you would. But he can't know for sure, 'cause he's not you. Dum-E helped me pick out the colors." He strokes Simba anxiously. What if Tony hates it?
"Jarvis was right-" Tony begins.
"As always," Jarvis interrupts, and Loki laughs. Jarvis is always right.
Tony continues "-I do like it. Though how come you're in my suit? Oh, wait, those are your pajamas, right?" Loki nods, and Tony smiles at him. "What do you say we hang it later?" Loki grins. This is going better than he could have imagined. His drawing's going to be displayed!
He doesn't even notice the other man in the lab until then. The other man, like Tony, is shorter than Loki. He has brown hair and glasses. The man introduces himself as Doctor Bruce Banner. Loki cocks his head to the side. That name sounds familiar, but he can't place it. The word doctor is something that's never used on Asgard, but for some reason he's pretty sure that's not actually part of the man's name.
"I'm Loki! That's Tony- sometimes he calls me Snoopy- and that's Dum-E and Jarvis is here, except you can't see him 'cause he lives in the walls and he's just a voice." Loki nods, and then adds "And this is Simba. He sings." He holds Simba up and squeezes his ear for Bruce to see.
"I already knew Tony, Jarvis and Dum-E, but it's nice to meet you, Loki." Bruce says, smiling kindly. He speaks in a rather quiet voice. With a glance at Simba, he adds "I take it you like The Lion King."
Tony snorts. "That's an understatement. He had the freaking thing memorized after the first viewing." Loki frowns in confusion. Why did Tony think that? It had taken him at least four times of listening to I Just Can't Wait to be King to remember all of that. He'd remembered some snippets from the movie when playing his game, but not the whole thing.
"Actually, sir." Jarvis pipes up. "Only 37% of the lines Mr. Loki spoke were verbatim. The rest were paraphrased slightly, though they were fairly close to the original lines."
"Ok, sort of memorized." Tony says. "Well, you still really like it, don't you, Snoopy?" Loki nods.
Bruce smiles slightly and says "Nice job, Loki. You've fooled Tony Stark. Not many people are able to do that."
"Hey, I wasn't fooled!" Tony huffs, annoyed. "It sounded like he had it down to me. How am I supposed to know if a line is slightly off if I don't have the movie memorized myself?"
"So why were you so convinced he had it memorized, if you didn't know for sure?" Bruce questions, and then turns to Loki and asks "So how do you like living with Tony?"
"I love it!" Loki squeals, unable to contain his enthusiasm. A jolt of joy makes his body wriggle. "Tony's the nicest person ever!"
"Is he, now?" Bruce asks with a smile, exchanging a look with Tony for some reason. Loki nods happily, flicking his fingers a bit.
"Yes! We watch moving pictures and drink hot chocolate, and he got clothes for me. And Simba. He got Simba too." After a bit, he adds. "He's really smart. Did you know he actually made Dum-E and Jarvis?" Loki's still amazed that Tony had somehow made his too other friends who live in the tower, and he's not sure how it was done.
Loki sees Tony and Bruce exchange another look, but he continues rambling. "Hey, you've got brown eyes, just like Tony!" He tells Bruce. "I've got green eyes. Green's my favorite color. Do you like green?"
Bruce shifts uncomfortably at that and quietly says "No. Not really."
Wait a second! Loki suddenly remembers where he'd heard Bruce's name. It was under the bed, when Tony was telling him about the Avengers. The Hulk is green. That's probably why Bruce doesn't like that color.
His eyes widen in understanding. "You're the Hu-" Then, Loki cuts himself off, suddenly remembering that Tony had said Bruce didn't like talking about the Hulk. He quickly clamps a hand over his mouth so he doesn't accidentally blurt it out.
Wait, so that means Bruce is another Avenger, like Thor. Tony's an Avenger, but he's nice, unlike Thor. But what if the other Avengers think of him more like Thor does? It would't be surprising, even if Tony had said fairly positive things about them that time under the bed.
Even though Bruce has been nice so far, Loki can't help starting to feel a little nervous. After all, it's odd enough that Tony and Pepper are friends with him. There probably aren't too many more people who would actually like him, right?
Besides, Thor had said that Bruce hated monsters, and since Loki's a monstrous frost giant, that means he probably really hates Loki. Maybe he's just disguising that hate.
Loki can't help moving so that Tony's in between him and Bruce, shielding him from the other Avenger. Because he's pretty sure that, if someone attacked him, Tony would protect him.
I hope you enjoyed this. Sorry if this ending was sort of awful. Bruce will have more of an appearance in the next chapter.
So you might of noticed that last chapter, I made it seem like Loki had memorized The Lion King in it's entirety, but that was just what Tony thought, and he was apparently wrong :) As stated in this chapter, Loki only memorized some bits of dialogue. Which is still fairly impressive, I guess.
Hopefully I can update soon.