Heya! Another chapter before Christmas! Looks like I'm on a roll! And sleep deprived. So if there are glaring mistakes I apologise. Enjoy!

PREVIOUSLY ON ASAF: Tony stood up. "I'll let you finish up, yeah, J.A.R.V.? Just tell me when mini-Zola has arrived. I need a nap." Not that he expected much sleep to come; the moment May had got out of there unscathed, all the questions about his parents' death were back at the forefront of his mind.

"Come," Loki said, gently guiding him towards the elevator, Bruce on their heels. "You need some rest indeed."

CHAPTER 45

Despite Tony's protests, Loki and Bruce practically manhandled him into lying down for a nap. Tony intended to just close his eyes to make them stop nagging, and go through the implications of his parents' murder in his mind. But then Bruce left, Loki curled up against his back, sneaking an arm over his waist, and it became hard to concentrate. Then Loki cheated, sending waves of calm over the bond again, and Tony felt so very tired…

It was the smell of curry that woke him, he was sure of it. He rarely woke up as ravenously hungry as he was now. He sat up, feeling groggy, and for a moment, as he registered that he was all alone in bed, instinctual panic seized his limbs. Loki's name was about to bubble out of his throat when—

"I am here," Loki said calmly from the lounge area, as if honest-to-God panicking at someone's absence was a completely normal occurrence. Fucking Fate and her fucking emotional interference!

Tony rubbed at his face, frustrated, and flung himself out of bed to go sag into an armchair. "Is May here yet?"

Tony had aimed the question at J.A.R.V.I.S., but when the seconds stretched it was Loki who answered. "Not that I am aware of. I have been told that, even if she has arrived, you are not allowed out of the room before you have eaten."

"What if I'm not hungry?"

Loki leaned closer, smirking dangerously. "I may not be at my strongest, but that does not mean I can't keep you here until you feed yourself." He straightened again, picking up the plate he had already been piling food on. "Besides, I know you are hungry." Tony made a show of taking the plate very reluctantly, regardless of how his mouth watered at the sight. "Doctor Banner made it. He calls it butter chicken, though I am not certain why it is called thus, as there seems to be much more than butter in this sauce."

"It's— Huh. I got no idea why it's called that, actually. You'll find that many foods have strange names. And who cares, really? What's important is the taste."

Tony took a hearty bite of said butter chicken, and boy could Bruce cook. Tony'd had deliveries from very reputable curry places, but damn, you couldn't beat a home-cooked meal like this. Maybe it was a nuclear physicist thing. Bruce knew how to make your tastebuds explode in ecstasy just so. It didn't take Tony long to polish off his plate, and he piled another helping onto it – ignoring the way Loki was very badly attempting to conceal a smirk. Yes, he was hungry, sue him. And even if he hadn't been, with a curry like this, no way you wouldn't want more of it.

"So, J.A.R.V., now that I have eaten as instructed, am I allowed an ETA?" he asked between two bites.

"I will only tell you after you are done eating, Sir."

Tony put his plate on the coffee table. "In that case, I'm done."

"Don't be so impatient, Sir."

Tony snorted at J.A.R.V.'s admonishing tone. As if that had ever worked on him. Tony checked the time. Just after 4pm. They sure were having strange eating patterns these days, but what else was new. Either way, unless May had been delayed for some reason, she should be here by now. J.A.R.V.I.S.' reluctance to say anything made sense now.

"Fine. I'll finish my plate and then I'm going down to the workshop. That's non-negotiable."

J.A.R.V.I.S. didn't seem to have anything to say to that, which was all the confirmation Tony needed. He wondered whose idea it had been not to wake him the moment mini-Zola arrived. Was it Loki? Phil? Bruce? Possibly the lot of them. He could easily imagine them having a conference call to determine Tony's sleep-food-work cycle, with J.A.R.V. facilitating the whole thing. As if he was some kind of kid that needed managing. Ha!

Tony shoved the last spoonful into his mouth and put the empty plate on the table, not waiting until he'd finished chewing to stand up.

"You should drink some water," Loki said, not even bothering to look up from his own third plate. Or fourth, if he'd had one before Tony woke up. Who knew, maybe it was even his fifth. Couldn't blame him. If Tony had a stomach that size, he'd be eating as much of Bruce's cooking as it could contain.

Tony obediently took the already filled glass and downed it. He could feel Loki was still not satisfied with that, so he grabbed the pitcher, filled both their glasses and downed his. There. Surely no one could complain now.

"Would you be kind enough to wait for me?" Loki said.

"You wanna come with me? It will probably be pretty boring for a while yet. I doubt cracking Zola open will be that easy, even if he's super outdated."

"Regardless, I would like to accompany you."

There were a number of protests on the tip of his tongue; Tony wouldn't have another break down about his parents now that he knew the gist of it, Loki's presence would be rather distracting, etc. The determined expression on Loki's face silenced him. Fine. Loki could come down and be bored. Whatever.

Tony sank back down in his seat and held in a frustrated sigh. He wanted to get started right now. The quicker he got the Zola-hacking underway, the quicker he'd get answers, and not just about his parents, but about Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. as a whole. No one could deny how important that was. But noooo, his goddamn soulmate needed to finish his umpteenth plate!

Loki was the one who sighed out loud. "Patience, ástin mín."

"Are you telling me you'd be patient in my situation?"

As expected, Loki had nothing to say to that. Better even, the pace of his spoon-to-mouth movements increased oh-so-slightly. Loki may have two thousand plus years of learning to be patient under the belt, but Tony could tell his nature, just like Tony's, was one for immediate solutions – or, if time was required to obtain the desired result, at least the planning and prepping was immediate. Just sitting on your hands and waiting for shit to hit the fan and force you to improvise? Not Tony's style, and not Loki's either, that was pretty clear.

Both of them were good improvisors too, of course; they were geniuses each in their own way. But planning and having a thousand contingencies was just so much better than plunging head first into crazy situations, hoping cockiness and sheer luck would be enough to foil enemy plans. Tony had done that too, sure, especially in the beginning of his Iron Man days. It was thrilling on a very physical, by the skin of your teeth kind of way. What he'd learned, though, was that seeing your complex plans unfold flawlessly, seeing the look on your enemy's face when you outwitted them – that was thrilling on a whole other level.

Loki finally, finally put his plate down. "Shall we?" he said, standing up.

As if that required a response.

Tony hurried towards the door, ripped it open and strode into the corridor— And stopped short when he saw May step out of Pepper's room.

"What are you doing here?" he blurted out, which apart from being pretty rude, was also a pretty stupid question. Obviously, if May joined the 'Let's save S.H.I.E.L.D. from Hydra' team, she could stay over when needed. And having just come out of an infiltration mission and flown in his awesome suit that was not so awesome when it wasn't your size… She'd have wanted a rest, duh.

"Why hello to you too. Your A.I. told me to take this room, so I did. If you have a problem with it, program your butler better."

Tony gaped at her, because what the hell. "J.A.R.V.I.S. is not some… butler! What the hell is wrong with you? And I was just surprised you'd take Pepper's room, is all! Thought you'd crash with Phil. But never mind. I see you haven't worked up the nerves yet."

Now it was May's turn to gape, though in her case she looked furious at the same time, and Tony was glad that he had Loki right there to fall back behind if needed. "You. Are. Such a hypocrite," she said, and Tony frowned. What was she on about? "And you look like death warmed over," she tacked on, as if that had anything to do with… anything. "Don't tell me you're going to work on Zola in this state." She even had her hands on her hips now. What the hell?

"What are you, my mom?" The moment he said it, the sharp memory of Zola's insinuation came back to stab him. He pushed away the mental image of his mother like he was stamping on a cockroach. Just… Not now. Please.

"Whatever," May said with an eye-roll. "Just don't fuck up with the excuse you're sleep-deprived."

Tony snorted. "It's not like we're on the clock or anything, like Hydra's not going to be totally paranoid and doubling down now that Zola officially went up in flames."

May just waved him off dismissively, a perfect mix between 'if you say so, dipshit' and 'just fuck off then'. Or that's what it looked like to Tony anyway. But he might be biased.

"You look a bit less like death warmed over," May said to Loki, and Tony turned around because, well, he'd kind of forgotten Loki was lack-of-mana-ill with the way he'd been acting since Tony woke up. And maybe May was right. A little. Loki's face did look less pale-blue or flushed-dark-blue, the two colours he'd been sporting lately. But the huge duvet from their bed currently wrapped around him three times like he was a California roll? That didn't really spell 'better'. He was tempted to tell Loki to not be stupid and get back in bed but… Well, that would be hypocritical, that. Tony would never just lay down and rest, if he were in his situation. He couldn't force Loki to be reasonable when Tony himself was anything but.

"Well," Tony said, because it was time to draw this conversation to a close. "If you're taking Pepper's room, feel free to go through her closet. You could borrow a dress and make Phil do a double take." May opened her mouth to say something scornful no doubt, so Tony added, "Have fun!" with a little wave as he half-skipped half-ran down the corridor.

He heard Loki's faint "Do excuse him," which, really? He didn't need Loki to excuse his goddamn behaviour – he chose to be an annoying bastard on purpose. But hey, he supposed it made Loki look all polite and nice and shit, so good for him. He'd let it slide. Kinda. He still stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for the workshop without waiting for Loki. There.

Halfway down, he felt like sighing and rolling his eyes – transference. There was no true annoyance or anything coming over the bond; if anything, there was a touch of amusement and, what was that? Acceptance, maybe, though that didn't seem right either. Either way, it wasn't the reaction Tony had expected. And he now also felt like an arse for not waiting for Loki – he was sure the sheepishness and mild guilt had reached Loki by now, no way he could repress that. He guessed that could serve as an apology all in itself.

The first thing he did when he stepped into the workshop was head to the coffee-machine and get a quadruple espresso of single origin Sumatran coffee. May wasn't wrong about how tired he was. Sure, yesterday had been stressful, and he hadn't exactly slept well the day before that, but still. He used to be able to go so many days in a row with barely any sleep. Surely he hadn't aged ten years plus in the last six months, right? He was nearing 43 but shit, he felt like he was nearing 60, what the hell.

Loki came in, still looking like a burrito, and shuffled over to the current centre-piece; the mini-J.A.R.V. and Zola combo. He looked at it intently, cocking his head this way and that as if… Well, there were miniature Arc reactors in there. Maybe he was looking at the magical flow or something—

"Hey," Tony said as he strode over, cup of coffee almost sloshing over from pointing at Loki with it. "Don't tell me I'm so tired and you look so much chipper because you leeched my magic again," he growled.

Faint surprised reached him over the bond, while Loki looked pensive. His gaze turned glassy way too long for Tony's liking, but he'd seen that look before. It was the 'let me check my internal workings' look. Tony might look the same when he investigated anything to do with the strange-arse new connections of the soul bond that sometimes felt like a new appendage. Loki had that and magic. That was a lot of introspective real estate to navigate, he got that, but damn, why did he have to take so damn long?

Loki's gaze sharpened again, and he looked decidedly contrite. Well shit. "My apologies. It had slipped my mind when—" When Tony was bordering on a mental breakdown and Loki had physically and mentally manhandled him into taking a nap. "My magical core is indeed more recovered than would be expected if left to heal on its own. Again, I do apologise," Loki said with a small bow. As if doing the whole look-how-charming-and-princely-I-am-even-rolled-up-in-this-duvet would work—

Okay, fuck, it did work. "It's fine," Tony said with a sigh. What was some fatigue compared to his soulmate's health, right? It was just that the timing sucked. But then, when did Tony ever luck out? Exactly, never. (Or, well, he did meet his soulmate so if that wasn't the epitome of luck— Get out of my head, Fate!)

Loki looked sceptical, so he gave him a half-shrug. Sure, he might still be exuding quite a bit of frustration, but, sue him, he was tired. He was going to be on frustration 24/7 until he actually got some restful sleep, okay? Because apparently he was getting old and he had a vampiric soulmate.

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Loki reluctantly let Tony pretend to be fine with having his magic stolen – if their positions were reversed, Loki would have been much more aghast, but then he supposed Tony did not truly understand the value of magical energy. Still, the fact he was stealing Tony's energy without permission… He may not be doing it on purpose, but it was a violation that made a sour tang cling to his tongue. He should have noticed earlier. Why else would he have felt less ill to this extent all of a sudden? Not dizzy, not bone-tired, not feverish. Obviously his mind was not back to normal since he had not noticed something so obvious.

"Stop beating yourself up, you're just making it worse," Tony groaned between two sips of his coffee. He drained the cup and put it down with more force than necessary. "So, see anything interesting?" he said, gesturing at the device that contained two artificial minds.

"While I haven't seen the original signatures of these particular Arc reactors before, and as such cannot make any true comparison… If I were to venture a guess, I would say J.A.R.V.I.S. is in this section of the machine," Loki said, pulling an arm out of his cosy blankets and drawing the shape in the air above the device. "And Zola is in this area," he said, designating the other half.

"How can you tell?"

"The magic is drastically different. I suppose each Arc reactor feeds only one mind and not the other?" Tony nodded. "Since the Arc reactor is the unique source of their energy, it is, in a manner of speaking, as if those were their magical cores as well. As such, it is not unexpected that J.A.R.V.I.S., who just like the Arc reactor has been created by you, will have a much better connection and influence on his Arc reactor. The magical energy flows smoothly, in a very efficient way, and it has a pleasant warmth to it."

"That's my J.A.R.V. all right," Tony said with a smile, patting the J.A.R.V.I.S. side of the box.

"Zola, on the other hand, is incompatible with his Arc reactor and as such, the Arc reactor and Zola's nature are in battle, and I suspect Zola is winning. The energy is menacing, like a snarling wolf. It also feels… venomous like a furtive snake bite. Slowly creeping up your veins while you didn't notice the initial sting, and the moment you realise, it's already too late."

"You have snakes on Asgard?"

Loki blinked at the non sequitur. "Of course. There are plenty. Especially in the Northwestern caves. As the God of Mischief I have actually been associated with snakes for more than a millennium."

Tony snorted. "Why am I not surprised? You do look like the kind of person who'd walk around with a python round your neck. But what I was more curious about is venomous snakes. Like, are there venomous snakes with potent enough venom to kill Aesir?"

"Yes." Where in Yggdrasil was Tony going with this?

"Huh. That's scary as fuck, thinking about it. Like, there are plenty of terrifying snakes on Earth, just imagining those but levelled up… Yeah, if I ever get to Asgard, remind me to stay away from those caves and the super-snakes inside."

Loki could not help his smirk. "And let you miss out on one of Asgard's best sights? That would make me a terrible host."

Tony rubbed at his temple. "Let me guess, those damn caves are your favourite spot in all of Asgard."

"How did you know?" Loki said, smirk widening.

It was not for the fauna that Loki liked the Northwestern caves, and rather the abundance of pathways to Yggdrasil's roots that permitted travel between Realms on winding hidden roads that could not be traced. The fact he had spread rumours of much greater snake populations than were actually there, and that it had prompted a general avoidance of said caves and thus a great place to find some well-deserved solitude; that was a detail not worth mentioning. Of course no Asgardian would admit to fearing snakes. However, snakes were also not considered worth killing to show one's aptitude and worth, so no intrepid youths would come disrupt him while they were looking for a glorious hunt.

"Fine. As long as I get to wear an Asgardian-snake-proof Iron Man armour. I'll need detailed descriptions of their size, and jaw strength, and what the hell their teeth are made of, and if they have gold-titanium alloy melting venom and shit," Tony said, counting on his fingers.

"If you wish," Loki said, amused. "Though I can assure that is not necessary, elskan mín. I would not let any dangerous beasts get near you."

"Yeah, how about you don't let any non-snake beasts get near me either until I've vetted them human-friendly?" There was a spike of genuine apprehension that Tony managed to keep off his face but that their bond did not disguise.

Loki could not help himself; he laughed. Who would have thought a self-proclaimed superhero who did not hesitate to risk his life for others, would be so squeamish about the many animals that would not care about his presence unless directly threatened? Loki did not mind the cautiousness, of course; much better than having his soulmate ready to pet a bilgesnipe. But he would have thought that, for a Midgardian with such poor survival instinct, unknown animals would have been quite enticing. It was, for a lack of other words, cute.

Tony looked disgruntled at his reaction, and Loki reached out before he could think twice and ruffled Tony's hair. Tony pulled a face and ducked away, smoothing his hair back into… not-order, since his hair had already been, unbeknownst to him, in quite the state. "Tell me when you're done laughing at your poor, weak human soulmate, will you? I've got a lot of work to do and I'd like to be able to concentrate."

"Certainly. Let's see… I estimate my mirth to last a good few Midgardian years."

"Soooo glad I'm such a source of entertainment," Tony grumbled, sorting through a bunch of wires with varying ends.

"Kærr, you'll always be my source of entertainment and anything else I'll ever need. That is what soulmates are."

Tony paused, dropped the wire he had been detangling, and turned around to look him in the eye. "That's it. Enough. Go sit somewhere far away and do something else, yeah? How the hell am I supposed to concentrate when you spout stuff like that?"

"I never said I intended to let you concentrate."

Tony tried to bodily push him backwards this time, with little success. "Come on you stupid blue spring roll! Move!" He tried to sound irritated but Loki was not fooled; Tony was also amused on the inside. "Get out of my hair!"

"This hair?" Loki chuckled, ruffling the brown locks again. When Tony tried to evade him once more, Loki unrolled the fluffy duvet in one swift move and trapped Tony inside its confines with him.

"Argh! How the fuck to do you manage to get the insides of my duvet this cold? That's a premium down duvet, it's supposed to warm you up."

"If there is one thing you can trust, it's that Frost Giants will freeze anything they touch."

Tony poked him in the ribs, hard. "Don't you dare go down a self-deprecating spiral again. We've talked about this. And besides, this Frost Giant doesn't freeze everything. Least of all me. I'm freeze-proof." Tony huffed, pushing at the duvet. Loki reluctantly released him, and Tony started to pull it out of his hands entirely. "This thing isn't helping you at all. What you need is an electric blanket or something. J.A.R.V., do we have one of those?"

"I'm afraid not, Sir. Since Stark Tower has the latest in environmental controls, electric blankets were not needed. I can get one delivered before the end of the day if you—"

"That won't be necessary," Loki interrupted. "I will not feel cold for much longer, given how much I have healed already."

Tony was scowling. "You sure about that?"

"I am. And besides, I already have a better heat source at my disposal." He looked at Tony pointedly.

"Oh, so that's what I am? A next-level hot water bottle? Gee. What an honour."

"Congratulations on your promotion, Sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. added, and Loki laughed at the betrayed face Tony pulled.

"Don't you start, J.A.R.V.. Just get him a damn electric blanket."

"I don't think I will, Sir. Mr Friggason obviously does not want one."

Tony threw his hands up in the air. "God, what have I done to deserve this?"

The answer to that was rather obvious; he had been born with the other half of Loki's soul. He doubted Tony would like to hear him voice that, however.

Suddenly Tony's stare turned to him and pinned him in place. "Whatever you're thinking, stop it right now. No 'it's because you had the misfortune to meet me' and that kind of bullshit, capisce? We're soulmates who actually managed to fucking meet. A chance in however many trillions, quintillions, decillions or how many people there are in our galaxy. We're like, supercalifragilisticexpialidociously lucky, all right?"

Loki blinked at the strangely long word Tony used, though he thought he got the gist of it. "It would not be a chance in how many inhabitants there are in the galaxy, but a chance in how many there are in the Nine Realms, over an immeasurable amount of time." The well souls sprang from in this part of the galaxy were solely held within the branches and roots of Yggdrasil.

"Sure, whatever, Mr Know-it-all. That's still an indescribable number. You can't argue with our crazily high percentage of luck."

"Did you not previously consider being bound to me a misfortune?"

"Why, didn't you?"

"No."

Tony opened his mouth, closed it. Perhaps because Loki did not remember himself whether he had despised the idea of a soulmate or not. Who knew how the soul bond would recognise that. Was it a lie if Loki did not know whether it was?

"Well, if I thought it bad luck before, I don't now, okay?" Tony passed a hand through his hair, left it there for a moment. "Okay. Here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna hook Zola up to this off-the-grid computer. And then while J.A.R.V. and I work on stealing that megalomaniac's memories, I'll be a glorified hot water bottle. That work for you?"

Did that work for him? What kind of question was that? Of course every single moment spent in contact with Tony was a delight. Tony did not know that, nor did he share that point of view, and Loki did not know how to voice his agreement, so he merely nodded. And that was how ten minutes later he held his soulmate in his arms, hugging him from behind, the duvet hanging over his back, while Tony typed away on his computer, muttering under his breath. Loki let the contentment wash over him freely, not caring if Tony could feel it. He could spend hours like this, holding his soulmate, breathing in his scent.

How could the halls of Valhalla ever compare to this?

So, spring roll Loki, hot water bottle Tony, what do we think? It's getting cold outside, I thought we could use the fluff XD

Spread the Luv!

LL