only thing i own is the story. enjoy!

Six hours, it took him six hours to get all the boxes inside the apartment and in a somewhat orderly fashion –which you know; it wasn't all that orderly so much as haphazardly thrown in every corner- but there was a method to his madness; lunch had come and go by now, and his stomach had been growling for what seemed like forever because, oh right, he had skipped breakfast since he had to wake up at seven in the goddamn morning to drive all the way down here. Jarvis had almost had palpitations seeing him up and functioning so early.

He wasn't up now though, and he certainly wasn't functioning.

More like face down lying on the floor, arms and legs spread, stomach demon growling for a worthy sacrifice and thinking that maybe he should have hired someone to do this for him, 'part of the experience' be damned.

That sofa would have to be acquired sooner than expected, preferably the next day because there was no place to sit or lay down (laying down was important when you were Tony Stark and had ladies to charm your way into) unless you wanted to risk it by sitting on a box, though safety precautions were strongly suggested, he worked with some dangerous stuff.

*demonic stomach growl* He could get up and get the bag of cheetos he had seen in one of the boxes in the kitchen, but that would imply moving and not an option at the moment.

Jarvis would have palpitations for sure this time if he knew the only thing in his stomach at the moment was that gum that he totally didn't intend to swallow but did anyway.

He was just thinking about standing up to make his offering to the stomach demon when the front door opened and –no he didn't gasp, he just took air passionately- a really good looking guy (no homo) made his way inside.

"Hi" said the guy, his voice and disposition were friendly enough, so it probably wasn't a burglar.

"Hey there" said Tony, still lying on the ground "don't mind me, I'm just tired from moving boxes about all day. I'm Tony, by the way, Tony Stark; nice to meet you… roomie?"

The guy smiled and nodded. Yeah, he wasn't a burglar, thank goodness. And hey! He seemed cool too, and he wasn't a troll after all, he was kind of tall, but he didn't know many trolls that were also blond and had blue eyes –he didn't know any kind of troll to begin with- but also, facial hair!

Oh, they would so bond over that.

"Yes, tell me about it, I've been moving boxes all day as well" roomie said "I'm Fandral Nolan, it's very nice to meet you."

Tony took a second to file the name under the 'names that I need to remember' tab in his brain, not a very common name, put together with the slight accent and the not-instant-recognition-of his-name, meant foreigner which meant chick magnet (enough for both of them hopefully), awesome!

"Um, okay, first things first, Do you need to take your medication? You're seeing things, there are no boxes here of yours, and, do not listen to the voices telling you to kill me" Tony said in a casual voice, half joking and half not because you never really know.

"There are no voices telling me to kill you" Fandral answered with a half grin that, yeah, okay, he could be a little competition, guy was attractive.

"Not yet" said Tony shrugging "welcome to our crib, I will be your guide" he said standing up and extending his arms to show the grandiosity of their new place, Fandral just snorted and looked

around "that's your room" he said pointing to a door on his right "upstairs is mine, called dibs" he said with a 'what can you do' gesture.

"Alright" said Fandral while smiling good-naturedly.

"Soo… your boxes, what's up with that?" asked Tony, he really needed to know if his new roommate needed special medication for his hallucinations, unless the guy could throw a good reducio and all his things were actually in his pocket or something but that was highly improbable because, you know, Ministry regulations.

Ok, so he was a dorky potterhead, sue him (better not though, his lawyers were vicious.).

"Oh, I was helping my girlfriend move, she goes here as well, another building though" he explained; a girlfriend huh? No competition after all.

"Nice" which it was, what else could he really say to that.

Fandral kept looking around and his eyes found the window wall –though admittedly, it was hard to miss- "this is really nice, but I think the girls have a better view" he said.

Yeah, no "I disagree" said Tony, "from here you can actually see the hot spot for the yoga girls, get it? Yoga, which means yoga pants" he said with a pleased smile, he made an extensive

investigation on such matters, and for whatever reason, hot girls seemed to abound here (a few 5's and some 7's, but 8's and up mostly).

"Classes haven't even started yet, how can you know that already?" Fandral asked, to Tony's ears he sounded awed –and rightly so- "and at what time does this visual can be achieved?" he asked.

Tony was about to show off his mad investigative skills when he was interrupted by a new voice behind them.

"I did not hear that, and you won't say it again. It's for your own good." The new voice said, the sound of that voice was so nice it had Tony turning to look at the speaker without him noticing.

"Oh? I remember you saying I could look but don't touch" said Fandral turning as well, a teasing

smile already on his face –the guy was smiley, that's for sure- his eyes blazing with… something,though of course, who could blame him, with a girl like that in front of him smiling like that.

"I would never say such a thing" she countered. "Hello" she continued at the same time Fandral said "Tony, this is my girlfriend" but a sharp look from her promptly shut him up (Tony could almost hear the crack of a whip in the distance) before turning to look at Tony, and oh, wasn't that a sight to behold

"I am Loki Borson" a long fingered and perfectly well manicured hand was extended in his direction and really, Tony Stark billionaire extraordinaire shouldn't feel like squealing over some girl he just met.

"Er… hi, I'm Anthony Stark. Everyone calls me Tony though, so you can too, if you want" wait, what? He shook her hand and by the lords was it soft.

Well, it's not every day that his brain stops working, but awkward introductions aside Tony just had to take a moment to just look at her for a bit, Loki was very pretty –understatement, she was beautiful.

A 10, easy, sure most of the time he was surrounded by gorgeous women that all but threw themselves at him but there was something about her, just something that called to him; could be anything from her smooth (so smooth) pale skin (seriously pale, if not for the dark hair he'd think she was actually albino), the charcoal black hair that cascaded down her back all the way to her waist in loose curls, the enticing red lips or…

oh, oh well, yes, we have a winner, there was the prize, those eyes took the cake, that particular shade of green should be called 'Loki green' because he has never seen it before and he'd bet his trust fund that it was made specifically for her.

'Damn it, calm yourself Stark' he reprimanded himself mentally, 'you just met the woman, and she's is taken, so forget about it' not that someone having previous compromises had been an issue in the past but this was a delicate situation, he would be living with Fandral and it could get messy –the bad kind of messy.

"It is nice to meet you Anthony" Loki said lightly and surprise, surprise, he liked her voice as well, never mind the fact that she had just called him 'Anthony' and that was a no-no in any other situation, but he decided he would be gracious and let it slide this once. Yeah, that was it.

"You can just call me Tony, really, it's totally fine" he said dragging his eyes away from her because he'd been staring long enough and he had a feeling it wouldn't be pretty if –when- Fandral catches onto the fact that he was having thoughts about his girlfriend.

Fandral grinned and patted Tony on the shoulder, an action that made Tony feel like a douche bag because he was kind of being one at the moment, so he swallowed whatever feelings he might have had and returned the smile.

"well" Tony said clapping once "the place is not actually that big so if you look around you'll see it all, but we'll have time for that" he said at the same time his stomach demon demanded sacrifice "sounds like I'm hungry" he continued "what do you think, Indian or Chinese? We can play twenty questions while we eat; I want to know all about ('Loki') you guys" he asked and saw Loki and Fandral nodding.

"How about Italian?" suggested Fandral looking between Tony and his girlfriend.

"Mexican?" asked Loki "I've been craving tacos" she said.

Fandral waggled his eyebrows at her and said "Cravings already?" suggestively. Ha ha pregnancy jokes were always funny. Not.

For whatever reason something about the way Fandral said that rubbed him the wrong way, so he opted to diffuse the (one-sided) tension and sighed dramatically "Guys, guys I was giving you options, not asking for your input" he said "but yeah, I guess tacos do sound pretty good, you okay?" he asked looking towards Fandral to get his approval and the other one smiled and nodded "tacos it is then" he said while getting his phone out of his pocket.

The food didn't take long to arrive and a few bags of tacos later –say anything you want, but he was taking these two to an all you can eat buffet, damn! They could eat- they were sitting on the floor of their would-be living room.

"Wait, wait, wait, so you guys have know each other since you were kids" Tony said "and you hated each other… how'd you end up together then?" he asked and then hoped he had learn to keep his mouth shut.

"No, no, she hated me, I liked her from the moment I first saw her" said Fandral and Tony thought that was understandable because he felt the same; and wasn't that just great, he was actually making friends and his libido was trying to undo all his progress.

"I did, you were such a brute –still are, but thankfully not as much" Loki said with a smile in Fandral's direction and Tony felt the sudden urge to start screaming to make her look at him again

"honestly, this relationship took me by surprise as well, Thor was bursting of happiness when he found out though" she finished. Wait, Thor?

"Wait, Thor?" Tony said intelligently.

"My brother, we mention that, didn't we? Fandral was—is my brother's best friend, that's how we met, he and his group of friends were playing warriors but needed someone to rescue so, of course my brother dragged me from my bedroom to play damsel in distress for them" Loki recounted, dislike clear in her voice.

"You were a great damsel Loki, the best we ever rescued" Fandral said with a smile "Sif threw a right fit when we suggested she should do it, got me in the head with that wooden sword of hers"

Fandral was clearly down memory lane by now, so Tony left him to it and focused back on Loki (like that was such a hardship).

"So, a law student, that's great" Tony commented.

"'Great' is one word for it" Loki said before taking a swig of her iced tea "'bullshit' is another one" she said, now with a sardonic smile on her face, there's a story there then, but touchy subject, got it.

Fandral put an arm around her shoulders to draw her closer to him and kissed her temple which earned him a kiss on the cheek in return.

Tony noticed that they touched a lot, not even romantically speaking, just little touches, like in the back of their hands or rearranging a fallen lock of hair here and there, lifting imaginary lint from each other, and that one time while they were eating that she wiped some wayward guacamole from Fandral's taco that had found its way onto his goatee, little things that put their relationship on display for everyone to see

it was curious to Tony, since he didn't really had that many friends, just the one if you counted Rhodey –which he did because if not then there would be none- who wasn't all that comfortable having feelings, let alone showing them and his father never was one for displays of affection (public or otherwise), and good old Jarvis who was really nice and super awesome but entirely too British

so yeah, for a touch-starved emotionally stunned guy like him this openness was curious and refreshing and it made him want to have friends, be their friend, and at the same time it made him kind of itchy every time he saw his new roommate touch his own girlfriend.

Kind of like when he was a kid and he wanted to go play in his father's lab but couldn't because he'd be in trouble. He remembers feeling itchy then as well.

Maybe, he thought, maybe he just needed to get laid to scratch that itch. 'God! I really am a douchebag' he thought when images of exactly whom he would like to scratch that itch with came to mind; 'Get it together Stark, she's not for you' he lectured himself a final time before he heard his name being called.

"…-kay?" the voice said.

"Huh? Sorry, I think I spaced out for a minute, you were saying?" he recovered when he realized both Fandral and Loki were looking at him funny.

"I just asked if you were staying here tonight or were going back home, and if you were okay" Fandral answered with a gentle smile. Man, he must look like shit if these two people he just met were worried about him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I do that sometimes, I space out and think and think and think until I cannot think anymore, don't worry; and yes, I'm staying here tonight, brought a sleeping bag and everything" he said patting the bundle he was reclining on "since my bed won't be delivered until tomorrow and going to a hotel is too bothersome, how about you?" he asked.

"We're staying at my brother's, he lives nearby" Loki answered simply and Tony nodded.

"I could stay here and make you company though, Loki can lend me a blanket or something" Fandral said looking at Loki for approval (yeap, that was a definite whip crack in the distance) "however happy Thor is about us being together, he can't bear the idea of me sleeping with his little sister, so I'd have to sleep on the floor anyway" he explained and though Tony had never met Thor, he couldn't help but wholeheartedly agree with the guy.

"You should" agreed Loki and just like that it was decided.

"It's okay though, you don't have to do that man" objected Tony because, although he wasn't particularly looking forward to staying alone, all this thoughts he was having were giving him a guilty conscience.

Scruples, who'd have thought?

"Don't worry mate, what are friends for?" Fandral said and yes, yes, that was salt going right into the wound. What could Tony say after that?

"Well" he said getting up and walking to the kitchen to look through the boxes "I could share my sleeping bag" he said turning to them with a smile and an exaggerated eyebrow-waggle that made both his addressees laugh.

He rummaged some more until he found the precious orange bag he was looking for.

"Hey Snow White, Prince Charming, you want Cheetos?" he asked, opening the bag and showing its contents invitingly.

'What are friends for' indeed.

Actio