petit papillon

It went on like that for days. Tony kept working in a frenzy and forgot all about green eyed gods and empty beds. It wasn't even a conscious decision just made to forget about his missing lover, maybe it had begun like that but once the genius got started on a project, he could forget all about the outside world. Sleep? Food? That was for normal people! Sure, after days of being awake and working he too would fall asleep on the spot sometimes, but he would always wake after a few hours and continue where he had left off. In those times, coffee was the only thing keeping him alive in - and probably his bots and JARVIS, because they were the ones who supplied him with the dark liquid.

It was at times like those that Tony Stark hated having people who cared for him, because after some days of zero communication they would start to worry and try to check on him and then after, as a result, force him to stop working and eat and sleep and he hated it because how could he pause when he was in the middle of something so important!

After, of course, when he had finished everything and could think normal once again, he would be silently grateful because if it weren't for those annoying interrupting friends he would probably die some day over a project out of sleep deprivation and malnourishment, but in the moment itself, when all those thoughts and ideas and moments of genius just danced around in his head, screaming at him to be let out, to be made use of, to be put outside in the real world and to be shaped and built into real objects and things he just couldn't stop. He couldn't ignore the screaming and rushing of those thoughts and concepts, they needed to be materialized and until then they wouldn't stop and Tony couldn't rest. But normal people rarely understood, because Tony’s brain worked so different from the rest of them.

Loki had understood. Rather than forcing him to interact with other living beings or demanding he come up to eat with him and then to bed later, he got what kept Tony up. In his youth he had been much the same, often being caught up in his studies, trying to perfect a new spell, needing to gain power over another, just recently discovered part of his Seiðr so much that everything else just blurted into the background until it wasn't there anymore at all. His mind would solely focus on the matter at hand, because in that moment to master the unknown was the most important and he couldn't stop until he had done so.

These days Loki only rarely got completely consumed by this urge to perfect a new spell anymore, there were of course still hundreds of thousands of enchantments that he yearned to know, but one day, after another one of Tony’s working episodes, they had talked about it and Loki had told him how, with every year that he got older and wiser, he had slowly mastered the art to keep himself in check and not be controlled by this need any longer. They had talked for hours and Tony started to believe the god that some day he too would be able to control his mind, not the other way around, and until then Loki would be there for him, helping him to get through.

Yeah, Loki had truly understood, so he had brought Tony his meals down to the workshop in hope of the genius absently eating it when it was just there and otherwise had left Anthony to his work. In some ways, the two had been perfect together.

But now, Loki wasn't in the picture anymore, so after some days with no sign of life from the genius for several days, his friends and teammates naturally started to worry. Their tries to contact him were for naught, obviously, but they couldn't reach Loki either, so that was what got their attention. Because as unreliable as Tony was when it came to keeping in touch with them, his lover was quite the opposite in this regard. Every time Tony had been in one of his working fits or just unwilling to interact with anyone for an extended amount of time, it had been the black haired god who had answered their calls and reassured them that Anthony's fine, but not so this time. All calls went unanswered and after almost a week of absolute radio silence - and even one ignored Avengers’ assembling - they finally decided to team up and check on the missing genius. Because as annoying as he sometimes was, he was still their team mate and, even more importantly, their friend.

The Avengers stood in the communal area Tony had built on one of the floors. There was a kitchen - with a refrigerator still always freshly filled with all the things they liked even though none of them lived regularly in the tower anymore - and of course several bathrooms, a living area with a big TV screen and several big couches and armchairs where they had often had their regular movie nights and still did, but no sign of either Tony or Loki here.

“Well let's go to their floor, shall we?” Steve proposed.

“Maybe we should try to sneak in!” Clint grinned. “JARVIS said they were in the tower after all! They've probably been going at it like rabbits and just decided to ignore the outside world!”

To be exact, the A.I.s answer to the question where they both were was a simple “Sir is inside the tower, Captain.” but they would soon enough find out on their own that Loki wasn't here, so JARVIS didn't deem it necessary to correct him.

Natasha only snorted to Clint’s idea, but Thor seemed highly uncomfortable at the thought of his little brother having any sexual relations at all.

“Maybe we should just leave my brother and the Man of Iron in peace, it has been but a week…” the thunder god slowly suggested but Steve shook his head.

“They can't be doing … making love for one week straight! Something is off here and we need check if they're okay!”

“You sure they can't Steve? You forget Loki is a god with magic powers! I'm sure there's no limits to what he can do!”

Steve faintly blushed at Clint’s remark but decided to ignore it and just walked in the direction of the elevator.

“Guess we'll just have to find out then!” the archer laughed before he set to follow Steve with the rest of the team in tow.

Once they arrived at the floor shared by the genius and the god, they hesitated for a second but then entered anyway.

“Well they shouldn't allow us up here when they're doing something they don't want us to see right?” Clint shrugged but it was Bruce who snorted at that.

“I’m pretty sure it's not them that would be afraid of us seeing something we shouldn't! I've already surprised them several times in the workshop and let me tell you, it's not a sight I want to see again anytime soon!”

Natasha’s cackling was met with a stern look from Bruce. “I’m not kidding, Nat! Tony has no sense of privacy and neither does Loki, or so it seems!”

“Nay, on Asgard it is quite common to-” Thor started but was then interrupted by a now furiously blushing Captain.

“Let's just focus on the matter at hand shall we? And no more stories of post-battle orgies on Asgard, Thor!” he scolded with a stern voice and then proceeded to step out of the elevator on his friend’s private floor.

“Tell me all about it later, Thor, will ya?” Clint sniggered at an overenthusiastically nodding Thor.

“I shall tell you all about our glorious battles and the feasts that follow after! But the good captain doesn’t seem to care to learn about our traditions so we should trade war stories over a beer or two this evening!”

The redheaded spy groaned at the prospect of the night to come and decided then and there that she would invite herself to Steve's place and just watch Disney movies with him, no need to be in the apartment when Clint had Thor over! Maybe she would invite Loki too, that probably depended on the situation they would find them in though. No need to tease the poor captain even more by having an exhibitionist Norse god over just hours after seeing him having sex or whatever, so yeah, it would depend on the situation.

But as they continued to wander through the couple’s floor, it quickly became apparent that no one was there either, hadn't been for some time apparently as the black widow stated noticing the thin layer of dust that had settled over everything.

“Okay that is slightly weird…” Clint admitted. “So what does that mean, they went on a spontaneous vacation without telling anyone or what?” he sounded thoughtful now, a bit worried even.

“You forget that JARVIS said they were still in the tower!” Bruce said uncomfortable, now clearly preferring if he would have found them in a compromising situation than not at all.

“Aye, and it's not like my brother to just leave without letting me know… He tells me everything. He trusts me completely again, he even let's me call him brother again!” Thor smugly explained.

“Yes, yes, we know, he forgave you for whatever it was that you had apparently done wrong, blah blah, you've only told us about a million times big guy!” Clint whined, being sick of hearing that particular story about the miracle over and over again.

“I wronged him deeply when we were children! And I have you know that I let him down so many times, that it is indeed very gracious and generous of him to accept me back in his life. But Loki has always been a forgiving person!” Thor continued nonetheless, quick to defend his beloved brother’s honour and narrowing his eyes at the archer.

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Guys! Stop it!” Steve snapped. They had had that conversation too many times now, Clint always being quick to antagonize and Thor falling for it every damn time.

“I just think it's weird how Loki is the one who attacked us and yet it's Thor who needed to earn his forgive-”

“Shut up, Clint!” Now it was Natasha who got annoyed by their never ending bickering. “You too, Thor!” she continued, seeing how Thor had opened his mouth to reply to Clint’s words.

“Well, we should go look for them in Tony’s workshop.” Bruce suggested. “But it is weird… Tony? Sure he could go weeks just being down in the lab, but I just can't picture Loki being there with him the whole time, wouldn't he get bored after a day or two? I mean it just doesn't sit right with me that apparently no one was up here in a week and with them both ignoring all calls?”

“That's not like Loki, you're right Bruce. At least not like the Loki we've gotten to known those last months!” Natasha agreed, the rest of the team slowly nodded. It was indeed fairly suspicious.

“JARVIS you are sure they are both here and well?” Even though Steve knew the A.I. wouldn't be wrong, he needed to check it again. And the british voice promptly replied.

“I never made any comments on Mr. Laufeyson’s whereabouts or his well-being, but I can assure you that Sir is in his workshop, exhausted, but other than that completely fine.”

The heroes looked at each other. That didn't sound ominous at all.

“Tell me now, voice that speaks to us, where is my brother!” Thor was the first to demand.

“I am afraid I can't help you with that Mr. Odinson.”

The blond god clenched his fists and suddenly seemed to radiate anger off of himself in waves. Bruce swallowed, that was exactly what he needed right now.

Natasha saw the struggle and pulled Thor aways from Banner. “Let's not jump to conclusions! Let's go down and ask Tony, I'm sure there's a completely reasonable explanation for this!”

Natasha was pretty sure there was no such thing, but why cause panic before they really knew everything.

“Also Thor, maybe let's stay calm and not antagonize the big guy with those angry vibes, hm?”

Thor slowly nodded. “Yes of course…” He took a deep breath. “I am sorry, you're right, let's ask Anthony first and not jump to conclusions. Surely my brother is fine. And Anthony too.”

And with that they made their way down to Tony’s supposed current location. They exited the elevator and tried to gain access to the lab, but the doors remained closed.

Steve cleared his throat. “JARVIS, could you let us in please?” He asked.

“I am truly sorry Captain Rogers, but Sir has activated a certain protocol that keeps me from letting any means of outside communication through to him.”

“I wonder what the real name of this protocol is!” a grinning Clint whispered to Romanov, but apparently the A.I. overheard.

“Actually, Mr. Barton, that is the real name, A Certain Protocol is what Sir has decided to call it.”

“Oh…”

Now it was Natasha’s time to snigger. “Well that certainly shut him up, JARVIS! Now that that is clear, do you think you could convince Tony to allow us inside?”

There were a couple of seconds of silence, then: “I cannot relay any messages, Miss Romanov.” He sounded apologetic.

“You must able to-” started Thor.

“However”, the A.I. interrupted firmly, “I can certainly talk to Sir of my own accord and maybe convince him to let me open the door for you.” he concluded.

“Thank you JARVIS, that would be great. It really is urgent that we talk to him.” Steve added. So they waited. For several minutes they heard nothing from JARVIS and even though there was no real evidence that something bad had happened, all five of them felt somewhat uneasy. They couldn't even place the feeling, but this absolute radio silence from both of them didn't sit right with either of the Avengers, so when JARVIS spoke up again, they all hoped it was with an affirmative answer.

“Sir has declined my request to allow you in.”

Those were exactly the words no one had wanted to hear. But then again, what had they expected from Tony after nearly a week of isolation.

“Okay you know what JARVIS? This is getting ridiculous. Tony can't just expect us not to worry! We're a team, he's a part of it so he has to deal with the consequences!”

Bruce raised his eyebrows at Steve. What was he getting at?

“I'm overriding his order.”

“I can't do this without the correct overriding code, Captain Rogers!” The A.I. sounded amused.

Steve on the other hand rolled his eyes, then he sighed. “Okay. Overriding code Don't Fucking Do This Steve I'm Telling You Leave Me The Fuck Alone One Two Three. Happy now?”

Clint erupted into a giggling fit while Nat playfully scolded him - Language! - which caused Steve to blush a faint pink in return. Thor just remained confused and Banner shook his head. “Figures that Tony would choose something like that to be your overriding code!”

But, not a second later, JARVIS voice came out of the speakers again: “Correct code, Captain. Opening the door for you now.”

And just like that they all perched into Tony’s workshop.

Tony finally looked up from what he was currently working on when he heard how JARVIS - the traitor - opened the door to let the Avengers in. Steve must have used his overriding code, a shame he hadn’t been there to see him saying those words in person, but he would definitely watch the video feed from it later. Several times. And then probably post it online.

“Nice code you get there for Stevie, man!” Clint grinned.

“Yeah, I liked the touch with the numbers at the end, no one would have ever hacked that!” That was Bruce. Tony just waggled his eyebrows at them. “So what are you doing here? Oh and Steve, FYI, I’m deeply hurt by the violation of my privacy here, just so you know and can start thinking of ways to apologize to me already.”

Steve shook his head. “Stay serious, guys. Tony, we were worried about you! You can't just block out all communication without telling us where you are or what you're doing!”

“Oh come on, gramps, stop your scolding right there. I'm a grown ass man and I can do as I please. And it's not the first time I've been under for days, working, anyway!”

“Tony! This is different okay. Normally Loki would answer our calls and assure us that you are fine and he's taking care of you but this time no one answered. You even missed an Avengers assemble call! How can you be so irresponsible! I mean, yeah we expect that from you, but now Loki too? Stop corrupting the guy!”

“Woah! Stop it right there-” the genius started, settled on confrontation, but was interrupted by a deeply offended Thor.

“You better choose your words wisely friend Steve, for I will not just stand by as you insult my brother!”

Steve sighed. “You're right Thor, I'm sorry, this is of course not Loki’s fault. What I was simply trying to say is that this time not even Loki answered our multiple calls and that you better have a good explanation, why you couldn't just answer one simple phone call to tell us everything is okay!” Steve's voice got louder to the end.

Tony just looked at them all. Suddenly it came all rushing back. Loki had left.

“So?” Steve prompted, this whole situation getting on his nerves. He hated when he had to be stern with his team. But they had been worried about Tony, couldn't he understand that?

“That's..” Tony started, furiously blinking back the tears that threatened to spill at the thoughts of last week’s revelations because Stark men didn't cry.

Had it been a week already?

Then, whispering: “It's because everything is not okay.”

Five pairs of eyes sharply set on Tony Stark. “What do you mean, it's not? What’s going on Tony?” the Captain demanded to know, the concern clear in his voice, but they all were just met with silence. Natasha studied their friend thoughtfully before finally coming to a conclusion: “It's got to do with Loki, right? Why he's not here and all that. What happened, Stark?” Her voice had an icy edge to it now.