Backtrack
Tony and Loki stood there, frozen, and watched as the Chitauris stopped on their tracks. One of them was giving away orders, and they scattered, two staying by their stall. There were a few people who'd stayed there, Tony and Loki standing behind them, and the Chitauris began searching the others, moving a device over them, like a human airport worker would move a metal detector over a passenger. Tony could guess that it would be the end of their disguises.
"I think we should teleport. Like right now," Tony whispered sharply against Loki's back. He was getting more and more panicked over the situation; he couldn't stop thinking about going back to captivity, to that awful ship, to the torture and to the awful hands probing at the reactor–
His train of thought was cut off when Loki pressed harder against him, bringing his other hand closer to the engineer as if in reassurance. But the line of his jaw was still tight.
"I am unable," he said softly. Tony wanted to scream 'WHAT', but settled for hissing it at the other. He saw sweat dripping down along his face, glistening in contrast on the dark skin of his disguise.
"I am currently too weakened. I'm afraid, we'd be severed in pieces if I attempted it in my current state."
"Oh, my god..." Tony mumbled. They would have to fight. He clenched and unclenched his fist, where it was hidden behind Loki's back, feeling the gauntlet tightening around his hand as he did. It was a small comfort. "We'll have to make our move soon, Loki." The god nodded.
And then promptly shot a green ball of energy at the other Chitauri.
Alright, guess we're making that move right fucking now.
The other Chitauri, the one not currently wrenching on the ground, shoved away the alien it was currently inspecting and surged their way. Tony leaned away from Loki's back and fired his repulsor at it, pushing Loki forward as he did, so that they could run. The god took a few steps before a third Chitauri – it had turned to their stall's way – fired at his way. Loki ducked, pulling Tony down with him so that he wouldn't get shot either. He fired magic at the three Chitauris, the two getting up already, and Tony blasted his repulsors at them.
"Come on," Loki huffed, grabbing Tony's arm to get him to his feet. They began running again, even got out of their stall, before blue energy hit Loki's back, causing him to stumble to the ground. Their hands were still connected, so Tony fell with him, watching as their disguises bled away. Tony quickly urged Loki back up and they continued running, until one of them shot at Tony's leg and another one from the front at Loki's chest. They fell again, Loki coughing up little blood from the impact.
Shit.
Tony grasped Loki's collar, pulling him closer and firing his repulsor at the Chitauris that were beginning to surround them. There were six of them by now.
"Come on, Loki," he damn near pleaded, pulling the half-unconscious god against his chest, burrowing Loki's face in his neck to get the leverage to get them up again. "Loki," he hissed desperately, pressing Loki against him with an arm on the back of the god's neck and firing at the Chitauris all the same. One of them stepped forward, aiming its scepter at them and firing, and Tony's eyes widened. He had no time to deflect that.
He raised his gauntlet to protect their heads just a little, squeezing Loki tight and closing his eyes.
...
A flash of light against his lids and a weird blam, followed by a dull thud, was what he saw and heard, instead of something he would have imagined to be detected from an arm being teared away.
Tony risked opening his eyes, and saw the Chitauri that had just shot at them lying motionless on the ground. A few Chitauris were hunched over its form, the others screeching angrily at whoever.
Loki's protective charms.
Another Chitauri fired at them in its distress, but this time Tony knew what to do. He raised his gauntlet before the blast and watched as a golden shield appeared over them. When the blue energy hit it, it deflected the attack back to its dispatcher and the ugly fucker fell to the ground. Tony used the moment of confusion between the Chitauris to fire at two of them, quickly pulling Loki against himself and running through the gap he'd just created. He kept glancing back, holding the gauntlet up and occasionally firing at the Chitauris that had begun following them.
He ran until he tasted blood in his mouth, trying to shake their chasers. The god against him was on the edge of losing consciousness, but could luckily still run (the guy was fucking heavy, and there was no way Tony could've carried him all by himself).
Loki's charms were working perfectly, and Tony managed to slip into a small alley. He listened as the Chitauris ran past them on the street, hastily trying to locate their fugitives. He kept still until he didn't hear any of the heavy steps. Then he looked at Loki.
"Here," he said, hands shaking with adrenaline as he pulled the jar of Loki's healing ointment from his pocket and begun unscrewing it.
"When did you...–" Loki begun weakly but Tony cut him off,
"I was standing right up against the table, remember? I've got swift hands and I figured we might need this." He ripped open the collar of Loki's tunic and smeared some of the ointment on his chest, over the injure. He made Loki lean forward and reached back, applying some to the wound on his right shoulder blade also. Loki hissed.
"Shhh, Lo, don't be a baby," Tony shushed him, voice gentle, putting the jar away. "We gotta go now. To the ship." Loki eyed him, a little disoriented, without moving a muscle at Tony's statement.
"Your leg," he said curtly, and Tony remembered he'd been shot there. The adrenaline had taken away the edge, but now the pain was starting to creep back. He glanced at the sluggish blood flow running from the gash in his leg.
"It's fine. I could run here easily–"
"Treat it, quick, then we'll go. We can't afford you losing too much blood." Tony pursed his lips, but the look in Loki's drained eyes left no room for a debate. He opened the jar again and, rolling up his pant leg, begun adding the ointment to the wound (with the help of Loki, since the fucker didn't seem to trust Tony when it came to his own well-being). After that, they used the alleys to get to their ship, which was – thank god – Chitauriless. They got in and together piloted their aircraft away from the planet's airspace.
After flying far enough to be safe, they set the ship on autopilot and slumped on their bunk, limbs sprawled over one another and perspiration still sticking to their skin. They were exhausted and hurting, Loki even more so than Tony.
"That...that was a close call," Tony commented a little breathily, after a moment of just lying there and calming their raging nerves.
"Yes, indeed," Loki answered, letting his eyes fall closed as he did. Tony rolled over to his stomach to look at the sorcerer. His hair was ruffled and his skin was dirty with dust and dried sweat, but he looked like he'd be alright after some rest.
"You okay?" he asked anyway and watched Loki turn his eyes towards him.
"Yes, Anthony. Thank you." He even flashed the engineer a small, yet soft smile. Tony quickly turned to look away when he felt his cheeks heat again. For fuck's sake.
"No problem," he mumbled and heard Loki chuckle faintly.
"How about you? Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm good." He turned to look at Loki again. The god was eyeing Tony's face intently, staring long into his eyes, before breaking the contact in favor of turning his head back to the ceiling and closing his lids. They lied in silence for a while.
"Do you want to know why I invaded Midgard?" Tony felt his eyes widen and his mouth formed an o.
"Ye-yeah, sure," he said awkwardly, keeping his eyes trained on the god's face. This was huge. Loki had told him next to nothing about himself, and now he was about to tell why he'd attacked Earth. Loki would trust him with something so big. Tony wasn't even sure if he wanted to know anymore, but there was no backing up now. He pursed his hands into fists, waiting nervously for the god to begin.
"...I was raised as a brother to Thor, as you know, as the other of Asgard's two princes. I grew up in my broth-Thor's shadow, mocked for my lack of interest in brutal demonstrations of raw power, instead spending my time studying and learning magic, a craft thought by Asgardians to be suitable only for women and cowards in battlefield." He turned to look into Tony's eyes. His voice was bitter, but his eyes were plain sad. "I always felt different, not belonging in Asgard with the Aesir. And as of late, I discovered that I never truly did." He smiled softly at Tony's confused face.
"Is this about the adoption thing?" The god huffed.
"Yes, Anthony, precisely that. I learned my true heritage to be of Jotunheim, thus I am a Jotun, a frost giant, a monster that children are told to be afraid of and to despise with all their hearts. I wasn't in a good position then, mentally, and after fighting Thor, a let myself fall into a void. I hated myself and accepted my fate, even as Thanos got his filthy hands on me." Tony felt chills go down his spine at that. No wonder the god had looked beyond horrible when they'd been held captive by the Other.
"They tortured me, brainwashed me and put a scepter in my hand. I was to lead the Chitauri armies to Midgard and then rule as its king. I cannot say that I was completely under the control of the Mind Stone, but it wasn't truly, truly, me, who attacked your Earth. I was angry, hurt and disoriented. Only after that Green Beast of yours tossed me around, did I regain my awareness completely. Yet, I still remain angry." Loki rolled to his side, eyes locked with Tony's. He watched the engineer for a moment, before color bled away from his hands, replaced by blue. Tony watched in awe, as raised crescents and lines formed on his smooth, now blue, skin and his green eyes turned to striking red ones, when the blue reached his face.
When the transformation was ready, Loki averted his eyes to the mattress beneath them, as if waiting for Tony to reject him. Tony did the opposite.
"Wow," he breathed, tracing Loki's jaw gently with his fingers. Loki tried to jerk away.
"No–Anthony don't..." Then he blinked, stopping, and slowly leaning his cheek against Tony's open palm, studying Tony's face for any change of emotion. Tony just eyed him a bit confusedly. "This..." Loki gestured to the palm connected with his cheek. "It doesn't...burn you?"
Tony tilted his head, huffing, "No, of course not! Why would it?" Loki flashed him a brilliant, yet relieved smile, huffing himself, too. Tony couldn't tear his eyes away. He scrambled up to sit, pushing Loki back to his back and cradling the god's face between his hands. He turned it from side to side and then took in the waiting (and fucking anxious) look in the red eyes. Tony felt his heart jolt at the sight, and threw his leg over Loki, in a position that would be straddling him if he hadn't kept the space between their bodies. He looked firmly into the god's, Jotun's, eyes.
"You look gorgeous," he stated serenely.
Loki stared up at him blankly, then bit his lip, and Tony could've sworn there were tears in his eyes. He didn't have the time to make sure though, as he surged down to embrace the taller man at the same as the said man's arms circled around his back.
Now, he was straddling Loki. But it felt so good. He hadn't had proper human contact in almost three months (if you didn't count the sleeping hours), and to be honest, he was a little deprived. So, he didn't protest when Loki flipped them over, pressing against Tony and, suddenly, pressing kisses to his neck. Tony let out an involuntary gasp, it felt that good, and Loki continued his doings.
"Loki..." Tony pressed his nose into Loki's raven hair, breathing in his scent; mint, winter and leather. The Jotun seized Tony's wrists with cool hands at that, and held them against the mattress, preventing the engineer from moving them. Tony groaned and wrapped his legs around Loki's hips, and when the god found his sweet spot at the side of his neck and sucked on it, groaned some more. Soon, he found himself moaning (way too easily), as Loki ground his hips against Tony's. He blamed it on the deprivation and not being able to have sex or masturbate for three months straight.
And also on Loki's technique, he had to add after an especially strong spasm of pleasure.
As suddenly as it had begun, Loki stopped, and, retracting his lips from Tony's ear (yes, they'd moved over there), he leaned over Tony's face, keeping a good eight inches between their faces. Tony's heartbeat quickened impossibly even more, when the trickster slid his hands up Tony's wrists and threaded his fingers through Tony's, holding hands as he pressed a light kiss against his lips. It was sweet and unhurried, and his lips were cool against Tony's. The engineer's eyes fluttered closed.
Loki retracted his mouth again, licking his lips, as if tasting Tony, and looking down into his brown eyes again. Seemingly content in what he saw, Loki dropped his head back down, now kissing more hungrily and desperately. Tony answered with equal eagerness, nibbling and licking and opening his mouth for Loki to explore with his tongue. It was intoxicating, messy and perfect, and Tony found himself letting go of all the doubts and distrusts regarding Loki.
And that was when the reality hit him. He broke the kiss, even as half of his brain protested strongly against it, and stumbled away from under Loki. The god let him.
"I-I...we can't do this," he sputtered before nearly running out of the cabin and entering the one next to it. He slid down the wall, and cursed to himself when he heard Loki throw something to the floor hard.
They spent the following night in separate bunks. Tony woke up twice to Loki's howls and more than that to his own gasps or screams. He was pretty sure he had made enough noise at least once to wake up Loki too, but no one had entered his cabin. And neither had he entered Loki's, for the matter. It was outright awful.
The next morning, they were both almost as exhausted as the previous day and sore because of their injuries and all the running. Tony greeted Loki curtly, as he entered the kitchen. Loki was already sitting by the table and nodded stiffly in return, back in his human form. Tony tore his eyes away from him and opened a cabinet. There wasn't very much food (or water) left anymore, but they'd be enough until they'd find a suitable planet for refill. He grabbed a can of alien food and poured water into a glass, then took his seat on the other side of the small kitchen table.
"Have you counted how much you made?" he asked the god tentatively. He was very unwilling to forget all that had happened yesterday evening, and was hopeful that Loki'd think along the same lines. Loki pursed his lips.
"How much we made, Stark." Tony was a little startled at the use of his last name, but didn't let the hurt show on his face. He deserved this, he'd allowed Loki to do as he wished, hell, he'd enjoyed it, and then just ran out on him like some jerk. He opened his can, avoiding looking into the emerald eyes.
"Nah, I'm pretty sure you did all the hard work." Loki sighed, but let the subject drop.
"Enough to buy all this ship was equipped with in the first place, including the fuel. We'll do fine for the moment being," he answered Tony's question and went back to the notebook in his hands. Which was...hey, that was Tony's notebook!
"Hey! What you got my notebook for?" he asked loudly, making a grab for it, but Loki twisted away so that he couldn't reach it.
"I'm merely reading, you fool. Leave me be."
"Like hell I will with my notes! Hand it over," he got up and rounded the table to Loki and tried again, in vain, to win the book back. Loki had now stood up, and with him towering over Tony and keeping the notebook away from his reach, the engineer had no way of getting it. "What do you even have it for?" he asked, waving his hand up as the stood on his tiptoes to reach the notes.
"I am going to get you what you need to build your armor, so shut your mouth and cease the flailing, mortal!" Tony stopped, frowning at Loki.
"Why?"
"...As an apology for my actions, I–"
"What? You don't need to apologize, Loki!" Tony exclaimed, raking his fingers through his dark brown locks. The heck? "Why would you think that? It was all on me, alright? If anyone, I should be the one–"
"No, you shouldn't," Loki interrupted, "And what do you mean it was on you?"
"I have trust issues, okay?! A motherload of them, actually. I felt like I was gonna trust you, and I can't take that, not this soon, okay? So, it's not your fault!" he said sharply, voice nearly cracking. He felt lightheaded and tears he didn't allow to fall were prickling in his eyes, from telling all this stuff to Loki and showing weakness and being a pain, but he felt like he really needed to. Loki was quiet for a while, eyeing Tony as the other carded fingers through his hair and watched the kitchen wall intently.
"We'll precede slowly, alright?" the god amended finally, and Tony sighed in relief. Huffing softly, Loki pulled Tony against his chest, embracing him, and Tony breathed in his scent again. He sat down and pulled Tony into his lap, pulling the hands from Tony's hair into a nook between their bodies.
"Just, don't call me Stark, okay?" Tony asked quietly, trying to sound offended to cover how much he hated the fact that he had to ask Loki to do that. The Jotun showed no contempt.
"Of course, Anthony."