Tony Stark hated himself.
It was a known fact to anyone who’d cared enough to get close.
He covered it well, of course, with witty remarks and smartass comebacks about how no one could afford him; with snarky comments about how much of a genius he was.
Naturally, Loki could see through his façade like he was looking through a clear glass window.
The thing, though, was that Loki couldn’t actually see anything; the god was blind- had been since that damn snake and its acid.
His skin had healed; his eyes had been a completely different story.
The god did well for himself, though. With illusions to cover up the many scars and rid of the milky white that had become his eyes, and magic to tell him where to go and how to get there easily, he’d been able to convince everyone he could see just fine. Even Tony had been convinced.
He moved with such easy confidence that no one even thought to question why he’d stumbled into the table when they’d moved it a bit further to the right.
When Tony did find out, they were in bed together.
They hadn’t done anything; they’d just laid there.
“I must show you something, Anthony,” Loki said softly, turning gorgeous green eyes to Tony.
Tony nodded.
A moment later, green turned to milky white that took up the entirety of his eyes, and ivory skin gave way to pink and white scar tissue around his eyes.
“You’ve never seen me?” Tony asked, eyes wide.
Loki swallowed heavily. “I have not,” the god confirmed, and then tugged his hand free of where it had been trapped within Tony’s, bringing trembling fingers up to the inventor’s face, stopping mere inches away.
“May I?” Loki asked softly, bottom lip held between his teeth.
“Of course.”
That was all Loki needed to hear before he brought his fingertips to rest on Tony’s jaw, bringing them up to follow it before they moved to his cheekbones, marking a path to his eyes. Tony closed them as he felt Loki trace around them before gently trailing across his closed lids, brushing across his lashes. He opened them when he felt cool fingers moving down his nose, and then further, following around his lips. His thumb momentarily stayed on Tony’s lip, and the inventor placed a gentle kiss to it.
Those wandering fingers moved lower yet, following the curve of his neck, the swell of his shoulders, the lengths of his arms.
They found his hands and took one, making their way across the back of the inventor’s hand before turning it over, palm up, to trace every line and callous with such gentle fingertips. They did the same with the other hand, while the god’s free hand traced around the arc reactor, moving downward to follow the muscle of Tony’s abdomen, and lower still, dancing over the curve of his hips, the length of his cock, the muscle of his thighs. They smoothed down his legs, all the way to his toes and back up, moving along every contour and curve, this time the god’s lips peppering gentle kisses as he made his way back up to Tony’s lips, kissing him slowly and softly and it was absolutely breathtaking.
Tony couldn’t help but wonder if he had found what he’d been looking for.
“I do not need to see you to know you are beautiful,” Loki murmured, and Tony’s breath caught; he’d been called a lot of things, but beautiful had never been one of them.
“You deserve to see,” Tony whispered, eyes locked onto the gorgeous god before him, unable to look away because he was so utterly, breathtakingly beautiful.
“But,” Loki said just as softly as before. “I have mapped you out. I have found every curve, every contour; I have memorized them- memorized you. I must, so you know I do not have to see you to love you.”
“You’re so gentle with me,” Tony murmured. “You would prefer that, wouldn’t you? You ask me to be rough but…” he trailed off.
“I…yes, I would. I think I have lost myself in the pretense that pain is love.”
Tony didn’t speak; he cupped the god’s jaw and kissed him like he’d never done it before; so soft and gentle.
Loki responded in like, and then curled into Tony’s side, his arms winding around the inventor’s waist while Tony’s arms wound around the god’s shoulders.
They held each other for a long while.