Chapter 3
Maybe it was the unusually cold night. Maybe it was the sight of the still alarmingly silent Thor at dinner.
Whatever it might have been, Tony woke up before dawn, struggling against his tangled silk sheets, with Loki´s eyes still digging into his skull.
"He´s dead." He said to himself. His chest heaved, and his eyes ran over his bedroom, faintly illuminated by the dim blue light of his arc reactor, but he found no peace. No matter how many times he repeated the words to himself, sleep didn´t come back to him.
-
Without explaining to his team, he found himself patrolling solo more often than not, and hovering over that park at least twice a day, checking the footage back at the mansion, but never finding Loki´s unnerving glance again.
Sometimes, though, he did catch a glimpse or two of pale skin and raven hair. True, it was probably just some common pedestrian, but his stomach clenched tightly every time it happened, pestering him until he made his decision.
He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to another. After all, bursting into a room to force a god to speak about a touchy subject was not his ideal of fun.
"Thor? Big guy, can I come in?" He waited for the muffled grunt from the inside, before entering and closing the door behind him.
He looked around for a minute, baffled, and had to admit Thor had made a good job making himself at home. The modern furniture delicately arranged around the room was covered by heavy fabrics and furs, some of which he wasn´t even sure what they had been when alive. The hammer rested on a glorified night table, shining from where it stood directly under the window.
The coffee table held what could be passed off as photographs at the first glance, but Tony knew to be small, hand-painted portraits, or magical imprints of the god´s family and friends.
"What troubles you, my friend? It is uncommon for you to visit my chambers. "Said god laid on a fur-covered bed, flipping lazily through a magazine´s pages.
Tony gave a mental sigh, before throwing all concern through the window. "I want to know what happened to Loki." Now that got the blond´s attention, and the blue eyes locked on him, frowning.
"I thought it had been made clear that my brother shall cause no further damage to Midgard, and that I wished to mourn him privately." He answered bluntly.
"I know, I get it, and I guess I´m sorry. I just want to know exactly what happened. "Okay, maybe that hadn´t come out right…
"Do you enjoy execution stories, my friend?" Thor´s frown deepened. "I didn´t think you were the type."
"No, I…" Tony cut himself mid-sentence, suddenly aware that he had no idea what he was saying. "I kind of feel bad for the guy, that´s it." He patched it up as best as he could.
"But why?" Thor shifted on the bed, to take a better look at him. "The very few encounters you had with him were nothing but battles and threats." Tony nodded.
"I know that… Hey, it might sound crazy and stupid, but screw that, living here with all of you has made me forget what loose definition I used to have for what´s crazy and stupid… I just feel like we had something in common." He tried. Thor seemed to ponder his argument for a moment, nodding to himself.
"That would be accurate, Anthony." He finally voiced. "You both do what is expected of you not because you want to, but to prove others you are able. Both favor intelligence over strength, and have excelled in this category. And over all, you are both loners at the core." A sad smile crept over his face. "You are indeed like my brother."
"…So?"
Thor sighed, as if disappointed at having failed to distract him from his question.
"The Allfather sentenced him, and the punishment was fulfilled."
"That must have been hard for you." He let silence set for a bit, while he planned his next question. As simple as it might have been, he had the feeling his peace depended on it. "Is he really gone?" To his surprise, Thor shook his head meekly, blonde locks swinging back and forth.
"My brother will always be here, Anthony. He will never again go where I can´t reach him." And he turned back to his magazine, effectively finishing the conversation. Tony excused himself, and walked back to his own bedroom, feeling exhausted and not really knowing if the answers he had been given had made anything to appease him.
-
Tony liked to think it had all ended there. And it would probably have, if not for something as common and trivial as the traffic bottleneck in which Happy managed to get them stuck.
Half a street and two hours later, Tony was so fed up with Pepper´s incessant chitchat (really, did she have to be so efficient?) about how they would fix his schedule, that he was just about to activate the IronMan suitcase and fly away through the limo´s roof.
But he liked this limo…
Looking for a distraction, his eyes focused on an empty spot on the street, through the one-way glass window.
And there they were again. And this time, the pale skin and black hair couldn´t belong to any other random civilian, for it was Loki himself, sipping on a paper cup while waiting for the pedestrian sign, who had caught his eye. No other pedestrian spared a single look to the tall man´s unusual clothing.
"Magic" his mind supplied, and his muscles ached, begging for action.
Forgetting about manners, schedules and rational thinking, he fished the case, and kicked the door open, just when Loki crossed the street and mixed into the crowd.
Nonetheless, Tony ran forward, tanking his luck when he caught a glimpse of the other man again.
He stopped and regained his breath, waiting for Loki to widen the distance between them, and cursed his mind for the sudden waves of recognition. It had to be him. The way he moved, the straight line of his shoulders… All those things he shouldn´t have noticed, but made it clear it was the real Loki, calmly making his way through the city like he belonged there.
Still in his waiting spot, his eyes never leaving the point between Loki´s shoulder blades, he set his cell phone to mute, and flicked his Avenger communicator open, connecting with Steve.
"Is everything ok, Tony?" Deciding Loki had walked far enough to not notice him by just looking over his shoulder, Tony followed again, keeping the distance wide and his voice low.
"I might need some backup here, Steve…"
"Now? Where are you?" Tony rolled his eyes. Good Cap…
"Ask Bruce to give you my coordinates, and wait for my signal." Loki turned right, leaving the busy avenue and entering a small side street. "This is one bird I don´t want to scare away." And he flipped the radio shut.
His heart bumped hard in his chest when he turned on the same corner Loki had, just to find… An empty street.
Stomping a foot on the ground, he took a couple of steps, and his head immediately flooded with warnings and alarms. What should have been a small street, infested with petty cafés and secondhand stores, was as empty as his first glance had revealed. No bargain hunters, no hipsters looking for an underground café… Hell, not even a stray cat; nothing was alive in there.
"As I once told your little friend, not many can sneak up on me." The voice at his nape made him flinch and turn, nearly dropping the suitcase, and leaving him face to face with the supposedly dead god. "And I´m afraid you are not an exception."
"Shame… And here I was, hoping you´d lead me to your secret villain lair and everything…" Tony´s mouth answered on its own, sarcastic as always. "Say, weren´t you supposed to be dead?"
Loki smirked.
"Oh, but I am."
"You seem as good as new to me." Once again, Tony found himself staring into the god´s eyes, as if he´d find something there to reassure him that he was looking at the real Loki, that this was not the result of too much scotch while waiting for the car to move.
"Staring is rude, Stark."
"What are you doing here?" He questioned, all playfulness gone. This, in exchange, brought Loki´s smirk back.
"I´m not causing chaos, for which you should be grateful. Laying low, letting you live…" Tony frowned.
"You´re hiding?" Loki´s eyes hardened, his smirk now empty, but not leaving his face.
"I´m scheming." And he vanished in thin air, leaving behind nothing but a faint green mist that soon faded.
It was as if the street had been muted, for all the sound that suddenly hit Tony at once, stores and cafés open and working, and people roaming the street as if they had been there the whole time… Had this all been this colorful just a second ago?
Shaking his head, he flipped the communicator open again.
"Steve? I´m ok, it was a false alarm." He hoped to sound as convincing as ever, and just half listened to the lecture about how many times Pepper had called everyone, and how stupid and impulsive he was, he promised Steve he´d call Pepper right away and be back to his limo in just a minute, before cutting him and changing frequencies. "Hello?"
"Anthony? Is something wrong? Steven told me you required assistance." Somehow Thor always managed to sound as if he was holding the communicator either too far or too close, which, for all Tony knew, was probably true, but this time he didn´t take time to correct the blond.
"I hope you are in the mood for explaining, Thor, because we´re having a long talk after I finish my business."