Chapter 10
"This is what humans call a mall, brother. Its abundance in goods for sale knows not the boundaries of common markets!"
Loki raised an eyebrow, taking in the crowded mall.
"Disgusting… Do you really expect me to find myself worthy garments in this human-infested rathole?"
"My, brother, you will find that, while Midgardian clothing is not nearly as impressive as ours, it mends for it by being quite comfortable and unique"
"So low has the Mighty Thor fallen, it seems." Still staring disdainfully, Loki allowed Thor to pat him on the back. He´d been careful enough to tuck the sphere in his soon-to-be-discarded outfit.
"Aye, brother, give it a chance"
The black haired one advanced towards a showcase filled with sports clothes.
"It´s getting bothersome, Thor, having to remind you again and again that we are, in no way, related"
Thor grinned, attempting to wrap a heavy arm across Loki´s lean shoulders, and didn´t let it falter when he was rejected. "Ah, brother, I would never intend to be a bother, but I just can´t help it. Better not to remind me at all, then"
"Moron" Loki pointed to some other store. "That one seems decent. Move."
"As you wish, brother."
And Loki knew Thor was doing it to spite him. And that there was nothing he could do but to ignore it for the rest of the day.
-
"Aye, brother… I know my friend Anthony to be wealthy, but I don´t think that is excuse to try and empty his vaults in one day…" Thor peeked at Loki from behind the bundle of cardboard bags piled on his arms. "Whatever did you need all these books for? I don´t recall you being fond of Midgardian literature"
"If i´m confined to that apartment, I need something to pass the time. Might as well be something that gives me a deeper understanding of this lowly realm and its saddening inhabitants." And he smiled mischievously. "Besides, as I remember, only two conditions were given and I have already covered both of them. Your companion was dumb enough to hand me his money, and I will not be dumb enough to let the chance go to waste…"
"Brother?" Thor stopped, sending a look over the shoulder to where Loki had stopped in front of yet another store -for someone who had made his low opinions about the place so clear, he was awfully curious about it- while trying to rearrange the bags more comfortably.
"This piece of clothing. What is it?" Loki waited until Thor stood by his side, to point at a square of blue and white fabric.
"I believe it´s called a bandana, brother"
"I fancy it. Wait here." And Loki disappeared into the store, leaving behind a very confused Thor.
-
"Tony?"
"Yes?"
Pepper´s eyes widened, while she kept on staring at her laptop´s screen. "Please explain how you can be here with me and burning money on some mall at the same time?"
Tony grinned. "That, Pepper, is the lame attempt of a frustrated Norse God to make me go bankrupt."
"… You gave Loki a credit card."
"You would have too, if you had seen him. I swear that armor was see-through already."
"Well, why the frustration, then?"
"Well, I gave him a little condition that he seemed not to like."
Pepper sighed and pinched her nose at her boss´smile.
"I know you´re having fun, Tony… But I´m not explaining why do we suddenly have a penguin donation to the zoo again."
-
All in all, the next few weeks were bliss.
Loki had to admit four things: Midgardian clothing was indeed comfortable, Midgardian literature was quite entertaining, Midgardian food had a nice touch, and Thor was really, really persistent.
During the first days, Loki was content enough to just let him pace across the hall, while he sat against the door holding his crystal ball, but when Thor started threatening to bring the door down with Mjôlnir, he had to let him in, only if he kept his mouth shut and sat still in a corner.
Of course, Thor never quite fulfilled his part of the treaty, so Loki ended up sending him away every three of four times.
Actually, the only reason he ever let the blond into the apartment anymore was because he knew that if he didn´t, Stark would find a way to force him again. That mortal was crafty.
He chose not to acknowledge the warm feeling in his stomach whenever Thor followed his command, preserving the precious silence, and he suddenly looked up from his book and found out that the only thing he needed to be in Asgard again was to close his eyes and bring back the scent of the old palace library where they would flee when they wanted to be alone.
And then Thor would voice this very same thought and he´d teleport him as far as his magic could sustain.
Today, however, Loki was gratefully alone.
Weirdly enough, this time he wasn´t burning his eyes with some book´s pages, but lying rather cozily in the bed, playing with the small gadget that controlled that artifact Thor had addressed once as a television.
He had investigated the thing before, finding it to be mostly uninteresting, but still returned regularly, to see if one of the few plays that had gotten his attention was on.
Unfortunately, he seemed to be late, and he watched as the current chapter ended, and the screen faded to black. He never stayed to watch the following program, but today he was feeling particularly comfortable sprawled over the bed, so he just scrambled around for a better position, while a male voice announced the name of the show, supposedly a recollection of the day´s events, as Loki could gather.
Just a moment after that, said man came in sight, wearing a crispy suit and a cheery expression, and he proceeded to hurriedly greet the public, before getting back on the topic.
"Well, New Yorkers, it seems that this year the American Dream reached some unsuspected places. It has been reported that sightings of unknown creatures have occurred all along the nation, nearly at the same time" He started, giving his words just the right amount of amused suspense. "This sightings were brief and fleeting, but a dedicated technophile managed to videotape one of them from afar." He smiled. "Ladies and gentlemen let us meet the new guys in town."
The video played on the screen, and Loki watched in amusement, already familiar with the human tradition of seeing things just the way they weren´t. It started boringly enough, just a bunch of mortals walking here and there across the street, when a scream came.
It was an unnerving sound, but what was really frightening was the way it was suddenly cut up.
Loki had been to enough battles to know when someone was silenced with a nice gash to the throat.
Hell broke loose, and everything got blurry, as the crowd rushed one way and the owner of the camera forced his way the other.
The figure came into focus for just a moment, and while the camera was still shaking from its owner´s panting. Altogether, the silhouette was barely visible for a second, before it disappeared in thin air.
It took some more seconds before Loki finally noticed he wasn´t breathing at all, and quite a few more before he could bring himself to gasp for air. He looked down to where his sweaty hands were tightly clenched in the sheets, ignoring the man who now talked about bird migrations and equally unimportant subjects.
His eyes drifted to the side, where the mobile phone sat quietly, and he quickly tapped on the screen a few times, grateful that Stark had given him one simple enough to figure out when he was… Not freaking out, just like this very moment.
He froze with his finger a hairsbreadth away from the "call" sign, heart still racing too fast, but with his mind quickly catching up. He made his decision.
-
"This better be good, OK?" Tony snarled into the phone, finally answering after letting it ring the call away for the second time.
"Stark?" The billionaire nearly choked on his own breath, checking the screen to be sure.
"Loki?" And he glanced back nervously. "Hey, listen, it´s great that you´re getting the hand of technology and everything, but I´m a bit busy right now, so call la…"
"Trust me, Stark, I am not interested in late night chats with you. Did you watch the news?"
Tony could hear a tremor behind the god´s voice, hurried and low as if he was keeping a secret. "Why would I?"
"Because this particular new will… Catch your attention." And then the slight hesitation there…
"Are you ok, Loks?"
"JUST DO AS I SAY MORTAL!"
"Fine, geez, calm down…" And he covered the phone, turning to face the room in general. "Jarvis, any idea of what the God of Cockblocking is talking about?"
"It is probably the opening clip in the midnight news-break, sir. Apparently alien creatures were spotted, and one of them was captured in an amateur video. Would you like to see it?"
"Faster, Jarv, I don´t want to keep the lady waiting."
"Right away, Sir, but I feel compelled to warn you that the waiting lady in question has just passed out into drunken slumber in the bedroom"
Tony groaned, and he could practically hear the mocking sneer in the A.I.´s voice.
"Just play the damned thing already." He could still listen to Loki´s heavy breathing through the phone. "I´m still here, Loks, don´t panic."
"For your sake, Stark, I hope you are joking." And even then, the cold tone couldn´t quite conceal the trembling underneath.
The closest screen to him flashed to life, and Tony watched the video, instructing Jarvis to pause it when the creature was at its clearest.
"… Is that what I think it is?"
"Really, Stark, how come human civilization has come to acknowledge you as a genius?"
"I´m hanging up on you, man, I warn you." And he added, after thinking for a second. "That means to end a call, just so you know."
"Thanks for the clarification"
And just like that, they fell into silence, Tony still staring at the blurry Chitauri in the screen.
"Why didn´t you call Thor?"
"Because he will overreact, and I don´t want to deal with him, obviously."
"Obviously…" Tony rubbed his eyes. "Get some sleep, Loki. I will drop by first thing tomorrow morning, and we´ll secure the apartment."
"… Your service is appreciated, Stark."
Tony huffed. "You screwed my night, man. Don´t go all "mighty overlord is pleased" on me, just say thanks."
He smirked when the only response to his qualm was the intermittent tone of an ended call, and set his phone to rest on the desktop, stretching and wondering whether he wanted to go back to his bed and sleep next to a drunk and not naked girl, or staying in the couch.
The darkness in the room was suddenly lifted when the phone screen lightened up again. Tony tapped at it a couple of times, and burst out laughing, before heading for the couch.
"Thank you"