Capter 17
Loki had refused to move into a safehouse. He had argued that if the Chitauri had already managed to pinpoint his location, they would have come for him already. So Tony let him stay in the apartment, and while Thor made a visit to Asgard, in hopes of gaining his father´s advice in how to mislead the hostile aliens, he found himself visiting Loki more and more often.
At first, they were short visits, just to `check on him´, hell, even Steve did those from time to time (And Tony always tried to make Loki tell him what he talked about with the good old captain, but to no avail.). Then, he started visiting whenever he hid from company issues, though Pepper could force him out easily. And when he finally noticed, he was eating dinner at the god´s nearly every night, having fallen again into the kind of routine they had forged when constructing the Chitauri detector.
Loki was there nearly all the time, and received him with just the arching of an eyebrow from behind whatever book he was reading at the moment (which, ever since the sorcerer´s last shopping session, rated from classic fairytales to thick physics dissertations.), and often he hadn´t even taken a seat when he was already listening to the god´s complaints about everything. Now he couldn´t use even the slightest straw of his magic, everything was indeed new to him.
Tony still hadn´t forgotten the call in the middle of the directive meeting, when his phone had roared with his song of the week, and he had picked up to the god´s frustrated voice.
"This Midgardian garments. How do I clean them?"
Tony blinked in confusion. "How did you clean them before?" He had asked, before mentally slapping himself in the face and noticing he should have been using magic to keep them immaculate. The angry huff Loki ad given him had been enough of an answer, and he had smiled in amusement.
"I haven´t got all day."
"Actually, you do… There aren´t many places you can go, but calm down." And he had covered the phone´s mic. "Peps, how do you do laundry?" He had looked sideways to find his P.A. staring at him with an unbelieving expression, just like the rest of the directives.
"Oh… Right." And he had looked back to the phone. "You know what? I´m a bit busy right now, I´ll send you Steve´s number."
And he had hung up, preparing himself to deal with an avalanche of complaints about his lack of interest.
That night he had walked in on a lather-covered apartment, the god sporting a bubble crown, and they had agreed to never speak about the matter again. Loki might have been able to catch on a bit faster than Thor, but many appliances were still new to him. (And since Tony Stark couldn´t make his own laundry to save his life, he was in no position to judge.)
-
Sometimes, however, the roles were reversed. Tony didn´t know how he knew when there was a chance (He figured he asked Steve about the timing.), but it happened. He´d be alone at his workshop, and JARVIS would announce him he had a guest, only to find the god staring at him through the glass wall.
He´d let him in, and it wasn´t uncommon for Loki to present him with an object he had acquired along the way, and ask him to explain it.
When Thor came back, bearing a promise of hope, he ´d sometimes sit close to them and listen too, questioning Tony.
"I do not understand, Anthony." He said once, while Tony held a GPS. "How does the machine know exactly where you are?"
"Well… There´s a satellite… But I haven´t explained the satellites yet…" Tony mused for himself, when Loki rolled his eyes.
"Oaf. I trust you remember that occasion in which you managed to get us all lost in Alfheim?"
Thor laughed under his breath. "It was Fandral who insisted on following the elf maiden, not me."
"Whatever." And Loki shook his head. "That time I used my magic to figure out where we were."
"And you did that how…?"
"Don´t you even have a theory?" Tony smiled at Loki´s exasperated expression, and noticed the fond smile Thor bore.
"I never gave it a thought…Is not that what magic is about? Things happening against what´s reasonable because of some sorcerer´s whim?"
"No wonder why I was always underestimated…" Loki rubbed his forehead. "My magic scanned the whole realm, and used me as an anchor to point our location, moron."
"I swear, brother, I had always thought you had just communicated with Father and asked him to inform you."
"Why would I have called Odin to let him know his son had drifted off in a foreign realm, driven only by some hopeless, lust-infused delusion?" Loki smirked.
"I remember you being rather fond of the elves as well, though."
"Yes, but I did not chase one through a snowstorm, dragging the whole group with me."
Tony watched the argument, the GPS clutched uselessly in his hand, and the realization that he was intruding raining slowly over him. As leaving the room would have been terribly obvious, he turned back mutely to resume his working.
"Am I right?" He heard Loki question, and paid no mind, until he repeated himself.
Noticing Thor hadn´t answered, he understood the question must have been meant for him, and turned back. "What?"
"Am I right? Is that how it works?" Loki asked yet again, staring directly at him.
Tony stared back at him, for nearly a full minute, until Thor cleared his throat and reminded him that he was supposed to be explaining something. He lifted the small appliance.
"Kind off. Let´s say the satellite is your magic, and you´re the GPS." He nodded. "The satellite can see the whole planet and the GPS sends it a signal from where it is. The satellite sends another signal back, with the location."
"Amazing."
"What?" He watched Loki smirk, and really, why did lately he always got the feeling he was being played?
"The machine. The way works. It is amazing."
"You haven´t seen amazing yet, Loks. Wait until I show you my stuff." He countered, offering his most charming smile.
And, judging from Thor´s fidgeting, someone else was feeling like an intruder now.
-
This is why Tony couldn´t help the pride that swelled in his chest when he walked into the apartment a certain day, and found Loki sliding a finger across an IPad´s screen.
"Where did you get that?" He questioned, smiling.
"I bought it." Was all he got for an answer. He leaned in and, oh surprise, Loki was playing Pocket God.
"Really? I thought Pepper had cut your money since that time you bossed her out."
"She did. I had to speak to her."
Tony nearly choked on air. He gave it a thought, and he didn´t know who he worried for the most; Pepper, Loki, himself, or the city of New York. He swallowed, nervously.
"How did it go?"
"I knew she was a strong woman, to put up with you." Loki mused. "But I didn´t expect her to be so intelligent." He admitted.
"I have her for a reason." Tony smiled proudly. The god stared up at him, mute for a moment, before going back to torture poorly rendered humans.
"I called for seafood a moment ago." He muttered after a while. "Set the…"
His voice drowned in the heavy metal tune emerging from Tony´s pocket, and he eyed him curiously, when he picked up.
"Where are you? Come back here!" Tony pulled the phone away from his ear.
"Clint?"
"Who else? Come on, playboy, we´re getting shwarma tonight!"
Tony glanced at the god on the couch, with the vague feeling that he was being listened. "I´m kind of busy, birdie."
"We know, bring her!"
Loki´s mouth twitched. Of course he was listening.
"Don´t think so, man…" Tony started. "She´s not the brightest crayon in the box, Natasha will probably murder her before we get dessert." He added, stepping away from the couch when Loki´s finger flinched on the tablet´s screen.
"Come on! We can take her! She hot?"
Tony smirked. "Really, Clint? Nat will hear about this…"
"Bro code, Stark! Hot or not?"
"A total bimbo." He accentuated the term, and watched, amused, as Loki´s eyes narrowed. As much as he didn´t know the term, the smirk in his voice was palpable. He took shelter behind the counter, when the god decided to stop pretending not to be eavesdropping.
"Maybe some other day, Clint. Sorry, man."
"Sucker."
"Ass." He hung up.
"I´m a what, exactly?"
"Oh, you were listening? How awkward." He answered in mock shame, ignoring the god´s narrowed eyes.
"Stark…"
"Let´s just say now my team thinks I´m under a hot, busty blond that´s unable to count further than twenty."
"Do you usually refer to your maidens as such?"
"Of course not. They´d rip me a new one. Besides, what did you want me to tell them? `Sorry I´m having dinner with the nutjob that tried to kill us all´?"
"I´m sure you could have thought about something better."
"Hot chicks are hot chicks, Loks" And he pushed two plates against Loki´s chest, in hopes of giving him something to do with his hands that didn´t involve his neck. "Everything else is relative."
"You could still go with them."
"What?"
"They wait for you."
"Nah." He waved it away. "We get shwarma like… Every Tuesday. It´s nothing special, Clint just likes to make a fuss about it."
Loki placed the plates on the counter. "As you wish."
-
"Anthony?"
"Yeah?" Tony looked away from his screen, to find Thor holding out a beer for him. "Thanks, bud."
"I wish to speak… About my brother." The blond muttered, as if ashamed.
"Figured as much." Tony smirked, and Thor smiled back.
"I´m sorry. Again I feel like I´m putting too much weight in your shoulders."
"You´ll pay me back. Someday." Tony assured him, sipping on the beer before sitting it on the table. "What is it?"
"You seem to have… Constructed a relationship with Loki." He started. "He finds himself comfortable in your presence, from what I´ve seen."
Tony frowned lightly. Thor was right. But he was Tony Stark.
He didn´t construct relationships.
Much less without noticing.
"He´s ok to be around now he´s not dangerous."
"My brother will always be dangerous, for his weapon is not his magic, but his mind."
"Yeah, yeah, heard that one before." He rolled his eyes. "Point is, you`re right. What is it?"
"I believe you can use your newfound proximity to him, convince him…"
Tony arched an eyebrow, when the god´s voice died and he didn´t continue, as if he was supposed to know what Thor was trying to say. "You…. Want me to convince him to talk to you, right?"
Thor seemed taken aback for a second, before blinking a couple of times, and nodding. "Yes, that would do. I´m sure that would be of help." And he looked down at him, wistfully. "Do you think you could do it?"
"I´ll get him a cake."
And in spite of his joke and lighthearted demeanor, he shrank on the inside. It seemed that the talk he´d been avoiding since a while ago was becoming necessary, and he still wasn´t sure he was ready for it.
"Thank you, Anthony… I am glad my brother seems to trust you as much as I do."
"Well, we all know you both have made your share of mistakes…" He muttered under his breath, turning his back to the blond, who stared at him for a moment, confused, before leaving.