Chapter 21
If he paid no mind to details, Tony could say he was living a dream life, now more than ever.
He kinda-sorta dated a hottie -a male, alien one, but since when had Tony Stark been one to complain about a little diversity?- his company was as successful as ever, he was as healthy as he would ever get to be -if one was willing to ignore the shrapnel in the chest thing.- and he was currently speeding down a hill in one of his expensive sport cars.
On the copilot's seat, Loki let a sigh through.
"Enjoying yourself, Sweetcheeks?"
Loki shrugged. "I feel compelled to say yes, if this is truly the fastest your carriage can go."
He knew he shouldn´t let himself be tempted by Loki, he really knew.
But he just couldn´t deny a challenge that was presented to him by a mouth that looked so sinfully delicious when smirking down at him.
He sped up.
-
The "meeting" had lasted on longer than it should have, dragging up through the evening. Loki paced the many living rooms of the hotel before he chose one to stay in, and he sat down on a fluffy couch.
His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out lazily. It wasn´t as if he didn´t know the identity of the caller.
"Yes?"
"How has your journey been?" Of course he´d like to know, wouldn´t he? Loki rolled his eyes
"I don´t recall granting you my permission to contact me this freely."
"I could always travel to where you are, to make sure you are safe, brother."
Loki winced and changed strategies.
"Oh, there is no need for that. I must assure you that my journey has been most enjoyable" He smirked when Thor groaned through the line.
"Loki…"
"You see, the downside of inquiring about my deals is that you might actually find out." He couldn´t help a grin.
"I wouldn´t question you if I had no interest, Loki." He cleared his throat. "I just… did not expect it to be related to your… Intimacies."
"Is there even a way to make you uncomfortable, Thor? Leave me alone."
"Are you lying, then?"
"I might be. I might not." He huffed. "I´m going to hang up now."
"Fine, brother… Just… Be back soon. I will not be at ease until we have managed the Chitauri threat."
"I know how to take care of myself."
"I know, brother." Loki´s finger hovered over the red sign. "But I am here."
He cut the call.
He knew he should have done it before.
His head leaned on the couch´s backrest, and he sighed.
Idiot.
When he rose from the couch a moment later, he shook his head and ignored the feeling of the resigned smile that crept up his face.
He´d been mostly in peace for over a month. The Chitauri had given no sign of presence, and he was free to move in and out of the tower (something he did often just to pester the other Avengers.)
But even with his newfound freedom, life had taken a turn for the boring.
He had read every midgardian book that had claimed his interest, tried food after food, and even, much to Tony´s amusement, allowed Thor to goad him into visiting a theme park. Three days later and he still swore he reeked of sweaty midgardian children.
Only after he´d walked into Loki building an elaborate trap that would drop a plate of waffles over the first person to walk through the common room´s door, Tony had decided it was enough. He had finally broken under Pepper´s pressure to assist to a board meeting overstate, and it suddenly seemed like the best place to take Loki to.
No one had dismounted the trap.
Luckily for them, they were already two state borders away when Steve had to deal with a new, sticky hairstyle.
Loki had enjoyed the trip. It was distracting, to say the least, to travel across the charmingly simple landscapes of Midgard while Tony´s speakers roared out some music that reminded him of the mating calls of dragons.
Sadly, it gave him time to think, and gods knew nothing good ever came from that.
Ever since that first time, he had only kissed the human again twice.
Once in his apartment, when Tony had leaned on his side while checking some blueprints in his tablet. Loki had watched him work, fascinated by his concentration. How the mortal, with his life so short, could dedicate so much of his time to creating, discovering, learning…
"Look at me." His lips had spoken without his authorization. But Tony had looked anyway. He had arched an eyebrow, and the look had been so tempting that Loki had just…Surrendered.
The second one had been almost an accident. Or at least, the consequence of one.
Loki was less than proud to admit it, but his lack of ability in midgardian affairs really got into his nerves. That time, it had been a simple iron, out of all things. For all his pride and noble blood, Loki was now in charge of making himself presentable, and wrinkled clothes just wouldn´t do.
The barbaric tool had seemed easy enough to master, and he had jumped into the task with determination.
Tony had walked in half an hour later, and found an iron-shaped burn in the wall, and a Norse cradling his injured hand under a stream of cold water.
"What happened?" He had asked.
"I had an accident." Loki had snarled, irritated by the pain. Burns had always taken a higher toll on him.
"And you decided to throw a hot iron across the room…" Tony had arched an eyebrow, inspecting the burn in the wall paper from afar. He then had sighed. "Put some ice on it."
Loki had panicked.
"No. Not ice." But the human had already been on his way to him with a couple of ice cubes in his grasp.
"It will numb your hand…"
"Get off, Stark." And Loki had been the one to back away, as he felt the roots of fear ingraining themselves into his body. He didn´t know if common ice would be cold enough to bring out his true appearance, just as he didn´t know if his áesir skin would return without his magic. "Put that down."
"Loks, it´s just ice."
"I said put that DOWN." He shouldn´t have had yelled. He also shouldn´t have had hidden his hand behind his back and compressed himself against the wall as if threatened by a weapon.
That had stopped Tony, and that had been all he had cared about at the time.
He had stared at the mortal, and witnessed the way understanding poured down on his face, the ice cubes melting in his hands as seconds ticked away. He now knew better than to underestimate the human´s deductive abilities.
"Ok." And he had thrown the ice into the sink, letting it melt entirely under the water stream. "Fine. At least let me see it."
"I´m fine. Go away, I´m not in the mood to have dinner with you tonight." Another thing he now knew better than to underestimate was the mortal´s stubbornness.
"Nah. Come here." And his lack of self-preservation sense.
Tony had walked up to him fearlessly, even when Loki had flinched and pushed a hand against his chest, because his mind had been doing what reality hadn´t, and he imagined his arm was already blue from the coolness of the water.
Only then had he seen his hand painted blue by the soft light that glowed from behind Tony´s shirt, and it had only fueled his irritability. He had pushed the mortal away with a gasp, but Tony had thrown himself against him and cornered him against the wall.
It had been only his self-control that had saved the mortal from following the iron´s path across the flat.
"Get off, Stark." His voice had been hard and hoarse. And Tony had gripped his face between his hands and pulled him down for a long, close mouthed kiss.
Cliché as it might sound; the scent of the mortal so close to him, added to the heat of his skin, had been enough to anchor Loki to the moment. To remind him he was not in Jotunheim, amongst monsters, but in another, distant but very real danger in Midgard.
He had remained tense for what seemed like an eternity, but in the end it had worked. And they had parted, Loki breathing hard and fatigued, and Tony weary and more than just a bit confused.
But he had not asked, and Loki had not explained.
And that had been it.
Now, pacing alone through the hotel one more time, he brought the memories back.
He had just reached an empty terrace when his phone buzzed again, this time sporting yet another familiar name in the screen.
"Did you finish already?"
"All done and packed up. We´re free."
"I´ll hold you to that." And he looked over to the barely moonlit scenery that stretched below the terrace. "What are your feelings towards the beach, Tony?"
There was a sight hesitance at the other side of the hand.
"Good enough. I´ll meet you at the lobby."
-
Tony loosened his tie, as he watched Loki approach him from the other side of the lobby.
"Keep an eye on the briefcase. I´ll go and change into something more… beach-y"
Loki leaned a knee on the top of a briefcase, and wrapped a hand in the silky tie.
"But I like this look on you…" He muttered, with a suggestive grin that Tony returned.
"Well, who doesn´t? Unfortunately, going to the beach in a suit is often frowned upon."
"Most things you do are frowned upon."
"Including you." And Tony grinned one last time before turning his back on the god and crossing the lobby, headed for one of the public bathrooms.
-
Tony leaned back on the sand, as Loki, at his side, dug his naked feet in.
The beach was completely empty, late as it was, and the only sound was the roaring thunder of the whisper of the breaking waves.
"This is most peaceful."
"A bit cold, but yes." Maybe it was the pressing silence what made him rush to the thought. Maybe it was just the fact that for the first time in a while he felt at such ease that he just needed to know. "What are you going to do?"
He could practically hear Loki tensing up.
"What do you mean?"
"When they come. What are you going to do?"
Loki exhaled, the air exiting his lungs softly. "I hope my punishment has been lifted by then. With full use of my magic, getting rid of them should be an easy task, for their strength lies in their number and not in their resistance."
"And when will your father lift your punishment?"
"When he thinks I have learned my lesson, whichever it might be."
"Ah, dads… Always the lovely ones."
"Indeed." And here Loki sighed. "Until then my hope is to find a safe place where I can fight them on my own."
Tony smirked. "You. Alone against an entire race."
"My life-story." Loki grinned.
"Hold your drama, sweetcheeks." Tony stretched to ruffle his hair. "Well, hostile aliens in Earth, I´m guessing we´ll get sent to fix that, so relax."
"In case you have forgotten, I´m also classified as a hostile alien in Earth." He leaned down on the sand, stretching his arms behind his head.
"Yes, we have to do something about that."
"Yes, yes, I´m not in the mood for redemption right now."
Tony smirked at the way Loki twisted to crack his back on the sand. He leaned over him a hand on either side of his waist.
"Then what are you in the mood for?"
"I think you know." Loki smirked back at him, and Tony welcomed the silence that washed over them. Under the moon´s weak light, Loki looked almost ethereal, like he could vanish with only a swirl of wind. And his eyes.
His eyes.
The green looked blue-ish under the darkened sky, and reflected the moon like gemstones. However, it was the lack of a frown in his brow what made him feel a surge of heat in his chest.
Peace was the word of the night, it seemed.
He supported his weight on one hand, and used the other to cup Loki´s cold cheek. The god didn´t move and Tony took this as a sign to lean down and claim his mouth. He parted just for a second to whisper against the corner of his lips.
"I think I do."
-
Back in the bedroom Tony had rented for the night, Loki faked sleep when the mortal landed on the bed next to him.
As much as he hated to admit it, he had cowered away.
He just didn´t want to deal with the cold numbness that spread over his stomach at the mention of his persecutors. An arm slipped over his side and clung to him.
"Relax." Tony whispered. "We´ll manage."
Loki shrugged. "My Father might have forgiven me by then."
Tony clung harder to him.
"I wouldn´t put too many eggs on that basket, if I were you."
Only then did Loki finally notice there was something else under that façade.
"Get asleep already, lest I choose to drive back tomorrow." He threatened, and he couldn´t help his hand finding the way up to where Tony´s rested over his abs, tangling his fingers together.
-
Steve deigned to pick up his phone after letting it nearly ring the call away. He was not in a better mood to deal with Loki now than he had been two days ago after three hours of scrubbing his hair free of butter and syrup.
"What do you want?" He winced inwardly, and then cursed himself for his softness.
"Ah, I take it you were the victim of my little prank?" He could hear the smile in Loki´s voice.
"You should be thankful it wasn´t Natasha. Now what is it? I´m in the middle of a sparring session."
On his side of the line, sprawled across his bed in the flat, Loki hesitated for a second, before making his decision.
"What can you tell me about Howard Stark?"
Steve´s eyebrows arched on their own.
"Problems in paradise, Loki?"
"Please, mortal, don´t you dare talking to me about either problems or paradise." And he cleared his throat. "So?"
"Come over tomorrow, I think Tony has a conference."
"Thank you."
Loki hung up, and turned in his bed.
It was none of his business, he knew. He had no right to know. He had not given anything to deserve the secrets his lover held from him.
But he wished to know.
Because he knew too well the sadness contained in the smile that he kne had painted Tony´s face last night.