I'll Be There Somehow
If Tony had to listen to some fucker in a suit say that Fuzzy wasn’t a good first single, he was going to scream. The meeting had been going on hours, talking about the lead single for the album and what performances were going to happen. House. Literal hours. That wasn’t counting the arguments that happened before the meeting. Yes, In Bloom was closer to their usual style, he wasn’t debating that, but he didn’t want a song about his ex to be the first single for the album. Fuzzy was sort of neutral, but had pieces of Loki all over it. Hell, he’d even settle on That Something, which was still close to their usual style, but apparently it wasn’t ’first single material’. Bullshit.
“In Bloom will be an instant hit in a way the others wouldn’t be,” one suit-guy said.
“It’s focused on the past,” Tony said. “Second single, sure. The first one for this album, that’s actually quite fucking hopeful? No. There’s only two songs in this that focus on the past, I don’t want those to be the first ones to go out. That Something is the same vibe as In Bloom. Even Rare. You want an ‘instant hit’? Go find another band. I want to focus on the music we’re putting out.”
Steve put a hand on his shoulder, and all the tension that had built inside of him dissipated. Fucking hell. He could see why he always got so drunk before meetings. They were awful, especially sober. He gripped onto the glass of water in front of him, mainly for the comfort the motion brought. He could at least pretend he was holding a glass of whiskey.
He stared at his phone, face down on the table. It had gone off a few times so he had to turn it off. As much as he wanted to run outside and take Loki’s call, he couldn’t. It was too important. Hell, half of him was tempted to just scrap the album and walk away. What would Loki think of the album? God, he’d been so scared to show them. Then again, they’d definitely get an ego boost from most of them.
“Why don’t we take five minutes?” Natasha asked. “We’re getting nowhere. Maybe clear minds will help.”
The suit-guys left the room. Tony didn’t really know what to say. He knew that he was making it difficult. If he just said yes to In Bloom, then the meeting would be done. Something felt so wrong about that, though.
“They’re getting restless,” Clint said. “If we out-stubborn them, we’ll be fine.”
Tony smiled a little. They’d all been so supportive. Since he pushed back against In Bloom being the first single, they’d gone with it. When he thought about backing down, they called him an idiot and marched him back into the meeting. He was lucky to be able to call them his friends. He turned his phone on, and a good hundred notifications popped up. That wasn’t brilliant. He sifted through them, finding a few missed calls from Fury, a few from Loki, a bunch of article links from random people, and a text from Loki.
I’m sorry.
Tony’s blood ran cold when he saw that. He got up and headed outside of the room, knowing his priority was to phone Loki. One of the article links caught his eye on his way out. ‘Loki Laufeyson spotted signing contract with En Dwi Gast, CEO of Sakaar Management after being dropped by TVA Management.’
Shit.
Loki answered quite fast, considering it was probably the early hours of the morning in England. Had Loki waited until he’d left to sign something with En Dwi? Had they been talking to him the entire time?
“What’s going on?” Tony asked. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Tony,” they replied. They sounded eerily calm, which was contrasted by the screams in the background. Tony hoped it was a movie. “You’ve seen?”
“Someone sent me an article,” he said. “What’s going on?”
They were quiet for a moment. The screams stopped. Definitely a movie, then. “He got in touch this morning, said he’d stopped some article going out about me and Fandral. He was obviously the one that put it out in the first place, and he just- he has a lot on me. If I didn’t sign with him, then everything would’ve come out.”
Tony was going to kill En Dwi. “So you signed under duress? The contract can be voided.”
They chuckled quietly. “Brun said the exact same thing. There’s no evidence, and if I even try then what’s to stop him from publishing everything? It’s fine, Tony. Honestly. It’s sort of nice to not have to worry about the future. I’m booked and busy for the next month.”
He didn’t really like how calm Loki was about the situation. “Are you forgetting what he did before?”
They were quiet for a moment. “No, but I’m different now. I know that it was wrong, and I’m not going to- it’s not going to happen again. None of it. I’m sorry, Tony. This- yeah. I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
It was weird hearing Loki sound so defeated. So tired. He was so far away from them. He couldn’t do anything to help. “Nothing to apologise for, Lokes. Nothing at all. Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Honestly, I am, weirdly.” They were quiet for a moment. “I’m doing London Fashion Week after Cabaret.”
Then there was the unspoken bit. I can’t come to New York. “That’s great, Lokes. That’s- that’s such a good show.”
They chuckled quietly. “Yeah. Fancy going to Milan again?”
“Is that coming up too?”
“Straight after London.” There was another pause. “I can’t- I can’t come to New York. I’m sorry. But if you fancy doing something in Milan again- I know it’s not perfect, and I’m sorry, I ju-”
“Lokes, send me the dates and I’ll see what I can do,” he said. “I’d love to go to Milan with you. It’ll be nice.”
“Okay. Okay.” They sighed. “How’s the album going?”
“Still a lot of arguing,” he replied. “It’s fine. We’ll get through it.”
There was another pause. “Are you okay?”
It was asked as if they already knew. They probably did. “I really need a drink.”
“Does anyone else know?”
“Yeah, I think they do,” he replied. “They just pushed for a break in the meeting. I think- yeah. They definitely know. They’re helping, but- yeah. I don’t know.”
“And your therapist?”
“On speed dial,” he said. “I’ll be fine.”
“Doesn’t mean you have to be fine right now.” They were quiet for a moment. “I know it doesn’t really help, but- I’m really proud of you. The fact you’ve made an album, you’re going through all those arguments sober for the first time, and the fact you’re still sober? I mean, I don’t doubt you at all. You’re stubborn as fuck, but you shouldn’t shit on yourself because you’re craving. You’re doing something so big, so important, and you’re still sober. Doesn’t make it easier, I know, but I’m really proud of you.”
For fucks sake, why was Loki making him cry even when they were an ocean apart? “It means the world to me, Lokes. Even if I’m going to go back into this meeting fucking crying.”
“Shit, I’m sorry,” they said. “I just- I don’t think I’ve really told you this. I really admire how strong you are. Like- you’ve got your shit together, you’ve got a backbone, and you always do the right thing. You stand up for what you believe in. It just- it makes me so proud to be your partner. You’re amazing. You’re fucking unreal, and I just- I love you. So much.”
Tony was going to kill Loki for making him cry when he had to go back into a meeting. He wiped away the tears as fast as they fell, but he knew that Loki heard him sniffle. “I love you too, Lokes. So much. And I’m proud of you too. I don’t think I tell you that enough.”
“You tell me that plenty,” they replied. “Now go win that argument. Don’t forget the long game.”
Oh, that bitch. They were right. They’d just given him a way to win the fight. “Lokes, if you were here I’d fucking kiss you right now. Right- I’ll call you later- wait- what time is it with you?”
They paused. “Almost two. I’ve got an early shoot tomorrow so I’m going to head to bed, I think.”
Okay, any anger he felt over Loki signing with En Dwi dissipated with that. Loki had a job. A shoot. A good one, probably. Tony guessed that it couldn’t be booked last minute, so En Dwi had probably planned for Loki to sign with him before that. Dickhead. It was good though. Loki was working again, doing what they loved.
“Okay. Phone me when you’re free, and send me photos from the shoot,” he said. “I love you.”
“Love you too.”
Okay. So that wasn’t good. At all. He wasn’t hugely keen on Loki’s tone and how defeated they sounded, but they sounded sober. That was a bonus. He took a deep breath before he headed into the meeting room. A black steaming mug of coffee sat in front of his empty chair, between Natasha and Steve. He took his seat and clutched onto the coffee, hoping it didn’t look like he’d been crying.
“Seen the news?” Steve asked.
He nodded. “Just got off the phone with them. Blackmailed into signing the contract, basically.”
Natasha cringed. “That’s shit. They’re okay?”
“They said they’re okay with it. I think- I think they just got tired of waiting for it. I guess it’s a relief that it’s happened now.” He shrugged. “They’ve got a shoot tomorrow.”
Natasha hesitated. “You’re okay?”
He chuckled. “Yeah. They gave me a pep talk. Then told me to look at the bigger picture.”
The suit-guys walked back in, and Tony stopped talking. He wasn’t going to put his argument before the argument had even gotten going again. They immediately picked up from where they left off, rattling about getting a number one hit. Tony just didn’t care about that.
“Okay, hypothetically if did go with In Bloom, and it became a hit, would it really get people to listen to the album?” He asked. “How many singers right now have a big song, then the album flops? We need to do something we know people who like our shit will listen to do they listen to the album. That’s how everyone else has gotten people to listen to their albums.”
Clint sat forward. “Let’s face it, people know us. In Bloom is great, but we’ve done it before. No offence, Tony, it’s a great song. Fuzzy is new. We haven’t done anything like that before. Even Do It All The Time would be good. Hell, Crying Over It All, even. Let’s start pushing that we’re changing, do it’s not a surprise when the album drops.”
Clint was amazing. Tony needed to tell him that before they left.
“If we show something new, it might reach new audiences as well,” Steve said. “It’s worth a shot.”
“Imagine playing that on SNL. It’s an insane song, and it would sound amazing live,” Natasha said. “We’d need more guitars though.”
Tony snorted. “That wasn’t me.”
Steve rolled his eyes. “You okay’d it.”
“We all okay’d it,” Tony said. They’d all gotten carried away with the post-chorus of Fuzzy. There were ten different guitar lines. Mainly Steve’s fault. He kept playing really cool riffs and they decided to keep them all in. It was going to be fun live. “It’s new, it’s fun and it’s got the message of the album.”
There was a pause before one of the suit-guys spoke. “Fine.”
Tony was going to send Loki a bunch of flowers for that. He'd never been more grateful that his partner was such an argumentative little shit who'd learnt from the most manipulative person in the industry. Maybe he would send them a couple bunches of flowers.