The thing about Tony Stark was that, while he was almost universally seen as a genius and one of the smartest people on the planet, sometimes he missed things that were very much obvious.
Peter said this with love.
He had been in Mr Stark's life since he had won an exclusive internship to work at Stark Industries when he was 14.
He had not really expected much to come from it, when he had applied. It was aimed for genius children worldwide, and well... He was only poor Peter Parker from Brooklyn.
And yet, the envelope had arrived to his house declaring him a winner, and only days later, he and his Aunt May had met the infamous Mr Stark.
The man had been very weird and intimidating from the get go, but Peter had managed to crack at his defences very quickly. Peter was just the amount of odd that Mr Stark seemed to enjoy, and they became the bane of every Stark Industries employee very soon after their first meeting.
Even after the internship was officially over, Peter had been allowed to unofficially stick around and get more experience at Stark Industries, while getting paid. It had gotten to the point where many of SI’s workers had started to call him ‘Mini Boss’, a title that Peter had secretly enjoyed even though it was embarrassing.
After his aunt’s death, Mr Stark had ended up getting custody of Peter. Peter hadn’t asked him to do that, but the man had been very insisted about not letting Peter slip through the cracks of the American foster system. Peter had not put up much of a fight against it, and now he was very grateful for him.
Mr Stark did not try to replace Aunt May or Uncle Ben, and did not call himself his father, but he was there for Peter whenever he needed him in whatever way he needed him, and yeah. Peter loved him dearly, and he knew that Mr Stark loved him too.
He had learnt a ton of things from Mr Stark, but he had also learnt much about Mr Stark himself.
One of the things he had learnt about him was that Mr Stark absolutely hated pickles. Any time he found himself with pickles in his food he pushed them to the side of the plate like kids did, and more than once Peter had seen him refuse a de-pickled sandwich because he could ‘still taste the pickly aftertaste’.
He had also learnt that Mr Stark was a nerd at heart. He had suspected as much from the beginning - every scientist had to be a secret nerd - but it wasn’t until he had found real life lightsabers in his workshop (which Mr Stark had recreated with Colonel Rhodey back when he had first seen the movies) that he had realised just how much of a nerd he was. They had spent afternoons battling each other with the things (and when Colonel Rhodey came over, they could spend entire days with them).
Another thing he had learnt was that Mr Stark did not have a very good luck when it came to romantic partners.
Seriously: it was like he was cursed or something.
He had been dating the CEO of his company when they had met, Miss Potts. However, very soon she had broken up with him and gotten together with Mr Stark’s bodyguard and long time friend Mr Happy. Mr Stark claimed that he was okay with it and that they made a better couple than he and her had, but still. Peter was sure it had stung a bit.
He had had something of a fling with Dr Strange after that, but then Dr Strange had gotten into a car crash and disappeared. He had only re-appeared a few months ago, with a new cape, magical tricks and no interest in a romantic relationship with Mr Stark.
He wasn’t sure what relationship had been there between him and Doctor Banner (Mr Stark said none, but Peter knew better: two of the world's coolest scientists together and nothing happened? He didn’t believe it), but he too had taken off and disappeared in space. Mr Stark had been very upset when he had left, and when he had returned years later, Doctor Banner had a new Asgardian girlfriend.
And the relationships that had happened before Peter’s time had not been particularly good ones either, according to what Peter had read about them online.
Mr Stark’s love life was terrible, and he always ended up with people who left him and/or broke his heart.
Peter was aware of all this, so when Mr Stark invited him to come have dinner with him and his newest boyfriend, he was understandably wary.
Mr Stark was not one for being lowkey, but this time he had been particularly discrete and secretive about his partner, which only made Peter more curious and slightly suspicious. Only the fact that he looked unusually happy had kept Peter from using less than legal methods (JARVIS) to find out who the mystery partner was.
He was wary, but it wasn’t as if he had been worried. Mr Stark could take care of himself, and if he couldn’t, Peter knew he could take care of for him. No one would be allowed to hurt Mr Stark on his watch, he was going to make sure of it.
This resolution of his remained until he walked into the dining room and he saw the man his foster father was conversing with.
Both Mr Stark and his boyfriend were standing with their backs to him, focused on one of the pictures on the mantle. Peter could see nothing of the man except for his black hair and the back of his black suit, but his senses immediately went haywire as soon as he set eyes on him, everything in him screaming danger and warning.
He knew that back.
He knew that back very well.
He had seen that back that very afternoon before coming home, as it once more got away from him.
That back had escaped from him more times than Peter could count.
Peter still did not want to believe it, still wanted to think it was a mistake.
Still wanted to think that his senses were playing some trick on him.
But then Mr Stark and his boyfriend turned around, and familiar green eyes fixed on him.
“Peter, this is my boyfriend,” said Mr Stark, smiling happily. Peter’s eyes were glued on said boyfriend, who was smiling amicably at him. “Loki Friggason.”
Other than being terrible when it came to affairs of the heart, there was another thing that Tony Stark was almost wilfully ignorant about.
And that was that Peter Parker was Spiderman.
Peter had become Spiderman about two months after the start of his internship at Stark Industries, and one way or the other, Mr Stark had never realised. Not when Peter was working with him, and still not now that Peter lived in the same house as him.
Mr Stark had gotten very close to finding him out a few times, but so far Peter had managed to keep his identity a secret. Sometimes he wondered if Mr Stark was just pretending not know, if he was faking. But if he was, he really was doing an amazing job at it.
He looked away from where Mr Stark was happily chatting and looked over at Mr Stark’s boyfriend, who was watching him and listening to everything he said.
Look over at Loki.
Loki.
Prince Loki of Asgard, little brother of Thor of Asgard, and one of the Avengers’ worst enemies.
A supervillain.
His father was dating a supervillain.
“So?”
“Marvellous,” said Loki, after a bite of the tortellini. “You are right, this is very good, Anthony.”
Marvellous. Loki was eating tortellini in Peter’s dining room and he was calling them marvellous.
This afternoon, Loki had thrown a tank at Thor, stolen Doctor Strange’s cape, and turned Peter’s suit green and blank. And now he was in his dining room, flirting with Mr Stark and calling the tortellini ‘marvellous’.
He felt dizzy.
“I want to take credit for them, but I didn’t actually make them myself,” admitted Mr Stark, laughing. “I just ordered them from my favourite Italian place.”
Mr Stark looked so happy as he explained to Loki just why he liked that Italian place so much.
A place that Loki himself had nearly destroyed a couple of times.
Peter wanted to shake Mr Stark. He wated to jump over the table and demand, “Don’t you realise that’s a supervillain?!”.
Or perhaps, shove Loki’s head in the tortellini, and then call the Avengers to take him down. And then shake Mr Stark for his terrible taste in partners.
But he couldn’t.
Mr Stark had no idea of who Loki was. He couldn’t, because the media themselves had no idea of who Loki was.
Whenever a battle started, Loki showed up dressed in his Asgardian battle armour, with his head covered and looking generally way more pompous than he did now.
There were barely any pictures of him online because of a spell Thor said he had cast on himself to make sure he couldn’t be tracked. The few pictures available were too blurry for them to make out his face, and the only thing they recognised him by were his gold horns and his cape.
And even though everyone knew that his name was Loki, he wasn’t the only Loki in New York. Peter had checked on Thor’s behalf before, and he had been very surprised by the result.
So it made an unfortunate amount of sense that Mr Stark, who was only a part time consultant, did not know who Loki was.
The only good thing was that Loki did not seem to have recognised Peter either. Peter was one of the few masked superheroes among the Avengers, which gave him a degree of anonymity.
As if feeling Peter’s gaze on him Loki turned, and offered him a smile. “You are a student, Peter, aren’t you?”
“Uh, yeah,” said Peter, making his voice a little lower. He had a voice modulator in the suit, but you never knew with Asgardian superhearing. “Senior year.”
“He’s going to MIT next year,” bragged Mr Stark. “He’s actually the youngest student in his year group.”
“That’s impressive,” said Loki, nodding. “You should be proud.”
Small talk with Loki, Peter felt faint.
“I am,” he said, nodding. “It’s going to be cool. What about you, Mr L- Mr Friggason? What do you do?”
“A little bit of everything,” said Loki, shrugging. “Mostly, I work freelance.”
I’ll bet, thought Peter. “And how old are you?” he asked, trying to sound as if he was just making conversation and not trying to catch him in a trap.
Mr Stark frowned, but Loki answered easily. “36 years.”
Yeah, right.
“And how long have you been 36?”
“Someone re-watched Twilight recently,” interrupted Mr Stark, shooting Peter a look as if to say ‘come on, dude’. “Have you ever seen Twilight, Loki?”
“I was advised to read the book,” said Loki. “I did not find it to my pleasure. English might not be my first language, but I found it badly- Peter, are you okay?”
Peter was not okay, but he still nodded, red faced as he reached for a glass of water so that he did not choke to death.
“Peter?”
“Fine,” he managed. “Breathed wrong.”
He had suggested that Loki read Twilight, during one of their many battles. Loki had sent an army of nearly unstoppable baby dolls after them, and Peter had threatened to call the Volturi on him as he rounded them. Loki had questioned what the Volturi were, and Peter had told him he had been on Earth long enough that he had no excuse to not have read Twilight.
Was it a coincidence that Loki had mentioned that? Or did he...
But no. How could he? It had to be a coincidence.
“I’m fine,” he reassured, once he could breathe again. “So, English is not your first language. Where are you from?”
Loki’s lips twitched. “I was raised in the North, but as I was adopted, I am not sure of where I come from originally.”
It was annoying how he wasn’t even lying. Asgard was technically in the North.
“Adopted, interesting. Mr Stark is technically fostering me. I don’t have any siblings, just me and him. Do you have any siblings?”
“The family that raised me had another son,” admitted Loki. “But we had a falling out. Neither of us knew that I was adopted and...” He paused, a look of fleeting pain appearing on his face that Peter did not believe for one second.
But considering the glare he shot him and the way he immediately re-assured him, Mr Stark did believe Loki and his crocodile tears.
Now Peter could not make him name Thor without looking like a big jerk.
“What do you...”
“How about you tell Loki a little bit about yourself now, Peter?” interrupted Mr Stark, shooting him another ‘stop doing that!’ look. “Since this is not an inquisition or a trial.”
Peter wished this was a trial. That way he’d have Mr Stark’s lawyers and they would make Loki admit that he was evil and a bad guy and Mr Stark would not end up in a relationship with another person who’d break his heart.
“I am curious about you, yes,” said Loki, looking at him curiously, eyes twinkling. “What is it that you prefer doing during your free time, Peter? Parkour, perhaps?”
And then he winked at him.
Peter literally froze on his chair.
He had thought Loki was not aware, but mentioning parkour for no reason like that? That wink?
He knew who he was. He knew that Peter was Spider Man, possibly had known from the very beginning. Loki had never called him anything other than ‘boy of spiders’ during their battles, and Peter had never lost his mask around him, but still Loki knew.
He knew his identity.
Had he come here because of that? To fight Peter somewhere he thought Peter would be at a disadvantage? Was this a trap? Had Peter put Mr Stark in danger?
Peter held the table tighter, ready to attack at the first provocation. He did not care what happened to him but like hell would he let Loki get away with hurting Mr Stark.
Loki didn’t attack though. He remained where he was, relaxed in his chair, waiting for Peter to respond.
Mr Stark was also looking at him, and Peter forcefully cleared his throat. “Not professionally,” he ended up saying. “Just in my spare time. Sometimes.”
“Sometimes I swear he can walk on walls,” said Mr Stark, shaking his head. “It’s almost like he sticks to them, he’s very talented.”
Eh. ‘Almost’.
“I can imagine,” said Loki, in that same placid tone, and Peter scowled at him as lowkey as he could.
“Sir, the pastry,” interrupted JARVIS. “You instructed me to remind you about it when it was close to completion-”
“Right,” said Mr Stark, standing up. “You are both going to love this. I ordered it yesterday and popped it in the oven when you got here, it’s amazing. Lemme get it out, don’t kill each other while I’m gone!”
“No promises,” said Peter, in a faux cheerful voice as Mr Stark finally left the room.
As soon as his father was out of ear shot, Peter was on his feet, in fight position, ready to shoot.
“You!”
Loki just watched him like he thought he was a pet doing a cute trick, and it only made Peter more irritated.
“Me.”
“What are you doing in my house!”
Loki frowned, pointing at the food in front of him. “Having a meal, of course. Were you sleepwalking for the past few minutes? Odd, your interrogation did not show it.”
“You are in my house,” said Peter. “You are a supervillain in my house and I’m supposed to believe you are here just on a date with my father?”
Again, Loki looked confused. “Well, yes. I did not know it was your house until you opened your mouth and I recognised your voice and your seidr. I have better things to do in my past time than find out the residence of the Avengers. Though you aren’t one yet, are you?”
“I will be soon,” complained Peter, a little miffed. It was a sore point, but Captain Danvers said he couldn’t be an Avenger until he was over eighteen. And Peter was not over eighteen.
Loki shrugged. “That makes no difference to me. I will squash you and your team whatever you decide to call yourselves.” Peter puffed up, and Loki continued. “But yes. I am here for Anthony Stark, believe it or not. I have no intention of causing any mayhem or disrupting the peace. I wish for this meal to go well. He was very insistent on my meeting you before our courtship progressed.”
Peter slowly started to relax, even though his eye was twitching. “Courtship?”
“Oh yes,” said Loki, smiling honestly for once. “We frequent the same barber, and then we bumped into each other at the same coffee shop after. We got to talking and realised we simply clicked very well.”
"You go to a barber?"
Loki glared. "How else do you believe I maintain this amazing hairstyle?"
Peter chose not to answer that trick question, focusing instead on the earlier answer. He did not want to believe it, he wanted to think that this was a scheme of Loki’s. Unfortunately, however, he could see how he and Mr Stark would click, if they were meeting in a neutral situation where Loki was not trying to take over the world, and Mr Stark did not know who he really was.
“What are your intentions with my father?”
“Bedding him, mostly,” started Loki. Peter looked at him in disgust, and Loki rolled his eyes. “Nothing untoward, boy of spiders. My word might not mean much to you, but I give it to you anyway. My intention is not to use your father against you, or to use Anthony at all. I want to know him, and I want him to know me. I wish for a relationship with him. One that is true. I do not claim to love him yet, no. But I do see how I could grow to.”
It was almost alien, hearing these words come from Loki’s mouth. “But you’re a supervillain! Does he even know that?”
Loki’s nose twisted. “I find that denomination quite offensive, you know? What villainous thing have I done?”
“You create thousands of dollars in property damage everywhere you go and disrupt the public quiet!”
Loki hummed, looking pleased with himself and nodding. “You’ve got me there.”
Even though he said this, however, Peter could not deny that Loki was not really as big of a problem as Peter made him out to be. Yes, he had tried to take over the world once. And yes, he attempted to murder Thor every time they saw each other.
But mostly, nowadays, he caused trouble. Mischief. Chaos.
The dolls that had attacked them the other time had returned back where they came from once Loki was done playing with them. Dr Strange’s Cloak was still missing because Loki and the man had a... special relationship, but Peter’s suit had returned it’s normal colour after being run under the water once.
Loki was a menace and lived to throw New York’s society into jeopardy always, but Peter could not really claim he was a supervillain.
“I don’t care who you are and what you do, but if you hurt him in any way, I will destroy you,” he finally said, doing his best to appear serious.
He had been told that he was as scary as a baby chick, but Loki nodded, not looking like he was making fun of him. “I wouldn’t expect anything else.”
He sounded truthful enough.
Peter was still going to watch him like a hawk.
“And you have to tell him,” he added, after a second. “He has the right to know.”
“Well-”
“Everything okay?” asked Mr Stark, choosing that moment to walk back in the room with a cake in his hands. “Why are you standing this far apart?”
“Just dropped something,” said Peter, moving back to his seat.
“We have decided that we like each other after all,” said Loki. It was absolutely not true, but Peter still smiled when Mr Stark glanced at him and looked immensely pleased.
“Yeah... That.”
Mr Stark messed up his hair fondly, but Peter kept his eyes on the amused Loki.
Just because he was dating his father did not mean that Spider Man would not kick his ass if he went out of line.
Loki just smirked as if to say ‘bring it on’.
Oh, Peter would bring it on.