Explanations
It only took a couple of seconds for their laughter to get annoying to the Avengers. After the spectacular lecture that Tony had given them what felt like hours ago but was in reality over a week ago, they had been stewing in their anger, unable to take it out on the billionaire when he had locked down the lab and didn't even acknowledge them when they asked Jarvis to let them in. Their laughter should have infuriated them but bewilderment and confusion were taking precedent over their other emotions. Bruce's lips were twitching at their contagious laughter even though he had no idea what was happening either.
Loki and Tony eventually stopped laughing, sharing a loaded look that they could only interpret because they knew how emotions showed on their faces, before Tony turned and put on his diplomatic face. The expression looked at home on Loki's face but familiar in a way that none of them could place, a certain dread filling them.
"Loki is in my body and I'm in his," Tony said the sentence with a straight face and an air of expectation that clearly said isn't it obvious?
"Is it magic of quantum splicing?" Bruce asked immediately, already sucking into the science of their situation and completely disregarding the shock and disbelief on the other Avenger's faces.
"A mix of both, I suspect. We were trying to overlay some sort of protective magic on that really touchy DI163 embedded in a bare Iron Man armor plate with the specifications of projectile damage programmed into the chip. Everything went boom and Jarvis said that it was an hour exactly before we both woke up at the same time. I was in his body and he was in mine,"
The Avenger's lost their irritation as the scientist's explanation made their heads spin. It wasn't helped by the fact that Bruce was nodding along like everything made perfect sense and Loki clearly understood some of the sentences beyond 'we' 'on' and 'Iron Man'.
"Hi. Yeah- no. That doesn't happen on Earth. People don't just switch skin suits. This has to be some kind of joke... Right?"
Tony felt sort of sorry for Clint. He could see the way his mind was having trouble wrapping around the idea of magic and science working but he couldn't find it in himself to care overly much. His own irritation was growing with the nods of agreement the other Avengers were giving Clint, as if he had just said something distinctly profound rather than disturbingly narrow-minded and unimaginative.
"Aliens don't exist. The Norse Gods are a myth. Captain America is dead," Tony said in a deadpan, obviously unimpressed and happy that saying it with Loki's face was giving him a bigger impact.
"Oh fuck off, Stark," Clint snapped back without thinking, proving the billionaire's point without even stopping to think twice about it.
He winced when what he had said kicked in, rubbing his forehead preemptively like it would help stave off the headache he was feeling. Bruce was quietly laughing in the corner with a cup of tea, Natasha looked distinctly mindfucked, Steve looked a mix between embarrassed and confused, and Loki in Tony's body looked way too damn pleased with himself.
"Now that we've gotten that out of the way," Loki started, valiantly hiding a grin when the Avengers flinched at the reminder that he hadn't left the room. "My magic is slowly regenerating but with Tony's lack of magical pathways and the extreme amounts that were used to get us this way it will take a couple of more days. Thor could help but considering he's not here and there isn't a way to contact him we're going to be stuck like this for the remaining time. Any comments, questions, or concerns can be sent to the Director because I have decided that I don't care,"
Loki's words were something that Tony would say but the way that he said it made it very clear that Tony wasn't acting like himself. It was almost painful for the pair to watch the way that the team twitched when they had to acknowledge that the situation wasn't going away.
The billionaire and the Asgardian disappeared back into the lab after that, Tony remembering abruptly that he could have just asked Jarvis to get the groceries and have them brought down by the elevator.
-
"Only like 3 more days," Tony panted between shallow breaths from his place on the floor, sweaty with burning muscles from the workout that Loki had just forced him to do. "Can I just mention how happy I am that I can breathe without that thing in my chest right now?"
The slight hit its mark but Loki just smirked. The man had used the excuse of not wanting to miss a day of working out as his reason why he wanted Tony to exercise but the billionaire had realized minutes in that it was payback for something he couldn't remember at the time.
"Is this for refusing to tell you how the Arc Reactor works or supergluing your tea shut?"
The God just laughed, throwing a bottle of water at his body on the ground and leisurely reading a book.
"I haven't decided yet,"
"Great," Tony said mildly, finally finding the breathing pattern that helped Loki's lungs calm down. "Just fantastic,"
Sorry for the serious lack of chapters this past week. Finals were a bitch and I'm still recovering from the trauma and sleep deprivation. I'm finally going to keep my word and start working on the lovely pile of prompts that I have waiting for me. Sorry for the wait everyone and thank you for your patience! -Rose