~Come Alive~
The crowd had packed the building tight the next night. Loki looked out from behind the curtain, scanning the room.
“There sure are a lot of people out there. I’m surprised.” He said to Tony as he turned around.
“You need to have more faith in me, Lokes. You act like I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Oh, I’m aware that you know what you’re doing. Conning people, that’s what.”
“We talked about this, Loki. I’m not conning anyone, just stretching the truth a bit. It’s not harming anyone. Now let’s drop this and get ready. We have a show to do.”
“I’m well aware, Anthony.” Loki shot Tony a look as he moved to help Natasha fix her costume. She muttered a thanks in Russian before running off to get into her spot.
Tony smiled softly as Loki went off to help another person. He was so surprisingly nice to everyone.. well, everyone but him. But he was determined to change that. If only he could figure out how.
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“Is that everything? Are we ready?” Tony asked Loki, earning a nod.
“Let the show begin.” Loki grinned.
Bright colorful lights filled the main room, causing the audience to stir. The curtains to the backstage opened, allowing for a small herd of show horses to come out. The horses took to trotting circles around the stage as Loki gave Natasha her cue. She gave him a smile as she grabbed onto the trapeze and jumped from the balcony, swinging across the audience.
Tony was scrambling to send cues to the rest of the performers. Loki on the other hand had to make sure that Bucky got out there without having a panic attack, which thank god he was able to do.
Loki walked over to an empty chair and sat in it, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know how you do this every night, Anthony. Especially when they need help practically at all times.”
Tony shrugged, pulling up a chair next to him and taking a seat. “I just got used to it over time. It’s your first night here, anyway. It’s gonna be stressful. But let me assure you, you’re doing just fine.”
Loki laughed. “Oh, well. I’m glad you find my work to be of quality. I should also add, you were surprisingly right about all of this. I think being here finally let the non-asshole side of me come out.”
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The show surprisingly went well. Near the end, Tony had drug Loki out into the main room and introduced him as his new junior partner. It wasn’t exactly what Loki wanted to do, but he couldn’t really say no.
As the crowd started to leave, the performers came back into the back room. They were laughing and telling each other how great they did. Bucky and Natasha were chatting away in Russian, which was quite surprising as neither of them talked very much. Tony grinned as he watched everyone. Everything just felt so… right.
Loki snuck up behind him as he was in his little daze. “I say that went pretty well for your first show with me around.”
Tony turned around to face Loki and chuckled. “I say it went more than pretty well. It went so much better with your help.”
Loki rolled his eyes and pushed past Tony. “Sure, sure. Let’s lie to your partner, why don’t we? You know damn well that you’re the reason it went so well. Hell, you’re the reason it always goes so well.”
Was..he actually attempting to be nice? It was hard to tell with the mix of tame profanity, but Tony swore that this was an attempt. He studied (well..more of stared at) Loki, trying to figure out why he was suddenly acting like this.
“Why are you staring, Anthony? Did I say something wrong?” Loki raised a brow, confused by what Tony was doing.
“Oh, sorry.” Tony blushed, giving him an apologetic smile. “Didn’t mean to. I was just trying to figure out why you suddenly changed your mood halfway through the night.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Um, nothing. Forget I said anything, okay?”
Loki furrowed his brows. “Fine. But don’t think I’ll ignore that you’re acting quite weird. You know you can tell me if something is the matter, right? I know we only just met and became partners last night, but I assure that you can trust me.”
“Yeah, okay. Thanks Lokes.” Tony slipped away quickly, covering his face. Why in the hell was he acting like this? And why so suddenly?
Loki sighed and went to join the others. He made sure to tell everyone how amazing of a job they did, especially Bucky. After his praise towards everyone, he gathered everyone together and stood in the middle of them.
“Thank you for making me feel so welcome this first night, everyone. You all are amazing. Now, go on and get out of here. It’s late enough as it is, and you all need to get home.” He gave them all a very genuine smile before sending them off.
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As everyone left the building to go to their homes, Loki found himself wondering where Tony went. From what he gathered in their brief time of meeting each other, Tony wasn’t one to let his presence go unknown. He said the last of his good nights and good byes as Natasha left, then went to find Tony. He was going to figure out what was going on with him.
Not long after he started his hunt, Loki found Tony sitting in his office. He seemed somewhat out of it, like he was overthinking something.
“Mind some company, Anthony?” He said softly.
Tony jumped at the sudden noise and turned around. “Jesus, it's just you. You scared the hell out of me.” He sighed. “I guess some company wouldn’t hurt.”
Tony quickly went back to moping, keeping his head down in attempt to keep Loki from noticing anything off. Unfortunately it was too late for him not to notice. Loki walked over to him.
“What is the matter? You can tell me, you know.” Loki said, eyeing Tony worriedly. The hung head, the way he was messing with his hands… something was seriously up.
Tony stayed silent, which caused Loki to sigh. He lifted Tony’s chin up and looked him in the eyes. A faint blush creeped across Tony’s face.
“Anthony, I know we’ve only known each other for a bit, but please. I barely know you but I already hate seeing you like this. I want to help you.. if you’ll allow me to.”
“It’s nothing, Lokes. Nothing that you need to worry about, that is.”
“Tell me. Please.”
Tony sighed. “It will just make me sound petty and selfish. It’s nothing.”
Loki huffed. “For gods sake, you think I don’t know about selfishness. You do remember who you’re talking to, right?”
“Fine.. but it’s stupid.” Tony’s stared back at the floor. “It seems like everyone likes you way more than they like me.”
Loki furrowed his brows. “Now, you know that isn’t true. They love you, Anthony. You took them in and made them feel like the most amazing people in the world… which they are but that’s another conversation for a different time. It just seems that way because I’m new here. I assume they want me to feel welcome, so that’s why they seem to ‘like’ me so much.”
Tony’s eyes met Loki’s again. “Do… you really think so?”
Loki nodded. “I very much think so. Try not to overthink this so much, alright? Everything will be just fine. They adore you, don’t forget that.”