BEFORE
“Remove yourself from my person right this instant.”
“Nah, I’m pretty comfy right here.”
“I must insist.”
“So do I.”
“ Stark. ”
“ Snowflake. ”
“You dim-witted imbecile; despite your small stature, you are quite heavy, so I suggest you remove yourself right this instant otherwise you will be bathing in milk for a month .”
“Did you...did you just insult my intelligence, call me short and fat, all in one breath?”
“Perhaps I would not need to resort to such petty insults if you would just-”
“Oh, it’s on. ”
“Stark, all you must do is- oof .”
Loki glared up at him from the floor, murder in his eyes and hair falling in knotted tangles over his shoulders as he blew a puff of air at a stray lock falling into his eyes, flinging it back.
Tony peered over the edge of the bed with a shit eating grin, only to yelp when Loki’s hand shot out and curled in the front of his shirt, yanking him off as well, plopping him in a heap of flailing limbs in front of the smirking god.
“Now, that’s just rude,” Tony grumbled, pushing himself to sit upright.
“ You are the one who started it.”
“You insulted me!”
Loki merely raised an unimpressed brow, arms crossing delicately over his chest, watching him with an unnervingly intense stare.
Tony held out for approximately seventeen seconds before folding.
“Okay!” He threw his arms up in the air and grumbled to himself while Loki smiled, pleased, and leaned over to kiss Tony on the lips, one hand running lightly up his thigh, tongue teasingly brushing against his boyfriends.
“Am I forgiven then, my love?” Loki purred into his lips.
Tony shivered but murmured, “Hm...I don’t know...I think you might have to kiss me again.”
Loki laughed, deep and throaty, but complied, rising to his knees and slotting himself between Tony’s spread thighs, pinning him against the side of the bed and kissing him again, one hand curling loosely around his throat, the other tangling in his hair to tug his head back.
Tony moaned softly into the gods lips, eyes fluttering closed, fingers clutching at Loki’s shirt to pull him closer.
When Loki finally pulled back, Tony was panting for breath and flushed, hips twitching up towards Loki’s, desperately seeking out friction.
Loki just smiled indulgently but shifted backwards, just out of reach, ignoring Tony’s soft whimper of protest in favor of asking lightly,
“Am I forgiven yet?”
Tony opened his mouth, ready to say like hell was he forgiven if he was going to pull this bullshit, only to be interrupted by JARVIS announcing in a rather amused sounding voice,
“Sir, Miss Potts is on the line. Shall I put her through?”
“No, no, do not put her through, don’t you dare-”
“Tony.”
“Pepper! Hey! Hi! Hello!” He glared at the nearest camera, silently vowing to play the Barbie theme song in JARVIS’s speakers for a month .
“Tony, where are you?”
Shit . Tony knew that tone. It was the “you were supposed to be here an hour ago” tone. It was the “I’m going to yell at you and maybe hit you upside the head” tone.
“I’m, um, I was sleeping?”
“Sleeping. You skipped the board meeting because you were sleeping .”
“Yes?”
“Tony, we both know you haven’t gone to bed at a decent time, let alone slept during normal hours, since you started headlining as a superhero. I would appreciate it if you would at least come up with a believable lie.”
“I’m not lying! I really was sleeping!” Tony couldn’t help but defend himself indignantly even though she wasn’t really wrong , she was just wrong this time.
“I can, in fact, corroborate this, Miss Potts,” Loki cut in politely. “As he was sleeping rather obnoxiously on me .”
There was silence on the other line for longer than he was comfortable with, time in which he spent glaring at Loki’s amused face, before Pepper spoke up again, no longer in that tone.
“Thank you, Loki. Tony, Happy is on his way. We took a coffee break; you will be ready in fifteen minutes.”
“Yes! Yes, I will absolutely be ready. Maybe in twenty?”
“Tony.”
“Fifteen it is! Love you, Pep, bye!” He motioned for JARVIS to hang up before she could say anything else before announcing once he heard the line click, “JARVIS, I’m gonna donate you to the YMCA.”
“I am sure they would have great use for me, sir; and perhaps they would listen to their messages.”
Loki snorted, and Tony turned a glare on him, grumbling, “The least you could do is magic me all clean so I don’t have to try to shower.”
“Oh?” Loki hummed thoughtfully before waving a hand; Tony felt a familiar, cool tingling sensation as he was cleaned and dressed, and couldn’t help but grin and lean forward to kiss his boyfriend before jumping to his feet, mussing up Loki’s already disastrous hair on his way to the kitchen.
“Coffee, babe?” He called from the kitchen as he motioned for JARVIS to get the coffee started while he dug through the fridge, searching for the cream he knew Loki liked, not even startling when he felt the slight shift in the atmosphere as Loki appeared behind him in the room, also freshly clean and impeccably dressed; Tony silently mourned the loss of his boyfriends adorable bed head, even as he admired the ever familiar elegance.
“Cream and sugar, please.” Loki murmured with a nod.
Tony huffed but obligingly poured half a mug of coffee, and topped it off with the cream and sugar before holding out the mug, which Loki took with a pleased hum, curling both hands around it.
Tony didn’t even wait for his own mug to cool, gulping it down as soon as he’d poured it, before refilling the mug again, this time allowing it to cool in so he could stuff a doughnut in his face instead.
Loki watched him with a sort of fond, indulgent amusement, before moving forward to press a kiss to Tony’s forehead, a gesture Tony recognized all too well.
“You’re leaving,” Tony said softly. “For a while?”
“I am afraid so, my love.” Loki nodded, brow furrowing slightly. “A month, perhaps two, at most. I am needed for negotiations; Thor is hopeless when it comes to those, and we would rather avoid starting a war because he offended someone.”
“I guess that’s fair. Come back as soon as you can though, yeah? I’ll give you all the back and foot rubs you could possibly need, okay?” He leaned forward to kiss Loki, who chuckled but nodded.
“Of course, darling. I will do my best to return home soon.”
As he always did, Tony couldn’t help but grin when Loki referred to their house as home . Because it was. Their home, that is. And Tony knew how hard it was for Loki to get to that point, to feel safe enough, to trust enough, to call a place home.
“You do that, Lo. I’ll be waiting. Love you, babe.”
Loki gave him a dazzling smile that said all his words could not, before vanishing, leaving behind his empty coffee mug, and a single red rose.
***
The day wore on.
The meeting was just as awful and boring as he thought it would be, but he was able to escape early when one of the board members got caught with a young secretary in a supply closet.
***
One month turned into two, turned into three, turned into four.
Loki still wasn’t home.
Tony hadn’t slept in three days.
***
And then, Phil showed up with a stack of files and an apology in his eyes, and Tony’s world shattered.