The Temple of Life
Tony took a deep breath and pushed himself away from the massive wall, spilling some of the mead from his cup on the marble floor while trying to regain his footing. He cursed when he automatically stepped in the small puddle unable to walk around it in time.
“Shit.”
He didn’t remember the last time he was so drunk, but he also didn’t remember any time when he could enjoy an evening in the Asgardian tavern with his team and one booze-generous thunder god.
As he kept on walking unsteadily through the empty halls, Tony desperately tried to recall where he was heading.
The two guards in the full armor and not so friendly expressions walked out of the shadows and took a stand in front of him, clearly unhappy to deal with someone in his state in this ungodly hour. Jesus, he could already hear Rogers scolding him first thing tomorrow morning.
“Hey, what’s up?” he tried his best to sound as sober as possible. “Everything alright, pals, just trying to find my room.”
Tony could exactly pick up the moment when the realization hit them and they both scanned him quickly, slightly bowing with an apology.
“We didn’t recognize you, sir. Guest rooms are in the opposite direction. This is an enclosed wing for a royal family only.”
“Oh, I see,” Tony hummed suddenly remembering why he was on the wrong way and cursing inwardly for not paying more attention to his surroundings. It looked like this was perhaps the end of his little adventure.
“Okay, boys. You sure I can’t just walk through here and end up where I want to end up?”
The guards looked disappointed that they couldn’t give him a positive answer and that was kinda the sweetest thing he experienced in a while. Tony was about to acknowledge his defeat when another voice joined them from the darkness and a tall slim figure appeared behind the guards’ backs.
“Mr. Stark,” the prince took some time to look him over, frowning. “I believe you lost your way.”
Something in those green eyes lit and disappeared again in the second. Loki turned then on the duo not waiting for Tony’s reply. “Thank you, I will accompany Mr. Stark to his destination.”
The guards stepped aside so Tony could walk straight to Loki and then they quickly vanished into the dark corners. The engineer looked up at the trickster god, smirking.
“What do you do up so late, Mr. Odinson? Waiting for the lost wanderers?”
He joined him in the slow pace, finishing the mead in his cup in one gulp before he sat his eyes on the shadows playing on Loki’s face. He swallowed once more.
“You could say so. Are we little intoxicated? My brother perhaps showed you his favorite tavern.”
Loki wasn’t angry, merely amused, and Tony liked the smile on him.
“Maybe I was just upset that someone didn’t show up to say hello when I arrived today leaving me on the mercy of the said brother and his companions… and my companions… which only makes it so much worse.”
He didn’t pay much attention to the floor under his feet while speaking and so when he embarrassedly tripped over his own feet and the cup fell of his hands with a loud sound echoing through the endless corridors, he was glad that Loki at least managed to catch him in time while also preventing him from meeting the cup on the ground. An idiotic drunken giggle escaped his mouth and Loki hushed him with a smile and a finger on his lips.
“Shhh on you, Loki. And shame… yes, shame on you. Look what a mess you did.”
“Me?” The trickster looked even more amused if that was possible and he let one of his hands settle on Tony’s hips, steadying him.
“Yes, you. It’s your fault. You should have already fucked me at least twice into your fancy mattress by this time. And look where we are…”
Tony found Loki’s eyes. A chill run down his spine caused by what he saw there.
“I will gladly correct my mistake, Anthony, but you must keep quiet. We wouldn’t like my parents, who happen to have the room just over this corner, to overhear on what I’m going to do to you.”
Tony nodded happily.
He conjured a one perfect sheepish smile when Loki took his hand perhaps more because of the safety measures than romantic intentions and he followed him to his room. The second the door closed behind them, he tugged at the god’s hand making him turn and take a step towards Tony to meet his mouth in a one messy kiss full of teeth and sounds of longing. It’s been too long since their last time together.
Tony let Loki drag him over to the bed. He sat in the god’s lap, embracing him with his tights while trying to figure out the easiest way how to get his clothes off.
“Why the fuck do you wear this when you know I’m going to have such a hard time pulling it off you?”
Loki didn’t look like he was affected by Tony’s pretended grumpiness. He kept brushing Tony’s hair away from his eyes each time he abruptly moved and tugged and caused them to fall back in.
“Those clothes are no different from what I usually wear.”
“That’s a big fat lie. You’re wearing at least twice as much layers.”
“No, dear,” Loki stated gently, grabbing Tony’s erratic hands in his, putting a stop on his progress. “You just see things in more numbers than usual.”
Tony let out a half-frustrated, half-loving sound when Loki kissed both his hands and left them fall next to Tony’s body. In that moment he knew that he’d fucked up.
“Too drunk?” he asked with what he hoped were puppy eyes. There was nothing more he wanted than to feel Loki inside him.
The god just smiled, and Tony immediately knew he was doomed, because there was no way he would go against anything Loki would ask of him.
“Too tired, Anthony,” Loki corrected him, “don’t you think I have no idea what you have been up to on Midgard. When was the last time you slept properly?”
The truth was he didn’t remember, so instead of answering he pressed his nose against the warmth of Loki’s neck, hugging his god like an octopus leaving him no other choice than to throw them both down on their backs, rolling from side to side until they appeared in the middle of the bed. Tony didn’t help with the movement in slightest and he was proud on that.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered against Loki’s skin, feeling how the blanket landed on the lower part of his body.
“No need to apologize.” Loki ran his hand into Tony’s hair, playing with the curls and making Tony completely relax in few seconds time.
“Just as you said it was my fault. I needed to attend some pressing matters, but you have my full attention now.”
“Lovely,” Tony hummed mockingly, his eyes already closed and threatening not to open again anytime soon.
“No worries, I will wake you up tomorrow so you can return to your room unnoticed. You can sleep.”
And with that sentence Tony felt his mind go blank, just like someone had switched him off. The last thing he heard was Loki’s tender laugh and his lips on his forehead. Both very nice.
When he woke up the next morning, he really regretted that he’d tried that stupid mead in the first place. His head throbbed and his stomach was giving him hell, and Loki looked like he might leave him to suffer a bit to teach him a lesson about alcohol consumption. But that attitude last only until Tony ran to the bathroom and emptied his stomach to something what looked like a toilet – and please god, let it be a toilet. After that disturbing episode, Loki gave him something to drink and he instantly felt much better. Even thinking about grabbing something to eat on his way from Loki’s room.
The sun seemed about to rise from the horizon and Tony wondered how much time they still got, when Loki reading his thoughts easily, shook his head.
“You must leave now if you want to move unnoticed.”
Tony groaned into the sheets, blindly reaching for Loki until he found his face. He let his hand rest there for a moment.
“I want to stay here with you all day.”
“Believe me, there is nothing I wish more, Anthony,” Loki admitted himself, pulling Tony to his lips. “But we will meet in few hours on the tour Thor prepared for you and then again on the evening’s feast and then…” he caressed Tony’s cheek gently, his eyes shining with mischief, “then back in my room. Hopefully with a little less of alcohol involvement.”
Tony laughed, it was the sound full of guilt and excitement.
“Okay, I can work with that. Just don’t give me those looks while walking next to your brother or I might not hold myself.”
“What looks?” Loki teased and he mapped Tony’s body with his hungry eyes like he was a perfect breakfast waiting for the first bite.
“Exactly those looks.” He literally had to close his eyes and then make himself look elsewhere to get up from the bed and walk out of the door.
Tony was glad that Loki had put a spell on him so he could move around the corridors without the fear of being discovered. He crashed on the bed back in his chamber for a few more minutes, his stomach making terrible noises until he gathered himself up and went to join others for the meal. It seemed like no one had noticed that he hadn’t been sleeping in his room. Thor only let him know how much he’d missed after he’d left, but that didn’t worry him at all.
OOO
The promised tour started soon after breakfast. Some members of his team looked even worse than him and that made him feel a little bit better. Like Clint for example. He kept leaning in Natasha’s side and whispering something to her ear and Tony couldn’t misplace the sudden closeness between those two. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who didn’t sleep in his own room yesterday. He only wondered how much fun Natasha actually had with Clint when he now looked like a walking corpse. Tony distantly remembered Hawkeye drinking much more than Tony.
“Friends, we will now visit the main street so you could witness an ordinary life here in Asgard. After that we will look in the weaponsmith’s houses – that is for you, Man of Iron - and after that we will visit the sacred temple. You are free to wander on your own as we finish.” Thor smiled before he continued. “And I myself will meet my Jane in the late afternoon.”
Someone whistled, probably Clint.
Tony smirked as well, clapping Thor on his shoulder.
“So how is this going to be tonight? Is it the first official meeting with the court?”
Thor’s face darkened a bit and a silent worry settled on his features.
“Jane has already met my family on few occasions, but as you just said, this is going to be the first official introduction of her as my partner. I am very nervous. I believe even more nervous than she is herself…”
Tony recalled the one night when he asked Loki about this introduction – after all they knew Thor was about to do that for moths. Loki just looked at him with a serious face and Tony’s smile wavered.
“They don’t have to accept her, but they will. Because we all stand behind him. Asgard is not the same place as it used to be. There will come innovations with a new king.” Tony liked the answer, but it still left something unsettling in his mind. Will Loki have to marry one day? Someone from Asgard? Can they force him?
He never asked any of those questions aloud, but they were eating at him each time he was reminded about Jane. He let those thoughts go as the trickster suddenly emerged from the corner and joined them. He greeted Thor and others with a nod, sending a wink in Tony’s direction to which he sent back a scandalized look.
“I’m glad I caught you before you visited the head weaponsmith.”
“Why?” Tony asked quietly but received no answer except a light smile. “You’ll see.”
And he did see!
The place was amazing, every engineer’s wet dream. Tony just run from one table to the other, yelling questions and then more questions, asking to try things, engaging into various heated conversations while all the Avengers and Loki stood on the side throwing amused glances at him. He knew he went a little wild there, but at the end he walked away with a big grin and a list of potential future coworkers.
“I knew it was a good idea when my brother suggested this stop,” Thor looked very pleased, maybe also because of how well weaponsmiths reacted to Tony’s visit.
The engineer found Loki’s eyes and smiled.
“You are very charming. It is quite alarming how quickly you get people on your side. Should we worry you will attempt to take over Asgard?” Loki hushed the laugh coming out of Tony’s forcibly pursed lips.
They just passed the shops with random people giving them presents, most of them to Tony, who had them wrapped around his pinky finger with not more than few words just as with weaponsmiths before.
“Not interested in ruling, honey, that’s too boring for me.”
“Of course. What did I think?”
They continued walking in slow peace. Loki kept talking to him, but others didn’t pay much attention to how close they were next to each other, almost brushing their shoulders together. Sometimes Tony wished he could just take the god’s hand into his and smile at him like a lovestruck idiot he was, but usually he quickly dismissed the thought.
Shortly after they mapped the main street, Thor invited everyone for lunch. Tony was sure that they caused a few heart attacks when they appeared so suddenly and unannounced in Thor’s favorite… well, restaurant of a sort.
“Are you still feeling sick?” Loki asked him when a nice smiling woman placed enormous plates under their noses and Tony sighed. Everything looked perfect, but he wasn’t sure about the state of his stomach after so much moving. He could somehow feel the breakfast rolling in there and that wasn’t a good sign.
“I think I will be if I try this,” he whispered back, at the end deciding just for a cup of water.
“You can taste the soup. It won’t hurt you.”
“Yes, my brother is right, friend Tony.”
Their heads snapped Thor’s way. Neither of them expected anyone listening on their conversation.
“I guess the yesterday’s mead was too much for everyone. The soup will make you feel all fresh and ready for the evening.”
Tony turned back to Loki the first moment the conversation around got loud enough again.
“Please, slap me, if I try to drink anything than a tea in the evening.”
Loki’s pleased grin spread loosely on his face. “I will slap you in my chamber if you insist.”
Tony chuckled. “Can’t resist such an offer.”
They spent the rest of the day in the company of a few other Thor’s friends moving through various parts of the city until the sun started to move towards the other half of the sky gently implying that in few hours it won’t be visible anymore, and they proceeded to their final destination. A temple of some sort. Very big, very beautiful and according to Tony’s limited knowledge an amazing architectonic work. And that he could tell only from the outside.
“This is the temple dedicated to the old gods. One day when I will be wed, it is going to be here. All main celebrations are held in this temple. It is very captivating, friends, you must see it. We are indeed very lucky, my father allowed us to go inside,” Thor started the speech. Tony watched the nervousness evaporate from him during the day, but now as the evening was approaching, it was back no matter how hard Thor tried to hide it.
When they all moved towards the big golden gate at once, Tony followed with his own small steps until he realized Loki wasn’t next to him anymore and he turned back with a frown.
“Aren’t you coming?”
Something unreadable flashed through the god’s face, but then his expression cleared, and he shook his head with a small distant smile. It seems that others heard them, because suddenly there was Thor’s thunderous voice explaining again, more softly then before.
“The temple is a sacred place for celebrating all life in nine realms. Unfortunately, my brother can not enter with us.” He sounded sincerely upset.
“But why?” Tony didn’t let go, because this wasn’t a real explanation, was it? He regretted his prying a moment later when a long-buried pain flickered in Loki’s eyes and Thor stayed quiet. Perhaps it wasn’t his story to tell.
“I mean…” Tony tried to dismiss his own question, but Loki was faster, interrupting him.
“I can’t enter because it is prohibited for someone who’s tried to take his own life to do so.”
Tony froze on the place, taking a slow breath in, eyes fixed on Loki the whole time. He knew that story. Everyone knew because Thor had told them almost a year ago. The team, although they were not best buds with Loki, accepted the answer immediately, nodding and turning again to the temple, but Tony stayed still, clutching his hands into the fists, thinking.
He could point the exact moment when Loki understood why and that it wasn’t only for Loki’s sake alone. His eyes softened and his lips pursed into a line, whispering a quiet: “Anthony” and nothing more.
He hoped that Loki could read his eyes as easily as Tony thought. He hoped Loki knew what he wanted to ask.
Is it safe for me to enter when you know what you know now?
The god shook his head again. “You can not.”
Loki didn’t reveal the reason. It didn’t matter. Tony wouldn’t risk it, and he had a feeling that now Loki wouldn’t allow it either.
“Tony, come on,” someone called out for him, probably Cap. Tony turned their way, watching them stop in front of the entrance few meters away, waiting, expecting him to join them.
The thing was… he couldn’t.