In hindsight...
If Tony was honest to himself he wasn't really surprised about Thor and Loki appearing in his Tower.
Before Thor left for Lokis trial a few days ago, he had already told Tony that he had a secret plan to save his little brother from the Dungeons and that his mother Frigga had come up with said plan.
Frigga had seemingly found a way to keep an eye on Loki without sending him to Asgards dungeons.
Whatever it was, Tony already had a bad feeling about what was to come.
Well, you didn't have to be a genius to put one and one together given the fact that Thor had spent most of his time on earth since the Chitauri attack. If his mother had found a way to keep an eye on Loki,
it only meant that someone would be there to watch other said god of mischief. Who would be better for that job than Thor or the Avengers? So Tony got a feeling whatever the outcome would be,
Friggas plan revolved around the Avengers or Thor.
If Thor weren't staying at Janes place, he mostly spent his time in the communal kitchen of the Avengers Tower, eating Pop Tarts to his heart's content or fighting with the Toaster.
Dear god... All those Toasters who had died since Thor joined the Avengers. Not even as a common Toaster you could live an easy life in this Tower.
Tony wasn't sure about the exact number of victims but he was certain Thor killed at least seven Toasters in the last two months.
The poor things never had a chance from the beginning.
Well, the Toasters weren't the problem, the problem was that Tony was almost certain 'the plan' about Loki would involve his Tower...
So, as Tony already had guessed the (not) super secret plan Thor and Frigga had come up with was for Loki to stay on earth
or more precisely with the Avengers - What a surprise. That at least seemed to be the case given the fact that both of the Gods were now standing in front of him.
Tony was one of the first who had noticed that Loki wasn't in his right mind during the invasion. Even Legolas could tell that something about the god felt wrong from the beginning.
And that his planned outcome for the war, was for him and his army to lose.
Looking at Loki now, standing next to Thor in the communal room, just confirmed Tony's presumptions. The God's eyes shone in a beautiful vibrant green and not in the creepy Tesseract blue
which they had during the invasion. Gone were the exhausted face, the messy hair, and terrible ill-looking skin color. Sure, Loki still looked pale as fuck with his porcelain-like skin but in a good way.
Honestly? Tony had to admit that he liked the god's eyes a lot. He had never before seen such beautiful colored eyes and said beautiful eyes looked directly into his brown ones.
They seemed to look at him in... Confusion?
Oops. This definitely meant Tony must have been staring a bit too much and too long. Bad Tony! Really, really bad Tony!
Stop falling for the mad God's eyes! You definitely don't want to go down that road!
Tony was torn from his embarrassing thoughts due to the loud yelling around him.
The other Avengers didn't seem to take too kindly to Thors Masterplan and the loud thunder that rolled over the Tower were indication enough for Tony
and everyone else in the room that Thor wasn't happy about the situation either. Good thing Brucie Bear had left the room long ago.
Tony was sure the Hulk wouldn't be amused to see the God of Mischief again. Not to mention that the floor just happened to be freshly renovated.
The others weren't to blame for their reactions...
Everyone here had their very own unique experience with Loki
(except Capsicle maybe... Was Capsicle even there? Well, he was definitely nagging around all the time - which Tony remembers all too well)
and none of those experiences were associated with fond memories. Not to mention that Thor's attempts to convince the other Avengers were painfully demanding instead of... Well, convincing?
Risking a glance at Loki again Tony thought he saw something like sadness ghost over the God's face... or was it anger?
He couldn't really tell, one thing was certain - Tony knew that face all too well. He had seen it a hundred times before.
Whenever he looked in the mirror he could see the exact same face only that it was his face that was looking back at him, not Loki's.
It was a face of resignation... Of someone who had tried again, and again to reach the expectations but always seemed to fail no matter what they did.
A face who desperately wanted to be seen and acknowledged...
Not for the things he did, but for himself.
"Well, guess that leaves only me to look over Reindeer Games then."
The words came out of his mouth before he could think twice. Hell, he should really start to work on his brain to mouth filter.
That's one of the reasons why Pepper tried her best to keep him far away from important business partners or live interviews.
But with the way how fragile Loki looked and how much he resembled Tony in that very moment... Tony couldn't keep quiet.
Because he knew very well how it felt when the whole world seemed to stand against you. How the hateful gazes hurt even though he had tried his best to pretend they didn't.
In a way, Tony saw himself in Loki.
And he was sure if it weren't for Pepper, Rhodey or Jarvis he would have ended up the same way as Loki... Desperate and ravenous for acceptance and maybe love.
And even though Capsicle brought the nightmares and Pepper up, Tony couldn't quite find it in himself to take the words he had said back.
Instead, he even tried to convince the others that it was the only logical decision to keep Loki in the Tower.
Tony tried to hide it but he knew that Caps comment made him visible tremble. For a tiny moment, he was back in space, certain that he would die there...
All alone and unable to say goodbye to his loved ones.
Tony swallowed hard. Not now! Not here! The panic attack would have to wait until he was alone in his workshop for god's sake!
Thankfully Thor's booming laughter and the bone-crushing hug that followed brought Tony back to reality.
The fear of being the next victim of the Toaster murdering God was enough to keep his upcoming panic attack at bay. At least for now.
Tony was sure he wouldn't sleep tonight, nor that he would sleep well in the near future. But it wasn't like sleep actually had come to him often nowadays anyways...
After Jarvis helped to lead Loki to his quarters which were right next to Tonys (for no other reason as to keep Loki as far away from the other Avengers as possible)
Thor explained what he would have to go back to Asgard to come back with his mother Frigga so that she could perform the binding spell on Tony and Loki.
Tony dully realized that he had absolutely no clue what possible rules and confinements said binding spell would contain and that the whole thing would do to him and Loki.
For once, Tony wasn't eager to find out.