Getting along
The first day Peter was staying with Tony, everything was alright. He joined Tony for breakfast and dinner and spent the day on the couch watching TV and learning more about weird human customs. He was very enthralled by all those wedding shows and kept asking Jarvis question like, “why is that woman screaming at her mate over flowers?” Or, “I don’t understand why she would be angry about receiving the same bowl twice it will come in handy, won’t it?”
The AI would explain as many things as possible to the merman but since even Jarvis was unable to understand all of the weird human behaviour, they were sometimes at a loss of things. Occasionally they would ask Tony who would just shrug and say, “Women are weird.”
On the second day Peter was already changing, he still joined Tony for the meals but he was quiet most of the time, only speaking when spoken to and he didn’t even comment on the TV anymore. It even went so far that he shut the TV off and rolled outside the patio to look at the ocean, almost receiving a sunburn in the process.
On the third day, everything went to shit. Peter refused to leave the water, lying curled up on the floor and staring at the tiles that surrounded him. Tony would try to gain his attention for almost an hour until Jarvis told him that Pepper had called him on an important matter. The genius had only reluctantly left.
Tony however wasn’t able to forget about that. Peter’s state was quite alarming and he was unsure of what to do. After the thing with Obie people had come to console him and not the other way around.
He was used to getting taken care of and not taking care of others, that was his favourite part about being and only child. Tony paced his workshop occasionally looking at the screen that showed the surface of the pool.
The angle of the camera was so that he could overlook the patio but not look directly into the water to give Peter some privacy, he was a teenager after all.
“Sir, Master Peter hasn’t moved since last night I suggest another approach on him might be a good idea.”
Tony swallowed and eyed the bottle of scotch on his bar but didn’t take it. He had promised Pepper to drink less and only after five pm. The genius sighed and nodded, “I guess you are right I will talk to him, but what should I tell him?”
Tony opened the doors of his workshop and walked outside, “I already told him that I am sorry about destroying his life and forcing him to live with me, what else can I say?”
The AI was silent until Tony stepped into the living room, “Sir, maybe it is time you don’t say anything.” Tony sighed and walked out on the patio.
The water was completely undisturbed and Tony didn’t really want to change that but it was time for him to be there for his friend. With another sigh crouched next to the water looking down on the pitiful looking form of Peter as he was curled up and hiding his face under his arm.
Tony bit his lip, “Peter, you haven’t moved since…a long time please come inside and eat something or use the bathroom or whatever.” Peter didn’t move and he didn’t even seem to acknowledge his presence and Tony grew irritated at that, he didn’t like being ignored.
He rubbed his face and remembered what Jarvis had said; maybe it was time for him to be quiet. Tony stood and began to shed his clothes until he was only in his boxers and slowly climbed into the water. It was not cold due to the fact that the sun was shining almost all day on it but since the pool was rather large it didn’t feel like he was entering a baby pool.
Tony was too short to reach the floor with his feet so he floated a moment in the water before he took a deep breath and dived down to his friend.
Peter seemed surprised by the disturbance in the water and removed the arm from his face. His eyes widened as he spotted Tony over him, “Tony what?”
The merman didn’t have time to finish his sentence because Tony pulled him into a hug. Peter went stiff and froze for a moment before all his dams broke and he wrapped his arms around the human.
Sobbing like a little child he clung to Tony bathing in his warmth and affection. He only stopped because Tony began to slap his arm repeatedly. Peter frowned but as he saw the distressed look in the humans face, he understood.
“Oh shit!”
Quickly he pushed them up to the surface and Tony greedily gasped for air, “I am so sorry Tony I didn’t intend to drown you.” The human waved his hand still sucking in air, “no-no problem, I ah I underestimated how strong you are.”
Peter laughed and with a flip of his tail he brought them to the shallow part of the pool where Tony had shaped it more like a beach and they laid down in the sand. Tony had finally calmed and Peter once again admired the human’s body.
Tony was on his back taking deep breaths and Peter noticed that since they departed, Tony had put on some additional muscle mass. Must be because of the armour.
“Are you alright?”
Peter focused on Tony’s face a light blush dusted his cheeks, “I ah shouldn’t I ask you that? I mean I nearly drowned you.” Tony chuckled and closed his eyes, “people have tried to do worse to me, believe me.”
Peter moved closer to the human still searching for comfort. He put his head on Tony’s shoulder and an arm over his chest, missing the surprised and almost scandalized look from the human.
“Like what?”
Tony sighed and put his hand over Peter’s, being so close to someone in a non-sexual way was kind of weird but he liked it. His other arm found its way around the boy’s back and he began to draw slow circles on his shoulder.
“Oh I remember one time, one of the girls I slept with claimed that she was pregnant with my child, too bad for her that the child looked more like my friend Rhodey than me when it came out.”
Peter closed his eyes, his tail was lazily flicking in the water and he enjoyed the other man’s scent, he smelled so good.
“There are a few things I don’t understand about what you just said.”
Tony chuckled, “alright you see people like me, Bruce and Pepper are white, because we have so light skin. My friend Rhodey is black but I think you are not allowed to say that anymore for some reason, but what I mean is that he has rather dark skin which in no way looks like mine.”
Peter hummed signalling that he kind of understood, “I already seen humans with other skin tones or colours, it is quite fascinating actually and beautiful.” Tony smiled, “I am glad that you think that way.”
“So I got that but what do you mean with pregnant?”
“Ah you have probably seen women on TV with weird, big and round bellies. Those are pregnant, meaning they carry a human baby inside of them. We don’t lay eggs we ah oh man what weird choices have I made in life that led to me explaining pregnancy to a merman?”
Peter chuckled and pressed himself even closer against the human, he missed the contact he usually had with his aunt, but this was a worthy alternative.
“Well ah uh women kind of carry eggs inside of them and men put their seed inside so ah hopefully a baby will develop inside the woman.”
Peter opened his eyes and blinked, “that is fascinating how many babies can one woman carry?” Tony frowned, “I think the record is around twelve or so but normally we just have one or two at the same time.”
The boy sat up running a hand through his drying hair, it looked really cute, those messy curls, “only one or two, our mermaids mostly lay up to twenty eggs and if we are lucky half of them are successfully fertilized and one or two survive in the end. Although it got better since we live in caves and protect one another.”
Tony looked up to the boy noticing that Peter’s hand still rested on his chest since he was still holding it. The boy didn’t seem to mind though. Tony looked at his face, “and you don’t have sex right?”
Peter sighed, “No, we don’t which is also a reason why we have so few offspring. Sometimes I think we are doomed to go extinct.” Tony sat up and pulled the boy back against his chest. He didn’t want him to get sad again.
Peter looked a little surprised but didn’t resist, instead he leaned into it wrapping his arms around the human, “thank you Tony, I ah I know you are only trying to help me.” Tony let go of Peter to only put a hand on his cheek, “of course I am, Pete, you are one of the most important things in my life. If not the most important by now.”
The boy blushed and averted his gaze with a nervous chuckle, “Tony I ah…don’t be silly.” Tony raised his other hand to capture his face before he could turn away, “no Peter, I mean it don’t question my feelings for you because if you do then I lose my confidence and then we are both screwed.”
Peter looked at the other man and sighed, “Tony I…” He trailed off not knowing what he should respond. Tony was the man that made his stomach tickle with this weird warm feeling and he was the one who took everything from him. It was weird and kind of twisted and Peter was not in the state of mind to deal with it.
Tony however seemed to know what he wanted as his soft lips connected with Peter’s. The boy was startled and thought about pulling back but a not so tiny part of him didn’t want that. Instead, he closed his eyes and parted his lips allowing Tony’s warm tongue to enter him and he found himself shivering with excitement.
Someone cleared his throat.
Both of them jumped apart and Peter failed to fight his instinct and just slipped back into the water splashing a generous amount of it on Tony. The genius sputtered trying to get rid of the saltwater in his mouth.
Sticking out his tongue and wiping it he glared up to see who had dared to destroy their moment.
“Hi Tony.”
“Bruce?”
Quickly Tony got on his feet and walked up to the Doctor, “oh my, Bruce, how are you I haven’t seen you since…?” The man quickly examined Tony’s naked chest before focusing on his face again, “since you put me in that helicopter and told Jarvis to fly me back.”
Tony nodded suddenly feeling a little guilty about that, “oh yeah right, how have you been?” Bruce looked at him before he turned his head to smile at the pool, “hello Peter, nice to see you again.”
The boy smiled brightly, “Bruce! How are you? Where have you been?” Tony felt a pang of jealousy in his chest as the boy greeted the man so cheerfully.
Peter swam to the rim of the pool and Bruce crouched down to briefly pat his hand in a weird greeting and Tony almost gritted his teeth. Bruce didn’t notice how tense Tony suddenly was and focused on the boy, “all is well for me but how have you been and why are you back in Tony’s pool?”
Peter’s smile got a little strained but it didn’t fall, “I ah well I was banished for befriending Tony.” Bruce’s eyes widened and he looked at Tony who shrugged, “let’s not talk about that now, why are you here?”
Bruce stood and to their surprise, he looked a little embarrassed, “ah Pepper told me that you two could need some company and that you owe me an apology.” Tony smiled a little sheepishly, “I guess I do well, let’s go inside and have breakfast? Or lunch? I don’t know what time it is.”
Bruce chuckled, “it is afternoon Tony.” Both man walked inside while Peter climbed into the wheelchair and followed them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Loki threw a rock against the wall. Yes that was basically it since there was barely anything else he could do. Loki had tried to get away as soon as he was confined in his room but Sif had captured him and put him back.
After the third attempt Odin had ordered to lock him up, which basically meant that a giant rock was placed in front of his cave’s entrance and only a too small gap remained. Loki hated to be locked up but he was unable to do anything against it.
The prince picked up another stone and threw it against the wall. He had a good aim so there already was a spot on the wall that was marked by all the time he had hit it. It was so frustrating and at some point he just started to yell at everything and everyone.
It didn’t help of course and so Loki soon had stopped again saving his energy for his angry throwing. With a sigh he rolled around on top of his bed mentally screaming at Tony for getting them into that mess. It was all that stupid human’s fault, because of him Peter got banished, because of him he was locked up in his cave with nothing to occupy him with.
“May I enter?”
“Can I stop you?”
Odin chuckled and the rock was pushed away so he could swim into his son’s cave. He looked around and spotted the mess Loki had made. Blankets were thrown around and pieces of jewellery and armour lay strewn around.
The king sighed, “you know I do this because it is best for you.” Loki rolled his eyes and kept staring at the ceiling, “sure father whatever you say.”
Odin sighed and looked at his son, “I will meet with Laufey again to get your brother back,” Odin stated and sat down on a rock looking at his son. Loki sat up and eyed his father, “are you going to attack him with our army?”
The king shook his head, “no I will offer him our treasures but I will not wage war if I can prevent it.” Loki sighed, “That won’t work, Laufey wants me and he knows that Thor is too valuable to give up. You need to be smart about this father, let me accompany you, let me help you.”
Odin sighed, now he could see the boy that Frigga always saw, the advisor and caretaker of Thor. He had not lied as he told Loki that he considered him his son and he loved him dearly but still Thor was his eldest and his trueborn son. The throne belonged to him and not to Loki; he would make sure that Thor would take it.
“I cannot endanger you; your mother would never forgive me if something happened to you. You will stay here Loki.”
The prince shot up and followed his father to the entrance, “please I can help you, with me there Laufey will be distracted it will be easier to play him, please father.”
Odin waited for the stone to be rolled out of the way, “no, Loki I will not take you with me.” The prince flicked his tail angrily, “you are an old man and a fool if you believe that you are capable of taking Laufey on, on your own.”
The King sighed and nodded, “maybe I am.” With that he swam out of the cave and Loki growled at Sif who now blocked the entrance, looking as stern and irritating as always.
“I need to relieve myself, get out of my way.”
Sif sighed and let the prince pass but followed closely behind. Of course, Loki knew that she was just waiting for him to escape again but he had to try, he could outswim her if he managed to gain enough distance so she wouldn’t be able to catch his tail.
They rounded a corner and Loki stopped, “hello dear how are you today?” Frigga smiled down on her son glancing at Sif before grabbing the boy to place a kiss on his forehead. Loki blushed slightly and sighed he would never admit it but he just loved it when she showered him in affection.
The queen took her son’s arm and together they swam towards her private cave, “I am surprised that you haven’t yet found a way to escape dear.” Loki glared at Sif over his shoulder, “that blasted woman seems to know whatever I think.”
Frigga laughed and looked at Sif, “if that is the case maybe you two are made for each other.” Sif paled and Loki wrinkled his nose in disgust, “mother, please don’t even make fun of this.”
The queen giggled and shook her head, “oh you two are just lovely, but Sif, please leave us alone, I wish to speak to my son in private.” The warrior straightened, “I cannot do that my queen, the king gave me direct orders to not leave the prince’s side.”
Frigga wrinkled her nose, “I like that you are so dutiful my dear but I am serious, leave us.” The mermaid bit her lip while her tail flicked nervously in the water.
Loki rolled his eyes, he knew his mother long enough to see what she was trying to do. With a powerful flip of his tail he disturbed the calm water and a cloud of sand and dirt flew up blinding the warrior and his mother momentarily.
Loki turned around and with a satisfied smirk he shot through the water to the nearest exit to finally make his escape. Once outside he drew in a deep breath as a smile appeared on his lips.
Being the fastest swimmer of his people it didn’t take Loki long to catch up to his father and his party. They were once again going to the old ship where they had met the first time and Loki would make sure to attend that meeting too.
He stayed behind and watched as the party entered the ship only a few guards remained outside to watch out for enemies. Loki swam behind a few rocks watching the guards in hopes to find an opening so he could sneak inside.
The prince frowned and his fins flipped lazily as strong hands grabbed him. One hand clamped his mouth shut while two other grabbed his wrists to hold him down and another pair of hands grabbed his tail keeping him from trashing around.
A cold voice spoke directly into his ear and Loki felt terror rise inside of him, “I knew you would sneak around, just like the last time.”
Loki scream went unheard.