Not my lucky day
Loki licked his lips as he watched from his hiding spot as Angrboda talked to the other mermaids. It was clear that they were still searching for him and he had to admit he was scared shitless of the females.
Suddenly one of the large mermaids grabbed Angie’s arm and shook her almost violently, “then why do you smell like him?” Loki prayed to every god that might listen that his only ally wouldn’t sell him out in the end.
“I had him but he escaped, now let me go! I need food so get out of my way!”
The mermaid chuckled and two other, smaller ones appeared next to her. Loki hated the fact that he was barely able to see in this darkness.
“Oh Boda grew a spine it seems, nice. Come on sisters we need to search the place, the prince can’t be far if he just escaped the dirty one.”
All of them laughed and passed Angie without so much as a glance at his hiding spot and he let out a breath. Thank the gods for their ignorance.
Angie watched them swim away and waved at Loki to follow her. The prince complied immediately and quickly swam behind her. They made their way through the tunnel and luckily no one spotted them and after a few more stops they reached the exit.
“Is that it?”
Angie rolled her eyes and looked at Loki, “partly this is the exit to our official territory but that doesn’t mean that they won’t find you out there. They are really resourceful.”
Loki nodded, “so you coming?” Angie knitted her eyebrows together and looked at him, “what?” The prince looked around, “you said it yourself they can still find me, I need your help to find my way home, besides you are not happy here, are you?”
The mermaid licked her lips and sighed, “not really but I…there is no place out there for me.” Loki put a hand on her shoulder making her look up again, “that is not true, I have a plan and I could use an ally like you.”
The girl bit her lip thinking and Loki almost held his breath until she finally sighed, “alright I will come with you.” Loki grinned and grabbed her hand to swim side by side with her out of the cave.
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Peter was woken when Tony stepped out onto the patio and crouched next to the pool, “Peter?” The boy yawned but rose from his spot on the sand and pushed himself to the surface.
“Morning Tony, you are up early.”
The human grimaced and nodded, “yeah I had to get up because of the meeting with Pepper. I ah I wanted to say goodbye before I leave and I wanted to ask you for a blood sample.”
Peter knitted his eyebrows together, “a blood sample? Why would you need that?” Tony looked a little uncomfortable as he didn’t meet Peter’s gaze and scratched his beard nervously.
“I just want to make sure you are healthy and so I will let Bruce run some tests. If that is okay for you?”
Peter bit his lip, he remembered just too well what Hydra had done to him but he was not haunted by the memories since he had Tony to comfort him. Still he didn’t like the thought of being poked by needles again.
“I uh I would rather not…can I talk to Bruce about that?”
Tony’s smile slightly fell but he nodded, “yeah sure he will be back tomorrow.” The human stood up straight and put his hand in the pockets of his dress pants.
“I will take my leave now, if somethings up, tell Jarvis and he will call me. Have a nice day Peter.”
The boy smiled back and nodded, “you too Tony, don’t overwork yourself.” The genius chuckled, “I? Never.” And with that he turned and left the patio, closing the door behind him.
Peter smiled and let out a yawn. It was way too early and so he went back to his place on the sand and curled up to hopefully go back to his dreams about kissing his human lover.
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Never in his life had Loki thought that he would one day be glad to see Laufey. The King was floating with his guard in the throne room and it looked like he just yelled at them because they seemed surprisingly small under his gaze.
Loki cleared his throat, “Sire?”
Laufey spun around and his eyes widened as he spotted his offspring but he seemed more surprised by the mermaid following him. Loki raised an eyebrow and yelped as Laufey shot forward grabbing his arms to study him intently.
“Where were you? I was worried sick and why have you brought this mermaid with you?”
Loki tried to push the king off but his grip was too tight. Angie shifted behind him but she kept quiet. Loki growled, “let go of me and I will explain.”
Finally Laufey let go and Loki took a deep breath before he began to speak.
“Byleist wanted to get rid of me; he grabbed me and threw me down into the cave where the females live.”
He looked at Angie and smiled, “this is Angrboda, she helped me escape unharmed.” She looked at the floor not daring to meet the king’s gaze. Laufey crossed his arms in front of his chest and tilted his head.
“Is that true girl?”
Angie nodded, “yes it is, my king.” Loki smiled at her rather pleased. He expected Laufey to not believe them, to vouch for his son or something, anything else but instead Laufey laughed.
The young prince stared at him in bewilderment glancing at Angie who wore the same expression.
“Have you gone mad?”
The King put a heavy hand on his shoulder, “absolutely not son, but now it is certain, you are the new crown prince of Jotunheim and I am glad you already found your future queen.”
The Angie’s mouth fell open and Loki’s eyes widened, “oh hell no.”
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Peter woke later the day and when he finally decided to get up it was only because he had to use the bathroom. The merman enjoyed the silent house even though he had to admit that he missed Tony a little bit already.
Their last encounter had left him hungry for more and he was eager to try out something else. The thought of being taken by Tony was still a little scary to him but he really warmed up to the idea.
The boy smiled happily as he rolled into the kitchen, pulling himself up to sit on the kitchen counter so he head easier access to the fridge. He opened it and was pleased to find a full carton of his new favourite drink, blood orange juice, and a plate of smoked fish just waiting for him in there.
The fish tasted weird at first but he really had started to like it, especially the thin sliced salmon.
Carefully he put both items down on the counter and closed the fridge. He reached up and opened a drawer to pull out a glass since he refused to drink directly out of the carton like Tony did, that was just gross.
Peter poured himself a glass and after putting the juice back into the fridge he took a large sip of it. He just loved the bitter and sour taste of the juice, it was so alien to him but he enjoyed it a lot.
He ate is breakfast trying to figure out what to do today a when he accidently spilled some of his juice. Peter sighed and finished his fish before looking around to clean his mess up, he was still a guest after all.
Peter was rarely a really clumsy person, but just as everyone he had his moments.
The boy spotted the roll of paper towels and reached to grab them, knocking his still half full glass off the counter. It broke with a loud clang on the hard tiles and he let out a curse grabbing the towels.
He threw a few down on his mess before attempting to climb down into his chair but unfortunately for him he forgot about the mess on the counter and one of his hands slipped.
The merman let out a shriek as he fell down, half landing on his wheelchair, knocking it over and half on the cold floor and if that hadn’t been painful enough, a sharp pain flared up in his right hand.
“Master Peter, are you alright?”
Peter gasped for air and managed to get away from the mess, clutching his injured hand to his chest, “I-I don’t think I am.” Blood was running through his fingers and the sharp pain made him tear up.
“Should I call Mr Stark?”
Peter nodded, trying to open his hand and whimpered as the pain got worse, “yes, yes he needs to come back quickly.” Carefully he grabbed one of the shards and pulled it out almost crying out loud at the feeling.
“I informed Mr Stark about your accident, he will return as soon as he can but it will take him approximately two hours. I also tried to inform Dr Banner but he would need almost three hours to come.”
Peter grunted as he pulled out another shard, “oh great, what should I do?” Now that almost all of the big shards were out Peter pulled himself into the wheelchair, rolling into the living room.
It was a little difficult, seeing that he was only able to use one of his hands but he managed.
“I suggest you try to bandage the wound yourself, there is a first aid kit in Mr Stark’s lab.”
Peter took a deep breath looking at his blood soaked hand and sighed, “don’t have much of a choice, do I?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laufey looked murderous as Byleist glared up to him. There was no regret in the prince’s eyes, no understanding for what his actions could have done. Why was his son damn dumb?
“So you don’t deny your actions son?”
“I will never. Father you need to understand-.”
Laufey laughed but it wasn’t a joyful laughter. It was devoid of all warmth, “I need to understand? Oh son do you realize that the only reason you are still alive is because you are in fact my son? Had that deed be done by another he would have been dead the instant I saw him.”
The prince swallowed but didn’t budge, “father he is a weak little being, remind yourself, you casted him out long ago because of that. We don’t need him father, he is just a bother.”
Laufey sighed, “a bother? No, Byleist the boy is not a bother he has been true to his word up until now. He is a better prince than you will ever be I fear.”
Byleist scoffed and crossed his arms in front his chest. Laufey actually considered strangling him right here and there but refrained from him. The prince titled his head, “why do we need him anyway you never told me father, what can he do that I don’t?”
Laufey let out a short laugh, “you mean besides think?” Byleist growled but his father didn’t give him much time to reply, “he is smart and know for a fact that he commands the giant snake.”
Byleist’s jaw dropped, “what, that can’t be true?” Laufey smiled, “but it is, he is the merman that controls the great Jormungandr. With it and his brain that is working, unlike yours, we can once again become the most fearsome creatures in all the seven seas. We will kill the humans, devour their flesh and steal their goods, like in the old times.”
The prince looked a little uncomfortable with that thought, “what about the Aesir?” Laufey laughed, “what about them? They will not stand a chance against us. I will kill Odin personally and I will make his wife watch.”
Byleist shivered at that but he also smiled at the thought of killing the other king. However he wasn’t convinced that Loki would be the key to their victory and it clearly showed on his face.
The King focused his red gaze on his firstborn, “so I decided to make Loki crown prince. Tomorrow I will gather the people and make the announcement.” Byleist paled as he heard that and he thought that one of the guards that were guarding the king chuckled.
“Since you are my son I will give you a choice, either you step back and will still be a member of this court or I will banish you so you will never return.”
Byleist looked shocked before he looked angry, “why not just kill me old man!” Laufey sighed, “because you are the last thing that Farbauti gifted to me.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter rolled his wheelchair to the top of the staircase and looked at the stairs with dread, “is there no other way?” The AI sounded as if he wanted to sigh, “no Master Peter, Mr. Stark only has a first aid kit down in his lab and you are in need of it. You have to get down there.”
Peter groaned and slipped out of the wheelchair, careful to not put any weight on his injured hand. He wrapped the wet blanked around his tail and began to slide down the stairs where he basically sat down on one stair and hopped down to the next.
Once he reached the bottom stair he saw the glass door that separated him from the lab. Jarvis opened it without a comment and Peter used his uninjured hand to pull himself forward and into the lab.
The machines and tools that where taking up the space were completely alien to him and he was glad that Jarvis was there to guide him to the high table, which he called a workbench, where the first aid kit was placed.
“Very good Master Peter, it lies on top of the workbench, you need to pull yourself up to reach it.”
Peter sighed but his hand was still bleeding and so he knelt in front of the bench and pulled himself up, placing his chest on the table. He looked around and spotted the white box with the green cross and pulled it closer. Peter saw the weird looking glass on top of it but he wasn’t close enough to reach it and put it aside so he just pulled the box closer trying to not spill anything.
Of course it didn’t work out.
Peter pulled the box and it hit a corner somewhere and the glass toppled over, spilling its content all over the boy’s hand and arm. The merman hissed more out of annoyances than pain and pulled the box up to him and slid to the floor.
“Jarvis, what was in that glass, it looked like water? Will Tony be angry when he finds out that I spilled it?”
He quickly opened the box wiping his hand dry on his chest so he could open the package with the bandages to put them around the cut in his hand. It wasn’t ideal but it would help until Tony was back to fix him up properly.
“It contained the Formula PMH16, it is a project Mr Stark worked on together with doctor Banner and it was very important to him.”
Peter winced at that but still fixed the bandage around his wrist so it wouldn’t slip down. He would have to apologize to Tony when he was back, “oh shit, well now it is spilled and there is noth-ah, Jarvis I ah!”
The boy cried out as a hot searing pain shot through him, starting from the tip of his tail up to his hair. It was hell, he felt like he was on fire, well not that he knew how that felt like, but he was sure it felt somewhat like this.
The screams tore from his throat and made it hoarse and they were so loud, he didn’t even hear Jarvis as he told him that he made a call to Tony so he would hurry up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Loki sat awkwardly in front of Angie who looked everywhere but him. The two of them were brought to Loki’s cave and Laufey had instructed them to stay inside until told otherwise.
“Well when I woke up this morning I wanted to catch a squid, you know I just love squid, maybe find something built a proper weapon and you know, not get in trouble. Now I am going to be queen.”
Loki looked at her and opened his mouth to answer but he could only laugh. Angie stared at him for a moment before they both began to laugh. What else could they do in this situation?
“Oh man we need to get out of this.”
Angie tried to catch her breath and nodded, “oh yes, absolutely.” Loki sighed but managed to smile at her.
“Good thing that I have a plan.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony ran into the house and down the stairs, ignoring the pain in his side as he did. When Jarvis had called him the first time, telling him that Peter cut himself he was worried, he had only half an hour left on his meeting and had been sure that he had enough time if the boy managed to put on a bandage so he wouldn’t lose too much blood.
When the second call came, telling him that Peter was screaming and in pain on the floor of his lab, Tony had literally pushed Happy out of his way and so he could jump into his car and get on his way.
He had pushed his car to its limits so he would be home as fast as he could. Now he was dashing into the lab but he was unable to spot his merman.
“Peter?”
His answer was a whimper that seemed to come from underneath his workbench. Slowly, dreading what he might see, the genius moved closer until he stood in front of the bench. His foot hit the first aid kit, which was still on the floor, its contents strewn all over the place.
“Peter? I know it’s probably a stupid question, but are you alright?”
He crunched low and gaped at the boy that sat under his desk. Peter had his arms tightly wrapped around a pale pair of legs, while his face was hidden in the knees. He was sobbing but Tony didn’t dare to touch him, he was too afraid to break him.
“What, what did you do to me?”
Tony blinked and took in the long perfect legs, strong with muscles and oh so beautiful. His neck was long and smooth and without gills which was both beautiful and weird in some way.
“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!”
The scream let Tony flinch and he almost backed up, but he couldn’t, he needed to be strong now, for Peter. His Peter, his beautiful, scared boy.
“You-you did this to me, didn’t you? It was your weird Formula I-I touched it and it turned me into a human! Why do you have something like this, why?”
Peter had raised his head to look at Tony, his face was red and tearstained and it looked like he had cried for some time. Tony’s heart almost broke as he looked at him, “Peter I…oh god I am so sorry, please let me help you.”
Tony held out his hand but still didn’t dare to touch his lover. For a long moment Peter just blankly at his hand, it made Tony break out into a sweat.
The boy let out a chuckle but he didn’t sound amused at all, “as if I had a choice.” Tony bit his lip as he pulled him out from under the desk and picked him up bridal style.
“I will get you into bed and then take a look at your hand, I ah I am really sorry Peter.”
He meant it and his heart hurt to see him so scared and confused. Peter looked so small in his arms.
The put an arm around Tony’s neck and sighed, closing his eyes. He looked exhausted and done with the day so Tony was almost surprised as he heard him mumble a reply.
“I know.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony paced in front of his bedroom. He had put the boy into bed after putting him into a pair of boxers and taking a look at his injury. Peter had been so exhausted that he had fallen asleep as soon as Tony had tucked him in; the sight had made his heart clench.
“Sir I called Doctor Banner and he will arrive in approximately thirty minutes.”
Tony sighed in relieve, he was definitely not capable of handling the situation on his own. He ran both hands through his hair deciding to get a drink, at least now he had a solid reason to drink.
It had all gone wrong, Tony had planned to ask Peter if he would like to become a human, he had wanted him to make the decision and talk with him about it, it was never supposed to go like this. Hell they hadn’t even tested it yet.
Tony stopped as a terrible thought hit him, what if the Formula was unstable and would hurt Peter? He would never forgive himself if he ruined the boy’s life further. The Formula’s purpose was to help Peter to give him the opportunity to decide how he wanted to live.
Now that choice was taken from him and it was all Tony’s fault, oh how he wanted to scream.
The genius walked up to his bar and pulled out a bottle of Whiskey and poured a generous amount of it into a glass just before taking a large swing out of it. The liquor burned down his throat and he hissed out a curse, not only because of the alcohol.
With a sigh he slumped down on the couch rubbing his face with both hands, hopefully Bruce would be able to help him through this situation.
“Sir may I suggest you to clean up the kitchen? The shards pose a potential threat.”
Tony almost groaned, but got up anyway. He cleaned up the mess and afterwards watched the footage of Peter’s accident. Another thing he could blame on him.
His house was definitely not made for a merman or anyone who was sitting in a wheelchair, why didn’t he made sure Peter could take care of himself when he was not home?
The doorbell pulled him out of his thought and Tony was glad it did. Quickly he walked up to the front door greeting his fellow scientist.
“Tony, I don’t understand, what happened?”
The genius sighed heavily before answering, “the Formula, it worked.”