About gods and engineers

He moved from the lying position on the bed into sitting. Slowly. Not like he was faking being asleep for 10 minutes or so. Or that he got extreme bored in those 10 minutes to the point he decided not to continue with his bright plan. 
What the hell, Tony? What have you gotten yourself into? What have you done? His brain started to scream inside his head. The sheets stayed tangled around his legs and prevented him to jump out of there and run. That was good as he didn´t feel like standing up at all. His previous sudden movement had left him feel nauseous.

“You are awake.” Tony´s eyes darted towards the voice. Loki was observing him from the other side of the room, occupying his usual spot near the window. He was wearing dark tunic or shirt – it was hard to tell, black pants, nothing green which was strange. And he had this hole-digging stare aimed at Tony. Just like yesterday… 
“How was I?” he asked with a notorious grin, not even sure what was the goal of his question. To see if the god can flush? To find out what exactly happened last night? Maybe both.

Loki sighed. He put away the book he was holding.
“You mean when you fell asleep?”
“What?” Oh. Tony briefly analyzed the state he was in. No. There was no “last night”. It was only the “last night´s kiss” or whatever really happened. He was fully dressed. His reactor glowing steadily under the fabric. 
He caught a glimpse of Loki´s hands. 
Loki had had his heart in those long fingers. And he´d put it back. As he´d promised to.
“I knew that mortals can not last long in a lot of situations, but I didn´t know it was this extreme.” There was a playful spark in his eyes, something Tony hadn´t witnessed before. He pulled out another one of his cocky smiles and let it spread on his face.
“You mean like in the situation soon before one goes into cardiac arrest?”

Loki didn´t answer, but neither he dropped his staring.
“Why did you do that?” Tony asked. He needed to know. 
“It was a reward.”
“That´s it? So you kiss anyone who is willing to keep his promise? Because that is what it was last night. A deal. You gave me something I wanted. I gave you something you wanted. Why to reward this?”
While he was speaking, Loki stood up and started to approach the bed. Slowly like a cat. Tony tried to recall all the blue curves he saw yesterday. How the god´s cold skin felt under his touch. His hand throbbed in the need to repeat the action. Although he could bet this would feel different.

Loki took a halt next to Tony´s feet hanging outside the bed. He was so damn tall.
“Maybe I wanted to have this physical contact with you,” he pronounced every word with a certain caution, “or maybe I find you attractive. I hardly know any person, Aesir or not who could keep up with me. Intellectually.”
“So you are saying I can´t kick your ass, but I can win a spelling bee against you, is this what mean?”
Loki smiled and for whatever reason it made funny things to Tony´s stomach. 
“I am saying that we have a lot in common. Maybe more as it seems.”
“But we are still enemies.”
The god bent down and stopped in front of Tony´s face making his nerves go nuts. 
“You, superheroes, always think there is only a black and white world around you,” he chuckled looking not any less deathly than if he was screaming, “but that is not your case, Stark, is it? You are grey. I am grey. You see? I can bring a death and destruction upon whole planets, but I am not able to kill my brother. No matter how deserved that would be.”
“You tried to kill Thor many times.” Yes, he had a death wish. 
Loki laughed hard. “If I wanted him really dead, I would find a way. No need for a direct fight at all.”

Well, that was for slipping away information.

Loki had to realize that as well. He made this face like he often did when Tony provoked him into saying something he would not normally mention. Tony count each time as a small victory.

The god was about to pull away, when Tony grabbed him by his arm. Not sure why. Not sure what to do next.
“Are you proposing we should act upon the mutual attraction and after we return, we just hop back into our old roles trying to kill each other?”
Loki´s face mirrored something very dark and very hot in the same time. “Mutual you say?”
Yeah, great. So it was slipping of information on both sides now.
“I admit that you have certain qualities. You can read for example. Not everyone I have been with knew how to read.” They were close. Like very close. He could feel the air escaping Loki´s mouth.
“I am honored you do not consider me to be on the same level as Earth´s orangutans. However,” Loki pressed his cheek to the side of Tony´s face so he could whisper in his ear, sending chills down his spine. “I have a lot of more qualities than that.”

Tony felt this light pressure when Loki moved away while brushing his cheek again and all he wanted in that moment was to continue where they´d ended yesterday. However crazy that wish was.
“All in all, we are still enemies, as you said earlier. Therefore, I would not dare to damage your reputation between your Avenger friends.”

And with that he was gone. Back to his original spot, completely ignoring of what condition he left Tony in. Unbelievable. Yes. This was totally a game for him. And Tony just showed him how stupid he was to think something different. Good. Thank God, actually. He helped him not to do another of his legendary mistakes. Even now he will have a problem to look into the eyes of one certain thunder god, not talking about the case this would went more south. Like south south.
“Sonofabitch,” he murmured quietly, hoping Loki would catch it nonetheless. He went back to his work. That was what he was good at. He needed to finish the suit today. Just for the good feeling he could kick that bastard without breaking his leg if he would like to.

Tony went into fully working mode in mere seconds and stopped himself only to have a cup of coffee every few hours. Loki stayed in the room, but Tony had no idea what he was really doing. Probably plotting… something. Whatever. Howard took him away for a late lunch and after that he excused himself, so it was again only Tony and Iron man. And god of lies in the far corner.

By that time Tony had organized a whole new workshop in his half of the room. Howard lent him anything he asked for, although a lot of tools were only replacements in need of some innovation. He could imagine his father´s face when he will return them in all new combinations and designs.

He was only a few hours away from connecting to the system. By this point he wanted to hear JARVIS´s voice more than anything else. Working with the hammer was his less favorite part of the engineering, but he needed to flex the plates to the more suitable form as Loki´s aid let them in. Howard had even brought to him a special heating unit for melting iron he could work with. It was a tyrannosaurus rex compared to what Tony owned back in his time, but it was functional.

He put away his T-shirt after few minutes of standing in front of the big fire mouth not able to resist the heat. He couldn´t see Loki, but considered his nature form, he probably wasn´t a fan of the warm either. So Tony began to work. And everything went fine for some time until the moment when he started to think about what had happened last night and then this morning. And distracted himself. And accidently touched the hot iron with the back of his hand. And started cursing. Like really loud. Like hell did he care who listened or who will burst into the doors with guns pointed at his head.

“Great. Gorgeous. This is really impossible. Fucking awesome.” He stumbled into the bathroom. Feeling lightheaded from the heat and shock. He managed to hang himself over the sink and let the stream of cold water pour down on his reddish skin.
Groaning in semi-silent agony Tony bounced his head to his arm several times while holding the hand steady in the place. It was too soft to smash some brain back to his skull.

“What are you doing here, Stark? 
He turned his face towards the shower not lifting his head from his arm.
Of course. Gods needed to shower. The bastard could materialize books from thin air, but he couldn´t take a shower somewhere in a different realm. Or lock the door if he was doing it in the same one where Tony was. Really? Who was he kidding. Universe hated him.

The last thing he needed right now was to have Loki half naked, frowning and throwing daggers with his eyes right there next to him.

“What do you think I´m doing? Chilling. Would you be so kind and get out until I get out?” He closed his eyes. The shock was wearing of and the pain started to fully emerge. He gritted his teeth.
“I was here first.” 
Tony opened his eyes to protest with a very vulgar phrase, but he was put silent when he saw Loki inspecting his hand in the sink with surprisingly non-angry expression. 
“What did you do?”
“Burnt myself.”
“Really?”
In different situation he would laugh. Finally his irony was catching up on the god himself. But not now. Now was not a good time.
“Pull it out of the water.”
“I need to cool it down.”
“I know,” he replied, taking a hold of his hand without bothering to ask or announce his intentions, which was very Loki style to do. 
“Hey, hey, hey, slowly…” he warned him not sure what was the plan with the injured part of his body or whether he will like it.

The god simply let his own palm rest on the burn, his other hand fixing it in the place. It was a bit painful when Tony´s hot skin met with Loki´s ice cold, but soon after, he relaxed completely in the touch. It was so much better than water.

“I can not heal it,” Loki stated flatly, “I have put a tracking spell on the person who can help us.”
“Who is it?” Well, he didn´t care for healing. He just wanted Loki not to move in any case.
“Someone I have known for a long time ago. She should be in the possession of a device we need for time travelling.”
“When will you know where she is?”
“Hopefully tomorrow. Is this suit of yours going to work or are you just playing around and causing trouble?” Tony worked out a perfect smile just to annoy him. 
“Just causing trouble, I like causing trouble.”
The pressure on his hand slightly increased. “So you are not coming.”
“I am coming,” Tony burst out, hissing when Loki put away his hand and reached towards the cabinet above the sink. He pulled out exactly what he needed to bandage his hand in a perfect white ball. For whatever reason he knew where the first aid kit was or how to treat burns despite that Tony couldn´t imagine a situation when Loki would need their foolish midgardian´s antiseptic.
“Try not to kill yourself, your friends would still blame me.”
Tony observed his hand. It was a good work. 
“You care about my friends too much, don´t you think?” No, this wasn´t a way to go. Why to recall what distracted him to the point of injury? 
“I´m going to finish the suit and get some sleep. If you leave me behind, I will use a repulsor next time I see you.” Tony turned and marched back into the room, unable to stay in the same enclosed place with Loki longer than it was necessary. Maybe it had something to do with the fact they were both dressed only in their lower parts. Which was not enough.

Tony looked at the pieces of his suit scattered around the floor. Time to bring you back to life, buddy.

OOO

Loki couldn´t sleep. He was tired, but he had this desire to stay alive as well. And Stark´s house was still a hostile environment. The tracking spell was a strong one, designed to reach the person as quickly as possible. It was draining him with the same urgency. Good thing was that Stark had managed to completely repair his armor, which was now resting in his makeshift laboratory for disasters. He hadn´t injured himself or Loki any further. That was a progress. And the man kept the arm parts on his body, surely against Loki, which was another clever thing to do.

The burn on his hand probably started to heal already, because he was resting silently. Something Loki tend to think was impossible. Despite him claiming that he won´t heal the hand with magic, he´d still inserted a small spell to the skin, only to fasten the natural process. He´d done it because Stark was reckless. And because he would be clumsy without that hand. Blow up the house. With Loki inside. Or something similar.

The god realized he was watching the man unintentionally from his spot. He was tangled in the sheets like the night before with wet dark hair spread on the pillow and his face. The blue glow was the only light in the room except for the setting sun behind the window. Loki had to admit it was a nice look.

Stark was an attractive man, he even knew that himself and it was funny to watch him deal with a rejection. On the other hand, it was below Loki to compromise his enemy this way. And that left him sitting here, on the other side of the room, quietly regretting his manners. It would be far more adventurous if he had no morals at all.

Loki blinked several times. He freshed himself with a cup of the brown liquid Stark had been drinking all day, finding it energizing if not tasty. He slowly drifted away in his mind, still alert, but not fully awake.

Images started to appear in front of his eyes.

The hot desert and the soft sand under his feet. The sun was shining high on the sky and he was walking. He caught a glimpse of his hands in front of him. There was blood dried on his skin…

He jumped back into his conscious self, opening his eyes. He scanned the room for threats. And after that his eyes found the bed and the man lying there.

Those were his dreams. It was hard to believe, but Stark have been haunted by nightmares even more often than Loki himself. He could sense him restless almost every night since they were here. But only last night he´d decided to wake him up. It had been impossible to ignore his endless tossing from side to side anymore.

Loki was curious, so he closed his eyes again. This could not hurt any of them. It was just an innocent peeping through a key hole.

He was in the water. A beach. Sand again, but this time the sensation didn´t cause any disturbance. He had a cocktail in his hand and he was watching the gulls flying around. He walked into the water. It was warm and clean. He saw fish swimming next to his feet. And then the fog appeared. Something was wrong.

He was tossed into the waves and lost his footing. He could not stand up and the water was filling his mouth and nose, drowning him. There was someone´s hand on his head forcing him to breath in more and more. And he was holding this box in his hands. It could not touch the water. Or he will be dead. And suddenly he was up and the air was painfully making his way to his lungs. Everything inside burned. There were men shouting at him in the language he didn´t spoke. And in next second he was forced under the water again, the box almost slipping away from his numb fingers.

Loki opened his eyes with a force.

He realized three things.

He could still feel the water in his lungs. He should have not sank this deep into other man´s head. And while he was trying to get out of that place and was successful, Stark stayed and now was screaming his voice hoarse to break free from there.

Loki stood up without much thinking. He was up on the bed in two seconds shaking the man´s shoulders violently. This however caused only more dangerous situation as Stark tried to fight him even activating his armor somehow in the process. It took all of Loki´s strength to hold his hands down and not to hurt him in the same time. At that point, the men of Stark´s father got inside the room, pointing their guns on both of them once again, then only on him.
“Get out of here. I have it under control,” he shouted but no one was moving despite his best effort to scare them senseless. 
“I said get out.” This he said with his calm and steady voice and just as he thought those words created the right effect. That man, Frank, was clearly not among them, otherwise it wouldn´t be so simple. The men retreated with unsure expression. Loki bet they would stay right in front of the doors while calling Howard or this Frank for orders what to do. It will buy him enough time.
His attention was drawn back to Stark. He´d stopped the fighting in the meantime, but Loki wasn´t sure if it was a good sign. His hands retreated to his chest rubbing continuously against the metal surface. Loki would not see for himself what the dream had changed into. But he was willing to try a trick he´d learned from his mother instead.

He didn´t dare to enter Stark´s mind again, so he entered his own storage with good pleasant memories and let them slowly penetrate the dream. He would never find out about this. Loki didn´t have in plan to talk about why he hated to be in the presence of someone suffering from the stupid brain fantasies.
He wanted to choose something innocent. Asgard would be ideal. But Stark would know immediately these were not his dreams. So he offered him memories of his brother, hoping they would merge together with his own. And after many many nights he finally fell asleep as well.