About gods and engineers

Tony woke up slowly and painfully. He didn´t remember the last time he felt so off, but the numb feeling in his body and a complete disorientation reminded him some of his early life all night partying going horribly wrong and him opening eyes into some stranger´s place. Except this was his room. He could tell so much from the smell and softness of the sheets covering his chest. His hand unconsciously outstretched into space next to him searching for a body. There was none. Tony blinked and wiped his eyes with a sigh.

His moving had to cause some noise because suddenly there was a too loud voice speaking too him and then someone else shushed that person and came to squeeze his hand.
“Tony? You´re with us?”
He hummed something non-coherent before his eyes had a chance to focus on the face in front of him.
“Pepper,” he addressed a worried woman and smiled. He always made her worry so much. “Nice to see you.”
“Oh, Tony.” She just threw herself in his waiting arms and hugged him with the force of a small anaconda. 
“I was so scared. What happened?” 
“Me first,” Tony cleared his throat, “I feel like someone brought me home from a club and I can´t remember a damn thing about it.” Tony peered from behind Pepper´s shoulder when he realized they weren´t alone. Yes. The second voice waking him up.

“Point Break,” he called out happily. Thor gave him an unsure smile from his chair, Mjolnir resting at his feet.
“Man of Iron, good to have you back.” There was a certain undertone of his message saying that they´d probably started to really freak out and maybe hadn´t expected for him to return at all or at least not in one piece. And then there was this second one loosely translated as where the fuck is my brother?
Tony knew the look on Thor´s face and just put two and two together. Loki had to be gone. The realization made him feel… well, weird.
“Where is Loki, Thor?” He decided to play it straight. He needed information first before he could make up a plan. Loki pretty much gave him a free hand in the story telling, but that only counted if he wasn´t forced to reveal something before Tony had a chance to think it through.

The god of thunder´s face twisted. “He disappeared. After he… changed your reactor for a new one,” Thor replied, his deep voice carrying a hint of surprise and disbelief.
“Although we do not understand why he did it.”
“Yes, Tony, time to explain,” Pepper joined Thor and the inventor shoved a hand through his hair nervously. The decision was made.
“Okay, long story short.” With a groan he sat up in the bed, tapping with his fingers on the cold surface of his metal heart. “We fought, Loki was in the middle of a spell and I jumped on him. The magic went crazy and we appeared in a different time line.” Not past. They didn´t need to know that one. Tony turned on Thor, speaking mostly to him now. “We made deals for our common good. He needed me as a power source and I needed him for a way of travel. I promised him safe leave from my tower if he brings me home in one piece. I prepared him for worst case scenario with the reactor. All he did was just that he held his side of the deal.”

There was a few seconds long silence till Thor nodded perhaps still not satisfied with an answer, but leaving it for now anyway and that was enough for Tony. Pepper then threw another hundred questions on the poor engineer ensuring that he was really fine, even hugging him again. Still it wasn´t Pepper who gave him chills when questioning him, it was Rhodey and cap, even Clint, who dared to suggest Tony could be mind controlled and should have been checked. All only because he let the god of mischief go.

“Do you think it was a big price for my life, Legolas?” Tony aimed his frustration towards Hawkeye who replied with a quiet glaring. Thor didn´t try to find him anymore, but he was thoughtful all the time they met around the compound like he had his own questions on the verge of his tongue but was hesitant to spit them out.

Tony had a feeling that he was being watched from various reasons and from various personas, so he made up the story from shreds of actual truth and stuck with it the best he could. The fact that no one else knew about him going missing was a good thing. It meant less ears to pry for his slip.

Returning to his old life was more difficult than Tony had imagined. The initial happiness of seeing his bots and his workshop passed in few days and what was left was a bitter feeling of an empty space. Tony would never thought he would once say he missed Loki´s presence. But he did. Sitting behind his worktable, looking through the holograms he desperately wanted to turn behind to irritate the god with his thoughts. Loki would probably try to look disinterested, but his eyes would spark with knowledge and his own thoughts running in the same speed along Tony´s words. It was funny how long it took for him to fall asleep these days even when he was deadly exhausted. The god´s presence which first was terrifying became a soothing reassurance that no one would get to Tony through him.

“Jarvis, replay the footage again, please.”
Tony started rhythmically tapping with the tip of his fingers against the hard surface of his desk. He knew it by heart. 
Tony particularly enjoyed the expressions of avengers when both Loki and him suddenly appeared in the middle of the room each time he´s seen it. Like usually even now he tried to read their thoughts, but soon more interesting happenings grabbed his attention.

On the screen Loki stood in front of Thor and captain and they were talking briefly. Then he disappeared and another screen came to life. The multiple cameras in the workshop caught Loki stumbling to the room and crashing into the one of the tables. He looked momentarily disoriented and Tony fought away the feeling his heart was squeezed in someone´s fist. He knew that time traveling was harsh to both of them, but Loki seemed okay when he was leaving him or at least he pretended to be.

The footage said something different. Loki took few seconds looking frankly around the room probably trying to remember what were Tony´s exact instructions. Then U and Dummy rolled in front of him from around the corner and Loki´s eyes followed one of the extended robotic arm. Another camera showed his brief smile when he grabbed the spare reactor and nodded, disappearing once again. When he returned back to Tony he didn´t try to look strong anymore, he more or less just fell down on his knees next to Tony´s unconscious body and replaced the reactor as quickly as possible. After he was done he looked up to Banner who lingered on the other side checking Tony´s pulse.

“His heart is beating, breathing a bit irregular.” He would live and Loki let his shoulders sag a bit with information. Tony in his room smiled. He loved to tell himself that Loki cared about him beyond saving his own ass. 
“Brother,” Thor in the video called out, happy when Loki reacted. Although Tony doubted that the prankster will ever acknowledge what happened next because as soon as he attempted to stand up, his legs betrayed him and wasn´t it for Thor he would fall back to the ground as quickly as he got up.
“What´s wrong?” Tony heard Thor asking, holding Loki steady in his arms. The god didn´t even try to fight him that fact was speaking volumes.
“I need to rest.”
Several people made a step to the pair on the ground, but Thor lifted his hand stopping everyone. 
“My brother will do here no harm. I will make sure of that. Let him first rest and then when friend Tony wake up we can discuss what we will do next.”
No one tried to stop him after that and he led Loki away to his room. The footage was useless after this point, because there were no cameras in private floors and Tony wasn´t interested in watching avengers freak out around his body until Bruce manage to calm them down and move him to his own room as well, calling actual doctors.

However there was a one specific moment Tony liked to replay over and over again. It was the one when Thor hauled Loki up his feet and towards the door when god sent him one last look behind his shoulder, his eyes pinned to the blue light in the middle of Tony´s chest.

“Jarvis, am I a horrible person?”
The AI didn´t hesitate with a reply. “No, sir.”
Tony laughed. “Okay, let me rephrase that. Do you think I´m a horrible person in the matter of lying to my team and wishing Loki would pay me a visit?”
Now Jarvis took a little time to form an answer. 
“I think you are a bit irresponsible, sir and that you may not fully consider the danger behind your actions.”

Tony nodded slowly. “So I´m stupid.”
“I can neither confirm or deny that, sir.”
He chuckled. “I thought it will end with me being back,” Tony continued after a while, “but it´s been nearly a week.”
Jarvis understood him. Jarvis didn´t judge him.
“I just don´t want to see you hurt, sir.” 
A warm spread through Tony´s chest. “Thank you. I think I don´t know what I´m doing, but you know me, JARVIS. Feel free to stop me if I lose my mind completely.” Tony looked down at his watch. “Time to shine, buddy. Call Happy for me please. I will be ready in one hour. Remind me again why I need to go there?”

Tony got up from his chair aiming for a quick shower while JARVIS listed at least 3 reasons why he should be at the party he wasn´t interested in and didn´t have a mood for. According to their unwritten rule that meant he needed to go.

Pepper had been so kind to prepare his newest suit – a present from her for being alive and he stopped in front of the mirror to see why her mouth went wide when she saw him in the doorway.

“It fits perfectly.” Her eyes were shining, but not with a same emotion as before and it was okay. They will always remain friends.
“Ladies will tear you apart tonight.”
Tony might did a grimace because she suddenly looked puzzled, but neither of them commented on it.

The party was a boring and painful catastrophe just as he assumed. Tony needed to shake a lot of hands and put on a lot of fake smiles until he was finally able to run away to the bar and order something to make this night more bearable. While waiting he noticed that cap was watching him form the other side of the room, frowning disapprovingly. Well Tony lifted his glass in an invisible cheers after his drink had arrived only to piss him of more. 
“JARVIS, when will be my next chance to head home without someone noticing?”
“In ten minutes there is going to be a show on the main stage. I assume everyone´s eyes will point that way at least in initial minutes, sir.”
Tony cheered up, but kept his neutral face on outside. The barman shifted another glass his way, the last one, he promised to himself. He had a control over this not other way around.

“It is a shame that after such a long time Tony Stark appeared in a public event only to vanish so soon.” A male´s voice interrupted his thoughts and Tony gazed at his left side at the man who just took the seat next to him, eavesdropping on his evil intentions.

A tall handsome man he´s never seen before, his eyes sliding down and up Tony´s frame in a very inappropriate way. Yes. No. Maybe some other night, but… just not this one…

“I am here already for three hours without causing any major incident, I think it is time to go if I don´t want to change it,” he replied firmly but not coldly. The man had to have some guts to just go and approach him like this. No reason to be an asshole about it.
“I understand, Dr. Stark. Actually, it was not my intention to persuade you otherwise. I only wanted to suggest an alternative to this place.” Tony was shocked by the used title before his mind stumbled through the man´s next words. “Mine or yours?”

And maybe he just missed something important, because the man couldn´t possibly imply what he thought he was implying.

“I´m really sorry, maybe I had too much drinks already,” he started shaking his head, “but did you just say that you want to have sex with me in a very polite way?”
The man´s ocean blue eyes focused on Tony´s lips while he was speaking and that was kinda distracting.
“Yes, I believe I did. But of course it was only a proposition.” The king of straightforward approach it seemed.
“Sure,” Tony hummed, looking around, “who sent you?”
“No one,” the man returned a perfect smile of his own, catching Tony´s eyes back to those nice full lips. Shit. Only now he realized who the man looked like and he shook his head to clear the image of the trickster god.
Tony didn´t believe what he was about to say, but it was no way he could sleep with someone… someone who looked so alike.
“I´m deeply sorry,” Tony began gently, “but I´m not in the mood tonight and trust me I would have probably said yes few weeks ago… but you… ehm… you just remind me of someone,” he decided to spill the truth. That worked for him in the past pretty well.

The man´s eyes narrowed, but his smile only widened.
“I understand. Are you still waiting for that person?”
“You can say that… I really apologize for making this awkward, but I will go now. It was a pleasure to meet you.”
He offered his hand. The man accepted it looking nor unhappy or disappointed, which was okay with Tony. Only when he turned away from him, the man called out again and made Tony stop in his tracks. 
“What did you say?” he turned back to him, raising his brows. 
“I said you should maybe consider my offer one last time.” He blinked and his eyes changed from blue to emerald green, mischief making them glow like two stars in the dark sky. “Stark,” he purred and Tony held his breath. A shiver ran back over his spine.

He made a step towards him. 
“You…” he started lost with words, “jerk… are you insane?” The god didn´t look insulted or surprised by Tony´s outburst. He just kept grinning all teeth visible clearly enjoying what he was doing.
“There is a big chance, I am, yes.”
Their eyes didn´t leave each other for a single second while Tony just took in the situation. Then he quickly glanced around and turned his attention back to the god.
“Are you aware that Steve Rogers is just looking our way and that the room is full of avengers, right? Even your brother is here somewhere…”

Loki didn´t look any more worried than two seconds ago. “My brother wouldn´t recognize me if I jumped on his foot. After all you had the problem too. Beside that I believe you mentioned being fond of a danger or am I wrong?” The sight of those sinful lips and warm quiet voice made his brain melt. Shit. He couldn´t even look away from him.
“Why are you here?” he asked instead of the urge to just draw him close and start making out in front of all those people.
Loki became serious, his grin softening to a smile again. 
“I wanted to see my patient.”
“I am alive.”
“I see.” 
The god´s hand moved a bit like he wanted to touch or hold, but Loki stopped himself before Tony could find out which of those two it was.
Tony sighed, but he let his body relax, a one corner of his lips going up.
“Actually I don´t really care right now what the reason is, you made a proposition and you made me successfully change my mind. So I´m saying my place, because I have good locks and soundproof walls and JARVIS who could earn you some time if anyone would storm in trying to kill you or me… or both of us, what do you say?” He let the words flow with a rapid speed he knew the god could follow, enjoying the look full of lust settling on Loki´s face. It was funny how it made his whole body react in a similar manner.
“Your place it is then.”
“Great.” Tony grabbed the god´s hand before he could think any better and started to drag him through the room full of people who would probably put him in the fucking sanatorium if they knew who´s hand he was holding. JARVIS was wrong, he was a horrible person.

He looked back to Loki´s face after he put the keys in the ignition. The black windows of the lamborghini allowed the god to return to his own appearance without the fear of being discovered and Tony found himself once again incapable of looking away.
“I hope you will finally kill me tonight, so I´ll learn my lesson.”
Loki looked amused. “We can make it “a close call” as you mortals say if that is what you wish.”
There had to be something seriously wrong with him for thinking about nodding to that. He started the car.

No, he wasn´t a horrible person. He was the worst.

OOO

Steve Rogers kept watching the strange pair across the room feeling both uncomfortable and worried at the same time. When Natasha stopped at his side he almost jumped on the place.
“I see Stark found himself a good lay already. Lucky him.”
Steve blushed furiously while Natasha laughed shortly. “Sorry, Steve.”
“I don´t like him. Something feels wrong when I look at him,” Steve admitted glaring at the man who just gave Stark a big flashy smile.
“You don´t have to like him. Stark does.”

Steve felt bad about what he was going to ask, but he had to.
“Is it going to be okay? I know this is maybe stupid, but won´t it damage his reputation?”
He heard Natasha chuckle. “Stark´s reputation? No, not any further than it has been damaged already. You know it´s okay now to be with anyone you want, Steve.”
“Sure,” Steve nodded, not entirely persuaded. It was hard to let go of the old times. Seeing Tony flirt so obviously on the public with another man was making him feel like he should go and shield them both.

A lot of people were looking that way just as Steve did. Usually they didn´t linger for long, but still… 
A disturbing sound of camera taking a picture pulled him out of his thoughts and he immediately searched for a source. A young cameraman nearby smiled to the screen looking satisfied with the results. Steve stepped to him.
“Son,” he addressed the young man with his authoritative voice, “do you think you could give them some privacy and hand me those pictures you´ve just taken?”
The man turned to him clearly with intention to say something harsh when he took a better look and opened his mouth wide.
“Uhmm, I need to bring something to my boss you know…”
Natasha stepped out from behind Steve´s back sliding her small hand under Steve´s arm. “We will give you some shots worth it.”
Steve mentally thanked her. The photographer still seemed a bit hesitant. After all Tony Stark was Tony Stark, but then he glanced up on Steve´s face and he slowly pulled SD card out of the port offering it to Steve.
“Thank you.”
He squeezed the card in his hand before letting it fall to his pocket. His eyes darted towards the bar one more time before Natasha pulled him on the dance floor.

There were only two empty glasses on the counter. The men were gone.