Lovers Never Lie
It had been a rough few weeks. The world felt like it was ending and it felt like Toni’s heart had been ripped out through her nostrils. A gruesome way to think about it, but that’s the only way she could think of it. Well when she could think at all anyways. Most of the time her brain was muffled with alcohol of the strongest variety. It needed to be because if it wasn’t then dear gods, the pain that her heart was in would overwhelm everything.
And everyone knows that Antoinette Emilia Stark does NOT deal well with feelings. Of any kind.
She needed something to take her mind off of the last conversation that she had with the man that she had become very attached too. Loki had been sent to live with her. First as a prisoner, than as a roommate and after a few months, a partner. He had slowly been moved around the tower. First from the glass room with the deadlocks, then to his own room with the same deadlocks and then to Toni’s very own bed.
The last move hadn’t happened more than a few weeks ago and it had been something that Toni had weighed upon heavily before doing it. Then again, she also did it for some sort of selfish reasons too. She didn’t want to be stuck sleeping in that tiny ass bed anymore. And by tiny, it was still a king sized bed, but she was a fan of the custom sized giant bed she had in her room. You know the one with the Egyptian silk sheets and the extra fluffy pillow.
It had all started out as a reluctant roommate situation. Tony had spouted off some bullshit about being able to keep him under lock and key if he was right with her at all times. She even brought out four suits to drive home the point. They were stationed in every corner of the room so they could hold the deadlock barrier in place. Toni was still working on one that could completely cloak the whole building. But the immense power needed for something of that magnitude was even something that the arc reactor was having issues with. She was looking into other ways to do keep everything up and running when The Conversation went down.
Having been locked into the lab for several hours, she was working hard. There were obstacles everywhere with this new deadlock shield. She had to find a way to expand it to more than a few hundred feet and to make it so it didn’t fluctuate at all. But before she could even do that, she had to find a way to power everything. And that was what had her head banging against the wall. She turned it into a game with how many times she had cursed at this project. JARVIS even had a counter going just to see if she could beat the record of 352. That was set when she was first building the mark 42 suit.
What she hadn’t counted on was Loki coming down to talk at her while she was working on it. And she hadn’t meant to snap at him and she had tried to explain that to him. That when she was sleep deprived and hungry and pissed off, she tended to get really snappy with everyone, even JARVIS. That had set off his snarky qualities which lead to them having a gigantic argument in the living room of Toni’s quarters. Things were thrown, mainly magic bolts and repulsor blasts and it ended with them both glaring at each other on the other side of the room. To be a spiteful little shit Toni threw a deadlock bomb at him which caused him to fall to the ground in a heap.
There was one thing that Toni had learned about Loki and his magic, it was so deeply ingrained that when a concentrated blast like the grenade was thrown at him, it took him down to barely breathing. It only took him a few minutes to get back to fighting stance though and that gave her enough time to grab a suit and throw it on. She was going to need it when he came too because it was going to be a hell of a fight. He was always a little extra crank when he was taken down like that.
And man had she been right. The punch that was thrown at her as she got into the suit, sent her crashing back into the bar. JARVIS had been muted and was told not to tell the others about what was going on because this was nothing more than a simple quarrel with lovers.....roommates. Definitely just roommates, not lovers. Nope that was not something that was happening at all.
The next punch that hit her actually sent her through the window and out into the open air. It was a good thing that her blasters activated when they did otherwise she would probably have been sent into the building across the street. The fact that Loki followed in full armor was something that she didn’t even want to think about because that couldn’t have been possible unless.....Unless one of the suits that held the deadlock in place had been knocked far enough out or completely destroyed, for it to take out the deadlock.
What happened next was the start to the end of her day. Loki was on her like white on rice and he had her pinned against the wall back inside the building. “I don’t want the general public starring at me like that again. Especially not when it involves you. I do not think I could handle that.” Loki said, a mere breath away from her faceplate. “Let me look at you one last time before I am undoubtedly locked away in a deep pit for this.” He whispered as his hand came up to stroke her cheek through the faceplate.
It followed her thoughts and opened so they could stare eye to eye. The fact that she was crying slightly should have no effect on anything, hell it didn’t even register with her that she was crying. “Please Loki don’t....” When his lips connected with hers for a short moment, her brain shorted out and everything that had been roaring through it became dull and nothing but background noise.
“Loki.....please don’t. I can’t handle it.....not after....not after Pepper.” She said with hushed tones.
He didn’t say anything but the fact that his hand never left her cheek with it’s comforting motions, spoke more than she could ever hope for.
“Loki....lie to me again.” She whispered.
“I love you.” He whispered with a kiss.