Cut-throat
“Oh, no no no no... This is bad, this is so bad...”
He hadn't seen it coming. Tony had been too preoccupied with the man in front of him and hadn't seen a series of one of those flesh piercing lasers coming at him, hadn't been quick enough. But Loki had shielded him for some reason, and he too hadn't been quick enough.
The gash in his gut, as bad as it was was bleeding, could be handled with. Both Thor and Loki had received many flesh wounds before, and they could recover pretty soon. He got hit in a leg and in his side, but that was not what was making Tony freak out.
That damned laser beam had also got Loki in his neck, and now he had fallen to the floor, and was gurgling, spitting out blood, looking like some red fountain. Loki's eyes were even crazier than usual, making Tony freak out even more. Fuck this was really really bad for Loki to be freaking out as well.
At least the damage didn't seem to be too bad, most other people would have died already and Loki was supposed to be a god, they healed quickly from what Tony knew and... He looked around, trying to see if there was anyone who could help around, but everyone was too busy or didn't seem to... And that was when Tony felt something tugging at one of armour covered arms.
He took off the face piece, suddenly overwhelmed, and saw that the thing was one of Loki's hands, covered in blood, demanding his attention while he choked on blood. Of course, he couldn't very much talk with his throat open in two. There was a demand in his eyes, and Tony couldn't make heads or tails of it.
“You wanna say something? You wanna say something! What it is it? That it hurts? I know it does, probably not that.”
Loki's eyes were bright and sad and Tony couldn't take it. There was so much blood He was going to slip in all of Loki's blood and the poor guy was trying to say something and couldn't and those eyes, looking at him, beseeching him, like emerald fucking streetlights, do something, Tony.
“Please, don't cry, Loki, I want to know what you're saying but really I should be focusing on fixing this and finding a way to close your throat... But it's so delicate, you know, most of my gadgets would probably kill you instantly because of the force and the speed of them, healing was never my strong suit, you know? If Falcon were around, I think he knows...”
Loki was tugging at him again, more forcefully, his eyes brighter, his skin little by little getting paler and paler. There was so much blood, it was covering everything, half of Loki's face was covered in it and he was still coughing up more, his whole neck drenched, his black hair too, drenched in blood, and it kept coming, and god, how much more could he lose?... And, yes, Tony was losing it.
“I don't know what you want! I'm sorry! Is that it? Are you sorry, do you want us to forgive you? 'Cos I do it, I forgive you right this instant, for everything you've done and wanted to do, I forgive you Thor's name, in your father's name, if you help me... fix this without... killing you...”
Loki was fading at an alarming speed and Tony was just watching, watching impotently as it happened. Loki may be a god but Tony knew that his kind could die as well, like his and Thor's mum had. And it was happening again and Tony was afraid, afraid that if he did something he would kill the man and it would his fault, but if he didn't do anything he would also die and it would be his fault.
Loki hadn't been fighting with them for long, but he'd been a great ally when he had, and had convinced other doubtful semivillains to join too. He'd saved his and Cap's asses a couple of times (possibly just to spite Thanos, but who cared why, when the result was that they were alive?) and was great when it came to ironic remarks. And know he was going to die because Tony had not been quick enough, and couldn't even find out what he was trying to say from his bloodied bit of floor.
“I'm sorry, Loki, I...”
The tugging on Tony's arm started to lose strength, and there was resignation on his face. Tony wanted to cry, the lump on his throat and the pain in his heart preventing him from thinking clearly...
“Mr Stark! There was a bazooka headed towards you! I stopped it, but you didn't know? You were just there, being a target...” A youthful voice commented and Tony's heart fell.
“Peter, don't come any closer. I don't want you to see this.”
“See wh...? Holy...!”
As a reflex action more than anything else, Peter threw a spider net bit aimed at Loki's throat. The blood stopped flowing, and Loki relaxed, drew a little relieved smile and passed out.
“Huh.” Tony said, looking at how well that had worked. “Spider net compression bandage. Why didn't I think of that?”
Peter smiled, despite the odd situation.
“.... You're welcome?”
Together, they brought the unconscious god to a safe place and placed him in one of the beds. He had lost a lot of blood, but these Asgardians were nothing if not resilient. And they healed quickly, very quickly. Loki's other minor gashes had already stopped bleeding, and his stomach one did too after Tony and Peter bandaged it carefully. To be fair, it was nice to have an excuse to get out of the battle, even if just for a while.
And it was even nicer that no one was dying, despite throats being cut. Loki may be a very recent addition to their team, but they didn't want to lose him. Thor still cared about him, no matter what he said and the others were starting to care too. Tony loved a good redemption story and he could always use having someone as unconventionally clever around.
He jut hoped that all those wounds he received while with them weren't as painful as they looked like. Because they looked terrible.
“When do you think he'll wake up?” Peter asked. There was something strangely relatable about Loki: he was an alien god, but he was also the kid that was always picked on, and was always looking for praise and approval after so much name-calling. Peter could understand that.
“We can stay until he does, if you want to.” Tony said, finally getting a grip on himself.
“I'd like that.”
Loki only needed a few hours to recover his voice and he thanked both Peter and Tony, even if he was still very weak from all that blood loss. When asked about what he'd been trying to say, Peter guessed that he was trying to warn Tony about the hit on him, and Loki nodded. It was a good version as any.
(It wasn't the truth. The truth was that he saw Tony looking around and hadn't wanted him to go. He'd wanted him to stay, focused on him, so that he wouldn't have to die alone. But Stark didn't need to know about that bout of weakness. Maybe one day it would slip, if they were both very drunk)
There was something ironic about the whole thing, it had started with Loki putting his hand on Tony's throat trying to choke him, so long ago. Then it was Tony who couldn't put his hand on Loki's neck as he choked, for fear of hurting him.
Now if anyone tried to lay a finger on Loki's neck again, they would have to go through him.