Work Text:
This is for Anonymous on the frostiron Tumblr thread [http://www.tumblr.com/reblog/64734016426/3DSSL1IG] who asked for "I would love to get Tony Loki's Jotun-markings tattooed to show Loki how much he loves him". Enjoy.
Sorry it's a bit short.... I've been out of the game for way too long!!
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Heartlines
Words: 1,018
When he first noticed the lines on Tony's skin, Loki initially worried that the palladium poisoning had come back. But the space where the arc reactor used to be was full of flesh and bone and healthy tissue; there was no more arc reactor. Magic and science had healed what bombs and sand and terror had ruined, leaving Tony Stark's chest virtually unscarred. What few scars remained would fade in time, Loki knew well from his own experiences with battle and war, and a Golden Apple, and Tony had plenty of time now - a few more years was nothing to an Áss to wait for flawless skin. And there was no palladium left to poison one, nor could it.
Loki's second thought was the more likely of the two: that Tony had forgotten to wash off most of the ash and dirt that accumulated upon his skin when he 'science binged'. Just dirt. Nothing more worrisome than that.
But every second day, the lines grew longer and darker; more pronounced. It became harder for Loki to excuse them. He noticed the pattern almost immediately. On Monday, Tony would disappear into his lab for seven hours and come out with black along his right arm. On Wednesday, it would be his left arm. Friday was his left leg and Sunday his right leg - and if a Golden Apple faded them, or Loki's vigorous scrubbing in the shower peeled off layers of skin, the following week Tony would spend Monday in the lab for seven hours again and come out again with black along his right arm. During the four days Loki departed to Asgard to research this odd malady (not wanting to concern Tony by raising the subject, and JARVIS had been oddly unhelpful in directing him to 'body art' websites instead of the medical themed sites Loki had asked for), Tony moved on to tattooing his chest.
Asgardians worried about growing beards and gaining scars in glorious battle. Tattoos weren't really something they knew of or concerned themselves with. Frigga was confused by Loki's questions and Eir assumed it meant Tony's blood was poisoned but working its way slowly out of his system - which explained the lines, apparently.
It took Loki a few weeks more to notice another pattern.
Even after the removal of the arc reactor, Tony had stayed in the habit of keeping a shirt on unless the lights were off. It was a habit that was hard to break, and Loki knew enough about hating the sight of your own flesh to force Tony to change or break it before he was ready. But sometimes, when he was drunk or distracted or just plain happy enough to burst, Tony would forget to be self concious.
Tonight was one of those nights. He had pulled his wife-beater over his head and thrown it before JARVIS had dimmed the lights, and Loki had shouted, "WAIT", and JARVIS had waited.
Shaking fingers traced the lines that met the old familiar (worrisome) lines of Tony's arms. The slotted together, as if they had grown from one another, or appeared at the same time, one long line (or several long lines) instead of sections that Tony had worked on in smaller sections at a time, day by day, hour after hour, with a few hours break to let the skin heal and the ink settle. There were swirls down around his clavicles and whorls over his pectorals and straight lines along his ribs and more down his arms, intersected by whirling streaks of black and dark blue. Loki at first thought maybe Eir was right, and once the lines reached Tony's face the poison would leak out of his mouth, ears, eyes and nose and all the lines would disappear forever. But then Loki noticed the pattern.
"I have those," he whispered, as long fingers swirled around and around one nipple, chasing the lines that swirled like the shell of a snail drawn by a toddler, around and around until it met it's own back. Below it were diagonal lines that split off from one another at the dip of his waist, turning into two furls like curling ferns before meeting up with lines on his back and his hip respectively. "I have those too," Loki breathed in awe.
"You have them all," Tony said calmly. He took Loki's hand and trailed it down the lines of his stomach, his ribs, hips and crotch. There were lines on his penis, less red than if he had still been human (for he had done them that morning), but every line was a mirror of the groves and lines that appeared on Loki's Jötun skin. "Except for this one."
Tony was grinning widely as he shoved Loki gently off of him. He rolled onto his stomach, arms propping up his head as he glanced coyly over his shoulder.
Loki was much quicker at noticing this one. Perhaps because Tony had mentioned it first, or perhaps because it was his own name in Nordic runes - tattooed on the left cheek of Tony's ass.
"Oh." Was all Loki could think to say.
His fingers trembled as they prodded the soft flesh. His eyes were wide, and watery, but he blinked back the tears furiously. "Anthony-" He began, but couldn't finish for the lump that was suddenly caught in his throat.
"Happy anniversary, babe." Tony spread his legs wider with a wink over his shoulder. A soft chuckle followed the action, as Loki's eyes immediately fixed on the space between his legs that was then bared wide to his gaze and his hands - and the lines were there too, black and shiny beneath the layer of lubricant that Tony had used to prepare himself, slippery between his cheeks as Tony used one hand to pry himself apart.
"Want your present?"
Loki didn't respond verbally. His first thought was that he should, but his second, which was an infinitely better idea, was to duck his head down, shift into position and use his tongue for much more agreeable activities than talking.
The End