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Tony was losing his mind.
He had the intrinsic feeling that he was somehow dealing with himself in a far more poetic and frustrating way than angry reporters or faceless strangers tried and failed to curse him with for years.
Asgard, specifically Queen AllMother: Frigga from the sounds of it, had decided that a working exile was a far more effective sentence than any sort of cell could hope to be for their rambunctious second son.
Tony just wished he knew who the sentence was punishing.
For lack of a better option Loki had been moved to and ‘sworn to remain’ at the currently in-progress compound Tony was remaking his parents' old estate into.
Which was fine.
It meant there were dozens more agents stuck to his ass about everything he was doing and that Jarvis was nearly overclocked trying to keep track of all the strangers coming and going from his property.
Which was annoying, but Fine.
It also meant that while Tony was on the property it became his responsibility to babysit the War Criminal he was housing mostly against his will.
Which gave him a perfect ‘day in the life’ of why Asgard was throwing the book at whatever they could to get Loki away from them.
This morning was a perfect example of Loki pushing the boundaries of his agreement and seemingly just doing whatever he wanted.
If it could even be called morning.
Jarvis woke him up with a ‘high priority’ alert at a whopping 4:15am because Lokie Dokie decided that was the perfect time to cannibalize a staircase he was removing from the fourier to create…?
He really didn't know.
“Hey Lokes?” He was standing in a sleep rumpled t-shirt and boxers that he was beginning to believe were backwards. Trying his best to figure out what alien apparatus Loki was creating before the sun was even up. “What the fuck are you doing?”
The Destroyer of his Hard Fought Hours turned and looked at him like he ran into an old friend he didn’t particularly like, or like he finally found the tool he wasted time looking for already in his hand.
“Stark!” He stood up from his amassed pile of ‘used to be stairs’ sticks and immediately started chattering at him as if Tony had enough coffee in his system to understand modern English much less whatever the hell he spoke.
Tony let him go on for a few sentences just staring at him. He didn't really know if Loki realized he wasn't listening or if he even cared, but Tony did. He held up his hand and yawned dramatically which seemed effective in shutting him up for a moment.
“I didn't hear any of that,” he said in the latter half of his yawn. Which for some reason made Loki tilt his head at him like he was the crazy one here, that four in the morning was a perfectly normal time to destroy someone’s stuff like a bored cat clawing a couch. “And I think I prefer it that way.”
He pointed vaguely at the kindling Loki was probably going to burn his house down with and decided dancing around the issue was just going to keep him here in his slowly-growing-painful boxer situation and trying to argue a moot point with a pretentious early bird.
“Is this something I need to worry about or can you wait ‘til a more sane hour to chew on my furniture?”
Loki glanced at his most recent progress in Tony's deteriorating will and back at him with the practised innocence of an experienced actor or perhaps the ghost of a Victorian child.
“Did I wake you?” He had the gall to ask.
And just like that Tony's patience was gone.
“Okay. You're done. With… whatever this is,” Tony cut off any other ridiculous ‘questions’ he might try to ask to continue poking at his sleep deprived temper. “Go back to bed, I don't care what you do when you get there but Jarvis is not going to get me up until my coffee is brewed and the sun is in the sky.”
Loki was looking at him with an eyebrow raised and a challenged smirk on his face. He opened his mouth, probably to tell him how he doesn't take orders, only to give him a proper once over and just chuckle out a dismissive ‘as you wish’ and literally vanish with a flash of green.
Jackass.
Oh well, back to bed.
~~
As requested Jarvis got him up again as soon as he started his pot, only instead of a nice peaceful wake up call like usual, letting him know the weather forecast and other such things he doesn't listen to, it was something much more on brand with his current brand of penance.
“Good morning sir, it appears that Loki has decided to prepare breakfast this morning.”
Worrying.
“I would recommend stopping him before he leaves the premises.”
Awful.
And Motivating.
Tony was dressed, correctly this time, and speed walking into the kitchen where Jarvis claimed his interloper was.
And indeed he was, Loki was perched up on the counter with what appeared to be a shard of staircase he pilfered from his scrap pile cradled in his lap where he was slowly shaving strips off it with a kitchen knife.
“What?” Was all he managed.
Loki stopped his carving and glanced at him and immediately gave him a smug once over to start the conversation in what was sure to be a peaceful and friendly way.
“Managed to dress yourself correctly this time, Fangevokter?”
Well, so much for that.
He didn't know what Loki's occasional nonsense words meant but assumed it was his way of getting back at him for his references and nicknames that didn't translate well.
Even that snarky remark was something he probably said to Rhodey in the past.
His own medicine tasted bitter.
“Yeah crazy what can happen when it's a reasonable time to be awake,” He snarked back. Loki chuckled at him and went back to stripping the salvaged wood.
“I do not understand how this hour is any more reasonable given your regular habits.”
“My regular habits?” Tony wandered around the counter in search of his coffee praying that it would make this interaction more bearable.
“Oh please, Stark, I live in your current project, I know how little you sleep.”
Was he this gaudy when he spoke? It was ridiculous.
“Why are you monitoring my sleep schedule?” He was not going to agree with him that he was all over the place with it. He was well aware of his habit to self-destruct when stressed.
He was also aware that giving Loki, the main stressor, any sort of leg room on the topic would only make it worse.
“To see if you would notice, of course.” He punctuated the hopefully exaggerated statement by flinging a newly hewn strip of wood at Tony.
He wouldn't ask.
He refused to.
Loki could sit there and whittle away without getting a single ounce of attention for it.
“Really?” He focused on the spoken topic instead, “You're that bored? How exactly did you spend your time back with the space vikings if watching me sleep is your chosen hobby?”
“Hunting has always been a good use of my time.” He answered cryptically with another shaving falling to the floor. He was sat weirdly cross legged on the counter his project propped against his knee, his hair was loose as usual, though it lacked its over-oiled sheen. His outfit continued to be nothing but well fitted and flattering black or green long sleeves covered in intricate gold thread embroidery and what was clearly an open skirt over pants.
Something that apparently passed as ‘princely’.
“Right.” He took a long and loud drink of his coffee while watching him.
Loki watched him right back. Staring at him while a slow smile broke across his face. The spark of challenge igniting in his eyes should probably have been a pretty clear sign to stop.
But why would he do that?
Instead he doubled down, setting his coffee down on the counter and crossing his arms while retaining the eye contact. He knew he would lose his accidentally started staring contest, Loki was an alien, he might not even need to blink at all, but he wasn't going to surrender based on that.
“This is hardly going to work in your favor, Ledsager.” He whittled off another strip.
“I think you might be surprised, Firefly.” Loki's grin grew to a properly sharp grin and chuckled low and preemptively victorious.
“Once you lose, I will be temporarily leaving the property. There is a small flock of deer along its western edge and I intend to bring one back for the day’s meals. Would you like to join me for those or shall I hunt only for myself?”
Tony nearly blinked. Managing at the last moment to only raise his eyebrows instead. That was not what he was expecting, Jarvis told him Loki was ‘intending to make breakfast’ but figured the off premises trip would be normal, like to a store.
His mistake.
Loki chuckled again, and nodded at him approvingly, like he was pleased Tony passed his test by not blinking.
Two could play at that kind of game.
“Been a while since I had venison, what were you thinking?”
It succeeded in surprising him, he was probably expecting firm no, but instead of blinking like he was supposed to, his eyes lit up like he was delighted Tony would even consider eating with him.
“Any requests? I have plenty of recipes but I'm always eager to collect more.” He said it fast, excitement, either genuine or forced, rushing to get the words out before Tony could take his back.
That was enough to make him blink, to which Loki clicked his tongue at him and leaned back and out of Tony's space.
Which made Tony realize he was even in his space to begin with.
Game over.
Loki seemed far more disappointed that Tony was.
He turned back to his carpentry project but left the knife discarded on the counter, instead just inspecting the thin flat stick he made like it was going to decide how his day went from here on out.
Tony opened his mouth to finally ask what it was, (he lost one game, what was one more) when Loki made it entirely irrelevant, breaking the laws of physics as he was prone to and creating a string out of nothing, which he used to finish the apparent bow he made.
“You're going bow hunting for breakfast?”
Loki smiled victoriously at him again and he got the sinking feeling Loki might be eyeing the most dangerous game rather than just some deer.
“Ja, Sjef.” Loki winked at him before vanishing again.
Tony was going to regret this.
~~~
Tony recovered from the morning dose of Loki with another pot of coffee and rather than run after him like Jarvis and Fury would have prefered he decided that the chances of Loki doing anything other than actually hunting those deer was very unlikely.
Hopefully.
So far, aside from a few unpredictable spats with the various agents constantly in the compound, Loki had been a pretty peaceful tenant.
He was weird, sure. And managed to drive Tony up the wall faster and faster every day.
But he wasn't anything like what he was during New York. Even Thor's very last minute warnings seemed a little overblown.
Loki wasn't causing random and unnecessary conflict with his ‘deceitful tongue’. He wasn't digging through the walls to escape, he wasn't even phishing for information to use against anyone.
He was just weird.
Tony went back to the scene of the crime from the night before to actually assess the damage from Loki's search for a bow bough.
There wasn't that much.
In his opinion.
It seemed he mostly just sorted the pieces they had already scrapped, into neater piles.
In typical fashion for his life though, the place was filled with badges in a frenzy about the Nothing that happened.
Several of them had tech that Tony knows he didn’t approve of being brought onto the property and were scanning for who knows what while others were taking turns chastising him for doing the equivalent of grounding him for the night rather than actually ‘taking action’.
He pretended that he didn’t know what they meant.
The various piles Loki set out were providing a nice conversation reset anytime they started in on him anyway. It was semi-clear that Loki was setting them into potential uses but what those were was entirely up to debate.
Not his debate though.
Honestly, he didn’t care.
If Loki wanted to waste some time organizing what was literally his trash. He was welcome to, just not a four in the fucking morning.
The agents that were chasing him down for saying such a thing out loud were far more annoying than any of Loki’s busy work projects have been so far anyway.
Shield seemed to hate that he was able to do anything more than stare at a wall and rot, even something as basic and human as taking a daily run was a terrible thing to them.
Tony figured if it kept him busy, a predictable and regular schedule was a better option for everyone than encouraging Loki to be an entirely unknown variable.
It landed him an entire outline of his property mapped by cameras and various scanners to ‘catch him in the act’ every morning, Which neither Tony or even Loki seemed to care about in the least. It had managed to keep the agents occupied and not on his ass for about a week so Tony was at best passively supportive of the practice.
He finally managed to shake his babysitters at his workshop, not by convincing them to find something better to spend their time on, of course, but solely because they didn't have the keys.
He and Fury had gone back and forth on that a million times but even the pirate knew he wasn't going to win the fight. The other Avengers could gain access by asking and Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy had their own codes.
That was it.
Even with his main servers being completely locked down and off site, there was way too much sensitive material that Shield couldn't just ask nicely for.
Even now when he should be touching base with several different demolition teams that were destroying one thing or another for him, he was instead fiddling with a holographic blueprint he was hoping was a viable set of glasses that could track Loki when he did his magic tricks.
It should be easy, he just needed to be able to find the range of light he slips into when he ‘goes up in smoke’.
Tony refused to believe he was teleporting.
Teleportation was a pet project Tony had been chipping away at ever since he built his first circuit board.
It wasn’t possible.
And it definitely wasn’t possible for someone who still went bow hunting for their meals.
Alien or otherwise.
Besides Loki was a trickster god, why would he need to teleport when he could make people believe he could. Some slight of hand to look impressive and capable of incredible things was more than enough to get the job done.
Even him ‘summoning’ stuff was probably a trick.
This morning practically proved that.
Why would Loki need to go through the whole song and dance of making a new bow if he could just ‘summon’ one he already had.
If Tony had the needed cameras already set up he could probably find the footage of Loki making the bowstring he used this morning at some point last night.
Like when he ‘grounded’ him.
And just like that, he had both the bow and the string to give off the ever present appearance of casual magic.
Easily explained away.
Except his teleporting.
Tony was willing to suspend his belief for a second and agree that Loki had some magic.
Some.
He didn’t know how he made the various sparks and such that he deceived people with. Or how he would be able to turn invisible or into other people to that point.
That was it though.
And it was only ‘magic’ because he didn't understand it yet.
It was practical tricks from an alien race that claims to have superior tech. Not supernatural magic from an alien race claiming they're gods.
Hence the glasses.
He would out-superior their tech. It's not like he was going to give up the game every time Loki was doing something, he just wanted to know. To be part of the game or at the very least being able to prove it is one.
They were close to fabrication now, he spent the last several weeks since Loki's touchdown miniaturizing everything he could to make them work. Nearly every scanner he could get, all spectrums of light possible were visible with a simple tap on the frames.
His suit had a more advanced version of them all but he had more room to work with there, the glasses were supposed to be discreet.
But now, side project poked, he had actual work to get done. They were tearing down the eastern wing to replace it with a detached training hall instead. Demolition was expected to start later today and regardless of how old he got Tony was a little kid at heart, it was cool to see things get destroyed.
Only when they were supposed to be destroyed.
Mostly.
He spun the hologram away and pulled up the list of chores he gave himself. The wing was already empty but he had the fun job of essentially disconnecting it. his methods definitely weren't above board but ultimately they were going to flatten the whole place so he was having fun with it.
He gave Jarvis the go ahead to make him a list and suited up to go break things in a controlled way.
~~~
Barely out of the improvised hanger that was housing his suits and Tony's day was disrupted again.
Usual culprit.
Loki's hunt was apparently successful, he was dragging two deer behind himself on a little sled of some sort that Tony was sure he didn’t own before this, but turned to look at Tony as he was passing by.
Tony had the option to ignore him.
He really did.
He didn't.
He landed next to him expecting some sort of comment or even an ETA on the food he was so eager to make.
And was ignored.
Loki didn't react to him landing at all and continued to meander towards the porch that covered a majority of the back of the manor.
Rude.
He looked at him when he was flying but now decided he was invisible?
Tony stomped after him, this suit wasn't exactly designed to walk but this mark did better than the last few. Loki continued to wander on, he wasn't moving quickly but didn't look that weighed down by his kills. Just like he was enjoying a slow walk through the gardens.
Tony decided to change that for him. Really make him work for this side quest he gave himself. He stepped up onto the back of the sled.
The suit would keep him upright auto balancing as the now unstable ground moved.
And moved.
And… moved.
Loki continued to ignore him even as he was now pulling him along in what must be an absolutely ridiculous sight for the ever vigilant badges to yell at him about later.
“Hey!” He shouted at him, retracting the helmet. Loki didn't even seem inconvenienced by his suit being added into his haul.
Loki looked back at him like he had never seen him before, entirely passive and indifferent. He let go of the sled and simply looked at him.
Waiting. Tony guessed.
Ball was in his court.
He went to cross his arms only for the suit to entirely stop that motion with its stiff joints and leave him awkwardly flailing his arms around like an idiot.
Great use of his spotlight.
Loki's mask broke and he laughed at him, a dazzling smile and bright eyes that mocked him, which again, Rude.
“Do you often struggle with your attire?” He turned around properly and leaned nonchalantly on the handle of the sled encroaching on Tony's space as much as possible with his kills between them, smile still sharp and irritating. “This is twice in just the last twelve hours, Smed, surely it isn't that difficult for you.”
“The only thing I struggle with is you.” Tony pointed at him as if he could possibly confuse the accusation. “Isn't this breaking that oath you swore when you first got dragged here?”
“Not when I have permission, though such a thing isn’t difficult to gain when my warden demands naps to begin his day.” Humor gone, smile largely subdued through the corners of his mouth still had a slight tick in them, Loki was staring at him impassively again. Just stating a fact.
“Uh huh.” Tony nodded exaggeratedly, trying not to throttle the guy for finding all sorts of pointed comments that had no right to stick him as bad as they were. “And when exactly did I give you permission? I don’t remember saying yes.”
Robin hood tilted his head and his brows drew close together, staring at him like he was talking backwards. “You asked for a plate? I can hardly include you in a meal if I cannot make it.”
Implied permission counted then. He wasn't surprised but he did suddenly worry about all the accidental liberties he may have handed Loki in the past several weeks.
“And,” Loki continued leaning further over the sled, victory and superiority dripping through his words and seeping out of his perfect teeth, “You did lose, which was the condition we set.”
“We set? Please, that was all you Houdini. An attempt at getting me to lose faster, which failed, so you should have accepted defeat and stayed put.” Tony snapped at him, causing him to just smile in subdued amusement at him, teeth finally hidden away but crinkles in the corners of his eyes broadcasting how much he enjoyed pissing Tony off. “Do you know how much shit I'm going to get for letting you go kill things to amuse yourself? You're not exactly a feral cat, Diego. You're not supposed to do that. I have enough on my plate as it is.”
Loki shrugged, a practiced and graceful motion that just screamed ‘I come from money, what does your opinion matter’ and turned to begin pulling his sled again. “Pedantics. I care very little about all of that. You knew where I was and did nothing to stop me.”
What a jackass.
Tony huffed and stormed up to yell at him face to face again. This wasn't a finger wagging chastising he was supposed to be sorry!
He made it barely a step when reality caught up to him and he came stumbling in the most undignified way off of the sled.
Which had been moving again.
Because apparently Loki can causally haul several hundred pounds as if he was a kid with a little red wagon.
He barely managed to catch himself before he hit the ground by activating the thrusters in the gloves and pushing himself back up.
“Now three.”
Loki was stopped again, looking at him like the cat that got the cream. Satisfied as could be with him nearly face planting because of his bullshit that was long past starting to get to him.
“I can see how you've convinced so many people to undress you over the years, Stark. Clearly this is a hazard for you, it'd be much safer nude.”
God, Tony hated himself.
It was even more bullshit that he had to deal with himself from this perspective. Standing there all smug and funny.
It wasn't fair.
He was supposed to be the suave one, not the evil man he was housing.
He couldn't even come up with a quick comeback for that that wouldn't just be inviting Loki to bed.
Loki chuckled again at his lack of response, another win under his belt, and once again grabbed his sled to continue his self assigned chores. “As for what's on your plate, these shouldn't take more than an hour for me to prepare, so if you do have a recipe you'd prefer…”
He let the sentence hang as he wandered unhurried away from where Tony was fuming. He didn't even need to be here. He could have skipped this entire thing and had a decent day, he should be blowing stuff up right now. Not dicking around with the world's worst roommate and ruining his own damn day.
Tony considered marching right back up to him and trying to salvage the situation. Or just piss Loki off like he was.
Kick over his stupid sled or something.
That would definitely make Tony look like an absolute child unable to handle his big boy emotions though so instead he just snapped his helmet back on and flew purposefully too close to Loki on his way out.
Hopefully he ruined his hair or something.
—------------
Loki was having a splendid time.
He would have to think of a fitting gift for his Mother, he was enjoying his so-called exile tremendously. He reminisced now as he butchered his kills and debated different recipes that Stark might enjoy.
He had originally believed he was doomed to follow Thor around as he paraded about with yet another cast of idiots. Ones far more fragile and leagues less subtle about their dislike of him.
A dreadful punishment indeed. One he certainly wasn't looking forward to.
However,
The actuality of the situation was Delightful.
Thor was nowhere to be seen a majority of the time and the idiots of his newfound group were even rarer. Loki believed they were afraid of him.
Which was perfect.
The single one left after such an accidental culling turned Loki's exile into an incidental vacation.
Stark was… Excellent company.
His supposed warden.
That seemed to be one of the few tasks he failed spectacularly at. He wasn't an authoritarian dictator the way most other realm's leaders came to be, nor was he lax and ignorant like Thor or to a lesser degree Freyr was.
Loki was allowed to do nearly anything he wished, save leave the property. (today notwithstanding) Stark allowed him his daily habits, running with the rise of the sun, meditation when the mood struck him, he even had an extensive library that Loki was allowed to peruse at his leisure.
He was barely even chastised by the man himself, only subordinates that it was clear had no authority to do so in the first place.
Stark was simply… Busy.
Busy; doing what he believed would help, being generally beneficial to the people he serves, bettering himself or his creations seemingly because he can't have purpose without them.
A worthy pursuit.
And it was fascinating to watch him antagonize the people that were working for him. Constantly dismissing them or verbally running circles around them while never breaking stride with whatever was his actual goal of the moment.
Even when Loki tried to antagonize him, himself, he never seemed to succeed. Stark would shrug it off and bite back with a better quip or some other way to continue the game they have been playing since he first was sentenced to this planet.
Such as today, this morning. After Stark's additional nap of course. Which still had Loki impressed with his causal command, able to walk into a situation looking the fool and still walk out of it after going against the combined wishes of everyone else who was present with complete success and obedience was a very impressive display of power.
Still, he managed to completely ignore the conversation Loki was trying to start in favor of starting a losing competition and inviting himself to Dinner.
Dinner that Loki had to leave the bounds of his prison to catch. A proper warden would have stopped him immediately, Stark merely asked for a plate.
It was delightful.
Even now with the soon to be meals awaiting in the butchery, Stark was still doing things just for the entertainment of it. Technically still furthering his goals but in a way designed to entertain himself rather than be efficient.
He was continuing to destroy the house they were currently homed in. An odd choice to be sure, but apparently this was the first step when renovating on Earth. Stark's methods raised many questions and seemed designed for the most destruction and chaos possible.
Loki was having an excellent time with it.
He was now lounged out in the grass watching as Stark dashed, dove, and demolished an entire wing of his home room by room.
His armour was impressive. It contained a significant amount of fire power despite its agility, able to destroy well made columns and still spin dramatically out windows and out of harm's way Dust and debris giving a spectacular backdrop to the bright golds and reds.
Arrogance.
Loki was terribly charmed.
He dove for another pass but stopped at the last moment, quickly throwing his arms out to cancel his momentum and spun around to face Loki where he was laying.
Stark's opinion of him seemed to be of a similarly positive vein. Whenever the man caught sight of him he rushed over to engage in another round of verbal sparring. Loki was increasingly interested in attempting to get him to engage with him in proper flyting but had yet to broach the topic with him.
He smiled unbiddenly, already giddy about the prospect of another round, and had to quickly school his features as Stark rapidly approached.
It would ruin their game of indifference.
Though, so far neither of them were very good at it.
He arrived just as Loki managed to hide his smile and instead raise a faux disinterested eyebrow.
“What the hell are you doing?” Stark landed loud and dramatically on the grass, snapping his helmet back and having it disintegrate into his shoulders in a way that piqued Loki's interest far more than it should.
For a man so determined to dismiss magic he worked on a very thin line regarding his own creations.
“Enjoying the view.” He said, immediately ruining the game and blatantly looking him over in his armour.
Stark rolled his eyes, Loki briefly wondered if he was going to try and cross his arms again and give Loki more to laugh with him over.
“Glad the reflections sharp, benefits of a shiny suit. It distracts the self absorbed.” Loki's banished smile made a quick return before he managed to swallow it again.
Such obvious cues had no place in their game lost as it already was or not, it was a sparring of wit and sharp words, meaningful looks and unspoken invitation. Not simple friendly conversation.
“A miracle you can put it on.” He chuckled in the practiced way that always brought a spark of challenge to Stark's eyes.
It worked yet again, with him even getting an endearing wrinkle in the other's nose as he stared down at Loki.
“I didn't peg you for a one trick pony, Slippery. You got any other note cards up your sleeves?” Loki humed disapprovingly and sat up to shake his head at him. His chidren weren't a subject that Loki was willing to joke on.
“I always do, variety is the purpose of life.” He drawled looking passed him at the destruction that Stark just paused in order to speak to him. It was meant to be a dismissal of a sort, Stark had soured the mood and he no longer wanted to continue the conversation if he was going to press it at all.
“The spice.” He responded nonsensically.
Loki tilted his head at him and blinked while Stark continued to glare down at him. Was this a question he was to know the answer to? A midgardian custom? He glanced around for a moment trying to figure out where spices became relevant.
Ah.
“The deer are prepared for later, since breakfast has long passed, I was planning on an early dinner, basting it in brown sugar and rosemary above an open flame, is there a seasoning you would prefer?” Loki tried, watching as Stark pinched his lips together and closed his eyes for a moment.
“You're fucking with me right?” Stark chuckled breathily at him and Loki took it as an additional point in the unspoken game they started.
Not that he was keeping score, but it pleased him when he managed to get a glimpse under Stark's masks.
“No, I am willing to change recipe if you wish.” Loki fought to keep his expression level, no point in undoing his success immediately. He didn't make sense at times, the random jumping between subjects that Stark was so fond of, though confusing or not he supposed he was only listening to the request of a different subject.
To their soon to be meal. Which was far better suited to an end of day meal rather than a late morning one, but no matter, perhaps he would make honeyed sweetrolls for tomorrow instead.
He hoped their game would be placed on a brief break during it, it would be far more fun to properly laugh and joke with the man before going back to this faux indifference they had.
“...Right.” Monotone. He was trying to make up for his slip earlier. Or perhaps he didn't believe he would. Loki would have to obtain a dish from him later to ensure he knew that he was indeed open to suggestion or request. “I'm going to get back to work. Y'know the thing useful people tend to be doing on a Thursday afternoon.”
“Oh, by all means.” Loki settled back on his elbows with a slight smile that he couldn't quite bite back.
He was losing this game of theirs terribly, though surprisingly it didn't bother him much at all. Stark made it far too difficult to remain collected when he reacted in such amusing ways. Such as this.
“You're gonna sit here and watch?” His arms twitched like he wanted to cross them, but managed to catch himself before he did. “Really?”
“Would you prefer me to help?”
~~~~~~
“Would you prefer me to help?” Loki asked, laying on the ground staring at him ‘innocently’ with that smug smile that set his teeth on edge.
Tony had been having a good time.
He was supposed to be having a good time.
Breaking down buildings for good reasons that aren’t ‘the world is ending’ or ‘people are dying’ and yet Now he was stood here in the middle of a grass patch he was definitely going to find a reason to tear up out of pure spite of this conversation. With the bane of his existence helpfully offering his assistance while sunning himself and watching him like an exotic bird on display.
What was he even going to do? It’s not like Loki was about to run over and try and break down a support beam with his bare hands.
That damn smug smile that made it seem like he was on the verge of openly laughing at him again made Tony think this was entirely a bluff. Loki didn't have the ability to ‘help’ here without making a fool of himself.
Challenge accepted.
Another damn game Loki goaded him into.
“Knock yourself out.” He gestured to the half demolished wing and looked at Loki expectantly ready for him to backpedal or make excuses of how he was ‘above such brutish methods’.
His face blanked for a moment and he just stared up at him surprised. He glanced back at the building then back up at Tony. “You're certain? It may ruin your fun.”
As if he hadn't already done that.
“Yup, one hundred percent. Give it your best shot.” Tony smiled at him encouragingly and waited for the first excuse.
Instead Loki smiled back at him, a softer smile, eyes crinkling again, and sat up. Without moving further than that he reached out an arm, dramatically flicked his fingers, green mist sprinkling to the ground for extra effect, squeezed his hand into a fist and pulled.
His eyes lit up entirely at the movement, green overtaking the scelia and spilling out as a bright glow. Behind him, Tony heard the sound of grinding stone and snapping wood. He spun around to stare dumbfounded as the section he had been carefully breaking down crashed to the ground all at once kicking dust and debris into the sky with no one having touched it.
A self satisfied hum brought him back to staring down at Loki, who was once again casually laying in the grass like nothing happened. “How'd I do?”
He was speechless, that wasn't possible. There was no technology here that Loki had that could do that, no overly loyal hammer, no practical tricks. He snapped his helmet back up and ran every scan he could think of.
Loki quirked an eyebrow at him but didn't try to stop him at all, just turned to the slowly settling dust.
Nothing was different.
Nothing at all.
Loki was still his slightly too cold 83.7 degrees, his heart was still beating way too slow, there were no lingering trails of energy that Jarvis could read. Even the weather hadn't changed in the time Tony stood there staring like an idiot.
“What the hell did you just do?” He asked, it came out way too fast and a pitch too high.
Newton's enemy just chuckled at him and smiled again, green eyes dancing with self satisfaction. “What you asked me to, Ikke-Troend.”
Back to the nonsense words. He retracted the helmet again and opened his mouth to tell him that that was Not at all what he asked him to do and that he didn't ask him to do anything at all but shut it again when Loki whipped his head around and went from comfortably relaxed on the grass to tense and standing with his back to Tony in an instant or less.
Graceful as a dancer and even managing to keep his hair out of his face.
Show off.
“I don't think they appreciated our fun.” Loki said in a low and guarded voice glaring back at the rest of the property.
Tony would have to fight him on the ‘fun’ part later but looked over Loki's shoulder to see a group of agents running at them, weapons in hand. They started shouting at him to get away from Loki and shouting at Loki to get back on the ground.
Neither listened.
Loki stayed standing, hands tense by his sides, thankfully empty, though with the recent show that apparently didn't mean anything, and Tony moved to stand in front of him waving his arms at them to stand down. Then immediately second guessing why he bothered to do that.
Loki was hardly in danger, he was the danger and he made it clear when he first showed up and got both Nat and Clint to open fire at him. The bullets didn't land and the arrows were caught and vanished before any more could pop like last time. And the men in suits here weren't going to listen to him just because he wanted them to.
Except they somewhat did. Demanding answers and keeping their guns at their side rather than pointed directly at them. “Sir, you need to move away from the subject!”
‘Sir’ was a nice change, usually all things Shield dealt with him with an impatiently barked ‘Stark’ whenever he did something they didn't approve of. ‘Subject’ was a bit harsh though, it's not like Loki was some sort of experiment Shield was conducting.
He was a ‘god’ that was on house arrest in Tony's house.
Somehow.
He didn't remember agreeing to it in any way, but now seemed to be getting all the blowback from it regardless.
“Yeah, I think I'm good.” He glanced at Loki nonchalantly as if it was a perfectly normal occurrence here to be hanging out with the villain Fury wanted tied in his basement that can apparently bring down buildings with charades. “You good?”
He gave him a confused look for a moment before his eyes lit up again with Mischief and delight.
Tony should worry about that.
“Just fine.” Loki gave a very sharp smile glaring past him at the stormtroopers.
“Right, seems we're fine, you're uh, dismissed. Or whatever Nicky tells you.” Tony shooed them off.
None of them budged. They didn't even acknowledge he was talking to them, reading out some sort of fear mongering script to Loki.
A completely pointless waste of time. Loki got off to being told what he shouldn't do, these guys were just asking for Loki to get even worse.
“Hello?” He waved at them trying to get their attention, not a single one glanced at him. “Earth to agents, you're free to go back to rifling through my childhood memories or whatever you're officially here to do.”
“We don't take orders from you, Stark.” One of them, a woman who seemed like the most important of the batch, barked at him once she finished her spiel.
Ah, there it is. The punctual ‘Stark’ that made everyone forget who he was while simultaneously announcing who he was.
“Actually you do.” He dropped the carefully carefree voice he'd been using and switched to the one he would use to get board directors to shut up about useless things like stockbrokers or marketing potential. “This is my house, you're all on my payroll, not Fury's. If I tell you to walk away you can do so on your own or with assistance.”
A muffled cough got him to glance at His Karma Taken Physical Form only to catch him trying to wipe a grin off his face and looking far too excited for someone half surrounded by armed and hostile agents.
Oh god, couldn't they just drop this. Loki was having way too much fun for this to be a one time incident now.
A few of them glanced towards their leader to see what she would do. She finally turned to look at him rather than Loki, frustration masked poorly behind an undeserved air of authority, “The subject is not permitted to employ the use of magic in any capacity-
An offended huff from behind him told him exactly what Loki thought of that statement. A small crack appeared in her confidence when Tony raised a brow at her as well.
Well, at least that upset him rather than delighting him.
Was that a good thing?
“...As per his sentencing on Earth. Fury's orders override yours when the fate of the world is at stake.”
Woah. Wait.
“Fate of the world?” Tony asked in a dramatic voice. “I asked him to break my house, I don't think we need to contact the men in black for this.”
He'd have to kick himself later for agreeing with Loki about this situation being mutually his fault, but he wasn't going to let the guy be hauled away for giving into his goading.
Whether that was intentional goading or otherwise.
Tony couldn't even say who really started it any more.
How was he supposed to know that he could even do that? He never did that during New York and he's given no implications since then that he's capable of leveling a building from a hundred feet away.
And there was nothing to show for it. No measurable changes in whatever Loki was doing at all.
Wasting his time even accidentally.
An entire side project ruined.
He was going to have to scrap the glasses and bill Loki for his time. Maybe that would make it sting a little less.
“It was still an unauthorized use of magic. Fury will have to be informed-”
“Then tell him.” Tony cut her off, “tell him I can do whatever I want on my property, including throwing people off of it for any reason.”
He turned back to Loki and stood with his back to the badges that were still mumbling at him like he was listening. “Thanks for showing off and getting me grounded, do you have nothing better to do than sit and watch me get yelled at?”
It was an out. A dismissal for him that Tony wanted him to take. A white lie that framed Tony as the responsible party. Even if this situation was entirely Loki's fault he wasn't going to get him locked into a box over it.
Why he was giving him one was something Tony would have to look at later. (Or ignore entirely.)
Loki understood immediately and looked at him gratefully, a small smile Tony would have believed was genuine on anyone else appeared for a moment before snapping back to the tense annoyance it was before.
“I do, actually.” He nearly snarled, catching Tony off guard, and glanced only briefly at the agents now standing on alert but clearly harmless, before focusing back on Tony, a mixed expression that screamed helpless hatred at him. “If you're done having me perform tricks for your own amusement, I'll gladly take my leave.”
Well, guess they were both a hundred percent on the ‘blame Tony’ plan. Though the implications that Tony could make Loki do things simply by telling him to was a nice thought.
Clearly and unfortunately not the case. but a nice thought nonetheless.
Tony nodded at him, not knowing what he would say if he opened his mouth, and watched as Loki went up in smoke again.
A small part of him believed it this time.
~~~~~~~~~
Dealing with the discount men in black was simple enough once Loki left. It would take someone else caring enough to deal with a ‘volatile and angry’ god after explicitly being told it was Tony's doing for anything to actually happen.
Today at least.
He’s sure he'll get a strongly worded phone call from Fury once his goons report back how ‘reckless and immature’ he was being.
He didn't really care.
Loki was pushed onto him to deal with the moment everyone else ran off without so much as a ‘good luck’ in his direction. If he decided the guy could use magic directly in front of him and for the sole purpose of destroying a condemned building then that was his choice to make.
Not that it was his choice, Loki did that entirely of his own accord.
Without Tony's involvement at all.
How did he even do that?
He had been trying to figure it out. Maybe it was some more practical magic mixed with Loki's freaky sensitive hearing or other alien senses. Tony had been knocking the building down after all, maybe there was a loose support beam somewhere in there and all Loki did was stall until it collapsed, dramatically framing himself as the cause?
That made more sense.
It was a stretch.
But made more sense, technically.
A lot more sense than Loki being able to drag a building down when he was nowhere near it at least.
Why wouldn't he have done that before if he could?
“Are you nearly finished staring at rubble, or does it have you quite busy?” As if summoned by his thoughts Loki appeared right next to him. Or maybe he had just walked up and Tony didn't notice. The judgmental raised brow could go either way.
“I'm not sure, it isn't really talking as much as I would want.” He mumbled. Why was he back? Trying to cover his tracks, make Tony really believe it was magic when such a thing doesn't exist.
Shouldn't exist.
Loki leaned in to stare at him a bit more head tilted and brows now drawn in like he was studying him.
And did nothing.
Just stared.
Inches away from his face.
It made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
What was his problem now?
“I could sign a picture for you if you'd like.” He glanced at him quizzically. Instead of backing up and remembering it rude to stare like he was supposed to, Loki doubled down like he was prone to.
“Are you certain you're human?”
“What?”
Loki just blinked at him, expression curious, waiting for an answer as if giving him another minute would make anything he says make sense.
“Yeah pretty sure,” Tony turned to face him properly, what the hell kinda question was that. “What else would I be?”
He hummed, considering it, “Some types of elf can hear the stories hidden in stone or wood. Dwarves claim to listen to their metals sing when working them, though I believe that is more poetry than practical.”
What.
Was Loki capable of having a normal conversation at all?
“No. Nope.” He shook his head and stepped away from him, regaining the personal space Loki was apparently ignoring now. “One hundred percent human male.”
Another hum, Loki turned to stare at the debris instead looking almost disappointed. “Then how are you listening to it?”
Oh, he was messing with him.
Again.
Tony felt a huge wave of disappointment in himself. He was supposed to be smarter than this.
But Loki was just…
Loki.
Why did he think this was going to be a normal conversation?
He sighed, “good one. Really got me. Is there something you needed or are you just here to… what? What was this supposed to get you?”
The staring and blinking continued for a moment, his head tilting the other way, hair falling off his shoulder as he moved, “an answer?”
God, he was professionally annoying.
“To what? I wasn't actually listening to the building. That's not a thing. ‘Cause this is Earth, where reality lives.” Tony wished at least, it seemed like reality had taken a vacation a few years back and hasn't returned yet.
“Reality has been relocated to Knowhere, actually. It's being held by The Collector for ‘safe keeping’.” Said like they were discussing the weather. As if it made any sense at all. Still it was somehow the closest Tony's been to agreeing with the madness.
“Right.”
What?
“Regardless. If you are done with… whatever it is you've been doing. Dinner is nearly ready and I can't guarantee it'll be palatable cold.” Loki was looking at him expectantly now.
Expecting him to what though?
Back down?
Make up excuses and run off?
Tell him to lead the way?
Save a plate?
It was the business with the damn building they were standing in front of all over again. Roles reversed. Loki was fully goading him now to make a dramatic decision that neither of them are particularly prepared for. What was going to happen if he took him up on the offer?
Poisoned food? Seemed low and predictable. Even for Loki. What was the alternative? Would Loki retaliate for standing him up?
Standing him up?
Where did that come from?
This wasn't a date.
It was Dinner.
With his not-quite-enemy.
Who he was annoyed by.
Constantly.
Was he?
He was pretty sure he was.
This wasn't a date.
Tony turned to continue staring at the rubble to buy himself some time, hoping his suddenly derailed thoughts wouldn't show too loudly on his face. Loki waited patiently beside him.
Was this a date?
Tony tried to run through his previous interactions with Loki with this potentially newfound catastrophic clarity.
Had they been flirting?
In hindsight it could seem like it, if you squinted and turned your head. Tony could barely stay away from the guy despite knowing it would leave him in a worse mood.
Did it?
Yes, it has.
Constantly interrupting himself from what he was supposed to be doing to go dogfight with him over nothing.
This wasn't a date.
He looked Loki out of the corner of his eye, he had mirrored Tony and was also staring at the broken building, though far more passively, expression disinterested. He was just giving Tony time to answer.
For once not filling in the blanks to push at Tony's buttons again.
Did he want this to be a date?
They traded nonsense words and nicknames like it was second nature, they started dumb competitions with one another all the time that never seemed to have a real loser.
Tony started a staring contest with him this morning.
Why would he do that?
He glanced at Loki now and he turned back to look at Tony again in return, still waiting for an answer Tony really couldn't give.
He was pretty.
He raised a sharp eyebrow in silent question and dropped his head to the side again, a subconscious movement that was as endearing as it was condescending. Raven black hair gently falling off his shoulder with the movement. Contrasting against his pale, sharp cheekbones that could have earned him the title of ‘god’ in their own right. His greener than green eyes, bright and curious as Tony took way too long to answer.
Bright and curious. Not guarded or smug, not filled with some sort of unspoken superiority. Just open. Honest. Wanting to know, patient for an answer even if it was rejection.
And so so green. A truly unnatural shade that he didn't have when they first met. It suited him a lot better than that murky blue did. Dark forest green when it had any sort of shadow hit it that defined intrigue and needed to be known.
A bright glowing emerald when it caught the light, dancing with mischief and excitement nearly every time they spoke. Cycling between such brilliant shades that Tony would stop what he was doing just to make sure he wasn't imagining it.
Scratch that.
He was Gorgeous.
But Tony didn't like him.
Did he?
He hasn't been interested in men since experimenting in college.
And a few drunken nights here and there.
And maybe a few thinly disguised threesomes.
Fuck.
Some of his conflicting emotions must have shown on his face and a sheen of disappointment clouded that brilliant green and Loki looked away, “if you'd rather-
“Nope, right behind you.” Tony cut him off by gesturing him onwards, sounding like he swallowed his tongue. “Lead the way.”
He stopped, mouth still open and looked at him skeptically as Tony again waved him on.
That probably wasn't a great sign.
He was reading too far into this.
It was just a casual dinner.
Nothing more.
It wasn't a date.
And now Loki was on edge. Maybe it was a joke, he wasn't supposed to accept and join in.
Tony didn't even know he was interested in him and he's already ruined his chances.
He didn't even know if he wanted a chance.
Did he deserve this?
There were a lot of people that would say he did.
He might even be one of them.
Loki looked him up and down and smirked with just a small flash of teeth, which definitely did not do something ridiculous like make his heart skip.
Did it always do that?
“Shall I? And how exactly will you follow, mann av jern? Fly?”
Nonsense words and weird questions.
Was this what Tony really wanted?
It was a bad idea so… best not to answer that.
He glanced down for a second trying to consider it and accidentally made Loki's nonsense make sense. He was still in his suit.
The one that Loki made him fall over in earlier.
There was no way he liked him.
It was just dinner.
It wasn't a date.
Dinner. That he didn't even need to attend. He'd tell Loki that right now, tell him to go eat alone and that he was too busy to waste any more time dealing with him today.
The better option.
Loki would be fine on his own and Tony clearly needed to get away from him. He opened his mouth to tell him exactly that. To see Loki's ever present smug expression crack for once as he realises Tony doesn't want to waste what semblance of a decent day he's been trying to have.
“It can walk.” His mouth said instead.
Loki clicked his tongue at him, “You are not wearing your armour to dinner.”
Like he could tell him not to.
“Well we've got options, what kinda suit would you prefer, a three piece with green pocket square and tie?” That was definitely flirting.
What is wrong with him?
Loki hummed again, considering, a low note that Tony's now desperately confused and pathetic emotions decided he very much liked as he looked him over. “It would look good on you. Though I think we can agree that red is more your color.”
Was that also flirting?
It sounded like flirting.
Or was he just pointing out an obvious fact? It's not like he looked bad in green, he didn't look bad in anything, but he did usually stick with the basics; reds or dark blues.
“Afraid I'd show you up?” He smirked at him, what is he doing? “Don't worry Prancer, I can share the spotlight.”
Loki chuckled again in the way that put his teeth on edge only this time it was also accompanied by an unhelpful stomach flip. “Oh, but I'm afraid I cannot. I get it so rarely, you see...”
He was speaking low, a deep sultry cadence that had to be a new addition to his cruel arsenal, Tony would have recognized it if he used it before. “That once I have it,”
He paused again taking a long slow step back into Tony's space leaning in to be properly eye to eye with him. The green a now deadly poison that locked him in place, helpless, as a long fingered hand came up to rest on the rim of the chest plate. “You cannot possibly look away.”
Tony swallowed hard, a blush creeping up his throat to cover his face as he drowned in Loki's commanding gaze.
This was definitely a date.
Tony was beginning to doubt the dinner part though.
Loki leaned in more, gently pulling him forward until he could feel his cool breath ghost over his jaw as he spoke. “Take. Your. Armour. Off.”
Tony watched him say the words, eyes finally breaking away from Loki's just to latch onto his lips as he asked.
This was a bad idea.
When had he ever made a good one?
The suit opened and he stepped out into Loki's space in turn, reaching out to place his hands on his hips to further… Whatever this was. “I don't usually follo-”
Loki vanished into green sparks the moment his hands connected. Leaving not a trace of him behind.
Tony blinked and pulled his hands back from the sparks, instinct after burning himself so many times before. Frowning, he glanced around and realized he fell for yet another one of Vixen's cruel games.
He huffed at the realization. Loki wasn't even here, probably already dishing himself up and enjoying what evidently wasn't a date alone.
Tony was just his entertainment for the meal.
Dinner and a show.
Twenty minutes ago Tony wouldn't have cared.
Somehow though, now he felt like he was being stood up. Or led on at the very least.
What was that?
Seeking him out specifically to invite him, standing way too close, asking him, jokingly or not, if he was actually some magical race instead of just human, waiting patiently for once while Tony figured out what he was thinking as if he really wanted him to say yes.
The flirting after he did. Leaning so confidently into his space as if he knew Tony wouldn't shove him away, breaking out a voice that was best kept to the dark hours of night when no one else could hear.
Either Loki was truly a cruel trickster or Tony has been reading him wrong since the start.
“Your work is very impressive.” Houdini praised from behind him, an audible smirk in his words, but now completely missing the teasing edge. “Is it wise to leave it here unattended?”
Tony let out a loud unimpressed sigh, and slowly turned to look at Loki again. He didn't even leave, just moved away. To what? Slow them down a bit? He was standing just behind the open suit now, lightly running distracting fingers over the metal. “You're a prick. Y'know that?”
He chuckled again at him, briefly closing his eyes with amusement, when he opened them again they had a mischievous spark that caught Tony’s attention in all new ways. “Is that your general reaction to receiving a compliment?”
“Nope,” he said, brushing Loki's hands off the suit and moving to stand in front of him again, far closer than he would have before, giving his best practiced smile. “You're a special case.”
Loki laughed again, different this time, lighter and more open, seemingly unbothered by Tony's encroachment. “Yes, I thought as much.”
His eyes briefly fell to Tony's lips lingering just long enough to charge the air with something unsaid and speaking low and teasing again. “After all, you don't usually follow orders.”
There was a resounding sense of victory as Loki finished his previously aborted sentence and raised his eyebrows expectantly.
Point Loki.
His turn.
Back to the games.
Tony smiled viciously at him.
Payback.
Loki handed him the perfect one with this bullshit.
“Well, so long as you're here.” Tony paused dramatically as well, though didn't let his eyes wander to the widening grin on the other's face, trying to keep his expression level and calm. “You do.”
The grin dropped, turning from elated to offended in half a beat, he stepped back as well and Tony finally felt like he truly won one of their interactions. Loki opened his mouth to fire back with his opinion on that statement but was stopped by Tony raising his hand, which Tony took as another self appointed victory. “And I was promised dinner.”
Loki huffed at him and turned his head away, but the offense did soften to amusement again by the time he looked back. “Very well, are we leaving your device undefended here or was this merely a show for my pleasure?”
His eyes dragged down him during the last part of his sentence, opening admiring but with a challenging air.
Was this how their interactions always were?
It was definitely different and Tony wasn't convinced he was the only one that changed since their last interaction. The one that left a giant pile of rubble laying next to them. Loki was more confident, or more forward at the very least. He briefly looked down at the spandex onesie he was now wearing without the suit and distantly wondered how any unsuspecting viewer would see them. “Hm, you make a great point. I'm not exactly dressed for, uh… dinner.”
Was this a date?
He wanted it to be.
“I strongly disagree.” Tony looked back up at Loki to catch him now openly oggiling him like a man starved. It kicked his heart rate back up a notch and made him wonder what Loki's game was.
This was definitely a different Loki than he yelled at last night.
And this morning.
And an hour ago.
Suddenly Tony was questioning whether or not this situation was about to twist like a brother's grim tale. He saw the deer, surely Loki did actually cook something.
Right?
It seemed like a fifty-fifty now on whether Loki was planning to lock him in a bedroom or an oven when they got back.
He's faced worse odds.
“Great,” he said flattery clear in his voice, “saves me a trip. Though these aren't making me eager to walk hand in hand through the gardens with you.” He gestured to the debris littered ground to test how far Loki was willing to push it.
Loki hummed distractedly, still staring at him though notably more south than moments before, “we'd hardly make it past the fools forever hounding you if we tried.
Not really the part he was trying to get Loki to focus on but it did lend more believability to the ‘locked in a bedroom’ side of the equation.
Tony could stop him of course, snap his fingers at him, or joke that he wasn't going to magically will away his cup by thinking hard enough.
He might be able to do that actually.
Probably not something to find out yet.
Yet.
Instead Tony held back his flattered comments or questions to let Loki drink him in and instead walk a very dangerous line. “Yeah, probably not. You have a way to fix this situation, Blitzen?”
It worked in getting his attention back for a moment, his eyes snapping up to Tony’s in an instant, dark, hungry, and addictingly bright. “Several.”
He practically growled it. Eyes raking their way back down Tony's body so intensely Tony could almost feel it as a physical touch. It knocked the breath out of him, making his voice quiet and breathy as he sealed his fate. “Show me what you've got.”
Loki wasted no time taking him up on the offer. First reaching past him to tap on the suit again, eyes once again flashing a green so true it made the rest of the world seem monotone in its wake. The suit vanished. Tony turned to object but was immediately silenced by Loki stepping back into his space reaching out to set a hand on his jaw, his thumb pressed against Tony's lips.
No going back now.
“Shh, if I lose focus they may see us.” he shushed him, eyes flashing blindingly bright once more.
Magic.
They were invisible.
Apparently.
He slowly pulled his thumb down, gently parting Tony's lips. His heart was pounding so loud in his ears he nearly missed what Loki was saying.
Completely hidden from any judgemental and interrupting eyes.
As long as Loki stayed focused.
Another game.
Tony smirked as much as he's able to, opening his mouth wider, slowly and gently wrapping his fingers around Loki's wrist to keep him from pulling away as he slid out his tongue and licked the pad of his thumb.
He let out a heavy breath, pupils dilating with movement. Tony continued on, wrapping his tongue around and sliding the thumb into his mouth, gently sucking on it.
Loki shuddered, his breath turning into a quiet whine that shot through Tony like a lightning bolt. As if reawakening long forgotten intincts standing in the middle of wreckage with no surfaces suited to pressing Loki against instantly became the biggest problem he ever faced.
With great effort he pushed Loki’s wrist back, pulling his thumb out with an indecent ‘pop’ that left them both flushed and hungry. “You focused enough to get us inside?”
Loki blinked a few times at his question which was answer enough, until he, swallowing hard, answered with a rough, “Yes, I think so.”
Tony embraced the thrill he got from Loki's voice and tightened his grip on the other's wrist, yanking him along as he barely refrained from running back towards the main house. Loki came along willingly, his strides longer and just as impatient as Tony's. Their respective roles quickly changed with Loki now leading him to one of the side entrances not making any attempt at getting Tony to let go or otherwise adjust his grip.
They reached the door quickly, but instead of throwing the door open and continuing their collective quest for something vaguely bedlike, Loki stopped at the door. He turned his back to it and gently placed his free hand behind him on the frame, gently pulling the arm Tony was still holding towards himself. His head slightly tilted forward so he was looking at Tony through his lashes with a single demand written across his expression.
Pin me against the door.
Tony was happy to oblige.
He raised their joined arms and placed his free hand on the center of Loki's chest, shoving him roughly against the door, falling against him to hold him in place and finally, finally, kissing him.
He brought their mouths together like it was the only way he would ever breathe again. Loki let out a small gasp when he collided with the door which Tony took full advantage of, sliding his tongue out to quickly run it between his lips.
Loki let out another beautiful whine and pressed into it desperately, opening his mouth and chasing Tony's tongue with his own. Tony slid his hand up from his chest and cupped the back of his neck pulling him further into it and pushing them flush together against the door, keeping the other wrist firmly pinned just over Loki's shoulder.
Loki let his own free hand wander up to Tony’s arm, pawing and groping at the muscles while they kissed, tongues dancing together as they darted in and out of each other's mouths. Lapping up whatever taste they could reach before their teeth clicked together and made them more keen on nipping each other's lips in between passes until Tony sucked on Loki's tongue and was rewarded with a moan low in his throat that he quickly swallowed.
Loki turned his head to break the kiss, reminding Tony how badly he needed to breathe as they both stayed there panting for a moment.
“Stark.” Loki managed from somewhere deep in his throat, voice shaky and desperate. Tony moved in impossible closer, nosing his way under his chin and putting his mouth on Loki's neck to see if he could find, could feel, where that incredible voice was coming from.
Loki again rewarded his efforts with a delightful noise. This time dropping his head back against the door he offered a groan, vibrating through Tony's tongue where he had it pressed to the sensitive flesh.
Loki’s hand scrambled against his bicep for a moment like he didn't know what to do with it before he pushed Tony's shoulder to get him to step back. He didn't go far, leaning back just enough t0 push their hips together and get the perfect view of Loki's lips falling open as he pushed his now painfully constricting flight cup into Loki's tenting pants.
He let out a needy breath but stopped Tony when he tried to move in again tapping insistently on his shoulder, “wait, wait.”
Tony stopped, he leaned back a bit more and let go of Loki's wrist bringing his hands down to rest on his waist instead. His voice just as rough and wanting, “you alright?”
Loki collected himself enough to look at Tony like he was an idiot for asking that but the expression was largely cut down by his kiss swollen lips and the deep blush making his cheek and ears burn red. He grabbed at Tony's shoulders, eyes fluttering as he ran his fingers over his arms before getting back on track. “Yes. Yes! Obviously. But…”
He dragged his eyes down Tony's chest with the starved expression back on his face. “Can I touch…?”
“What?” Tony blinked at him and sobered up a bit. Surely the answer to that was obvious, they were touching pretty much everywhere with only annoying clothes in between them. If Loki was getting impatient and wanted to go in already to fix that annoying problem there were better ways to ask.
“Your chest.” he glanced back at Tony gently focusing on the bright glowing reactor that Tony nearly forgot was replacing a large chunk of his ribcage. He felt Loki's fingers flex along his shoulders and watched him shiver as he asked again. “Can I touch?”
Tony didn’t have the words to answer. He let out something similar to a whine and pushed Loki back against the door, capturing his mouth with his again. Loki crashed back willingly once more, tilting his head to deepen the kiss humming a pleased note as Tony ran his hands up his sides.
The kiss was notably different this time, less feral. Deeper and more honest as Tony sought to just get closer. To feel every one of Loki's sounds as he swallowed them down. He felt him shiver and moan as he sucked on his tongue again, the nails digging into the back of his neck and shoulder blades reminding him of what changed.
He reached up to Loki's arms gliding along them until he could grab the backs of his hands, gently detaching them and pulling them down to place them against his chest. He broke the kiss and glanced up at him watching as his eyes darkened further.
Loki trailed his fingers along his pecs leaving trails of sparks under his skin that lingered as they moved on. Loki leaned in to kiss him again and Tony eagerly met him.
He kept the kiss rather chaste this time pulling back quickly even as Loki chased him. He placed a hand on Loki's chest and pushed him back again, “we should go inside.”
He didn't respond with words, merely fisting his hand in Tony's bodysuit and pulling him back in again. Reaching back to open the door with his other hand and stumbling them both inside when it gave way.
Their trip through the house seemed to take even longer than the original trip to it, with them constantly stopping to pull or push each other against nearly every wall they came across. Loki’s shirt was hiked up around his sides and Tony wasn't sure he’d ever be able to let go as he ran his hands over the soft skin and strong body.
Tony didn't even know who's room they were heading to anymore if they even were, just that they needed to hurry up and get there so he could feel Loki’s lean muscles under his lips rather than his hands.
Loki let out another heavy and breathless sigh as they crashed into yet another door. Tony tightened his grip around his waist and nipped along his jaw as Loki rolled his head back for better access, Tony hummed against his racing pulse and reached down to grab his ass, hand passing easily under the waistband of his pants.
He pushed back into Tony's hand and slipped his fingers under the collar of the body suit trailing addicting fire across his skin. “Unfair…” He gasped.
Tony chuckled into his neck, scratching his nails down Loki's side and groaning when he shivered. “Just a little further… I think.”
A responding chuckle and Loki reached behind him again to open the door, he tightened his grip on Tony’s collar and stepped back pulling them back together into the room. They kissed as Tony let Loki lead them further, kicking the door shut behind them, mouths sliding together even as they stumbled.
Loki broke the kiss and glanced over his shoulder, Tony followed his move and realized, surprised, that they had reached the master bedroom, his room. Loki kept his grip on his collar keeping him from getting too far as they made their way to his bed.
Tony didn’t mind the possessiveness, dishing it back now that they had reached their apparent destination. He let go of Loki's waist and yanked at his shirt in earnest. Loki gave it up in an instant, rolling his shoulders to get it off faster and letting Tony go only to fling it off his arm before crashing back into him, mouth first.
He pulled at the bodysuit and deepened the kiss more, slightly hunching over Tony as he lapped into his mouth. Tony kissed back eagerly, groaning as Loki took the lead, and let his hands roam with abandon at the now properly exposed skin. He ran warm palms over the slightly cooler skin raking his nails down Loki's back and gratefully swallowing the noise he made at the sensation. His explorations were momentarily interrupted when Loki’s calves hit the bed, halting their almost drunken stumble to reach it.
Instead of stopping their starved mouths as they fed off each other, Loki fisted the hand not still knotted in his collar into his hair and dragged them both down onto the mattress. Their teeth clacked together when they landed but they ignored it, back to biting and nipping each other’s lips.
Tony crawled on top of Loki, sliding between his legs and cursing that they were still clothed. Loki further spread his legs, pulling them up so he could wrap them around Tony’s waist, a wanton moan escaping both their mouths and mixing with their breath when Tony ground their hips together.
He did it again, traveling down his chin to place his lips on Loki's throat to feel the vibration of it ricochet through him and leave him wanting to hear more. To learn every noise that Loki could make and find out what specific things he needed to do to leave the god shaking in his bed.
One thing in particular was leaving him drooling as he kissed his way down Loki's neck and chest. He stopped first at his collarbone, sucking a mark there while Loki squirmed under him, legs tightening further around his waist and frustrated fingers curling into his back as they fruitlessly struggled at the fabric still covering him.
Disentangling Loki’s legs with his hand, Tony continued his path down, latching onto one of his nipples as an appetizer and mouthing at it with wet lips and tongue, working it into a peak and gently scraping his teeth on it before he gave a gentle suck. Loki arched into it, gasping, letting out a whine and tightening the hold on his hair. It sent delightfully sweet shocks of pleasure pain down his spine which collected on the ever tightening spring in his belly that demanded he move on.
And move on he did. Right to the other sorely neglected one, again mouthing wetly at it, shifting so he could bring a hand in to roll the sensitive flesh of the one he just abandoned between his fingers. Loki rolled his hips and let out a loud needy whine, pulling at his hair and panting. “Pants. Off. Now.”
Tony couldn't agree with the idea more. He gave the nipple one last hard suck and detached. He had to press Loki back down when he arched again with it, holding him flat as he moved down to his stomach trailing sloppy kisses all the way along his path. He took particular notice to how Loki shivered and clawed at the already awry sheets as he nipped at his belly.
Sensitive spot.
He didn't spend nearly as much time as he wanted there, listening to Loki and following his hunger even further down to paw at the front of Loki's pants. Groaning in time with Loki's relieved but desperate gasp at the sensation.
Continuing to scrape his teeth along his waistband, Tony looked up to see Loki, flushed and panting, staring at him with wide eyes. He gently tugged at the restrictive fabric and shot him a wink while sucking another mark into his v-line. Loki shivered and quickly complied with lifting his hips to assist in removing the offensive fabric.
He pulled off everything in one go, trying to remain focused on the task long enough to properly free the gorgeous long, long legs he was about to spend a lot of time between. Loki helped the best he could, releasing his hair and lifting his legs as Tony moved down them, letting out impatient huffs as he kissed up his thigh and down his calf as he slowly exposed the soft skin.
Not an easy task with Loki spread and bare before him, cock resting heavy and full against his thigh. Tony's eyes were locked on it as he moved down the leg he was freeing, kisses becoming sloppier as he salivated at the sight. After a painful eternity the useless clothes were thrown into anywhere else.
Finally released from his penance Tony leapt at Loki like he was his salvation. Throwing out all thoughts about being a tease and kissing his way back down.
He wrapped his hand around Loki's cock with a hungry sigh, bracing his other hand on a thigh to keep them spread and licked a wet stripe up the vein with an audible groan.
The muscles under his hand jumped at the touch, his thighs trying to come together, and Loki let out his favorite sound yet. A strangled noise that Tony expertly translated into a strong expletive and a cry for more.
Tony pressed his legs back open and gave him exactly what they both craved, starting with another lick from the base to the tip. Sliding his hand down in time with his tongue going up to pull the skin and make sure he was licking at the extra sensitive head.
Loki's back arched off the bed again as he did, teeth ground together and a truly strangled whine urging Tony on. He lapped at the head lazily with wide swipes of his tongue, closing his eyes and savoring the perfectly bitter taste that increased with every shiver that ran through Loki.
Stroking up and down now in time with his every pass he grew greedy listening to Loki’s pants and groans, hearing his fingers scratch and tear at the sheets with nothing else to do. One more swipe of his tongue and he wrapped his lips around the head of Loki's cock giving it a gentle suck.
Loki's hips bucked involuntarily at the sensation driving his cock further into Tony's mouth and raising the bar with a proper shout of pleasure as he ground his head back against the mattress. Tony's grip tightened at the thrust, lips meeting his fingers as the cock slid to the back of his mouth. He loosened his jaw more to compensate for the sudden intrusion and moaned as it hit his throat.
His god bucked again at the noise, legs shaking as Tony's voice vibrated across the sensitive head. He took a moment to swallow the drool and precome that was filling his mouth and spilling down his fingers before beginning to bob his head properly.
Using his tongue to cover his teeth with every downstroke and to swipe at the head with every reset. It didn't take long for Loki to be silky and slick as Tony's hand and mouth worked him.
They were just developing a good rhythm when Loki threw it all out the window with the best noise yet. In between his beautiful song of whimpers, moans, and desperate pants that Tony was never going to stop hearing replaying in his head another quick swallow around Loki's cock earned him a single barked word that made his mind go silent and forced a moan from his throat that nearly shook him apart.
“Anthony!”
It was broken and breathless and without question the best sound Tony had ever heard. It tore through him and left him shaking so badly he had to pull off and rest his head on Loki's thigh as he fought to catch his breath. He continued to stroke him with his hand, reveling in the smooth glide of him under his fingers as he heard his proper name on loop in his head.
Loki restarted with desperate whines at the loss of his mouth, legs shaking from resisting the urge to thrust up into every stroke.
“I'm sorry…” He whimpered, as if he didn't just convert Tony into his most devout worshipper with a single word.
He shook his head against Loki's thigh and kissed softly wherever he could reach knowing if words didn't fail him his throat would and trying to get the message across silently.
He swallowed a few more times and moved over Loki once again. Pressing heavily down on his thigh and he hovered, slowing his strokes until Loki leaned up on his elbows to look at him in return.
He was stunning.
A deep blush had spread all the way across his chest and up his face, making his cheeks glow red in a stark contrast against his lust darkened eyes. His hair was a masterful mess that Tony had full intentions of ruining further as it clung to his forehead and neck with sweat, strands sticking out in every direction from him arching into the mattress so many times.
His long, lithe body glistening with an enticing sheen. Exaggerating his lean muscles and making his look all the more tempting to map out with his hands and tongue.
“I'm sorry,” he breathed again, regret marring his beautifully needy expression.
Tony shook his head again, tightening his grip on Loki's cock and watching intently as his eyes fluttered and his head dropped back with another groan.
“Say it again.”
His voice came out rough, filled with desire and demand. He wanted to hear it again. And again. And again. Wanted to hear Loki chant it as he fucked him, wanted him to whisper it in his ear like a prayer.
He needed him to say it again.
Loki shivered near violently at his words, their voices each having similar effects in driving the other mad.
And did exactly as instructed.
“Anthony.”
It hit just as hard the second time, Tony groaned just from the sound of it. Gorgeous as it fell from his lips a perfect sound. The best thing he's ever gotten from Loki by far.
His grip tightened involuntarily at his name, and Loki bucked once more. A breaking point, Tony fell back at him, bypassing his cock and biting at his thighs. Moving his hand further around until he could lever Loki’s leg up and properly give himself room to work.
Loki caught on immediately, the same foreign grouping of syllables that Tony was pretty sure was just a fancy way of saying ‘fuck’ coming out as a breathy gasp and he grabbed his leg against his chest like a lifeline.
Exactly what Tony needed him to do. It left him open, available, for hungry lips and determined fingers as Tony settled in to either perfectly prepare Loki to take his cock, or break him before he did. The whimpers that Loki offered as Tony swiped a broad tongue across his entrance were music as he felt the muscle twitch and slowly relax and he continued to lap and prod at it.
The addicting ‘Anthony’s continued as well, breaking his concentration with each utterance and making it increasingly difficult to not forgo all his work, crawl over Loki and fuck him til he screamed.
He settled for pressing his fingers to Loki's rim, a warning as much as a request. He got an emphatic ‘yes!’ to the pressure and fought to keep his other hand consistent and light as Loki shifted to try and open his legs wider. There wasn't much change but Tony gently bit the inside of his hip to thank the effort regardless. He continued with his fingers once he settled again, working them in tandem with his tongue to get Loki to relax and slide them in.
Loki moaned his name again once they did. Tony didn't let them go too far on the first pass, pulling them back out when the muscles tightened around them, pressing them in perfectly in time with his hand coming down over Loki's cock to drive him insane and keep him still as he tried to chase his pleasure both ways.
Tony continued to run his tongue along his ring as he slid his fingers in and out, doing his damndest to make sure they remained slick and maddening as he curled and scissored them to stretch Loki open.
It didn't sound like he was far from screaming Tony’s name as it was, each slide of his hand, press of his tongue, and curl of his fingers, had Loki shivering, choking out half swallowed moans and fighting between pushing himself back onto Tony's fingers and jerking up into his fist.
After a particularly intense and determined press of his fingers Loki arched back against the mattress with a shout and a shake and Tony had to draw back and steal a glance at his handiwork. Loki's cock was hot in his hand, beautiful and tempting, leaking precome freely down the tip and making him shiver every time Tony twisted his hand to collect it and spread it back down. The blush had crept all the way down his stomach now, leaving him glowing under a sheen of sweat. His own nails dug into his thigh to keep his leg pulled out of the way and his head was turned to the side. Angelic sounds spilling out of his mouth along with a tracks of drool as he panted with nowhere to go.
He snapped his unfocused eyes open and locked them onto Tony when he pulled away. Releasing his leg and throwing his arms at Tony, he caught him, twisting shaking hands into the collar of his long forgotten body suit and tangling them into his already ruined hair. Loki pulled him over himself and dragged him into the dirtiest kiss he's ever had sober.
Nothing but heat and desperation, tongue and teeth as Loki fought to devour him, wrapping his legs back around his waist and grinding up into him with abandon. Tony gave as good as he got, having to release Loki's cock and slide his fingers out at the sudden relocation and gratefully drinking the whimper of frustration that it created. He braced his hand besides Loki's head and knotted the other into his god's hair to match. Biting at his lips and moaning when Loki’s grip on him only tightened, pulling his hair in pleasantly painful ways.
Loki eventually broke the kiss, shoving him away to growl and snap at him. “Take this damn thing off and fuck me already!”
He shook Tony as he spit the words, glassy eyes glaring daggers at the elastic fabric still sealing his body away. Tony couldn't believe it was still on. Taking a moment to recover from both the intensity of the kiss and Loki’s divine commands he looked down at it as well and immediately became extremely aware of the constricting fabric. Namely the goddamn chastity cage he seems to have built for himself.
The pressure and confinement hit him all at once and he groaned painfully and pulled himself off of Loki again. He hunched over the bed and tapped impatiently against his chest to make the suit release, pulling, stretching, and kicking at the elastic to get it off.
He let out a properly indecent moan once he got it past his hips, leaning on the bed to catch his breath as his poorly neglected and damn near strangled cock was freed.
Next to him he heard a breathy chuckle and sigh, he glanced over to see Loki leaning on his arm with a lopsided smile. “Your design I presume?”
He had that dreaded spark back in his lust darkened eyes and was greedily ogling Tony as he moved to kick the rest of the suit off. His dick twitched at the expression and he groaned again when Loki shivered with it. “...What?”
Tony had no idea why Loki was getting chatty again with more nonsense when they had a much better thing to do. He kicked the suit off in its entirety and moved down the bed towards Loki's feet, taking himself in hand as he went. Loki's eyes tracked the movement and he pulled himself further up the bed spreading his legs invitingly but keeping his hands braced beside him.
“That made four.” He barely breathed it but Tony could still hear the smug tone, catching on to what he was saying when he jerked his head toward the discarded bodysuit.
He chuckled with him and pumped his hand a few times watching Loki shift and squirm minutely on the mattress as he did. “Clearly I'm taking too long if that's what's on your mind.”
He nodded towards the nightstand hoping Loki's poorly timed coherence could be convinced to grab the bottle of lube tucked in it. Instead Loki glanced at the nightstand and simply offered his hand out to Tony. A small honeypot now presented on his palm, eyes dark and demanding just behind it.
“Just savoring the moment, you should try it.”
Tony complied. Snatching the little pot from him and set it down, bracing on the bed. As expected it was a slick gel that was surprisingly warm for being right out of a pot. He smeared it between his fingers and looked up at Loki as he smoothed it down himself.
He groaned at the frictionless glide, letting himself thrust into his hand a few times. Loki was locked on it, eyes wide and lip between his teeth as he ground his hips into the mattress.
“Anthony.” He whined, impatient.
His hips stuttered at the name, breaking the teasing display he had tried to make. Instead of continuing the show he dipped his fingers back into the pot dragging his eyes slowly down Loki's body gesturing with a hand for him to open his legs again from where they had drifted closed.
Loki followed instruction immediately, spreading his legs wide again and tilting his hips to try and give him the best angle. Tony again rubbed the magic lube between his fingers warming it habitually as he properly climbed on the bed. He sat on his knees between Loki's legs and wrapped the dry hand around his thigh propping it up again to keep him still again.
He slid the back of his lubed hand down the inside of Loki's thigh as well just to watch his shiver and hear his heavy breathing hitch. “You savor it enough yet?”
Loki shook more at the question, wrapping his free leg around Tony’s back and dropping his head against the mattress. “Fuck me.”
Tony wasn't strong enough to refuse any longer. Sliding his slicked fingers back into Loki a few times just to make sure he was ready and curling them just right to make sure he knew where to aim he shifted to line himself up. Taking his hand off of Loki’s leg and placing it back near his head to cover him properly.
Loki met him before he had a chance to connect them, running his hands over Tony's chest and sighing at the finally exposed skin he found and pulling Tony into a breathy open mouthed kiss. He took himself back in hand and pressed lightly at Loki's entrance, he tightened his legs in response pulling Tony closer and pressing him in sooner than he intended.
He gasped and tried to pull himself back a bit when Loki grabbed his hair and pulled his head down to speak in his ear. “If you keep teasing me, I will roll us over and take it myself.”
Message received, he moved his hand off his cock and grabbed Loki's hip instead, pressing into him in one smooth motion. Reveling in the stuttering cry that Loki let out into his ear, joining the chorus with a moan of his own.
He felt so good.
Tight and smooth as Tony pushed in inch by inch fighting to resist the urge to fuck into him with abandon as Loki tensed and tighted more around him as he took it in. Loki’s fingers twisted further as he loosed beautifully wanton sounds, tugging painfully hard on his hair by the time he was fully seated. It placed his head right next to Loki’s divine whimpers that threatened to end their time early.
Tony set about making the problem worse to fix it. Turning his head only slightly to mouth and bite at Loki's neck while he waited for him to adjust and decide their rhythm. It succeeded in both driving Tony mad and getting Loki to move.
He cried out a broken ‘Anthony’ as Tony sucked a dark mark into his neck and made him jerk and grind his hips back into Tony.
The rhythm that Loki chose was fast and rough, Tony had to tear the hand out of his hair and lean back away from it to maintain it properly. Running both hands down Loki’s hips and guiding his legs over his shoulders instead.
Once properly posed he finally let himself let go.
Holding Loki in place and pounding into him like they both wanted, needed.
Loki scrambled at the bedsheets once he truly began to keep the pace, gasping and trying to find purchase while Tony held his legs and fucked into him. It took a few thrusts before he managed to hit the angle right but once he did it was true bliss.
Loki gave up trying to hold his own and let his hands twist uselessly in his own hair and the bedsheets above his head. Back arching off the bed as he tried to catch his breath through his own moans and cries.
Tony didn't give him a moment of peace, too addicted to his broken voice to even take a moment himself. Listening to the slap of their bodies and the gasp of every hit, trying to remain focused and get Loki to scream like he wanted before succumbing himself.
It wouldn't be long regardless, with Loki writhing beneath him, eyes closed and head thrown back being without a doubt the most incredible view Tony had ever seen. He let go of one of Loki's legs letting it curl loosely over his hip instead as he shifted forward. Tilting Loki's hips to a harsher angle and leaning over him more allowing Tony to hold onto to him better and restrict his desperate twisting and turning.
Loki grew louder at the change, his odd alien expletives spilling from his mouth as he tried to grind back into Tony again, tensing around him and pulling groans and swears from his own lips.
His hips stuttered when Loki loosed another ‘Anthony’ at him and even dared to breathily chuckle at him when he slowed to take a moment. Tony glared at him and let go of his other leg, using the now free hand to gently scratch along Loki’s stomach as he ruined the rhythm to slowly pull out as Loki shivered and whined.
He did it a few more times for good measure, dragging his cock out slow and teasingly as he lightly traced patterns into Loki's sensitive stomach before flattening his hand and pressing him into the bed to snap back into him.
The shouts and cries Loki produced with each snap and the whimpers and whines with each drag were doing nothing good for Tony's stamina, making him desperately miss the brutal pace from before and after a few more go's he decided Loki had paid for his attitude enough.
He didn't lean back again to resume the harsh pace, instead reaching up past Loki to grab one of the pillows teetering off the edge of the bed from their sporadic movements. Using Loki's curled position to his advantage he slotted the pillow under his hips and immediately picked up the brutal pace his body was demanding.
Loki tried to writhe again at the change, body shaking with every hard press to his prostate, Tony held him as still as he could through it. Forcing him to give up and just take it until he couldn't. A time that was fast approaching by the sounds he was making.
Just as Tony wanted a neverending stream of Anthony’s were spilling from somewhere low in Loki’s throat and with the closer angle Tony was able to nip at his neck as reward for each one of them. It also meant Loki was able to retaliate for the teasing again, his nails back to digging harshly in Tony's shoulders. He let out his own symphony of ‘Loki's at the pain driving him closer to the edge.
His idle goal was achieved as the first one sprang from his lips. Loki Screamed and became impossibly tight around him. Hot sticky cum painting their stomachs as Loki gave in, Tony's name the last thing he managed as it became perfectly too much.
Tony followed him a moment later, his own orgasm being torn out of him at Loki's body made it impossible to hold on. Spilling deep inside of him, Tony gave a few last thrusts to chase it as much as he could, new whines from Loki telling him they were too much as he continued to overwork him.
He collapsed onto Loki fully as he came down, panting heavy breaths into his shoulder. Loki's arms stayed on his back, nails retracted and now rubbing lazy satisfied stripes up and down his skin. Tony boldly nuzzled into his neck for a moment with a final harsh sigh before pulling out and rolling off to lay next to him on the bed instead.
Loki hummed at him and followed his roll with a turn of his head. Heavily lidded and amused eyes shining at him at Loki decided to completely ruin the moment by opening his damn mouth again.
“How'd you enjoy dinner?”
Said with a giggle.
Tony smiled despite himself and gave him a single amused breath before throwing an arm over his eyes as if it would hide him from what was undeniably the single worst decision he's ever made.
He had SEX with LOKI.
He was an idiot.
He didn't know how he got here.
A hand slid across his stomach and he tensed under the touch, peeking out from under his arm he saw Loki propped up on his elbow. Hair messy and still sticking to his neck and shoulders rubbing gentle touches into his skin.
Tony didn't correct him, relaxing as he continued with the intimate petting. There was a soft smile still on his face as well as he clearly admired him while dragging ticklish fingers over his skin.
They wallowed in the quiet for a bit, Tony just watching Loki as he scratched contently across his stomach and chest. He dropped his arm again after a minute, now just laying there while Loki continued on oblivious or simply uncaring about his confused stares.
“I don't think I know you.” He eventually said, it came out a lot louder than he expected, breaking the quiet like a damning gunshot.
Loki, yet again with his smug smile back on, met Tony's eyes, his own dancing with light and amusement. “That good was it?”
He hadn't stopped his idle motions at all while he teased, and while his hand was going everywhere he could reach across his chest he had yet to actually touch the reactor. Staying cautiously outside of his ring of scarring surrounding it.
Tony didn't join his teasing, moving his now heavy limbs to sit up more. Loki still didn't mind now taking advantage of the position to run his hand up and down his arm pressing gently into the muscles.
“I didn't expect this, is what I meant.”
“Hm, nor did I.” Loki said far more satisfied than Tony, “I thought we could at least drop the games for dinner, I didn't think you'd forgo dinner entirely.”
Games?
Tony didn't really know what he meant by that. A lot of their goading turned into minor tragedies could have been games.
If they were friends.
Or friendly even.
Loki flattened his hand on his chest and pressed him back into the mattress, leaning further up on his arm to crowd over him as he did. Tony went willingly with it. A spectator to Loki acting entirely different than Tony would have expected from him.
He moved his hand to the other side of him, caging him in with his arms and leaned down over him. His messy hair acting as curtains sealing them off from the world. Leaning lower still Loki breathed over his lips a quiet, “can't say I'm disappointed.”
And Kissed him.
Not for the first time obviously they just finished a lot more than kissing, evidence of that still tacky where it dried on their stomachs. But there was no reason this time, no whirlwind spontaneous need. No greatly misplaced desire.
Just… Kissing because he wanted to.
Tony kissed him back. What else was he going to do? And continued to be surprised at how soft Loki kept it. Pressing into his lips almost gratefully, coaxing his mouth open to slide their tongues together with a contented sigh.
Closing his eyes, Tony gave into it properly. Bringing his arms up to wrap them around Loki’s middle and pull him more properly on top of him. Loki moved eagerly at the encouragement, slipping a leg between Tony’s and laying on him fully.
He was a satisfying weight against him, grounding him in place to make him just enjoy the moment. Kissing like lifelong lovers ready to throw the whole world away for another minute against each other.
They broke apart countless times to let Tony catch his breath, Loki moving easily and smoothly to nuzzling into his neck or kissing across his jaw each time. Tony felt worse and worse about his previous impression of Loki with every passionate kiss.
That was the only word he had for it.
Passionate.
And so very easy to return.
Never had he considered kissing what was previously the rock in the bottom of his shoe, but apparently he should have. Their lips fit together perfectly, their tongues danced and teased like they had practiced long before the big performance today and each and every slide of each others hands mapped out a body that felt just right.
He pushed Loki away and just looked at him for a time, trying to find the lie.
He couldn't.
Loki was calm, relaxed, happy to do nothing more than watch each other. He traced Tony's goatee with both his eyes and his fingers, sighing as glanced over swollen lips and cupping his cheek to just hold him there. To ground them both in the moment.
“Do we have to go back to the performance when we leave?” Loki asked quietly, rubbing his thumb across his cheekbone. “Neither of us were any good at it.”
Not good at it.
Bitten smiles and carefully smoothed expressions. Tony had thought Loki was making fun of him, instead he was genuinely excited to see him and banter back and forth.
Delighted when Tony insenserly invited himself to dinner.
He felt awful.
“No,” he lightly shook his head. “I hated those games.”
Green eyes lit up again. Corners crinkling as Loki dipped his head again just until their noses touched. “Me too.”
Tony kissed him again, trying to put as much regret and apology in it as possible. Loki accepted it all still shielding them from the outside world. Sealing them off from all of Tony's now very apparent mistakes.
“Can we just stay like this?” He asked against Loki's lips.
A chuckle and Loki pulled away, leaning all the way back to sit upright still straddling his leg. There was a moment of doubt, of expecting Loki to pull out the rug, to break his already shredded heart as that familiar spark entered his eyes yet again.
“Of course,” Loki looked him up and down, grin sharp on his face and voice already laughing through the words. “This is the safest you’ve ever been.”
Tony actually laughed at the dumb joke this time. leaning up to wrap his arms back around Loki's middle and flip them back down onto the mattress again. Briefly kissing him again and continuing it how he should have from the start.
“You're right.” He said very seriously, a dumb grin on his face, “any time you see me trying to put clothes on you need to stop me immediately. It's probably contagious too, you should avoid them too.”
A matching dumb grin on Loki's face and an agreeing hum and exaggerated nod. “Very wise, better safe than scarred.”
“...Then sorry.” Tony corrected again. Loki cocked his head as much as he could on the bed.
“What would we be sorry for?” Genuine confusion again.
Tony started laughing again, dropping his head onto Loki's chest and groaning his own foolish amusement into the tacky skin. “You're cute.”
Why would Loki know common earth, american, sayings?
It should be more surprising that they were even slightly similar to one another.
“I would never apologise for such a thing.” Loki had some forced amusement in his voice to try and cover the confusion but Tony could hear it regardless.
It made his smile grow so much wider.
He felt giddy and warm.
He had definitely lost his mind.