Chapter Text
He didn't know when it had started. Perhaps after the midnight snack incident, or a few days later, Loki started to join him in his lab while working.
In the beginning, he just sat in silence in a chair he brought with him, reading a book. After the fifth time Loki came, there was a velvet sofa, in a beautiful dark green shade. The demigod had only raised an eyebrow at Tony, who had just shrugged as if to say he didn't know how it had gotten there and kept tinkering.
As the days passed, they started to exchange a few lines, then some comments, and two months later, Loki started to ask Tony questions about his inventions. The brunet was surprised that his explanations were being understood and helpful comments were given. They started a project together, perfecting the idea and execution of "clean energy", though neither wanted to admit that it was only an excuse to exchange light touches with the other, as well as an activity that allowed them to share more time while seeming occupied to the eyes of the others.
Team dinners had a more leisurely feel to them. Everyone interacted as human beings, functional even. At least most of the time. There's where Tony found out that Loki was getting along better with the rest of the Avengers. With some of them, he was chatting, with others the death glares had stopped. Tony was a genius but he didn't see any connection with his visits yet. Still, he was happy that Loki had found a way of being less time alone, and hopefully, less lonely.
Their thoughts were calmer when they were with each other. They worked as an oasis in the middle of all their bullshit. They still made snarky remarks to each other, but it was playful now, lighter. Everything seemed to be lighter when they shared a room, a conversation, a silence. Seldomly, Loki would share with Tony a piece of literature that he had found interesting, and while Tony wasn't much of a poetry guy, he thoroughly enjoyed listening to the trickster's voice. Loki's voice was almost always shining with that silver tongue of his, but on the rare occasions when they shared the sofa, Tony with a cup of coffee, Loki with a cup of tea, and the demigod read aloud a passage of a poem, Tony found himself closing his eyes to enjoy it much more.
As four months had passed since that night's incident, they found themselves on one of those rare evenings, and much to Tony's surprise, Loki had chosen the genius's lap to rest while he read. The brunet's mind had frozen, but his hand had been faster to react, massaging the trickster's scalp softly. Loki reacted with a soft, content hum and continued reading. That evening had ended as many before, but it had left Tony thinking about it until he fell asleep.
The following day though was different from the previous ones. He found Thor waiting for him in his kitchen, with a worried face, or at least that's what it looked like, sitting in front of the kitchen bar.
"Coffee first, Point Break, talk after." Said Tony with some slurred words. Thor seemed to understand the task, so he patiently waited, until after the brunet had made the coffee, poured some in a cup, and took the first sip. The second sip, though, almost escaped Tony's mouth.
"What are your intentions with my baby brother, Stark?"
That was not the way he expected to start the day, but he supposed, it was one way of doing it. Still, it was way too early for this.
"What do you mean, Thor?", he tried first.
"Are you trying to bed him or are you wooing him?" Way too early for this.
Tony rubbed his temple and face, and the Asgardian's worried frown deepened a bit.
"Thor, buddy, why do you think I want either of those two?" He had wanted to enjoy his morning coffee, but down in one gulp had to be this time.
“Loki has been happier lately, I even dare to say social. He hasn’t been like this since before he attacked Asgard with the Frost Giants. And he seems to be happier after spending time with you. I haven’t seen him like this, even when he bedded-”
“All right Thor, that’s too much info right there. I haven’t thought about it, I don’t think Loki has thought about it, and to be honest, maybe it’s just a nice friendship. How did Loki behave with his friends back in Asgard?”
Thor sighed. “He didn’t have friends, Man of Iron. He played tricks on everyone that tried to get close to him. There’s one time when we were children, he transformed himself into a snake, and he knows I love snakes, so I went to pick up the snake to admire it, and he transformed back into himself and was like ‘Waa! It’s me!’ and he stabbed me. We were eight at the time. There’s that as well: he’s a man with magic, he was seen as too feminine, even more so with all the time he spent with our mother in the library or learning how to use his magic with her. He usually spent his time by himself. But it’s different now, with you. He wants to be around you and seeks out for you.”
Tony felt the weight of his eyebags increasing the more he listened to Thor. It was early to be listening to the thunder god ramble. He downed the coffee mug in one gulp and decided to try to have this conversation with the blond.
"Alright, so maybe he's behaving weirdly because he never had friends and, from what I heard just now, I might be his first friend ever so he might not know how to be around people he trusts?"
Thor shook his head. "I don't think that is it. All I ask of you is that you don't play with my baby brother's feelings, Man of Iron. He has been hurt too many times," he said, standing from his seat.
The brunet watched him leave the room and decided to get another cup of coffee. It was going to be a long day, and he didn't want to start it unprepared. Again.
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Mostly, Tony thought of Loki as a cat. You never really know the next move, and you assume that if it lets you pet it, then it likes you, and it’s pretty independent, but sometimes it enjoys your company. Lately, though, he had started to realize that Loki wasn’t a cat, and was, in fact, a man, and one quite attractive at that. He already knew that Loki was attractive, but what was new information was that the trickster was attracting him , as in “Oh I might be having rapid palpitations when I see this person” attracting him. So even though Thor might have misunderstood Loki’s feelings, he would soon find himself having to change his answer to his question again.
He noticed that Loki only let Thor and Tony touch him, as he evaded physical contact like the plague. The brunet would say it was because he wasn't used to trusting friends, but then again, he had turned quite cuddly with him, so maybe it wasn’t that. He also noticed that it was true, that Loki had been smiling more often, laughing louder, and felt more at ease with socializing. He also noticed himself smiling every time the demigod smiled, laughed, and socialized. So yeah, maybe he had a tiny crush on Loki, sue him. He wasn’t going to do anything about it though. Or was he?
Tony realized he had been lost in thought too much time when a worried trickster started to wave a hand in front of his face while calling his name. His eyes focused on reality again and raised the coffee cup to his lips. The green velvet sofa that was holding them both felt like a small island of contentment, and Loki’s voice felt like the chirping birds of paradise. Maybe it was more than a tiny crush.
“Anthony, did you listen to anything I said?” asked the dark-haired man, a light frown on his face, “What has gotten to you lately? Is there something worrying you?”
Tony shook his head. “Nope,” he answered, slightly cheerfully. “Nothing at all. Sorry for not paying attention, I was thinking about a new idea for the suit.” That was the first excuse that came to his mind, and it better work because he really didn’t want to confess to Loki right now. The demigod's face of disbelief and raised eyebrow let him know it wasn't the case.
"You should know better than to lie to the God of Lies. Come on, tell me what the problem is."
"I, um…" Tony stared at his coffee mug for a bit, thinking of a way to tell the truth without selling himself out, "I have started to develop feeling for a friend," he started, missing Loki's tightening grip around his tea mug, "but I don't know what to do about it because that friend is out of my league and I don't want to screw up our friendship because that would break me."
"Seems like you care a lot about this friend. Who is it?" asked Loki, with a hint of jealousy.
"Nuh-uh, I won't tell you because you will tell him just to create chaos." Answered Tony with a lightly forced laugh. Both of them were so focused on deceiving the other that they missed every body language hint.
"Oh come on, Anthony, I wouldn't betray your trust like that. Tell me, I'll keep it a secret." Said the black-haired man with a smile and a slightly joking tone.
"I won't tell you their name, but I can tell you it's a close friend of mine, so I don't know if they behave as they do because they feel the same or if they're simply… friendly?"
Loki's mind went to Bruce Banner because he was the only other person that Tony hung out with besides him. For some reason, his friend didn't want to let him know of his feelings, but the demigod was sure Banner wasn't out of Tony's league.
"You should tell them how you feel, I'm pretty sure they'd be lucky to have you in their life," he simply stated, drinking some of the tea in his cup. "You're smart, funny, attractive, charming sometimes even," a chuckle from Stark made Loki smile through the end of his sentence, "and you're stronger than you think."
"You really think so?" There was a slight shock in the brunet's voice. He knew Loki enjoyed his company, but not that he thought of him like that. Tony tried to brush off his excitement with a joke. "I've been sparring extra time with Natasha, glad you noticed." He flexed his arm as if to show his progress, and this made Loki laugh lightly.
The two of them chatted for a while, the topic being abandoned, but the evening being enjoyed. At the end of the conversation Tony promised to give the confession a thought, and Loki was left with a funny feeling in his chest, wondering if he hadn't made a mistake by telling his friend to confess to someone else.
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The next day Loki tried to figure out why he felt funny during the previous day's conversation. Sitting on his floor's sofa, he decided to start by "identifying his feelings", as that S.H.I.E.L.D. therapist had said, and he took a deep breath. He felt jealousy and possessiveness. Huh. Why did he feel possessive? it wasn’t as if Anthony were his property, and why would he want to own a friend?
He dug a bit deeper and he found affection and desire. He knew that he held some affection for the mortal, as he was his friend, but desire? What did he desire? He started to think about Anthony. He saw messy dark brown hair that looked greasy but soft, and he wondered how it would feel to touch it. He then pictured him making a snarky remark and smiling, laughing, and just by imagining it, he felt a tingle in his chest. He wanted to make him laugh more often.
After some thorough analysis of the brunet's body parts, the demigod realized that he craved his touch and overall affection. He thought that it might've been as friends, but that was no reason to feel jealousy unless he feared Banner would steal his time with Stark. Maybe he had to speak with the good doctor. He asked JARVIS where Dr. Banner was and to his desperation, he was working with Stark. He decided to wait for him on his own floor and marinate on what he was going to say to him.
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"You should tell him. I mean you basically did, might as well profess your feelings to the prince," said Bruce, making an exaggerated gesture, stretching out his hand a bit, before continuing to work on the hologram in front of him. Tony laughed lightly.
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s a good idea, jellybean. I mean, we flirt a lot, but it’s only as a joke. We’ve never gotten past the pickup lines,” answered Tony, who was working on a new suit. This new design played with the mix of red with blue details, while also adding resistance to lower degrees of temperature.
“I don’t know, seems to me like you’re both dancing around something that should have happened months ago. I would have thought that by now you guys would have torn each other’s clothes off. What’s stopping you?”
Tony didn’t answer and kept working silently. Eventually, Bruce decided that it had been enough work for the day for him so he headed to his bed. Before JARVIS could tell Loki that he could talk to Banner, Tony spoke first.
“J, tell Lok-Lok to come here, will ya?”
“ Right away, sir. ”
Loki was surprised to be summoned by the AI but decided to go anyway. He’d have that talk with Banner in another moment. As the black-haired man entered the lab, Tony seemed to get increasingly nervous, with rapid movements accompanying his welcoming smile, so the demigod didn’t know what to expect.
“Anthony. What matters require my presence without previous notice?” asked Loki, slightly raising one eyebrow, but smirking lightly. He watched as Tony prepared some holographic blueprints and brought what looked like an incomplete suit, as it had missing pieces, such as the helmet and the boots. This suit though, was painted with colors that the trickster didn’t recognize as Iron Man’s. It was almost fully red, but it had some patterns engraved in the color blue. “Anthony, what is this?”
“This,” started Tony, putting one hand over the suit’s shoulder. “Is the Iron Hugger.” When he was met with a puzzled look, he explained. “I noticed your body temperature lowers quite drastically when you turn into blueberry mode, and I don’t want to risk it with the other suits, so I made this.” The genius noticed the other twitch when he said ‘blueberry mode’, but kept going. “I’m making this because Thor also said that frost giants can burn Asgardian skin when in contact, and also use some sort of ice magic? So I just wanted to make something for you.” Tony’s eyes drifted to the suit, which was now being looked at as if it were his baby, with a proud smile that reached his eyes. “This suit is going to heat up and melt any type of Ice you throw my way, so if you ever feel angry or sad in blueberry mode, I can still, you know, hug you, and you won’t be alone.” With this, he looked at Loki again, and his smile fell. Loki was crying. Why was Loki crying? Oh God, he’d fucked up? Maybe he was exaggerating after all.
‘Ah, shit.’ they both thought at the same time. Loki though was processing something else. This was what he had felt. He liked Tony. He liked this man, and that was why he had felt jealous.
“Anthony-”
“I’m sorry, did I fuck up?”
“Anthony.”
“It was too much, right? Sorry.”
“Anthony.
“I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, I swear I-”
“Anthony,” said Loki for the last time, grabbing the brunet by the shoulders, “you do love to hear yourself talk, you absolute moron.” And so, with tear trails on his cheeks, he let a burst of loud joyous laughter leave his mouth, and he kissed Tony. He kissed him as if the genius had been a whole meal after months of being deprived of food, and Tony, after recovering rather quickly from the shock, kissed back, as if the trickster had been water after going months without any liquid. When they parted, they joined foreheads lightly.
“So… I take you actually liked it?” said the engineer, earning a soft laugh from the other.
“Yes, Anthony, I like it. Although it is a bit exaggerated, as your other suits would work just fine with the temperature I can reach, “ he said, glamour disappearing, revealing his blue skin and red eyes. Loki’s body temperature was low enough to make Tony get goosebumps, but Loki was right, he could handle it. The brunet separated their foreheads and raised a hand to caress the other one’s cold cheek.
“God, you are so gorgeous and so hot,” he said, softly, reaching out for another welcomed kiss from the grinning demigod.
“Well, I really am a god.”
“And I would pray to you.”
“Ok, Anthony, take it slow.”, he said, laughing lightly while taking Tony’s hand in his.
They stood there, holding each other, until Tony let out a whine.
“What is it?” inquired Loki.
“Oh nothing, it’s just your brother is going to kill me.”