Work Text:
1.
The first time Loki turned himself into something, Tony wasn't expecting it.
He was only just getting used to having people in the tower again and while he did like the Revengers (liked Loki even, which he really hadn’t expected), he was still a little more inclined to hide himself away from them all and enjoy the peace and quiet of his lab.
But when Thor had first arrived back on Earth and explained the situation (destruction of Asgard, crazy dead sister, flee from Mad Titan) and that they needed a place to lie low, Tony had been a bit mystified but agreed.
The majority of the Asgardian populace had been deposited on Vanaheim until further notice, but the Revengers were planning to fight in the war to come, so, they came to Stark Tower.
The Revengers were interesting roommates: Bruce was his usual self if a bit happier and full of stories of the universe, Valkyrie was pretty cool but Tony had quickly learned that he needed to hide his favourite alcohol from her if he didn’t want it to go missing, Thor was Thor, and Loki was, well, discomforting. But then Tony supposed anybody who came with the warning of, ‘do be careful, Stark, he might stab you for his amusement’ was going to keep things from being boring.
Loki had looked offended though and had denied the accusation saying that he would not stab their ‘host’, but Thor had been sceptical and the two brothers had ended up bickering about how likely Loki was to try and kill Tony.
Tony had been heavily debating if ten in the morning was too early for a drink.
But as it turned out, for all of Thor’s warnings and worries, Loki didn’t seem inclined to stab, attack or otherwise hurt Tony. Loki just liked to talk to him.
Loki was curious about everything, he would always find a way to debate about anything and he loved to play harmless pranks on anyone who was unfortunate enough to enter the tower. All and all, he was actually pretty fun to have around.
It was probably why Tony let his guard down. It was probably why, after almost a month of having a magical mischief god in the tower who never turned his tricks on Tony, the engineer just didn’t expect to be on the receiving end of one of Loki’s pranks.
He should have known better.
Tony had been in the lab, working away on some of his new armour schematics as well as repairing a gauntlet. He didn’t know how long he’d been down there, but he’d reached out for a small prybar only to find it wasn’t on the bench where he’d left it. Tony had blinked; taking a moment to stare blankly at the spot before realising it was truly gone. He’d started looking around for it after that, only to spot it on another table, nowhere near where he’d last put it.
Tony had grumbled before standing up and making his way over to it. He’d barely grasped the tool when his hand started to tingle, making him look down uncertainly. He didn’t have time to do much else however as, from one moment to the next, Loki was suddenly right in front of him sitting on the edge of the bench.
“Holy shit!” Tony yelped, startling backwards at the close proximity.
He only caught a glimpse of Loki’s wide smirk before it was being pressed against Tony’s mouth in a close-mouthed kiss. It only lasted a second before Loki was pulling back and with a bright laugh that echoed around the lab, he disappeared, teleporting out of the room and leaving Tony’s heart racing from lingering shock.
When Tony finally managed to get his thoughts together, he pushed away from the worktable and stalked out of the lab. He wasn’t sure what exactly he wanted to do other than yell ‘what the actual fuck?’ in the mage’s face but it seemed like a good place to start; all he needed to do was find Loki.
It proved difficult though as he wasn’t in his rooms or the communal living space and FRIDAY couldn’t sense his presence in the tower (not uncommon as hiding from FRIDAY was apparently ‘child’s play’ after years of masking himself from Heimdall) so with nothing else to do, Tony had searched out Thor.
Since he was still feeling confused, slightly violated and wanting to give Loki a good punch for scaring the hell out of him, Tony probably hadn’t given Thor a lot of assistance when he’d yelled, “What the fuck is wrong with your brother?”
Thor had been in the training room sparing with Valkyrie at the time but they’d both paused to stare at him oddly.
Thor at least, was quick to look resigned, “What has Loki done now?”
“He was a fucking prybar but he turned back into himself when I picked him up! He scared the crap out of me and then he kissed me!”
The Asgardians stared at him for a long moment. Valkyrie soon looked as if she was trying not to snigger while Thor didn’t even curb the urge; he laughed loud and long. “A kiss, Stark?” He shook his head. “You are lucky he did not do something far worse! A knife in my side was his favourite response to fooling me with his transformations!”
Thor looked nothing but fond of his brother’s antics, which was just terrifying and Tony’s expression must not have conveyed understanding as Thor stepped close and lightly patted Tony’s shoulder. "Do not fret, Stark. He must simply have been bored. Have you been ignoring him?”
Tony went to deny that, but well, he might have spent the last day in the lab and had barely spoken to anyone, let alone Loki, but, still! That wasn’t unusual!
Thor just chucked softly at Tony's expression and advised, “Loki does not like to be ignored."
“He kissed me,” Tony felt like pointing out.
Thor shrugged. “And he has stabbed me. Loki and his mischief is not a thing to be understood.”
“Or perhaps he just likes you, Stark,” Valkyrie teased.
Tony just screwed up his face at the thought. No, just no. Loki might be a strange guy but Tony doubted he was into pig-tail pulling mortals with surprise transformations. A bored prank though? Yeah. That Tony could see - didn’t mean he wasn’t still going to punch the asshole in the chest next time Tony found him. Tony might not be a man with a heart-condition anymore, but he didn’t need any more grey hairs, damn it!
Next time Loki wanted to chat, Tony would just make sure the mage knew that all he had to do was ask.
2.
Tony should have known better than to believe it would be that simple.
He found Loki a couple of hours later (when he stopped looking for him, of course) and had made good on his promise to punch Loki in the chest and yell at him for the fright. Loki had made some bullshit excuse about testing his reflexes and Tony had told him to say it to his face when he was in the Iron Man armour. Loki’s eyes had gleamed and they’d ended up sparring in the training rooms.
All things considered, the whole thing should have been swept under the rug. Tony however, did not give due consideration to the nature of a chaotic trickster god.
Loki gave him a couple of days at least; plenty of time to let his guard down again, especially when Loki chose early in the morning when Tony was stumbling his way out of bed and reaching with half-asleep hands for his coffee mug.
He barely registered the prickle of magic rushing over his hands, but he did register that he was no longer holding coffee but the soft material of a silk shirt. Tony had blinked up at Loki in bleary-eyed confusion, too half asleep to startle back.
Loki had just smiled at him, a little softer around the edges than last time and with eyes that were warm and laughing. Tony barely noticed that though, he only saw the way Loki bent down and pressed his mouth chastely against Tony’s while using one of his hands to untangle Tony’s from the mage’s shirt.
Loki let him go when he was finished and pulled back from the kiss a moment later. “Good morning, Stark”, he'd whispered and then he was gone, disappearing in a burst of sparkles between one of Tony’s bewildered blinks and another.
Tony had spent a rather large amount of time staring into nothing with his lips still tingling from the kiss before he managed to croak out, “FRIDAY?”
“Yes, boss?”
“Did Loki just do that thing again?”
“Yes, boss.”
Nodding very slowly, Tony just stepped forward and grabbed the actual mug of coffee that his AI had filled for him. He cupped it in his hands before closing his eyes and taking his first, life-giving sip.
In the end, Tony decided to ignore that one as if it never occurred (his standard principal for any events that occurred before coffee, really). After all, with any luck his lack of dramatic reaction would have taken the fun out of it for the mage.
3.
The first time might have been a prank, the second time a continuation of a bad joke, but three times? That was becoming a pattern.
Tony had assumed that his lack of response at the time and the way he’d continued to pretend the early morning appear-and-kiss hadn’t happened would have ended it.
When Tony had said nothing the next time they’d run into each other, Loki had frowned heavily at Tony. The expression had been maddeningly impossible to decipher (not that Tony had made FRIDAY play it back for him to study or anything) but he’d figured Loki would move on to bigger and flashier pranks.
Tony did not expect to be reaching for his tablet a week later only for the now familiar tingle to appear in his hands.
Tony had been sitting on the communal couch texting Rhodey not three seconds earlier. He’d been using his tablet five minutes ago and didn’t know when Loki had snuck in and changed it.
But he wasn’t thinking that in-depth at the time, all Tony had been able to think in the split-second he’d registered the magic was shit and not again before, unlike the previous times, this time, Loki was actually straddling him.
Tony’s eyes had flown wide, but Loki hadn’t given him time to react. He’d placed firm, warm hands on Tony’s shoulders before he was pressing their mouths together.
This one wasn’t like the others, it wasn’t a there-and-gone-again kiss instead it lingered. He could feel Loki’s quirked smile against his mouth and Tony felt his own hands resting in the air near Loki’s sides, unsure whether to touch and if he did, whether he would keep Loki close or push him away.
His decision was made for him as Loki pulled back and Tony didn’t know what to do with the way a part of him wanted to lean forward and chase the other man’s mouth. Tony didn’t though; he stayed where he was, his eyes opening from where they’d fallen closed.
He managed to catch a brief look at Loki’s dancing eyes before the mage’s body was fading away like a mirage, leaving Tony alone and wondering what the hell Loki was playing at. Was he still just trying to get a rise? Did he have some secret ulterior motive that would only reveal itself at the end when Tony had embarrassed himself or leaned into the other man’s kiss?
Or perhaps he just likes you, Stark, Valkyrie’s words from the very first time floated back through his mind but Tony dismissed them firmly and with an unimpressed scowl forming.
Yeah right, Tony told himself, as if Loki’s doing it because of that.
4.
After the last time, Tony did what he should have done from the beginning; he became paranoid.
He started carrying around a wooden ruler and used it to poke everything before he touched it. If people thought he was odd about being handed things, well, they had a whole new thing to call him ‘eccentric’ for now. The Revengers at least, were torn between amusement and sympathy, already used to being on the receiving end of one of Loki’s tricks
Loki, for his part, seemed both perturbed and oddly... unhappy. He had walked in on Tony poking some pens with his ruler and the look on his face had been unreadable, his eyes tightening briefly while his mouth pulled to the side. It was only there for a moment before his expression was smoothing out and he was telling Tony that he wouldn’t be noticed until he wished to be noticed.
It had probably been the perfect time for Tony to tell him to stop sneaking up and kissing him, but Loki had walked out of the room before Tony could try.
It made Tony think he’d actually... hurt Loki.
Thor believed he had simply annoyed Loki by making it difficult for him to fulfil his scheme (unlikely since Tony was positive it had not been annoyance on his face). Valkyrie had just shrugged and asked Tony what he expected after rejecting the guy’s advances (utterly unhelpful and not supposed to make his stomach twist unpleasantly.) Bruce had told him he wasn’t getting involved since Loki had yet to prank him and Bruce didn’t want him to start (understandable, but still not helpful in the slightest.).
When two weeks had passed without any of Loki’s magical appearances and with their odd friendship seeming unusually strained, Tony had just sighed loudly and left the ruler outside the door to Loki’s rooms as a peace offering.
Fine, you asshole, you win. You can fucking prank me again.
It took all of an hour before he was walking through his penthouse and saw a bottle of scotch in the middle of the bar. Tony had eyed it suspiciously, fairly certain he hadn’t put it there and that Valkyrie hadn’t been up on his floor anytime today.
Tony knew he could ask FRIDAY to be positive, but he also felt a little like he was being tested, and before Tony could think better of it, he was walking over to the bottle and lightly brushing the stem.
The familiar rush of magic ran across his fingertips and Tony felt a satisfied smirk pull at his mouth as Loki appeared before him, standing tall and proud and smirking right back. This time, when he bent forward, one of his hands came up and Tony startled to feel it cup his cheek as Loki kissed him, soft and sweet and with something that almost tasted like relief.
When Loki pulled away, he remained just long enough for the engineer to open his eyes. The moment he did, Loki winked at him before disappearing in a swirl of wind that lightly ruffled Tony’s clothing.
Chuckling softly, Tony let himself enjoy the burst of warmth that Loki’s appearance had created in the centre of his chest.
Okay, Tony thought, time to revaluate.
5.
The conclusion that Tony came to after a good half hour of reviewing the facts? He didn’t think Loki was trying to humiliate him.
He was actually pretty sure that Valkyrie had been right on the money when she’d made her joke about Loki liking him.
Loki was still a difficult bastard to read and the stills of his expressions that FRIDAY had taken were still as multi-faceted as ever, but Tony was pretty damn sure there was frustration and yearning when he’d ignored the mage’s second kiss. He was also sure that he saw hurt and sadness in Loki’s eyes when Tony had started using the ruler in order to avoid another magical appearance.
The last kiss though and the happiness in his eyes? The flirtatious wink? Yeah, Tony was pretty sure Loki was into him. He wasn’t one hundred percent positive though, because, surely if Loki wanted to date him than the mage would do something other than surprise kisses that were never anything more than chaste?
Surely Loki of all people knew how to make a more straightforward move?
(But then, Loki and straightforward weren’t exactly words that went together, were they?)
So, Tony figured, if Loki was experimenting with and trialling Tony’s reactions to a romantic advance, it was only fair that Tony tested him too, right?
It just meant that he needed Loki to take on another magical guise.
Tony did have to admit that he was a bit surprised when it took Loki less than an hour to show up in Tony’s lab in the form of a dagger. It was very blatant, very obvious and if the bottle of scotch had been a test, this was an outright challenge.
But Tony didn’t hesitate to step forward and touch his fingers to the blade, and this time, he ignored the tingle of magic over his fingers to watch the way the air distorted as Loki revealed himself.
His hands were resting by his sides when he appeared and his eyes were sharply focused on Tony. The engineer just raised his eyebrows in outright dare: bring it on, magic man.
Loki noticed and he let out a huff of breath before he stepped close, their chests almost brushing.
Tony tilted up his chin, his gaze staying locked on emerald eyes that even inches away didn’t give away the mage’s secrets or desires. His lips though? His touch? They weren’t nearly so guarded.
Loki’s hands cupped Tony’s cheeks, long fingers lightly stroking his skin as Loki’s lips seemed to caress Tony’s. Yet the kiss was still chaste and even when Tony’s mouth parted on a soundless gasp, Loki never deepened it. He brushed their mouths together with such tender affection that it had shivers running down Tony’s spine.
The kiss was longer than the others and when Loki eventually pulled back, Tony was surprised to realise he’d never moved, he’d been lost from the moment Loki touched him. Loki, however, had misinterpreted the reaction and it was obvious by his soft, sad sigh and the parting stroke of his thumbs over Tony’s cheeks.
“All good things,” he murmured with disappointment before dropping his hands from Tony’s face.
When he disappeared this time, there was no sound, no lights and nothing but the words he'd spoken and the ones he'd never said rattling around in Tony’s head.
All good things must come to an end.
Well, not this time.
+1
It was hard to find Loki when he didn’t want to be found, so it was probably a good thing that when Tony asked FRIDAY about the mage’s location; she said he had reappeared in the communal kitchen and that Loki was alone.
Tony had barely thought about what he was doing, just grabbing his tablet that was nearby and giving FRIDAY an order or two while hurrying his way up to the floor Loki was on. It only took him a few minutes to get there and Tony took in a subtle breath when he was just outside the room to get himself ready. Tony randomly pulled up an SI document and shifted into his most relaxed stance. He had one shot at this and despite the butterflies that were rushing through his stomach; he stepped into the room smoothly, trying to look as casual and unconcerned as possible.
Loki was standing up which was perfect, and he’d turned towards Tony at the sound of his footsteps. Tony pretended to be off in his own little world and oblivious to Loki as he kept his eyes on the tablet, even while shifting his direction to walk as close to Loki as possible.
He waited until the last moment and until he was close enough that his arm brushed Loki’s side before he hit the play button on the soundbite he’d had FRIDAY download. It made a very loud, satisfying sound of someone blowing a party horn. The way that Loki jumped was almost as gratifying as the way Tony pivoted on his heel to face Loki’s irritated expression only to press up on his toes and slot their mouths together in a gentle kiss.
It only lasted for a few seconds before he pulled back, looking into Loki’s wide, shocked eyes and grinning at him.
“Gotcha back, babe," Tony told him smugly.
He then winked at Loki for good measure and started to step away. He had barely managed to get his foot off the ground and start to turn before Loki was making a small, disbelieving noise and grabbing Tony’s arm to drag the engineer back to face him. Tony was already laughing but Loki just moved to wrap his arms around Tony’s waist and more securely draw the engineer into another kiss that was just as soft as the one from down in the lab.
This time, Tony pressed in close and curled his arms around Loki’s neck. It meant that his tablet was resting against the mage’s upper back, but he doubted Loki was going to complain, not when Tony was happily and enthusiastically kissing Loki back.
When they eventually broke apart for air, Tony found Loki grinning down at him like the cat who had stolen every last drop of the cream. His hands were lightly caressing Tony’s sides even as he remarked, “I do hope this means I won’t have to keep using magic to get your attention, Stark.”
“I do hope this means you’ll stop calling me by my surname if you plan to charm your way into my bed,” Tony countered.
It made Loki chuckle before he moved in closer, his lips brushing Tony’s ear as he whispered, the words and the touch making Tony shiver with more than a little pleasure, “Very well, Anthony.”
Oh yeah, Tony thought, one hundred percent positive about this now. Because whatever was forming here, it sure as hell wasn’t a prank to either of them.
But hell, trust Loki to pick the most convoluted way to say ‘I like you’ in history.
Still, all things considered, he wasn't about to complain - and turning his head to catch Loki's lips again, Tony decided he was pretty okay with being on the receiving end of Loki’s mischief when it got him something like this.