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Sometimes he woke up and was just a nightmare. Sometimes he woke up and it wasn't the dreams that were the nightmare, but reality. He still couldn't decide which was the worst of the two morning rituals he had been forced to go through since his tryst with the terrorists.
Maybe he could blame his inventor brain for such vivid dreams, or maybe he could go full Freud and blame his father. The second one held more appeal, so if anyone asked he would say it was his daddy's fault. If anyone bothered to ask.
Which they wouldn't, since most of them didn't even know he had nightmares, or night terrors, or sleep walking, or waking up screaming and ready to attack anything that moved. The only person who had any inkling was Pepper, and she had long since stopped sharing a bed with him for the very same reasons. Those reasons also drove her to stop sharing half of her life with him, and settle back into a slightly uneasy friendship.
Surprisingly, he didn't take it that hard. His lack of reaction might have been the reason things were still rocky between, even after three years. Maybe she had expected him to beg for her to come back, or cry, or scream, or do something more Tony-esk.
But he didn't. For two reasons.
One, he knew somewhere in his gut that this was the way things were supposed to be, and two, he had more important things on his mind other than a failed relationship. Things like a slew of attacks in South America from, what most of the reports claimed to be, zombies. Ancient Aztec zombies.
Strike that off the list of things to do before you die.
They handled that pretty smoothly, thanks to Thor and his rather explosive lightning. It came in handy when he wasn't stomping around the tower in a foul mood, shooting sparks from his eyes.
That's where 'important thing' number two came in. Thor and his bad moods stemmed from another god and his bad moods. At least with Loki, no one got shocked every ten minutes. They just got turned into an animal, or stung by bees, or had their hair color changed, or got bitten.
Yes, bitten.
The first time it happened, Tony knew they were in for a long and tiresome future of cat fights. Thor had dragged Loki back from Asgard, literally, by his collar. He was forced to kneel in front of a small jury of SHIELD members, including the Avengers, and ask for forgiveness. His arms were chained to the collar, which might have been the reason Thor underestimated him. Tony still couldn't figure out why Thor thought that meant something to anyone, or why it was even remotely close to a good idea.
Because the first thing Loki did was kick out the thunderer's feet and head for the door. The door Tony had just happened to be lurking around because, of course, he was late for the meeting.
So when Loki tore out of there like a cat out of hell, he ran right into Tony. It only took the god a millisecond to register who he was before the bastard bit his neck and ran off down the hall. It wasn't a love bite, either. A full blown chomp taken out of his fucking neck. He was bleeding all over the place by the time the rest of the group joined him. He probably would have died if Bruce, and his ever loving pool of calm, didn't stop the bleeding immediately with his med kit. Apparently Bruce had been a lot more realistic about the Loki situation, and had come prepared to be doctoring some battle wounds.
Loki didn't get far, considering he was in the middle of a SHIELD base and had just royally pissed off the Avengers. He heard from Clint later that Steve all-out body slammed the god into the floor. Tony would have paid good money to see that, but, alas, he was in the hospital for the next week by Bruce's orders. By the time he escaped the white walls and suspicious pudding, Loki had already settled into the tower. His tower.
"Why is he here?"
"This is what SHEILD decided, Stark," Steve answered calmly, but gave him a look that clearly proved he didn't agree with the decision. Hey, Steve was a walking contradiction, as usual.
"They decided to leave the god who just attacked me... In my tower?"
"Fury believes he will behave better when he has a 'full set of heroes' to guard him."
Tony ran a hand over his bandaged neck and scowled. "He's never gonna let that shit with the action toys go, is he?"
Clint popped his head through the doorway and said, "you would be pissed too if you were left out."
"He doesn't have a pretty costume," Tony quipped back, "gotta dress up nice if you want to be a toy."
"What do you call all that leather and eye patch then?" Clint grinned, leaning further into the room.
"I don't know, 'smoldering'?"
Steve coughed, and it sounded suspiciously like a laugh. "Can we get back on topic here, guys?"
"Oh yes, the angry reindeer in my tower. Where, pray tell, is his majesty sleeping?"
"Well..."
"He's in a fucking guest room," Clint interrupted, fully entering the room and glaring at Steve. "The captain here said something about 'human rights' and bared us from using the cells in the basement."
Tony gave Steve a look. "You do realize he's not human, right?"
"That's what I said!"
"He has basic human rights, and if we overstep that line, where do we stop?" Steve replied, his expression grim. "We are also under strict orders to keep him safe. Otherwise we run the risk of starting an intergalactic dispute."
Tony heaved a sigh and rubbed at his neck again. It was becoming something of a habit. "I'm more worried about a domestic dispute... Really, a guest room? Which floor?"
Clint glanced away and Steve seemed to be very interested in a spot just above Tony's shoulder.
"No... oh no, no! You didn't?!"
"No one else wanted him and... you were sort of absent," Steve muttered nervously, still not meeting his eyes.
"I was absent because I was in the fucking hospital... BECAUSE OF HIM!" Tony bellowed, pointing at his neck.
"We know, Tony... we can move him if you want, we just didn't know where..."
Tony clenched his fists and looked away, taking a few deeps breaths to get his heart under control.
"It's fine. Maybe it's better if he's closer to the top anyway. Less chance of him getting out."
Clint nodded as if listening to the most sage advice. "Good point."
"Oh shut up," he snapped and went off to find what surprises Loki left for him in the penthouse.
It turned out to be a serious of elaborate traps that Tony made it through with only a few scratches and a huge bruise on his hip. Thor heavily berated his brother when he found out, and Loki took it with a smug smile. After that, it became routine to duck or jump or wear gloves when one entered the penthouse. Tony had a sneaking suspicion Steve only came to visit to make use of the damned obstacle course Loki had set up for the day.
The second time Loki bit him, Tony was in the middle of pulling his hair. As he predicted, they were in what could only be called a 'cat fight'. It was a lot of scratching, hair pulling, and rolling around. That is, until Loki bit him again. It wasn't as bad as the first time, but the little bastard got his teeth around his collar bone and went all shark attack on him.
"Shit!" Tony hissed, yanking on the black hair harder, "What the fuck is your problem anyway? Do I taste that good?"
Loki let go an tilted his head up with a jerk, pulling against Tony's grip on his hair. The bloodied smile was extremely creepy. "And if I said you do taste good, what then?"
"Then i'm calling a priest and filling the tower with crosses."
Loki laughed, and suddenly the atmosphere changed between them. Tony let go of his hair, and Loki bent down and began...
Licking the wound.
"Wha?! What are you doing now?!" Tony squawked, trying to push him away.
Loki grinned and sat up, clearly not disturbed at all by their current position, or by his actions. "That should help it heal."
With a tsk, Tony sat up, shoving Loki off of him. "If you're going to heal it up after, why don't you stop biting me in the first place."
Loki was standing in the blink of an eye, and tilted his head down at him. "But then I would miss your taste."
Needless to say, things between them were different after that. Somehow, they shared the same sick sense of humor and a similar affection for assholish pranks. Tony had to relinquish his title as 'Sass Master' after having a battle of sarcasm and witty remarks that dug to the very core of his being. It was refreshing, if not a little depressing, to find someone with a sharper tongue than he had.
The change between them had not gone unnoticed by the rest of the group. It was not hard to miss, and Loki was pretty obvious when playing favorites. For one thing, there were no more obstacle courses for Tony, but god forbid if anyone else entered the penthouse. Literally.
The atmosphere changed again when Loki bit him for the third time. It was Tony's fault that they were fighting, for once. He had made an offhand comment on something Thor said about Frost Giants and Loki just lost it.
When Loki loses it and he's in full control of his body, nothing in the universe is scarier.
The god launched himself across the room in a single leap, and Tony had about two seconds to wonder what loop hole in physics Loki had just used before he smashed into the mini bar. It wasn't the cute kind of fighting they had been doing before, this was a 'I will fucking kill you' kind of fight. So, Tony fought back with the same enthusiasm.
He somehow managed to flip Loki over the counter by leaning back and kicking his feet up into the god's chest. He slid off the bar and twisted around to face what he expected to be another attack. His fighting spirit seemed to surprise Loki as much as him and there was a lull in the fight where they just stared at each other. The spell was broken when the pain in his back kicked in.
"Ow, fuck," he groaned and hunched forward, trying to reach around to see what was assaulting his back. His fingers found glass, and and jerked his hand away with a hiss. "God dammit..."
"Be still," Loki said in his ear, causing Tony to jump at his sudden closeness.
"Don't, i'm not in the mood to fight anymore."
Loki clicked his tongue and spun him around as easily as a child. "I do not wish to fight you any longer. Let me see your..." He trailed off when he saw his back.
"What is it? Did I grow a hump?" Tony managed to joke through gritted teeth. He was starting to find it hard to stand, now.
"My apologies," Loki breathed, and for a second Tony wasn't sure he even heard it. "My apologies for this," he repeated and touched Tony's back.
To say it felt weird, would be putting it lightly. It was nothing like the magic lick to his collar bone, but more like an adrenalin shot right to his chest. His heart began to race, his muscles were twitching as if they intended to shake the glass out of his skin. He felt the shards evaporate into nothing and the cuts close up with a gross sort of suction noise. Then, it was over and he was facing Loki again with emotions he couldn't quite place yet. Loki held his gaze with green eyes that held an awful lot of misery for one little fight.
"Loki..."
Loki flinched back at the sound of his name, and made to turn away before Tony caught his arm to keep him there.
"I'm sorry, actually," he blurted out, not sure where he was going with this, "I wasn't trying to insult you, I mean not really insult you. Just my usual brand of insulting... you know what, forget that. I'm just and asshole and I'm sorry."
Loki stared at him with a blank expression so Tony added, "you can insult my mortality if it makes you feel better?"
"You are small, you reek of sweat, and you will die many years before me."
"Hey! I said mortality, not stature!"
Loki grinned like a cat. "I feel better already."
Tony grumbled and playfully smacked the god's cheek with the force of a limp noodle. Loki's response was, of course, to bite the fingers that drew close to his mouth. Only, this time, it was gentle, not even breaking the skin. Tony froze, staring at the god standing there with his finger in his mouth, and something clicked in the back of his head.
Something he wasn't ready to have click.
"Y-you're such a puppy," he joked.
Smooth, totally smooth.
Loki grinned and dropped the finger from his lips carefully, and Tony felt the hint of a tongue against his skin. Shivering, far more obviously than he intended, Tony started to back away. "I have a thing... to work on. Thing must be finished, you know. So," he trailed off, looking back awkwardly. Loki was smirking like he knew damn well why Tony was leaving.
The bastard.
It was the first time he woke up screaming in over a month. The break from the nightmares made their return ten times worse. He was choking and gagging on tears and air and emotions. Not enough oxygen for his brain, not enough breathing to calm his heart.
The door opened, and he let out a whimper in fear. It was irrational, some part of his brain told him, but the nightmares were too fresh in his mind for any kind of logic.
"Stark..."
He pulled himself back against the headboard and curled up, protecting his head and stomach automatically.
"Stark," came the voice again, and Tony felt the bed dip under the other's weight. "Anthony..."
Tony shuddered and that pesky part in the back of his mind popped up again.
That's right, Loki slept only a few rooms down from him. This was probably the first time he's heard Tony scream since he moved in.
With an embarrassed grimace, Tony lifted his head to look at the god. Even with sleep tousled hair and - where those Captain America pajamas?- Loki looked smooth and cool as a cucumber.
"Sorry," he croaked, hastily whipping a hand over his face. He hoped the half light from the reactor was dim enough to hide most of the tears and puffy eyes.
"Your screams sounded painful, I thought you might have been attacked." Loki paused and shifted closer on the bed, a cold hand reaching out to brush his cheek. Tony could feel the heat radiating off his body in contrast to Loki's always chilly skin.
"Just nightmares, nothing serious." He nuzzled the hand a little and stopped when he realized what he was doing. "You, uh, can go back to bed. I won't stick around here to scream anymore."
"You won't return to your sleep?"
"I never can after all this," Tony gestured to his mess of a bed, "I'll just head down to the lab."
"Stay," Loki commanded softly, and brushed a thumb over Tony's lips. For a second, Tony thought of biting said finger, but reality reminded him that that was nuts.
"Stay here," Loki repeated.
"I... er... I'll get bored just sitting here."
Loki was even closer now, close enough for Tony to see the blue glow reflected in his eyes as they met his. "Then, perhaps I can keep you occupied."
Tony's mind started its usual string of commentary before Tony told it to shut up, and let him focus on something more important. Like Loki's lips.
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," he said anyway, putting up a fight just for the sake of being difficult.
"Worry not," Loki purred, his lips just brushing against Tony's, "I don't bite... much."
Many, many hours later, Tony decided reality was way better and that Loki was, indeed the God of Lies.
He did bite, a lot.