Work Text:
Tony woke up with a gasp. His heart was racing, and his boxers stuck to him unpleasantly. It seemed that dream sex was just as messy as the real thing.
Great.
Still, he just couldn’t get it through his head that Loki was alive. Not only alive, but actually sitting on the throne of Asgard - “through trickery and deceit” he had said. Typical Loki, really.
Rubbing a hand over his face, Tony sat up and leaned against the headboard to think. He was now in possession of a very important piece of information, and he needed to figure out what, exactly, he wanted to do with it.
Of course, there was only really two choices: 1) inform everyone, especially Thor, that the enemy that had brought them together was not in fact dead, or 2) do nothing and let Loki keep up his charade.
Since Tony was, at heart, a mostly good person, he knew he should do number 1.
Only, his cock voted for number 2, the traitor.
Sighing, he got up and headed for the shower. Damn Loki for putting him in this mess, anyway.
***
As the day went on, Tony discovered that it might just be harder to be a good person than he originally thought. By the time he actually met with any of the other Avengers, he had managed to convince himself to keep quiet about it, since, really, he didn’t know if the dream had been true or not.
Even though every fiber of his being - his libido especially - was rushing to tell him that yes, oh yes, it had been.
Still, what would it hurt to actually research this stuff?
“Hey, you look like shit, man,” Clint greeted him warmly as he stepped out into the Avengers common room. “Bad night?”
A shiver of guilt creeped down Tony’s spine, even as he grinned in response. “Nah. I’m sure I was looking fine until I saw you,” he joked, making a beeline for the coffee.
Clint snorted and sipped his own without deigning to answer.
Cup filled, Tony took a look around. “Hey, where is everybody? I thought we had a meeting today.”
“Yeah, we do,” Clint said slowly, bemused. “Why do you sound so excited?”
Tony shrugged. “No reason.” Ignoring the way Clint’s eyes stayed him as he took a sip, he casually asked, “Is Thor still around? Or did he pop off to see Jane?”
“I haven’t seen him this morning, but he said he’d be at the meeting last night.”
Those eyes were trying their hardest to pierce him, but Tony kept up the Teflon act. “Cool.” He stood, heading back to the elevator. “See ya later, Bird Brain.”
The doors closed on whatever retort Cling had.
***
Powers...Astral Projection, even into the dream state...
Tony sighed as he looked down at his tablet. He had pulled up Loki’s file, which had been highly influenced by Thor’s testimony, stubbornly ignoring the red “deceased” status. The evidence was there, clear as day.
He shut the tablet off and tossed it to the coffee table.
***
“You were asking for me, friend Tony?” Thor was holding out yet another mug of coffee for Tony, concern wrinkling his forehead.
“Just wondered if you were still around, that’s all.” Tony stopped toying with the servo he was working on, glad for the distraction. He wasn’t quite sure how long he’d been in his lab. “Thanks, man,” he said, taking the mug.
“You are very welcome.” Thor’s smile didn’t quite erase that wrinkle. “You do know that you missed the meeting that Clint said you were very interested in attending, correct?”
Tony blinked, then quickly pulled up a display with the time. Oh. The meeting had been a while ago. So had dinner. “Why didn’t anyone come get me?” he asked, covering for the fact that he really hadn’t wanted to go to the meeting. He was still debating what to do about what he had now dubbed the “Loki Situation”, and being in a meeting like that before fully committing always ran the risk of being Black Widowed.
He was getting a nagging suspicion that a good person would just tell someone. A very good person would tell Thor, who happened to be standing right there, looking at him with that patient expression that he had come to expect from someone after he’d locked himself away for hours.
“Oh, we understand that you will come if you really want to,” Thor said, sounding almost fond of Tony’s flakiness. “Why? Did you wish to contribute?”
There it was, on the tip of Tony’s tongue. All he had to do was say three simple words, and he could go on with his life. He took a deep breath, gearing himself up to say it.
“Not really,” is what came out instead. Well, might as well roll with it. “I just haven’t been to one in a while.”
Thor laughed, oblivious to Tony’s inner turmoil. “Well, next time I shall come fetch you, then.” A large hand gently patted his shoulder. “If you are sure you do not need me, I shall be back up in my chambers.”
“Nah. Good night, Thor.”
“Good night, Tony.”
As Thor left, Tony let his head fall to the workbench with a thud. It appeared that he wasn’t that good of a person, after all.