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Chapter Text

“Do they not realise that they’re probably all going to die?”

Tony’s head snapped around at the callous words, cutting his own sentence straight through the middle. He’d thought he was the only one who saw the suicidal nature of this venture– he’d received enough dry looks whenever he’d voiced his thoughts, after all.

But there he was– dressed head to toe in black leather like something out of a bad adult movie, dark hair long enough to brush his shoulders, and green eyes that seemed to gleam even in the bright, Thai sun.

Tony couldn’t help but stare, his gaze not even shifting as the bulkier guy walking next to the first gave his response.

“Quiet, Loki,” the blonde said, cuffing the dark-haired man on the shoulder. “We will be fine. Look at the number of soldiers—”

“Soldiers are nothing to the forces of nature,” Loki replied. “You know that better than anyone, Thor.”

Thor rolled his eyes at that, though his expression remained fond. He clapped Loki on the shoulder with a chuckle before turning away, the odd pair heading in opposite directions across the deck of the ship.

And Tony… was intrigued.

He apologised to the young photographer he’d been speaking with, barely offering him a second glance as he hurried to catch up with the dark-haired man, reaching out to tap his arm.

“Hey, hi,” Tony paused as the man turned with an unimpressed expression– and then Tony smiled sheepishly as he took his hand back. “Sorry,” he said. “It’s just, I heard you talking—”

“Eavesdropping?” Loki asked, something of a tsk running under his tone. “I suppose I should not be surprised. The army is known for being a little uncouth, is it not?”

“Oh, I’m not actually part of the army,” Tony said with a shrug. “Neither are you, from the look of it. Why’re you on this path to hell?”

The man’s lips turned up at that– and Tony suppressed a smile of his own. Gotcha. 

“Colonel Fury requested that I be here,” Loki replied– though that still didn’t really answer Tony’s question, and from the smirk that stretched over his lips the bastard knew it.

And Tony—

Okay, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t love it. It wasn’t often that he had this kind of fun while talking to someone, after all.

And it seemed like, maybe, he wasn’t the only one enjoying himself.

“You haven’t given me your name,” Loki said, tilting his head slightly– and as the gesture caused his hair to slip over his shoulder, Tony found himself staring.

But, he was a master at appearing like he was keeping his cool while talking to pretty people, and he held out his hand with a grin.

“Tony Stark. At your service.”

But– Loki didn’t take his hand to shake it. His brows raised, his lips pressing together. “Ah, I see,” he said. “So you’re the idiot who’s bankrolling this whole thing.”

Tony narrowed his eyes, let his hand drop. He’d been able to tell from the get-go that this guy was clever– there was no way he wouldn’t already know the answer to that question.

“Well, no,” Tony replied, keeping his tone casual despite his sudden, burning curiosity– well, and perhaps a tiny scratch of offence. “That would be my father. I’m just here to fix stuff– didn’t have much choice in the matter, to be honest.”

He hadn’t any choice at all, actually– his father’s iron fist was one of the things Tony resented most about life.

Loki made a sound that was close to a low hmm from the back of his throat, and Tony found himself considering the other man very, very carefully. Loki held himself with a certain level of arrogance, and… it wasn’t often Tony saw someone who made him wonder if the arrogance was earned.

“My apologies,” Loki said, though he didn’t sound like he was sorry at all. “I only knew that this was a Stark Industries venture.”

“He’s just funding the research,” Tony said, trying to convince himself he wasn’t trying to downplay his father’s part in this– and whatever, it was no more than Loki likely already knew, anyway. “He’s willing to back anything that he thinks will be able to make him a bit of cash– and the scientists think that the island could hold a few valuable resources.”

“I have heard that.” This time, Loki sounded almost disinterested, and he looked like he was about to turn away- but then—

“Of course, the scientists are up to something else.” It was Tony’s turn to paint his expression with arrogance, Loki’s shifting to sudden interest as he stepped a little closer.

“What do you mean?”

“You seem to think that this is as much a suicide mission as I do,” Tony said, leaning just slightly closer himself. “You must have your reasons for that– but they’re not enough to stop you from coming. So… why don’t you tell me?”

As those green eyes gleamed Tony knew that the gauntlet he’d thrown down had been accepted—

But, he didn’t give Loki the time to respond. He gave the other man a well-timed smirk, and then he turned on his heel to go back to what he was meant to be doing.

Oh, yes.

He liked that one.

—~—

For an evil place of darkness and death, Skull Island actually looked rather pleasant.

It was greener than anything Tony had ever seen before, looking like it had never been soiled by human presence. Of course, that might be because of the conspiracy theories about destroyed ships, crashed planes, and vicious monsters.

Oh, as well as all the usual kinds of dangers that an uncharted island presented. But you know.

It was pretty.

(…Yeah. Going by past experience of pretty things, they really weren’t going to survive this, were they?)

Their choppers had to fly through a vicious storm to reach the island, and everyone was already a little shaken. But it was as if the bright colours of the jungle had everyone coming alive, burning across their smiles as the choppers began to drop their payloads, explosives blasting into the ground so that the scientists could begin undertaking their seismological research.

But, as much as Tony loved explosions, the man sitting beside him in the chopper held his attention far more readily. Tony wasn’t sure how they’d ended up in the same one– they were hardly part of the same division. He certainly hadn’t done anything to make it so, he was planning on waiting a couple more hours before talking to Loki again– and he doubted that Loki had arranged it. Surely, if he had, he wouldn’t have spent the entire flight from the ship blatantly ignoring Tony.

But, hey. At least, if Loki was ignoring him, it meant that Tony could ogle him as much as he wanted without getting caught, right?

(The grinning photographer did not count. Peter should be minding his own goddamn business.)

So, okay.

Maybe it wasn’t just the scenery that Tony found pretty—

Maybe, uh.

Well, maybe Tony had a little bit of a—

And of course Loki chose that moment to turn around, catching Tony’s gaze. He didn’t seem to notice the way Tony was staring, however. He just rolled his eyes, his grin rather amused– and Tony realised that he was joking about the way that the soldiers were acting.

Loki was looking at him to share amusement, and Tony couldn’t help but match his smile, their gazes meeting, and Tony’s heart beating just a little bit—

“Oh holy shit—"

Tony gasped as the chopper suddenly lurched to the side, the pilot still cursing up a storm as he tried to get them level—

“What the hell happened?” Tony shouted, clinging to the strap around him which had been the only thing that had stopped him from flying into Loki’s lap.

But no one needed to answer his question– it was answered for them when an entire tree went flying through the air beside them, slammed into one of the other choppers and then—

Tony winced as the chopper spun and crashed into the ground, a billow of fire and smoke claiming any lives left inside.

“Get us out of here,” Loki said– his voice calm at first, but then turning into a growl as he leaned forward toward the pilot. “Now!”

The pilot snarled, turned the chopper– but in the wrong direction—

“I don’t take orders from you.” The pilot spat the word with such derisiveness that Tony wondered for a second if there wasn’t some cause for it—

But only for a moment, because—

“Oh, shit, Mr Stark look—”

Tony spun around to see Peter with his camera to his eye, snapping away at the giant fucking—

“Is that a gorilla?” Tony asked.

“Well, it’s not a bilgesnipe—”

Tony was pulled back as Loki grabbed first his shoulder, then Peter’s, forcing them right back against their seats.

Loki’s eyes were still burning, not with fear– but with rage. “That thing is going to survive almost anything you can throw at it,” Loki muttered. “We need to get away.”

The pilot, despite being busy trying to keep them in the air with the choppers being torn to shreds around them, dodging the giant hands that reached and grabbed and tore– took the time to snap again.

“I am not going anywhere until we are given the order to do so—

“Then you’ll die just the same as everyone else—”

“And that’s not something that you can appreciate, is it? Asg—”

The chopper lurched once again as they were literally backhanded out of the air, their fall harmonised with the sound of the monster’s horrific roar.

The chopper spun, nose over tail as it careened toward the ground, and Tony closed his eyes as he bent down over his knees, Peter yelling on his left, an odd green glow on his right—

They jerked again as a blade hit the trees with an awful sheering sound, the ground looking awfully close and then—

—~—

Heat, light, pain—

Tony gasped, feeling like the whole world was on fire. His head was pounding, his ears ringing. Someone might have been talking to him, but they sounded like they were underwater– the world was a blur, the smoky air burned in his lungs, and everything was just—

Something pulled at his shoulders, dragged him over something sharp. Tony cried out, but the pressure didn’t let up. He could see dark hair above him, a pale face, green eyes.

Loki.

But as Tony gasped, his name formed a different word entirely.

“Peter—”

And then Loki was gone.

Tony coughed, feeling like he was hacking up his guts. He turned to the side, one hand pressing into the damp leaves of the jungle floor, his spine twisting awkwardly. He didn’t feel like he’d broken or burned anything, he just hurt.

The same could, thankfully, be said of Peter– Loki deposited him next to Tony, and the kid was already sitting up as he coughed.

Tony groaned as he pulled himself upright, and he was about to ask after the others—

But then the chopper went up in a final explosion, a burst of heat cascading down upon them. Tony ducked his head to the side as the shockwave passed through, ruffling his hair and searing his skin. And Tony hoped there wasn’t anyone left in the chopper, because if there was… well, he supposed they wouldn’t be anymore.

Tony’s ears were still ringing, but he pushed himself all the way up to sitting with a groan. A pale hand appeared in front of him, and he stared for a moment before taking it and allowing Loki to pull him upright.

“Is anyone still airborne? Does anyone copy?” The pilot’s voice grew increasingly rough as he shook the slightly scorched radio he held in his hand. Tony might not like the guy, but he was glad that he hadn’t died a fiery death. “This is Ward, is anyone still out there?”

The only reply was static.

Peter made a sound that was something close to a whimper, and Tony gave him a hesitant pat on the shoulder.

“It’s all right,” he said. “We’ll get out of this.”

“How?” Peter asked. “There was a giant gorilla. Mr Stark, this is not what I signed up for.”

Tony went to answer– but someone else beat him to it.

“The ship’s coming around to the north side of the island, about a week from now,” Loki said, his voice near emotionless, his gaze flicking about the tree line. “All we have to do is make it there.”

“Oh, that’s all is it?” Ward muttered.

Peter’s gaze slipped over to him, but neither Tony nor Loki paid the pilot any attention.

“We should find the others, first,” Tony said, shaking his head. “We can’t be the only survivors, and splitting up is not a good idea—”

“That thing was flinging us around like sacks of flour,” Loki interrupted. “Who knows how far apart we all are? The smartest plan of action is to head for the rendezvous point. That’s where any of the other survivors will go.”

Tony didn’t necessarily disagree, but Loki’s tone rubbed him a little bit wrong. “Oh, you’re in charge now, are you?”

“Why, yes. As I am the most experienced in—”

“How do I know what experience you have? You still haven’t even told me why you’re fucking here—”

“I’m here for the same reason I’m going to be able to get you out of here alive,” Loki hissed. “So shut up, and start moving. We’re going north.”

Tony huffed, but turned on his heel. All of his stuff had been left in the chopper, of fucking course, so there was nothing for him to grab. He just walked, not wanting to look at Loki’s stupidly pretty face for another second longer—

“Stark,” Loki said, jerking his head in the opposite direction to where Tony had been walking. “North is this way.”

…Tony turned on his heel, and stalked right past him.

You know what? Peter was right.

Tony had known this was a suicide run from the start, but– exploding choppers, flying trees, giant fucking gorillas and an unfairly attractive asshole who seemed determined to one up him in every conversation?

This definitely wasn’t what he’d signed up for.

Chapter Text

Tony’s never really been a fan of jungles.

He’d just like to make that fact known. He didn’t like the heat, he didn’t like the wet, he didn’t like the bugs, or the humid, or the tripping hazards.

He just, didn’t like.

He was a little happier when Loki led them into a thicket of bamboo instead of the tall, oppressive trees, stating it would be easier for them to move through that rather than constantly trying to cut down the vines and moss and all other variations of wet green things that hung off branches in the jungle. They’d almost walked headlong into a snake at one point.

At least the snake had been normal-sized.

…unlike the four-foot long ants Tony had seen crawling up a massive tree some hours back.

Ha, yeah. He was having a lot of fun. Can’t you tell?

You know, Tony hadn’t even wanted to come on this venture. Howard had sent him along, no questions asked, just an order to make sure that everything went smoothly and to keep an eye on it all. Howard had sensed that there was something up just as well as Tony had, but that hadn’t stopped him from reaching out for a possible profit when there was actually fairly low risk involved for him personally.

Well. No risk other than sending his only son to a place literally called Skull Island. But then, Tony supposed that the opportunity cost of losing Tony just wasn’t high enough to outweigh the possible gains.

Tony wasn’t hurt by it. Or surprised.

He was just… annoyed.

Because of course it had all resulted in his chopper getting forced out of the sky by a giant fucking gorilla, living through an explosion, dealing with an attractive entitled asshole, and now he was trekking through a fucking jungle with nothing but the clothes he had on his back and a small handgun that had been grudgingly handed over by Ward.

Awesome.

Yes, this was exactly how he was hoping his weekend would go.

Still, Tony was pretty sure he was coping better than the poor kid walking beside him. Peter was shaking, turning around at every noise, and incredibly pale despite the heat. Tony was more than a little worried, and he tried to focus his energy away from his whining and toward the kid.

(Besides, it would give him something better to do than just staring at the annoyingly well-rounded ass in front of him.)

“Are you all right, Parker?” he asked, glancing to the kid.

“I mean, I’ve seen worse?” The photographer flashed a grin, but it was a little wobbly around the edges.

“Worse than this? That’s unlikely,” Ward muttered. Tony sent him a dirty look.

Peter’s brow pinched, but he didn’t reply. Tony, though… he was curious.

“You said earlier, that this wasn’t what you signed up for,” Tony said. “But I know that all this happened very quickly, you must have already been in the area when you got the job.”

Peter shrugged, looking straight ahead. “Thereabouts.”

But Tony wasn’t just going to let him get away with that so easily.

“Come on, kid,” Tony said, nudging his shoulder. “Tell me. What did you sign up for?”

Peter blinked. “Sorry?”

“Why are you here, Parker? Someone as young as you, on a mission like this—”

“Well, I like helping,” Peter said. “I was in Vietnam, taking pictures, hoping to– I don’t know. Help, I suppose. A picture can change a mind, and I thought, if it changes the right mind then, maybe… it might have helped.”

Tony stared. Parker was a– he had gone into an active war zone to take pictures, because he wanted to help save lives? Jesus Christ. When Tony was his age, he was probably drinking up a storm and sleeping his way through MIT.

Wait—

“How old are you, kid?” Tony asked. 

“I’m nineteen,” Parker said, puffing out his chest. It only made him look smaller.

Tony swallowed. Right. “And how’d you get roped into this one, then?”

“Well, like I said, I signed up.” Peter’s voice was a little stronger now, so. Tony figured that he had at least managed to help distract him a bit. “I have a few, uh. Well, I heard some chatter about this mission, and I heard that they needed a photographer. I tried to dig a little deeper, and. Well, when three different sources tell you the exact same thing, word for word, then you know they’re lying.”

Peter let out a small little laugh.

“I guess we know what they were lying about now, huh?”

Tony’s brows rose. “So you thought that Killian and Hansen were up to something as well?” Tony couldn’t help it– he glanced forward.

Loki was still walking, still facing front– but there was a tilt to his head that hadn’t been there before, and Tony knew that he was listening.

“I wonder if they did know what they were running into,” Tony said, his gaze still on the back of Loki’s head. “They certainly had a hell of a ludicrous force for just a research mission.”

“Well, now…” Loki’s voice was low, and he was smirking as he turned his head to the side, glancing back to Tony. “That would depend entirely upon what they were planning to research.”

Maybe it was just the way Loki said them, but– the words made the hairs rise on the back of Tony’s neck.

“You think they did.”

“I think they knew there was something here other than hollow bedrock,” Loki said. “Hansen wanted to drop the bombs to check the ground, but… Killian? He was after something else.”

Tony nodded slowly. That had made sense.

He hadn’t known much about the project, just that Dr Maya Hansen had some idea about pockets of air under the ground in certain places, containing as-yet undiscovered resources and ecosystems. But Killian… well, he’d hired Hansen, and Tony couldn’t help but think that he’d only done so as a means to secure the funding for– whatever it was that he was after.

Tony thought back to what he’d heard when he’d been dropped off at the ship in Bangkok, when Killian had spoken to Howard.

Weapons. Resources. Power like the world has never seen.

Howard had been intrigued– Tony, suspicious. And Peter was right, it would seem that he certainly had good cause.

“You’re right,” Tony said. “We all knew there was something fishy going on here. Well, maybe not you, Ward, I know how you love following orders.”

Ward glared, his eyes narrowing– but Tony powered on.

“I think– I don’t think Fury knew what he was getting in to. He couldn’t have known that– that creature was there, he wouldn’t have just flown in and dropped a bomb on its head if that were the case. He’s not that stupid.” Tony paused as he took note of Loki’s frown, and he was sure the other man was thinking along the same track. “Killian though? I think he knew something. And I think he kept it to himself.”

There was a beat of quiet, before—

“It wasn’t Fury that wanted us for this,” Loki said. And Tony was confused for a second, but– “It was odd, in a way. We’ve worked with Fury in the past, and I would have thought that the request would come from him, or from Director Carter. But he wasn’t even expecting us when we arrived. Killian recruited us.”

Tony took the chance– not just because he was curious about Loki himself, though of course, he still was. The mystery was tugging at something in his mind, something that he really didn’t like.

This was worse than it just being a suicide mission, because– if someone had known about what was going to happen, and hadn’t even warned their military escort—

Well.

Yeah.

That was just worse.

“They recruited my brother and I because they thought it likely something might go wrong,” Loki continued, his voice almost crossing the threshold into sarcasm. “They didn’t tell us what exactly would be involved, and I was entirely reluctant– but my brother was drawn in by the promise of uncharted land and the chance of adventure. And…” Loki paused for moment, considering his words with something of a gleam in his gaze. “I admit, we needed the good standing that this would get us.”

“Good standing?” Tony asked. “With whom?”

Loki’s smirk deepened. “You’re a clever man, Stark,” he said. “Why don’t you tell me?”

Tony’s expression twisted– and then he let out something of an incredulous laugh, never having met someone who could turn him around so thoroughly in the space of a single conversation.

“Oh that is just… not…” Tony trailed off, frowning. There was something behind Loki– Something had moved in the bamboo, though, Tony couldn’t have said what.

“Everything all right?” Loki asked, glancing over his shoulder. But there really did seem to be nothing there.

“Probably just a trick of the light,” Tony muttered.

“Or paranoia,” Ward added. But Tony noted that he, too, was flicking his gaze through the bamboo, not taking any chances.

Peter’s breathing was loud enough that Tony could hear it, and he took a deep breath himself.

“Okay,” he said, glancing around before looking back to Loki. Maybe it was just that weird feeling in his gut, but it seemed like a cloud had moved over the sun, everything a little darker and colder. “Maybe we should keep moving. How long did you say it should take us to get to the north end of the island, Loki?”

“Likely a week on foot,” Loki said.

Tony suddenly stopped in his tracks. “A week? But you said the boat was coming in—”

Tony’s words cut off as a bamboo pole suddenly slammed into the ground in front of him, right where he would have been standing if he hadn’t stopped.

“Oh, fuck,” Tony swore– then he looked up, expecting to see the fucking gorilla—

But, no.

No, it wasn’t a gorilla, it was a fucking spider, its legs almost indistinguishable from the bamboo because its body towered above them, so large it blotted out the sun.

Had Tony mentioned that he didn’t like the jungle? That he really, really didn’t like it?

That he didn’t like the heat, the wet, the humidity– the bugs?

Well, usually it was just mosquitos and ants, not giant, freaking ass spiders standing a hundred feet tall, their legs sharp enough to skewer a man straight through.

Tony scurried to the side, then dodged another bamboo-like leg that came shearing through the air and into the ground. He heard Peter yell, but he didn’t have the time to turn and look—

First the giant monkey, now the giant spider—

What was going to be next?

Giant lizards?

Whatever, now was not the time to be thinking about such things—

Tony yelped as another leg slammed down into the ground right in front of him, and he would have run straight into it if someone hadn’t grabbed him by the arm and yanked him backward.

“How many more times will I have to save your life, Stark?” Loki snapped.

“I suppose that depends on how long it takes for you to get sick of me,” Tony gasped. Somehow, Loki managed to find the energy to roll his eyes—

And then they were running again, this time side by side, with Loki’s hand still on Tony’s arm. Tony heard gunshots from somewhere on the creature’s other side, but he and Loki just kept running. They hurried through the forest, just trying to get away—

There was something flashing in Loki’s other hand, reflecting the light—

“Is that a knife?” Tony asked. “A fucking knife? This is a little more than a gunfight you know—”

Loki snarled as another leg almost cut him in half, but instead of turning away from it, Loki veered closer, slashing out with his hand. The blade of his knife went straight through the leg, and above them, the spider made this awful, ear splitting screech.

“Well, if you wanted to get its attention—”

“Shut it, Stark!”

Seriously though, did Loki not realise– cutting the thing’s leg was all well and good, but it was a spider. It had legs to spare, and now the damn thing was angry. Two more legs hit the ground either side of them as they ran, and fierce, clacking pincers lowered over their heads, eight bulbous eyes staring.

Tony pushed himself harder, running faster than he’d ever run before—

But Loki darted to another leg, blade slicing, spider screaming—

The spider did the only thing it could, and kept attacking. But as it tried to skewer them with its sharp legs, it only provided Loki with more targets.

And Loki’s blade severed another leg, and then another—

The creature teetered—

And Tony yelped as he saw it falling toward him, he tried to dash away but tripped on a fallen bamboo – had he mentioned how much he hated the jungle? – and then he fell backward, hitting the ground hard. He tried to scurry back further but there was no way he was going to be fast enough—

Someone grabbed him from behind again, dragged him sharply just out of the spider’s path. It hit the ground right in front of Tony’s feet, and the spider’s pincers were still clacking, a horrible, bloodcurdling sound chattering out of its mouth as it continued to try to devour Tony—

But then Loki came around the spider’s side, knife still gleaming in his hand– and without an ounce of mercy, he slammed his blade right in the crown of the spider’s head.

And with one final, awful screech, the spider shuddered, its few remaining legs curling up into its body– and then, it fell silent.

“Yeah, you thought you could win,” Tony muttered, kicking out with his foot. “Stupid arachnid.”

The spider’s body moved with the force of the kick, and Tony flinched backward.

He heard the sound of an exasperated sigh from his right, and looked up to see Loki wiping his knife on one of his coattails before sliding it back into his sleeve.

Tony frowned. How had Loki come from over there when he’d felt…

Tony turned to look behind him, expecting to see Peter or Ward. But there was no one.

Huh.

Wait.

Tony scrabbled up to his feet, glancing around—

“Peter? Peter Parker!” There was no answer. “Peter! Hey Ward, are you—”

“Shush!”

It wasn’t the shushing that shut Tony up, so much as the hand that was suddenly crushing his mouth.

“Really, Stark?” Loki hissed. “After all this, you’re going to attract attention by shouting?”

Tony had the urge to lick Loki’s hand, but he managed to stop himself from the immaturity and pulled it away by grabbing Loki’s wrist instead.

“We need to find them,” he said. “You might have talked me into not trying to find the others, but splitting up further is not a good idea right now.”

Loki seemed to turn that over for a moment. “They will know where we are heading—”

“Peter is nineteen—”

“He is likely with Major Ward!”

Tony narrowed his eyes, and Loki sighed.

“Look, Stark. They know we are here. We can wait for a little while, and see if they return. But we cannot waste time stumbling through the bamboo looking for them when they may have already left.”

There was little chance Tony was going to get a better offer than that, so he sighed, and nodded his head once. But Loki was still staring at him, this odd kind of look on his face, and Tony had to think for a moment before—

“Oh,” he said sheepishly, letting go of Loki’s wrist which he had still been holding. “Sorry.”

“No matter.”

They both turned away from each other then, but—

Look. Tony was just about sick and tired of hearing malicious sounds coming from the bamboo. Could they not have five minutes respite?

Just five minutes?

He and Loki both squinted through the vegetation, both on high alert.

“Probably a predator?” Tony asked from the corner of his mouth, his eyes not leaving the direction of the sound.

“Most likely. Drawn by the dead spider.”

Tony gulped. “Uh. You said Peter and Ward know where we’re going, right?”

“Ward should find the way,” Loki confirmed.

“Okay. Run?”

“Run.”

Then they were sprinting back toward the proper trees, and back out of that fucking bamboo—

And Tony wasn’t entirely sure how, but– as they ran, he realised that he was once again holding Loki’s hand.

Chapter Text

“Goddamn it,” Tony snarled, kicking at a thick tree-root as he walked. The action only resulted in him gaining a sore toe, and he swore again at the sharp pain of it.

“There is no need for that. I am sure if you want to injure yourself, there are plenty of creatures in this forest who would be more than willing to do it for you.”

The snide tone in Loki’s voice made Tony grit his teeth. He wasn’t sure what it was about Loki– the man managed to rile him up more in such a short time than anyone else usually managed. Tony might have a quick temper, even he was willing to admit that– but he could usually hide the fiery reaction under sharp barbs and careful masks.

Loki, though? Loki just dug underneath Tony’s skin like a splinter, riling him up and forcing coarse emotion to the surface.

Tony was fairly sure that he didn’t like it.

“I still can’t believe we lost the others,” Tony muttered, deciding to ignore Loki’s snarky comment for the time being.

“We did not lose them, we—”

“Left them behind, yeah,” Tony agreed. “I know.”

“If we had stayed, we likely would have been eaten by whatever came out of the bamboo.”

Tony grit his teeth again. He knew that, too. Didn’t mean he felt any better about abandoning a nineteen-year-old kid in a place like this.

Well, he knew that it was likely the kid was with Ward, but. Still.

Tony groaned, and rubbed his hands over his sweaty face.

He and Loki had been walking for hours, and he was tired. Exhausted. How exactly had it not even been a full day since they had first flown through the storm and over the island in their choppers? How had it not even been a full day since he and Loki had met?

They’d traversed a fair amount of ground, but at the same time, Loki had said that they really hadn’t moved very far at all. The island’s terrain was all over the place, with cliffs and crags and steep descents, and every scrap of it covered in thick vegetation. They’d seen something of a field from the top of one hill, and had been trying to make their way toward it ever since– but when they were constantly going up and down more than they were forward, and when the trees were so close together and so strewn with vines they could not even see the sun, it was like they were fighting for every yard. 

Still… Tony wasn’t entirely sure about heading for the field, since, well… it was so open. They’d been able to see every inch of it from up on the hill, and surely it would be the exact kind of place that predators would be hunting.

Tony had asked Loki about it, and while Loki did consider Tony’s argument, his opposing thoughts were rather convincing.

“We need to get to the north end of the island as quickly as possible,” Loki had said. “If we do not get there on time, then we will likely not be leaving this place at all. If that is what you would prefer over a little risk, then—”

“No, no, I’m good,” Tony had replied quickly. “Field. Yes. Let’s do this.”

The worst part about the whole thing, of course, was that Tony felt almost entirely useless, which was not a feeling that he was in any way accustomed to. Usually, Tony was the one with all the answers, the solution, the road to their victory. He was more than used to being the smartest person in the room, and now that he wasn’t… it was beyond frustrating.

It wasn’t just that he was jealous, or spiteful, or anything along those lines. He just…

Well, it was clear that Loki held far more experience when it came to this kind of thing than Tony – insofar as having experience with this could even be possible – as well as more, well, skills. He had taken down that spider essentially on his own with nothing more than a knife. He was able to navigate through the jungle without – well, figuratively – even breaking a sweat.

On top of all of that, he’d already saved Tony’s life… how many times? At least three?

Tony just felt useless, like he wasn’t in a position to be able to pull himself out of this mess, and he hated it.

And, well. Tony’d about summed it up earlier, hadn’t he?

Goddamn it.

Loki let out a small sigh, as if he could guess the kind of thing that was going through Tony’s mind– or perhaps he was simply exasperated with Tony’s attitude. Honestly, it could have been either one.

“We just need to keep going,” Loki said. “Things are not going to get any better if all we do is sit and complain about them.”

“That’s an awfully motivational sentence to come out your mouth,” Tony replied. He hadn’t known Loki for all that long, true, but even so he’d kind of worked out that this guy wasn’t generally all sunshine and rainbows.

Then again– he supposed the statement was more of a realistic one, than optimistic.

“Stark, if there is one thing that you need to know about me– it is that I will not put up with you for long if all you do is sit around and expect someone else to do all the work. I get enough of that from my brother.”

On the outside, Tony pulled a face, scrunching his nose and rolling his eyes. Loki rolled his eyes in return, but he faced front again, using his knife to slice through the thick vines that hung from the trees so that they could make a more direct route toward the field that they’d seen.

On the inside, though… Tony was cringing.

How was he supposed to pull his own weight when there was literally nothing he was capable of doing that Loki couldn’t do perfectly well on his own already?

Nothing more was said for a while, the pair of them both seemingly lost in their own thoughts. They managed a few hundred more yards, but despite not being able to see the sun it was clear that the jungle was starting to get a little darker– the shadows growing dimmer, the trilling sounds of the insects gradually being replaced by a recognisably loud, night-time hum.

The jungle had been mostly the same wherever they went, but Loki seemed to be looking for something in particular. They passed a small river – or a large stream, depending on your perspective – and Loki’s brows furrowed.

“We need to go a bit further,” he muttered. “We can’t stop here.”

Tony might not be the most savvy when it came to surviving in the wilds, but even he could follow the logic on that one, and did not complain when Loki had them walk even further on dog-tired feet.

And when they did finally stop, Tony couldn’t say exactly what it was that had Loki nodding in satisfaction. They weren’t in any kind of clearing, and the trees didn’t look any different than any of the others. But Tony was exhausted, and as much as the thought of closing his eyes in this place made him shudder in horror, he knew that he needed sleep.

He did think about asking if only one of them should sleep at a time, but he figured that if Loki didn’t mention it, there was no need.

What would they be able to do, anyway? If a creature passed by and didn’t see them, it would probably be better to be asleep and quiet anyway– and if it did see them, then the extra warning would be unlikely to do them much good. Besides, they both would need as much energy as possible to survive the next day.

Tony just hoped that all the monsters needed sleep just as much as they did.

(He tried not to think about the existence of nocturnal creatures. Nope. Didn’t exist.)

They did debate a fire for a while, unsure if would scare away creatures or attract them, since the creatures here were like nothing either of them had ever encountered. But, Tony figured, a fire would likely do more good than one of them staying awake.

A few moths drawn to light were not going to be nearly as bad as a giant ass…

Tony stopped himself, shaking the thought from his head. He didn’t need to jinx them by thinking of what other kind of giant creatures might be roaming through the trees.

But the point stood.

In a kinder environment, a fire would also have provided them with a way of cooking a meal, but Skull Island was far from kind– and the only food they had was what they had brought with them.

For Tony, of course, that was nothing at all, but Loki pulled some packaged army rations out of a pocket of his coat. They didn’t have much– a few sleeves of… something (Tony always thought it was better to not ask what was inside), a few strips of dried meat, and the water canister that the pair of them had already been sharing. The only good thing about the wet of the fucking jungle, Tony thought, was that despite the amount they were sweating they were never not going to be able to find water.

But, the food was not going to be enough to last them the five days until the ship arrived, let alone the week Loki had estimated they would need to be able to get to the north of the island on foot.

Shit.

Tony was once again struck by the thought that they should have looked for the others. Ward had a full pack on him after all, probably stuffed with enough rations to get the four of them through this.

And if they’d gone back right at the start, tried to find other survivors from the initial encounter with the goddamn gorilla which had started all of this…

Well, maybe one of the choppers was still operational, maybe there was someone else still alive out there that they would have been able to meet up with, maybe they’d managed to save more of their rations—

No.

There was no use thinking like that. They’d made the choices they had, and the only thing to do now was to just keep on moving forward.

They had to.

So they shared out one of the ration packs, and ate it slow. It wasn’t enough, not nearly enough– Tony hadn’t eaten anything since the choppers had left the ship, and it felt like his stomach was gnawing at itself from the inside out. But it would be far worse later, if they ate all of their food now. He knew that.

He just didn’t like it much.

Once they had eaten, Tony went to lie down on the ground near the fire, his muscles having reached the point where they were starting to shake with every movement. His body was in pain, far more so than he’d suffered in a long while. Parts of his skin still seared from the chopper crash, bruised from both the crash and the spider, cut from trying to force his way through the jungle. Everything hurt, and he groaned as he lowered himself down—

“Stop.”

Tony paused, and glanced over. Loki stared at him for a minute, as if he had surprised himself by talking. But then he sighed.

“Never sleep directly on the ground in a place like this,” Loki said. “You’ll be eaten alive come morning.”

Tony grimaced at the thought– but looking around, he couldn’t see that they had much of a choice. Neither had a blanket, and they had no materials to try and make some kind of hammock or shelter in a tree. Plus, he figured it was likely that lying in a tree would be no better than lying directly on the ground.

Loki seemed to be turning it over as well, but then– he pulled off his thick leather coat.

Tony had spent most of the day examining Loki of course, but… the clothes he was wearing underneath his coat were still like nothing that he’d ever seen before. They were leather, and they could have been any kind of leather from earth– save that for all they had been through, Loki’s clothes hardly looked damaged at all. Parts of the black leather were embellished with tarnished gold, the most prominent decoration a gorget-like item below his collar, and gold trimmings along the edges of the material. The clothes were lined in green, and overall it was a good look– it was just… odd.

And once again, Tony felt a burning desire to ask. But, he figured that might be able to wait until another time. He’d already asked plenty of questions that day, and while he wasn’t usually the kind to put a limit on the number he’d ask, he sensed that Loki was the kind of person to have a limit on the number he’d answer.

So, instead, Tony went back to his earlier task of attempting to go to sleep.

The coat, when spread on the ground, would be just large enough for the pair of them to lie upon with only their booted feet over the edge.

Provided that they lie close, of course.

“I, uh.” Tony swallowed, tearing his gaze from the coat and looking around near their fire once again. “I can sleep over there if you want, I don’t mind a few bugs—”

“Stark.” Loki’s tone was sharp and stubborn. “Get on the coat.”

Tony didn’t try to argue again.

It was a little awkward trying to get settled, with Tony feeling so sore and there not being enough room. They ended up on their backs, pressed side by side so close that the full length of their arms were touching. It was rather uncomfortable, a little awkward, and–

And it was still so freaking warm.

But, at the same time… the comfort of having someone else so close beside him, of being able to feel the soft movements of Loki’s breathing– it helped him know that despite how terrible this whole situation was, he still wasn’t alone.

And that was worth more than simple words could ever cover.

But, it’s true what they say. The jungle never sleeps, and the sounds that struck through the eerie air kept Tony awake. He shuddered despite the wet heat, and he tried to pull his own jacket tighter around him, wishing that he could be almost anywhere else.

It wasn’t just the number of times they’d been attacked in the past twenty-four hours. It wasn’t just the noises, or the shadows that shifted as the treetops moved in the barely-there breeze. It wasn’t the phantom feeling of creatures under Tony’s clothes, the imaginary remnants of Loki’s earlier warning, simple fear come alive.

There was just something in the air which made Tony feel like his skin was crawling all over his flesh, like his bones couldn’t keep in their proper place. Like his whole body was screaming with a terror that Tony didn’t feel himself, a terror that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

He swallowed, his eyes staring straight up at the dark canopy, trying not to let himself wonder what kinds of creatures might be crawling up above.

But still, he couldn’t shake that feeling.

“There is something wrong with this place,” Tony whispered.

“And you are only just starting to realise that?” Loki asked. Tony hadn’t really been expecting a response, as it had been a while since they had both lain down, but it would seem he was not the only one having trouble sleeping.

Tony sighed. “Come on,” he said. “It’s… more than just the monsters, okay? There’s something else here. Something that just… isn’t right. It’s like the island is trying to tell us that we don’t belong here.”

There was something of a long pause before Loki gave his next reply. “I wondered if you would be able to feel it.”

“Then you feel it too?” Tony asked.

“I do.” Loki shifted slightly, his movement given away both by the sound of shifting leather and the brush of a hip against Tony’s. “This place feels like death. And you are right. It’s more than just the monsters… at least, more than the monsters we’ve seen. There’s something else here. Something worse.”

Tony shuddered at that, and he couldn’t help rolling over on the ground to get a closer look at Loki– only to find that the other man was watching him as well, those green eyes glittering in the firelight.

“Do you think we’re going to get out of here?” Tony asked. He wasn’t sure he liked the way that his voice sounded, but… when he replied, Loki’s was hardly any better.

“I think that we can only try.”

And with that terribly morbid thought in mind, they both finally fell properly silent—

Though of course, the nerve-wracking symphony of the jungle never once let up around them.