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Tony didn’t think he’d ever felt so alone.
It was something of a ridiculous notion, in a way—he had more people at his back now than he had in his youth, more people who actually cared about him than he ever had in his life. And yet, every single one of them was out of his reach, and he out of theirs.
He didn’t even have JARVIS with him right now, as the AI was still recovering back in the kid’s shed, stuck inside the husk of Mark XLII.
There would be no one coming to help him. He was on his own.
But, alone or not, he had a mystery to solve, and he wasn’t just going to sit on his ass feeling sorry for himself. The world thought he was dead—and that gave him the best cover he could ask for.
The plaid shirt and the hill-billy hat just added to the anonymity.
Or well, so he’d hoped.
These flaming fire people seemed to have located him easy enough, and as he found himself trying to battle his way out of a rather difficult situation he half regretted the decision to leave the shed before the time was up.
Damn.
Usually, he never put a foot outside the door without an emergency single-use repulsor strapped to his wrist, but he hadn’t been expecting his house to get blown up.
(In retrospect, he probably should have been expecting that after he gave his home address to a terrorist.)
He’d thought about rigging something from the parts of the Mark XLII, but he hadn’t wanted to take the suit apart too much when it would be fine again after a few hours’ charge. This trip out had just meant to be to gather intel.
Still, that didn’t leave him entirely defenceless. Too many people had underestimated him in the past, and this fiery lady seemed to be no exception.
When he pulled out a gas line and threw the metal dog tags into the microwave, he was about 73% sure he’d get out alive. Not the kind of odds he’d like, but still somewhere in the realm of his usual zone of operation.
His ears rang as he finally walked out of the now destroyed bar, and every step hurt something fierce—but the sight of the inhuman woman hanging from the powerlines, flung there from the force of the explosion, sent a fierce kind of satisfaction sparking through his gut—
At least until he noticed the second guy, his hands glowing red hot as they pressed against the pole of a street-light, the metal bending and warping and—
Tony should have been able to move out of the way. It would have taken just a few steps, to either side—but the pole didn’t just fall. The man used the leverage of it’s collapse to fling the thing sideways, so that it fell in a sweeping arc. It struck Tony’s legs and he went down, groaning at the impact—and he was trapped underneath the light’s weight.
He didn’t think his legs were broken, but they still hurt like fucking hell—
He shoved at the pole, trying to free himself, but it was no use. Outside of the suit he had only the strength of an ordinary man, and there was no way he would be able to shove it off without some kind of leverage. God, he didn’t normally say it, but what he wouldn’t give to have Captain America at his side right about then.
An unwelcome voice tore his attention from his efforts, and his gaze snapped to the approaching man.
“Help me, help me,” the man taunted, his tone a mocking high-pitch. But it wasn’t his voice or his words that had Tony’s blood boiling—it was the boy flung over the man’s shoulder, struggling and trying to get away.
Tony felt his entire body freeze. Without a repulsor, without a weapon, there wasn’t much he could do—but still his gaze flickered around, trying to find something, anything that he could use.
“Hey kid, what do you want for Christmas?” the man asked as he pulled Harley around in front of him, his words ugly and filled with taunt.
“Let me go! Mr Stark, I am so sorry—”
“No, no, no, what I think he means to say,” the man said, turning to look at Tony with hard eyes, “is I want my goddamn file.”
Tony kept his gaze on Harley. “It’s not your fault, kid,” he said, shaking his head gently. He felt like his heart was in his throat, like it was beating three times too fast against the casing of the arc reactor. And as much as he hated himself for asking it of the kid, there was one thing he knew that he could do here. He held the kid’s gaze, and hoped to god that he would understand. “You uh, you remember what I told you about bullies?”
The kid’s expression instantly lightened with understanding, and Tony gave him a nod, fear curling right through him because there were so many ways that this could go wrong—
But the kid was perfect. He pulled out the ‘anti-bullying device’ Tony had given him and blasted it right in the guy’s face, bright light blinding him and forcing him to let Harley go. And the moment Harley was free—he ran, no looking back, no hesitation. Tony’s breath left him in a sharp sigh.
Thank god.
“Fine,” the guy hissed, his eyes glowing with anger—and then they were actually glowing, skin cracking with heat. “It’ll be more fun to do this another way.”
Tony went back to trying to push at the light pole that was still laying across his legs, his desperation doubling as he saw that the man was moving toward the water tower to Tony’s right.
Fuck, fuck, fuck—
“If you won’t give me the file, Stark,” he said, glowing hands pressing against one of the legs of the tower. “Then I guess I’ll just have to destroy it. Water works just as well as fire, after all.”
Tony’s mind made the calculations without his permission, letting him know that he had only seconds before that metal hit its melting point and the tower came tumbling down. He redoubled his efforts but the light pole still wasn’t moving, shifting just a little but not enough, not nearly enough—
The man was laughing, the tower was screeching, the weight of it already pushing the weakened metal beyond its limits.
Tony felt panicked, breaths coming much too fast. He’d drowned before, he knew what it felt like, and even knowing that the water from the tower likely wouldn’t kill him—just the thought of being surrounded by it, of having that cascade fall over his head—
He shoved at the pole again, again, again. But there was no use.
The screeching of the metal was overwhelming now, the sound of it cutting Tony to the core, his fear reaching new heights. As the tower began to tip to the side, as it began to topple down toward Tony, as the water crashed to the ground and spilled through the sky in a devastating wave—
Tony threw his hands over his head and screwed his eyes shut.
Sometimes, when you’re waiting in terror, moments can feel like they last an age. His heart was beating fast enough that he couldn’t measure time by it, every three beats taking the time it would usually take just one, and his breaths were no doubt panicked.
He felt like he was breaking apart at the seams, just waiting, waiting—
But even in terror, it had been far too long.
Tony winced as he opened one eye—
And then gasped as he opened both, because the sight in front of him was—or at least, should have been impossible.
The water wasn’t falling—
It was freezing, the massive wave from the tower frozen solid to a wall of pure ice.
Tony stared, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of him—and then, he turned.
Standing behind him, skin a deep blue and eyes a dark red, with hands stretched out toward the wave of ice and a lethal snarl upon his face was a person that Tony would have recognised anywhere.
Loki.
And suddenly, Tony felt the world come cascading down around him, pieces falling back to where they should be, aligning for the first time since his house had been destroyed and he had crashed in a field in Tennessee, cold and alone.
He was still cold, of course, but—not alone. Not anymore.
Loki’s expression was as violent as Tony had ever seen it, and as he stepped toward the wall of ice, he pulled his hands to each side. The ice shattered with the movement, exploding outward, the pieces raining down to the ground in a torrent of broken diamond.
The man who had attacked Tony was on the other side—a wall of flame replaced the ice, as if he had been merely waiting for the obstacle to be removed. But Loki was ready for it. His hands flung outward again, this time accompanied with a green glow—magic forcing the fire to the sides, melting the ice back to water.
“I don’t know who you are, or what you are trying to do,” Loki said, his voice deep and deadly. “But I do know that you are making a big mistake.”
The man looked like he might have been about to respond—but he didn’t get the chance, as a moment later another blast of green hit him in the centre of his chest, cutting a hole straight through his torso.
“Hell yeah, heal from that, asshole,” Tony groaned.
As if Tony’s voice had reminded Loki that he was there, Loki immediately turned to face him. His skin was already fading back to its usual creamy tone, his green eyes wide with worry.
“Anthony?” he asked, eyes casting over the light pole.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Tony said. “Do you think you could just—”
Loki was lifting the pole away in half a moment, and he threw it to the side.
“Thanks.” Tony leaned forward to rub at his legs. Yeah, they weren’t broken, but he was going to have one hell of a bruise.
“You will tell me what is going on.” It wasn’t a question—and really, it didn’t need to be. Tony had been planning on doing so regardless.
“I’ll tell you in the car,” Tony said. “Well, a car. I bet that guy has one.”
Loki helped him get to his feet, and then Tony went to rummage in the guy’s pockets. It really wasn’t a pretty sight, Loki sure had done a number on him—there was a hole about a foot in diameter burned into his chest. It smelled awful, the stink of it sticking in Tony’s nose.
Loki was silent as Tony found a car key, and still did not speak as they walked away from the icy carnage. They made it to the road before Loki made any kind of sound.
“Anthony.”
It was his tone which had Tony pausing—a broken kind of thing, low and aching. He might have offered comfort, but then Loki spoke again before he could.
“Everyone thought you were dead.”
Tony almost stumbled half a step, and his frown fell firmly into place. He’d known that, of course—but he’d left them a message. He’d sent a voicemail to Loki, and one to Pepper as well, along with the message for them to pass it on to those who mattered. Not everyone of course, just—just the people who would miss him. The people who were in his corner.
“A message is not the same as seeing you and knowing that you’re alive,” Loki said, as if he knew what Tony were thinking about. “Anthony, everyone thought you were dead.”
The crack in his voice opened up a crack in Tony’s heart, and he stumbled forward before he knew what he was doing. He should have reached for Loki right at the start, the very first moment that he’d been free from the pole. He should have—
But that didn’t matter, because he was holding Loki now. Loki’s body felt stiff, but there was a soft trembling in his muscles which made it clear that he was merely trying to hold himself together.
“I’m not dead,” Tony said, holding Loki a little tighter, one hand stroking through his hair. “I’m alive. I’m here. I’m all right.”
“You almost weren’t,” Loki said, looking up. “Who was that?”
“I’m not sure, I still need to work it out. I have a file, and I’m sure I’ll be able to put the pieces together—we’ll be able to put the pieces together. We’ll find out who hurt Happy, we’ll end this.
Loki’s expression didn’t harden the way that Tony was expecting it would. Instead, he lifted one hand to cup Tony’s cheek, stroking it with his thumb as if to reassure himself that Tony was still in one piece. Then, he leaned forward—
And, well. Even though they were in the middle of the street in a red state, Tony leaned right into it, curling his arms around Loki’s waist and kissing him with all the desperation he had felt over the past couple days.
Kissing Loki was always like coming home, and it wasn’t long before the desperation melted into tenderness, until they were holding each other not out of relief, but out of desire.
“Ew, that’s gross.”
Tony broke the kiss and turned to the kid with a raised eyebrow. “Then don’t look.”
“Old people kissing is weird.”
“I’m not that old.”
Harley crossed his arms, and gave Tony that universal ‘who do you think you’re kidding?’ squint. “Yeah, you kind of are.”
“And who are you?” Loki's voice was curious.
“Oh, just the kid who saved Mr Stark’s life,” Harley replied—and Tony let out sigh.
“I saved you first.”
“Wouldn’t have been able to if I hadn’t saved you.”
“That’s not even—that doesn’t make any sense—”
“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Loki cut in, smiling at Harley. “I am sure Anthony would not have been able to manage without you.”
Harley puffed out his chest in pride.
Tony rolled his eyes. “Yeah, thanks Lokes. Hey, how’d you find me anyway? I don’t have JARVIS with me.”
“JARVIS managed to give me a general location when you got the suit back online,” Loki said. “All I had to do then was follow the explosions.”
“I suppose you make things explode a lot, then,” Harley said.
“Shut up,” Tony groaned. “Right, Loki, you and I are going in the car. Kid, you’re staying here.”
“What? No, I want to help!”
“You will be helping. Someone needs to look after the suit.”
“So you’re just going to leave me here?” the kid whispered, his eyes going wide. “Like my dad?”
Tony stared at him for a minute. “Yeah.”
“But we’re connected.” The kid looked like he was about to start crying—
But, Loki was already in the car, and there was no way that Tony was going to let the kid come with. Not when the memory of fear still lingered, the sick terror he had felt when Harley was in danger.
So even when the kid hugged his arms around his chest and gave Tony the most pathetic stare he’d ever seen—even when he whimpered out a desperate “I’m cold,” the words paired with a pout… Tony knew exactly what he needed to say.
“I know,” Tony said, getting into the car and speaking to the kid through the open window. “You know how I can tell? Because we’re connected.”
He still felt a little guilty but, the guilt wasn’t enough to overpower the knowledge that the kid was now safe.
“Where are we going?” Loki asked, his hands curled around the file Tony had almost been killed for.
“No idea,” Tony replied, speeding out of that town as fast as he could. “But between the two of us, I’m sure it won’t take too long for us to work it out.”
His words rang as true as Loki’s smile, because thanks to JARVIS’ undefeatable spirit Tony was no longer alone—
And against the both of them, the Mandarin and those fire people – whoever the fuck they were – weren’t going to stand a chance.