Work Text:
- IDENTIFY LOCATION: LOKE - INTER-DIMENSIONAL IDENTIFICATION CONFIRMED : HVRA0616-9H-08
- ---INTER-UNIVERSAL DOORWAY ENTRY POINT H8 : OBSERVATIONAL STATUS - TVA INTERFERENCE: NOT DETECTED
- ----MIDGARD NORTHERN HEMISPHERE : NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT : METROPOLITAN AREA DETECTED - VISITATION CAUTIONS ADVISED : BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
- ------KNOWN DOMESTIC TIME VARIANCE :1:54 AM US EST
==\\Time Out//==
" He's just a kid, Lolo. " The lights were almost blinding below, while thanks to their current altitude, the shields, and his own magic; Tony's voice over comms was probably louder than the winds. It likely helped they were mostly tucked between the roof vents, too.
" He did well regardless. " Up above most of the New York skyline, the noise and glare and rush of a city that rarely slept if at all was little more than the dim glow of a few nightlights; and the tuned down hum of a speaker left on for ambience.
" Fifteen years old. Barely. " Lolo couldn't help but find Tony's brand of grasping over-protective particularly funny.
" ..and still you recruited him. " brought an audible intake of exasperation from his over-anxious partner on the other end that almost matched the overtones of the slow rocking gusts. " Pulled him from Brooklyn and catching a few cars, thieves and neighborhood bullies, to Berlin and fighting others with far better experience and attention spans alongside a mostly artificial man who shoots laser beams out of his head." Tony knew he couldn't argue with that.
" He can't even legally drive yet.. " got drawn out with a low chuckle from Loki's end while he looked down from his laid out position along and between the thin metal vents somewhere along the south side of theroof at the brown waves peeking at him from under the cape he'd drug out of his pocket-space to cover him from the November chill. The gravel patch was uncomfortable, somewhat; but he'd slept and rested on worse. " ..and you gave him a weaponized spandex suit. To a boy who makes a regular habit of traveling at speeds and heights that would kill a fully grown human. "
" You're not supposed to know about those! " Made Loki grin at the sky was followed quickly by " And the weapons aren't active! " that came out immediately as a defense, and made Lolo attempt to restrain the laugh. Had he fallen asleep?
" Perhaps some of them should be. If tonight alone was any indicator. " Either way Peter wasn't bleeding any more. Not that it had been much. " Guns, knives, or worse with everything being passed around the criminal element with the leavings between my visit before last, and Greenwich; are clearly making even the teenage neighborhood watch a tad more dangerous. Also. Volume control Tony, I think he's fallen asleep. And. " the same he checked the small cut at the base of the heel of Peter's palm. " You should try taking a more active role. "
And that last put some quiet into the other end of the comms. Let it stretch, and he knew why. One of several common threads between him and Stark. The father figures. " Come on. We both know I'm the worst possible candidate for that kind of hands on bullshit Lolo." made Loki snort a little. " Oh? And where does that leave me? "
Because look at where he was. Currently pinned back first to top of a roof about halfway up the New York skyline, forty four floors up from the Brooklyn streets below; serving as a buffer between the tuckered out teen and the gravel patch atop said roof after the unexpected detour of spotting and stopping a dealership heist in progress. Granted, some of the vehicles hadn't made it out of the scuffle in perfect order; nor had Parker if one counted him catching a web shooter on the underside of the bumper of the civic he'd thrown to block one of their opposing team's exit routes: but there it was. " If there is anyone qualified to teach him, it's you Stark. "
" Come on.. you're pulling my leg and you know it. My direct examples of positive masculine role models are pretty fuckin' limited. "
" Well there it is then. You think the positive are the only ones that matter in making him better. "
" What's that supposed to mean. "
"It means that, the negative serve as examples too. "
" Bullshit."
" It's not."
" Is so. " made Loki have to fold his lips in listening to him, and his tone to close the smile and keep from laughing too hard and wake the kid. "..you're laughing at me right now, aren't you. " got Tony a slow " Mmhmmmmhmhmhm.." that he couldn't help. " Okay.. I'm at Rockwell Place; which tier are you on? "
" Top of the roof. And it's not. " got an audible sigh from Tony as the engines started to come into his hearing." ..can you run the stealth upgrade; the sound buffer? He's definitely sleeping. "
" He's going to have to get up to get in. " made Loki scoff, staring at the sky. "No he won't. He weighs far less than he looks, strange as that concept seems. " Wondering how he had gotten himself into this particular situation over the course of just a few years; or giving a damn about a scraggly, awkward, teenager with a mouth that ran quicker than most rivers enough to bother. Among other things. Quiet again, from Tony's end. " South side. And you know what not to do. "
" What? " he could hear a tone that shouldn't be there as the jet got closer to their level; an almost whine to the rotors in the wings that made one eye twitch briefly; something to look at and fix when they got home. Dead giveaway.
" I said; you know what not to do. Howard taught you that, at least."
Silence again, and that whine was getting closer. Peter shifted, rubbing his face against Loki's ribs; still clinging like a red and blue panda and tightening his hold.
Enough in fact that he had to brush a finger at his eyebrow to stir the hairs there and get him to swat at it in order to loosen said grip on one side: before he could start wiggling himself lower along the gravel and get his butt up to a carrying height." ..wow. " didn't pause him until he realized with what Tony said next in that laughing tone. " Pardon me while I totally don't take any pictures. " and had Stark laughing when Loki turned his head to spot him, and give the jet and the man in it a narrowed warning glare.
" Oh don't get your panties in a bunch, your Majesty. This one's definitely going in my private collection. " brought a low grumbling sound from Lolo before he was starting up with his arms locked under Peter's ass and his face planted snoozing against his neck.
" You're sure he's okay? "
" We need to work on more stable materials; especially where his wrist shooters are concerned, but yes. A few bruises, and the cut's shallow. You've had worse losing focus in the bay with a file in hand. "
" Done deal. " came across through the comms as Tony turned the jet around and started the ramp down to receive them. Peter slept like a rock, if a squishy one. " You and me can go over how it went down when we get back upstate after dropping him home. You got the piece what got pried off him with the car? "
" Yes, I gathered it before we left. Do you seriously want to deal with delivering him to May, even in this state, at two in the morning. "
Long pause, and as the scenarios settled and Loki stepped up and in with his currently.. was that drool dribbling on his neck? " Ah, good call. Let's just send her another text and take him home for a sleepover. " came with a chuckle as Loki chose a seat in the middle, unlocked and elbowed back the armrest and just sort of flopped over onto one side. " What you said. " In that lower, softer tone as the ramp closed and he readjusted his head's placement and kept the teen from sliding towards the floor rather than the seam of the seats had Loki looking at Tony's back where he sat in the pilot's chair.
Tony didn't look back, didn't take any extra movement from setting their course; or pull any of his usual sass into the comment that followed. " If that.. if that's true: it applies to you too y'know Lolo. " Stark kept his eyes, his silhouette a warmer thing at the moment than the glow of the Brooklyn night lights illuminating his profile from ahead and below. " You'd be scary, but a great mentor. " Kept him from answering right away. But it was " And a top a the line, galaxy-class dad. " that kept him tight inside and silent for the rest of the trip: given the answer to his own exasperated questions right there.
Watching, between the motion of the sky above the horizon through the cockpit and the ceiling.
Listening to the sounds of that whine he'd have to fix too, and the little breaths hummed and otherwise tucked under his chin.
Laying there, with a koala-kid cling-latched to him in the midst of his much needed power nap and reminded; exactly why he'd come back, and especially why he'd stayed.
Just trusting him, Loki; even in his sleep.. resting, without worry, or care.