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1.
_____
Sleep is overrated - that was a Tony Stark mantra, everybody knew that. That was why no one came to ask him if he had slept well and that sort of thing. Tony was not sleeping, okay. Not even one bit. Not because he didn't want to but... because he didn't want to. The monsters didn't hide under his mattress but they danced and laughed on his ceiling. He saw and heard only them, haunted by the way they whispered endless nightmares in the hollow of his ear, like tinnitus-snakes, and how they laid down with all their weight on his chest, crushing the reactor. Leaving him in pain.
Tony was not tired, no. He was fucking exhausted of not being tired. His whole body was weakened and his mind was whirring; he tried to fill them up with coffee all day long so as not to give in to the monsters. To ignore it all, Tony worked. He thought, he drew, schematized, created, built, repaired, improved; all that was not him, but all that was somehow his, to cover all that he couldn't fix on himself.
Spending his nights in the lab was fine. It was quiet down there, almost peaceful, away from a loud world he'd have to save at dawn o'clock. And at night, in the Tower, there were no Avengers. It narrowed his anxiety down, really. They were nice guys, he supposed, but not that nice. Not Rhodey-Happy-Pepper-Peter kind of nice. In fact, they were not family material. Not even friends. They just happened to be colleagues, that's all. A bunch of broken things that had managed to be different, powerful, and able to protect others.
Well, he couldn't deny the understanding between Romanoff and him; she had known him longer, had seen the worst of him. She took no shit from anyone and did what she wanted. He liked her. In fact, if he cared enough, he would like them all; but he didn't care enough and neither did they.
Now, the new addition to the team? Tall, Dark and Gorgeous over here? Yeah, there was something to be said about him too. Thor's brother seemed to attract every single ounce of attention Tony had. That was why, when Tony went up to find some more coffee and when he saw Loki every night on the couch of the common floor, he had to find something to say. They had never truly interacted but whenever they exchanged words, it was fun.
But tonight, there was a weird feeling in the air and Tony found himself walking towards the god without even registering it.
"Loki? Are you alright?" The god's usually focused eyes were restless, wide and rimed with red when they turned to look at him. Tony stopped in his tracks, feeling his heart beating a little harder.
"What's wrong?" he asked softly, taking a careful step closer. Not because he was scared or forced himself to be kind, but mostly because he wasn't sure if Loki would accept his presence, let alone proximity in such a vulnerable state. And Tony had guessed it just right.
"Leave me alone, Stark," Loki muttered, looking away. He was wary, almost cowering at the furthest side of the couch, knees pressed to his chest and long hair falling in his eyes. He looked miserable.
"I just-"
"Go away!" the god growled with poison.
"Okay. Okay," Tony whispered as he backed away, troubled. Glancing one last time at the shape of a frightened child alone in the dark, Tony left the floor to go back to his lab.
Seeing Loki in this state stirred his guts until sunrise and later on. That a god ended up so miserable in the dark seemed surreal to Tony. Obviously, he knew that Loki had survived through countless horrors - it was written in his eyes, and echoed in Thor's. Perhaps he too was eaten alive by the monsters that prowled along his bones and his dreams? No doubt they were hungrier than Tony's.
"J? Keep an eye on him, will you? And warn me if anything happens to him," he ordered as he let himself fall on a stool, elbows on the counter.
"Will do, Sir."
"Thanks, buddy."
2.
_____
Different night, same story. Tony was awkwardly standing on top of the stairs, staring at Loki who was once again on the couch, gazing beyond the bay window that overlooked the city. To be honest there, Tony didn't quite know what to do with himself. Should he ignore the other? Or go to him? Should he say or do something? He then heard a sigh.
"Would you stop thinking so loud," Loki complained, not moving an inch. And that got Tony to function again.
"Okay, I'm not leaving you alone again," he declared, heading for the couch with a determined pace. "That was wrong of me last night, I should've stayed." Then he stopped himself from going further, because Loki wasn't moving. "Uh," he cleared his throat, "is it okay for me sit with you?"
Slowly, Loki turned to him and Tony thought he saw the shadow of a smile. Or, just a shadow, really.
"What if I say no?" the god inquired, a curious note spicing his tone. It took a few seconds for Tony to recognize the edges of amusement.
"I, uh. I'll leave?" Tony said honestly, though it was absolutely not what he wanted. Loki didn't respond immediately, nor before turning away from the man.
"I do not wish to talk."
"Works with me," Tony assured, still on his feet and waiting for some kind of sign from the god. He would have stood there all night, no joke.
"Oh, for the love of the Norns, just sit down, will you? But do not expect me to weep like a widow on your shoulder."
Tony couldn't help but smile in relief, letting go of a shaky sigh, as he took a seat next to Loki - not too close not to make him uncomfortable, but not too far because the point was to make him feel supported. "Fine too! As long as you're not alone."
Already barefoot from his time in the lab, he sat cross-legged on his side of the cosy leathery sofa and glanced at Dracula who was immensely silent on the other side.
"I always am alone," Loki murmured eventually, "for I always feel this way."
Tony wanted to be useful and niceties were not his thing. He knew it wouldn't work on a thousand-year-old being.
"Always? Must have been a awfully long time," he said softly.
Loki hummed, eyes still riveted on the city lights. For a moment, Tony admired the white halo of the moon kissing Loki's pale skin. The effect felt unreal and inspiration-starved artists could only wish to witness it once in their life, since not a single one of them would ever be able to recreate that kind of beauty.
"You are not alone, Loki."
The god chuckled bitterly. "Why is that? Because I have joined the powerful side of love and friendship?"
Tony almost smiled. Yeah, he felt that one. Been there.
"Because I do not want you to be on your own," he admitted instead. "You're here precisely not to be alone. I don't want you to go full Jennifer Check mode."
An elegant eyebrow arched at the name but Tony paid it no mind. He only had a genuine smile to offer him and Loki was content with that. A blanket of silence covered them both, soft and pleasant, and if Loki didn't utter a word, Tony could hear him think loud and clear. He left the god to his thoughts, pulled a screen out of his pocket and decided to continue his calculations and theories, sending simulations to run to Jarvis, one floor down.
The two men did not speak to each other for a long time and nothing came to shatter the bubble that had built itself around them. Once or twice - way much more than that, but hey, who's there to judge - Tony glanced at Loki and simply looked at him, drinking in his beauty and his strangely imposing presence. When he looked up once again, he found the god's eyes already on him and the fact that he was being watched in return got him flushed all over.
"What are you working on?" Loki asked in a whisper, the expression on his face tinted with fragility.
Tony almost frowned as he tried to understand the other's sudden raw insecurity - Loki was fidgeting with a corner of the blanket that was wrapped around his shoulders -, and he soon realised that Loki was being timid, as if he had never initiated a simple conversation.
"I'm, uh. Running tests for some kind of material that would make up Natasha and Peter's suits. Something incredibly thin, elastic yet unbreakable."
"Hmm."
Tony looked at him again. Loki seemed skeptical, his head slightly tilted in thoughts. "What?"
"You always work for everyone's comfort and safety," Loki whispered. "And I think you have heart - a gargantuan one at that."
The screen was being forgotten in the couch as Tony stared dumbly at the god.
"Oh, don't look at me this way, I am merely stating facts. Simply, what I mean to say is... When was the last time you worked on something of yours only? When did you update your armor the same way you update the material of every member of the team?"
"Uh-" That was a really good point actually. He couldn't even remember that.
"See?" Loki said, smiling again. "How do you expect me to not be alone if you die on the battlefield and everyone else survives just fine?"
"Right. Fair point, I'll give you that," Tony chuckled as he noted the vibrant spark that shone in emerald skies.
A silky silence stretched after that, and Loki adverted his eyes, turning away from Tony. "You will never die," the god promised barely audible, "not on my watch."
Tony also looked away, his chest feeling both light and heavy for his heart was hammering against his ribs and his reactor sang a little louder in his ears. A thank you died on his lips before he got the chance to give it life.
3.
_____
Every night since, Tony would abandon his lab and let Jarvis take care of the various tasks he pondered throughout the day. Because, yes: Tony had adapted his work cycle for it to suit his nightly dates with Loki upstairs better. In all honesty, the nature of this friendship under the moonlight left him somewhat perplexed during the day, since Loki was never really there once the sun would dawn over the horizon. The guy really was a vampire!
Oh, Loki offered him discreet smiles, granted him his full attention when Tony would talk, or slipped a mug of coffee under Tony's nose when the man still struggled to reconnect to the presence of the Avengers, at unholy-early hours in the kitchen, and that their voices clouded Tony's brain. All their good humor intertwined between breakfast and some last yawns irritated Tony's good spirit, hardly and quietly acquired during the night, to the point of making it flee.
But as said earlier, Loki was there to somewhat reboot him and give him a chance to begin the day properly.
They never spoke during the day, unless they were on a mission - and that wasn't much. Thor claimed that Loki was greedy for words and could converse and persuade better than anyone; but since the God of Mischief had joined their ranks, Tony was still waiting to hear him speak in the face of everyone, and speak with that much panache and personality. At times Tony would seize a glimpse of that spark, but an obvious unease drowned it with malignity each time.
Tony was constantly looking at Loki. He made sure the god found what he needed, that he was listened to. That he was comfortable, really. Natasha and Rhodey noticed - of course they did. But Tony didn't care.
Because that was it, he had figured. Loki's potential was not oriented for him to be a colleague to Tony like the others, because he had this quality of family material Tony had thought of earlier - or, well, it went more like that: Tony wanted to be friends with Loki, but he couldn't lie to himself anymore. He longed for moments with the god, for they were the only moments he felt good and somehow at ease in his own Tower. This wasn't his home no more; it was the Avengers', and he felt it wherever he laid his eyes.
Except when they would find Loki at night, sitting on his couch - Tony liked to call it his. In the morning, no one sat there so the smooth leather would still be a bit distorted by the weight of Loki's body. Once, Tony had found Loki's blanket, soft and warm, his scent still lingering in the air.
Yeah, that was getting out of hands. Tony knew that.
"Are you even listening to me? Anthony?"
Ha, right. The Anthony thing. That was a problem too. Well, not that much because it felt so good, but. See? Tony lost track of everything when he was with Loki. And it didn't help that the god talked with his hands - Christ, his hands. Long, elegant fingers waltzing in the air didn't help to focus, really. Tony's own fingers itched to join themselves to Loki's.
"Uh, yeah. Totally. Let's do that."
He wasn't fooling anyone, was he? Loki let his hands drop onto his lap and he smiled softly.
"When did I lost you?" he asked. "Tell me it was after I talked about Uru induced with seidr. Because I was performing the grandest oversimplified explanation of my existence for you to understand this concept."
"Oh, shut up!" Tony chuckled, feeling his fingertips burn the same way as his cheeks. "You weren't simplifying shit! You like exposing inconceivable notions to the tiny human that I am and that I don't get a single thing."
"Don't play coy with me, Stark," Loki said lowly. "We both know damn well that you are genius enough to assimilate these extraterrestrial notions. Now, did I lost you after the Uru or not?"
"Uh. What if I said kinda?" Tony answered sheepishly.
Loki sighed fondly before laughing briefly.
"Hey, it's not my fault!" Tony whined throwing his hands in the air. "You went all Peter Parker mode and I have attention disorders since that kid showed up, okay. Your hands are everywhere, telling some sort of story that is miles away from what you're talking about, Lokes."
Tony's cheeks hurt from smiling and Loki got awfully quiet after that, studying the man next to him with big, curious eyes.
"What is it?" Tony breathed out, unsure.
"You're right, though."
"About what?" Tony frowned.
"You truly are a tiny man," the god grinned then, that elusive spark still twinkling in his pupils.
Tony's hands grasped the closest cushion and threw it at Loki's face who was now laughing loud and clear.
"Let's go back to working on my new armor, shall we?" he said drily, mimicking Loki's accent.
For the rest of the night, Tony ignored a whole lot of things. Like the idiotic smile plastered on his face, Loki's thigh brushing against his, the deep yet soft rumble of the god's voice in his ear. The way they had gotten closer to each other throughout each night and this one in particular.
Well. Tony said he ignored it all but.
He didn't.
Would he need a new suit to stop himself from falling for Loki? Probably, yes. But he would never build that one. Why would he?
4.
_____
When Tony climbed the stairs to join Loki that night, a spring in his step, he didn't imagine for one second that Loki could be absent. They had not missed a single night for three weeks now. Together they had thought and created the new Iron Man suit, Mark LI - yeah, Tony loved that this one had the first and last letter of the god's name on it. He really loved it. But he hadn't told Loki, no. He was insane, but not that badly.
Ahem. Moving on.
Jarvis had built the armor out of pieces of Uru that Loki had brought back after going to Nidavellir for two days, and Tony was thrilled because it looked magnificent, not gonna lie. More gold than red, this one. More Loki, taunted his conscience - fuck, he had it bad. Anyway. And tonight, Tony had just finished synchronizing the IA and the nano technology.
A sense of pride reared to its full height as Tony thought of their work, and he couldn't thank Loki enough. He wanted to tell him how grateful he was to him nonetheless, that's what tonight was about, but when he got upstairs, silence reigned more abruptly than usual.
Because Loki was nowhere to be seen.
"Loki?" Tony called, worried. The couch was empty, just as every room of the floor.
Had Loki grown tired of their little rendez-vous, or had he miraculously fallen asleep? Either way, loneliness bit Tony right in the heart. This was ridiculous, he knew that if he needed Loki, he could knock on his door and the god would welcome him. But Tony didn't need him, right? He just. Damn it. He just wanted him.
After a few minutes of waiting, standing in front of the window, Tony turned around, gutted.
That's when he collided with a strong and unmoving figure. Who was looking at him with wide eyes. Because, yeah.
"Anthony-"
"You're so very close right now," Tony murmured, his eyes quickly mapping the details of Loki's face, which was always glowing under the moonlight.
And he should have kept his mouth shut, he realised, because Loki stepped back, clearing his throat. Shit.
"Apologies," he mumbled, putting back a strand of hair behind his ear.
Was the tip pinker than usual? Real question. Because Tony believed that he saw a matching shade on the god's cheeks. In a blush kind of way. Was he dreaming it? He was, wasn't he? He couldn't see anything in the half-light that bathed the room.
"It's alright," he whispered absentmindedly, finding himself enraptured by Loki's tongue darting out to wet thin lips.
"I- I have spent the day searching for a volume. About seidr and the mastery of skywalking."
An enormous, ancient book materialized itself in his hands and Tony tried to gain some of his composure back.
"I apologise for my late arrival, the thing was kept by countless of wards in my mother's collection. Um- There are chapters, about runes and magic induced metals, this why I- I thought, perhaps, we could, uh- Study it?" Loki was stuttering. What the fuck. "Together?" He added eventually, eyes full of hope.
Okay. Loki was nervous. And that made Tony nervous. What was that all about? Loki rarely spoke of his seidr - in fact, no one in here knew was he was capable of. No one ever dared to ask.
"Of course," Tony whispered again, somewhat non-plussed.
A crease burrowed Loki's brow.
"Are you alright?" he inquired, depositing the tome on the couch and getting closer again. Tony didn't miss one movement of the god's body and shifted on his feet. He wanted to hug him. Loki came to a halt.
"Y-yes! Yes. I thought- That you weren't here," Tony managed, still feeling bewitched.
"I was not," Loki said, tilting his head in that endearing reflex of his when curiosity filled his look.
"No, I mean. I thought that you wouldn't come here. Tonight." With me, Tony stopped himself from saying.
"Oh," Loki said as realisation dawned on him. "No, I would have informed you. I'm- sorry for having troubled you, Anthony."
"It's alright, I'm fine now," Tony promised with a smile. "Righty-oh, you got us homework then. I'm gonna be real with you, that's some huge diary there. Did your mother write this?"
From that moment, Loki opened himself more than ever to Tony. Tony got to hear about Queen Frigga and tiny magic-rookie Loki - which he couldn't have enough of. He heard about Asgard customs too but essentially? Tony saw Loki's magic. Emerald flames and golden haze licking at his hands and gleaming in his eyes. If Tony had resisted up until now - not much, but efforts were to be acknowledged, okay? - he pinpointed the exact moment he fell in love with a trickster god and his sharp smiles and his kind eyes-
Wanna know about it?
It had to do with the blush that had flushed Loki's cheeks red and that Tony had provoked when he had quoted Pride & Prejudice, smiling faintly.
It sounded like that: "You have bewitched me body and soul." Yeah, he was proud of that one. Perfect situation - wait till he told Peter about it.
Loki had gasped loudly and let his seidr spiral around them without structuring it like he was supposed to according to the chapter they had been dissecting.
"I- I should go before the others come up here," he had said, incapable of looking Tony in the eyes.
"Okay," came Tony's shaky answer.
Loki got up, his magic fading away and swallowing the grimoire while doing so, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone. Tony could have ran after him, apologized for making him uncomfortable, explained the reference that Loki surely had not recognized, but he didn't. Because when his eyes landed on the table before him, and that he heard Clint yawning like a beast when getting out of the elevator, he saw a steaming mug of coffee that hadn't been there five seconds ago.
Did that mean that Loki confessed the spell he had worked on Tony and that he accepted the man's appreciation?
Tony put his hand on his face.
Appreciation, right. Tony was way past that.
5.
_____
Blinking sleep out of his eyes, Clint groaned as he took a step on the common floor and that the shouting got louder. Bruce stood behind him, rubbing his eyes like a kid. Steve was already there, arms crossed and a bewildered look on his face, while Nat had brought a chair away from the kitchen table and was sitting on it, eating some cereal bar.
"Tasha," Clint mumbled as he put his hands on the back of the chair, "what the fuck is going on out here?"
"It's three in the morning," Bruce whined, letting himself fall along the wall and on his ass, eyes closing by themselves.
"Dumbass One is mad at Dumbass Two," she said, munching sugar like a caterpillar, "and Dumbass Two is even madder at Dumbass One."
Clint looked up, eyes squinting. Further in the gloomy living room and separated by the couch, he discerned Tony and Loki. Screaming at each other.
"How long has it been going on?"
"More than half an hour, now," Steve intervened, a bit dumbfounded.
"Alright, and where's Thor?"
"What d'you think? The goofball is still snoring like thunder up there," Nat said, chewing again.
"Is it me or do they look like a married couple on the verge of realizing they actually love each other?"
"Shush now, I wanna see how it ends," Nat chuckled, licking her lips like a famished animal.
"This is the fucking suit we made together, dumbass!" Tony shrieked, bordering on hysterical. "It is the strongest, rawest, safest armor I own and it is because of you! You built it with me, you know it's fucking safe, Loki!"
"I am not saying it isn't safe! All I say is that you should have been more careful today on the battlefield!"
"I was careful, for Christ's sake! I've been doing this for years!"
"You have been reckless!" roared Loki, eyes wide and frost forming on every piece of furniture the angrier he got. "And you fucking know that!"
The way he had spat the swear word in a mimic of Tony's way of talking got the Avengers speechless. Loki did not talk that much; Loki did not scream; and Loki did not swear. But tonight, the guy was making up for it.
"I had to stop the witch from using the power sources of that building," Tony stated blankly, teeth-grinding.
"You did not have to make it all explode like some sort of tasteless firework that even Jotunheim was able to see galaxies away, when you were still prisoner of its walls and that I stood outside of it and heard your heart stopped!"
Tony shut his mouth and looked away. At that, Nat stopped moving. She heard the mumbling of a "What?" in Bruce's direction.
"Jarvis has strict instructions when it comes to emergency care-"
"I do not give a tinker's curse about what Jarvis did today!" Loki roared again. "For he acted greatly and you did not."
Tony shot a mean glare at the god but Loki kept going before the man had the chance to speak again.
"You saved lives and you fought like a god," Loki assured in a slightly more tender tone. "Our victory today is all yours. And this fact alone sickens me! Your plan was to die! Your plan was to trust Jarvis to impulse electricity in your heart in order to make it beat again!"
Ice was crawling along the windows, blocking the view, and a loud crack rang in the room.
"And in that, your plan was to die," Loki rasped out, tears rolling down his face now.
Tony's shoulders went lax and a sudden pained aura enveloped him.
"You keep people alive," Loki whispered, almost smiling. "Just as you keep me alive. It's what you do, and I love you for it."
Clint lost his balance, his hand slipping on the back of Nat's chair.
"Loki," Tony breathed out, taking a step closer.
"But in doing so, you endanger yourself and you do not hesitate to sacrifice your life," Loki whimpered, agony written in his eyes. "I need you... to hesitate, Anthony," he sobbed. "For while you do, I have time to join you, and protect you, and help you."
Out of breath, Loki recoiled until his back hit the glazed wall.
"You are not alone anymore, Anthony," he murmured, voice raw with emotion and fatigue.
"Loki, I'm sorry-"
In a flash of green light, Loki disappeared, leaving Tony standing on ice and the team in absolute bewilderment. Tony shot them the most miserable look ever, and Nat was the one to get up and approach him, wiping his tears away and sneaking a comforting hand in his hair. "You're an idiot," she said quietly.
"Thanks. I already knew that," he said, squeezing her hand.
"Want some sugar? I found a box in the back of a cupboard."
"The cereal bars?" he guessed, wincing. "They expired two years ago."
+1
_____
The memory of their fight was clothed in shame. Tony had never felt more cruel than the night before, screaming at Loki's face for what had felt like an eternity. So careless that he had made Loki flee in the blink of an eye. Tony had hurt him, had drawn burning tears and a frost so bad it had destroyed the bay window. Jotunn powers. Loki kept them buried since he didn't want anything to do with them; but sometimes, when his emotion was too great and control slipped away, the ice would rise to the surface. He hated this feeling, for it reminded him of a part of him that he didn't want to be around.
Tony knew it - the god had told him.
So to be the reason the ice pierced through? It made Tony hopelessly ill, nauseous with guilt.
He was not going upstairs tonight, nor would he stay in the lab. He would nicely go to bed, lie down on the clean sheets and stare at the ceiling - and at the monsters, who were wearing his face now.
Loki was better off without him.
"Sir, Mr Odinson is at your door," Jarvis spoke suddenly, making him jump on the mattress.
So this was the end? Thor had come to avenge his brother. Would he crush his head with two or only one hand?
"Tell Thor I'm on my way."
"Not this one, Sir. The other Odinson."
Oh.
Oh?
What the-
"Do not let him-"
The bedroom door opened on Loki, who had fastened his hair in a messy bun and was dressed in light, silky nightclothes.
"-in, you traitor," Tony finished, sitting straighter on the bed and his heart pounding in his ears.
"Are you alright?" Loki inquired, his voice worried. "Jarvis told me you might be in need of assistance?"
His eyebrows shooting up, Tony was at loss for words. He had created a beast of treason.
"And you were not upstairs so he guided me here-" Loki said, a frown setting on his brow. "Where you seem to be just fine."
Loki sighed as he understood Jarvis' scheme.
"The trickster being tricked," he muttered, glaring at the nearest camera. "Well done, machine."
The name lacked of malice.
"Thank you, Sir. I learn from the best."
After a while, Loki turned to face Tony, who was quite petrified.
"I- I did not ask him to call for you-"
"Yes, we have established that five seconds ago," Loki answered, a bit annoyed.
"Sorry-"
"Oh, you're sorry now?"
Okay. No, they were not going to yell at each other tonight, so Tony shut his mouth and let himself fall back on the bed. He could do that; lie down and pretending nothing reached him. He heard Loki sigh again.
"You were not upstairs," he eventually whispered still somewhere near the door.
Tony didn't say anything. The ceiling was great to look at, really. Bland, and white, and sad.
"I was waiting for you," Loki added softly.
Tony turned his head and looked at him.
"I thought you wouldn't want to see me," he talked under his breath.
"I always want to see you," Loki quickly promised, eyes becoming unhappy in a flash.
"I hurt you," Tony hissed, disbelieving.
"You hurt yourself first," Loki corrected drily.
Silence stretched awkwardly as Tony didn't manage to find anything to say. When he saw Loki stepping back towards the door, Tony got up on his elbows.
"Would you sleep with me?" he blurted out, getting another frown from Loki. "Shit, not like that- I mean, yes, why not but not- Damnit."
Another curse left his lips as he ran a hand over his face, lying down again. Seconds passed before Loki spoke.
"Is your next question going to involve cuddles?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
Loki's laugh filled the room, snaking against Tony's ribs.
"You look like a distressed child and sound like a melodramatic teenager."
"Shut up! You're one to talk! I just asked if you wanted to- Come here and hold me. So we can try to get some sleep for once."
Loki hummed, and a moment later, when Tony was bone-deep flustered and almost got vexed, he felt the mattress shift next to him. Suddenly he found himself staring back into the emeralds he had come to search for in every place he went, and his breath caught in his throat.
"I've fallen for you," he murmured slowly as his hand unhurriedly traced the line of Loki's arm, leaving a trail of chills in his path, and ending on the sharp bone of the god's jaw.
Loki gasped, his eyes shining with warmth.
"And I want us to never scream at each other, ever again," he continued in a hushed tone, eyes watering. He swallowed. "Well, depends on the circumstances, really. Because in a bed, it has some good sides-"
"You talk so much for such a tiny, old man," Loki whispered fondly, throwing one leg over Tony's hips and getting closer to kiss the man - deeply, making him moan under him.
"I'll show you old," Tony grinned later against cool lips, knowing that when he reversed their position, Loki allowed him.
Loki allowed him a lot things, and Tony allowed them all in return. Because later that night, and for the first time in a long a time, they fell asleep, legs tangled and hearts responding to each other.