Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/528519.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Choose_Not_To_Use_Archive_Warnings, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Thor_(Movies), The_Avengers_(2012)
  Relationship:
      Loki/Tony_Stark, Loki_(Marvel)/Thor_(Marvel)
  Character:
      Loki_(Marvel), Tony_Stark, Thor_(Marvel), Howard_Stark
  Additional Tags:
      Prostitution, Homelessness, Alternate_Universe_-_Modern_Setting
  Stats:
      Published: 2012-10-04 Words: 5768
****** Crash a Party, Gain a Stark ******
by FrostIron_ed_(Thorki_ed)
Summary
     A young boy crashes Howard Stark’s party, and Tony knows that anyone
     causing a ruckus as his dad’s events is worthy of befriending. He’s
     shocked to see where the boy returns when he’s thrown out of the
     party though.
     For you, thor-odinswag.
Notes
See the end of the work for notes
“LET GO OF ME!”
Tony turned around to see what the chaos was about – after all, anybody causing
trouble at his father’s grand parties were worth befriending. He saw long, lean
limbs, and the rest was obscured by the beefy backs of Howard’s bodyguards.
“Excuse me,” he said politely to the reporter who had been asking about his
father’s enterprise. He followed the guards to the side door, weaving through
the crowd. Despite being extremely lanky, Tony saw him putting up a good fight,
down to the very minute that he was literally thrown out the door. He landed on
his backside with a grunt and picked himself up, brushing the dirt from his
clothes – even though they were already dirty.
Tony had never such a walking paradox before – his hair was clean and slicked
back handsomely, but his clothes were tattered and didn’t seem to fit properly.
His face was flawlessly unmarked, smooth and young, but his eyes were far from
the innocent gleam they should have held, and his arms were littered with
bruises and cuts.
He gave one last withering glare at the two massive men before turning on his
heel and walking away, not caring that the November rain had started to fall.
Tony was intrigued – where did he come from? Who was he? Why was he here
tonight, and why did the guards throw him out?
Ever curious, Tony squeezed past the guards and ignored their calls, following
the strange boy that captured his attention. As the droplets formed darker and
darker spots on his expensive suit (that his father insisted on buying and
making him wear) he wondered where this boy was going and began to think of how
odd it was to be following him.
Those thoughts soon went away when he found out the destination of the
wanderer.
A dark alley. A damp cardboard box. Foil, of some sort, lining it.
Tony thought he might be sick when he got nearer. He doubted the boy noticed
him with how dark the alley was, but he was proven wrong.
“What do you want from me?” he heard the cold voice that didn’t match the face
he had seen.
He put his hands up in the air like a criminal cornered by the police. “Hey,
I’m not here for anything… from you.”
“Then why did you follow me?”
Oh. “I just… wanted to see if you were okay.”
Loki partially stepped out of the shadows then, letting the dim streetlight
above highlight half his face. Again, Tony was almost caught off guard with how
startling his features were. They were hard, sharp, and stony – nothing that
looked like it belonged on the face of a boy who couldn’t be older than he was.
His shirt was oversized, and probably supposed to be white, not that you could
tell from the black and grey streaks of dirt and other various stains. It was
less obvious on his black cargo pants, but they too were baggy on him, hanging
off his hips and fraying at the pockets. The only thing that seemed to be in
tact were his black combat boots, buckles strapped and laces properly done.
“I’m Tony,” he said bluntly, stretching out a hand.
Loki looked it over hesitantly, eyes flickering between the outstretched hand
and the man it belonged to.
“Stark.” It wasn’t a question, and his voice was crystal clear. Honestly, Tony
didn’t know if he should have responded or withdrawn his hand, but he did
neither. Just blinked at him.
Loki eventually took the hand, surprisingly firmly with his startling smooth
hands.
“Do you have a name?” he asked when they had let go.
“Does it matter?” The question threw Tony off. Of course it mattered, it was a
name. A person’s name was their identity, wasn’t it?
“I think it does,” he settled for.
There was a pause before the boy answered. “Loki.”
“Loki. I like that,” Tony said honestly. “Do I get a last name too?”
“No.”
“That’s not fair, you know mine.”
“It’s hardly a secret.”
Tony couldn’t help the small smirk that tugged at his lips. The boy was feisty,
and he rather liked the company of someone just as witty – wittier, perhaps, in
this instance.
“That wasn’t my choosing. It’s hard to get away from the so terribly great
Howard Stark,” he said rather bitterly.
Loki hummed before leaning on the wall, revealing himself in full. After a
while, he spoke again. “I dropped it.”
“Dropped it?”
“My last name. I dropped it.”
It didn’t clarify anything, and Tony hated that it was so enchanting. He loved
how the boy spoke so cryptically, like a mysterious bundle that Tony wanted to
unravel. If it weren’t so frustrating, it would be humorous. Dropped it.It was
as if the homeless boy thought of his name as a baseball. “What were you doing
at the party?” Tony asked, though there was no accusation in his voice.
“I was hungry,” Loki said simply.
The thought unsettled Tony, that the boy had been desperate enough to try and
sneak in just for a bite to eat. It wasn’t often that he got this sympathetic,
but the boy seriously looked like he could do with some nourishment.
“What a coincidence, so am I. Let’s eat.”
Loki arched an eyebrow, peering at Tony curiously.
“I’m serious?” Tony offered, shrugging his shoulders.
“And why have you taken such an interest to help the street scum all of a
sudden?”
Tony winced at the term.Is that what he thought himself as?
“Hey, I’ve got no problem with the kind and intelligent individuals who inhabit
the streets,” Tony joked.
To his surprise, this earned a grin from Loki, and he immediately decided he
liked the look. It made Loki look infinitely younger, more cheerful like
someone his age should be.
“I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” Loki said, caving in to the cramping feeling in
his stomach. Tony took off his jacket, handing it to Loki.
“Come on then,” he said before turning around to walk back in the direction he
came from, leaving Loki no choice but to follow, gripping the jacket tightly
around his shoulders.
--
“Got a sweet tooth?” he asked as Loki moved from one slice of cake to the other
– after devouring an entire bowl of pasta and half a roasted chicken.
“Cake is a luxury that the kind and intelligent individuals who inhabit the
streets cannot afford,” Loki retorted, happily licking the chocolate icing off
his fingers.
They sat in Tony’s bedroom, surrounding by at least three of everything he had
pilfered from the kitchen. Utensils forgotten, they grabbed at whatever they
pleased, and for the first time, Tony felt completely carefree and content. He
imagined Howard might have had a heart attack if he saw how the cake was
smeared across his lip, or how his fingers greased from the roast. He loved it.
“So, care to tell me more about yourself?” he asked Loki, hoping that he would
be more talkative now that he was full (or at least getting there).
Loki chewed and swallowed before answering. “No.”
Or not. Before he could stop himself, the words came spilling from his mouth.
“You want to stay for the night?”
“No…” Loki declined, hesitantly. The rain was still pattering on the window,
and he thought of how flimsy the cardboard would be despite the foil, and how
cold it would be.
“It’s raining, and it’s cold. You can stay, you know. You can even take the
bed,” he gestured towards the grand canopy. It was fit for a king in the most
cliché way possible, red and gold with silk curtains that he could draw back.
“You’d let a mangy mutt who’s rolled around in the mud sleep on your bed,” Loki
sort-of stated/asked again. Tony was beginning to think it was the only way
Loki knew how to respond.
“You’re not a mangy mutt who’s rolled around in the mud for god’s sake,” Tony
said, irritated for some reason. “If you’d like, you can even take a nice hot
bath, over there,” he pointed towards the master bedroom’s bath.
Loki knew it was too good a chance to pass up. Living on the streets meant that
you had to be greedy sometimes, because it was either that, or possibly death.
He was tired of waiting for the rain so he could take a shower, tired of
sneaking into public bathrooms to wash his hair under the sink with that foul-
smelling, generic pink soap and drying it off with the hand-dryer. “Perhaps I
will.”
“I’ll grab you a towel. Or two, if you’d like. I like using two. Two is a –”
“Just one’s fine,” Loki said abruptly. He had been conditioned over the years
to take and never look back – steal, even. Generosity was rare, and for some
reason he didn’t feel right taking more than necessary from this man, even
though he know the Starks wouldn’t miss any of it.
Tony paused to look at him, so lost in thought and gripping the dirtied hem of
his shirt tightly. “I’ll bring you two anyway.”
With that, he left Loki to the bath and as promised, brought him two overly
large fluffy white towels.
--
He did in fact use both of them. Wrapping one around his waist, he used the
other one to dry himself and towel his hair – which smelled of coconut now,
much to his liking.
“Here, I figure these will fit a little better than the ones you have on now,”
Tony said, handing him a folded pile of clothes. He turned around, indicating
Loki to put the clothes on. Loki blinked at the new package of briefs – made of
silk for crying out loud – and took one out, slipping them on. He tried not to
get attached to the marvellous feeling against his skin and put on the black
sweatpants next. They were more comfortable than his cargo pants, and the deep
green V-neck was still loose, but fit rather well compared to his old t-shirt.
“Where are my other clothes?” he asked.
“I’m washing them for you,” Tony replied.
“Why are you doing all this?” Loki asked. He had every right to be hesitant
towards such gracious help – it never came free.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Tony answered. “My dad’s thugs threw you on the ground in the
rain, I feel like that was a shitty decision and I don’t care whether you were
invited or not. Nobody should get thrown out on the streets like that. No one.”
Loki was silent for a moment, mulling over Tony’s answer. He seemed sincere
enough, with no hidden agenda like Loki was used to. “I left on my own, you
know,” finally said, softly.
“What? But I saw them –”
“Not today,” Loki said quickly. “The first time. I left on my own accord.”
Tony studied him, but it didn’t seem that he was aware of the man’s
investigative eyes. “How old were you?” He was met with silence, but he figured
as much.
“I’m a very good listener,” Tony said softly.
“I’m not a very good talker,” Loki responded.
This time, Tony chuckled. He liked the spunk, the blunt rebellion of the boy,
and found himself wanting to make more of him.
“Would you like a coffee or anything?”
“Scotch would be nice,” Loki said so sweetly it had to be a joke.
“Nuh-uh, I don’t think so,” Tony said having caught on. “You’re not even of
age, are you?”
Loki shrugged.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Tony said. “How old are you, anyway?”
“I may or may not be 207 months old.”
Seventeen and three months. God, how young were you when you left?
“You just love being complicated, don’t you? Hang on.” He disappeared for a
short while, leaving Loki to freely look around the room. Tony had a large
collection of books, all related to the sciences – things he had an interest in
– but what caught his attention most was the collection of photo frames on his
bedside table.
The woman held a warm smile with a baby boy in her arms, and it made his heart
ache for – no, not home. He had no home, no smiling mother to hold him. No, he
had walked away from all that years ago. Tony’s door clicked when it closed and
Loki put the photo frame back down carefully.
“My mom. She passed away a couple of years ago. Plane crash,” Tony answered all
the silent questions.
“I’m sorry,” Loki said sincerely. He felt like he owed Tony something now,
after he had just touched on such a sensitive area. He figured it wouldn’t hurt
to tell Tony anyway, it made no difference. “Fourteen.” He paused. “That’s when
I left.”
Three years?!Tony’s mind screamed. Loki had been on the streets for three whole
years? He felt sick to his stomach as he handed Loki a cup of steaming liquid,
and Loki couldn’t help a childish smile at the tiny marshmallows floating
around. He also came back with Loki’s clothes, freshly washed and dried,
smelling of fresh linen, the shirt finally white again.
Tony walked around the bed and eased in, leaning against the headboard with his
own drink in hand. He never met Loki’s eyes when he confessed the next bit. “My
mom was the only one I ever cared about.” He took a sip of his hot chocolate.
Loki felt uncomfortable leaving now, especially after Tony had shared something
so intimate. Just this once, he could possibly return the sentiment.
“I felt like my mother was the only one who cared about me,” Loki said quietly.
The silence was thick, but not necessarily uncomfortable. Loki soon sat on the
bed as well, though instead of spreading his legs out like Tony, he tucked them
underneath his chin. “I always knew my… father at the time never cared much for
me. But then I found out they were both keeping a secret, and when I called
them out on it, they lied to my face repeatedly.”
He took a sip of sweet liquid before continuing because god, it just felt so
good to get it all off his chest for once. “Punnett Squares. Those things are
useful.” He left it at that, because he knew Tony would understand without him
having to say it.
“Punnett Squares? Weren’t you a little… young to be learning that already?” was
Tony’s response. Oddly enough, it was the most comforting thing he could have
said. He didn’t want pity or fake sympathy.
“I like reading, and I like learning. The library’s a fascinating place to
spend your spare time at. Which I had tons of, by the way. I never got the
appeal of being surrounded by flittering friends, especially if none of them
could understand the simple dynamics of –“ he pointed to a book on Tony’s shelf
“–nanoengineering. Nano, billionth. Nanoengineering, physical phenomena on a
nanoscale, measured in billionths of a meter. Hello. Twats.”
Tony stared at him like he was the single most precious thing on the Earth. He
started learning so young… Just like me, Tony thought to himself.
The ranting had loosened Loki quite a bit. “Anyway, it gets better. Turns out
my biological parents had spent a long time searching for me, but Odin, that
goddamn prick, shut them out, even threatened to get a restraining order.”
“Jesus, how’d you find out about it?”
“I hacked his computer, read the e-mails. Child’s play.”
“Child’s play,” Tony repeated with a quirky smile. First biology and
nanoengineering, now computer-hacking… It was though the fates had given him
his perfect match.
“Oh yes,” Loki smirked. “I found out, there was a huge confrontation, and
before they knew it I packed my bags and left to find my real parents.”
“I have a feeling that didn’t go too well?”
“What made it so obvious?” Loki said bluntly before explaining. “I wasn’t
anything like them, minus the dark hair and ghostly skin. My mother didn’t even
believe I was her child at first. My dad seemed like a pretty mellow guy but he
didn’t say much. I don’t think he cared whether or not I was his child. And I
had… biological siblings, which I hated. We didn’t get along and before I knew
it, I left that place before I could even call it home.”
“Shit, that’s rough,” Tony said bluntly. “I don’t think I could’ve handled all
that.”
“It gets easier with time,” Loki shrugged.
There was another silence. Loki seemed to relax a lot more, his shoulders
stopped being so tense. He placed his empty mug on the bedside table and
unfolded the large white shirt that Tony had just washed. He traced his fingers
over the fabric as if there were secrets hidden in the threads. Tony had a
hypothesis.
“You said you hated having biological siblings… Why is that?”
Loki sighed deeply. “I grew up with an older brother who… protected me a lot.
He was everything a brother was supposed to be. I guess meeting my real
brothers, who were goddamn assholes, just so you know, made me realize that I
left a lot of good things behind, the most important being my… adoptive
brother.”
“What’s his name?”
“Thor,” he whispered after taking a moment. He held the fabric close to his
heart before blinking back his tears.
“Maybe you could... you know –”
“I’m never going back,” Loki growled defiantly, the former softness completely
fading away.
Tony knew that was a story for another time. “I get that. You don’t have to go
back, maybe you could just, I don’t know, call Thor and see him again? If he’s
your big bro, he won’t tell your parents if you don’t want him to.”
“They’re not my parents,” Loki pointed out. Then his features softened. “I’ve
tried, but I don’t think he wants to talk to me anymore.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“How would you feel if someone you looked after your whole life just walked
away one day and never came back?” Loki shot at him. “I didn’t even say
goodbye. I just threw my shit in a suitcase and left because I was angry, and I
didn’t even stop to think about Thor would react.”
“Hey, don’t go beating yourself up… You had every right to be angry, hell I
would be too. Do you have his number?”
“It’s been changed.”
Tony could hear the defeat in the boy’s words. He tentatively reached out to
put a condoling arm around the boy’s shoulders. “He’ll find you.”
“Yeah,” Loki agreed half-heartedly. He found himself leaning into the warm
touch – something he hadn’t felt in years – and sat in silence, grateful for
the kindness that had been shown tonight. He turned his head so that the tip of
his nose brushed against Tony’s jaw, sending cool shivers down the man’s spine.
He looked up at Tony through thick lashes and leaned in, hand coming up to
stroke Tony’s collarbone.
“Wait,” Tony whispered, grasping Loki’s wrist and leaning back. At Loki’s
confusion, Tony just smiled. “I’m not expecting anything from you, remember? I
meant what I said. You don’t have to do this.”
This all felt so new to Loki, the understanding and patience, kindness and
generosity. It touched him in a way that reminded him what it felt like to be
human again. “And if I want to?”
Tony’s smile widened. “If you want to... I won’t stop you.”
This time, their lips met, and Tony shifted his hand from Loki’s wrist to his
waist sliding just under the shirt, pulling him in. The boy shivered at the
skin-to-skin contact and Tony wondered just how long it’s been since the boy
had received physical affection. He really hoped that this wasn’t what he
thought…
“This… This isn’t your first time is it?” he asked nervously.
Loki chuckled. “Hardly.”
Tony couldn’t tell if that was comforting or not. He was still so young and
innoc –
“Oh my god,” he breathed as Loki’s fingers already wound into his pants
brushing against his cock with feather-light touches. Loki’s teeth were sharp,
nipping his neck as his other hand was expertly crawling up his shirt,
fingertips grazing all the sensitive areas he didn’t know he had. Okay, so
maybe he wasn’t that innocent.
The younger boy straddled Tony’s lap, keeping steady with his hands on Tony’s
shoulders, letting larger, burning hands touch him gently.
“We really don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Tony murmured against
Loki’s lips. The answer came in the form of an aggressive tug at Tony’s hair.
Tony made a move to slip the green t-shirt off, but the moment his hands
grabbed the hem of Loki’s shirt, the boy suddenly went rigid, his hands tightly
around Tony’s wrists.
“Lights,” he said in a small voice. He inhaled deeply. “Please.”
Tony nodded okay, not wanting to probe or make Loki feel uncomfortable,
fumbling for the light switch. The boy instantly relaxed, taking off his own
shirt now. They quickly stripped down in eagerness to feel each other’s skin.
For never having done this before, they fell into a harmonic rhythm, as if
their fingers and mouths had coordinated a dance. Tony tried not to think about
how eager Loki was, or why it felt wrong, because every time he tried, Loki’s
tongue would be sliding past his lips again, or teeth sinking into his shoulder
again.
When they were both heated and panted, Tony worked up the nerve to grip the
boy’s firm buttocks, guiding him slowly so their erections rubbed together in
sweet pleasure. Loki lifted himself and fondled Tony’s cock with gentle, and
then hard strokes, making Tony writhe with pleasure. He then placed himself in
front of the swollen appendage, reaching around himself to cup it against his
pale skin. Tony’s pre-come was slicking his crack as he pumped up and down with
his lithe legs.
Tony had become an unwound mess by now – he’d never had partners like this
before and his mind was clouded with lust-driven thoughts. “God, you are
amazing,” he murmured against Loki’s chest, tasting the salt of his sweat. He
reached for the cabinet and pulled out a condom.
As if to further prove himself, Loki grabbed it, expertly ripping it with his
teeth without puncturing the protection. He rolled the condom on with a firm
hand and arched backward, letting the head of Tony’s cock invade his entrance,
and clenched down.
“Holy fuck,” Tony spluttered before grabbing at any part of Loki’s body within
reach and desperately trying to bury himself in the extraordinary heat.
Loki let him without complaint, only a drawn-out groan of pleasure from being
stretched and filled, feeling Tony’s hips flush against the backside of his
thighs.
“Fuck me,” Loki whispered in a sultry voice, planting his hands behind him and
knees on either side of Tony’s pelvis, displaying himself completely in the
open. Tony hated that it was too dark for him to be able to see it all, just a
rough outline of the attractive figure that now hovered above him. He slid down
from the headboard slightly and bent his knees. Grabbing Loki’s sharp hips, he
brought his own up, sheathing himself completely and building a steady, rapidly
increasing rhythm.
Loki threw his head back and his legs began to shake as he pumped to meet
Tony’s pace. Tony’s hands held strong, keeping him up, as he continued to
thrust into the tight heat of the exotic beauty. The bedsprings squeaking in
time with Loki’s unbridled moans and the litany of overly loud grunts from his
throat sounds like a goddamn symphony in his ears.
His vision turned to black and white static like a television with its cable
cut as he let Loki’s name fall from his mouth like a waterfall.
The boy in question let out a small noise and collapsed on top Tony now that
Tony was too boneless to keep him up. Loki felt himself slipping off of Tony’s
cock, gasping at the sudden loss of fullness. He quivered against Tony’s chest,
squirming. Tony reached between them, grabbing Loki’s rock-hard, neglected cock
and started to pump.
“Tony,” Loki panted in his ear, gripping the man’s shoulders until his blunt
nails left crescents in the tanned skin.
“Come for me, Loki,” he murmured against the shell of Loki’s ear. “Let me hear
you.”
With a few more strokes and a finger circling the now raw and sensitive skin
around his hole, Loki couldn’t hold back a single noise or twitch as he shook
through his lengthy orgasm. He’d never experienced anything like it. Before he
could help himself, he started to sob so quietly that perhaps if his tears
weren’t wetting Tony’s bare skin, Tony might not have noticed.
“Shhhh, it’s okay, I’ve got you,” Tony whispered as he raked his hand through
Loki’s soft locks, and that was the last he heard before he fell asleep
comfortably.
--
What he heard waking up was quite different. His first instinct was the wrap
the blankets around his body, wondering if Tony had seen the bruises.
 
“What did you do last night?”
“What do you mean?”
“You leave the reporter hanging, you steal enough food to feed a family from
the kitchen, and then you lock yourself in your room to make absolutely obscene
noises? What’s gotten into you! Do you know how many important people were here
last night? What if they heard you!? Do you know how atrocious that would make
me look?”
“The reporter was a half-wit, she couldn’t even get my name right, and since
when would you care about food gone missing? It’s nothing more than a penny to
you! And it’s my bedroom, I can do whatever I want.”
“And what is that, boy? What on Earth were you doing so loudly in there – were
you trying to embarrass me?”
“I’m a teenage boy, dad. Teenage boys masturbate, and some do it loudly.”
“Watch your fucking language around me, young man. You’re absolutely
despicable!”
 
It was time for him to go, Loki realized. He had caused enough trouble, he’d
gotten the kind man – Tony – into a lot of trouble, and he just wasn’t worth
that.
As soon as he had zipped his khakis, Tony’s door opened and his face was red
from frustration. He saw Loki, hands frozen on his zipper as if he had been
caught doing something bad. “Come with me,” he said to Loki.
“…What?”
“Come with me,” he repeated.
“… Where?”
“Away. I’m leaving.”
Loki laughed bitterly. “Haven’t you learned anything from me, Tony Stark?
Running away from home will get you nowhere.”
“It’s Tony. Just Tony.”
Loki gave him smirk. “Dropping the last name already, huh? Guess you did learn
something from me after all.”
“I’m not running away or dropping my name like a hot potato,” Tony said. “I’ve…
I’ve got somewhere to go, and I want someone to come with me. And using my full
name sounds too formal,” he added with a wave of his hand.
Loki cocked his head to side, studying Tony, who had already brought out a
packed suitcase. “You’ve been wanting to do this for a while, haven’t you?”
“You have no idea.”
He ignored Tony’s request to use just his first name. “For a while, as in,
before you met me, Tony Stark. Why include me now in your plan now?”
“I saw the bruises, Loki,” he said gently after a while. “You’re too smart to
be on the streets, you’re too good for whoever did that to you, and there’s a
reason I’ve had this packed for so long and haven’t done it yet.”
“So what? I’m your reason all of a sudden?” Loki sneered, wrapping his arms
around himself self-consciously.
“Yeah, actually. You are.”
He couldn’t say that those words were what compelled him to do it, but he
helped Tony with a large duffel bag, and off they went.
--
“When did you do all this?” Loki asked incredulously. The bachelor pad was a
comfortable size, though Tony’s bedroom back at his father’s alone was almost
just as big.
“My friend Bruce knew a guy, and he set me up pretty nicely. If you ever meet
him, try not to stare at his eyes. He’s like a bird of prey, eyes like a hawk
that watch your every move and pierce your soul,” he said with a fake shudder.
“His girlfriend might actually be scarier though.”
There were still plastic wrappings on most of the furniture, the light scent of
paint still hung in the air, and besides a TV and major appliances, it was
vacant.
“How are you going to afford all this?”
“My mom left me a lot of money. She and my dad were partners after all, and I’m
an only child,” he smiled fondly at the thought of his mother. “That, and my
dad’s always given me a hefty allowance, which I knew to save for this moment.
Besides, now that I’m no longer under my dad’s watch, Bruce and I can finally
start our own project.”
“Project?”
“Yeah. I think you’d love it. We’re going to build our very own Artificial
Intelligence computer program. We’ve got most of it worked out anyway, we just
need to build it. If all goes according the blueprints, we could make a
fortune.”
Loki was impressed with the man’s optimism, but he felt out of place. “I… I
can’t stay.”
“Please?” Tony asked.
 
“It doesn’t feel right,” Loki sighed. “I’m just a kid off the streets who got
lucky one night in meeting someone too generous. You’ve ruined me, Tony Stark
–”
“—Just Tony –”
“—I stole, I lied, I took whatever I wanted and fought to stay alive some
nights, but never in my life have I gone as soft as I have with you,” he said.
“I can’t stay because this isn’t right. It’s not fair to you, and I normally
wouldn’t give a shit, but you, Tony Stark, have left a mark on me.”
The confession sounded terribly good, to Tony’s ears, and it sounded so damn
poetic – Loki was a man of many talents.
“Then stay and help me,” Tony offered. “Like I said, you’re smart. You could
help us, and we could teach you, and it would be a win-win for everyone.”
Loki stared at him and said nothing, so he continued. “You can’t tell me that
going back out there is a better idea. You can’t. There is not a single goddamn
reason you shouldn’t stay – I have this place anyway, and all I’m going to be
is lonely and bored anyway, but with you…. With you I’m never bored. You’re
funny, you’re intelligent, and yeah you’re damn nice to look at in case I want
to stare at something, but the bottom line is that I want you here. So will you
stay?”
Loki felt wanted, a sensation that had become too alien to him. He did want to
stay, he found. But he was too messed up for this; he was stained, dirty, and
Tony deserved better than that. He had let guys fuck him hard and rough in the
alleyway, face in the dirt, or ride them like a horse for cash sometimes. He’d
pickpocketed from hundreds of people, stolen from stores… Stained. Dirty. How
do you stop being that person? “I… need to think about it.”
“Then at least think about it here, tonight. You can leave whenever you want
to, but just stay at least for a night or two, okay?”
“Why?” Loki asked again. He couldn’t understand why Tony wanted him to be here
so badly. Was he that good of a fuck?
Tony paused to think about it for a moment. He could say what he honestly
thought, say “Because you’re just like me and it doesn’t make sense for me to
have all this while you don’t” or be completely idiotic with the truth and say
“Because I’ve known you for less than 24 hours and I feel like I’ve known you
my whole life and maybe…. Maybe I’m starting to fall in love with you.”
Instead, he said neither. He put on a charming smile and responded, “Winter is
coming.”
Loki, surprisingly, understood the reference. With a downright sexy smirk he
replied, “And you think you’re the rightful Stark for the Iron Throne?”
Tony’s face split into a grin. “See? We’re like two peas in a pod.”
 
--
 
If there was a test to see if the two of them could live together in perfect
harmony for a night, they passed with flying colours. Together, they cleaned
and broke in the furniture with heated sex and soft words, sleeping on the
pull-out bed from the couch that creaked with every movement.
Loki awoke the next morning with Tony jostling him to get ready for breakfast.
He let himself be tugged along to a little all-day breakfast place that smelled
heavily of maple syrup. His stomach greedily rumbled and he ordered a large
breakfast plate that promised lots of French toast and bacon. If he thought he
was hungry, he didn’t have a word to describe Tony, who had ordered two
breakfast sets and a side plate of home fries.
“I don’t see how you’re going to finish all of that,” Loki teased.
“That’s okay, it’s not all for me anyway,” Tony said with a nod to someone over
his shoulder.
Loki frowned in confusion, but followed Tony’s gaze as he heard a steady thunk
of heavy boots approaching. His jaw fell open as his eyes began to water, and
he desperately blinked and wiped them away from his eyes so his vision wouldn’t
be blurred. He wanted to make sure he was seeing things correctly, even when he
slid out from the booth on shaking legs.
The shaggy blonde hair had grown out, as did the rest of him really. They both
grew a lot taller, that was for certain. His crystal-like blue eyes shone just
as they always had, his smile infectious and bright enough to drown out the
sun.
There was no mistake.
“Thor,” he choked as two large, bulking arms enveloped him in a familiar
embrace where he smelled the comforting scent of Thor’s body wash that he
hadn’t stopped using.
“Brother,” came a deep reply, and Loki clung to Thor as though his life
depended on it, shoulders shaking with his sobs.
Everything was going to be okay, Loki was sure of it now.
End Notes
     Have some vague answers for possible questions:
     • How does Loki get the Game of Thrones reference?
     The library! Library cards are free, libraries are free, and Loki
     loves libraries.
     • How does Tony find Thor?
     Resources! It’s Tony Stark. He’ll probably call up Bruce who will
     call up Clint who will call up Natasha and then boom.
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