Gods know better.

she rolls her eyes at his comment,  anything but subtle,  before folding her arms over her chest.  “ now,  don’t go tellin’ me y’er the new  KING  or somethin’.  i feel like i woulda known if lizzie died yet, ”  she scoffs.  “ mind  enlightenin’  me? ”

“Latveria. I am the sovereign of Latveria.” His words were spoken through clenched teeth, his accent thickening with every second. When he had agreed to meet with a cousin contact in London, he expected them to be briefed, but clearly they were not.

brows knit in confusion,  she looks herself over once again.  well,  she  thought  that she was dressed appropriately—  this is what she wears in  NEW YORK,  anyway.  then again,  kingsman is far more  elegant  than new york.  “ y’all  BRITS  do own  respectable attitudes,  yeah?  jus’ be thankful my tits ain’t out and i left the boots at home. ”

“I am not British.” The amount of Offended that Doom felt at her assumption could not be quantified. Granted he spoke impeccable English due to his association with the tailors, but--

He clenched his fist beneath his desk. Americans.

Loki: hi.

Taneleer chuckled. “I can’t deny that.” He admit. “But my involvement is often sparing. I don’t make a habit of altering the course of the universe, only…preparing for it.”

“I am Taneleer Tivan. The Collector.” Normally he would’ve had an assistant introduce him, but he’d chosen to travel alone. “And if my information is correct, you are Victor von Doom. King of one of Earth’s many diverse civilizations. Latveria, is yours.” It was interesting to see one of the planet’s royalties so close up. Truly he didn’t blame the man for his obvious discomfort, but he had nothing to fear from the curious elder. “It is a pleasure to meet the king of this land himself. I’d been prepared to deal with…more naive inhabitants of this planet.”

"You underestimate the people of this world.” He had not the faintest clue if he was to know the name of Taneleer Tivan, but his title was more than enough for Doom to know he had to have care with the intruder.

“Though none can compare to Doom, some are close in competence.” Hands clasped behind his cape, he eyed the Collector with equal measures of contempt and curiosity. 

“No, Doctor. I won’t.” Stephen didn’t necessarily want to hazard denying Victor that he had the right to be annoyed, but letting him into the Sanctum was another matter entirely.

“Because as many things as Dormammu might want that exist in the Sanctum, you could find uses for a thousand more. I come when you call because I can’t avoid that you are a highly competent magician and I have to respect you for that - but never mistake that patience as being a reflection of my trusting you. We may work this out here, narrow the criteria, and then see. But I’m sorry, Victor. We might be on a dinner and drink basis, but that doesn’t mean you get to demand me take you home.”

He knew Strange would be difficult, but it did not mean he felt any less annoyed about the lengths he had to go to obtain the information he desired. Doom straightened, arms crossed, gaze hard.

“And if you have Doom’s word that no artifact will leave your Sanctum from the trip?” Doom hated compromises. They always sounded too close to begging, but in this case, he thought it warranted. 

hello, yes, it’s me crmen. 

i was going to make a nice lil promo for DOOM here, but to be honest? this walking garbage can in a tacky green cloak doesn’t deserve one for what he’s put us all through.

that said, pls follow for more 616 and even mcu (?!!!) greatness.

“Say it back.”

Her insistence surprises even her, but it’s there before she can even think about it, much less suppress it. Yet, here he is, having had his moment of weakness in giving her the ring, in letting himself touch her hands, meet his eyes, and perhaps that is enough for him. 

It isn’t enough for Loki. She’s lived most of her life by half-measures; this is the one thing where she can and should be demanding.

“Say you love me, Victor.” There’s a steel that wasn’t there before, when she had been afraid of being denied—but if he denies her now, he denies everything he’s just done, and Loki’s gaze holds his with a grip of iron. It’s taken so long to have him; she won’t let go. “If you’re going to keep me a secret from the world like this, at least be honest with me when it’s only the two of us. Tell me you love me.”

“Baronness...” It was rare for Doom to be caught off-guard, but Loki had a talent for catching him at such moments of weaknesses. She was an anomaly he coaxed into his home, not realising the danger he was putting himself into until the very moment he placed his mother’s ring on her finger.

He still could deny her. He could even evict or execute her. That would be all in-character for Victor von Doom and no one would question him.

But would he? Could he?

“For you, I would declare wars and win them in your name. For you, I would raze this world, break it and bring it into submission if you were to ask...” Doom rose from his seat, dark eyes never hers as he moved around his desk to her side.

“For you, I keep my heart open and I have come to accept Eleanor as my own. For you, Loki, I would cast aside my masks, my royalty, my very power and place them at your feet.” He dropped to his knees.

“I am a fool and a coward before you. I do not deserve any of your love and regard, and yet, you give it freely. Loki, my baronness, you have held my heart in your grasp for longer than maybe I even realised until now...” he was a rambling mess, the picture of a nervous young man he once was and not the ruthless and decisive ruler he had become since then. Funny how three small words could bring him to his knees, could make him tremble beneath that unyielding heavy armor, could make a coward and a fool out of him.

Pausing for a moment, he swallowed almost audibly as he raised his hands, palms up, for her to take. 

me neither 

It seemed this human was capable of seeing more than he’d thought. The technologies of Earth really were advancing faster than he’d thought. 

“To visit.” To collect. “This planet’s cultures and histories are so quick to form and die that I feel my…personal observation may help some of it survive.”

“Just observation?” Doom tensed. The readings he had on the alien made him hesitant to raise his hand against him. It was an uneven match, to say the least, and he needed more data. 

“A king of Earth would dismiss a potential ally so quickly? But for what reason, I wonder.” Taneleer wouldn’t be set away so easily. 

“Well that’s not helpful to either of us unfortunately. I have a lot of powerful artifacts, many of them from the multiverse and the Dark Dimension that he could want on any whim, let alone a whim to kill over.” He still wasn’t sure why Dormammu would come to Doom for help, aside from the fact that Doom was one of the few “villains” known to have his summons responded to, and Stephen was far from comfortable with lingering on that notion.

“I am sorry that you’ve been dragged into this, but it’s as much a mystery to you as it is to me why Dormammu would seek out your specific assistance with this,” he admitted, and it was as good of an apology as Doom was going to get given the circumstances.

“Indeed.” His eyes darted from Strange to the screen only he could see through the readings from his armor. “Doom does not enjoy leaving mysteries unsolved.”

The touch of the gold on her skin is like an electric shock, like a realization. Even if it couldn’t be everything she wanted right now—even if, really, it could never be that way, it meant the world. Victor had given her refuge when she was lost, a home when she was desperate, and, though it took so long, he had given her friendship and then love when she was alone in the world.

And now he puts his mother’s ring on her finger and calls her Baroness, and it seems as though it doesn’t matter quite as much whether or not they ever reveal it to anyone. Family, he says, and maybe that means a little more than just being his wife.

She doesn’t know exactly how, or how long, but she knows Victor, too, has been alone for far too long.

The simple band fits perfectly, there on her ring finger, and she stares at it for a while too long, before braving his gaze one more time. He can try to avoid what he wants; Loki, for her part, knows there’s a future of secrecy ahead, and that now she has to take what she can and where she can.

“I love you, Victor.”

Her words caused his stomach to go into knots, his racing heart to leap and bound before sprinting far ahead, beyond what a human heart ought to be able to. He did not withdraw his hand, his calloused, fingers resting upon hers with a gentleness a tireless tyrant like him ought to have.

Bloodshot eyes did not meet Loki’s for a moment. They instead rest upon the gleaming trinket upon her finger, the contrast of his hand with hers. To think this goddess before him used to be...

No, it did not matter. The past did not matter, not as much as it did before.

“Ah.” His exhale caught, ruining any facade of calm he had tried to maintain throughout their exchange. His hands dropped back to the smooth, cold surface of his table, but his eyes finally lifted, if for a second to look at hers. Bloodshot though they might be, there is genuine warmth behind those dark pools.