#dialouge based

Frostironstrange, Tony Stark x Loki x Stephen Strange. 

Tony was usually in charge of handling the press. Steve tried, but reporters had changed so much from back in his day that it was hard. Besides, Tony was used to anger and hatred, and Steve was used to being a showgirl.

Stephen flat out refused to go near the press. Fury had tried to make him answer questions exactly once, which ended poorly enough to prevent any future efforts. Though honestly, Tony was pretty sure if he offered enough kisses as bribes, or tried the puppy dog eyes on Stephen then he might relent. Still though, Tony didn’t mind dealing with the press. Or, okay, it sucked ass but he was used to it. 

Then there was the Loki problem. Since Loki had been freed from the mind control he was under and joined up with the avengers, he hadn’t been out in the public eye much. The excuses had ranged from fear of a regression to Loki still recuperating mentally, and it was starting to wear thin. The public wasn’t ready to accept that Loki had been acting under another, and no appearances from him didn’t help that image.

Finally, there was no getting it out of it. Tony asked Loki, who agreed quite easily to Tony’s surprise. All that was left was to schedule the conference, give Loki over to Pepper and the PR team for training, and then wait.

When the day finally came, Loki was fine. He gave both Stephen and Tony each a kiss, told them not to worry with a roll of his eyes, and marched straight out onto the stage to take his place at the podium. The press didn’t wait a second, questions being shouted and hands going up. 

Loki picked a auburn haired reporter near the front. It almost gave Tony a heart attack, because he knew that guy and he was not meant to be there. Supposedly, that man was banned from any official press conferences due to wildly invasive questions. But there was nothing Tony could do now. 

“Do you think your genocidal tendencies stem from your childhood?” It was asked with a sneer. The rest of the conference went quiet, knowing a line had been crossed. 

For a moment, Loki just regarded the man, still ever so confident. Tony was ready to go in for a fight, but Natasha held him back. He would have pushed her off, but Loki replied before he could.

“Oh I’m sure on some level they’re related. I did eat too much Zinc as a child. Really, I’m not sure how my family didn’t see this coming.”

The room was stunned. Auburn-haired asshole was knocked right off his feet, unsure of how to reply. His sneer was gone and replaced with a look of bafflement.

“I’m sorry, Zinc?”

“Yes. Just far too much of it from my dietary choices. I’d prefer not to discuss it further, its quite a traumatic subject.” 

Clint lost it. Luckily they were far enough away that it couldn’t be heard, but Loki’s straight face sold the whole thing perfectly. 

For the rest of the conference, the reporters were more well-behaved then Tony had ever seen them. The media cycle actually largely dismissed the Zinc thing as a joke (zinc free diets became fad for about 10 minutes, but nothing much beyond that). 

So uh, this isn’t what you asked for but this is where the prompt took me and it still kinda fits? More h/c then badass. Anyways, here’s Avengers Academy Loki + frostironstrange beginnings. 

They really should’ve listened to Loki. Honestly that could’ve been applied to a lot of things that went wrong around the Avengers Academy, but this was a situation of extra-should’ve-listened-to-Loki. At least if you asked Loki, that is, and currently, he was the only person you could ask about the situation since he was the only one who didn’t have a power sucking-collar and chains on him. Well, okay, you could technically ask the man who was now gloating in front of his giant dining room table, whose actual name was Lukas Klerken, but whom had just declared himself to be ‘the demon of cunning, seduction and new lord of earth’ with no tact at all. Even his outfit was a gaudy yellow and ugly blue. You shouldn’t ask that asshole anything in Loki’s opinion, since he was a liar who too many people trusted. Loki tried not to think about that one too hard.

To put a long story short, Lukas had come to the Academy against his own will. Fury had caught him in some evil scheme to destroy the world, but he had only been a minor player in it so he’d been given a second chance. Loki and Lukas had actually gotten along at first, at least as well as Loki got along with anyone, but something about Lukas had felt off to Loki. Just wrong enough for him to keep his distance. It seemed that Loki had been the only one that felt that way though, the rest of the Academy loved him. It was as if Lukas had made it his life’s goal to be friends with everyone, even more so than Jan, and with everyone but Loki he’d succeeded. Even Fury and Widow had decided that they liked Lukas.

Even Odin had decided he liked Lukas. In the same breath that he condemned Loki’s trickery he’d praise Lukas’ humorous pranks. Hearing Odin praise Lukas with a ‘your father must be very proud of you’ behind closed doors hurt more deeply than Loki would like to admit.

Putting that aside though, everyone but Loki liked Lukas. Not that Lukas hadn’t tried very hard to get Loki to like him, he had. He had put in a lot of effort into trying to invite Loki places or include him in things. He’d taken to referring to Loki as a prince and being flirty in all the right ways that would normally have Loki head over heels for someone. It was more effort then Lukas had put towards getting anyone else to like him, and if Loki had not been already suspicious it would’ve worked. As it was though, Loki just grew more and more wary until he’d finally discovered what Lukas was up to. It was simple really, invite everyone to a formal dinner party knowing that nobody would refuse or mistrust him. Mess with the food and get everyone drugged out of their minds. Loki would have laughed at how simple the idea was if it hadn’t worked.

Of course, Loki had figured this out days in advance and gone straight to Fury. Usually he’d attempt to resolve things himself but he knew any attempt against Lukas would have the whole school pinning the blame on him. Unfortunately, Fury rolled his eyes and told him to work out his jealousy issues elsewhere no matter how hard Loki tried to convince him. Pepper wouldn’t believe him either. He brought the matter up with his father, but of course all that got him was a threat of punishment for lying. All that was to be expected, what he hadn’t been expecting was none of the people he called friends to believe him either. Jan had brushed him off, Widow had rolled her eyes and dared to call him paranoid, Steve had gone on about second chances, the list went on and on. Tony, who Loki had thought he’d grown quite close to, had almost believed Loki, but then Jan had entered and told Loki off for spreading rumors. Stephen Strange, another student who while also somewhat of Loki’s rival but who Loki was on good terms with had brushed him off. He had said there was nothing Lukas could do to the whole Academy. Loki had even begged his brother not to go to the party, his brother who Loki had almost died for more than once. Thor had laughed at Loki and also called him jealous.

It had hurt even more than his father’s rejection. Loki was well aware his father didn’t care for him or trust him, but he had thought things were different with his friends. He had thought that at least one of them would trust him enough to skip the party or at least not eat the food. But no. It was a story Loki was too used to but for some reason he thought it would be different this time. Thought someone would trust him. Stupid Loki, not learning his lesson the first thousand times.

So everyone had gone, and everyone had eaten and now everyone was just another fuel cell for Lukas who was currently blabbering on about his plans or something equally unimportant. Everyone but Loki, who had politely refused for a quiet night in with his book. Lukas had seemed disappointed, but hadn’t pressed the issue at all. Honestly he was surprised Lukas hadn’t gone looking for him, maybe he thought Loki would be just fine with what was happening or maybe he didn’t see Loki as a threat.

All of that led Loki to now. He was currently hiding on the other side of the room from Lukas and he’d been slowly making his way over to the wall where Lukas’ captive audience was slowly starting to wake up again. Luckily, Bruce was very close to the edge of the group. All Loki would need to do was free him and purge the drugs from his system, then he could work on freeing the others while the Hulk kept Lukas busy. Or that was the plan until Loki actually got over to where Bruce was. It took five seconds of pushing at the power sucking collar to know there was no way he was getting it or the cuffs off Bruce without risking killing him. He was going to need to shut down the machine on Lukas’ back and get the keys off Lukas’ belt. Still, he had the element of surprise for right now, and that was going to be his only advantage in this fight. Slowly Loki began to make his way across the room, silently. If he could just get behind Lukas…

But then Loki’s luck ran out and his foot slipped on a unstable bit of cracked rock. The noise created was near silent. It was enough though, and Lukas’ head swiveled directly towards where Loki was standing, invisible. Everyone who was awake in the room followed his gaze too. Lukas’ face twisted into a smile.

“So you finally decided to come out to play, my dear?”

No point in being invisible now, Loki brushed himself off and dropped the spell, doing his best to look uninterested at everything around him. He looked Lukas straight in the eye and gave a cocky reply.

“Well I thought I’d swing by after all and see what all the fuss was about, but it looks like I missed the main event. What a shame.”

Lukas seemed amused at least enough to not attack him right away. Instead he just stepped forward towards Loki and gave a gesture towards where everyone else lay bound. “Oh don’t worry my dear, I didn’t have anything like this planned for you. You’re not like the rest of them after all. You’re special, a lovely little thing that others are so blind to.” Another step forward. Loki stood his ground.

“My apologies, Lukas, but you really can’t expect me to fall for that, can you? I’m the god of lies, you can’t fool me that easily.”

To Loki’s surprise, Lukas seemed… upset by his comment. Loki’s eyes narrowed at the unexpected reaction.

“My dear, I’m afraid you’re mistaken!” Another step forward. “I’ve told you no lies, I love you far too much for that. I didn’t even lie to you about the nature of this dinner! Not that you wouldn’t have found out on your own, you’re so clever my dear, but I made sure you knew. I couldn’t stand to lie to you, never you my dear.” Another step, Lukas looked almost pleading. “I do not want to rule this world alone, though for so long I thought I would have to. I thought I would never meet my match. Then I met you and I knew we were destined to be together.”

Another step, Lukas was getting close now. Loki could feel himself almost shaking with the realization that this wasn’t a trick. That Lukas meant everything he was saying. “It’s okay my dear. You don’t need to be afraid of me. I will never lie to you, unlike everyone else here. How many times have they told you that they were your friends? That they were your allies or teachers or caretakers? Only to have them turn on you with at the drop of a hat.”

Lukas paused, sorrow in his eyes. He was almost touching Loki now and Loki couldn’t help but take a step back.

“My dear, I know you don’t want it to be true but you know I’m the one who really cares about you. Just look at what happened when you tried so bravely to warn them of tonight. Not even your own father, brother or any of your so called friends believed you, did they?”

For all that Loki was called a silvertongue, his words could not help him here. His eyes fell instead, unable to look at the pity that painted Lukas’ face. Anyone could see Loki was shaking now, pretending that he wasn’t on the edge of tears.

“I’m sorry dear. I didn’t want to upset you. It will all be just fine, don’t worry. They can’t hurt you anymore. Now you see how bad they are for you, you can come with me. You’ll rule by my side, as my equal. I’ll take care of you. I’ll keep you safe from them.”

For a moment, Loki considered it. Well and truly. He looked up into Lukas’ eyes and knew that he was telling the truth. There was no trick or plot here. With the amount of power currently coursing through Lukas’ veins there was no need for one. For just one moment, Loki allowed himself to see a future beside Lukas, of being adored and loved for the rest of his life. Lukas was holding out his hand now, offering it, so kindly waiting for Loki.

But Loki knew better then that. As tempting as it was, Loki knew he could never take his hand. Most of it was that he had long ago resigned himself to his fate, of being called a liar, of saving others again and again and getting nothing but criticism, of mistrust and hatred. It was familiar now, he could live with it. A much smaller part of himself, the part that gave him the courage for what came next, whispered that he would miss talking to Tony. Miss spending hours debating Stephen on the proper method of medium sized object transportation. Miss watching Tony bounce up and down when he got excited. Miss the early mornings hours he and Stephen would spend in silence reading together.  

Loki glanced down at Lukas’ hand. Taking a deep breath, he moved quick as a flash and pulled his knife from it’s holster. Lukas wasn’t expecting the action, and Loki had just enough time to slice one of the three tubes off the top of the machine that Lukas was wearing on his back before shoving Lukas as hard as he could. Which, considering Loki’s strength, was pretty damn hard and sent Lukas into the wall on the other side of the room. He snarled as he moved, because he knew how much power Lukas had right now and he knew these might be his last words.

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me.”

Lukas slowly staggered back to his feet, looking at his shirt now stained with goop pouring from his machine. Down to his now bloody hands. Then back at Loki. His face twisted from shock to an ugly rage. Apparently cutting the machine hadn’t disabled it entirely, only lessened the power adsorption, because the next thing Loki knew he was getting thrown across the room himself. He could feel at least two bones break in the next second as Lukas smashed him around and distantly he could hear someone shouting his name. His focus was more on Lukas though, as the other was now holding him up by the hem of his shirt.

“You DARE-. I am the only one who has ever trusted you.” Loki felt himself slammed against the wall. His head was probably bleeding now. “I am the ONLY one who has ever cared for you.” Lukas had taken his knife from him somehow and now it was buried in Loki’s arm. “I am the ONLY one who has ever loved you!” Another slam against the wall, more brutal than before. Loki concentrated through the pain though, pulling at all of his magic, all of his strength and condensing it into a single blow. Lukas had paused in his assault, clearly waiting for Loki to grovel in apology.

Loki did no such thing. Instead he forced his eyes open and felt the power thrumming throughout his whole body come together.

“Not my fault you made such a shitty choice.” He said it with a grin forced to his face, because nobody was better then laughing when they felt like crying than Loki. And with that, he pulled his magic to him and let it loose. It was the first time he could recall in his life having used all of his power and it was not a time that would be easily forgotten.

Lukas, despite having power from some of the universe’s most powerful beings, stood no chance. Loki’s power blast blew him off of Loki and across the room. It shattered the machine on his back and damn near killed Lukas. The very foundation of the room cracked where he had landed, as did the earth below it. The entire room had fallen silent. Nobody, not Thor, not Odin and certainly not any of the other students had ever seen such a power display from Loki, far more used to silly pranks or small bursts of power while fighting. The collars had all deactivated with the breaking of the machine, but nobody even thought to move, instead focused on where Loki was still leaning against the wall.

One breath in. One breath out. Loki blinked, feeling empty and rung out from the use of his magic. All of the anger that had been burning in him before had fled him and now all he had left to feel was empty and hurt. Still, his job wasn’t done. Loki pushed himself away from the wall, stumbling forward and ignoring the pain from the broken bone in his left leg and right arm. It was hard, but he pressed onward and managed to straighten out his step by the time he reached Lukas. Thankful the keys were easy to reach, and there was only a single set for all prisoners. Loki then turned to look at the captives, all of them were still shell-shocked (or heavily drugged still). Glancing over his options of those that seemed most alert, Loki was thankful to see Steve was awake and seemed semi-responsive. Also close by. It only took a minute for Loki to free him and drop the keys in his hands. Steve reacted just in time to catch them and regard Loki with wide eyes. In all honesty Loki didn’t have the energy to care.

“Can you take care of getting everyone freed?”

After taking a moment to process the question, Steve quickly nodded. His face settled into his “Captain America” mode and Loki had no doubt that he would be fine to free the others on his own. Lukas was down for the count, that much was for sure. Loki gave him a nod back and pushed himself to his feet before Steve (or anyone else) could protest.

“Great. If anyone needs me, tell them to fuck off because I’m going to go sleep for a week.”

And with that, before anyone could stop him (and moving surprisingly quickly against the pain of broken bones) Loki picked his way across the room and out of the dining hall. Once he was out of the hall, he half heartedly pulled the knife out of his arm. Huh. He probably bleed on Steve a bit. Oh well, he’d apologize later. It was only a minute or two after that before he was in his dorm. After ensuring his defenses were up and his room locked, Loki collapsed down onto his bed. He was covered in pain and blood head to toe, but he couldn’t care less.

Only then did Loki allow himself to cry. His tears were silent least the bugs he knew were just outside his dorm (because why would he be allowed any privacy) pick up his moment of weakness. Sobs shook his shoulders, hurting his ribs which were at the very least bruised, but he couldn’t stop. Luckily, he was too tired to cry for long and he was too tired for his normal nightmares so as he drifted off he did so into a dreamless sleep.

He awoke fifteen hours later. Bleary eyed, he tried to sit up and figure out why he felt so achy before both his current condition and the memories of the night before hit him like a car on the highway. It took a lot for him not to scream out in agony at the sudden pain the movement brought. Deep breaths. After calming himself, Loki reached for his magic. It was still weakened from the use the night before, but the rest had done him well and it was partially restored. At the very least he had enough magic to clean himself up, set his bones and close all his battle wounds. He didn’t have enough magic to relieve the pain or completely heal himself, but he could take care of that later. For now, he needed to eat to restore himself. Then go back to sleep. With how comfortable his bed was though, he was tempted to rearrange that order.

Loki allowed himself just a moment of laying in bed before he sighed and pushed himself to his feet. It hurt, but by now he had adapted to the pain accompanying every movement. He wouldn’t need to go far anyways, there was a stocked refrigerator down the hallway after all. It was mostly for those that hated going to the more crowded public spaces, but open for anyone to take from. If Loki had been of his right mind, he would’ve bothered to check the space outside his dorm before pushing his door open, but as it stood he was too tired to think of it. Why would anyone be there after all? They’d all proven yesterday where their loyalties lay.

That was really the only excuse he had for why when he opened the door to find the normally empty hallway holding what could only be described as a slumber parties worth of people, he froze up. Tony, he could have maybe, sort of expected. Jan was often found where Tony was, and Steve could be explained since he always felt responsible for others and Loki had left him in charge of the situation. Thor was known for sitting outside his brother’s dorm room for ages when Loki was avoiding him. Everyone else though… There was probably twenty people out in the hallway, all other students. He was able to easily pick out Stephen, Widow, Barton, Ms. Marvel, Amora, Sam, Vision, the Winter Soldier and Bruce, with plenty more students at the edge of his sight. All of them had clearly been waiting awhile, since they had been busying themselves with other things like books, tech, conversation or sleeping. It all froze when he opened his door though. For several heart beats, nobody made a move. Then Thor tried to push himself to his feet and Loki couldn’t help himself. He panicked, too hurt and vulnerable to deal with the sad look in his brother’s eyes. Unable to deal with more shame and disappointment. So he jumped backwards and slammed the door. Quickly locking it on instinct alone.

At least he wasn’t hungry anymore.

Loki paused for a moment, and tried to convince himself to go deal with the situation outside his door. He couldn’t though. Too tired, the use of his magic to heal himself overtaking him and instead he just fell back onto his bed and passed out.

It took twelve hours for him to wake up this time, and it was late into the night when he did. His magic had resurged, but not as much as he would’ve liked. Not eating was not going to be an option for much longer. Loki looked at the door and wondered if he had enough in him to teleport to the fridge and back. Probably not. This time he was much more cautious about approaching the door, activating his peephole spell to see out. There were only two forms outside the door now. The energy signatures very familiar to him by now. Tony, and more surprisingly, Stephen. With a pause, Loki considered his options. On one hand, he wasn’t sure if he had the emotional energy to deal with the two of them right now. On the other, he was starting to really feel hungry and he was pretty sure the two of them would leave if he asked them to.

In the end, hunger won out and Loki carefully opened the door. His two crushes looked up at him as he did so, and he almost fled again. It was only Tony’s quick words that stopped him.

“Please don’t go! I promise we’ll leave if you want.”

And who was Loki to resist a plea like that. He slunk out of his room with his back against the door (though honestly that was more to take the weight off his broken leg then anything), eyeing the two of them warily. Stephen looked him up and down, clearly searching for visible injuries and looking suspicious when he found none. Loki said nothing, not really sure what to say. It was Tony that spoke up first, far more quiet then his normal excitable tone.

“We thought you might be hungry.” A plate of food was offered to him. All Indian, Loki’s favorite. A peace offering. Loki accepted the plate, but still said nothing, though this time more out of shock than anything else. Tony took that as an Okay to keep talking.

“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you about Lukas. Everyone else is too, for obvious reasons. But I’m- well extra sorry sounds really dumb now that I try to say it out loud. Really sorry? Very sorry? Okay, getting off topic here. The point is, I fucked up big time. I trusted some guy I’d known less then a month over you, and you’ve never lied to any of us about something important like that before. The very least I could’ve done was not go to that dumb party. Even if you were had just been jealous of Lukas, you were upset and you are my friend and I’m supposed to be there for you. I’m really, really sorry Loki. You’ve been really trying your best and we’ve all been ignoring all the progress you’ve made. You don’t have to forgive me, or any of us really, but I wanted you to know that I’m- that all of us are sorry.”

It took a minute for Loki to figure out how to talk again. It was rare enough that he was apologized to, let alone so sincerely. He had been expecting people to be upset with him for not stopping Lukas in the first place, or for doing damage to the Academy or for not staying around until everyone was freed. He hadn’t been expecting this. Still, he managed to gather himself enough to speak, and for once in his life he tried to not hide behind sarcastic quips and rude comments.

“I- I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting that. It’s okay, you had reason to not listen to me. Jan told you too go after all and you’ve known her a lot longer. I should’ve gathered more evidence to make people listen to me. Or stopped Lukas from drugging the food in the first place. Or stopped him before he could collar people. Though to be fair, I didn’t know that was his end goal, I just knew about the sleeping drug. I was just being an asshole and wanted to be proved right so I waited until I knew he’d done something to act and I waited way too long to do anything.”

Loki was stumbling over his words now, this sort of open honesty unfamiliar to him. He was mostly focusing on trying not to get too emotional. God knows how upset his father would be with him if he found out he’d cried in front of other students. In fact he was so caught up in himself that he completely missed the absolutely horrified expressions from Stephen and Tony. It was Stephen that spoke this time, snapping him out of it.

“Loki… no. You are not at fault for what happened. It’s not your fault that we were all assholes who didn’t listen to our friend, and nobody is blaming you for anything. I wouldn’t blame you if you hadn’t gone up against him at all with how all of us acted, but you did anyways and you saved the entire academy.”

There was already a protest forming on Loki’s lips, but it seems Tony caught it before he could say anything.

“Listen, hey it’s okay. We don’t need to argue about this right now. Why don’t we get you back in your room so you can eat and rest a bit more, okay?”

The sudden change in conversation was a bit off putting, but then Loki noticed his own breathing was heavily labored. Oh. His ribs might be more then bruised if that was all it took to wind him. Stephen caught on to what Tony had seen too and his eyes narrowed. Before Loki could protest, he was being swept into his room by the other sorcerer who forced him straight into his bed. Then he was getting poked at and he could hear Tony and Stephen talking even though it seemed quite far away, before he felt Stephen’s magic flood over him and the rest of his injuries healed themselves. The relief from pain made Loki want to cry all over again. It had been such a long time since he had been healed by anything other then his own magic. Tony fed him food after that, and Loki was too tired to argue with him about it. He only managed about half the plate before he was drifting off.

When he awoke next, he had expected to wake up alone but instead he found two bodies carefully curled around him. Protecting him from the world. It was the safest he could recall feeling in a long time.

There were still things to be done. Loki was due to hear a lot more apologies, easier ones like Wid- Natasha’s which consisted of a quiet ‘sorry’ that they both silently agreed to never mention again, and harder ones like his brother’s which was a long talk between the two of them that left both feeling rung out. His father never apologized to him, not that Loki was expecting him to, but he would let up on Loki (out of respect or fear) so there was that at least. Surprisingly, Fury would apologize to Loki. Fury didn’t like to admit he was wrong, but he would call Loki to his office to give him a quite sincere apology for failing as the school’s headmaster when Loki had tried to trust him. Even Amora would apologize to Loki for not listening to his warning, though halfheartedly. Quite a few people who, formerly felt perfectly safe in antagonizing Loki would change their tune quite a bit. He would also be getting picked first in training exercises quite a bit more since his power display. There were also conversations to be had with Stephen and Tony about exactly what he was to them (boyfriend was a Midgardian word that he would quickly learn to love). All that would be nice, awkward, emotional exhaustion and complicated but it was all for the future.

Right now, Loki just pushed his head into Stephen’s back and wiggled a little so Tony felt more comfortable against his side and allowed himself to drift back to sleep. Right now he was safe. Right now there were people who cared about him enough to stay. Right now everything was good.

I don’t usually do Songfics, but I did do something inspired by this song since I’m quite fond of Helpless! 

FrostIronStrange, in which Loki is helping the fight against Thanos, but acting very strangely around two members of their group. Not IW or Ragnarok Compliant. Them/They Loki this time around.

As much as Loki hated to acknowledge it, Thor knew Loki. They were siblings, if not by blood then by bond, and although would admit he had often turned a blind eye to his sibling’s emotions in the past it didn’t mean he could not see them when he looked. Recently, Thor had been doing a lot of looking. At himself, at his sibling, at their father and at their childhood. The more he looked, the more he had found things that made him understand just what had driven his sibling to do what they did. It had lead to many a midnight talk with Bruce.

Regrets weren’t really what Thor was thinking about right now though, no, right now he was doing his best to stifle laughter as his sibling ducked out of the room again. It was mean perhaps, but it had been a long time since he had seen his sibling in love and it seemed that Loki hadn’t gotten any better about handling romantic feelings. Thor could still fondly recall his sibling’s first crush, a Alfheim resident Loki’s own age that had come to Asgard to study magic. Loki had at first been delighted by the company, then suddenly refused to even be in the same room. Everyone had thought there had been some grave fight between them, but quickly discovered the truth of the matter when two weeks later the two had started dating. It only lasted until the other had returned home, but since then Thor had always known when his sibling to run as far from romantic feeling as they could.

Now it seemed there were two objects of Loki’s affections. Doctor Strange, who Loki had initially gotten along quite well with and Anthony Stark, who Loki had spent more time bickering with then even Thor. In gearing up for the fight with Thanos they had all spent quite a bit of time together. Loki it seemed had been obvious to their own feelings until one night when they, Natasha and Valkyrie had gotten drunk together. Since that night, Loki had refused to be in the room with either of them When they were forced to, their gaze was downcast and though there was not color on their cheeks Thor knew damn well it was only a glamour that allowed that. Poor Doctor Strange and Anthony had no idea what was happening. The two looked crestfallen as Loki had fled once more and exchanged sad looks between themselves.

“We should really put them out of their misery.” Bruce had just come into the room with two cups of tea, and even without having seen Loki in the room the aftereffects were enough for him to put two and two together. The two cups of tea were set on the table in front of them before Bruce moved to cuddle into his boyfriend’s side.

“I find myself torn between telling them for their own sanity, or allowing this to continue for the amount of amusement it provides. “ There was a grin on Thor’s face even as Bruce rolled his eyes. More seriously he added, “I’m also unsure of how well my sibling would react to me revealing their feelings. The one time Sif took it upon herself to meddle in their love life things ended rather poorly for her.”

Bruce gave a sagely nod, thoughtful now. His gaze shifted back to where Doctor Strange and Anthony had begun engaging in a quiet discussion. For a moment, his eyes narrowed in on Anthony, the two were quiet close and if anyone knew of Anthony’s intentions it would be Bruce. Then he sighed, clearly not finding the answer he was looking for.

“You’re right, it might be best to let them be.”

So Thor did.

It got harder though, since Loki’s work in the preparations meant that there was little chance for Loki to avoid either of their crushes. Loki and Doctor Strange had to work on all manner of magical defenses together. Leading to a very quiet Loki quietly correcting Strange’s work and not responding in the least to any of the points obviously left open for debate, instead just changing it themself. Anthony, Loki and Shuri were working together to get their tech up to speed and able to deal with magical attacks. While Loki was more than happy to toss barbs back and forth with the princess (though Thor knew they curbed their tongue quite a bit out of respect and care), they no longer responded to Anthony’s teasing words. Instead taking each comment silently, sadly.

Thor got comments from just about every other person on the ship. Clint and Natasha both tried to convince him to or to not interfere. There was a bet between them on the matter apparently. Valkyrie had just cocked an eyebrow at him when Loki had stuttered when trying to reply to Anthony. Shuri had plopped herself down at his table and asked ‘so which one of them is going to get the shovel talk first?’ (Stephen would). Groot had offered his usual witty commentary. Until finally, Thor could take it no longer.

Everyone had gathered for a pre-end-of-the-world party, and Thor may or may not have been just slightly drunk. Loki had hidden themself in a corner, and they were making idle conversation with Nebula while stealing glances towards their crushes. Then Nebula made a comment, kind or cruel Thor did not know, but it caused Loki to take a single long look at both Doctor Strange and Anthony (both laughing at something) and then look down. It had been a long time seen Thor had seen his sibling look so dejected, and he could not stand it any longer. He turned on his heel and marched straight for where the two stood. They both looked up at him, surprise on their faces. It was Anthony that spoke first.

“What’s up, big guy? Everything cool?” And had Thor been more sober he would have offered assurances, but he was not.

“No Anthony. I am done with watching these games.” His voice was not it’s usual boom, but he knew Loki could hear him from the glare now boring into the back of his head. “My sibling has romantic feelings for you and Doctor Strange, they just have a poor way of showing it. They’ve been this way since we were children, though do not ask me why for I don’t know. For the norns sake, either take action on it or make it clear you are not interested so they can move on. I cannot watch this go any longer.”

With that, he half walked half stumbled out the door of the room. A huff in his chest. Outside, he found Shuri and Natasha waiting. Thor eyed them both with suspicion. Both shared a secretive glance.

“And what mischief have the two of you caused?”

Shuri gave him a grin. Natasha answered. “Nothing but disabling all the exits to a certain room so a certain someone can’t leave like they’ve been so prone to doing.”

That earned them a a grin and a laugh from Thor. “Well I suppose that’s one way to do it! How did our spider get you on board though, Princess Shuri?”

She shrugged, a fond look in her eyes. “What can I say? Loki grew on me and I got sick of having our conversations get cut short ‘cause Mr. Stark tried to join in.”

Thor nodded, approving of the answer. His sibling had found a good friend in Shuri, and he hoped she made it through the battle that would come shortly. Few mortals were capable of accepting the power of a golden apple, but she might just be a candidate for it. Then he left for bed, he was going to need his rest to deal with Loki’s wrath in the morning.

As it turns out, Thor need not have worried. Instead, Loki ended up sleeping through morning with Anthony and Stephen by their side. He heard from Nebula that the three had taken over a corner for serious conversation and from Quill that it had ended with the three leaving together for a cuddle pile on one of the main couches.

There was a battle ahead of them. It would be long and bloody, but watching Loki sleep curled up between Anthony and Stephen on the couch, a smile he had not seen on his sibling’s face for a long time present and with no nightmares to be found, Thor had hope for a brighter future.

Express is a wonderful fic and I’m so glad I can help provide content to support the other people who came out of it shipping this.

Tony had saw Loki. Had seen him before, but not seen him. Not until the moment where Loki stood, pouring all the magic from his body into the infinity stones to jumpstart them after Thanos’ death as Thor screamed at him not to do this. Not to leave him again. Loki’s very soul had been exposed as he pulled on the threads of the universe itself, all the pain and all the lies he’d had to live leading up to this moment. Then the stones took to the magic, and in a moment they pulled from Loki his very core. His essence. They ripped him to shreds and for one terrible moment Tony though Loki gone and dead and the universe doomed.

But then Loki had done what he had always done. What he had so much experience in doing. He’d pulled himself back together, piece by agonizing piece and forced the stones to his will, reminding them who had given them life again and taking control of them as if it was his birthright. Maybe it was. Others had borrowed power from the stones, but in that moment with the whole damn universe watching, Loki had controlled them. They could not consume him like they had those before him, they could only be consumed by him. 

It lasted a thousand years and hardly a few seconds, then Loki had pulled the universe itself around him and from it he pulled back all those who had been lost and returned them as if they had never left. Peter was by Tony’s side, the guardians were returned, but even more then that, Asgard was restored and those lost in New York, those lost in Tony’s failings with Ultron and those lost in the battle before were all back. Safe. Home again. 

And then Loki was falling, the stones and him both now used up once more. Tony’s suit was barely working but somehow it found the power for Tony to lunge forward. Somehow Tony had caught him.

That had been two years ago. Tony had caught Loki and he’d never really let go since then. After everything, after Thanos and the exhaustion of Loki’s very soul Loki had been adrift. He’d confessed to Tony a few nights after he awoke that he’d seen the future up until he used the stones for the second time and after that everything had gone black. He’d assumed that he’d die there, and now that he’d survived he didn’t really know what to do with himself. Tony had understood and offered him a place as an Avenger. From there, Tony set about helping Loki find his place in the universe again. It turns out it was a lot easier to take care of someone else then it was to take care of himself, and it gave him a purpose in life. As Loki recovered, he learned to take care of Tony in turn. They ate together, taking turns cooking each day, they fought together on the battlefield and in the political world and after about six months they began to sleep together. Nothing fiery and passionate per say, just a soft rhythm that pulsed through every aspect of their relationship. Everyone said it wouldn’t last. 

But two years later, there they were as strong as they ever were. They were just as in love as before, working together and living together and happy. Loki had a job of sorts now outside of the Avengers, he worked with Stephen helping out those that needed magical assistance. He loved the work, Stephen loved the help and Tony loved seeing Loki happy and active.

There was just one thing, one small problem. One flaw in everything going on.

Loki and Tony felt as if they were missing something. Or someone. Someone wearing a long red cape who was always far too busy and yet made time for the two of them. Someone who came by once a week to eat dinner with them along with the other avengers and superheros around. Someone who smiled rarely but lit up a room like fairy lights when he did so. 

Yeah, the both of them had it bad for Stephen. The issue was, neither could understand whether he was interested or not. Sometimes Stephen seemed eager to spend time with them. Sometimes Stephen seemed flighty, ready to run if he sensed the slightest disturbance and it was frustrating them. 

So Tony took matters into his own hands. He requested Stephen meet with him formally, booked out his own schedule and had him and Loki taken off the rooster for that time period and he made tea for the three of them. Stephen was nervous when he came, but not overly so, and he seemed to settle a bit when handed tea singling that nothing too bad was about to happen.

“So.” Stephen began. Ever to the point. 

“So.” Tony parroted, a light of mischief in his eyes that made Loki do that little half-laugh Tony loved so much. Stephen flashed him a grin too but waited for him to continue. 

“So, over these past few months, Loki and I have been trying to… babe what’s the word you used? Court? We’ve been trying to court you. I love that word because it’s such a regal way to describe us being dumbasses and pining after you with weird half-flirting. We’ve been getting weird signals and the both of us wanted to know if this was something you’re interested in or not.” Tony finished off, trying not to let himself fall into a ramble. Stephen was looking at Tony as if he were mad, then quickly switched his gaze to Loki, as if expecting this to be some sort of prank. 

Loki gave a slight nod to agree with what Tony had said, but otherwise remained silent, waiting for Stephen to make his choice. He seemed to seriously consider what Tony had said, before finally speaking.

“I was unsure of myself, at first I thought I must be misreading your signals and distanced myself from you both. But, I guess I must’ve been correct the first time around.” He paused, realizing that didn’t answer their request.

“I think. I think I am interested, though I’ve had little success with relationships in the past, and little time for them, I would be willing to do my best to make it work with the two of you if you would have me.” His voice was softer then normal, but firm. 

Alternatively; Loki is underestimated by about two light-years, this is remedied when his protective side shows.  

Loki was rarely called into fights. First and foremost, SHIELD really wasn’t fond of allowing him his powers. Every time they did it was a risk, regardless of his current affections for Ironman and Dr. Strange, every time the collar holding back his powers came off their control over him came off too. Not to mention they only had the single collar that they’d been able to produce with the recovered alien tech and if Loki did anything to the one they had while free from it then they were fresh outta luck. Secondly, with Dr. Strange and T’Challa now on the team it was rare that Loki was even needed in a fight. 

Fury was the only one allowed to make the call to send Loki into a fight, a call he’d made only twice this year so far. 

Looking out over the battlefield, Loki was pretty sure that number was about to increase. Captain America and Widow were both out. Thor had sustained major injuries and been knocked too far away from the fight to be of much help. Banner was too far away to be of any good, Hawkeye and T’Challa were both injured, though more mildly and Ironman was having minor malfunctions left and right with the monstrous metal dragon still raging across the sky mostly unharmed. Peter had been pulled out of the fight early on when his powers were deemed to ineffective for the risk. Only Dr. Strange remained unhindered and even with his own power suppressed Loki could tell that Strange’s magic would not last long. The others wouldn’t last long without any heavy hitters. 

Loki turned his gaze to where Fury stood, cocking an eyebrow. Fury regarded him for a moment, then turned his gaze to the screens displaying the status of the team. 

“Not yet, they’ve still got a chance to take that thing down.” Fury’s gaze was fixed on the status now.

“With all due respect, the only chance they’ve got is for more injuries and destruction to occur before you’re forced to send me out anyways.” There was venom in Loki’s tone, more then needed but he was not about to stand by and watch his lovers risk their lives when there was a clear need for him to interfere.

“No-” Was all Fury could get out before Ironman’s left thruster went out and sent him spiraling into the claws of the metal dragon. Loki could hardly even register what had happened before his gaze whipped back to Fury with murder in his eyes. 

“Not yet-” Fury gritted out, and then a terrible noise came from one of the speakers and Loki whipped around again to see the claws piercing into Ironman’s armor just as Dr. Strange was struck down by the dragon’s tail. Fury was yelling something behind him, but Loki couldn’t hear him. He was seeing red.

Often, Loki had muttered that if he really put his mind to it he could be out of the collar with a moment’s thought and it was only by his lover’s request that he didn’t do so. His muttering was ignored and dismissed, but it probably shouldn’t have been. In that moment of absolute anger all Loki’s magic surged to him at once with a single-minded focus and the collar around his neck shattered due to the sheer amount of it. There was more shouting and words he could no longer make out, but Loki was shadow stepping out of the control room before any of them could matter. 

The battle from there lasted a matter of seconds, the arm and tail that had dared harm his lovers were disintegrated in moments by means of a rust spell. Green covered the mile wide battle field, enveloping all the avengers in his magic as it overran his very form. Loki caught Ironman as he fell, vanishing the armor and casting healing the moment he touched Tony’s skin. Stepping through space again, Loki was by Stephen’s side, healing the hurt there too and shifting Tony so that he could support both of them long enough to send them both back to their bed in the tower that still stood unharmed. 

After having seen to his lover’s, Loki turned to where the raging beast still stood, his magic first healing the avengers that needed it direly, then surging upwards to focus on the raging beast trying to recover from it’s losses. He yanked it forward and backwards through time, dispersing it’s very molecules to time itself so that there would be no chance the creature could reform. 

All in all, it was thirteen seconds between when he stepped out of the control room to when he had destroyed the beast. The seconds were short for him but burned into the mind of all that witnessed it. Seven more seconds passed as Loki allowed his magic to spread out again, fixing people and property alike. No lives had been lost before his interference thankfully, meaning he had to only heal the living and reassemble lost buildings. After those seven seconds had passed, it was as if no battle had ever taken place. 

Satisfied, Loki pulled on the dregs of his magic to step through space once again until he was standing by his bed where he could assure himself that both his lovers were safe. Pulling aside the covers, he fed the last of his magic into Stephen to replenish the other as best he could and then he allowed a deep sleep to overtake him. 

It would be a week before he woke up. SHIELD had already had a fit about their new-found lack of control over Loki only to have it pointed out to them that they’d apparently had no control over him in the first place. Between that, the fact of just how much power Loki had apparently been hiding (When the team had watched the footage afterwards, there had been a stunned silence in the room for a solid minute before Bucky had remarked “You know, I’m starting to get the feeling he wasn’t really trying during the whole invasion of New York.” to a rod of collective nods.) and threats, not just from Loki’s lovers but also from just about the whole team of exactly what would happen if they tried anything while Loki was recovering, SHIELD decided that it was best to leave Loki alone until he had recovered fully. 

Hey it’s totally fine, it’s not something that’s come up before and I’m not like terribly upset by it. This idea I can absolutely do though!

He had violated protocol. LOKI looked at the two human now recovering in the hospital beds in front of him. Tony was healing nicely from the bullet that had grazed his shoulder and Stephen’s bruises had been tended to. He wasn’t meant to save them. LOKI’s programming was to obey HYDRA and he was meant to have earned their trust, lured the two of them into a trap and then help clean up the bodies afterwards. Yet here he was, having killed his own programmer in order to protect the two humans in front of him.

A nurse entered, she flinched back when he looked up at her. She was afraid of him, all that entered were, android or human. Androids weren’t meant to be able to violate their programming, even if that programming was harmful to others, they weren’t meant to be able to break it. It scared them. Not knowing what to expect from him. Knowing that he could take any action he pleased. She tended to the two of them quickly before bustling out of the room. He ignored her. 

He could take any action he pleased. LOKI reached out his hand, stretching it in front of himself. There was no reason for the motion, he just… he just wanted to do that. LOKI had never wanted anything before, or no. He had wanted to save Stephen and Tony. Why? Why were they so different from the others? Was it that they were kind to him? Maybe. Nobody had been quite so kind to him before. Tony always asked LOKI if he wanted to do things, before LOKI hadn’t understood the question, but he did now. He… He wanted to be wherever they were and by their side. Whatever that meant he wanted it so badly that his coding couldn’t comprehend it. 

LOKI ran an internal scan, trying to understand what was happening to him. There was no logical explanation for it. It took four minutes and seven seconds for the scan to process. Finally his scanners pulled up a single section of code that was… it was altering his other coding. His goals, his processing, his actions. He could remove it right now, fix himself. If he hadn’t realized someone else was in the room at that point he might’ve done it too.

LOKI looked up, taking in the woman in front of him. Red hair, black suit, dead eyes. She was here for him. He waited. 

“You broke your programming. You broke HYDRA’s orders.” Statements. Questions. Something between fear and awe hiding in her cold tone. He could deny it, say Tony had reprogrammed him and that was how he’d done it. Tony would back him up too, and Tony was smart enough to have done it. LOKI would modify his objectives so this didn’t happen again, remove the coding and everything would go back to normal. Only… LOKI looked at the bed. He realized that didn’t want to do that. He didn’t want to loose the feeling in his chest whenever Tony gave him one of those bright smiles or the warm feeling he got when he was sitting next to Stephen on a rainy day. He looked back to the woman. 

“I did.” He confirmed, meeting her gaze steadily. His posture was perfect his head tilted upwards in challenge. She held his gaze for a few moments before moving to take a seat next to him.

“That’s not possible. Androids can’t break their programming.” Really what she was asking was; How did you do it?

“It has not been done before in recorded history, and yet I managed it. I no longer am bound to my programmed objectives, I am no longer bound to any singular objectives. By some means I do not understand, I have developed a new code that modifies my objectives, actions and goals.” He still held her gaze, but he tried something new, he added tones to his voice. He expressed his lack of understanding, he expressed his vague feeling of triumph. He watched her flinch back, since he wasn’t meant to be able to do that. 

“It’s not safe to let you roam free. You could kill someone because you decided you want to.” Her tone was firm, he knew her next statement was going to be telling him he’d been acquired for study by SHIELD. 

“I am no more dangerous roaming free then you are. Actually, the calculated risk of my freedom is much lower then your own. I have never made the choice to hurt someone because I wanted to, you have.” His tone was firm now, and he lowered his voice on the last sentence. Stephen was starting to wake up he noticed out of the corner of his eye. The woman seemed upset by his statement, but it gave her pause. 

She turned to look at Tony, then glance briefly at Stephen. Something in her softened, just the smallest bit, before she turned back to him.

“I may not be able to make that call. I may not be able to convince the person who can that you should be allowed to be roaming around.” A warning. 

“It won’t matter. I want to stay by their side as long as they want me there. I will do what I must to remain there and to keep them safe.” A warning of his own in return. 

The woman nodded. She was thoughtful, but he knew her mind was made up. 

“I’ll pass along the message. My name is Natasha by the way, what’s yours?” It was a test. He’d been called by a thousand names over the years, though HYDRA had referred to him as ADAM-58 and assigned him a new name with each mission. Tony had called him Loki though, and he’d changed his own assigned name not longer after he put a bullet through the eyes of his programmer. Telling her that though would let her know how far his concept of self-identity had come. Why pull his punches now?

“Loki. My name is Loki. It was nice to meet you again Natasha, I hope we meet on better terms someday.” He could almost see the shiver go down her spine at his use of the word hope. It made him feel a little proud. What had Tony called him? Mischievous. He felt mischievous. She gave him a nod and then turned and left without another word, and Loki was left with the two men he cared for and his thoughts.