Biding one’s time was a lonely business. Lonelier still when living in the skin of a family member you loved and loathed, never to enjoy life as oneself save in complete privacy or the one lackey whose confidence you’d bought. Such was the price of this power and luxury, and the safety from all the past horrors. Asgard had grown weak under Odin’s tired rule and had fared terribly against the Dark Elves. Now it needed to look inward and become stronger and happier. Loki could bring that joy to his home world. But what would bring joy to Loki?
There was theatre and wine, beauty and music. There was pleasant company, although never too pleasant, for the idea of engaging with anyone in this body was a revolting notion. Even if it weren’t, few around here caught his eye or stayed in his thoughts. In fact, what vexed Loki the most was who did.
So many times he had lain awake at night, even in his cell, replaying a conversation with the man who had escaped his control. What secrets might he have told if the sceptre had wormed into his heart? Such a fleeting, angering encounter, and yet it had made so much impact on the god. That impudent, snarky little man who tried to talk him down, to threaten him. In his dreams he had not thrown him out of the window after he had seized him by the throat. He had done things he had never thought to desire from a mortal.
And once Loki controlled Asgard, he had begun projecting again; walking Midgard unseen and stalking the man he could not get out of his mind. He watched him silently over the years, how the Avengers slowly crumbled under the weight of their own responsibilities. Some nights Loki watched Stark sleep, utterly undetected by his security systems, for he was naught but magic and mind. He waited and waited, until matters reached their peak. A fight in Siberia rendered the Iron Man his most broken, the most alone.
It was dark where Tony sat in the Tower’s common room, presumably brooding over recent events. The apparition of a god once reported dead melted into view beside the entrance to the balcony.
“Not easy is it? The trust broken with those you care for.”
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