#peppertoki

I’m trying to work on the Power Ballad series (my semi-massive PepperToki fanfic series) because I am NOT leaving it unfinished but I’ve fallen several movies behind.

And now I’m trying to deal with IM3, but...

Tony sold the Malibu house.

All of the Avengers are together in the tower.

Which means that...

The Malibu house can’t be attacked.

Killian’s not dealing with Tony. He’s dealing with all of the Avengers.

Navigate this story through the masterpost.

-

“So. First question: Do we have to kill people?” Tony had a talent for picking the pillow talk.

"Have you ever fed without killing?"

“I guess Pepper didn’t tell you exactly how she met me.”

“No. What happened?”

Tony answered Loki’s earlier question instead. “It depends on who I’m killing. I mean, just strangers, just innocent people…. Yeah I’d rather die, because who wants killing those people to be their legacy? But if I can control that, if I can change up the story… there are probably a lot of people I’d sooner see erased from the world than me.”

“So what does a sentient being have to do for a man like you to consider him disposable?”

“Ugly phrasing, that.”

“Ugly topic.”

“Fine.” Tony took a breath. “Enemy combatants. I’d kill someone who kills other people and decides to work against me or mine.”

Loki looked at him for a long time.

“Don’t like my answer, sensei?”

“It’s… a broad category. You place your enemies across from you rather than below. Unorthodox, for a vampire.”

“I always kind of figured the underworld was a pragmatic place. Living on blood and all, it has to be hard to develop a moral superiority complex.”

“You really have learned nothing about vampire culture so far. This is tragically pathetic. The old families survive on self-delusion. Any enemy is by definition uncultured and personified by their lowest and most shameful moments. Humans are goats, dumb and born to be slaughtered, and so forth, and so forth.”

“I can tell you fit right in.”

Loki hissed in disgusted annoyance and shot Tony a warning look.

Tony grinned. “Oh shit, did I ever hit a nerve.”

“You want to shut up now.”

“You used to be an Odinson, right? Before the royal family kicked you out and everyone started calling you Liesmith?”

“Tony, I could kill you quite easily.”

“Yeah, and then face Pepper’s wrath. She could so take you.” Tony wiggled his eyebrows. “And I bet you wish she would.”

A moment later Tony was looking up at Loki with genuine fear while Loki’s hand gripped his neck much too tightly. “What are you trying to accomplish?”

“...Angry sex?” Tony offered plaintively.

Loki released the other vampire's neck in favor of executing an elegant face-palm. “To answer your earlier question: No, we do not have to kill to feed. But feeding live in moderation is a skill, and one which you have been the opposite of trained for.”

“So what’s the alternative? Animals a-la Twilight, or re-reheated Red Cross donations in a mug?”

“Animals are easier to acquire and better practice for learning control. But go too long without drinking human blood and you will get sick.”

“Both then. Both is good.”

“I doubt you’ll say that once you’ve tasted either.”

-

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-

Pepper left the two vampires to their own devices around four a. m., with another warning look at Loki. Really, Loki could only get up to so much mischief with only an hour or so left before dawn.

Well, not really. He turned to Tony. “Do you have a place to sleep today?”

“Well, there’s always the mansion, although I’m guessing there’s probably a lot of panic there right now, and possibly some police cars.”

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-

“So. Here I lie,” Loki said into the darkness. He was in Pepper’s bed, and she was a warm weight on top of him as they both drifted through the tail end of a pleasant, post-orgasm haze.

“You lie in a lot of places,” Pepper said, a smile in her voice.

“Mm,” Loki agreed. “And languages. And centuries. But never so transparently as here with you.”

“Lying at my mercy?” Pepper mused warmly.

“I hope not.” Loki kept his tone light but he looked disquieted, or would have, without the darkness. “I have many talents, but inspiring mercy isn’t one of them.”

Pepper frowned at something in his voice and pushed herself upright.

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(And now we're getting prequel-y)

-

Loki thought that his life should probably be flashing before his eyes right now. Should, if a thousand years and change were not far too much life for his terrified mind to really know where to start.

As it was, he saw exactly what was in front of him. A red haired woman with a sharpened stick coming at him with enough force and precision of form that Loki could summon no plans to his mind for outmaneuvering his own end. Not even the ridiculous, far-fetched and subtly brilliant plans which would usually be flickering around the edge of his consciousness at moments like these.

No. He was dead. And about to be more so.

But the sharpened stick the slayer held at her side actually stayed at her side, and Loki only found himself on his back, the point of a very impractical shoe digging into a spot on his neck a little lateral to the hyoid bone.

There was a moment of quiet as Loki readjusted to his new position, and to the notion of continued existence. The slayer looked down at him expectantly.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Loki lied, “and the answer is no.” (Because sometimes a complete shot in the dark really was the best gamble.)

Navigate this story through the masterpost.

(Jumping forward in time a bit here.)

-

Loki was waiting outside Pepper’s house when she got home. “He learns well, but he doesn’t look on me as his sire.”

Pepper frowned. “Tony? What do you mean? I mean, it seemed pretty obvious the other day that he didn’t exactly want a ‘sire.’ But now you look concerned.”

“Whatever he calls it, the instincts are the same. A vampire as young as Tony always finds another to look to if he can. Otherwise, the recklessness of the young would have exposed the secrets of our world long ago. Those instincts give his sire a power over him. It’s an intense bond, and leaves the youth cruelly at the mercy of his sire’s will and good opinion. Tony doesn’t look to me as a sire.”

“I didn’t realize it was so…”

“Consuming? Yes. It’s amazing that he was even able to wish violence against Obadiah, let alone participate in it. The only explanation I can think of is that his loyalty had already somehow shifted to someone else.”

“Who?”

“Pepper. Don’t be naive. It doesn’t suit you.”

Welp, I read this, I grinned like an idiot for a while, and then I started typing, so there will at least be a one more short installment. (probably this evening?) I think this idea is only ever going to come out as bits and pieces for me, and if I write more installments they’ll probably jump around the timeline. The next bit jumps forward in a way that makes even me feel a bit indignant. (What was the author thinking?)

I definitely encourage anyone (especially you because OMG) to post some snippet or drawing to weave into the story line and tag me so I see it, or even just make your own thing of it and post it anywhere you like with a bit of attribution.