A life together

Not Alone

- 2009 -

"If I have to sign one more piece of paper, my hand will literally fall off"

Dum-E approached them with a glass full of one of his famous smoothies and Loki couldn't resist patting his arm fondly.

It was not the first time, nor would it be the last, that he accepted one of the suspicious glasses.

"JARVIS? Is it safe to drink?" Tony asked cautiously.

"I would not recommend it, Sir. I could detect oil being part of the ingredients"

"Perfect, so we should probably eat something and find any other liquid that is actually fit for human consumption. I'm starving."

"I am not in fact human, I can drink what Dum-E made. I have done it before."

"Yeah, and how did that work out for ya?", Loki doesn't respond, "Exactly. I was thinking, we should order something. Neither of us can cook without setting something on fire. How about McDonalds?"

"What is that?"

"Fast food. You're gonna love it. You haven't lived until you tried one of their cheeseburgers, trust me."

"For your information, I am over a thousand years old. I think I have lived long enough," he said with a smirk.

Tony tilts his head and looks at him with a frown, "You know, I never thought about it", he then looked at him grinning. "You're an old man. Like a very, very old man. What am I even doing feeding you cheeseburgers, I should be giving you salads and soups. Just for the sake of your health. We don't want you kicking the bucket in the near future, do we? "

"You are aware that you are not half as funny as you think Anthony"

"C'mon, lighten up Lokes"

The god of mischief blushed upon hearing the nickname, this being the first time anyone had ever called him anything remotely affectionate.

"Lokes?"

"You like it? It doesn't matter if you don't, I'm gonna call you that anyway"

They both smiled and stared at each other until Tony broke the moment.

"For what it's worth, you are definitely, without a doubt, my favorite old man"

Loki laughed and if he threw a pen at him, no one can blame him.

The third Harry Potter movie had just finished when Tony decided to ask what had been bothering him for a while.

"Are you ever gonna tell me why you spend so much time with us lame mortals instead of on your fancy planet?" Seeing that Loki looked down, he tried to downplay the matter. "It doesn't matter if you don't tell me, it's fine. I was just curious. You're not obliged to say anything."

The dark-haired man began to fiddle with a thread from the blanket that covered him before answering.

"Asgard is a beautiful place to look at. The people are lovely. Anyone who has visited will say the same thing. The problem begins when you are different from everyone who lives there."

"What do you mean?", He asked, wanting to know, even if he dreaded the answer.

"For example, when we were children, all the boys my age spent their free time training to be warriors. They loved it. I, on the other hand, enjoyed going to the library and reading any book I found. They played using brute force while I played using my wits. Sure, every once in a while I had a wonderful time playing with Thor, imagining that we hunted dragons and saved our people from the frost giants, but I was always pushed aside for being different. "

"What about your magic? That should've given you some brownie points, right? Everyone loves magic."

Loki looked at him with such a sad smile that he felt his heart break a little.

Without realizing it, he was holding one of the Asgardian's hands and rubbing soft circles with his thumb.

"That is what you would think. But on the contrary. In Asgard, seiðr is considered a female skill. So, you can imagine, me being male, it didn't help my social circle much."

Tony was furious. He needed to hit something. No. He needed to take a trip to godly land and kick some ass. Which, no point in that. They would probably tear him apart. But at least he wanted to give them a piece of his mind.

"Loki, look at me and listen carefully. You are one of the most wonderful people I've ever met. You are so damn special. Everything about you is. Not just your seiðr. You're amazing, and if no one in Asgard realizes it, then they are all fools ", he wiped a tear that fell from those beautiful green eyes and wrapped him in a big bear hug.

"You're not alone anymore, Lokes. You have Pepper, Rhodey, Happy and me. They may not understand you, God knows they don't understand me. But they'll try. And I do understand you, and I will always be there for you. We have your back. You're our friend, and now you're also part of our family. From now on, you're stuck with us "

"You are not alone either Anthony. I am here for you"

It was as if a dam had broken. Both men sobbed into each other's arms, happy to have found someone who understood them and releasing the sadness they had carried for years.

They were not alone anymore.

For the first time in forever, they had someone to relate to. No judgment whatsoever. No masks. No fake smiles.

Someone to just... be.

For the first time in forever, they felt like their hearts were safe.