Frigus Ferreus - Made from Ice and Iron | Frostiron

Chapter 3

"So what am I?" Loki asked. "I'm neither good nor bad. I'm neither a Frost Giant nor am I Asgardian."

From the tone of his voice, Tony knew that he had struck a nerve and had to be very careful about what he said next.

"I don't know who or what you are Loki. I just have the feeling that you're many things, and certainly not nothing. You're the... god of what again? Mischief? That's something. Also, I know your brother, not very well but I know him. And I know how much he loves you. The whole time when we were searching for you and the tesseract, he tried to convince us all to not hate you. I don't know about the others, but for me, it certainly worked. The world isn't separated into black and white, nor does being a frost giant makes you all bad or being an Asgardian makes you all good. If it's true what you told me about your...about Odin, who is an Asgardian, he definitely isn't all good. Like my father, who wasn't the best man in the world. Even if he liked making people believe he was."

For a second, Tony was caught up in his own memories again, but because Loki hadn't interrupted him yet nor did he seem to want to stop him from going further, he added in a calm voice:

"And Thor...As I said: he talked about you a lot while we were chasing you, and he blamed every last of your actions on himself. I heard him say more than once that he wonders how everything would've turned out if he had been a better brother. And he believed in your reasonability to the very last second. He still does, to be honest."

Loki looked at the other man with a stonelike face. Tony cleared his throat, trying to shake off the strange feeling that had built up in his stomach.

"Kinda stupid, if you ask me. But that's love, I guess. I wouldn't know."

"He has always been a good brother and he still is," Loki said. "Our... relationship isn't the easiest, it never was. When we were younger, it was tainted by the fact that only one of us would become heir to the throne of Asgard while the other would have to submit to his will. It was a constant competition. Now, it's difficult because he's part of your little charity organisation and I am..."

"You're Loki" Tony replied when the demigod didn't know what else to say. "And that's good the way it is."

"Loki, brother to Thor," the dark-haired man said and smiled a smile that seemed neither happy nor sad to Tony.
"Thank you for telling me this about my brother. I thought I had let everyone down. And maybe I did, but knowing that he..."

"He loves you. And you can be glad that you have someone who loves you in your life" Tony said and fell silent.

"Do you have someone who loves you?" Loki wanted to know. Tony's mimic made it clear that he was uncomfortable, just as Loki was when he thought about the feeling of love.

Of course, Tony was never alone, ever. There were always people around him, but most of them saw Tony Stark, Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist. And if Tony was completely honest with himself: that was probably all they wanted to see.

They wanted a spot in the bright light that seemed to surround him wherever he went. They wanted his attention, they wanted money, 15 minutes of fame or simply sex. But sex didn't equal love.

And it only had gotten worse since had become Iron Man, but at least some people admired him for what he actually did for the world, not for who he seemed to be.

There really were only two or three people he would call his friends.

"Well... There's Pepper, she was my assistant and is now the vice CEO of my company. Then there's Happy, he is...was my bodyguard, but that stopped when I invented the suits so now he's Pepper's. And then there is Rhodey...He's a true friend, I've known him for what feels like forever, and we trust each other very much. But apart from that..."