The Jotun, the Billionaire, and the Other

Just A Beautiful Dream

After dinner had been made and cleaned up, and the baby put to sleep, the father's made their way to their bedroom.

Tony and Loki both slipped into their pajamas and cuddled up together in bed, Loki held onto Tony loosely, breathing him in.

"Hey, Loki?" Tony asked softly, turning onto his other side to face Loki, though his nose was near his neck.

"Yes, Anthony?" Loki whispered back, opening his eyes and looking at Tony, who also had his eyes open looking at Loki.

"I cannot wait to see what kind of person Gabriel is going to be."

"Nor can I, but I want him to stay small for a while. He'll grow up far too fast, we'll be sitting at his school one day because he got in trouble for some silly reason, then he'll be in-what are the' 'grades,' here?"

"Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, 1st through 5th grade, which is Elementary school, 6th through 8th grade, called Middle School, 9th through 12th grade which is High School."

"What happens after 12th?"

"He graduates and goes to College."

"Well, one day we'll be sitting at his graduation, we'll watch him go through heart ache and heart break. He'll grow up good, and grow up great."

"Yeah...." Tony shut his eyes again, and got comfortable, pressing himself closer to Loki. Loki shut his eyes too, and wriggled a little until he was comfy. They both fell asleep quickly.

Gabriel was sitting on the floor, he was about 8 now. On the floor next to him was a smaller child, very scrawny with blonde hair and large blue eyes. He had two prosthetic legs and asthma on top of that, but he was able to play video games with Gabriel and could keep up to him easily. The little boy was Steve's son, only 5 years old with a bright future.

"How's he doing?" Loki asked Steve, standing next to him at the kitchen counter.

"He's doing fine, James is just always worried about keeping up with everything. He cries sometimes because he can't run like the others, and because he dreams to be like me even though he knows in his heart he can't." Steve said this, tears swelling in his set of blue eyes. Loki eyed the two boys, James and Gabriel had been mostly inseparable, as they grew up together, Steve had eventually settled to moving into one of the apartments downstairs when his wife passed in child-birth. He'd been an emotional wreck and Loki helped him take care of himself and the baby.

"Hey Dad!" Called Gabriel as the elevator swung open and Tony appeared holding a case.

"Hey bud, hey J! How are you today?"

"I'm OK." Came James' soft voice.

"That's great bud," Tony said as he made his way to the kitchen. He was covered in grease and oil, but he had a triumphant look, "Steve, you're going to love these," he unsnapped the case, "James will especially." He added hastily.

Tony opened the case and pulled out a leg prosthetic. On the ankle, Tony had put spinning rims.

"Oh my- Tony you didn't-" Steve cried, and both of the boys looked over at them.

"I most certainly did! I'm his Uncle Tony, and let's be honest, those other ones look painful."

"Still Tony! James, Uncle Tony and Loki have something to show you!" Gabriel hopped up then helped James get up, he walked next to him slowly as James hobbled over.

"Yes, sir?" Steve bent down and lifted James up and sat him down on the counter, casting Loki and Tony a sheepish grin then letting them take over.

"Look at what your Uncles made for you."

"To be fair, the idea was Loki's, I built them." Steve looked stunned. Loki's idea? Really?

"You did?" James asked looking at them. They were blue, red and the spinning rims were white: Steve's colors. James looked confused for a moment, then he understood. He looked up at his Uncles, and he began to cry.

"Papa they're like your suit!" Sobbed the blue eyed boy, both Steve and James had tears in their eyes, Loki sniffed, "Thank you Uncle Tony, thank you Uncle Loki!" He reached out his little arms and gave them each a hug, "Can we see if they fit?"

"These things are going to mold to your legs, they hopefully won't hurt as much as these older ones have. If they hurt you, I'll put some memory foam in there to pad them."

"Thank you, Uncle Tony." James wiped his eyes on his tiny sleeve, and then looked at his father and his Uncles, "Can I try them?" He asked, his was the most polite child, Gabriel nudged his way over to Loki, letting his father wrap his arms around him.

Tony showed Steve and James how to put the prosthetics on, also how to remove them, then Steve lowered him from the counter-top. James stood awkwardly for a second, then Steve knelt down next to him and gave him a hand, then the blue eyed boy began to walk. Compared to how he moved on the other prosthetics, these obviously felt better on him. He was walking smoother, and showed signs of wanting to run. Loki felt his heart swell, Steve gave a cry of pure pride and joy, and Tony just smiled.

"Those spinning rims look freaking," Loki had taught Tony to put a filter on his mouth, "amazing, J."

"How do they feel, James?" Loki asked, and James looked up his very tall Uncle. He had on the largest smile, and he looked like he was about to start crying again.

"Perfect. Thank you Uncle Tony, Thank you Uncle Loki." James walked over to each of them and gave them as large a hug as his he could manage. Gabriel walked up to him, he was beginning to look like a taller and skinnier Tony, and acted very much the same.

"Hey, I want a hug too." The two boys gave each other the biggest bear-hug they could muster. Then Loki finally let tears fall from his eyes.

When Loki woke up, Tony was rubbing his arm gently. "Lokes, Lokes what's the matter?" The Jotun had been crying.

"Nothing, just a beautiful dream. Why are you awake?"

"Gabriel was crying, I went and checked on him. Go back to sleep."

"Go back to sleep yourself!" Loki responded as Tony clambered in on Loki's side of the bed, where Loki then put his arm around him. The big and the little spoon. Loki kissed Tony's neck once, then settled. Both of them quickly fell to sleep again, though one hour later, Tony rolled out of bed again do to crying.

When he walked into the Nursery, he picked up Gabriel.

"JARVIS, do a scan on Gabriel for me, he seems really warm right now." Tony wasn't wrong, Gabriel was starting to warm up, then get ice cold, and this cycle repeated.

"The young Gabriel has a sickness I've never seen, for you never caught it and it doesn't read with any medical incident, or at least it doesn't seem human."

"Oh dear god, Loki!" Tony screamed and he heard foot falls rushing to join them.

"Yes, what is it, what happened?" Loki asked with wide eyes.

"Gabriel has some sort of sickness, turn the light on really quick." Loki quickly threw his hand against the wall and found the lights, they quickly illuminated the room, giving them a chance to look at the baby. His skin was caught in limbo between blue and pale, one half of him, or an arm could be pale then blue would crash over it.