Pretty When You Cry

Chapter 3

Loki didn't know how long he'd been there. There were no windows, so he really had no way of telling.

All he knew was that as time went on, he felt worse and worse.

First, it'd only been his limbs that hurt. This made sense, as he'd broken bones in both arms and both legs.

Then, he started to feel a pain in his stomach. It started as just an annoyance, but it began to get worse. Soon enough it felt like there was a gaping hole inside of him. His intestines burned and his stomach growled. He felt unable to focus on anything else besides this horrible feeling.

Eventually, Loki realized what it was: hunger. He'd never felt it before. As a young prince, he'd always had more than enough food available whenever he wanted it. But even if he hadn't had it, it wouldn't have mattered. Being a god, he could live for days, months, probably years without eating if he had to.

Hours ticked by. The burning feeling turned to nausea, but Loki found it difficult to vomit, as he was lying on his back. In the end, he'd spit out some type of burning, clear liquid. Stomach bile, he assumed. The dizzyness and weakness followed soon after.

Tony didn't come back until 36 hours later. By then, Loki was barely conscious. He was severely dehydrated, and covered with dried spit and pieces of vomit. He was too weak to even acknowledge Tony's presence when he entered.

"Loki," Tony said, slapping the trickster's cheek.

Loki cracked his eyes open. "Stark," he rasped out.

"You're not lookin' so good. JARVIS, give me his vitals?"

The AI analyzed Loki for a few seconds before responding.

"Mr. Laufeyson is severely dehydrated and malnourished. His heart rate has slowed. His organs will begin to shut down unless he is properly nourished."

Tony considered this.

"I could just let you starve to death," he said, "But... that wouldn't be fun. No, no. I want your punishment to last a while. I'll be right back."

Tony left the room, and Loki contemplated what torment the man had in mind. It made him nervous, but he resolved not to show it.

Tony returned a few moments later with two gallon sized water jugs. He put one down on the ground, but began to open the other.

"Since you're so thirsty, I figured I'd hydrate you."

With one hand, Tony gripped Loki's face, forcing his mouth open. Loki tried to protest, tried to keep his jaw clenched shut, but Tony was too strong. He held the bottle over Loki's mouth and began pouring water down his throat.

At first, it felt good. Loki was incredibly thirsty, and as the water traveled into his stomach, it made his hunger pains subside a bit.

The relief was momentary, though. As Tony forced more water into him, he began to choke. He simply was unable to breathe. He tried to cough, but couldn't. He began to panic.

Not wanting his captive to die, Tony stopped pouring the water for a minute, allowing Loki to catch his breath. When he was satisfied that Loki had gotten enough air, he began again.

Now the water pouring into Loki was beginning to hurt. He could feel it filling his stomach, making him extremely uncomfortable. If he had been able to vomit, he would've. There was nothing he could do, though.

Loki closed his eyes, and clenched his fists as Tony finished emptying the last of the gallon of water into him. When it was over, he took several breaths. He could feel how distended his stomach was. Tony confirmed this, stating that he looked "four months pregnant".

Luckily for Loki, Tony decided that he'd had enough fun for now. He left the other water bottle on the floor, and walked out, promising to return later.

As Tony sat at his desk, several stories above, talking to Pepper, Loki lay on the gurney, wishing more than ever that Odin had simply killed him outright.

He'd just had quite an embarrassing incident. All the water in his body had to go somewhere, and he'd ended up both peeing and shitting it out. He could feel it drenching his clothing, and he wanted to cry. In fact, he did cry. The AI that he knew was there didn't say anything, at least. He was grateful for that. He preferred to be alone in his misery. Still, just knowing that something could see what he'd done bothered him.

He just... hadn't been able to control it. He'd called for Stark, but his cries had been ignored. He hadn't been able to hold it any longer.

In less than two days, Tony Stark had managed to destroy any dignity that Loki might've had. The ex-god was terrified as to what would happen next.

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