Cold Hard Iron

Chapter 5

"And here is the Empire State Building," Stark said, pointing to the tall, spiked building that they were walking past. They were currently on a tour of New York that Stark thought was necessary to give him. He had said something about seeing the city from the view of the tourist and not of the insane villain incessant on taking over the Earth. Loki had told him he couldn't see the difference. They had been walking around the city all day, and Loki was getting very tired. And he had also decided that eating at a hot dog vendor was not one of his favorite things. He preferred nicer places to eat where one did not have to magic ketchup off of one's shirt.

"Why must we keep looking at pointless buildings?" Loki asked, weary of walking around the city and pretending to look like he had any interest in what Stark pointed at. He wasn't one to marvel at architecture or gape at beautiful statues, even though it had been a little interesting about the first five buildings.

Start looked at him a little helplessly. "Oh, come on now, you aren't just a little impressed?" Stark asked.

"Not really, we have plenty of tall buildings in Asgard," Loki said simply. "Not to mention our buildings are all made of gold and actually defy gravity. And this place is dreadfully crowded," he said just as a man wearing a suit and holding a briefcase shoved past him. Loki turned and opened his mouth to threaten the guy, but stopped at the look that Stark was giving him.

Stark sighed. "Fine, what would you rather do?"

Loki thought about this. He also realized that he was rather hungry, as that hot dog had been a while ago. "Do you know of any nice restaurants here that are up to par?" Loki asked him.

A smile split Stark's face. "You bet I do," he said, dragging Loki by the arm and hailing the nearest taxi.

By the end of the trip Loki decided that he hated taxi drivers of all kinds. They were rude, noisy, and they smelled bad. Not to mention the fact that they drove like maniacs. Stark and Loki stepped out of the cab and Stark paid the driver. Loki leaned down to the window.

"You know, sir, I could make you suffer for what you have put us through," Loki hissed at the driver, giving him his evil look which could scare everything but a New York cabbie, who glared at him, but before Loki could make any more threats or get into a fight with the driver, Stark had pulled him away as quickly as he could.

As soon as they got into the restaurant that's name Loki didn't catch and found a seat Stark explained to him the way things went in New York City.

"First, do not question a cabbie's driving. You could get killed, and I do not know how much magic would help in that case," Stark began as they situated themselves into the rather small booth. "Second, do not threaten random people in New York. You never know which ones will stalk you until they get a chance to kill you. I have lived in California, which is all the way across the country, and the people there are much different than they are here. These people are of a tougher breed and it is best just not to mess with them if you are trying to keep up the 'not an evil villain right now' façade."

Loki just nodded, not really knowing what to think of being told what to do. Usually when people told him what to do it didn't end well, but somehow he knew that Stark was trying to look after him. He didn't know why exactly, but this made him happy; happier than he had been in quite some time.

A young waitress with an accent that Loki took to be New Yorker one took their drink orders, smiling at Stark in the way that a lot of women smiled at Stark. He was a bit of a catch with the women, especially since the whole 'Iron Man' thing. Loki didn't know why, but this irked him. Why must she ruin their dinner with her batting eyelashes?

Stark had asked for an expensive bottle of wine for them to share, and the waitress bobbed off to fetch it. As Loki looked around the place he realized that it was quite nice. There were small tables clustered around all with white table cloths on them, which were all filled with people on dates or here with family. It was a small restaurant, but they had arranged the tables in a way that sat a lot of people and still made the place seem spacious. The chairs were of deep wood, and there was soft lighting on all of the tables. All of the waiters and waitresses were wearing nice black and white clothing.