The Bargain

Chapter 20: Twentieth Installment

A/N: Skip this chapter if you don't like pointless citrus.

Twentieth Installment: Another Interlude

The sky of his dreamscape was darker than usual as Loki stalked across the endless expanse.

He knew his mother was here somewhere, waiting for him. Just this once, he didn't seek her out. She would know something was wrong, and she would want him to talk. If he had to go through that all again, he would probably finally and completely break down. He couldn't bear the thought of that, not even with her.

So he stalked across the dreamscape and considered creating a conflict just to distract himself. Perhaps I should have Thor appear so I can kill him. The savage thought fluttered across his mind and was just as quickly dismissed. No, the aggression was misplaced. If he was brutally honest, the anger festering inside him wasn't directed at Thor.

Not entirely, anyway.

He didn't know how long he'd been wandering when he felt a distant pressure. He blinked, looking up. That felt like a presence skimming over the surface of his dreamscape. A person asleep not consciously trying to reach him, but still unconsciously drawn to him. Curious and definitely wanting a distraction, he drifted toward the disturbance and stepped out of his dreamscape and into the dream.

The horizon was far across a lazy ocean, the beach was soft white sand. To lessen the cliché the sun was not setting, and Loki could see a commotion as a handful of men waving ridiculously huge guns chased a figure toward the water. A handful of red crabs scuttled out of the way and made nonsensical shrieking noises. As the figure neared Loki and actually saw him, the people giving chase suddenly vanished.

Loki raised an eyebrow, not entirely shocked. "Stark. You must be fixated on me very strongly to have found my dreamscape. Even unconsciously."

Stark didn't look surprised. But then, this was his dream. "Are you here to be an ass? Because if so, I won't thank you for getting them off my tail." He waved vaguely behind him.

Amused, Loki decided to play along. It was distracting. "Of course. I have nothing better to do with my time than make sure random strangers with guns don't kill you. Where is your suit, Iron Man?" Mocking and a bit scornful.

"Hey, I was just out for a stroll when those hooligans ambushed me," Stark said. "Thought they wanted an autograph."

Loki snorted a laugh. "Seems you are at the center of your own orbit."

"It happens, jackass," Tony snapped. "I'm rich, I'm sexy, I give money to charities, and I'm a superhero. Doesn't get much better than that."

"You're not a god," Loki quipped, in a better mood just being in Stark's dream.

"Yeah, neither are you," Tony said, suddenly reaching out and grabbing Loki's wrist. "You're a guy with magic powers who will live a long time, but still can die. That means you're not a god either, princess."

Loki blinked. To his shock, he was actually shorter than Stark. Then he regained his mental balance. This was a dream, after all. More specifically, this was Stark's dream, a man who didn't like not having the upper hand. In any way.

"Compared to you, I may as well be," he couldn't help goading.

"We'll see about that," Stark growled.

Then they were kissing. Well, it wasn't so much a kiss as Stark shoving his tongue down Loki's throat and doing his level best to devour the Aesir. Loki resisted only for a few seconds before he gave into it and started kissing Stark back.