The Bargain

Chapter 36: Thirty-sixth Installment: Interlude

Thirty-Sixth Installment: Interlude: Loki's Promise

For the first twenty minutes or so, Tony kept thinking he was dreaming. Normally after a round of sex, he needed to rest for a while before he could go again. Maybe because of the Tesseract, his stamina seemed to have tripled. He'd gotten fully aroused after orgasm in less than five minutes, and right now he had a very compliant Norse god of mischief lying beneath him. It all felt too good to be anything but a dream.

Loki had kept his word. In the last twenty minutes he hadn't really stopped kissing his partner for more than a few seconds, and Loki hadn't uttered so much as a look of complaint. In fact, the god was so beautifully responsive Tony had about made up his mind. Yep. I think I'm in love.

They were aligned from head to foot. Loki's legs were tangled around Tony's, and he currently had three fingers working inside the god. Is it all right if I think of him as my lover? Loki had accepted everything Tony wanted, and the man had only one complaint. Loki was still being so quiet, but he didn't want to push his luck by demanding he let out his voice more. The god just let out these faint, breathy little gasps now and then, and when Tony massaged his prostate just so it made Loki pant. So far, he'd only gotten one faint moan, one he'd happily swallowed during their last kiss.

Watching Loki seemed to be his new favorite activity. The god was laying with his black hair fanned out on the pillow, hands resting beside his head. His expression was one of complete relaxation, which was gratifying. That frightening edge of madness was gone, his verdant eyes bright once more. Tony wasn't shy about flattering himself - his idea deserved credit. I deserve credit. Would he have gone to Thor for help like this? Nope. Just me.

So what if Loki hadn't actually come to him for help? Tony still deserved credit.

Loki abruptly gave him the barest hint of a smile. It had the usual smirk mixed in. "You're being awfully attentive to my pleasure, Stark. What about your needs?"

I really, really love his voice. "I'll get to them," he murmured, leaning down to fuse their mouths together once more.

It was a languid, slow, borderline lazy kiss. His tongue roamed around inside Loki's mouth, curling around Loki's, writhing around in a kind of erotic, wet tango. Loki responded to everything, eyes closed in apparent bliss. One of his hands came up to tangle in Tony's hair, neither tugging nor directing, just stroking through the dark strands. And Tony absolutely loved it. He loved Loki touching him, since their trysts up to now had been altogether lacking in that regard.

He'd let his own free hand map every inch of Loki's skin it could reach, and he'd learned a lot about what Loki did and didn't like. He didn't like it when Tony did anything more than lightly brush over his nipples. He seemed to enjoy Tony stroking his waist and inner thighs, but he didn't seem to particularly enjoy it when Tony paid any attention to his arousal. He hadn't protested even a little, though, when Tony started fingering him.

And even though Loki was quiet, his face did have little tells of enjoyment. It was all in his eyes and mouth, a slight tightening of disapproval when he didn't like something, or a slight curving up at the corners of his lips when he did . . . the tiniest hint of a warning in green eyes or total contentment. And even though Loki was being very complacent, Tony didn't want to push his luck. Complacent wasn't the same as allowing anything in the sex book.

The kiss grew a little messy, and Tony felt a bead of saliva trail down Loki's cheek. He caught it with his thumb, smearing it before Loki let out something like a tiny growl and bit Tony's tongue. Not hard, but a clear warning. Tony chuckled and decided he'd had enough foreplay for the moment. Finally withdrawing his fingers, he was pleased to feel the barest hint of a shiver crawl over Loki's skin. He sat up.