In Plain Sight (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 14

"Ok now, get closer." Tony instructed, eyes fixated on the small device cradled in his hands.

Loki gripped the scepter, rolling his eyes. "I'm getting really tired of dancing back and forth, Stark."

"Well, I'm getting pretty tired myself, this is certainly not the kind of dance I'm used to."

"Yes, I can imagine." Loki smirked. "Now..." And he took a couple steps forward, stopping dead on his tracks when the device beeped loudly.

They stared at each other, and slowly, Loki dropped the scepter on the couch, and took another step. The device stayed silent, even when he cracked a few sparks between his fingers.

Slower still, like this was a ritual any hurried movement could destroy; he reached behind him and held the scepter again, bringing it close to his chest.

The device beeped again.

The silence stretched more and more, both of them looking at Tony's cradling hands. Finally, the billionaire let a smile spread across his features.

"I think now's when you break down crying and thank me profusely." He said. Loki huffed, an amused spark in his eyes, and fell back against the couch.

For nearly three weeks now, Stark had appeared in his apartment whenever he had the chance, with the scepter, and spent the following four or five hours tinkering with his tools and machines, while Loki stayed around, reading, playing with his phone, and answering the magic-related questions he sometimes threw his way.

Long into the evening, and usually after a hungry cry from his own stomach, Loki would get up and either put something together, or -after having received a basic lesson on telephonic etiquette- call for take-out.

He'd serve to plates, place one on the coffee table next to Stark's working station, and go back to his spot. They would eat mostly in silence, until Stark's phone roared, demanding attention. From the answers he gave, Loki had assumed the calls came from either his soldier or his red-headed maid, and Stark left soon after, taking the scepter with him. Loki had never asked to guard it, knowing it was futile.

The progress had been slow and frustrating. At first, the device beeped every time Loki got close, even without the scepter, and both Stark and Thor had taken to follow him around with the hysterically beeping machine, just to annoy him.

Some days later, the wire and metal contraption had fallen silent, and no matter how many minor and major spells Loki casted around it, or how close to the scepter it was, the silence had lasted until that very day.

"I could very well do that, for this means I won't have to keep feeding you."

"Said the guy who ate two chicken buckets on his own." Tony grinned, stretching soundly on the sofa.

"... It had an interesting taste." Loki excused himself. He had indeed found that he had a soft spot for Midgardian food, but Stark didn't need to know that any more than he already did.

"Sure it did." And here, Tony checked his phone's screen. He was an hour early for Steve's paranoid call. Without a word, he started picking his tools, placing them back in their cases. Swirling slowly, like a lazily removed coffee, an idea had started shaping in his mind, as he gathered each piece. "I'll bring it back finished tomorrow." He announced, cracking his back one final time, and casting a look around to locate his somewhat reluctant host.

He found Loki standing in the kitchen, holding a take-out menu that he threw back in its drawer, as soon as he caught him looking.

"Fine." The god answered, after a little pause.