My War Is Over (Original Unfinished Version)

Chapter Twelve

The night of Loki's first major panic attack since his arrival at Tony Stark's tower is the night that "Stark" changes to "Tony".

Once Loki's eyes drift shut and his breathing evens into sleep Tony very gently lifts him back onto the medical bed and wraps his skeletal shoulders in the white blankets. He notices that Bruce and Thor are no longer present in the room, so he instructs JARVIS to lock the door and alert him if anyone tries to enter. Tony then brews a coffee, taking one of the flipped-over chairs from the floor and righting it beside Loki's bed, plopping himself into it and pulling out his Starkpad.

Jarvis had dimmed the lights and the time was very late, but the combination of caffeine, adrenaline, and the apparent need to brush a hand over Loki's cheek or comb his hair away from his face every time his forehead so much as creased slightly in discomfort keeps Tony wide-awake all night.

It's about 7:15 am when JARVIS alerts Tony that the room he's been preparing for Loki has been finished. He'd perhaps gone a little overboard, but it's too late to go back now and he was sure Loki was getting tired of spending his days in a hospital bed.

Maybe. If Tony doesn't know better he'd say that while Loki's physical health was slowly improving his mental health was anything but. He's been curled up on his side unmoving for the past week and a half, save for when Bruce changes his bandages and the occasional acknowledgment throughout Tony's many ramblings with him. Bruce had eventually inserted an IV line into Loki's hand with the specially designed needle Tony had made that could puncture Asgardian skin just in case the Jotunn had seemingly indestructible skin as well since Loki had refused to eat and hardly drank. Tony honestly doesn't think he'd noticed. 

It's 8:04 am when JARVIS announces that Bruce was making his way to the infirmary, and 8:07 am when he actually arrives at the door. Tony allows him in and JARVIS locks the door behind him.

"Hey," Bruce greets, his eyes flickering down to where Tony's hand was resting over Loki's own before quickly looking away. He doesn't comment and Tony was grateful for that as he isn't sure what he might have said to explain himself.

"Brucie," Tony exclaimed softly as a way of greeting, letting go of Loki's hand with a pang of reluctance in his heart that he tried his best to ignore. Damn it, he's getting soft.

Bruce moves to fiddle with the machines around Loki's bed but Tony swats him away with his hands. 

"Leave him alone a little while longer, will ya? He's had a rough night."

"Yeah, Thor's pretty upset," Bruce adds, and Tony feels a spark of rage in his belly at those words.

"Well, he should have known better than to just fucking waltz up and grab his shoulder!"

"Tony, that's not-"

"Don't fucking try to defend him, Bruce, you know just as well as me that Loki has issues; like serious issues and Thor should be able to understand that goddamn it! I mean, even I would have panicked for a second if someone just waltzed up and grabbed my shoulder. He was sleeping!" Tony growls. Bruce opens his mouth to respond, his eyes fixated on something behind Tony when suddenly there's a soft moan behind him and a weak voice calls out, "Tony?"

Tony whips around, his heart stuttering at the sound of his real name instead of the usual "Stark". Loki's eyes are still droopy and red, but upon noticing Bruce standing in the corner he visibly tenses, his face melting into an eerily blank poker mask.

"Banner." He acknowledges his voice much more level than before, all traces of vulnerability carefully hidden away. Tony isn't sure if he should feel special that Loki seems to trust him a bit now or hate the fact that he feels like he can't trust anyone else.

"Your room is finally ready. Or more really like your floor. Like an apartment. A really big one. With nice stuff. Really nice stuff. State of the art. You know. Probably overboard but I figured you're used to having your own quarters anyways." Tony rambles on when the silence grows awkward. Loki only blinks.

"If you want to move in there today I think that could be possible. You're still going to have to take it easy though." Bruce helpfully supplies.

"You..." Loki seems to be almost at a loss for words, "you're letting me stay?"

"Well yeah, duh," Tony shrugs

"Why?" Loki's voice is so full of shock it makes Tony squirm a little.

"Ya know, 'cause we like you, Princess,"

Loki's nose scrunches a little at the nickname, but he appears to still be rather speechless while Bruce informs him that he will need to run tests and other things Tony doesn't really pay attention to before Loki actually moves into the room.

He'll deny it, but Tony really does love the way Loki's eyes seemed to sparkle just a little bit.