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Falling for and eventually living with Loki had brought a lot of changes to Tony's life.
Some he'd expected - his sex life had never been better - others ... not so. Like the books he found everywhere - and he meant everywhere: history books in the silverware drawer, StarTrek on the towels in their shared bathroom, IT between his boxers, a romance novel he'd never heard of on the stack of weights in the gym, an ever changing vampire collection on various surfaces in his lab, the Hobbit once under a whole mountain of pillows - that he still couldn't believe Loki was capable of tracking down again. There was his newly developed attention to pretty knives when he had to travel, always on the lookout for one that his lover might like. The gifts Loki brought him back from his own travels - alien technology, strange ore and gems and gigabytes of pictures and videos - and, once, an explanation on how to work a certain alloy by a Varusian blacksmith that he'd become pen pals with since then - on his phone. There were pillows and blankets strewn over everything because Loki loved them and Tony found he really didn't mind, especially seeing how adorable Loki was, all cuddled up with hot tea and a thick book.
There were some kidnapping attempts from old enemies that suddenly found themselves confronted with a pissed-off Asgardian god. Kidnapping attempts from Loki's enemies who seriously underestimated Tony. New friends crashing at their place for a week to catch up with Loki and eat their way through Tony's kitchen or the library or just for a pajama party that had ended more than once with pictures on twitter showing Tony with beautifully painted nails or exotic make up dancing in a club.
Wandering in on Loki and Natasha knitting. Spending hours on end in the lab with Loki and Bruce and sometimes Jane, trying to work out magic with technology or just messing around with both. Rhodey and Loki bonding over their shared love for ScienceFiction novels and their exasperation that Tony preferred movies. Loki and Clint teaming up to pull pranks on ... pretty much everyone else (and yeah, Tony was completely okay with that even if it meant he had once mindlessly poured cereals in his bowl only to find it mixed with plastic spiders, some of which moved their legs in a very lifelike fashion, because it meant that Clint was grown-up enough to not hold a grudge against someone who had been as much a victim of mind control as he himself).
Yet for all the ways his life had gotten better with Loki in it the one thing Tony loved the most were his mornings now.
When he grew up breakfast had been a lonely affair - even if his father had been home he had often eaten on his way to his lab and his mother missed breakfast entirely most of the time. Jarvis had been the one trying to keep him company but he hadn't always had the time, either.
And that hadn't changed when he'd started boarding school, what with him being younger than everyone else in his supposed peer group. He'd quickly developed the habit of staying up late and missing breakfast; a habit MIT and Rhodey hadn't been able to break him of.
And then he'd had to take over Stark Industries and without any outside structure time had lost its meaning to him all together.
Not anymore.
Contrary to what he'd thought Loki was an early riser even after the longest night and so nowadays Tony often woke to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and pancakes or bread rolls or scrambled eggs or rice or whatever else Loki had just felt in the mood for.
And maybe it made him pathetic but waking up well-rested - because if he wanted to be awake for Loki's morning routine than he had to keep half-way reasonable hours - to the unmissable reminder that he wasn't alone was ... amazing. Amazing enough that he could feel a dopey smile on his lips more often than not and sometimes just lay there for a while, listening to Jarvis listing his appointments for the day accompanied by the faint sounds of something sizzling in a pan, the clattering of china, sometimes low singing when Loki was in a particular good mood or soft voices if someone - Bruce or Thor most often; though in the latter case it wasn't so much low voices as low thundering - had stayed over for the night.
There wasn't someone here today and Tony listened to the sounds coming through the door thoughtfully left open, savoring the sound of Loki singing along to Be our Guest like a special treat.
It made it easy to roll out of bed and wander over to the bathroom - their bathroom - for his morning ablutions.
There was a second towel on the drying rack, still damp from the shower Loki used to start his morning with - unlike Tony who preferred to shower in the evenings, sometimes together with Loki though they didn't get that much cleaning done, then ... - and a second toothbrush in its own clear green glass. Grinning Tony pushed the sparkly orange toothpaste away so he could get to his own - he'd never understand what Loki liked about the kids toothpaste but he couldn't deny that he liked the taste of sweet fruit in a goodnight kiss.
There were more traces of Loki's presence all over the bathroom - a stray hair sticking to the sink, a horn-handle brush next to his own comb in the drawer, a pair of golden ear loops carefully placed on the shelf, The Trouble With Tribbles in the cupboard.
All of them treasured.
Sometimes Tony wondered whether Loki wasn't leaving these traces deliberately. He'd been so unsure of whether Loki really wanted to stay with him - him, a human with a mayfly's lifespan compared to Loki, an once enemy, always craving for attention and too hard to handle even for Pepper - in the beginning of their ... thing that he'd asked Jarvis about Loki's whereabouts several times a day, had found his hands petting forgotten cups and hoarding the very few hairs Loki forgot to remove.
Now ... now there were traces of Loki everywhere and Tony really wasn't going to ask whether it was because Loki had relaxed more into their relationship or picked up on Tony's insecurities.
Maybe both.
When he returned to the bedroom the song had changed to A Whole New World, making Tony realize that apparently today was a Disney day. Not that he minded; somewhere along the way Loki had persuaded Jarvis into joining him and so he listened to their duet while he put on clothes, idly wondering what people would think of an AI that enjoyed singing.
When he finally made his way down the hallway it was to find Loki just slipping into his chair at the breakfast nook, the last beats of the song still in the air and his mug of tea hugged as if it was truly Aladdin coming in on a flying carpet to love him.
There was a newspaper open in front of him - the Daily Bugle probably, since he'd subscribed to it since Peter started selling Spiderman photos to them; Tony had tried to buy the rag several times to fire the asshole of an editor who discredited his kid on a regular basis but had found himself opposed by both of them - and Pride and Prejudice half-hidden under it, yet when Tony stepped in he ignored both entirely to turn to him.
There was a soft smile on his lips that barely anyone but Tony ever got to see, the one that said I love you and You are my most important person and that transformed him entirely, made him look much younger and gentle, his eyes sparkling with love instead of mischief for once.
One would have to be a colder man than Tony ever wanted to be to not feel his heart melting at that. His morning, already tinged gold just from knowing Loki was there, turned even better and he couldn't - didn't want to - keep from returning the smile.
Walking over he braced himself on the back rest of Loki's chair, then leaned down to kiss him.
And it was soft and gentle, too; not red-passion, not claiming, not the green-tinged possessiveness of Loki finding him talking with one of his former One-Night-Stands at a gala. No, this was familiar, warm, like slipping into one of his beloved bandshirts or huddling under a blanket in front of a fire, with sparks of orange-flavor toothpaste and the spicy taste of Loki's favorite tea blend, and he wouldn't want to have it any other way.
When he pulled back it was to find the smile on Loki's face even brighter, a tongue darting out to chase his taste on Loki's lips.
"Morning, snowflake."
Loki pushed a cup of coffee over, already fixed to Tony's preference; an I love you louder than words could convey. "Good morning, my dozy devil."
And what was Tony to do than to do than to lean in again and thank his beloved with another kiss?
And if they ended up having to scratch dried eggs from a cold pan because neither of them wanted to stop - prompting Jarvis to play the Beauty and Beast theme song which had them giggling under the table for a good while - well.
It just made the morning even sweeter to Tony.