Chapter Text
Tony sat in the office, swinging his feet. Lucky was laying at his side, awake but relaxing in the way that only dogs knew how. Tony wasn’t surprised that they were back here. His last set of foster parents hadn’t said that he was leaving because of Lucky but of their other two dogs kept harassing Lucky and though Lucky was always well behaved, they blamed every broken vase on him.
It wasn’t the first time Tony’s service dog had cost him a placement and he didn’t think it would be his last.
“Hey Tony, I just secured you a place at one of our new homes,” said Natasha, who Tony liked to think was his boss since she had taken over his case after the last one quit. “They aren’t new to fostering, they have fostered at their old home and have one son.”
“Cool,” said Tony dully.
It was hard to get excited about a new home that he knew he would be kicked out of sooner rather than later. It was difficult to get excited about a new home period, mainly because it was someone else’s home.
“They don’t have any pets, so Lucky shouldn’t have any problems,” continued Natasha.
“Lucky’s not the problem,” grumbled Tony, glaring at Natasha because Lucky was the only family he had left and he did not like people being mean to him. “Lucky is a service dog. He’s trained to be good. The other dogs are the problem.”
Natasha nodded. She understood his frustration but she couldn’t fix the people out there. Her job was hard – she just wanted to take every child home with her – but she couldn’t make the world a better place on her own. She did her best to make each child in her care’s world a bit better, though.
“We’ll just go see them now, they’re expecting us.”
Tony followed along silently. There was nothing to say, he wasn’t in any position to protest where he slept. He was too old for anyone to want to adopt him and his medical condition made him undesirable even if his age did not. At this point he was just counting down the years until he could make his own way.
They arrived at a nice house in a nice neighborhood. The house was a light blue with white shutters and a bright red door. The grass of the front yard was well kept, reminding Tony of swimming pool with no kids, smooth and calming. Tony wanted nothing more than to just relax on it and fall asleep on it’s cool blades.
“Hello,” said a tall man with a broad smile. “Come on in. I’m Clint. My husband Thor is at work right now but should be home in the next half hour.”
“Thank you,” said Natasha when Tony said nothing. “This is Tony and the dog is Lucky.”
“Nice to meet you both,” said Clint. “Come on in, make yourself at home.”
Natasha and Tony followed Clint into the living room where a boy a year or two older than Tony was sitting.
“Tony, this is Loki,” said Clint with a grin. “Loki, this is Tony and Lucky. Tony is the human, Lucky is the dog.”
“Hello,” said Loki with a nod.
“Hello,” said Tony, though he really wanted to ask how he got the name Loki instead of greeting him. Maybe if he stayed here long enough he would ask.
After an extremely uncomfortable fifteen minutes, Natasha had to leave. Clint went to the kitchen to make dinner, leaving Loki and Tony in the living room together.
“So, what’s with the dog?” asked Loki bluntly, though not unkindly.
“His name is Lucky and he’s my service dog,” said Tony calmly. “I have epilepsy and Lucky is trained to alert someone if I have a seizure and then to care for me after. He can often tell before I have one too, helping me get to a clear, safe place.”
“That’s awesome,” said Loki, finally setting aside his book and looking intently at both Tony and Lucky. “Not the fact that you have epilepsy but that you have a dog that is trained to do those things. How was he trained to sense them in you?”
“Originally he couldn’t tell but he spent enough time with me that he started alerting me on his own. Usually he licks my hand and barks a couple of times.”
“Cool,” said Loki.
“So, how did you come to live with your dads?” asked Tony. He knew that was generally a frowned upon question but Loki had asked him about his dog, so Tony figured it was fair game to ask about his dads.
“I was adopted by Thor’s parents as an infant,” said Loki. “Thor is almost twenty years older than me. His parents had him when they were teenagers. After they adopted me, they both died. His mom got cancer and after she died, his dad just sort of wasted away I think. I was too young to remember. Anyway, after they died Thor adopted me and has been raising me since then. He got married to Clint when I was five.”
“Wow,” said Tony, eyes wide at the story. “What are the odds of getting adopted twice?”
Loki shrugged a bit uncomfortably, acutely aware that Tony had never been adopted even once and was probably jealous. There was nothing Loki could do about it but that didn’t change the pang of guilt that he had.
“Do you like to read?” asked Loki, changing the subject.
“Yeah,” said Tony. “I go through phases of topics. Right now I’m on a big survival kick, so any book that has to do with survival or stories of survival are good.”
Loki nodded and they lapsed into an easy silence, Lucky curled up at Tony’s feet. Tony was looking around the room, taking in the pictures on the walls and the purple armchair, everything that screamed ‘a family lives here’.
“Greetings family!” came a booming voice from the front door. “I have returned from work!”
“Hey handsome,” yelled Clint from the kitchen. “Dinner’s almost ready. Will you set the table for me?”
“Anything for you, my love,” said Thor, stopping in the living room. “Hello Loki. Hello, you must be Tony. I am Thor.”
“Hello Thor,” said Tony cautiously. “This is my dog, Lucky. I don’t know if Natasha told you about him.”
“Rest assured that she did,” said Thor with an easy smile. “You are both most welcome here in our home, which is your home as long as you wish to stay.”
Before Tony could respond, Thor patted his shoulder and went to the kitchen to properly talk to his husband.
“He means it, you know,” said Loki softly when they were alone again.
“What?” said Tony, shaking his head and looking at the older boy, having been a bit stunned by Thor’s genuine good nature.
“Thor,” clarified Loki. “When he says you’re welcome here as long as you like, he means it.”
“Oh,” said Tony, not knowing what else to say to the almost complete stranger.
“We all mean it,” said Loki, before setting aside his book and going to help his parents set the table, leaving Tony with Lucky in the living room to think that information over.