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It didn't make any sense. Tony was pretty sure it actually made negative sense, which was a feat only Loki could achieve. Granted, his actions didn't usually make a lot of sense to any sane person, he was a supervillain after all, but this was extreme. This was weird and it was only serving to make everything else in Tony's life weird, too.
'This' was the fact that Loki had apparently decided that keeping Tony alive was the god's own personal business. Ever since he'd pulled prison break from Asgard and turned back up on Earth, he'd seemed to have made it his job to make sure nobody managed to off the billionaire. It'd started off with a few run-ins here or there where Loki would be stirring up trouble and Tony was the only one he didn't completely humiliate with magic. Then there were the villain fights where Loki showed up in the middle for a turf war that just so happened to keep them all from being blown to bits. Nobody really even figured out what was going on until Tony had been captured by some tribe in Africa who thought he was a God. They wanted to release him from imprisonment in a human body by burning him alive and Loki had got there just in time render the flames useless and liberate his drugged-to-Hell self. Of course, the fact still stood that no one could figure out why he'd taken up this sudden interest in Tony's well-being.
SHIELD had, of course, gone through a phase of thinking Tony might have gone evil and was secretly working with Loki but, after nearly three weeks of imprisonment and interrogation, that was put to rest. Tony felt a bit better about the whole thing when Steve cussed Fury out to his face and told him not to even think about touching a member of the Avengers ever again. He didn't think he'd ever seen the Captain so mad. Natasha and Barton both thought Loki was going to try and use him, but that theory seemed less and less likely the more time passed. It never stopped Natasha from trying to talk Tony into using it against the god, though.
Bruce didn't like talking about it. He would shut down any conversation that started around him with the simple statement that it was far too stressful to think about and delving into Loki's psychology made him just a little too antsy for comfort. Dear old Cap didn't seem able to make heads or tails of the whole thing and Pepper didn't really care about the why as long as Tony didn't get hurt. Even after their breakup she was eternally concerned for his safety. Thor was just taking it as a sign that his brother was finally coming around to the side of good while all the newer members of the Avengers didn't really know enough about the god to say one way or the other.
Tony couldn't stand it, couldn't stand the not knowing. He was man who was known for having or at least getting answers. He solved puzzles and came up with solutions that were far beyond anyone else. He hated not knowing things. Mysteries were only there to be figured out and he was nowhere closer to solving this one than he had been to getting out of that African village on his own. It pissed him off. So, of course, he did the stupidest, most reckless thing he could think off. He invited Loki to come by his penthouse for a drink.
"You've done renovations."
"Yeah, well, between you and all the other villains running amuck there isn't actually much of the original building left."
Loki hummed in acknowledgement, still looking around the penthouse with acute interest. Tony eyed him warily, not understanding what could possibly be so interesting about the wall art that Pepper had picked out. Yet another thing to chalk up to the insanity that was Loki, he supposed.
"Alright, Reindeer Games. We need to talk."
Loki's brows pulled together in a look of mild confusion. He turned away for the painting to stare at Tony. The genius just frowned and continued pouring himself a drink.
"Talk? Well, I must admit that was not what I was expecting when I came here."
On a whim, Tony poured a second glass. He did owe Loki a drink after all.
"What were you expecting?"
The god ambled over, accepting the glass that was slid toward him but not taking a sip of it.
"A trap."
"And you still came?"
Tony was a bit stunned by the nonchalance he exhibited.
"You asked me to."
The genius threw back his glass of alcohol, the implications of that statement just a bit more that he could handle while sober. He dutifully ignored Loki's watchful gaze as he poured himself another glass.
"Yeah, see? That's part of what we need to talk about."
Loki arched one delicate eyebrow.
"Talk away, then. I assume you have questions."
Tony stared down at the glass before downing his second drink, too. He really should have started drinking earlier if he was planning on having this conversation.
"Yeah. Yeah, I do. This thing you keep doing. With the following me around and the saving me. I don't get it."
Loki's eyes were glittering with amusement, probably because of Tony's complete lack of his usual suave self. Damn it. He definitely should have started drinking earlier.
"And what, pray tell, is it that you don't understand, exactly?"
"Any of it!" Tony burst out. "It doesn't make any sense! I can't understand why you would bother with it."
Loki hummed as though it thought.
"Perhaps it is an exceedingly convoluted plot on my part to lure you into a false sense of security before I strike."
Tony just scowled at him disapprovingly.
"Don't play dumb. It doesn't suit you."
Loki just chuckled and finally took a sip of his drink.
"How can you be so sure that is not the case?"
Tony pinned him with a steely gaze.
"Because six months ago you threw yourself between me and some beast straight out of the Necronomicon and it nearly ripped you in half. There were a few weeks there when we weren't sure we'd ever see you again."
A small smile teased its way across the god's face.
"Yes, well, I do have a bit of a reputation for escaping the clutches of death."
There was silence between them for a long moment. Tony was beginning to think he'd been a fool for so much as believing he could get a straight answer out of the God of Lies. He could feel his shoulder's slumping a bit.
"I just…I hate that I can't figure this out, because it doesn't make sense that you're just fucking with me but I have no idea what else it could be."
Green eyes widened just a fraction before Loki set his glass aside on the countertop of the bar. He looked to be in deep thought for a long moment.
"I was raised as a prince, as I'm sure you know, and Asgard isn't exactly a place of moderation." He lifted his gaze away from the glass to catch Tony's eye. "I suppose I grew up feeling a sense of entitlement, you could say."
Tony snorted.
"Yeah, I got that memo when you showed up and claimed you had the right to rule all of us 'mewling quims' or whatever."
Loki didn't seem particularly annoyed by his flippancy, which was probably good. Pepper would bring him back from the dead and murder him all over again if he let Loki kill him before he signed those documents she'd left for him last week.
"I feel I should point out that I merely called the dear Agent Romanov a mewling quim, not the rest of you."
"Right," Tony deadpanned, "because you hold the rest of us in such high esteem."
That earned him a long, studying look from vibrant green eyes.
"Some of you, at least."
That made Tony's eyebrows shoot upwards. He was a certified genius, had graduated MIT with three doctorates at a ridiculously young age, and was ranked among the top three smartest people in the entire world. Needless to say, he could put two and two together. He just wasn't sure he could trust the answer of four at the moment because it sounded a lot like Loki was saying he held Tony in high esteem. Which, okay, fit with the whole repeated rescues thing but didn't help him make any more sense of the whole ordeal. Time to put the conversation back on track.
"Look, I just want to know why you keep saving my ass for apparently no reason. You said something about being raised with a sense of entitlement?"
"Indeed." Loki appeared unbothered, studying the glass he had set down on the counter for a long moment. "I am…possessive, one might say. I do not like it when others touch what is mine."
Tony was suddenly beginning to really fear the number four.
"And you consider me yours?"
"It is not a matter of considering you one way or another. It is simply the fact of the matter."
Tony had to force himself to take a deep, shaky breath and not panic.
"And, um, how exactly did you come about discovering this particular fact?"
The look Loki gave him could only be described as indulgent and it did not make Tony feel better in the slightest.
"I was under the impression that soulmates were just as common here on Midgard as they were in the rest of the Nine Realms. Forgive me if this information is inaccurate. Do you Midgardians not consider soulmates to belong to one another?"
Tony might have blacked out for a second. He couldn't quite be sure because he'd finally found something that his brain had trouble processing. It wasn't the soulmates bit that threw him off, everyone had a soulmate, after all, even him. It was just the fact that his soulmate was apparently Loki that didn't make a lick of sense. Sure, the god was hot, but he was still a megalomaniac who'd tried to take over the planet and enslave the human race. Not exactly the kind of soulmate Tony had always pictured himself ending up with. Of course, he'd been holding out for Pepper up until she'd demanded he destroy his suits and give up being Iron Man.
He'd never really been hung up on the idea of a soulmate. It wasn't something he ever really bothered to think about, just something that would either happen or not and he didn't really care either way. It was only after he and Pepper had started dating that he'd actually stopped to consider what he'd want in one. By that point, he kind of thought Pepper was it.
Some soulmates figured it out the moment they met, their first greetings to each other being the very same words that triggered the reaction. For others, it took longer. There were plenty of soulmate couples who didn't even figure it out at the same time. Jarvis, the human Jarvis, had once told Tony that his wife hadn't spoken her words to him until they had been married five years and he hadn't spoken his for seventeen past that, when she was on her deathbed. Tony had to admit that he had no idea when his parents had spoken their words to each other, or if they ever had. But if Loki was so certain that they were soulmates that meant Tony had already spoken his words to him.
"When?" His voice came out as a rasp. "How long have you known?"
Loki's expression shifted to something not quite identifiable but that Tony thought might be some form of pity or concern. It looked distinctly out of place on the god's face and it made Tony feel a bit too cared about for comfort.
"Since our first talk here. I didn't know until after I threw you out the window, of course. I must confess I was a bit mystified that, 'His name was Phil,' turned out to be the words that identified you to me, but the Norns do not make mistakes."
Tony's mind, still reeling from the revelation, took a moment to catch up to what Loki was saying. Anger flooded him instantly and he slammed his glass down onto the bar.
"You knew for that long?! You knew since then and you still went through with the invasion?!"
Images on the wormhole flashed through Tony's mind and he stumbled back, jerking away from Loki as the god reached for him and nearly falling on his ass. The god was speaking to him, he could tell, but he couldn't really make out the words. Everything just felt so cold all of a sudden, and he couldn't quite breathe right. It was dark all around, except for the stars in the distance and the battleships heading right toward him.
"Anthony!"
Tony jerked, blinking rapidly and looking around to find that he'd somehow wound up on the ground, cowering behind his Italian leather couch. Loki was crouched not far away, hands held up as though to say he meant no harm. A small frown marred his features.
"Are you alright?"
Tony let out a bark of laughter that sounded a bit like a kicked dog. Now that his mind was coming back to him a bit, he noticed that his hands were shaking. It wasn't uncommon after an episode like that.
"Oh, yeah." His voice was shaking, too, and he had to clear his throat a couple times before he spoke again. "Just dandy. I love having panic attacks. Best time a guy can have."
Loki's brow furrowed.
"I am unfamiliar with these attacks. Explain them."
Tony felt a hysterical giggle bubble up from within his chest, which was not helping the ache between his ribs in the slightest. Of course Loki would demand he start explaining things instead of just letting him get himself back under control.
"Happens after someone experiences a trauma sometimes. Goes from about zero to a hundred in an instant and is halfway between feeling like you're gonna faint and like you're gonna die." Tony knew he sounded bitter. "I have to admit that I feel a bit closer to the dying end of the scale at the moment."
He jumped at Loki's hands pressed against his face, beautifully cold but just as terrifying. The god was gazing at him with a look of intense concentration. His frown had deepened to run tense lines across his face.
"And why did you have one now?"
The darkness rose up toward him again and Tony fought to keep it from digging its claws into his mind. He couldn't let that happen, couldn't let himself be dragged down again. He'd been doing so well, hadn't had an attack like this in nearly four months.
"Wormhole," he rasped, and Loki's hands jerked away from him.
The god curled away from him as though he'd been struck. His eyes were wide in their horror as he clearly put two and two together and got his own unwanted four.
"I did this. I did this to you."
Tony kind of felt like he should answer, should respond in some way to tell Loki that, no, this was not his fault. This was Tony's fault and he had plenty enough fodder for his panic attacks even without Loki's contributions. He kept his mouth shut, though. He had to admit that it was a bit nice to see Loki actually regret something for once. It was far less nice to see the god shoot to his feet and back away from him as though he were backing away from a wild animal.
"I must go."
The god vanished in a flash of green light, leaving Tony to work his way back from the panic attack on his own. The genius started drinking again as soon as his hands had stopped shaking enough to get the top off of a bottle of scotch. Better late than never, after all.
.
..
…
..
.
Tony knew exactly how he'd gotten into this situation. He could spell it out step by step easily enough. Step One: He confided in Rhodey about what happened with Loki. Step Two: Rhodey and told Sam because the two had bonded over both being in the army and both being pilots. Step Three: Sam told Steve because they were buddy-buddy and Sam thought it was important to keep the team's leader informed about this sort of thing. Step Four: Steve told Wanda hoping she could help. Step Five: Wanda had seen the opportunity to get back at Tony Stark and taken it without a second thought. So, yeah, Tony knew exactly how things had gotten to this point, he just didn't know how his life had wound up so crazy that he wasn't even bothered by waking up in a strange room being threatened with torture.
Okay, so maybe he was a bit bothered. They were threatening to torture him after all. It was just that they weren't even being inventive about it, just alternating between all the usual threats. And, really, once again, how did his life get to the point that there were 'usual' threats of torture? His head snapped to the side as his captor punched him in the jaw. Maybe he shouldn't have tuned out what they were saying.
"It doesn't have to be this way, you know," the scarred man who'd punched him said, dirty blonde hair was pulled into a low ponytail and his muscles were nearly as big as Thor's. "Just give us the information we're looking for and we'll let you go. You're not the one we're really interested in, after all. All of this pain," he drove his fist into Tony's sternum, leaving him gasping and dry heaving because there was nothing left for him to vomit, "could just go away."
The genius made sure to aim the blood he spat out at the man's shoe.
"You know what? No. I'm not gonna tell you where Loki is. I wouldn't even if I knew."
The man scowled at him, clearly not happy about the blood on his sneaker.
"And why not? Out of some misplaced sense of loyalty? Because he's your soulmate and you're just so happy to sacrifice yourself for him? Is he worth all of this pain, Stark?"
If his ankles weren't cuffed to the edges of whatever makeshift bondage frame these idiots had managed to dig out of a trash heap, Tony would have kicked him.
"This isn't about loyalty or soulmates or self-sacrifice, you Goon Squad reject. It's about the fact that I'm Tony fucking Stark and if you're going to kidnap me you better do it because you want weapons or you think I'm a threat to your villainous plot or just for the simple reason that I'm Ironman. Don't do it because you think I'm Loki's boytoy! I mean, come on! This is so insulting!"
"Well," the man said in a terrible imitation on nonchalance, "I can tell you won't listen to reason. I suppose we'll have to try being a bit more persuasive."
Tony found that he much preferred it when the men were being uninventive with their torture. By the time Loki finally showed up, with Steve and Vision in tow, the inventor was little more than an incoherent mess. He'd been drenched in water and had electrodes taped to his chest, arms and legs. Even with the currents no longer running through his body, his muscles twitched and writhed in a pattern far outside of his control. He collapsed bonelessly into Loki's arms as the god magicked away his restraints.
"Oh, Anthony…"
Loki ran a hand soothingly through his hair, drawing his frame closer to the god's own with his other arm. Vision crouched beside them for a moment, gaze sweeping over the inventor before turning his head to address Steve.
"He requires medical attention. His injuries are…severe."
Tony's hand fumbled toward the being, floundering across his red skin in an attempt to find purchase.
"J'VIS?"
The word was slurred, but unmistakable to anyone who had known the man while his AI was still operational. Vision captured the wandering hand in one of his own, clasping it tightly and exchanging a glance with Loki.
"He is a part of me, but I am not him. I am Vision."
Tony made a sound of acceptance, the words muddling through his brain enough to make sense but not make much of an impact. He turned his head to press his face into Loki's neck, finding comfort in the cool temperature the other provided.
"Come," Loki said as he lifted Tony from the ground. "It is time we returned you home."
The warmth that flooded the genius's body at those words reminded him distinctly of being electrocuted but without the pain. Fire swept through him yet nothing burned. It was the most amazing feeling he'd ever experienced and it was all he needed to drift off to sleep in the safety of Loki's embrace. Even with the molasses his brain was working through, Tony knew exactly what that feeling meant. He and Loki were going to have a lot to talk about when h woke up again. Suddenly, four didn't seem quite so terrifying after all.