Fic; The Long Way Home, 3/6
Title The Long Way Home, 3/6
Rating PG-13/T for language and violence
Summary When Loki is reincarnated as a child on Midgard with dreams for memories, Thor searches to re-awaken his brother. When he finds him, he makes an executive decision. Instead of taking him to Asgard, he takes him to Avengers Tower. Journey Into Mystery & Avengers (Movie) AU.
Disclaimer Characters belong to their creators (Marvel owns everyone I love).
previous
oo3;
The kid is smart.
Tony brings him down to the workshop and expands the schematics for Marks III, IV, and VI of his suits, and they play a game of pointing out the differences between them, Loki noting early on that the Mark VI has a more aerodynamic design considering the curvature of its shoulder and leg armor, a small improvement that Tony often forgot he had even made to the newer model. In the blue glow of the data hovering around them, Tony shows Loki what buttons to press, which way to swipe, makes an arbitrary file and then deletes it just to show him his three-point throw. Loki delights in that particular exercise so much that they spend the better part of the next hour creating nonsense files and then throwing them into the projected Trash Bin.
They only pause when Jarvis announces a presence at the door, and they both turn to see Pepper Potts, fresh-faced and smiling in that way in that she’s not really smiling, dressed down from her usual business wear. She comes through the door and Tony slaps his forehead. “So, heeey, Miss Potts, Pep,” he begins in a tone that is at once apologetic and self-assured. “I’m late, aren’t I? But listen, perfectly good explanation for that. In fact, if we leave, oh, in the next ten minutes with Happy driving, we’ll get there just in time! And that explanation, by the way -"
Pepper silences him by holding up her index finger. “Don’t make up excuses. Happy is driving. Also, don’t even think about it, Tony. You’re excuse can’t be a little boy! I saw the way you were thinking about it; your eyes kind of slide over to the right.”
Tony tries to interrupt, to make his case, but Pepper just shakes her head. When she turns her attention to Loki, the kid actually takes a step back. Good, Tony thinks smugly. Pepper talks to kids just the way that she talks to adults, although she’s a little kinder. “And who might you be?”
Loki ducks his head, as though sensing what is about to follow. “Loki,” he answers simply, quietly.
For a few seconds, all that is heard is Pepper’s breathing. Then: “WHAT?!” Tony latches himself to her wrists as she struggles to - well, he doesn’t really know, but she’s struggling. “What is he doing here?” she screeches. “He threw you through a window, Tony, and now you’re playing pretend-basketball with him in your workshop? This is a new level of insanity even for you.”
Tony doesn’t even realize what he’s saying until Pepper takes a breath. “In and out, in and out. Calm down, calm down. He’s not throwing me through a window, right? See? Look at him.” Pepper looks. Pepper glares. “He’s just a kid.”
“He almost killed you,” she argues, red-faced.
“Evil Loki almost killed me,” Tony amends for her. “Like, once. Two years ago. This Loki did not.”
“He might.”
“He won’t.”
“I am still here, you know,” Loki announces. Pepper finally yanks herself away from Tony’s grip, smoothing down her shirt in the process.
“Oh my god,” she’s saying, over and over, pressing her palms to her face and beginning to breathe erratically.
“I see that I have caused you distress, Miss Potts. In my previous life and now even in this one. But may I offer a solution?” He takes a step in Pepper’s direction, back straightening as he plants his feet shoulder-width apart from each other. Face grim, he says, “Strike, fair Miss Potts, and may it ease your distress, if only a little.”
“Are you crazy?” she all but screeches again. “I’m not going to hit a child.”
“But it will cause me distress, and ease yours!”
“Oh no. No, no, no, no. And no! Tony, what are you teaching him?” She turns accusing eyes to the other adult in the room.
“How is this my fault?” Tony wails.
“Where is he getting that idea from?”
“I don’t know! He’s a few millennia old, Pep. Some weird, twisted sense of Asgardian justice or something. I could see Thor suggesting something similar.”
“My brother would suggest something similar?” Loki asks, apparently pleased that his choice of action reflected in some part his brother’s ideals.
“He would, but it’s wrong,” Pepper affirms. “An eye for an eye leaves you blind.”
“Who would trade an eye for another of the same? That’s just silly. Odin All-Father traded one eye for knowledge, it is said. A much better trade, don’t you think?”
Tony waits for snide remarks about Odin, or even Asgard, to follow, but none are forthcoming. Huh.
Pepper throws her hands into the air. “I can’t deal with this right now. Tony, just - Loki, I’m not going to hit you. Just don’t throw Tony out a window, okay? Think you can do that?”
“Aye,” he promises solemnly.
“Good.” She pinches the bridge of her nose. “Okay. Okay, I’m going to the car. Tony, you have five minutes or I’m going to the concert with Happy.” She strides out, still agitated. Jarvis closes the door behind her.
Loki says, “Your lady is most...energetic. And beautiful.”
Tony sighs. “Yep. That, she is.”
//
Sometimes, Tony gives him homework. Nothing too complicated or overly long, of course. Math problem sets here and there that would give graduate students some pause, but Loki works on them with fervor and a keen eye and doesn’t rest until he’s finished. He starts to join them at dinner, usually plastered to Thor’s side and eating tiny bird-bites of food, a child easily ignored in adult conversation. Occasionally Natasha or Clint will remember the pint-sized-maybe-villain in their midst and peer at him with a sharp eye; Loki is all toothy smiles and appreciation for Steve’s cooking.
Finally drawn out of the twelfth floor, Loki begins to become a presence in the common room. Books piled neatly in one corner of the coffee table, half empty mugs of hot cocoa that make Steve tsk but that he collects and washes, a dark green sweater bunched into one corner of the sofa. Once, Tony catches him reading the Stark Tablet, legs drawn up on the cushions, with Steve just on the other end of the sofa, sketching.
“He’s not so bad,” Steve admits with a one-armed shrug when Tony casually asks him about this. “Though he could pick up after himself a little more.”
Loki continues to come down to the workshop with him when he asks, and they work on a design for a bike for Steve, one that Tony might actually build. “Will it fly?” Loki asks him enthusiastically. “It would help if another of your team had flight capability, would it not?” And so they work on the thrusters.
One quiet afternoon, Tony realizes he hasn’t seen Loki in two whole days. This wouldn’t have been a cause for worry early on in his probation (was that still even going on?), but by now he’s grown accustomed to seeing the tiny god of mischief lounging around the common area or using Thor like a jungle gym. Jarvis pinpoints Loki on the ninth floor.
Bruce’s floor.
Panic flutters in Tony’s chest, surprising him. Had Bruce had a quiet Hulk-out and smashed this Loki into the floor, too? Surely they would have known if The Other Guy had made an appearance in the past couple of days. His feet carry him to the elevator and he’s pressing the button for ‘9’ before his mind catches up.
The doors slide closed. They open again and he sees -
Bruce sitting in Lotus position in the cleared out area of his living room, eyes closed, breathing deeply. Next to him, a safe distance away, Loki is sitting in a similar position. They appear to be breathing in sync, and Tony steps out of the elevator carefully, taking very soft, very quiet steps to get a better look. Bruce is apparently deep into whatever zone he reaches in meditation, but Tony steps forward just in time to hold a hand out when Loki dips a little to the right, snorting a little and blinking up at Tony with a hint of embarrassment.
Tony tries to stifle his own laughter, but it comes out anyway, Loki’s shoulders slumping at the noise. He crooks his finger to the little god and they both amble towards the elevator, leaving Bruce to his meditating.
“Nodding off, there, buddy?” Tony asks with a huge grin when they are safely behind the closed elevator doors.
“It’s so boring,” Loki whines plaintively. “It cannot be done. ‘Zen,’ as you say, is not in my nature. I’m the God of Mischief and Chaos. Meditating, bringing your thoughts into order - like asking a fish to swim in a desert! Do you think I could die from it?”
Tony laughs. He laughs and Loki lights up with a smile that gets his whole face in on the action, pleased with himself, and he’s still laughing when they exit the elevator and Clint is standing there with his arms crossed and a very annoyed expression and pink hair, and Tony guffaws, his stomach hurts - this kid is going to be the death of him.
Clint says, “This is not funny,” pointing at his hair.
“It’s very funny,” Tony disagrees between dying huffs of laughter.
“I can’t be stealthy like this!” Clint protests, very near to stomping his feet.
“You could wear a hood,” Loki suggests amiably, and that just sets Tony off again, because how many times has he suggested that himself? Robin Hood, Clint in tights.
Clint growls, “You!” He points a finger with all the accusation he can muster at Loki. Tony wonders if he’ll need the suit within the next second. “I know this is your fault. I am so going to get you back for this.”
And then he stomps off.
From the corner, unnoticed before now, Natasha says, “I would have gone with blue.”
//
Clint has a fit when he finds all of his arrows have been replaced by fake flowers with the long, wiry stems. Loki wakes up to an entirely pink wardrobe and spends the next couple of days entreating Thor (and Pepper, when she comes around once) to take him out shopping for new clothes. Clint wakes up to an actual nest of threads around his room, spiderwebbing and gold, and if he trips any of them he gets whipped cream to the face, so naturally he trips all of them. Loki somehow finds himself strung up by his feet hanging from a vent in the ceiling in the common room. He’s twisting upside-down and huffing when Tony and Thor find him.
“What has happened?” Thor booms, immediately rushing to his younger brother and supporting him so he can tear the rope apart with his own hands. Loki falls with an ‘oomph’ into Thor’s arms. He scrambles until he’s sitting on Thor’s shoulders.
“Okay, seriously,” Tony says. “Prank wars are fun and all, but this needs to stop. Steve isn’t here to clean up after you guys!”
“Of what war do you speak?” Thor looks alarmed. “Why was I not informed?”
“It is just a war of games,” Loki explains quickly to his brother, whose expression softens. “Of tricks. No harm will come of it. Actually, it’s great fun! Mr. Barton is a worthy adversary.” He pauses. “Though I regret that Mr. Rogers is usually tasked with clearing the aftermath.”
“Yeah, he regrets it, too.”
A more awkward pause follows. Loki says, “Did you need something?”
Thor shifts on his feet. He brings Loki off his shoulders to stand before him. “Yes.”
“And?”
Thor looks to Tony, a flash of helplessness so unfamiliar in his features. Tony gives him a brief nod. It’s all the assurance Thor needs.
“I have news of Asgard.” Loki opens his mouth to speak, but Thor continues. “Odin awakens. He has asked for my return. I would speak with him.”
Loki is practically vibrating with energy. “Are we -?“ he starts, hopeful.
“No.” One syllable is as effective as the thunder Thor so often brings to his battles. Loki deflates. Thor sighs. “Asgard is not yet ready, Loki. I will return alone. Stark has given his word to look after you in my absence.”
“How long will you be away?”
“Not long,” Thor says, a small smile on his lips. “I promise.”
They embrace, but briefly. Tony has a feeling that displays of affection like this are not a ready part of Asgardian culture. He notices how Loki clings just a little longer than Thor does. The kid doesn’t shed any tears, but his eyes do have a suspicious sheen to them. Tony looks away, uncomfortable. Feelings were never really his thing.
Thor leaves soon after that, the Bifrost collecting him in a column of light. Loki doesn’t prank Clint again, and with a handshake they declare a draw and truce.
//
next
Rating PG-13/T for language and violence
Summary When Loki is reincarnated as a child on Midgard with dreams for memories, Thor searches to re-awaken his brother. When he finds him, he makes an executive decision. Instead of taking him to Asgard, he takes him to Avengers Tower. Journey Into Mystery & Avengers (Movie) AU.
Disclaimer Characters belong to their creators (Marvel owns everyone I love).
previous
oo3;
The kid is smart.
Tony brings him down to the workshop and expands the schematics for Marks III, IV, and VI of his suits, and they play a game of pointing out the differences between them, Loki noting early on that the Mark VI has a more aerodynamic design considering the curvature of its shoulder and leg armor, a small improvement that Tony often forgot he had even made to the newer model. In the blue glow of the data hovering around them, Tony shows Loki what buttons to press, which way to swipe, makes an arbitrary file and then deletes it just to show him his three-point throw. Loki delights in that particular exercise so much that they spend the better part of the next hour creating nonsense files and then throwing them into the projected Trash Bin.
They only pause when Jarvis announces a presence at the door, and they both turn to see Pepper Potts, fresh-faced and smiling in that way in that she’s not really smiling, dressed down from her usual business wear. She comes through the door and Tony slaps his forehead. “So, heeey, Miss Potts, Pep,” he begins in a tone that is at once apologetic and self-assured. “I’m late, aren’t I? But listen, perfectly good explanation for that. In fact, if we leave, oh, in the next ten minutes with Happy driving, we’ll get there just in time! And that explanation, by the way -"
Pepper silences him by holding up her index finger. “Don’t make up excuses. Happy is driving. Also, don’t even think about it, Tony. You’re excuse can’t be a little boy! I saw the way you were thinking about it; your eyes kind of slide over to the right.”
Tony tries to interrupt, to make his case, but Pepper just shakes her head. When she turns her attention to Loki, the kid actually takes a step back. Good, Tony thinks smugly. Pepper talks to kids just the way that she talks to adults, although she’s a little kinder. “And who might you be?”
Loki ducks his head, as though sensing what is about to follow. “Loki,” he answers simply, quietly.
For a few seconds, all that is heard is Pepper’s breathing. Then: “WHAT?!” Tony latches himself to her wrists as she struggles to - well, he doesn’t really know, but she’s struggling. “What is he doing here?” she screeches. “He threw you through a window, Tony, and now you’re playing pretend-basketball with him in your workshop? This is a new level of insanity even for you.”
Tony doesn’t even realize what he’s saying until Pepper takes a breath. “In and out, in and out. Calm down, calm down. He’s not throwing me through a window, right? See? Look at him.” Pepper looks. Pepper glares. “He’s just a kid.”
“He almost killed you,” she argues, red-faced.
“Evil Loki almost killed me,” Tony amends for her. “Like, once. Two years ago. This Loki did not.”
“He might.”
“He won’t.”
“I am still here, you know,” Loki announces. Pepper finally yanks herself away from Tony’s grip, smoothing down her shirt in the process.
“Oh my god,” she’s saying, over and over, pressing her palms to her face and beginning to breathe erratically.
“I see that I have caused you distress, Miss Potts. In my previous life and now even in this one. But may I offer a solution?” He takes a step in Pepper’s direction, back straightening as he plants his feet shoulder-width apart from each other. Face grim, he says, “Strike, fair Miss Potts, and may it ease your distress, if only a little.”
“Are you crazy?” she all but screeches again. “I’m not going to hit a child.”
“But it will cause me distress, and ease yours!”
“Oh no. No, no, no, no. And no! Tony, what are you teaching him?” She turns accusing eyes to the other adult in the room.
“How is this my fault?” Tony wails.
“Where is he getting that idea from?”
“I don’t know! He’s a few millennia old, Pep. Some weird, twisted sense of Asgardian justice or something. I could see Thor suggesting something similar.”
“My brother would suggest something similar?” Loki asks, apparently pleased that his choice of action reflected in some part his brother’s ideals.
“He would, but it’s wrong,” Pepper affirms. “An eye for an eye leaves you blind.”
“Who would trade an eye for another of the same? That’s just silly. Odin All-Father traded one eye for knowledge, it is said. A much better trade, don’t you think?”
Tony waits for snide remarks about Odin, or even Asgard, to follow, but none are forthcoming. Huh.
Pepper throws her hands into the air. “I can’t deal with this right now. Tony, just - Loki, I’m not going to hit you. Just don’t throw Tony out a window, okay? Think you can do that?”
“Aye,” he promises solemnly.
“Good.” She pinches the bridge of her nose. “Okay. Okay, I’m going to the car. Tony, you have five minutes or I’m going to the concert with Happy.” She strides out, still agitated. Jarvis closes the door behind her.
Loki says, “Your lady is most...energetic. And beautiful.”
Tony sighs. “Yep. That, she is.”
//
Sometimes, Tony gives him homework. Nothing too complicated or overly long, of course. Math problem sets here and there that would give graduate students some pause, but Loki works on them with fervor and a keen eye and doesn’t rest until he’s finished. He starts to join them at dinner, usually plastered to Thor’s side and eating tiny bird-bites of food, a child easily ignored in adult conversation. Occasionally Natasha or Clint will remember the pint-sized-maybe-villain in their midst and peer at him with a sharp eye; Loki is all toothy smiles and appreciation for Steve’s cooking.
Finally drawn out of the twelfth floor, Loki begins to become a presence in the common room. Books piled neatly in one corner of the coffee table, half empty mugs of hot cocoa that make Steve tsk but that he collects and washes, a dark green sweater bunched into one corner of the sofa. Once, Tony catches him reading the Stark Tablet, legs drawn up on the cushions, with Steve just on the other end of the sofa, sketching.
“He’s not so bad,” Steve admits with a one-armed shrug when Tony casually asks him about this. “Though he could pick up after himself a little more.”
Loki continues to come down to the workshop with him when he asks, and they work on a design for a bike for Steve, one that Tony might actually build. “Will it fly?” Loki asks him enthusiastically. “It would help if another of your team had flight capability, would it not?” And so they work on the thrusters.
One quiet afternoon, Tony realizes he hasn’t seen Loki in two whole days. This wouldn’t have been a cause for worry early on in his probation (was that still even going on?), but by now he’s grown accustomed to seeing the tiny god of mischief lounging around the common area or using Thor like a jungle gym. Jarvis pinpoints Loki on the ninth floor.
Bruce’s floor.
Panic flutters in Tony’s chest, surprising him. Had Bruce had a quiet Hulk-out and smashed this Loki into the floor, too? Surely they would have known if The Other Guy had made an appearance in the past couple of days. His feet carry him to the elevator and he’s pressing the button for ‘9’ before his mind catches up.
The doors slide closed. They open again and he sees -
Bruce sitting in Lotus position in the cleared out area of his living room, eyes closed, breathing deeply. Next to him, a safe distance away, Loki is sitting in a similar position. They appear to be breathing in sync, and Tony steps out of the elevator carefully, taking very soft, very quiet steps to get a better look. Bruce is apparently deep into whatever zone he reaches in meditation, but Tony steps forward just in time to hold a hand out when Loki dips a little to the right, snorting a little and blinking up at Tony with a hint of embarrassment.
Tony tries to stifle his own laughter, but it comes out anyway, Loki’s shoulders slumping at the noise. He crooks his finger to the little god and they both amble towards the elevator, leaving Bruce to his meditating.
“Nodding off, there, buddy?” Tony asks with a huge grin when they are safely behind the closed elevator doors.
“It’s so boring,” Loki whines plaintively. “It cannot be done. ‘Zen,’ as you say, is not in my nature. I’m the God of Mischief and Chaos. Meditating, bringing your thoughts into order - like asking a fish to swim in a desert! Do you think I could die from it?”
Tony laughs. He laughs and Loki lights up with a smile that gets his whole face in on the action, pleased with himself, and he’s still laughing when they exit the elevator and Clint is standing there with his arms crossed and a very annoyed expression and pink hair, and Tony guffaws, his stomach hurts - this kid is going to be the death of him.
Clint says, “This is not funny,” pointing at his hair.
“It’s very funny,” Tony disagrees between dying huffs of laughter.
“I can’t be stealthy like this!” Clint protests, very near to stomping his feet.
“You could wear a hood,” Loki suggests amiably, and that just sets Tony off again, because how many times has he suggested that himself? Robin Hood, Clint in tights.
Clint growls, “You!” He points a finger with all the accusation he can muster at Loki. Tony wonders if he’ll need the suit within the next second. “I know this is your fault. I am so going to get you back for this.”
And then he stomps off.
From the corner, unnoticed before now, Natasha says, “I would have gone with blue.”
//
Clint has a fit when he finds all of his arrows have been replaced by fake flowers with the long, wiry stems. Loki wakes up to an entirely pink wardrobe and spends the next couple of days entreating Thor (and Pepper, when she comes around once) to take him out shopping for new clothes. Clint wakes up to an actual nest of threads around his room, spiderwebbing and gold, and if he trips any of them he gets whipped cream to the face, so naturally he trips all of them. Loki somehow finds himself strung up by his feet hanging from a vent in the ceiling in the common room. He’s twisting upside-down and huffing when Tony and Thor find him.
“What has happened?” Thor booms, immediately rushing to his younger brother and supporting him so he can tear the rope apart with his own hands. Loki falls with an ‘oomph’ into Thor’s arms. He scrambles until he’s sitting on Thor’s shoulders.
“Okay, seriously,” Tony says. “Prank wars are fun and all, but this needs to stop. Steve isn’t here to clean up after you guys!”
“Of what war do you speak?” Thor looks alarmed. “Why was I not informed?”
“It is just a war of games,” Loki explains quickly to his brother, whose expression softens. “Of tricks. No harm will come of it. Actually, it’s great fun! Mr. Barton is a worthy adversary.” He pauses. “Though I regret that Mr. Rogers is usually tasked with clearing the aftermath.”
“Yeah, he regrets it, too.”
A more awkward pause follows. Loki says, “Did you need something?”
Thor shifts on his feet. He brings Loki off his shoulders to stand before him. “Yes.”
“And?”
Thor looks to Tony, a flash of helplessness so unfamiliar in his features. Tony gives him a brief nod. It’s all the assurance Thor needs.
“I have news of Asgard.” Loki opens his mouth to speak, but Thor continues. “Odin awakens. He has asked for my return. I would speak with him.”
Loki is practically vibrating with energy. “Are we -?“ he starts, hopeful.
“No.” One syllable is as effective as the thunder Thor so often brings to his battles. Loki deflates. Thor sighs. “Asgard is not yet ready, Loki. I will return alone. Stark has given his word to look after you in my absence.”
“How long will you be away?”
“Not long,” Thor says, a small smile on his lips. “I promise.”
They embrace, but briefly. Tony has a feeling that displays of affection like this are not a ready part of Asgardian culture. He notices how Loki clings just a little longer than Thor does. The kid doesn’t shed any tears, but his eyes do have a suspicious sheen to them. Tony looks away, uncomfortable. Feelings were never really his thing.
Thor leaves soon after that, the Bifrost collecting him in a column of light. Loki doesn’t prank Clint again, and with a handshake they declare a draw and truce.
//
next