Chapter Text
Loki was part of the Avengers now.
Officially, at least.
The Asgardian way of redemption appeared to be about making one repay their debts with actions, or, if you wanted to call it what it actually was, slavery with benefits.
Loki had to help out the Avengers with anything they deemed necessary and couldn’t go against any of their orders; the dark markings around his arms made sure of it. Not that Tony actually knew how they worked, but the way Loki gritted his teeth whenever he pushed back too much against them was all he needed to know. It wasn't a development any of them had been keen on, but after hearing that it was either this or a literal beheading , yeah…they had made their decision rather quickly.
So Loki was part of the Avengers. They all trusted him as far as they could throw him and considering his weight, that wasn’t all too far. He helped out on almost every mission and as much as they hated to admit it, he was good . He rarely complained about any task he was given, be it fighting or providing strategies that had all of them secretly marvel at their ingenuity. He simply carried every order out with scary precision and was honestly just damn helpful to have around.
And yet, they could all see it.
The distaste in his wrinkled nose, the arrogance with which he carried himself and most of all, the sheer hatred that shone in his eyes whenever he looked at them. There was no doubt that once the invisible chains Odin had laid on him broke, he would turn his back on them without a moment’s hesitation.
Or do much worse.
*
“What are you doing here?” Tony watched with narrowed eyes as Loki strolled into the lab. Technically speaking, it was a shared space, but that didn’t mean Tony had to like him snooping around as if he actually had any right to be here.
“Where is the plant?” Loki asked, his eyes darting around the room.
The plant was referring to the biological specimen the team had captured earlier. They had busted a crazed scientist's lab and found an entire greenhouse inside it, filled with all sorts of plants that looked like they came straight out of a bad 90’s horror movie, spikes and vines included. All but one specimen had been burned, captured purely for research, of course.
“It’s over there,” Tony said wearily, motioning towards one of the glass-encased rooms further in the back. “What do you want with it?”
“None of your business,” Loki hissed. He tried to shove himself past Tony, but Tony grabbed his arm and stopped him in his tracks.
“As long as you’re here, it is every bit of my business.”
Loki’s eyes slowly trailed down to where Tony was grabbing onto his shirt, his nose wrinkled in disgust. Oh, there were undoubtedly all kinds of insults laying ready on his tongue, but in the end, they both knew that he had to answer to Tony, whether he liked it or not.
“I want to examine it. I believe it might be of magical nature.” Loki’s agitation was barely hidden behind a wall of calm indifference.
Tony let go of his arm but didn’t move out of the way. “I am not letting you into a room with that thing alone.”
“Concerned for my safety, Stark?” Loki’s smile was all teeth and no kindness.
Tony mirrored his look, lips pulling into the cruel mockery of a smile that being forced to live alongside Loki had taught him. “Of course, dear.”
He couldn’t care less if Loki got eaten by that plant or had venomous toxin spat at him. Perhaps it could burn off his hair that he always so arrogantly flicked in his direction. His concern wasn’t about what the plant would do with Loki; it was about what Loki might do with the plant.
They ended up walking into the room together.
Loki immediately strode towards the green devil, while Tony was content to lean against the wall and watch from a safe distance. At first glance, the plant looked unassuming, with its big green leaves and small vines reaching into its surroundings. It was once you looked at it for a moment longer that you noticed the sharp spikes on its stems, the odd glow that the leaves were giving off and the way the vines were slowly moving, slithering like snakes ready to strike.
“I don’t think you should touch that thing,” Tony remarked as he saw a pale hand reach towards it.
“Shut up,” Loki shot back without doing as much as turning around.
Tony rolled his eyes but continued watching as Loki examined the plant. The god's fingers trailed over the leaves, his touch light and careful as he avoided the spikes. It was a bit odd to see such delicacy from him. Then again, Loki was the master of holding up facades, and Tony knew that all too well. Loki briefly paused his movement and frowned before his finger returned to the plant, though this time a small green spark accompanied it.
And that was the moment it all turned to shit. Really, Tony should have expected it. Nothing good ever came out of Loki’s involvement.
A sudden blast threw Tony against the wall of the room with such force that a sharp pain jolted through his body. He could hear a groan next to him where Loki had received the same treatment. Good.
“I told you not to fucking touch it,” Tony spat at him.
Loki’s only response was a vicious glare, but Tony couldn’t really enjoy the victory of his silence. Not when there were two long vine-like arms coming out of the plant, a pink flower bud attached to each of them that would have made for quite the beautiful sight if it weren’t for the calculating way it was scanning its surroundings. Which was something a plant should never ever be doing.
“What the fuck is that?” Tony muttered.
“Hels if I know,” Loki responded and heaved himself back to his feet.
The plant immediately took notice of the movement and sent a blast towards them that Loki barely evaded. Tony stared with wide eyes at the scorch mark it had left behind on the wall behind him and made his decision rather quickly. It was time to get the fuck out of here.
Loki appeared less keen on turning heels however, as he instead gritted his teeth and shot a handful of green magic towards it. The flowery end of the vine caught it, devoured it and a mere second later, a third vine sprung from the plant. Its mouth opened to hiss at them, and—were those teeth?
“Oh, good job,” Tony groaned.
“I don’t see you trying to help, Stark.”
“At least I didn’t make it worse.” They both stilled, and while the plant's heads were still scanning its surroundings, it didn’t appear to be able to detect them without movement. “We are getting out of here, Loki. That’s an order.”
Loki let out a disapproving scoff, but they both knew he would have to follow Tony's command.
“Out the door now!”
They both bolted for the door and really, it was only logical that Tony would put Loki between him and the plant; after all, the god could take a far greater beating than a lowly mortal . As he had expected, the plant immediately fired a blast towards them, but what he hadn’t expected was that instead of Loki acting as his meat shield, the blast actually grew and engulfed him as well. He clenched his eyes shut at the blinding pain that went through him and immediately regretted it.
A terrible feeling of falling washed over him and a darkness that did not disappear even as he opened his eyes again. His arms flailed in the nothingness, desperately trying to find something to hold onto and when they did, he dug his fingers into it until it hurt. It was the only grounding part of his maddening fall and though he felt as if he were screaming, there was no sound reaching his ears.
It could have been seconds or hours before the darkness finally cleared away and Tony landed on solid ground with a loud groan. Although something below him groaned far louder. It appeared that the thing Tony had been holding onto was Loki’s chest.
Oh, well.
Tony heaved his aching body off of him and was glad to find that all his limbs were still working.
“You okay?” Tony asked after a moment when the mass next to him remained eerily still.
He pulled himself into a sitting position and looked over Loki’s figure. His skin appeared pale—paler than usual, at least—though that wasn’t what caught Tony's attention. It was the way his eyes were wide open, staring into nothing with an eerie stillness that had a shiver running down his spine.
Now, Tony couldn’t care less about Loki’s wellbeing, but he couldn’t imagine that Asgard would take it well if their homicidal prince died under his watch. He took his shoulders and gave him a good shake.
“I said are you okay?”
“I am not going to get better from you shaking my guts out.” The words were croaked out through obvious pain, missing a bit of their usual bite, but they were words nonetheless and it reassured Tony enough to take a look around himself.
Wherever they were, it was nighttime, judging by the lack of light and the somewhat cool breeze. Still, it was far warmer than Tony would have expected for it being the middle of November. And even odder was the sight of the forest around them that slowly came into view as his eyes got used to the darkness.
“Loki.” Tony swallowed, a bad feeling pooling in his stomach. “Where are we?”
Loki propped himself up on his elbows, eyes darting around as if he only now realized they were no longer in the lab. Recognition fluttered through them and he threw his head back with a barked laugh.
“The last place I should be. Asgard.”
Tony's eyes widened. “ Asgard ? What?! How?”
Loki shrugged and promptly fell back onto his back. The pained noise he let out only made Tony feel a tiny bit better.
He was on Asgard, an entirely different planet , in the middle of some random forest.
With Loki.
God, he needed a drink.
“If you recognize this place, we aren’t far from civilization, right?” Tony asked, searching in between the trees. They weren’t too dense, which made him hope that they weren’t stranded in the complete wilderness.
“I don’t know.”
Tony rolled his eyes. “Do you not know or not care enough to know?”
Loki turned his head to glare at him. “Just because I’m forced to obey you does not mean I-” His words were interrupted by a rough cough that ended with blood trickling from his mouth. Served him right.
“I’m going to take a quick look around.” Tony pointed at Loki. “You stay here.”
Loki shot him a look that said more than any words could.
“Okay, yeah, I know, you’re not really going anywhere,” Tony said, not bothering to hide his amusement. Loki made for quite the pathetic sight, covered in his own blood and lying on the forest floor like a ragdoll. At least something good had come out of the plant fiasco. “You’re not even allowed to be on Asgard, are you? But they would know who I am, right?”
“Odin would certainly greet you with much pleasure.” Loki snorted out a laugh that turned into choking wheezing sounds. Tony's mouth opened and closed uselessly. Sometimes it was hard to tell when Loki was being sarcastic or not and he would much prefer not to be hanged for being a mortal in the eternal realm of godhood.
“Whatever.” He let out a sigh, deciding it not to be worth it. He turned to leave, but Loki’s voice interrupted him.
“Stark.”
If Tony had a dollar for every eye roll he had done within the last ten minutes, he’d be—well, not much richer than he already was, but he would have some decent additional pocket change.
“What?”
Loki’s expression was uncharacteristically wary. “Something is off about this.”
“You don’t say, buddy. It’s not like we just got teleported here by an angry magical plant.”
“No, it’s something about this place.” Loki’s eyebrows knitted themselves into a tight frown. “It doesn’t feel right.”
Tony sighed and added another dollar to his mental cash bank of eye rolls. “Are you always this ominous, or only when you’re dying?”
Loki’s look returned to its usual viciousness. “If I truly were dying right now, I would make sure to drag you with me, so you better count your luck.”
“Thanks for the answer. Very reassuring, princess.”
Before another snarky remark could be thrown his way, Tony simply turned around and left. Find civilization, let someone know that he could really use a beam back down to earth and hopefully arrive before anyone else could run into the murderous teleportation plant in the lab. It sounded like a simple enough plan.
As he had suspected, the forest was rather well travelled and it didn’t take long for the first signs of faint trails to show on the forest ground. The hoofprints scattered among them gave him pause, but then he remembered where he was and, well, space Vikings, right?
He made a note of where he had come from by breaking off some twigs in his way as he continued his walk through the forest. In the distance, he could see a flickering light peeking through the trees and Tony really hoped Asgard had an unconventional approach to street lanterns. But as he continued towards it, he realized that it wasn’t lights at all that he was seeing. Instead, it was a lake that was coming into view, the moonlight reflecting on its surface and creating the flickering effect. It was framed by shrubbery and rocks on its side, with a small beach giving entrance to the water. Tony let his eyes trail over it, temporarily distracted by the beauty of the sight.
And then he saw it.
A figure was sitting on one of the rocks, its face illuminated by the pale moonlight. Tony frowned. It was a familiar figure.
“Loki?!” Tony called out, walking towards him with long strides.
Loki turned towards him with a frown. “Yes?”
“What do you mean Yes? You were supposed to wait and not stumble after me and-”
Tony froze in the middle of his sentence. It was undeniable. This was Loki sitting on the rock in front of him, and yet it wasn’t quite the Loki he knew. The one currently looking at him looked somewhat… younger. It wasn’t really that he had fewer signs of age, sure, his frame was more slender and his features not yet as settled, but the most striking difference was in his eyes, in the way they were staring at him with a curiosity that held not an ounce of the usual malice in it. It appeared almost naïve compared to the calculating stare he was used to from Loki, though he didn’t dare mistake it for stupidity either.
“Is something the matter?” It was the same low voice and yet it was so polite, a bit concerned even.
“I- uhm, I must have confused you for someone else. I’m sorry,” Tony stammered out.
Loki leaned his head to the side. His hair was shorter, barely reaching his shoulders. “You did call my name, though.”
There was no point in denying it. “I did.”
A glint shone in Loki’s eyes that had nothing to do with the moonlight reflected in them. “Then it would only be fair if you gave me yours, stranger.”
“Tony.”
“Tony.” Loki tried out the name on his tongue before a smile slowly spread across his face.
Tony could do nothing but gape at it. At that warm curve of his lips with yet a mischievous twitch at the corner of his mouth, his intrigue clear as day in the crinkling eyes.
“What has brought you here, Tony?”
Tony swallowed heavily. “A bit of an accident, actually.”
“Oh.” Loki finally stepped down from the rock, coming to stand in front of him instead. Yep, still much taller than him , Tony thought with a bitter note as he had to tilt his head upwards to look at him. “There is blood on your clothes. Are you injured?”
Tony blinked, taken off guard by the genuine concern in his voice. “Oh, no. It’s not mine.”
“You’re a warrior, then? Or a hunter?”
Tony winced inwardly. Oh, he was so not prepared for this conversation. Or any of this, for the matter.
“No, not really. Just a… traveler . You know, I run into all sorts of things.”
Loki hummed. His eyes were looking Tony up and down, but for some reason Tony's skin didn’t prickle like it usually did whenever Loki had that creepy studying look on him.
“A traveler that has landed here by accident,” Loki concluded with a small nod.
“Not the worst definition.”
“Well, welcome to Asgard then, Tony the traveler .” The nickname did not sound mocking, though Tony felt it had been intended as such. “Are you staying for a while?”
God, Tony’s head was starting to spin. “Hopefully not too long.”
“Hopefully? Is Asgard not to your liking?” Loki sounded so genuinely insulted that it surprised Tony.
“It’s just not what I’m used to,” he quickly retaliated, to which Loki’s expression eased back into comfort. Tony forced a smile onto his face. “But this little lake sure is nice.”
Loki’s eyes roamed across the lake before them and they appeared to almost sparkle as much as the water did. “There are usually not many visitors to it.” He turned back to face Tony with a small smile. “But it seems like you have discovered my secret gem, Tony.”
“It would seem so.”
Loki was still smiling and it was such a warm smile that it seemed almost unnatural to be coming from him. And yet, somehow, it fit. Tony had to physically stop himself from staring, tearing his eyes towards the woods instead.
“But I have to go now.” He cleared his throat. “It is quite late, after all.”
“Where are you staying?”
Tony's mind blanked. Fuck, where was he staying? Should he say a guesthouse? Some hut? Camping in the wilderness?
At Tony's hesitation, Loki’s expression morphed into an apologetic frown. He even held up his damned hands. “I apologize; I did not mean to pry. I was merely curious.” He bowed his head in a curt nod, taking a step backwards. “I wish you safe travels, Tony.”
“Thank you,” Tony choked out, sending him his best attempt at a polite smile before disappearing back into the forest.
Terrified at the idea of the creepily friendly fever dream of a Loki following him, he took a detour on his way back. He felt like he had just seen a ghost, which, honestly, he might have. His skin was prickling as if he were being stabbed by a thousand tiny needles and his unease only doubled when Loki’s bloodied figure came into view, laying under the exact same tree he had left him at.
“Loki!”
Loki didn’t open his eyes, merely acknowledged him with a low hum.
“Loki!” Tony shouted, to which his eyes finally snapped open.
“What?” Loki spat out, levelling a distasteful stare at him. It was odd to see it again after the gentle expression he had witnessed on the other Loki’s face just now. “I heard you just fine the first time.”
“You didn’t leave from here, right?” Tony asked just to be 100% sure that this wasn’t some elaborate prank.
“Do I look like I could leave, even if I wanted to?” Loki hissed with enough anger that Tony knew it wasn’t a lie.
“Oh, fuck.” Tony ran a hand through his hair, feet moving on their own as he started pacing up and down. “Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck! ”
It left only one option. He was so fucked.
“What is it? What is going on, Stark?” It was more of a demand than a question and Loki’s voice sounded dangerous enough that it could morph into a threat quickly enough.
Tony stopped his pacing and looked down at him. “We travelled back in time.”
Loki remained silent for a moment. “How could you know that?”
“I met someone.” Tony swallowed, but the lump in his throat did not ease. “I met you. ”