Yay! It's new story time!

First off, to all my loyal readers, yes. It's new story time, not new chapter for Poison. Sorry. Distractions manifest in different story ideas. HOWEVER! Look for the next chapter sometime in September. I promise, I'll go back to it.

Secondly, I've had love-hate relationships with the Tony/Loki pairing, but I think I've finally decided to love it. I mean, Loki is really just Tony with less control of his evil side. So yeah, there's that. I still have a love-hate relationship with the whole redeemed!Loki kind of thing, which is why it's pretty much left up to your imagination. But I'm looking at Loki as more based off of mythology, rather than Marvel's movies. He's less...less take over the world I think.

Lastly, I hope that you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I might come back to this and do more little one shot stories, just because I like the world I set up in here. Oh yes, and watch out for some graphic-ness. Nothing explicit, just some intimate-ness.

And, as always, read, review, and enjoy!

They come to an agreement, Tony and Loki. While they're "together" or whatever they're going to call it (honestly, Tony has a great name for it, but for gentler ears, they're going to stick with together), Loki takes his plans off planet, where it's not the Avengers' problem anymore. Tony tries not to think about the poor unsuspecting planets he's unleashed his boyfriend (again, gentler ears) on, but at the same time, Loki's calmed way down. No more world domination plans. No more killing massive amounts of innocent people. He's adapted very well to the "mischief" part of his name.

Although, in retrospect, he probably should have told the rest of the team a while ago. Before they, you know, walked in on Loki perched on Tony's work table, finally managing to draw his attention away from the 42 hour work binge he's been on. It doesn't take much—a couple nips here and there, some well-placed hand brushes. Tony's just turning to claim Loki's lips when none other than motherfucking Captain America and Clint barge in.

"Ton-" Clint's call ends strangled, like he's wrapped his bow string around his neck in the middle of the word. Tony freezes, but Loki, the little bastard, continues to move forward to grab Tony's lip between his teeth, his own lips curving into a smirk.

Bastard.

For a second, the three Avengers stare at each other like they're all deer in headlights, before Clint finally breaks out of it to grab his smaller bow that's always strapped to some part of his body. He has it aimed and pulled back before Tony finally snaps out of it. He jerks his lip back from Loki, decidedly ignoring the pain and the blood welling to the cut, in order to give the god a glare.

"You should go," Tony tells him, casually moving to stand between him and Clint. "And you should lower that bow."

"What the hell Tony?" Steve manages to get out, and even Tony has to take a moment to realize what deep shit he's in because Captain America is swearing.

"I will see you soon," Loki says, but just because he's actually listening to Tony, he has to prove his own will by possessively putting a hand over Tony's arc reactor to turn him and give him another quick, gentler kiss, all while shooting Clint a glare. The hair on Tony's arms stands up, there's a flash of light, and then Loki is gone.

Clint's bow doesn't drop. In fact, the man doesn't even move. It's been two years since the whole "Loki destroys New York" event, but Tony knows Clint still has nightmares about the things he did while under Loki's control. Tony pulls one of his work chairs towards him and takes a seat. It doesn't settle Clint.

"Honestly, this can't be the worst thing you've ever walked in on me doing."

"I don't think you could possibly top being romantically involved with Loki, one of our enemies," Steve says, like Tony doesn't know they used to fight him, before Steve blushes as he recalls the scene they had walked into. Tony stops every juvenile part of him from rising up to the challenge of seeing how long it takes to make Steve retreat from the room. Probably not the right time.

"He's controlling you," Clint says, and shit of course that's the first thing he thinks. "How long?"

"He's not controlling me," Tony says with an eye roll. As long as he stays calm, he won't trigger Clint. "You can have Jarvis run every scan imaginable if you want. Or you can look at my eyes—they're not that abnormal blue color or anything. Also, after three days of your possession, you looked like you were about to keel over and die at any second. Still in perfect health," he says, proudly rapping his chest. The arc reactor echoes loudly in the dead silent room and he tried not to wince. "Well, relatively speaking."

"How-how long have you been seeing him?" Steve asks in disbelief.

Tony shrugs. "Seeing him? About a year. Fuc-Sleeping with him? Half a year." Steve's mouth is opening and closing again, trying to think of something to say. Clint still hasn't moved. Tony sighs. "You know what, get the team together. We might as well just get this out at one time. Jarvis?"

"I have already alerted the other Avengers to meet in the living room. They shall be there momentarily."

"I'd really appreciate it if you dropped the bow Bird Boy. If you kill me, I make no promises to what he does. He's very…possessive." For a second, Tony could swear he feels fingers ghosting across the back of his neck and then he realizes there's a good chance he did, so he pointedly moves forward.

"You're compromised," Clint says, finally dropping the bow, but moving to stand in Tony's path. Tony resists the urge to sigh again, this time more melodramatically.

"No. Yes," he corrects, then shakes his head. "Maybe. Probably not."

"You're not making any sense Tony," Steve complains. Clint moves out of his way, just barely, as Tony decides to push past.

"Welcome to my life," he mumbles. "Come on, let's make this quick. I've got things to do." He pauses for a second and then can feel Clint opening his mouth. "Nu-uh. Don't even say it Clint," he warns, but he makes sure he's out of sight before allowing the smile to slip. That's more like the Hawkeye he knows and loves.

"Believe me, you'd prefer that to the other things I'm planning on saying," Clint says darkly as he follows Tony upstairs.

Keep the situation light, he's chanting in his head, even while he makes evacuation plans in case this all blows up in his face. "I'm sure I do."

Well. It was as light as the situation is going to allow.

o.0.o

"You've been what?" Natasha's response is pretty expected. Outburst, followed by her staring intensely at him, before moving past the anger to give him a list of reasons why what he's doing is stupid. "Of course you are. Even for you Stark, this is dangerous."

Oh, never mind. There's the anger. She never uses his last name unless she's absolutely pissed.

Tony pours himself a glass of scotch and lets the burn focus his mind. "I'm sorry, but I fail to see where me putting myself into romantically dangerous situations is anybody's business except mine. I'll allow that it could also be Thor's, since he's kind of-sort of related to Loki, but this is my private life here."

"Except that it runs over with the Avengers too, since we've fought Loki multiple times."

"If I may?" Bruce's quiet voice spoke up from his chair. Everyone looked at him and he raised an eyebrow at the team's heated looks. "We haven't actually fought Loki in, what, three months? And I don't even think we can count that as a fight. He wreaked a little havoc on us, then focused his anger on Tony before the two of them fell off the grid for about fifteen minutes. I didn't even have to change."

Now everyone is looking back at Tony. He gives a one shoulder shrug. "We were fighting."

Steve's doing his impersonation of a fish again and Natasha is scrutinizing him. He resists making a funny face at her as Bruce starts speaking again. "And before that, it was eight months before our last fight with Loki. Whatever he's been doing, it hasn't been here on Earth."

Clint's head whips back to Tony, that same expression on his face as back in the lab. Tony holds up a finger to cut him off. "What did I say Bird Brain? Not a word." Clint's still smiling like he's the victor in this situation.

"You're saying that you think Loki's…stopped being bad?" Steve asks.

Tony opened his mouth with a similar smirk to Clint's, but Natasha imitates his glare to him, so he shuts his mouth and re-plans what he's going to say. "Not…necessarily. Let's just go with he's embracing the Trickster side of himself. Less 'I'm going to kill everyone' and more 'I'm going to put bleach in everybody's shampoo.'" Oh god, if Loki was still around for that, he was going to make him pay for that.

Although…

With effort, Tony pulls himself back to the topic at hand. "We made an agreement that we wouldn't put ourselves in situations where one of us would have to physically harm the other. He took his mischief off planet and everything's gone fine since."

Steve's about to lay into him again, but Bruce interrupts him. "Have either of you told Thor yet?"

Tony throws back the rest of the scotch and tries to ignore Bruce's knowing look. "Where is the Thunderer? Haven't seen him in a couple days."

That gets Bruce to drop the superior look in favor of an exasperated one and everybody around him relaxes slightly. "Tony, no one's seen you in the last two days. Thor was here this morning. He went to go spend the day with Jane," Bruce says.

Tony refills his glass. "Huh. Right. Well, again, busy man here. Things to do. Consider this conversation closed," he says, raising the glass to them in a salute before making it back into the elevator. He can tell that Bruce is the only one that's willing to let it go right now, but the elevator door shuts before the other three can get a word in. Tony leans back against the elevator and runs a hand through his hair. If he has to place a bet on which situation is going to end worse, he's placing everything he owns on the team's reactions to his relationship with Loki rather than the actual relationship itself.

"Lockdown Jarvis. No one comes in, no matter what code they type in."

"Understood sir. Lockdown initiated."

"Good. Let's do some work."

~o.0.o~

He surfaces about five hours later when Jarvis' voice becomes too insistent.

"What did you say?" he mumbles out. Luckily, Jarvis understands all of Tony speak, whether it's drunk Tony, caffeinated Tony, or sleep deprived Tony.

"Dr. Banner is at the door. He has requested entry, but has informed me he will wait patiently until you agree to let him in."

Tony sighs and pulls back from whatever he's working on. He takes a glance to notice it's a new bow for Clint and mentally groans. Just what he needs—give Clint a nice shiny bow to shoot him with. "Let him in then Jarvis, but only him."

Of course, Bruce is the only one patient enough to wait for however long he has been (Tony suspects a half hour, but he has no sense of time), so he's the only one there.

"I'm not here to judge," Bruce warns. "I don't think any of us really can. I just want to make sure you know what you're doing."

"I have absolutely no idea," Tony answers, and is surprised to find himself speaking the truth. "But whatever I'm doing is worth it."

Bruce studies him for a minute, and Tony thinks he could probably compete with Natasha on that soul-searching stare, before he nods. "Good. But if Loki does do anything to you, the other guy still hates him. We'll have your back."

Tony wonders if he's impersonating Steve now, because his mouth is opening and closing, but nothing is coming out. "I'm sorry, did you just give the customary 'best friend warning' to Loki?"

Bruce snorts. "Loki may be a god, but it doesn't make a difference to the other guy. Relationships are messy, but relationships among the most powerful people in the world? Doubly messy. Try not to stay down here too long. Remember that your body still needs food and sleep," Bruce says as he walks out of the lab. "Oh, and tell Loki he'll probably want to avoid being alone with me for a few months!"

The door shuts and locks behind him, but Tony is still staring at the place where Bruce was standing for another ten minutes before he finally pulls himself together. He pushes Clint's bow aside and begins working on a new reactor for cleaner, more efficient energy.

~o.0.o~

At this point, Steve doesn't care how angry he is at Tony, or even who Tony's dating. It's been three and a half days since anybody's seen Tony eat anything, and at least four since Tony's slept. He needs him to sleep, because if they have to go on a mission, no way is Tony any help to them. And if Loki sees him weak, what if he takes advantage?

So he makes his way down to the lab. Jarvis explained that Tony had initiated lock down, but Steve has to try anyway. If this doesn't work, he'll have to risk Clint killing Tony and send the archer through the vents to retrieve Tony. But before he can begin to pound on the door, he hears a voice coming from the lab, and it's definitely not Tony's. Steve pauses, and uses his spot from the shadows of the wall to assess the situation.

Tony is still working. He has some of Natasha's weapons spread around him, and he's tinkering with a gun. Steve can tell that he's still in a work daze—Tony gets this glaze to his eyes and barely blinks, and his foot twitches in time to whatever song is playing in his head. When he's like this, only Bruce's patience or Pepper can get through to the man.

The voice belongs to Loki, who appears to have returned. He's dressed casually again, looking far too comfortable in American clothing for Steve's comfort. He's draped over Tony, arms over his shoulders and lying comfortably along Tony's stomach. His head is propped up on Tony's shoulder. If Steve didn't know that was Loki in there, didn't know what Loki was capable of, he would have said that these were two people were completely in love.

"Come on, love," Loki is saying to Tony quietly. Steve notices that he's putting pressure on Tony, trying to get him to lean back, but it's so very gentle for the god. "Come back to me. Focus on my voice."

Steve realizes he's trying to bring Tony out of his daze. Half of him smirks, wishing Loki luck, but the other half is hopeful. Tony is ill equipped to take care of himself. He focuses too much on the ideas in his mind, and not enough on the systems in his body. If Loki could learn to corral him…

"Tony," Loki continues saying. He doesn't stop talking, and everything is so oddly calming around the god, the same god that usually looks like he has three of four different ideas in his mind and he's planning to initiate them all at the same time. "Come to bed with me. Sleep for a while. Rest and recover."

That's when Steve notices it. Tony's starting to blink more. The tools in his hands falter a little as he works, not enough to cause mistakes, but almost like he's suddenly not sure what he's doing anymore. He leans back into Loki's body. The muscles relax. Finally Tony releases a great gust of air and the glazed-over look in his eyes leaves.

"Welcome back," Loki says with a smile. Tony looks up at him and Steve can see it in his face and his body language—whatever this is between the two of them, it's way deeper than just sleeping with each other.

"What time is it?" Tony mumbles.

The laugh that Loki emits is like none he's ever heard before. It's soft and gentle, full of care. "What time or what day? It is currently seven minutes after ten on Saturday night. The date, however is June 14th."

"Huh," Tony says, like it's the least important thing in the world. "Time flies and such."

"Hm." Loki moves his chin so that it's resting on the top of Tony's head. "Time does not fly and you should take better care to track it. However, I came seeking your company because I require rest. Would you join me?"

Ah. Steve sees how he does it. He isn't nearly sneaky enough to do that to Tony, nor does he have nearly the same amount of power over him—he doesn't want it anyway. "I have some things I need to finish up first," Tony says, waving vaguely to the stuff on his desk. Loki clearly isn't listening though, and begins to pull Tony away.

"But I require sleep now. You may return to this at a later time." Tony opens his mouth to protest, but Loki's pulled him into a standing position and Steve notices how Tony sways. He moves where Loki directs him and Steve quickly makes an exit before they can be discovered. He goes to the living room and curls up on the couch with his sketch book. He tries to think of something to start sketching, so he can look busy when Loki moves through with Tony, but all he can picture is Loki's head resting on Tony's shoulder as he cajoles the other man from his work.

When they do pass, Tony's eyes are closed and he's leaning completely on Loki, his eyes closed and legs moving as Loki directs him. Loki slows to give Steve a knowing look, but Tony's eyes start to open at the slower motion and Loki turns away, leaving Steve staring after the pair in wonder.

~o.0.o~

Natasha is still biding her time to confront Stark. She's trying to control her anger because, after everything Loki's done to them (to Clint), Stark's still sleeping with the god. Clint told her that Stark didn't think he was compromised, but there's no way he's not. Steve seems to have settled down, and she laments not having him wholly at her side for the upcoming battle, but she still has Clint and someday—when Thor finally finds out—she'll have him too.

But first, she has to actually focus on the physical battle at hand.

"Shit, Tony get out of here," Clint says over the lines. "Magneto's here."

"Jesus Christ, who the hell is doing scout on these battles?" Stark curses as he flies over Natasha's head, leading a bunch of Doombots with him. He flips onto his back and starts shooting at them. "This the third time in two months that I've come to a battle with Magneto."

"Well, since when have Doom and Magneto worked together?" Natasha asks. After the New York invasion, she decided she likes having a staff, and Stark fitted it with the same laser guns that the Chitauri used. She spins it around and fires it once before burying it in another 'bot's body. "Just get the hell out of here. We'll be fine."

"Yeah, yeah, I've gotta lose these-" Stark's voice cuts off with pained grunt and Natasha looks up to see Iron Man take a sudden turn in direction that can't possibly be Stark's choice, before flying across the street to slam into a concrete wall.

"Tony?" Natasha asks, even as she's moving towards him. If he's not unconscious after that hit, he's definitely stunned. Before he can recover at all, the suit starts moving again, though none of the thrusters are working. This time the suit goes through a glass wall and into a building. "Clint, where-" she starts.

"Two buildings up from you on your right. 20th floor," Clint answers, his voice strained. Tony's gotten caught by Magneto once before. They'd really like to not repeat the situation again.

"On my way."

She's just entering the building when Jarvis' voice starts in her ear.

"The arc reactor has been removed. Assistance is needed immediately." Even though he's just an A.I., he manages to sound rushed as he says the words and even a little frantic.

"I'm on my way Jarvis, don't worry." But by the time she gets there, it may be too late between putting the reactor back in and dealing with Magneto. She decides to risk the elevator and is elated when it actually works. It pings when she gets to the 20th floor, giving away her position, but she could care less as she breaks through the doors. It's an office building, but most of the office space has been destroyed. Natasha starts towards the pair at the far end, but she's broken off in her pursuit by a flash of light and a streak of cold air, so cold that a shiver runs up her spine. When she looks again, Loki is standing between Tony and Magneto, a picture of cool anger.

"I'm giving you one chance to leave," Loki says, almost diplomatically, but Natasha can see the lines of anger, and she's known that anger twice in her life. It burns inside of you, until it's the only thing you can think of. It's cool and controlled until that first move of violence and then you're lost to it. This is the anger Loki is feeling right now.

Magneto laughs and he's all arrogance. Natasha wishes she could take him now, but she doesn't have any of her plastic weapons with her because Magneto wasn't supposed to be here (and this is the last time she doesn't take every type of weapon with her to a fight). "How the mighty have fallen. From destroying New York to standing up for an Avenger."

Loki smiles sweetly at Magneto and the hairs on Natasha's arm stand up. She almost takes a step back. "The opportunity to leave has passed," he says, and then there's energy all around him, something Magneto has no hope to control, and his look turns deadly. As soon as Magneto realizes what he's just gotten himself into, he's pulling at everything metal in the room to protect him and Natasha notices that the Iron Man suit has been completely scrapped. Well, most of it. There are still a few pieces left, but they're doing more sticking out of Tony than covering him. His shirt is ripped open and the hole where the arc reactor sits is just a chasm of darkness. The arc reactor itself is sitting just out of reach of Tony. The man is crumpled on the floor, sweat pouring off his skin and he has a hand over where his heart is. Natasha decides that, in this moment, Tony is far more important than Loki and Magneto, and she runs over to him, scooping up the arc reactor as she slides down next to him.

"Hold on Tony," she mumbles. She can feel a dent in the arc reactor, but it has to work because there's no other option. She pushes the arc reactor in and uses all her strength to turn it when it sticks. There's a flicker of light, but then that dies out. "Damn it," she says once but the mantra repeats in her head. She hears a noise and looks up to see Magneto pinned underneath a piece of metal, Loki grinning down at him.

"I have the strength of a god," Loki tells him, his voice so similar to when he attacked Manhattan. "Did you really think you could best me?"

And then Natasha flashes to a memory of Clint describing what he had walked into when he and Steve had walked into Tony's lab that night—Loki, with his hand covering the arc reactor. Which meant that he probably knew at least what it did. And the god was pretty much pure energy...

"Loki!" she calls, part of her mind already plotting ways to escape as soon as he turns his attention on her, the other part desperate. The god doesn't even flinch towards her. "Loki!" she says again, snapping it with authority in her voice. Loki turns to her, a wild look in his eyes and she wonders if he's about to blast her. "I need your help. Now."

His eyes slide past her and see the pale skin and short breaths of his dying lover and the anger flashes back in his eyes, so she's a little impressed when he turns back to Magneto, picks him up, and issues him a warning.

"If you come near him again," he says into Magneto's ear, holding the man by his throat, "I will not hesitate to kill you in the most painful way possible I can think of. I advise you not to test me."

And then he throws the man out the window like he had done to Tony once before. Natasha has no doubt that the man will survive, so long as he can avoid the other Avengers. Two seconds later, Loki's kneeling at Tony's other side.

"I need you to power the arc reactor. It's too damaged to do it by itself," Natasha says. The anger is still burning in Loki's eyes, but she can see the hands trembling as he places them over the reactor and doesn't that just floor her. His hands glow a blue-green and a second later, the reactor flares into life and begins giving off its quiet hum. Tony heaves in a breath and almost instantly his face clears from agonizing pain to just intense pain. He blinks his eyes and focuses on the two of them, but his eyes end on Loki. He relaxes his head back against the floor.

"Hey," he says quietly, and his hand manages to find Loki's leg. Natasha's sure he tries to squeeze it reassuringly, but he doesn't have any strength left. Natasha turns to the com line.

"Jarvis?" she asks. Jarvis never hacks into their communications unless it's important, but she has a feeling he's stuck around.

"Yes Agent Romanoff?" he replies back.

"Call Pepper and have her get a new arc reactor. Clint will meet her at the tower and bring it back here."

"I have already informed Ms. Potts to the situation. She will have the arc reactor in ten minutes."

"I'm on my way now," Clint's voice cuts in. There's a quiet relief about the fact that there's still a reason to get a new arc reactor that's palpable over their coms.

"Tony," Natasha snaps as she turns back and sees his eyes close. They blink open sluggishly. "You can't sleep. You've had enough concussions to know that."

"Yes mom," Tony manages to get out, but she knows he won't be able to stay awake long. He's lost a lot of blood, and even though the wounds are only bleeding slowly now, he's still losing more. But she can't take the pieces of metal out until she has a way to full stop the bleeding.

"I can multitask," Loki says quietly, too quietly for Tony to hear in his hazy state, but loud enough that Natasha can. He removes one glowing hand and holds it up, the other still steadily pouring power into Tony's arc reactor.

Natasha can't think about what this can possibly mean right now. All that needs to matter is that Loki is offering to heal Tony, and they need to do this immediately. "I need someone else to keep him still," she says. She doesn't want to hurt him more when he flinches from the pain. "Steve? What's everyone's status?"

"The Doombots are taken care of, but Doom isn't anywhere around. Bruce just de-Hulked. Clint went to get the arc reactor. Thor and I are helping trapped civilians."

"How's Tony?" Bruce's voice is always welcome on the coms and Natasha tries not to show it.

"I need your help with him," she says.

"I'll be there in two minutes."

Two minutes turns into one as a quinjet lands him on the roof. He barely spares a questioning look at Loki before he's all over Tony, checking his vitals.

"We need to remove the pieces of metal," Natasha says. Bruce frowns, because he knows she knows better.

"We need something to-"

Loki clears his throat and Bruce looks at him and sees the free glowing hand. "Oh," he says and Natasha thinks maybe he's a little shocked too. He snaps out of it the second Tony shifts under his hands. "Right. Hold him still. I'll get the metal out."

They start with the piece that's lodged in his thigh, and Natasha thanks whoever is out there that, for this one time, Loki is on their side, because the second they remove it, everyone can tell that it nicked an artery. Blood begins to spew from the wound, but Loki quickly clamps a hand on it and narrows his eyes in focus. His hand turns steadily red, but the blood slows down before the wound is completely closed.

"I cannot heal all of them that way. Remove the worst pieces first," Loki advises, and Natasha can see that some of the trembling is from exhaustion now. The adrenaline has cycled through his body and it's nice to know that even the gods of Asgard have some functions that are like humans.

Bruce pulls the next one out that's slid between two ribs. Luckily it wasn't deep enough to puncture the lung, but if they left it there much longer, they might not have been so lucky. Despite that, Tony will still have to deal with the pain of broken ribs and strained rib muscles. They pull out three other pieces; one that's slid deep enough into Tony's arm to hit bone, so Loki heals the muscle enough that there won't be permanent damage, another which leaves only a shallow cut on his shoulder, and the last one that's digging into his side, even shallower than the shoulder wound. Clint arrives as they finish that one, and wordlessly hands the arc reactor over to Natasha. He doesn't look at Loki, which Natasha thinks is a sign of a step in the right direction.

And when the hell did she start thinking of Loki as being on their side? As being something good for, not only Tony, but for the team?

"Loki," she murmurs. The god is exhausted and she thinks he's still a little shocked at all of the damage Tony sustained. She runs his hand over his, just barely above it, careful not to touch him. When he sees what she's holding, he lets the glow of his hand die, but instead of removing his hand, he twists the reactor and pulls it out. Natasha doesn't look at him, but she raises an eyebrow as she replaces it with the new reactor. As it clicks into place, Tony heaves in another great breath of air and stirs a little. He had been completely still the entire time they worked and Natasha realizes just how on edge it made her.

"Let me see the cut on his head," Loki says, moving to take Bruce's spot. Bruce moves aside.

"Stop it," Tony tries to say, and tries to swat Loki's hand away but the wrist is broken and he drops it, somehow managing to push the rest of his battered body closer to Loki in his pain. "You're exhausted," Tony grinds out in between the spasms of pain. "It'll heal by itself."

"I have energy enough for this," and Natasha recognizes the glint in his eye from the first time she met him, as he stood defiant over a ruined city—determination.

"He needs to go to a doctor. He's going to need things casted and supervision for that concussion," Bruce says as Loki's hands glow again, shrouding Tony's cut forehead.

"Nu-uh. Sleep," Tony says, clearly making himself comfortable in Loki's lap. Loki's lips twisted up into a half smirk.

"Not here love," Loki says. "But I will take you back to the tower, so we may both sleep there and I may speed up the healing of most of your wounds."

He gathers Tony up in his arms and Natasha waits to hear the tell-tale complaint Tony gives at being helped, but there's only silence and isn't that just telling? Loki gives her, Bruce, and Clint challenging looks, daring them to stop him, but they don't and seconds later, Loki and Tony are both gone. Only seconds after that, Thor lands on their floor, Steve hanging on to a large bicep.

"Was that Loki?" Thor asks, clearly confused. "I thought I felt his magic."

"Uh," Clint says helpfully. Steve is pointedly looking anywhere but Thor and Natasha busies herself by gathering up what she can of Tony's suit.

"Not touching that with a ten foot pole," Bruce says and walks towards the staircase.

~o.0.o~

It takes two days for Tony to heal from his injuries enough to get out of bed, and that's weeks quicker than he would have otherwise. Of course that doesn't mean that it lessens his complaints. That was Loki's job, because its four days after the fight before Loki finally lets Tony out of his sight.

They always knew it was only a matter of time before Thor found out about the two of them, and with Loki a constant presence in the tower for half a week, it seemed like the best time for Thor to walk in on them.

Somehow they make it the first two days without Thor knowing. Tony's confined to his bed and the concussion grates on his senses, leaving him with a constant headache, so he bribes the rest of the team to distract Thor. He's still a little shocked the team accepted it.

The first thing Tony does when he gets out of bed is go down to the lab to visit his 'bots. They're eager to see him, and a little excited to see even Loki again.

"Home sweet home," Tony says with a smile as he eases his body against the back of his chair. The rib muscles are still tender and they pull at the slightest movement.

"I hope you have no intention of working today," Loki says, with a challenging glance. Tony rethinks his of course I am, idiot.

"Uh, maybe a little?" He feels like he's pleading to a parent to stay up late. A flick of Loki's hands and Tony's chair is sliding towards where the god is leaning against a work bench.

"What was that you said? I don't think I heard you right," he says as he leans his forehead against Tony's. Loki's breath whispers across Tony's lips and Tony is suddenly remembering how long it's been since the last time they slept together, and he doesn't mean actual sleeping. He licks his lips.

"But mom, you promised me time in the lab!" he complains. Loki snorts and doesn't move away.

"I promised you a visit to the lab," Loki corrects and grabs Tony's lips with his teeth before moving onto a gentler kiss. "Good try though."

"Mm, I'm thinking I could be distracted," Tony says, returning the kiss and stands up to press himself closer to Loki.

"I don't believe what you have in mind is what Dr. Banner meant when he said to rest," Loki says, grinning against Tony's lips.

"What? We'll be in bed," Tony replies, a picture of innocence. At least he would be if he wasn't running his hands up Loki's chest under his shirt, his mouth moving to nibble on Loki's ear.

"He never said what you should be doing in bed," Loki agrees, and Tony gasps as he returns the favor, his hands not-so-innocently sliding down.

"I think we should-"

There's a bang as the lab door opens and Jesus Christ, does nobody knock around here? And where the hell is Jarvis? Tony catches a glimpse of long blonde hair and abnormally large muscles before he groans and buries his head in Loki's chest. Said god, facing away from Thor, is laughing silently, so Tony brings a hand up to flick him in the stomach for good measure.

"Friend Tony!" Thor begins, but then silence falls in the room as he sees who Tony is hiding behind. "Brother?"

And there's the customary tensing of Loki's muscles whenever Thor enters a conversation. Tony let's his hand rest against Loki's stomach in comfort and decides to face the music. He moves his head to Loki's shoulder to stare at the bewildered god.

"Yes Thor?" Loki asks, but he doesn't make any move.

"Brother, what are you doing here?"

"Making sure everything is healing right for me," Tony answers for him. Loki tenses underneath Tony, but this time Tony recognizes it as a choked back laugh and tries not to smile. "Didn't anybody tell you that it was Loki who stopped Magneto?"

"Director Fury and Steve both told me that it was the Hulk who stopped Magneto," Thor says with a frown, and takes a step forward. My god, Steve lied to Fury? Oh, he's got to find those surveillance tapes.

"I have been here for quite some time, brother," Loki says as he finally turns and Tony squeezes his arm in warning—play nice. "I'm surprised you haven't felt me here before."

This perplexes Thor even more. "I thought I had felt you several times, but I believed them to be phantom feelings, a manifestation of a desire."

Holy crap, look at Thor pulling out those big words! Tony's a little impressed, he has to admit. He knows Thor isn't dumb, but he's by no means the smartest cookie in the jar (that spot belongs to him).

"You have been coming to see Tony then? For how long?" Thor asks, and Tony can hear just a little bit of sadness and betrayal in the words, because for all the times Loki's visited him, he's never stopped to see Thor. Which isn't necessarily true. Tony knows that sometimes he stops to check on his brother, to make sure that he is still alive and well.

"A year," Loki says. Tony thinks it's a peace offering, the truth for Thor's hurt feelings.

"And you have been romantically involved?" Thor asks. He has a very good poker face going on.

"Yes," Loki says, and there's a challenge issued silently. Is that a problem? Thor's face is torn between anger and happiness, but by the time Tony recognizes the two emotions, the anger is already gone, replaced by pure happiness.

"Congratulations!" he booms and then moves forward to envelope both of them in a giant hug. It physically pains Tony because, hello, still healing here, but it's way better than the fight he was expecting. "We must have a celebration!"

Tony decides that pointing out the fact that everyone already knows about the relationship is not the best idea he's ever had (although, it's definitely not the worst), so instead he says, "It's really not necessary Thor. I've been informed that I need to rest more. Loki was just about to take me back upstairs." If only Clint was here. Snarking would ensue like it never had before.

"Tomorrow then, when you are fully rested!" Thor booms anyway. "It shall give me time to prepare for a proper feast!"

Before either of them can say anything, Thor is already gone, so Tony just drops his head back against Loki's chest with a groan. Loki's quiet chuckle does settle Tony down a little. "That went far better than I expected. Perhaps I should put you between Thor and myself more often."

"I don't think my body could handle much more of that," Tony said, and curses the fact that he's actually tired. There were so many fun things to do…

"Perhaps when we wake again," Loki says in his ear and shivers run up and down Tony's back.

"I expect it as an apology gift for not letting me get any work done today," Tony states, even as he feels Loki's magic wrap around the two of them. There's a disorienting blackness, and then his bedroom appears around them. Loki has helpfully placed them on the bed already. Loki kisses Tony's forehead, then his lips and the kiss lingers.

"Time to sleep," Loki says, finally pulling away.

"Tease," Tony pouts.

Loki raises an eyebrow at him. "Do I need to put you to sleep as I used to?"

"You enjoyed spelling me to sleep far too much," Tony says, still sulking. Loki moves his body with a grace that Tony could never hope to achieve, so that his head is resting on the god's chest, Loki's arm around his shoulders, hand threading through Tony's hair. Tony nestles into his hold and Loki, as he always does, raises his other arm to cover the arc reactor.

"Go to sleep love," Loki whispers, but Tony's already gone.

~o.0.o~

Clint's just trying to escape the pandemonium that is the Avenger's tower right now. Between Thor demanding they watch one program, Natasha opting for anything but what Thor wants, and Bruce quietly trying to convince them all to eat, Clint's had just about enough. He retreats the highest balcony, his go-to spot when he needs space, but he finds it already occupied. He'd thought that Tony was still down in the lab, hadn't even seen him come upstairs, but the man is there now, watching the city lights, a glass of scotch in one hand, the bottle and another empty glass sitting next to him. He raises an eyebrow at Clint when he makes his presence known, but waves his glass at him and Clint takes that as an invitation.

He sits down in silence. Since the whole Loki thing, they haven't spent much time together. Clint realizes (because Natasha pretty much told him he had to accept it) that Loki being around is a good thing, but he'd rather not spend any time in the god's company. Tony pours him a drink in the empty glass and hands it to him before leaning back against the wall.

"Haven't seen Loki around much," Clint offers.

"Hm," Tony says. "He tries to come while you're on missions. Doesn't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

"Seriously?" Because that does not sound like the same Loki he's met. Tony cracks a half smile.

"I think he's worried he's going to set you off, you're going to shoot him, and I'm going to yell."

"My god, you've domesticated him," Clint says, mock horror all over his face.

"Oh believe me, we have some epic fights," Tony says, and his mouth twists into a grimace. "But he knows that if he hurts anybody on the team, it's over."

Wow, guilt trip central. He's been constantly telling Natasha how Tony's compromised, how they should tell Fury, how he should be benched until he breaks it off with the god. He forgot that Tony doesn't just listen to his desires anymore. It took a while, but he finally understands what being on a team means. Sometimes at least. "Is that why you're up here tonight?" Clint says, just to distract himself. "Because you guys fought?"

For a minute, they sit in silence and Clint doesn't think he's going to answer. He's about to apologize when Tony actually speaks. "He thought I didn't know," he says, and that makes absolutely no sense to Clint.

"Didn't know what?"

"Where he was disappearing to. I told him not to go tonight, but they have too good of dirt on him."

What the hell? The god of mischief and lies is being blackmailed? "He's being blackmailed? With what, having his identity outted?"

Tony gives him that look that makes Clint feel like he's back in third grade, trying to hang out with the high schoolers. He loathes being made to feel he's stupid. Tony drains the glass and turns his gaze back out to the city. "With my life, Bird Brain," he says.

"They're threatening you? Why haven't you told anyone? Loki's probably out there killing people and-"

Clint is cut off by Tony's dry laugh. "That's exactly what he's doing Clint. He's tracking them down, everyone who made any threat on me, and killing them." Tony's tone dares Clint to have a problem with that, but he can't. He'd do the same if someone threatened Natasha and he knows Tony would do the same if he and Loki switched places. "He's going to get himself killed," Tony mutters darkly.

That's the difference between Tony and Loki—Tony would have taken back-up. "Why didn't he ask anyone to go with him? The second he said you were being threatened, we would have helped him," Clint says, but Tony gives him that look again, and Clint can see the lie in his own words. He would have assumed that it was some elaborate trap by Loki. Steve is like a puppy—if you smacked him and then said you were sorry, he'd forgive you—but even he's not stupid enough to go off with Loki. "Okay, so maybe not," he admits. "Why didn't you go with him?"

The hand on the glass tightens. "I told him to take me with him as backup."

"And?"

"He cast a sleeping spell on me."

Ouch. Loki probably already knows it, but he's in a world of trouble when he gets home. "How did you even find out about it? He obviously went to lengths to keep you in the dark." To protect you, Clint thinks, and that's just weird. Since when did Loki start caring about any mortal, let alone one of the Avengers? He knew it when he saw Loki saving Tony's life after the Magneto incident, but this just confirms it—whatever the pair is doing, it's more than just sleeping around. He wonders if Tony is still in denial.

"They left a note in my lab—to prove to Loki they could get at me there. What Loki fails to realize is that a) I'm more protected in my lab than any other room in the tower; all my suits are located there and b) despite a few choice people," Coulson being the number one suspect, "not much goes on in my lab without me knowing. Jarvis told me there was a blip in the video footage. When I watched the tape, I saw the note they left."

"Tony, there are ways they could get to you in the lab, ways they could take you out before you even knew what was happening," Clint says. Sometimes, Tony trusts his tech too much. Clint can think of at least three ways to take Tony down before he could activate the suits.

"Since when do you defend Loki's actions?" Tony asked with a smirk.

"Did you figure out how they got past the security systems?" Clint asks, sliding around the question, because he does not like Loki and he will not defend the god's actions. No matter how understandable they are.

"Of course," Tony says with a satisfied grin. "The idiots-" Tony cuts off with a strained damn it as he stands up, looking behind them like he's waiting for something. A second later, Clint feels it—a rise in the energy around them. He remembers the feeling from when Loki disappeared from Tony's lab. Sure enough, Loki materializes in a glow of blue-green light. He stands tall for a second, then sways and almost falls, but Tony catches him first.

"What the hell?" Clint asks as he hurries forward. Loki is a mess of cuts, bruises, and broken bones.

"I will not say I told you so," Tony says, but it sounds more like a prayer than a vow. He helps Loki sit down so he's leaning against the wall where they were just sitting. "You drained yourself, didn't you?" Tony demands, but Loki looks far from cowed. He looks…dazed. Like Tony did when he was doped up on good pain meds.

"Got 'em," Loki says with his loopy grin. "All of 'em."

"God damn it," Tony snaps before unbuttoning his shirt. "Listen here, you dying imbecile. You need to heal yourself. Now."

Clint isn't sure if it's Tony's angry tone that snaps Loki out of it, or if he pulls himself out of it, but Loki blinks and suddenly he looks incredibly tired. "No energy," he says and Clint realizes that this is what it looks like when a god is dying.

"No shit Sherlock," Tony mutters before he gives up trying to unbutton the shirt with shaking hands and just tears it open. "And now you owe me a new shirt. But first." He's giving Loki a meaningful look, one that Clint doesn't understand at all, but Loki flinches away from it.

"No. I promised I wouldn't."

"You promised you wouldn't take it without need and permission, both of which are happening right now. No, I'm not giving you permission; I'm forcing you to do it. I can if I need to."

They have a stare down, which is a little impressive given Loki's battered state. Clint is about to demand an explanation when Loki, looking a little sick, reaches up and puts a hand on the exposed arc reactor. Blue begins to form around Loki's hand. It only takes a few seconds before Clint realizes that the light of the arc reactor is dimming.

Son of a bitch, he's draining the reactor!

"Son of bitch!" Clint repeats out loud, pulling out a knife from his waist band. Tony's eyes snap to him, but Loki remains frozen, a look of concentration on his face as he sucks the energy from the arc reactor.

"If you make a single movement, I will personally end you Barton," Tony says. His tone is calm, but the anger is blazing in every syllable. Clint's never heard him so angry, not even when he was bitching the entire flight to his tower the first time Loki invaded.

"He's draining the thing that keeps you alive! And you're just letting him!"

"He needs energy to heal himself," Tony says steadily. "And this thing is pure energy. He won't drain it."

As if to prove the point, Loki breaks contact with the reactor with a stuttered gasp. The glowing fades, and Clint can hear the sound of bones resetting themselves at an abnormal pace. The bleeding cuts close up, leaving only dried blood behind.

"Reactor power at 67% sir," Jarvis intones. Tony frowns down at Loki.

"You should have taken more," he says, and dear lord, for a second he sounds exactly like Steve when he finds out that they haven't sought medical attention yet for an obvious wound.

"Rest will heal the remaining wounds, as well as allow me to recover my strength," Loki says, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes.

"Nu-uh," Tony says, pulling Loki's arm over his shoulders and heaving them both up to a standing position. Loki barely keeps his legs underneath him, but at the last second, he locks his knees and forces himself to stay upright. "You didn't let me sleep when I wanted to so you don't get to sleep here."

Without even sparing Clint a glance, Tony half-drags, half-leads Loki back into the tower.

And Clint's just wondering when his life got so fucked up.

~o.0.o~

Clint isn't sure whether Loki finds him or he finds Loki but suddenly they're in the same room. It's awkward for the first minute before Clint realizes that, even though Loki is looking calm and collected, sitting at the kitchen table like that's all he came here for, what he really came for was something to drink, but he's too sore to stretch up to the impossible to reach cabinets (Tony insists that the mugs need to be in the easiest to reach place and then the special glasses for his fancy alcohol and really, who needs to drink regular beverages anyway?) and is too weak to magic it down. So Clint grabs a glass and tilts it towards Loki in offer.

"Just water please," Loki says, and it looks like it's killing him to say anything. Clint grabs a second glass down, like that was his plan the whole time. He slides the glass to Loki, then leans against the table, pointedly looking everywhere except where Loki sat.

"I…apologize for my earlier actions," Loki says out of nowhere, and damn. If his earlier words were murder, than these are eons of torture captured in one sentence. Clint raises an eyebrow in question. "I was not thinking right after I fell from the Bifrost," Loki continues, each word delicately selected to give away as little as possible. "I lashed out and you were caught in the middle."

"Me and thousands of other innocents."

"Believe me, I know," Loki murmurs and Clint wonders what Tony said to him when he first started showing up. Of all of them, he thinks it's a competition between him and Tony on who is the least forgiving. Clint will never confront his enemy, but he'll always be watching, waiting. When he does strike, it'll be quiet and no one else will ever know. Tony is vindictive. He will destroy his enemy with a flare that shouldn't be possible.

"Why are you saying this now? Why not just stay silent?"

Loki's green eyes watch him as his fingers tap against his glass. Clint thinks the beat sounds strangely similar to one of Tony's AC/DC songs. Whatever scrutinizing test Loki is giving him, he must have passed because Loki answers him. "I did not want things to continue to be…awkward between us. I mean to be around for a while."

Which Clint translates to I don't plan on leaving any time soon, so for the sake of Tony's relationship with the team, let's agree not to kill each other. Loki's tone is challenging and Clint feels like all the team has been doing is challenging the couple, and in retaliation, they regularly challenge the team. It's tiring, actually. So Clint makes a move he hadn't planned on doing.

"I'm sorry. For doubting that you would protect Tony." It's an apology that covers many events, but more specifically, what happened last night. Loki's lips twist into a frown that looks close to pouting.

"I have been informed that he does not need my protection." Clint can hear the stiff, formal words of an argument that has not yet ended. He doubts it ever will, but he still laughs and is surprised to find how easy the laughter comes to him.

"He's still angry about that then?"

"Many threats have been made," Loki says. "However, had I a chance to go back and do it all again, I would change nothing."

"Next time," Clint says and dear lord, he needs to get out of here, because he's been angry for so long and suddenly, he's not, "ask for back up. Anyone on the team would help you protect Tony."

Loki stares at him again, but Clint thinks this time he can read a bit of shock in the god's face. Then Loki nods. "I will consider this next time."

Next time, because there will be another time. They all have enemies, but Tony's got everything, from competitors to terrorist organizations to alien races. It doesn't help that he's the most flashy of all the Avengers. Loki stands to go. "Thank you for the company," he says, still a little stiff and formal, but he's got the glint in his eye, the same one he gets before Tony, no doubt with Loki's encouragement, sees how long it takes to make Steve run out of the room blushing. It's a step for both of them.

"Loki," he says before he can stop himself. The god stops in the doorway. "Why were you so against using the power from the arc reactor? You obviously weren't going to drain it."

Loki's words are quiet, and Clint, who has great hearing by any standards, has to strain to hear them. "Because I am the one who lies in the bed with him when he wakes up screaming, believing he has just been killed by a loved one who desired power," he says, and then he leaves Clint standing in the kitchen, glass of water in hand, suddenly feeling sick as well.

~o.0.o~

They're sitting silently in the living room, minus Tony and Loki, and all of them working on their own thing, when Clint can't stand it anymore. He puts down the arrows forcefully, jolting most of them out of their work.

"Seriously, no one finds this weird?"

Natasha raises an eyebrow, but it's Steve who answers him. "Find what weird?"

"The fact that Loki could just appear in the middle of the room and we wouldn't race to arms?" Clint responds.

"My brother would not harm us," Thor says with a frown.

"Okay, you probably said that the day before he betrayed you," Clint says, but immediately feels guilty when Thor flinched from his words. "But still. It's only been two months since he started showing up around the house and we're completely comfortable with him."

Bruce shrugs. "Tony usually knows what he's doing, despite what the rest of the world seems to think." Bruce even has the decency to not send a knowing look at Steve, even though the man blushes slightly anyway. "He has good instincts—he's had to in order to run his company. I trust him," he finishes with another shrug.

"I may have needed to relearn some aspects of my brother, but even I can see that he is committed to Friend Stark. He will not knowingly harm him." It apparently turned into "why I trust Loki in our presence" in the living room, so Clint looks at Steve next.

"He got Tony to go to sleep before he passed out," Steve says, like that's enough. Really though, it is.

Natasha's answer is all tactical. "He's a good addition to the team, even if we can't rely on him to come out to every battle with us. We can at least have Tony call him in, and he clearly has some way of knowing when Tony is in trouble. It's a good move. Besides, you don't seem to really have any problem with him anymore."

Everyone's staring at him and Clint wants to burst out with some denial, but he can't think of anything so he huffs and picks up his arrows again. "…Fine," he says into the silence. "It's not that I don't trust him…he just makes me itch when he's here. Like at any second, he might turn the whole trick on us."

"You'd do well to live by those words, Barton," a voice drawls behind him and god damn it, he would never admit that he nearly jumps out of his skin. He's an agent, has trained for years to achieve his level of skills, and no God of Mischief is going to sneak up on him.

Yet somehow, Tony still appears beside him, slapping him on the shoulder and when he looks at the man, his eyes are knowingly laughing at him. "What he said buddy. Waiting for him to turn the trick is the best part."

Clint can hardly resist calling him out on his wording, but Tony's eyes are too challenging. He's probably being set up, another trick that was Loki's idea. He should've known about their relationship sooner, so he could stop their mischief-making and plotting ways before it was too late. "Do you actually need something?" Clint asked.

"Yes, actually!" Tony straightens. He gets this tone sometimes, when his mind has been completely distracted from one idea and someone brings his attention back to it with a snap. They all look knowingly at each other. "I volunteered you for an experiment. I need your arrows and your arrow-pack thing."

"Quiver, Tony, it will always be called a quiver," Clint says tersely, even though he knows Tony just creates new names for it to poke at his control. "And what do you need it for?"

"We're working on replicating what Doom seems to be able to do with his droid machines. If it works, you get super awesome arrows."

"And if it doesn't?" Clint says suspiciously. It's not the first time his arrows disappeared, only to be secretly replaced with a whole new set.

"Then…I owe you arrows. Again."

"Wait, you think you can combine magic with technology?" Bruce asks, leaning forward.

Immediately, Tony adopts his science face. Bruce is pretty much the only one who can get Tony to go into full science mode, besides Tony himself. They've lost the two scientists to science in many conversations. Loki sighs and leans against the couch between Natasha and Clint. Clint shifts away before he can stop himself and Loki spares a few seconds to smirk at him.

"I think I figured out the key—only certain types of metals will accept the energy that makes up magic. And the frequency that the magic is added to the metal has to be just right. Once you figure out the ratio though, it should only take seconds to replicate."

"And you think you can replicate it with Clint's arrows?" Steve asks.

"I think I figured out the best type of metal to use and last time Clint lost-er, I had to replace the arrows," Tony changes when Clint sends him a glare, "I used it. I installed all sorts of weird shit in them, so it had to be a durable, yet malleable metal. Oh, and I need the bow. If it works, the arrows may…demolish the bow. So we're gonna need to add some, let's call them precautions."

Tony's looking at him expectantly and Clint is still clutching his bow protectively. It's not that he doesn't trust Tony. It's not even that he doesn't trust Loki. It's that he feels like he shouldn't trust the god and he's a little ashamed of himself for actually being willing to just hand his weapons over.

"Tony," Natasha says quietly, and the attention shifts off him thankfully. She's holding out a knife, a special one that Tony made for her, that can make it through metal detectors of every frequency. "It's the same metal. Try small scale first."

"Far less fun to play with," Loki says, but picks the knife out of her hands. Clint feels even more guilt for being grateful to Loki for allowing the focus of the room to leave him. "Come love, we have things to destroy."

Surprisingly-not so surprisingly anymore- Tony follows along behind him, mumbling things that only Loki can hear. Natasha moves closer to Clint, and he can feel everyone else trying to discreetly stare at him. He only handles it for a few minutes before he finally stands up and grabs up his weapons. Natasha looks to him for an explanation, but he leaves her waiting and makes his way to the elevator. He punches in the level for his floor, but slams his hand against the emergency stop button.

"Don't tell Tony, Jarvis. Please," Clint actually begs as soon as the elevator comes to a stop. There's long silence, like Jarvis is thinking, before he chimes in.

"Of course Agent Barton. I will alert Mr. Stark to a malfunction in the elevator if it does not begin moving again in five minutes."

"Thank you Jarvis," Clint says, leaning his forehead against the cool metal of the walls. His mind is racing too fast, his heart churning out adrenaline while his stomach turns nauseously. Finally he stands up and hits the elevator back into operation.

It starts heading down.

Clint has always been a fond believer of mind-over-matter. So when the elevator stops and dings open, he forces his legs to move forward, even though they seem like lead right now. The lab doors are already unlocked-probably thanks to Jarvis-and the two men on the other side are sitting back to back. Tony's staring at hologram in front of him that's monitoring the frequency of something, other figures popping up here and there for a few seconds before Tony pushes them away. Loki is focused over something on the table, a familiar blue-green glow coming off of him.

"Tony," Loki is saying, and his voice is actually stern, almost lecturing, "I told you not to single him out. He will not kill me, but he must still come to terms with-"

"Oh I know what guilt is Loki," Tony says back, but there's no real heat in it. "But if we don't push him here and there, he'll never force himself to get over it."

"Not everyone is like you Tony," Loki says, and Clint almost smiles with the amount of exasperation in his tone.

"No, if everyone was like me, we'd have far too many geniuses running around. Can you imagine having ten of me?"

"Please, I do not wish to even think it," Loki groans.

"I can barely handle one of you," Clint says, deciding to make his appearance known. Tony yelps and almost falls out of his chair, and Clint feels a little guilty because they all know that scaring Tony yields two results—a brutal joke that gets back at the person who scared him (good situation) or a flash of actual fear and a twitch to the arc reactor (bad situation).

"Jesus Christ Clint. Jarvis, what have I said about telling me when people enter the lab?"

"I did sir," Jarvis intones. "However, I believe you were powering up the back-up generators at the time."

Tony glares at one of Jarvis' cameras, but when he turns back to Clint, the look on his face is completely undemanding, accepting no matter what he's about to say.

"You're right," Clint says finally. "If you didn't push me, I would never come to terms with it. Natasha tries but…"

"Natasha is not me," Loki says, and Clint is once again surprised by the gentleness in the god's voice, even though there is an undertone of an almost growl in it.

"No, she isn't."

"Well, with the five minute head start you've given us, I can almost guarantee you that it will work without destroying your arrows. Check it out!" Tony kicks his chair over to where Natasha's knife is lying, being the object that Loki was focusing over, completely pushing the topic and it's awkwardness away. Yet, it doesn't feel unfinished….it has a closure to it that Clint can definitely appreciate.

"Tony, don't-" Loki starts, but Tony's already grabbed the knife. There's a flash of light as the blue-green glow Loki's magic leaves shifts around Tony's body, before the light almost…settles into Tony's skin.

"Tingly," Tony says with a smirk. "You always seem to forget," he admonishes Loki.

"Forget what?" Clint asks with a frown. Something important just happened, he can tell, but he's definitely not knowledgeable enough to guess. Loki shoots an uneasy glance at Clint and that just sets Clint even more on edge. Tony catches the glance and understanding crosses his face.

"Ohhhh, right. Well, they were going to find out anyway someday," Tony defends to his lover. He turns back to Clint. "Loki's magic doesn't….it doesn't always work right on me. Something to do with this," he says, tapping the arc reactor. "The sleeping spells worked well enough," Tony adds on a glare at Loki to that one, "but other things, like the defensive spells he was adding into the knife, or the scepter of destiny, they don't typically work on me. It just…seems to soak into me."

"That's how you figured out about the certain types of metal and frequencies."

Tony looks a little impressed at Clint's deduction, and Loki just looks relieved that they've changed topics. "Yeah, actually. The stronger the metal, the more easily it takes in magical energy. For instance, a weak metal like tin will actually melt when you try to put a spell on it. Stronger things, like the metal of the arc reactor, will absorb it. God, could imagine what I could do with adamantium? Or Cap's shield?"

Tony's getting that look in his eyes like the last time Steve's shield went missing and he was minutes away from a full blown panic attack before Tony emerged from the lab, wide eyed and innocent looking as he held the star-bestowed shield. "Tony, please don't steal Steve's shield. The last time was bad enough."

It's enough to snap Tony out of his daze. "Oh settle down Bird Brain," Tony says and kicks his chair back to his hologram. "Start it up again babe."

The use of Clint's nickname seems to put everyone at ease again, and the two men return to work. Clint watches for a while, but after a half hour, the theories are way over his head. He leaves his bow and arrows (and quiver Tony, it's a quiver) on the table he was leaning against before quietly slipping away.