AN:/ Definitely didn't mean to take this long with uploading a new chapter, but life always proves out to be a surprisingly busy one, and for that I apologize.

Not my finest work, this one, but I hope you enjoy nevertheless!

+ Feedback is always super!

Loki most definitely had enjoyed the show.

The man Stark had fought turned out to be both clumsy and reckless, but it was Stark's similar kind of behaviour that'd made the whole incident interesting enough for Loki to watch from his place on one of the rooftops. Iron Man had obviously thought it to be a textbook take down, being lazy and basically just trying to show off without thinking his actions through. The fight had taken a ridiculously long amount of time, and in the end - after taking some severe hits and causing unnecessary damage - Stark had lost it and almost killed the guy. The man had had some tricks up his sleeves, though, because as Stark finally managed to take him down he got hit by something incoherent and just barely made it out of his smoking armour before collapsing onto the ground. The more-or-less useless backup had arrested the disarmed and unconscious villain as a group of medics had had to drag Stark out of the site.

Afterwards, as he'd witnessed Stark being rushed away into a hospital, Loki had ventured back to the Stark Tower with ease, and straight to the archives. He'd figured that Stark would be busy enough not to notice. And he had.

Loki'd had time to go through a pile of files, and as he'd realized the man was escorted back much sooner than was probably healthy, he'd taken a selection of files dealing with a fraction of Stark's tech as well as some personal aspects of his life, and hidden them inside his jacket for later inspection.

He still couldn't have resisted paying the man a quick visit.

The files he'd snatched were now in front of him in a large mess on a table, along with more than a few piles of heavy books of science and technology. He was inside the local library doing his research and avoiding boredom despite the early hour - the security there was in need of an update, clearly. The library itself was impressive even by Loki's standards, and he'd spent the last few days there anyway with the lack of a better place to stay. It was rather exhilarating to be someplace where he would have an on-going access to all the information he could possibly need there.

Stark's tech in its physical form had made little sense to Loki, and even with the blueprints and equations he was struggling. It appeared Stark's mind worked faster than his writing hand, for it was obvious he skipped phases in all of his notes. It did get Loki rather vexed: he preferred consistent notes and Stark's sloppiness only made the notes twice as hard for Loki to understand, hence the selection of literature on the matter in front of him.

Loki had been on it for hours on end, but his mind was wondering from Stark's complicated work to the man himself. Tony Stark was a man who lacked in discretion, which made it rather easy to work out what he was thinking. It wasn't as if he was overly more of an open book than many others, but he came across as straightforward and was easy to give away what was going on in his mind, but likely because he wanted others to know. Stark wanted to be heard, so much was obvious to anyone. This in mind, Loki had figured it would be the easiest thing to get to Tony Stark, to be the prick in his flesh and make the man doubt and ruin himself. But no, Stark wasn't easy to manipulate, wouldn't be affected by any simple means. He was obvious, of course, expressive, but apparently one could easily underestimate the resistance of his mind. Without his armour on, he would look vulnerable, but Stark made a point of appearing anything but. His ego filled what ever space his armour left empty. In a way, that should've made him more prone to give in to doubt, but his mind would hold strong nevertheless. Stark was an idiot, but resistant.

Loki hadn't exactly experimented on the man, but he had tested the waters only hours before, and he knew that if he wanted he could get Tony Stark to break. He had his means. With effort, Loki could make the man crumble in pieces and sing all about the Avengers, his armour, the device, everything - but no, that was not the plan of action.

To be honest with himself, Loki had no plan of action to begin with. Curiosity was his biggest fault, and Stark was entertaining enough for him to not to do anything reckless and get caught. That was, at least, the explanation he offered to the rational part of his own mind. Never mind the fact that everything he'd done since his arrival was at least some level of reckless.

Loki had thought it would be fun to toy around with Stark's mind and maybe make him question himself, but something told him it wouldn't be wise to push too much. Stark was a loose cannon if there ever was one. But he certainly wasn't going to befriend the man; gaining each other's trust wasn't an option, it was clearly somewhere neither of them would be willing to go to. Why he had helped the man wasn't really in his reason anymore - easing the healing of a simple burn was nothing on Loki, but curing Stark also wasn't any straight benefit to him either. He'd acted on impulse, something he'd always tried hard to eliminate from his persona in whole. But thinking back, he trusted that Stark - being a human - would in the right circumstances feel to be in Loki's debt. It wasn't as if he'd done any miracles, but hopefully enough to wake the guilt in the man's mind whether a situation was to arise.

With these thoughts replaying themselves in his head, Loki did his best absorbing every piece of information he could from Stark's notes. After going through scratches of data on the armour and Stark's company, Loki didn't feel much wiser. He'd found out some main principles on how the armour worked and the power it held, but there was nothing there he could physically use for his benefit. Same went with the company: it had an interesting background, but the files he had only stated facts of development, not the reasons why. Why first make a fortune out of weapons manufacturing and then shut it all down and start on a complete opposite? Perhaps Stark was after absolution, enlightened by all the wrong he'd apparently done. Loki didn't understand such nor did he care. Interesting pieces of information, but again, hardly of use. But it did feel like there were more than a few black holes in the information he held. As if something was being left out, something Stark didn't care or couldn't bring himself to write down.

Then there was the device. Loki had only had enough time to find a few files on that, but it was something for sure. The arc reactor that held enormous power inside, yet so small by its frame. In the files there were a lot of references used ('lo project 608.2') so Loki was certain there were more of these reactors of different sorts for different purposes.

Stark was basically building a whole new world with his technology.

Still, it didn't explain the one in his chest, Loki realized, and even though the files he'd discovered lacked proper data, he could make some sense out of the blueprint. It didn't appear to be an original blueprint, only a copied one on a smaller scale, so it was harder to decipher, but Loki got the idea in the end. At first it didn't look too different. Not at all, to be honest, but then he flipped through the pages of one of the files to find a reference of the reactor's place in Stark's chest. Not only did it power the armour, but also something else. After confirming a few terms and formulas from one of the books in hand, Loki frowned. An electromagnet. It made sense, in a way, since it matched the readings of Loki's scan hours previous, but why on Earth - He flipped back and forth the files in irritation, but had to admit that none of it explained why Stark had jammed a magnet in his chest of all places to begin with.

He was getting the feeling that he'd either picked the slightly wrong files from the archive or Stark had foreseen it and cleared away whatever he didn't want Loki to find. It seemed a bit too clever a move from Stark of all people, but the man certainly was full of surprises. Something about that made Loki very annoyed.

After staring at his own notes for some time, Loki quickly wrote the rest of the empty facts down. He could, of course, remember all of it, but knew better than to take any chances. It gave him something to do, at least. Loki collected the books and returned them to their original places, then organized both Stark's files and the notes of his own and dispelled them into thin air. He knew he should return what he'd taken as soon as possible, but he could afford to stall for a few moments more. It wasn't as if anyone would notice the absence of only a handful of files that weren't even of use to begin with.

Loki stretched lazily on his place on a chair and ran hands through his unusually messy hair. He was feeling tired and lacked needed energy, yet he lifted up his shirt ever so slightly to check in on himself. Tracing the crumbled skin of his wound with light fingers, he was content to realize it'd almost healed. Somewhat. In appearance, at least. Loki could still feel it, inside, the way all of his energy was absorbed into healing it, disputing the poison. The way the wound was in control of his very own body. Under his breath, he cursed both the Svartálfar as well as his own short temper. Nevertheless, Loki couldn't resist trying out his more powerful magic. With concentration, the familiar tingle found its place in the tips of his fingers and the air surrounding him slowly became thick with magic. It bend beneath his hands the way it was supposed to, but the resistance was stronger. Loki knew despite whatever apparent progress the wound was going through, healing-wise, his magic was still average at best.

Frustrated, he dropped his concentration and let his hands fall.

Suddenly a pale light lit his face through the tall windows, and squinting ever so little, he realized it was the dawn already. The obnoxious buildings in the city blocked most of any light throughout the days, so it was a pleasant surprise to see the sunlight all bright and fresh painting itself onto the walls of the library. Loki realized, as he was enjoying the moment of sheer peace and calmness, that he didn't even want to fight the sudden urge to breathe the morning air. He needed to go outside. Just to breathe.

But the thought quickly washed itself away from his head as another one registered and took its place. There was no sound as such, but sudden tension rushed into his consciousness and filled his senses. Slightest of shadows went through the windows. Footsteps, perhaps, from somewhere outside.

The feeling of a trap.

Then it all exploded in a fraction of a second. He heard doors slam in the lobby as masses pushed through them, the sound of windows breaking in the other end of the library. Someone shouting out an order, then another one. Movement everywhere, people rushing, approaching Loki as he turned to meet the same sounds from all directions.

SHIELD.

This was it.

Loki did not allow himself a moment of panic, fundamental senses taking over him as he grabbed his jacket and scanned every possible way out inside his head, trying to figure out an escape as the masses of armed people could be heard approaching him.

He was surrounded.

So he did what he could, what anyone in his place would. He closed his eyes and breathed deep breaths, relaxing to again reach the peace he'd just experienced and concentrated on it. The air thickened around him as SHIELD started to reach his corner of the library. More than a few people were now shouting - at him, probably, he wasn't sure, sounds were starting to get muffled - and pain washed through him, not once or twice, but in constant waves in every part of his body, but it was all irrelevant, something he did his best to ignore. Loki's concentration held, there was no going back, and as guns were fired he was sucked into abyss, followed by the dull sound of shattering glass.

Loki teleported straight into Stark Tower.

He tried hard not to dwell on the lack of judgment in that particular decision from every possible point of view.

It was only the presence of Stark in the workshop that made Loki force himself not to collapse onto the floor the moment he landed - instead, he blindly slumped straight against the nearest table and only managed to suppress so many of his pained gasps, ignoring the feel of some sort of heavy machinery falling from the table. Loki was only half aware of Stark's voice reaching him, sounds so very distant and irrelevant, replaced by dull hum inside his head. His eyes were closed tight in pain and he knew he was trembling, yet he desperately tried to compose himself. Breathe. Something was flashing, a light flickering through his closed eyelids, intruding and burning his brain, and somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he must've broken Stark's lighting in the room.

Slowly he started coming back to himself. Sounds flooded his senses: electricity crackling and Stark cursing and yelling somewhere, himself groaning in pain. Loki wanted nothing more than to sit down on a chair, the floor, anything, but he knew once he did there was no way he was going to get up again. He weakly rubbed his closed eyes to block out the lightning show he wasn't even sure to be real or only inside his own head. Trembling, he spit blood onto the floor.

"HEY," was what Loki heard the other man instantly screaming from somewhere behind him, and he was somewhat glad he could at least register a sentence. He was going to be alright.

Forming a sentence proved to be a different matter completely. So he didn't. He only slowly opened his eyes and twisted enough to try to see the damage he'd done upon landing with force. In the middle of the workshop there were cracks in the concrete in a form of a pothole, and from the tall ceiling hanged wires and one of the many fluorescent lamps. A sound of an alarm explained Stark's rushing about around the computers - the man was in frenzy, and just looking at him made Loki even more dizzy and angry. Stark's mouth was moving fast, but Loki wasn't paying attention to the words the alarm drowned anyway.

Loki gathered his breath, ignoring the pound of his head in his ears and followed as Stark quailed upon getting a shock from a piece of electricity. He was starting to get himself together again, even if the pain didn't pass, and he watched as Stark appeared to get the systems calmed down and turn to face him.

"What the hell are you doing?!" the man yelled at him, leaping over the pothole, apparently rather pissed off himself. He was also bleeding ever so slightly from just above his brow, and Loki failed to feel anything close guilty about that.

It was the tone of Stark's voice that made Loki more or less lose it. He straightened up coughing and leering at the man. "You told them!" he rasped, still gripping the table to hold his composure.

Stark frowned in disbelief. The flashing light contrasted his face, shadows painting themselves on his skin every time the light went off, additionally Loki's statement seemed to make the man just as angry as he was. "I warned you, didn't I?!" the man practically wailed in annoyance.

"You - are not-", Loki spat at the man but was cut of by sheer pain originating from his side as he made a sudden movement towards Stark, his head becoming a total blank.

Stark blinked in confusion, "Jesus, are you bleeding?"

In fact he was. The wound had cut open as a result from the rough teleportation, despite Loki's efforts not to cause such. The cut wasn't as wide or deep it'd been before, but blood was still slowly staining his shirt and Loki winced upon touching it. The man before him was still frowning, and Loki had to fight the urge to smack him across the face.

"The fault is all yours," he managed to grit out, and tried to use whatever energy he had left to stop the wound from bleeding.

"I told you -"

"Seize your ramblings, human," Loki spluttered weakly, suddenly starting to feel dizzier by the minute.

"Look, you need to leave - oh, hell no!"

The moment Loki started falling onto the floor - failing to get another grip on the table - Stark cut off and immediately went to support him. It wasn't the sort of gesture Loki appreciated, however lightheaded he was.

"Get off of me - "

"Would you stop bleeding all over my stuff -"

"I don't wish to -"

"SHUT UP AND GET UP," Stark screamed at him as he did his best to hinge Loki onto the nearest chair, and to his own disgrace, Loki did.

After Stark got Loki to stay on the chair somewhat stable, he disappeared for a moment, and Loki tried to reach for his magic to heal the cursed cut. Then, unfortunately, Stark was again there, but Loki was starting to get beyond caring and didn't pay attention to whatever it was Stark was trying to tell him.

"Hey, don't black out now," was snapped at him, but Loki only rewarded the man with a weak glare. "Lift up, will you."

"Excuse me?" Loki managed, wincing as the taste of blood returned fresh on his tongue. He barely registered Stark rolling his eyes.

"I said lift up," the man repeated impatiently, holding up what appeared to be a medical kit. Loki couldn't help but snort at it, but lifted up his mess of a shirt anyway after receiving a somewhat murdering leer from Stark.

"That is of no use, Stark."

"We'll see," Stark muttered as he started wiping the cut cleaner with a rag that was damp with some liquid Loki didn't recognize. Stark made absolutely no effort to be at all careful, and Loki gritted his teeth as the pain doubled under the man's rough touch. He didn't realize he was cursing the man until Stark told him to shut up.

"What the hell is this anyway?" Stark asked as he gave up on the cleaning process since Loki wouldn't stop swatting his hand away and reached for the bandages in the kit. The cut was still bleeding ever so little, Stark's efforts hadn't really made any difference whatsoever. "Did SHIELD do this?"

Loki closed his eyes as Stark fumbled with all the different bandages, apparently not having a clue what to do with them. "Of course not," he gritted out and yanked the softest piece of fabric from Stark's hands to tie around himself.

"Well I suppose you would have enemies.."

"Stark, if you don't quiet down I swear you'll get a similar cut of your own," Loki snapped, taking over the patching-up-process, tying a bandage after another around his side, but having problems tightening them, every move against his skin causing him to burn inside.

He only half regretted snapping at Stark because as the man went to help him to tighten up the bandages, Loki basically resulted in a gasping, breathless mess - Stark didn't seem to have any problem yanking the fabric tighter and tighter.

As soon as the bandage was held still by small metal clips, Loki smoothed down his shirt carelessly and pushed Stark away in order to get up and leave. He was halfway towards limping to the elevator, only slightly lightheaded, mind bristling with curses.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Loki turned back around angrily to face the man who was standing there, determined. Something about the cockiness in Stark's face made rage bristling inside him, and he knew in his guts that it'd be only right to leave now or he wouldn't be able to answer for the consequences in the slightest.

"I don't see how that matters," Loki spat. It didn't go unnoticed by either of them how the lights only started flickering faster, a direct result from Loki's temper. It was starting to get harder not to just take a step forward and rip Stark's head off.

"You know SHIELD's probably monitoring the whole city because of you?" Stark snapped quickly.

"They won't find me."

"No? Really? Your little endeavors don't exactly go unnoticed, they've been onto you ever since you came back! And that's all fine by me, it really is, but fuck, why'd you have to come here?!"

"For it is your fault!"

"Do you have any idea what you've gotten me into?! 'Cause even I don't, but they've been following me now and I don't-"

The rest was efficiently cut off by Loki manhandling him to a wall, one warning hand pressing against Stark's throat.

"I apologize for all the inconvenience I must've caused you, then," Loki sneered and managed to pull a slight choking sound out of Stark before loosening his grip.

Stark, after taking a few breaths and leering at him all too confident, patted Loki awkwardly on one shoulder - the only place he could possibly reach while being practically pinned against a wall. "By the way, I'd like those files back," he rasped.

The lights started flickering rapidly and Stark's confident expression was suddenly washed away by slight worry.

"I'm sure you would."

"Tell me, did you get anywhere with them?" Stark asked with a nervous laugh. "'Cause I'm getting 'no' from that grim pretty face of your's-"

Stark shut his mouth when a light exploded somewhere in the room, eyeing around and turning his eyes back to Loki's with a mixed expression of both concern and confusion as he struggled against the smothering grip.

"I can get SHIELD on the line any second now," Stark eventually said with mocked seriousness, and Loki only raised his an eyebrow in anger. "That is, unless they've already traced-"

"You had better not forget what exactly I am capable of doing, Stark," Loki breathed on the man's face, voice trembling with unsolved fury.

Stark gasped, only just audible, testing his position and chances of escape with poor results other than Loki tightening his grip. "You really don't have to prove a point-"

"How about you showed me some respect?"

The room was now more of a lightning show than anything else.

"Look, you need to calm down!"

"You're nothing but an ignorant child, you have no idea, no prospect of a life such as I've -"

"I don't owe you anything, and for the record, all I can remember is you proving out to be perfectly capable of being a evident dick, so-"

Somewhere in the background echoed a sound that could be nothing else than a main computer overload, and Loki was already starting to curse the man into the deepest pit of Hel when Stark lost his bearings and yelled straight at his face, "Get a grip!"

It appeared to cause the end of Loki's patience, as the loud crackling of electronic ensued twice as audible, the only few lights left blinking rapidly, and Stark seemed to realize this too.

They'd gone too far, only Loki had little idea what this meant in practice.

He could see, and somewhere in the back of his mind comprehend, Stark make up his mind, himself all too ready to make the man in front of him crumble into pieces, when everything moved way too fast and Stark yanked Loki forward.

To his own disgrace, it took Loki quite a few seconds too long to fully comprehend what was happening. Let alone why.

But everything was a bit of a blur.

Why, exactly, was he currently so close to the other man, wide-eyed, he could physically memorize the exact width and depth of even the tiniest wrinkles in the corner of Stark's eyes, or between his brows as he frowned both in concentration and anger while devouring Loki's mouth with his own.

Why was he held in place by Stark's grip on his jacket, and why hadn't he yet made any effort whatsoever to move, to break free. Why, indeed, was Tony Stark still so, so alive in the first place, and not currently lying dead on the floor - why had Loki not yet ripped off all the limbs of his wretched body instead of letting it press against his own, and allowing to be pulled even closer.

Why had all the anger and the energy and the pain from his heart and his soul suddenly shot right out of him, secondly leaving him hollow, only to be fully replaced by a whole different kind of concentration?

Why, he had no idea.

Stark's mouth, for one, was something that - in spite of himself - Loki had enough time to take in every detail of. It was.. distracting. Full and warm and rather rough his lips were - and moving and pressing decisively against Loki's, effectively wiping out his very mind, leaving it blank without one coherent thought.

Now, kisses were a matter of respect and love in Asgard, as well as a rarity. Affection was always shown with other physical contact, perhaps kisses on other parts of one's body, embraces - but to kiss and to be kissed back in such way - this, this was mostly meant for true lovers, people promised for each other, people with acceptable desire for one another. It was a traditional manner and by no means a public one, nor an act of impulse, even less so for one of royal inheritance.

Yet it took Loki way, way too long to make himself even consider of ripping apart the man in front of him.

Because it was tempting.

Stark was, of course, very forceful and confident with his actions, even with a kiss that was in no way long nor romantic, but taking him off guard. It wasn't a kiss of true passion, but Stark's mouth moved well against Loki's, the man still gripping the collar of his jacket to - more than anything - prove a point, Loki was aware.

But well tempting for Loki to hesitate long enough to feel.

Finally, when his brain caught up with the moment, Loki did rip himself free but only after throwing Stark back against the wall to get the man away from him, angry with himself for letting Stark get him into a position like that.

"Do you really not value your life at all?" Loki growled, breathless.

"Well you calmed down, didn't you?" Stark snapped, sounding so utterly uninterested, if only slightly flushed, Loki felt suddenly very tired and rather used even. He really was having trouble at getting his mind back together again, and he settled for taking a few deep, meditative breaths and erasing the last thirty-something seconds out of his memory.

But when Stark said nothing else, only stood there, warily watching him as if he was expected to lose every shred of his self control, Loki sighed in annoyance, "Would you care to elaborate?"

Stark blinked, waking from whatever train of thought he was going through and cleared his throat.

"Pay attention, big guy," he said, upbeat and smug as he moved back towards the wrecks of computers. Loki did notice that the electricity had calmed down, but refused to think about it any further than that.

"As I said, they have your energy signature saved and locked up and frankly, you are not very good at controlling yourself and quite easy to notice when you lose it."

Loki frowned at the pointed finger he'd earned from the man and contemplated whether he could possibly set Stark on fire from that distance. "And?"

"And, they might not be able to trace you back here because, contrary to common belief, I actually am strict about my privacy and also pretty smart, but I need your cooperation. That is, calm down or my defenses are as good as nothing and they'll be able to follow you, kapish?"

"You have constructed shields around this building of your's, then?

"Call it trust issues. Also, it's very hard to be a superhero when you have .. fans on top of enemies," Stark visibly grimaced at the thought.

"I didn't notice anything," he blurted out.

"Yeah well, rub it in, why don't you.."

Loki eyed the man who'd turned back to do the exact same thing, and for a moment they just stood there, both trying to figure the other one out. Eventually, Loki exhaled deeply. He was still feeling upset and dizzy, and watching Stark really made his blood boil in an unhealthy manner.

"I'm leaving," he stated and turned on his heels, once again heading to the elevator.

"As much as I'd want you to, I still don't think that's a good idea."

Loki stopped, and rubbed his eyes tiredly, feeling at loss.

But Stark's voice reached him again. "There's extra rooms up above the 90th floor."

Restraining himself from grabbing the nearest piece of heavy machinery and chucking Stark out of the window with it, Loki stepped inside the box and pressed a bit too violently a button that presented a number starting with a nine without meeting Stark's gaze again.