"What's this?" Tony heard Loki muse from behind him.

"What?" He spun his chair around from his most recent project to inspect the delicate object held between the God's thin fingers. It was a golden chain with a single diamond suspended in the middle. Just looking at the trinket made Tony's heart skip a beat. Several memories flashed behind his eyes. "Oh. It's—it's nothing. I had a clean out yesterday, from my ruined mansion, and I found it." He waved a stiff, dismissive hand. "You cab get rid of it."

Loki hitched an eyebrow. "Now why would I do that when you're clearly attached to it?" Tony turned back to the mechanics in front of him, scowling at the exposed wiring. "Tony," he continued from behind him. "If you had simply found it and wished to be rid of it, you would have tossed it the moment you held it in your hands. not bring it to your workshop, of all places."

Tony cursed Loki's basic observation skills and plastered a fake smile onto his face. "No, I remember now. I planned to use the diamond in some of my experiments." He gave a casual shrug; it was almost too easy. "It's…strong, you know. useful."

"Oh?" There was a challenge in just that one word, and it made the hairs on the back of Tony's neck stand ramrod straight. "Then I should snap the chain and leave the diamond with you?" Tony turned to face him again, seeing him pull the chain just taut enough to leave the diamond trembling in the middle. He just barely allowed the necklace to fall slack as he rose his elbows, ready to rip the metal apart.

"No!" The outburst surprised even him. Loki took a moment to raise an eyebrow at him.

"No?" he repeated.

Tony realized he'd been caught as the corners of that perfectly pink mouth were lifted into a satisfied smirk. Tony's defensive barriers rose, and he crossed his arms over his chest. "Look—just—give it back to me, okay?" He held his hand out, flicking his fingers impatiently. With a thousand questions in his eyes Loki let the chain slink into the middle of Tony's palm. Tony wrenched a drawer open, carelessly tossed it in, and slammed it shut so hard it bounced back open. He slid it shut with less gusto. He didn't turn around and continued working on his project.

"Am I to be ignored now?" Loki asked, moving to stand just over Tony's shoulder and expertly blocking his light. Tony bit the inside of his cheek and took a controlled breath.

"Yep." he said, trying to focus on his work.

Tony could hear Loki smack his lips above him. He could almost hear the gears turning in the trickster's mind, running several underhanded tactics in his head and trying to decide on one that would undoubtedly get him to talk. Tony wanted to be angry with him for prying, but his seldom-spoken conscience told him it was partially his fault. He knew he had trust issues, and with his past and the people he knew it wasn't hard to see why. Loki was trying to learn more about him, even if it meant resorting to lies and tricks.

"It was my mother's." he said, just barely over a whisper. He looked up to see Loki's features change into a frown.

"Then why keep it?" he asked. Tony sighed heavily, running a greasy hand through his hair.

"Because—she hated the necklace, yeah." he admitted. "But only because it belonged to a friend of hers. A friend of hers that died. She didn't like wearing it because she didn't want to be reminded of the death." He shrugged and leaned back. "So she gave it away."

Loki paused, pursing his lips. "…if that is so, then how did you—"

"My dad found it."

Loki seemed to be pretending he didn't hear the way Tony's voice tightened. "Hm." was his only reply.

"He gave it to Obi—" Tony paused at the constriction in his throat, took a deep breath, and tried again. "Stane." Loki's hands balled into fists at the mention of his name. He only knew about Obadiah Stane from Pepper, when she felt talkative . None of it had been anything good, by his standards. Tony's eyes flicked down to his hands and back up, but neither man mentioned it. "He gave it to me. About three days after their funeral." He attempted another casual shrug, but suddenly he didn't have the energy. "I wore it sometimes, just now and again. It was a necklace that belonged to my mom's friend so I wore it out of respect for her and for my mother's memory as—as well." He coughed to cover up the hitch in his voice. Loki let him have his pride and said nothing about it.

"And now?"

"Now…" Tony let out a hissing sigh and worried the collar of his Black Sabbath shirt between his thumb and index finger, an unconscious habit. "Now, every time I wear it, I remember the last person who put it around my neck used those same hands to rip out my heart." He thumped his middle finger against the glowing reactor in his chest to make his point. Loki could only look at him, unsure of what he could say to comfort him that would sound sincere enough. Tony swiveled his chair back around to his workspace, putting his back to Loki.

"…I see." he heard from behind him. Tony said nothing as Loki leaned over him, purposefully resting his full weight on him as he reached to the drawer and withdrew the necklace. Tony thought his spine would crack in half.

"Loki," Tony groaned when the God was not longer propping himself up on him, but Loki pressed three of his fingers to Tony's mouth to silence him. Tony had other ideas. "Loki, I need to get this done and—look, would you put it back, please?" He hoped his rarely used manners would prompt the God to take him seriously. Instead Loki unclasped the chain.

"In memory of your mother and her friend, yes?" he asked. Tony lowered his head as he massaged the bridge of his nose, between his eyes. He only nodded in answer. "He had no right to take that from you. If I…place it around your neck. Now. Then I will be, effectively, the last person who 'put it around your neck,' will I not?"

Tony looked up at him, not sure if he was supposed to be grateful or amused by Loki's attempt to be endearing. But he was trying to help, to banish the horrid memories that the necklace brought to him now. He scanned his face, looking for any hint of humor in his eyes. But Loki wasn't joking, and he could see that. So he turned away from him and pulled down the collar of his shirt, exposing his neck. Loki stepped forward and let the diamond hang, for just a second, so that Tony could see it, before letting it rest just above the dip in Tony's collarbone. He clasped it together.

"And there we are." he whispered into Tony's ear.

Tony took the necklace between his fingers and held it up. His and Loki's faces were reflected in the many cut facets.

"Wear it." Loki said, his hand resting warmly on Tony's shoulder. "Remember its true meaning. Not the one that 'man' forced onto you." Tony turned to him and awkwardly pressed his lips against Loki's cheek before pressing his face against his to whisper.

"Thank you."

Dialogue belongs to frostironistheperfectotp; fic belongs to me; characters belong to Marvel.