A/N: I would like to take a moment to thank all of my readers and especially my constant reviewers who always make my day and make me smile. You encourage me to keep going and make me enjoy writing twice as much. Thank you all.

Tony works. Mindlessly and automatically he takes apart all the pieces of the robots, examining every inch, puts them back together and takes them apart again. The two bottles of scotch are soon empty and lie broken on the floor by Tony's main work table. Hours flow by like a steady river, pooling into the ocean of lost time.

But the disassembling and reassembling isn't in vain. Tony figured out the functions of almost all the small pieces, confident he knew not only what they were used for, but how as well. The big pieces hadn't presented a challenge and he had them all figured out in mere hours, which was nothing compared to some of the complicated stuff he's come across. Tony did find one interesting thing in the designs: their style and structure are far too different from Hammer's, meaning there is someone working for him, or possibly even with him.

Tony sits back in his chair and sighs, boredom already creeping back into his mind. True, the task of thoroughly investigating the bits and pieces of robots had taken him hours, but it was far too easy. Disappointment is all Tony feels as he runs his eyes over the mess in front of him. Even without the whole robots and gadgets here he came up with over ten ways to improve the designs and make them flawless. Nothing is a challenge for Tony unless it makes him stay up day and night for weeks on end, skipping every meal and meeting.

JARVIS' smooth voice brings Tony back from his thoughts and the inventor twitches in his chair, not expecting the voice to break the utter silence in the room.

"Sir, Loki seems to have recovered. I believe now is a good time to go upstairs and have dinner. It is already past 10 PM and you haven't eaten all day."

What the hell, there's nothing interesting here anyway. I'll finish the rest tomorrow. Loki's probably starving too…

"Thanks JAV."

"Anytime, sir."

Tony doesn't bother going to the fridge; it's obviously empty. Instead, he heads straight for the phone, feeling like some well-deserved junk food, and orders a pizza and burgers.

"JARVIS, call Loki for dinner." Tony pours himself a glass of wine at the bar and strolls over to the couch, splaying his body across the whole thing. At the thought of confronting Loki he wishes he poured himself something stronger.

Five minutes later Tony hears the pat of feet on the stone floor getting closer and closer, until Loki's figure fills the whole in the doorway. Without stopping Loki quietly shuffles into the room and not sparing Tony a single glance, heads for his seat at the table. Loki seems awfully quiet – not that he always isn't – but now it almost seems to Tony as if the god is trying to blend into the background, become invisible.

After an awkward minute of eying Loki Tony gets up and clears his throat.

"So…I've uh, been thinking and –"

The doorbell chime echoes through the room, cutting off whatever the inventor was just about to say. Loki continues staring ahead, almost as if he didn't hear the chime, but Tony saw the slight twitch of the shoulder. Tony excuses himself by mumbling something under his breath and flees the room to get food. Loki's strange behavior certainly isn't helping lift the tension in the room.

Tony comes back just as silently as he left, this time with a pizza box in one hand and a bag of burgers in the other. Setting them on the table he grabs two plates from the kitchen and sits at his own seat, across from Loki. Sparing a glance at the god, Tony opens the pizza box and takes two slices.

After a few bites Tony looks at Loki and plunges into the subject. "As I started to say earlier, before I was interrupted, I'm currently working on a big project. It's highly confidential, so obviously I won't go into any details, but it's huge. And I was thinking that I could use some help." He pauses, taking a sip of his wine and studies the god across the table, looking for a reaction of some sort. Nothing happens. "That's where you come in, Reindeer Games.

"I figured you can help me out around my workshop. It's a complete mess down there and I can't find shit. Ever. You can sort through my equipment and organize everything. Actually be useful for once, instead of sulking about."

Loki's face forms into a scowl, and Tony swears a growl is sure to follow any time. Silence hangs in the room, neither saying anything. Loki is keeping his mouth shut for his own sake (there's a wine glass beside Tony, intoxication can't be far and then…) and Tony doesn't know how to go about his proposal anymore.

Eventually a look of sorrow and sadness replace the scowl and Loki casts his eyes even lower.

Tony was never good with people anyway.

"Take a slice. Or a burger. Whichever you want."

Silently Loki reaches for the pizza, but at the last second takes a burger instead. Tony can see the god is thinking, probably turning the idea over in his head this way and that.

"You say it like a proposal, but the wording is final. I do not have a choice in this matter, as I do not in any other matters regarding myself. There is no point in asking a question which you already have the answer to."

Point taken. But it is called courtesy; I'm letting him know what he's going do instead of just showing him in my workshop with no explanation. Ungrateful prick.

The rest of dinner passes in silence, with Loki munching on his burger. Tony is already making mental preparations for tomorrow. He'll have to put his research and dismantling of parts on hold until he's finished education Loki about his workshop and can be sure the god is doing everything right.

Soon the pizza box rests empty in front of Tony. The god only had one slice, and Tony took the liberty of eating the rest of it. Once Loki is finished his second burger he quietly retreats back to his room, clearly not up for any type of conversation and hoping to avoid a drunken and possible once again an abusive Tony.

No word of today's occurrence was mentioned, but Loki seemed like he was trying to disappear even more than usual. Tony decides to leave this conversation for another time when both of them are feeling up to it.

A/N: Feel free to leave ideas and thoughts in the reviews, I read all of them, and reply to all of them as well. Thank you all once again.