Tony was sitting in his tower, doing nothing, absolutely nothing. It was the first time he wasn't working or building something. He couldn't sleep, he never sleeps. Pepper was away in DC on a business trip, and Rhodey was doing a weapons didn't have anyone else except Jarvis, he was used to being alone. But having nothing to do was driving him mad.

'Sir, there is a cosmic buildup in the lower workshop. Suggested bifrost usage in the area. Hostile presence detected.'

'What? Who? Oh damn not the workshop!' Dozens of questions formed in Tony's head. He'd only had 3 'hostile presences' put into Jarvis's database, and one of them was dead, the other Tony didn't know, so that could only mean...

'It appears that Loki is in the tower sir,' Jarvis answered.

Oh great.

~xxx~

Tony walked down to his lower level workshop, where he kept his suits and ideas. He prayed the god hadn't destroyed it, all his hard work would be gone forever. He couldn't let that happen. As he got to the door, he started panicking about Loki. Why was he here? How? Why? Especially the why. The last time Tony talked to him he was thrown out of a window. He put in his password and the door slid back, revealing Loki standing in the center of the room. He looked alright, Tony guessed. I mean, he didn't look like he wanted to take over the world again, he was actually quite calm. He still had a murderous look in his eyes, so Tony was cautious walking up to him.

'You lost?' Tony said sarcastically, which made Loki turn around in surprise. His surprise soon turned to anger.

'Leave me,' Loki said, almost annoyed. But oh no, Tony wasn't done yet.

'I can't just 'leave you', this is my tower, I live here. But I want to know why. Why did you come here of all places?'

'It is none if your concern.'

'Yes, it is. You are here in my workshop, in my tower, surrounded by my stuff. So of course it's my concern. Who sent you?'

'I do not have time for your questions, foolish mortal.'

'At least tell me how you got here, I want to know that.'

'Odin banished me from Asgard, and sent me here to this wretched place.'

'What, earth? It's not wretched...wait, why would Odin send you here, if you tried to conquer us? That doesn't make sense.'

'I may have altered the path of the Yggdrasil a bit, I hate this planet, but at least it's better than most of the others.'

'Ok first of all, what's the Yggdrasil? And how do you just 'alter' it's path?' Tony was about to ask about these 'others', but then thought better of it. He'd already asked to many space questions for his liking.

'Later.' Loki said quietly. They stared at each other in silence for a brief moment. Tony stepped forward to the Aesir.

'Well, thank god you haven't destroyed my workshop. Do you mind...getting out of it please? Go upstairs or something...' Tony was still on edge about his tech being exposed to Loki's magic, or whatever.

'Why should I?'

'Because I don't want you here in the workshop. Go upstairs and choose one of the rooms.'

'Why are you letting me stay here? That doesn't make sense, considering...'

'Considering the whole alien attack on earth you did?' Tony finished his sentence.

'That wasn't me. I was a servant of...the Mad Titan. He gave me the chitauri and forced me to find the tesseract. Midgard was to be my reward.'

'Well that's good to know. Anything else I should keep in mind?'

'Earth is the gateway between the Nine Realms and the other galaxies. It's the most protected by Asgard because of that. However, you humans are so weak and vulnerable, it's quite easy to destroy you, if one tried.'

'Yeah yeah, you aliens and your immortality, I've heard. So this...Mad Titan guy, do we worry about him? Will he come find you and kill us all?'

'It's very likely. And I fear the day it will happen. Tha- The Mad Titan is the most powerful being in all the realms.'

'That settles it then. You are definitely staying at Stark Tower.'

'Why would I? I hate you and your mortal people. Why would you trust me?'

'I don't. But I have the best cloaking technology in the business. Hell, I designed the reflector panels on the heli-carrier.'

'That still won't protect your world from his wrath.'

'I know, I know. That's why my new design can also hide heat signatures and anything else for your godly needs. Don't think I hadn't been doing anything since New York.' Tony had in fact been inventing new things besides weapons in his spare time. He'd made almost 25 new suits on the past 4 months, including one that could turn invisible. He'd also made and updated his new Stark phone, which he was so proud of that he gave all the avengers one.

Loki was silent for a moment. '...Alright. I'll stay at your tower if you can hide me from the Mad Titan and The Other.'

'Wait there's an 'other'? He doesn't have a name?'

'No he does not. He works with the Titan.'

'Ok then, let's get you figured out. I'll ask Pepper to find you a room, or a floor, your choice. Shouldn't be that hard.' Tony gestured for Loki to come with him. Loki slowly followed. Tony couldn't trust Loki just yet, but they had sort of made a deal, he thought. And now a god was renting a place in his tower. He could trust Loki enough to walk ahead of him, without being stabbed in the back.

'Sir, the hostile presence is within 10 feet of you. Should I contact Shield for you?' Jarvis interrupted the silence. Loki froze, a surprised look on his face. Tony however, didn't notice and replied to Jarvis. 'No you don't have to. And change the hostile presence signature to welcome, as Loki.'

'As you wish.' Jarvis replied and went silent. Tony turned to Loki and saw his expression.

'Oh, that's Jarvis. He's an A.I. I designed myself. He's like my personal butler.' Tony informed Loki, who only nodded in response.

'I do believe you couldn't tie your shoes without me, sir.' Jarvis answered smartly. Tony laughed. 'Watch me.' He said happily. Loki only shook his head. 'You mortals and your technology.'

~xxx~