Chapter Seven

Author's Note: So... how long has it been since I updated this story? Too long. Far, FAR too long. I have no intention of abandoning this story. I just have a lot of WIPs and very little say in what my muse writes. Anywho, here's another chapter! Hopefully it was worth the wait :)

Cheers,

Dreamer

Loki had been nodding on and off all morning, so Tony had suggested that they move onto the bed. And no, not in a sexy way; he wanted to stare at Andon, Loki wanted to stare at Andon, and Tony didn't want Loki to fall off the bed because he was too exhausted to remain upright.

So, compromise; they both laid on the bed with Andon between them, watching as the baby waved his arms about and kicked his little legs.

That was how Frigga found them; both cooing at the baby and making funny faces. Well, Tony was making funny faces, while Loki was rubbing Andon's belly and smiling like an idiot.

The Queen of Asgard cleared her throat and both Tony and Loki jumped like naughty children. Tony felt his face flush while Loki said, 'I suppose that knocking is out of the question, seeing as how I am still a prisoner.'

'I did knock, Loki,' she replied, 'but you failed to answer.'

Loki scowled at her, but Frigga ignored the look.

'You have both slept through breakfast and shouldn't skip any more meals- especially you, Loki.' Loki rolled his eyes and Tony bit back a grin. 'I would like you both to join me for lunch.'

'I am amendable,' Loki murmured. He glanced at Tony, who nodded.

'Yeah, sounds great,' he said. 'Are we eating here, or...?'

'Here is fine,' Frigga said, 'unless you would both like to get some fresh air? We can dine in the courtyard.'

Loki thought about that for about a minute before he nodded. 'I would like to feel the sun again,' he said, voice soft, before sliding off of the bed. Tony lifted Andon from the mattress and passed him to Loki, who fussed over the baby, getting him dressed into warmer clothing. Tony picked a hat out- it was bright orange and soft and Loki glared at the offending colours. 'Purple and orange do not match, Stark.'

'He's a baby; what does he care about matching colours?' Tony asked. 'Or are you gonna convince him to only wear green and gold?'

'I chose the purple leggings, did I not?' Loki shot back.

'Well I think orange and purple are awesome,' Tony said. 'And the yellow socks!'

'No.'

'Yes.'

'I will not- Stark, put them down!'

'Never!'

Tony managed to duck under Loki's hand, but got a slap to the back of the head when he pulled one of the ridiculously tiny/adorable socks onto Andon's foot.

'Ow, that hurt!' he pouted, then grinned when Loki sighed and snatched the other sock. He put it on Andon's bare foot, so Tony won, ha!

Next was a green... wrap-around tunic thing, seriously, Tony had no idea what any of Asgard's clothing was called. Anyway, a kind of red sweater went over the top of that, and then Loki handed Andon to Tony and went to get dressed.

'Crap, I need boots,' Tony muttered. When he turned around Frigga was just there, staring at him and Andon. Tony jolted and offered her a weak smile. 'So...'

'You never did answer my question yesterday,' Frigga mused.

Tony gulped. 'Uh... question?'

'Mm,' the Queen said. 'About how you and Loki came to create Andon.'

'Oh... that,' Tony said. He wanted to duck and hide but he had a baby in his arms... and he was pretty sure that Frigga could and would chase him down. 'So, uh... Loki landed on Earth- Midgard- and I found him in a bar. We chatted and he looked out of it so I offered him a bed.'

'A bed?'

'I mean, like, just to sleep in!' Tony said hastily. 'I didn't plan on... on...'

'Fornicating?'

Tony's face was on fire and he wanted to die. The Queen just fucking stared at him.

'Y-Yeah, that.' Tony cleared his throat. 'I made him breakfast and after we ate Loki just kinda...'

'I initiated it,' Loki interrupted as he walked back into the room. He was dressed in leather trousers and a baggy green tunic, a kind of leather/linen vest thrown on over the top. He'd re-braided his hair and though he still looked pale, eyes still bruised, he was more put together than he'd been all morning.

He stepped up to Tony's side and took Andon from him. 'Go and change, Stark. I'm hungry.'

'Right...' Tony said slowly. He looked between Frigga and Loki, but when the woman didn't say anything he quickly backed out of the room- no, he didn't run, okay? He was just very aware of the fact that Frigga could beat his ass and didn't want his baby son to witness that. There'd be plenty of times in the future where Andon could watch Natasha beat Tony up.

Tony breathed out shakily when he reached his own rooms.

'That woman scares me,' he muttered to himself before going hunting for his boots.

{oOo}

'Is there are a reason you asked Stark about our relations?' Loki questioned as soon as the mortal was out of sight.

'I was curious,' Frigga said. 'And worried.'

'Worried?'

His mother nodded. 'You were not in your right mind during your... stay on Midgard,' Frigga said slowly. 'I wanted to know if he took advantage of you.'

'He didn't,' Loki sniffed. 'If anything, I took advantage of him. He didn't know who I was when we copulated. But I wanted the comfort and a warm body, so I took it. Stark did nothing wrong.'

'If you say so,' Frigga replied and Loki sighed.

'Mother, please. Stark is Andon's father; I would rather not have him run away in terror because you decided to prod him.'

'I will say nothing more, I promise,' Frigga said, and Loki didn't believe her in the slightest. She just smiled brightly at him, face innocent, but Loki had learned a lot of his tricks from the Queen of Asgard. He narrowed his eyes at her, continued staring until Stark re-entered the room.

'Uh...' Stark said into the silence.

'Lead the way, Mother,' Loki said.

Frigga smiled at the both of them before turning and leaving the room.

{oOo}

The courtyard was surrounded on three sides by tall, narrow golden towers that shot up into the bright blue sky. Tony could vaguely make out what appeared to be a planet to the right, hanging in the sky and much closer than the moon was to Earth. Stars mingled within the deep blue sky, and the higher Tony looked the more the sky darkened into the ink-black of space.

Tony didn't know how the fuck Asgard worked. Was it a planet or just a flat piece of land, hanging in the middle of space? What was that planet, and that other one he'd spied while walking along the rainbow bridge? Did Asgard have a moon, a sun? How did gravity work here?

'Magic,' Loki murmured into his ear as they stepped into the courtyard. The air was fresh, no pollution burning Tony's nose. The trees were all tall and green, and some type of vine covered the stone wall to the left, lank and hanging thickly over the stones.

'Magic?' Tony echoed.

Loki nodded. 'Asgard does not work like Midgard does; it isn't a planet. Asgard sits at the tip of Yggdrasil, while Midgard hangs within the middle. The other Realms are all connected to Yggdrasil by Midgard, and sit on her branches.'

Tony just blinked at him slowly, because... what?

Loki smirked and said, 'I'll lend you a few books, if you wish. But I doubt that you will be able to understand.'

'Hey, I'm a genius!' Tony huffed. 'Besides, if Asgard's flat, then how does water work here? We crossed an ocean and-'

'Magic,' Loki interrupted with a shit-eating grin.

Tony glared at him and practically stomped over to the large wooden table that had been set up in the middle of the courtyard. The ground beneath him was a mixture of stone and grass, flowers and bushes bordering the main area. There were lines of trees to the left and right, and Tony could hear water coming from somewhere but couldn't see any fountains or streams.

He thought about the elevator they'd taken to get to this floor; how rickety it was, like something from the 1920s. Asgard seemed to be a weird mix of old and new; Tony had spied some type of plane flying over Asgard when they'd walked across a bridge between two of the golden towers, but the warriors of Asgard seemed content to use swords and bows, from what Thor had said.

He wondered how Asgard had evolved; why they'd never discovered electricity and how they'd managed to build planes without advances similar to Earth's.

Maybe Loki would lend him some books on Asgard's history, too.

Frigga was already sitting and gestured to a small basket to Tony's right. Loki inspected it briefly before placing Andon inside, and then took the seat beside it. Loki was sitting opposite Tony, Frigga to his right, with the baby at the end of the table in-between the new parents. Frigga smiled at them both as a few servants suddenly appeared, bringing with them mountains of vegetables, fruit and meat.

Tony just sat back and watched, glasses and plates and utensils set before him. He thanked the woman softly and she stared at him before smiling and walking away. Okay...

'Loki,' Frigga began when the servants had all left. 'What are your plans?'

Loki raised an eyebrow. 'Plans?'

'In regards to Andon, and raising him,' Frigga said. 'I doubt that Anthony wishes to move to Asgard.'

'I offered,' Tony told her. 'I mean, it'd suck, 'cause I love technology, but I'd make do. And I'd totally bring Asgard the internet.'

Frigga smiled at him, though Tony was pretty sure that she had no idea what, exactly, Earth technology was... probably didn't even know what the internet was. Tony shivered at the very thought of not having access to Google.

'I plan to move to Midgard and raise Andon there,' Loki spoke into the silence. He leaned over the table to pour himself a glass of water and Tony may or may not have stared at where his shirt gaped open, revealing a sharp collarbone. 'Andon will not face the same scrutiny on Midgard that he would if I raise him here.'

'You will have to make up for the damage you caused,' Frigga said.

'I plan to,' Loki sniffed.

'I'm sure we can work something out,' Tony offered. 'If Loki joins the Avengers-'

'Oh, goodie,' Loki drawled. He sat back in his seat, eyes narrowed over his glass at Tony. 'Fighting with your little team, what a joy.'

'Hey, smart-ass, you're the one who blew up half of New York,' Tony said. 'And really, the people we fight aren't that strong. A few blasts of magic and you'd have 'em in SHIELD custody.'

Frigga smiled at them, her eyes darting between the two. 'I'm sure that Thor would not mind... keeping an eye on you,' she said slowly. 'He can divide his time between Midgard and Asgard.'

'None of this matters until I speak with the Allfather,' Loki shrugged, 'I will hold off on planning until I have words with him.'

Frigga nodded, and Tony was trying to come up with a new subject when the doors behind the Queen burst open. Thor led the way, followed by the Avengers, and the blond god smiled brightly when he spotted his brother.

'Loki, it is good to see you out of that cell!' he announced.

'You sure it's safe?' Clint grunted, eyeing Loki from where he was standing just behind Steve.

Loki smiled at him sharply. 'But of course, Barton.' He held his hands up, showing them the thick bronze cuffs. 'My magic has been dampened. I couldn't hurt a soul now.'

Clint snorted, 'Yeah, right,' but wandered over to the table and dropped into the seat at the other end of the table. He grabbed a plate and started filling it, apparently content to ignore Loki completely.

Alrighty then...

'Hey, Bruce!' Tony waved and the doctor smiled at him. 'Wanna meet my kid?'

Loki glared at him but Tony gave him his very best puppy dog eyes. Loki sneered but didn't say anything when Tony stood and lifted Andon from the basket. Thor, Bruce, Natasha and Steve all crowded around, eyes wide as Tony turned to grin at them.

'This is Andon Lokason,' he announced, 'isn't he awesome?'

'He certainly looks like you,' Natasha commented when Andon had opened his eyes.

Yeah, they were the exact same shade as Tony's, maybe with a few more flecks of gold here and there, but otherwise perfect copies of Tony's own.

'He's cute,' Steve offered, while Thor beamed and bent over Tony to stare Andon right in the face.

'Hello, nephew,' he said, and for once his voice was set on "normal" instead of "deafening". 'When you are older I shall take you hunting. I am sure that you will be as good as Loki.'

'You hunt?' Tony asked, twisting to look at Loki.

'On occasion, I used to,' Loki said. 'I wanted to know how to hunt, skin and prepare animals so that I could do so if I ever found myself cut off from civilisation.'

'Huh,' Tony murmured. 'If I wasn't always connected to JARVIS in one form or another, I'd totally give hunting a go.'

'Put Andon down, Stark, he is clearly tired,' Loki said, breaking through Tony's thoughts.

And yeah, Andon did kinda look sleepy again... newborns slept a lot, right? Tony could always hold him after lunch.

He put the baby back in his basket and sat slowly, eyes staying on Andon's face for as long as possible. He sighed when he sat properly and turned to the table, only to find Natasha smirking at him and Bruce smiling at his plate.

'What?' he asked.

'You seem... obsessed,' Natasha commented.

'Uh... yeah?' Tony frowned, because hello. 'He's my son.'

'Are you moving to Asgard, then?' Clint asked from the end of the table. 'Can I have the penthouse?'

'I'm not moving, a-hole!' Tony said. 'Loki's moving to Earth.'

Clint choked on a piece of fruit and Steve patted his back in sympathy. The Super Soldier didn't say anything bad, though; he just turned to look at Loki and asked, 'What are your plans regarding SHIELD?'

'I shall apologise, I suppose,' Loki drawled. 'Offer my services for my continued good behaviour.'

'This is wonderful news, brother!' Thor beamed. 'We shall fight side-by-side once more and-'

'Yes, Thor,' the mage cut in, 'it will be fascinating and brilliant and I shall spend all my time trying to avoid you and raise a newborn babe.'

'I'll help,' Tony declared. 'I'll have JARVIS track Thor so you can always hide from him.'

Thor pouted and Loki and Tony shared a smirk.

It was Bruce who said, 'There are two of them.'

Silence descended on the table, Tony and Loki now gaping at the doctor. Thor was smiling again and Natasha and Frigga both looked far too pleased about... something. Steve looked thoughtful and Clint...

Clint cracked up laughing. He howled and slammed a hand against the table, tears in his eyes. 'Oh my God, they're exactly the same!' he practically shouted. 'We'll have to put up with two drama queens!'

His shouting woke Andon, who started crying.

'Idiot!' Tony hissed, he and Loki jumping and rushing to their son's sides. Loki picked him up and sat back down, so Tony shifted his chair closer, peering over Loki's arms. 'Hey, it's okay, little guy. That was just Uncle Clint being a loud idiot.'

'Uncle Clint?' Clint screeched and fell off his seat.

Steve sighed. 'I'm surrounded by children,' he murmured as he helped Clint up.

'Oh my God,' Clint wheezed, 'I'm too young to be an uncle!'

'Fear not, friend!' Thor beamed. 'We shall be uncles together!'

'Does that make me Andon's aunt?' Natasha asked no-one in particular.

'Well,' Frigga declared, speaking for the first time in a good ten minutes, 'I feel better knowing that Andon will have such caring people surrounding him when he moves to Midgard.'

Natasha smiled and nodded and that seemed to be the cue for everyone to start eating. Tony fussed over Andon, he and Loki talking softly, while Frigga and Thor kept the Avengers talking. More than once Tony was called upon, but he was too busy grinning and making faces at his son to notice, he and Loki smiling at each other whenever Andon did something cute.

And sometimes they smiled at each other for no reason whatsoever.