I'm so sorry I took so long to update this. I started another story and was writing that for a bit.

So, Christmas was pretty cool. I got all three Iron Man movies and both Thor movies. I guess it's sorta late to be talking about Christmas, but I've been watching them since then. Which hopefully will help with this story.

As always, thanks to all you awesome people who reviewed, followed, favorited or read this story.

Loki flips a page in the book he's reading about Norse mythology, glad he can at least hold a book without any pain- though that's probably due to the painkillers Tony made him take. He's practically finished with this book and he only started it a couple hours ago. It's certainly a heck of a lot more interesting than that stupid Awesomeness of Tony Stark book, but then again, almost anything is. It's actually pretty entertaining reading about himself, Thor and others through the eyes of mortals. Even if some of it is completely wrong.

He'd been very surprised when Tony had dumped a huge pile of books on his bedside table. But Tony is quite the atypical master, so he really shouldn't have been surprised that the man lets his slave use his stuff. Even though such a thing would never happen in Asgard.

Then again, slaves in Asgard wouldn't be allowed to lounge around in bed like this, but Tony had made it clear Loki was to remain in bed until he was fully healed. He'd even gone so far as to make it in order.

So now Tony has the burden of taking care of his slave. Not that Loki had been particularly useful before. Now that he thinks about it, he's mostly been a burden during the 4 or 5 days he's been here. The thought doesn't sit well with the god. Tony could be annoyed about that and just not be showing it, or maybe Loki's just misreading him when he thinks he doesn't seem annoyed. Who wouldn't be annoyed at a useless slave? He certainly doesn't want to do anything else to annoy Tony- he has enough things he hasn't paid for yet. Yet here he is, lying around uselessly, albeit on on Tony's nonsensical orders.

Though if Tony isn't going to beat him, how exactly is he going to punish Loki for all his wrongdoings? Writing lines again? Sure that was annoying in it's own way, but as far as punishments went it really was pretty mild. It's certainly preferable to being beaten.

Tony really doesn't make any sense. Not that much of anything that's happened since his arrival at Stark Tower has made much sense either. His entire life has been one big confusion the past few days.

Not wanting to think about that stuff right now, Loki returns to his book. He finishes the rest in half an hour and sets it next to him on the bed. He can't reach the bedside table from where he is, and he doesn't want to risk injuring himself leaning over. He glances over at the other books, annoyingly out of reach.

He simply stares at them for five minutes. Then Tony enters the room.

"What're you doing? Moping about how you failed at taking over Midgard? Plotting another attempt at world domination? Sheesh. I went through all the trouble picking these books out for you and you don't even read them." Tony says in a mock hurt voice.

"I read this one." Loki feels the need to defend himself. Things could get very ugly if Tony thought he was actually plotting another attempt at world domination. He isn't, and he certainly couldn't carry any plot out without his magic anyways. He holds up the Norse mythology book and Tony smirks.

"Yeah I figured you'd go for that one. Tell me, did we Midgardians get it right?" Tony says as he places a small box with cylinders poking out the top on the desk. When Loki says a fair amount of it is right, Tony whoops and fist pumps the air as if it's somehow his accomplishment. Loki fights the urge to roll his eyes at the stupidity.

"So, are you hungry? I just got these from the store down the street. A lot more are supposed to arrive tomorrow but I figured you need some for today." Tony says, and Loki looks at him in confusion. There's not any food in the room, so why's Tony acting like there is? Tony decides the answer before Loki can say anything. "Yeah, you should probably eat something. You're skinnier than some anorexic supermodels." Loki briefly wonders what anorexic means, but then reminds himself that it doesn't really matter.

"Drink this." Tony says, handing him a small plastic bottle that he'd just put a straw in. Apparently the cylinders sticking out of the box are the bottle tops. Loki looks suspiciously at it. Boost Plus. Whatever that is. Below that are the words nutritional shake.

The only explanation Loki can think of for this is that Tony has decided he doesn't deserve real food anymore.

Tony is giving him a look. "It's not poison, you know. Though I can't say I know what it tastes like. But at least they made it chocolate flavored instead of tomato flavored or something disgusting like that." After a bit where Loki is still looking at it suspiciously, Tony asks sarcastically "Do I have to stick the straw in between your lips for you?"

Loki sighs and sucks a bit of liquid through the straw. It's certainly a unique taste, though it's not bad, per se. For something masters give their slaves as a replacement for real food, it's actually a lot better than one would expect. At least it tastes like chocolate. By the end, he's feeling full even though it wasn't much liquid at all.

"Well, I can't stick around all day. I'll be in my lab for a bit, but I'll be up in about an hour to change your bandages. Just tell Jarvis if you need anything." Tony says. Then he walks over to Loki's bedside table. He grabs a book and thrusts it in to Loki's hands.

"If you're looking for something to read, try this. You might like it." Loki looks at the cover. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

"Harry Potter..." Loki murmurs. Why does that name sound familiar? Suddenly it hits him. He'd seen it less than five hours ago, back when his injuries were still hidden. "One of your... DVDs had Harry Potter on it too." Tony looks surprised that Loki brought this up, and frankly Loki's surprised at himself too.

"Yeah they made movies of the books." Tony says as he leaves the room. The door still locks behind him, though it's pointless. It's not like Loki can go anywhere.

Loki looks at the cover and opens the book skeptically. He can't believe he's stooping to Midgardian entertainment (the Norse mythology book doesn't count in his mind) but he supposes it beats staring at the walls. Not that he'd ever admit that.

The book contains a ton of Midgardian references Loki can't make heads or tails of. What's a remote controlled airplane? What's a computer game or a television or a boa constrictor? He has no clue what a train is, though it's apparently some form of transportation.

As he reads, his brain can't help noticing similarities between Harry's life with the Dursleys and his own, much to his annoyance. Both lived with people other than their biological parents, and were certainly not the favorite child. Both Dudley and Thor seemed to get all the love. Additionally, Loki and Harry's lives were similar because most people disapproved of their magic. Frigga had been the one to teach Loki magic, but aside from her everyone in Asgard said it wasn't something a prince should be doing, and that it was a pathetic way of fighting.

He can't believe he's connecting to a fictional child in a book written by a mortal.

Even more astonishing- he's actually enjoying this book. It was written by a human. He is a god. It shouldn't be nearly as entertaining as it is. He shoves these thoughts out of his mind. No. He's not enjoying it, he tells himself. He just briefly thought he was since it's more interesting than copying lines or staring at the ceiling.

But deep down, he's not entirely fooling himself with that argument.

Tony is back on the sofa, holograms scattered around him as he works on the transparent 3d model of a new Iron Man suit hovering in the air in front of him. He hadn't gone to the lab like he'd originally intended, instead deciding to work from the comfort of his couch.

Jarvis informs him it's been an hour since he left Loki. He blinks. It certainly hadn't felt that long. Though losing track of time when he's working is by no means a rare occurrence for him. Luckily he has Jarvis to keep track for him.

He minimizes all the holograms and gets up, walking to Loki's room. He's greeted by the sight of Loki absorbed in Harry Potter when he enters the god's room. He smirks at the sight. The god practically has his nose buried in it. When Loki notices Tony, he acts as if the book is something he's putting up with out of pure boredom. Tony rolls his eyes. Why must Loki act like everything on Midgard is beneath him?

Perhaps he should make Loki copy more lines about how Midgard isn't beneath him sometime. The message apparently hadn't stuck the first time. But he's not going to make Loki do that when he's still recovering.

"So, Rudolph, learn any new spells in that book?" He asks, but the god just responds to his teasing with a withering glance. Tony sighs. So Loki's clearly not in a talkative mood, not that that's anything new.

"What part are you at?" Tony asks, needing to fill the silence with something. Loki sighs as if talking to him is a horrible burden and says "Harry's first potions lesson."

"Ah. Do you see yourself in Snape at all? Because I can. You both have greasy hair and everything." It's a sadly unoriginal line compared to his usual standards. But really, annoying Loki is too much fun, Tony thinks as he mentally cackles at Loki's affronted expression. He doubts anyone's ever told Loki he has greasy hair. Admittedly, Loki doesn't actually have greasy hair, but it doesn't matter. Whoever said all insults had to be accurate?

"All right, Reindeer Games. Let's have a look at those bandages." Tony says, pulling the covers down, away from Loki's torso. A lot of them have turned red from blood, which wasn't surprising, but Tony had hoped it wouldn't happen so quickly.

As he gets to work, Loki suddenly asks "Where are my clothes?"

Focusing on changing Loki's bandages, Tony distractedly answers "In the dresser. I had to take them off in order to patch you up." He stops for a bit as he applies pressure to a particularly nasty cut on Loki's stomach. Loki doesn't make a sound, most likely out of pride. Though it may not even hurt him too much, seeing as Tony made Loki take a ton of painkillers earlier.

"Dum-E pulled off your pants, if that's what you're worried about. All I can say is I'm glad you wear underwear back in fairyland." It suddenly occurs to Tony that maybe having a robot pull down your pants is creepier than having a human do it. He glances at Loki, but the god's face doesn't reveal if that's what he's thinking or not.

"I couldn't get your shirt off without risking injuring you further, so I had to cut it off. But all that black leather was a little over the top, don't you think? You looked like you belonged in a renaissance festival." He notices Loki glaring at him. Probably for the implied jab about his fashion sense or something.

Loki doesn't respond to anything else he says while changing his bandages, but when he finishes and hands the god another nutritional drink, the god finally speaks again. "What's the point of these?" Loki asks, looking at it curiously but still seeming kind of grumpy.

"It's supposed to help you gain weight so you stop looking like a skeleton." Tony replies. Surprisingly, Loki doesn't object anything in that statement. Especially considering he seems to be in a bad mood all of the sudden, if the way he's glaring at him is any indication.

Tony sighs and turns to leave. There's a lot more he'd rather be doing than hanging around with sulky gods of mischief.

Loki watches Tony go, not at all sorry to see him leave.

It annoys him greatly that Tony apparently just cut up his shirt without a second thought. Logically, Loki knows it had to be done. Trying to get it off him without cutting it probably would have injured him further. But what really annoys the god is that Tony didn't have to ask. Admittedly, he couldn't ask since Loki had been unconscious, but he probably wouldn't have if Loki had been awake.

Tony doesn't need to ask because Loki doesn't even own the clothes he's wearing anymore. Slaves don't own anything. One of the many perks of his current situation, Loki thinks with sarcastic bitterness.

A destroyed shirt should be the least of his concerns, but it bugs him anyways. Those clothes are the last thing connecting him to his life before, when he wasn't Tony Stark's slave. Though he supposes he still has his pants and boots, so he didn't totally loose that connection.

Hard to believe this new chapter of his life had started less than a week ago, he thinks. But then again, it's hard to believe that less than seven hours ago he was lying bleeding on the kitchen floor.

He sips some more of the Boost Plus. He glances down at the Harry Potter book, but he doesn't feel like reading. Once he's done drinking it (again, his stomach feels a lot fuller than it should), he lays back against his pillow and stares out the window, alone with his thoughts.

It feels rather strange, eating dinner without Loki, even though he's only eaten with the god for a handful of days. It's certainly a lot quieter, even though he does most of the talking when Loki's around anyways.

Once he's done, he debates about what to do. He eventually decides to kick back and watch a movie instead of work in his lab.

After getting up and dumping the dishes in the dishwasher, he pours himself a glass of scotch and scans his DVD collection. Having part of it alphabetized is actually kind of nice, he realizes. Maybe he'll make Loki do the rest sometime.

Eventually, he picks Avatar and slides it into his DVD player. He kicks back on the couch, ready for a couple hours of entertainment.

Fifteen minutes in, however, Jarvis interrupts. "Sir, Miss Potts is at the door. She wishes to speak with you."

Tony sighs. Normally this wouldn't annoy him (unless she was just talking about work) but he's pretty sure this visit is about what he missed at the meeting earlier today. Right now, she's the last person he wants to see.

"Tell her I'm busy, Jarvis." He says.

About half a minute later, the AI says "She doesn't believe that, sir. She says your probably watching a movie like you do most nights you're alone."

Really? Pepper knows him too well. Tony runs a hand through his hair and sighs. "Fine. Let her in, Jarvis."

He hopes he'll manage to keep Loki a secret.

Well, someone else finally shows up. Even if they're not an Avenger.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm not entirely sure what I think of it. By the way, I know firsthand what Boost Plus tastes like.

UPDATE 2/15/16: I'm so sorry everyone! I think I need to put this story on hold, because trying to write two stories about Tony and Loki living together is a lot harder than I thought. My brain keeps mixing up the different universes.