A fic written for this prompt on Norsekink: Loki is in a secret relationship with Tony Stark when Odin strips him of his powers and makes him mortal. And another surprise - he is pregnant. While he is a mortal now, his baby is still half Jotun and the pregnancy will probably kill him. Loki is ready to die if necessary to keep his child alive.

This fic is slash and MPREG, contains one naughty word (Thanks tony!) and some blood.

~o~ BLUE ~o~

"Is it my imagination or does he actually just not bother trying anymore?" Clint asked as he watched Loki half-heartedly throw another fiery blast of magic towards the Avengers, which dissipated before it reached its target.

"Looks real enough to me," Tony said, "But if you'd like to test that theory, please feel free to get a little closer. I'm sure you'd look great with no eyebrows."

"I'm fine right here, thanks," Clint replied, fixing an arrow into his bow. He drew the string back, let the arrow loose, then watched as it transformed into a cloud of butterflies before it got within 20 feet of the laughing god.

"You'll have to do better than that, mortals!" Loki shouted happily, from his vantage point, stood on top of an over turned security truck.

"I agree with Clint," Steve said, "Butterflies? Don't you think poisonous snakes or killer bees would be more his style?"

"Aye, my brother is fond of snakes," Thor agreed.

"Well, maybe you should go and suggest he takes a holiday. Hawaii is lovely this time of year," Tony said, "Personally, I'm quite happy with butterflies."

The Hulk appeared at the other end of the street, some way behind Loki, hoping to take him by surprise and Tony watched as Banner took off at a run. Slow at first, but gathering pace, he bounced the last few strides and leapt through the air towards the security van.

At first Tony thought Loki hadn't noticed the thundering strides approaching him, but he turned at the last moment. Loki blasted the Hulk with a weak bolt of magic, but the momentum Banner had gained as he bounced down the street was transferred with the deflection, flinging him with more force than Loki had anticipated. He hit a building, cleaving a hole in its corner and weakened its structural integrity. The whole building started to wobble, a rippling effect moving up its glass exterior, and then every window shattered pouring shards of glass down into the crowded street below.

Loki's eyes went wide as the building started to list ominously towards him, he raised a hand, casting his magic upwards, trying to push it back, but was knocked from the truck by a bruising blow to the shoulder from Mjolnir as Thor approached. He rolled in pain, his shattered shoulder quickly healing itself, but it was too late to stop the building, it had reached its tipping point and the structure was certain to collapse like a house of cards into the street.

It didn't. The rain of debris and glass stopped and hung in the air like diamonds, glinting in the sunlight, even the dust formed steady clouds, as the sound of horses hooves broke the silence and Odin rode into view.

"Father!" Loki gasped, forcing himself up onto his knees, "What are you doing here?"

"Loki, my son," Odin said, as he climbed down from Sleipnir's mighty back, "I can no longer stand by idly and watch you destroy this realm."

"All Father," Loki said, his voice wavering, "It was not my intention to-"

Loki's words were cut off when Odin grabbed his wrist tightly and regarded him with a look of sorrow and determination.

"Intentions matter not, my son. Your actions speak loud enough. I hereby take from you your powers."

~o~

From a distance, the Avengers stood and watched as Odin, still with a crushingly tight grip on Loki's right wrist, started ripping sections from his son's armor and threw them on the floor.

"Odin doesn't approve of your brothers fashion choices?" Tony said to Thor.

"No, Stark," Thor laughed, "Heimdall sees all. The All Father has clearly grown tired of Loki's actions here on Midgard."

"Is he going to hurt him?"

"No!" Thor said, smiling, "Father would never hurt him, he will merely render him mortal, as he did to me once."

"Mortal? Like human?" Tony asked with a note of panic in his voice, and then he pulled his visor down and launched himself at Odin.

"Stark, what are you doing?" Thor shouted.

Odin didn't even bother turning to repel Tony's attack, he raised Gungnir, aiming somewhere behind him, and unleashed a blast of pure energy from the spear which struck Iron Man and repelled him to the base of the nearest building.

Tony, barely awake, watched as Odin released Loki's wrist, and allowed him to collapse backwards onto the floor.

"You are mortal now Loki. You will live out the rest of your life peacefully, here on Midgard," Odin said.

"And you have condemned me to death!" Loki shouted, tears streaming down his face, and Tony lost his fight to stay conscious.

Tony woke to the smell of antiseptic and a headache grumbling somewhere behind his eyes. Awareness creeping in, slowly at first, he realised from the slight background hum that he was on the Hellicarrier, no doubt in the medical bay, and then he remembered what happened in the street.

"Loki!" Tony said, opening his eyes, sitting bolt upright in the bed and instantly regretting it when his headache flared into pounding pain.

"Easy, easy," Steve replied, pushing Tony back down, "It's OK, we got him. You've had a bump on the head though, so just lie back and relax."

"Where is he?" Tony asked.

"Loki? He's in the cells."

"I need to see him," Tony said, throwing the sheets off his legs and spinning round so he was sat on the edge of the bed. He paused when a slight wave of dizziness hit him, sitting still till the room stopped spinning.

"That can wait, Fury is debriefing him," Steve said, trying to stop Tony from standing.

"You know that's just a polite way of saying torture, right?" Tony said, finally climbing to his feet and pulling at the hem of his hospital gown, "So hand me my pants or I'm going down there with my goddamn ass on show."

~o~

Tony walked quickly, down to the cells, with Steve tagging along by his side. As he went through the main door he bumped into Bruce who was walking out, carrying a clipboard.

"Is he in there?" Tony asked.

"Ah… Tony," Bruce said, "I was just about to come looking for you."

"Have you seen Loki?"

"You should know something about his test results."

"He's mortal, right?" Steve asked

"Oh completely, every single reading from DNA to blood type, all completely human."

"That's great news!" Steve said, excitedly.

"There's just one more thing, that the medical staff really can't explain and they sent me to talk to you about-"

"Yes, yes, the 3 months pregnant thing," Tony said, waving his hand in the air dismissively, "Is the baby OK?"

"Wait, what? How can he be pregnant? He's a guy?" Steve asked, and then added "And how did you know?"

"It's customary for the father of the child to know about it."

"You? And Loki?" Steve asked, hardly believing his own ears.

"Yup."

"Was it a one-time thing?" Steve asked and Tony laughed in response.

"It was a 'more-than-one-time-a-night' thing, Rogers, keep up," Tony said, "Now is someone going to tell me where the hell he is?"

"Holding cell 6," Bruce said, "By the way, the baby's in perfect health."

"Thanks, man," Tony shouted as he took off down the corridor.

~o~

"Crap," Tony said, abruptly changing direction when he saw Fury emerge from the cell door.

"You have some explaining to do, Stark," Fury said.

"Er, birds, bees, you know…" Tony said, turning back around.

"And how exactly does a super villain end up impregnated by a supposed super hero?" Fury asked, Tony opened his mouth to speak, but Fury cut him off and said, "And don't be giving me any crap about stolen DNA."

"Sometimes a mommy and daddy love each very much-"

"Stark! How long has this being going on?"

"Um… about 6 months…"

"And in that time did it ever occur to you that he might just be after information about the Avengers, our plans, our weaknesses?"

"I'll be honest," Tony said, "There wasn't a whole lot of talking going on."

"Well, you better hope he will talk to you now, because he wouldn't say a damn word to me."

"I can see him?"

"Get him to talk and maybe, MAYBE, I won't use the helmet of your new armor as a flowerpot."

~o~

"Are you sure you want to go in?" The SHIELD guard stationed outside the cell asked him.

"He's hardly likely to hurt me."

"Okayyyy…" The guard replied, and opened the door.

Tony walked into the cell and heard the door close behind him, before he even had a chance to look round he felt an arm snake round his throat and cut off his air supply.

"Loki…" Tony choked out, his fingers pulling at the arm, "Loki."

"Did you know?" Loki shouted, his mouth next to Tony's ear, "Did you know Odin was coming?"

"Loki… Can't speak… Let me…"

Tony felt a hand on his back and as the arm was released he was pushed forward, staggering across the cell until he fell onto his onto his hands and knees. He sucked the air into his lungs and felt his face become a slightly less bright shade of red.

Tony had thought Loki would be upset, possibly even crying or doing that wibbly lower lip thing he sometimes did when Thor spoke to him and hit a raw nerve, but he had obviously bypassed that phase and moved straight onto the inevitable 'seething anger and destruction' stage that usually followed the tears.

"Did you know he was coming?" Loki screamed, as he towered over Tony, and Stark realised that even without his magic and technically completely powerless, Loki in the middle of pitching a screaming fit was still just as intimidating as ever.

"Odin? No, I had no idea," Tony replied.

"Did Thor know?"

"No, he was just as surprised as I was. I did try to stop him."

"Obviously you did not try hard enough! You realise this is nothing more than a death sentence?" Loki fumed as he paced the room with his hands balled into tight fists, looking like he might explode if had just one more iota of tension in his body, "He has condemned me to die!"

"Being human isn't so bad," Tony said as he stood up, "I've managed it this long without getting myself killed."

"You fool Stark, did you forget I am with child?" Loki asked as he quickly crossed the cell and Tony felt compelled to take a step backwards, "You expect a mortal body to be able to carry a half Jotun baby? I'll likely burst open at least a month before it is born."

"I know it's going to be difficult, but we'll find a way."

"I had a way before he interfered," Loki said venomously, "With my magic I could shape shift to allow the child room to grow, now it is likely that not only will I die, but the child too."

Tony stared at Loki for a moment, trying to find the right words of comfort, and preferably ones that would end this conversation with his head still on his shoulders, but found none.

Loki stamped over to the bed and slumped down heavily, as if the anger had finally overwhelmed and exhausted him. With his jaw still clamped shut with tension, he exhaled through his teeth, and then covered his face with his hands.

"How can you even stand to look at me?" Loki asked, "So vile and weak and powerless."

Tony sat on the edge of the bed, leaving a foot between himself and Loki, just in case he reverted back to the 'Kill absolutely everyone' stage. Tentatively he bridged the gap between them, raising his hand and placing it gently on Loki's shoulder. When it wasn't shrugged off and didn't provoke a deadly reaction Tony shuffled closer sheepishly wrapped his arm around Loki's back.

"We'll find a way to fix this, I promise you," Tony said and pulled Loki stiffly into his arms and as he held him, Tony thought back to their first night together.

~o~

He had decided to visit his favourite, extremely discrete and very definitely members only establishment, where powerful and rich men could meet other powerful and rich men for 'adult fun'.

He had been pushing his way back through the small crowd near the dance floor, Martini glass in hand, when he bumped into the back of a tall man who looked decidedly out of place amongst all the guys in suits. His hair was a mess of dark curls, he wore black leather pants and a leopardskin fur coat, he turned and familiar green eyes met Tony's.

Tony dropped his glass out of pure shock and said: "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I-I could ask the same question of you," Loki said, half stammering, obviously just as surprised, "This does not seem like the kind of establishment you would frequent Stark, given your reputation."

"And I don't see any other insane, super villains around here," Tony said, allowing his eyes to track down Loki's body, noting the way those leather pants clung in all the right places. A gesture that did not go unnoticed.

"Why do you look like, well, you? You could shape shift into anyone you wanted. Aren't you worried someone might recognise you?"

"Are you daring to suggest there is another form more pleasing than this one?" Loki asked, raising his eyebrow, and Tony realised pissing off a crazy Norse god while he was an awful long way away from his suit probably wasn't one of his better ideas. He just couldn't help himself though.

"You owe me a drink by the way," Tony said, deciding to push his luck. He knew he would most likely be dead in the next 5 minutes, and if he couldn't go out all repulsors blazing, he'd be happy enough with his last words being a sarcastic comment.

Loki's eyes narrowed and he said: "Do you wish me to hurt you, Stark? I am perfectly happy to throw you through another window."

"Well, we could do that," Tony said, moving closer, "Or we could go find a comfortable toilet stall and I could fuck you senseless."

For once Loki had been lost for words.

~o~

After that night their meetings had become a regular occurrence, full of the promise of danger and always teetering on the edge of violence. He knew it would only take one wrong word, look or touch and it might be enough to cause Loki to snap his neck without so much as an afterthought.

During the day they would fight in the streets of New York, if Tony got close enough he could see the glint of excitement in Loki's eyes, and at night they would meet in secret. Tony knew it was probably the worst idea he had ever had, but that was what made it so exhilarating and he loved every single second of it.

Or he did till the morning he'd found Loki in the bathroom of the hotel they had checked into, wringing a towel between his hands until it was shredded.

"You're still here," Tony had said, happily, before he noticed Loki's obvious distress, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I can't change back."

"What do you mean?"

"I shape shifted last night, to include… other organs, you remember?"

"I'm not likely to forget that for a long time," Tony replied with a grin.

"I fell asleep before I changed back."

"And now you're stuck like that?"

"Well… At least for 9 months," Loki replied, cryptically.

"9 months? How do you know it's…" Tony's eyebrows shot up, "Wait w-w-wait… You're pregnant?"

"It would appear so."

"You're a guy! How the hell can you get pregnant?"

"Yes, I am a male, with what is obviously a very fertile female reproductive tract!"

"So why the hell did you give yourself fully functional ovaries?"

"I was drunk!"

"Oh my god, it's like Prom night all over again!"

~o~

An hour later, after they had argued themselves back into bed, they decided they were hungry and ordered room service instead.

"You are not angry about this?" Loki asked as he reclined on a pile of pillows that were propped up against the head of the king-size bed, and delicately chose another chocolate covered strawberry from the bowl that Tony had ordered for him.

"Maybe at first… let's face it, I'm not getting any younger, and it's about time that I passed on my perfect genetic make up."

Loki laughed and said: "But I assume you did not expect it to happen this way?"

"I always assumed one of my various one night stands would turn up with a paternity suit one day, but this is far better," Tony said and Loki looked at him questioningly, "What could be more perfect? The child of a god AND a god like genius. Little Loki Starkson really will be able to rule the world."

"Starkson?" Loki asked, "You are very presumptuous."

"We can pick baby names later…" Tony said, "But imagine it. He'll inherit my brains, charm and rugged good looks and your… height."

"Did you really just insinuate that I am stupid, charmless and ugly all in one sentence?"

"Yeah… I called you freakishly tall too."

"You do realise that if I wanted, I could strip your Arc reactor down to it's constituent parts and feed them to you with one thought, don't you?"

"You love me too much to do that."

"Love?" Loki asked, "I am here because I find you marginally more entertaining than most Midgardians. Do not mistake that for love."

"I'm entertaining?"

Loki cast a glance at him, raised one eyebrow and said: "Marginally."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Tony said.

"It was not meant as one," Loki replied.

"So, obviously now you're pregnant you will have to quit the super villain business," Tony said and watched as Loki looked at him in horror.

"I cannot simply just stop attacking you," he replied, "You have no idea how vulnerable that would make me."

"Vulnerable? How?"

"If I am no longer, as you say, 'Top dog' amongst your foes, not only would they turn on me and most likely tear me limb from limb, but I would no longer be powerful enough to keep the more rowdy elements in line."

"You keep the lower ranks under control?" Tony asked.

"I can't have just anyone, running around, causing chaos and attacking you. That is my job," Loki said, picking out another strawberry.

"So you actually prevent attacks on us?"

"Of course. I don't want those buffoons disturbing my carefully laid plans to defeat your little troop of clowns. They need a strong master to provide discipline."

"So what if we just pretend," Tony said, "A bit of a light show, some amusing verbal sparring, some light pummeling."

Loki snorted and said: "That sounds extremely similar to your idea of foreplay."

"Well, maybe afterwards we should book into a hotel."

"Work off the adrenaline?" Loki said as Tony crawled up the bed on his hands and knees to kiss him.

"Hmmm, you taste of chocolate," Tony said when they parted.

"And you taste of coconut," Loki had replied with a grin and then leaned in for another kiss, "And just a hint of Titanium."

"Maybe later you can show me how you are a strong master to all those underlings?"

"Gladly," Loki replied, grinning as Tony pushed him back onto the pillows.