Author's Note: Here is the fifth chapter. I've been so stuck and focused on Who Knew that I had not paid attention to this one. Hopefully, this makes up for it. I'm very sorry for the long wait.

Disclaimer: Not Mine.

meru meru meru Page Break meru meru meru

"Is spying on them really necessary?" The middle-aged man asked as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, watching out for anyone who's "tall, blonde and built like a gladiator" across the street from their SUV.

"Of course, it is, Happy," Tony answered with a sigh as he rolled his eyes behind tinted sunglasses, chin perched on his palm and sitting on the passenger seat of his father's car. "Just because Odinson the Blond looks like a good guy doesn't mean I trust him completely to take care of Jane."

Harold "Happy" Hogan stared at his boss's kid and shook his head. This kid was really going to drive him crazy one day. "It's just their first date, you know, not their wedding," he stated with a sigh. "They'll have more."

"That's the plan," Tony shrugged. "That's why we have to make sure Thor doesn't mess it up."

"Why not just get them a reservation at a fancy French restaurant? Dinner's always a good option," he suggested, only to pause as he saw Tony's eyes roll.

"Happy, Happy, Happy," Tony began, shaking his head at him, "this is why you can't get a girlfriend. You have to think outside the box, dude. Dinner is like the safest thing after celibacy and it's just as awkward when it comes down to the wire."

"That's rich coming from you, pipsqueak," Happy retorted, reaching out to ruffle Tony's hair, chuckling as the kid brushed him off. "You haven't had a date before in your life. And I can't exactly get a girlfriend when I have this crazy, little kid to watch over."

"I'm not that little. Crazy, sure, we could go with that. But little? You are hurting me right here, dude," Tony replied with his hand placed dramatically over his chest. "Just so you know I have plans of getting a date myself."

"Is it that Loco-boy?"

Tony burst out laughing. "It's Loki, actually."

"Well, yeah, him. Whatever," said Happy. "How's it going on that front?"

"It's a work in progress," said Tony smugly before an impressive bike parked across the street from them and took his attention.

He watched as Thor climbed off the gleaming, awesome monstrosity of a motorcycle, taking his helmet off and running his fingers through his ridiculously shiny, blond hair. Tony checked his watch for the time and found that Thor was about twenty minutes early which added points in his book. Thor stood at the sidewalk beside his motorcycle, hands tucked in his pockets as he waited patiently for Jane to arrive.

"So that's Jane's date?" Happy asked incredulously, eyes wide as he watched Thor stretch a bit, unknowingly showing off his muscles to poor, innocent bystanders. They were gawking at him but Thor looked oblivious to the attention.

"Yep," Tony answered with a little pop at the end, appreciating the view. Let it be said that while he was attracted to the guy's younger brother, it didn't mean he was blind.

"He's… big."

"He's huge," the teenager nodded agreeably. "And he's okay. He's a good guy."

"Well, that's a huge compliment, coming from you."

"Yeah... Plus, his brother's hot – Loki's his brother," Tony explained as Happy turned to him.

A few minutes later and Jane ran around the corner, looking a little winded as she stopped in front of Thor, beaming up at him as she rubbed her hands down her jeans before tying her hair up the back of her head. They chatted a little and while Tony had the technology to listen in, he wasn't going to. Watching them was already bad enough, he knew, but he was a concerned friend and he knew the rest of the peanut gallery would do the same.

The bookstore Jane wanted to go to was a cozy, little shop in the corner two streets away from the mall that looked ridiculously out of place in the small town. It was one of their hangouts because it sold new and used books, some hard to find like the rare editions that Steve collected.

Tony watched as the pair went inside and he was tempted to go in himself – not to eavesdrop but to actually look at the books. Maria, the owner, had blasted them an email last night about a new shipment coming in.

Wait a minute...

"Whoa, there, Tony! Where the hell are you going?" Happy asked as he grabbed his wrist from where it was already pulling the door open.

"Maria blasted an email last night about a new shipment," said Tony as if that explained everything. Knowing how the kid thought, it probably did but Happy was not a teenage genius so he needed a little more than that.

"You're going to look at books now?" he asked incredulously. "With those two in there?"

"Well, duh, of course not," Tony retorted with a slight twitch of his nose, eyebrow rising. "I'm gonna stop everyone else from going in there. I mean, Bruce, Steve and Tasha know when to back off but Darcy and Clint are worse gossips than our neighbor."

"How do you even know the rest of them are coming here anyway?" Happy asked. That did not make any sense but he wouldn't put it past Tony to suddenly develop psychic abilities and predict the future. "What if they decided that they want to go tomorrow or something?"

Tony's gaze slipped away before turning back to him and he pointed out the window where a familiar pair of boys was walking slowly down the sidewalk. "It's an arrangement we have," he said with a shrug. "Anyways, I'm off playing Millionaire Matchmaker – literally. See you later, Happy."

Knowing he wouldn't be able to stop him anyway, Happy sighed and recited the long ago recited mantra since he'd been employed by Howard Stark. "Take your phone, take your wallet, call me by five o'clock if you're going to be out later, make sure you have your friends with you, text Pepper and make sure she knows where you are, make sure GPS is on just in case and your curfew is at twelve but you'd better be home before then because – Pepper."

"Yeah, I got it, Happy," Tony grumbled. "Not like you don't say this to me every, single day."

"That's because, for a smart, little guy, you can be kind of an idiot," Happy teased.

Tony groaned. "There we go again with the little business."

He didn't wait for a reply and slipped out of the car, slamming the door shut as he ran towards Bruce and Steve who already spotted him and was waving him over.

He was about to cross the street toward them when he crashed into someone, hearing Steve yell his name in the background. He fell on his ass on the ground, sprawled on the hot asphalt. He stayed there for a few seconds; hand on his head and rubbing from where it banged on something hard. He shook his head to take away the spinning, stopping with a groan because it made it worse.

"We have got to stop meeting like this, Stark," groaned a familiar voice that managed to sound snarky and it made his heart pound just a little faster.

"We already talked about this. It's Tony," he mumbled without much thought and damn, his head hurt.

He heard some shuffling in front of him and he opened his eyes slowly to see a pale hand extended to him. Attached to that nice hand with the long, pianist fingers was Loki.

"Very well, Tony. Now are you going to take my hand or are you comfortable where you are?"

meru meru meru Page Break meru meru meru

Author's Note: Thanks for reading and once again, I apologize for this taking too long to update.

Thanks to everyone who had been so patient with me. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks to Immoral Lover of Evil who is currently translating this piece to Russian. Спасибо!