Bite of Winter

Post-Avengers

Loki is an Avenger

Ok, it was official. Tony Stark hated winter. It was cold, icy, windy and downright annoying. Right now he could think of a hundred different places he would rather be than in New York freezing his ass off as he and his teammates battled Doom's new robots. God, that man really had nothing else to do but build stupid toys.

"Jarvis, what is the current temperature?" Tony asked his AI as he blasted another Doombot.

"It is currently fifteen degrees Fahrenheit, sir."

Tony frowned. "A bit cold for this early, isn't it Jarvis?"

"I do not control the weather Mr. Stark," Jarvis replied.

"Noted." Iron Man said as he ducked around a bot and tore out its electrical system. "Speaking of weather," he mumbled.

Thor was having a field day. He was prancing around bringing his hammer down on anything that got in his way. It seemed the cold was not affecting the Thunder god in the slightest.

"Man of Iron!" Thor boomed. "Is not this day just glorious?"

Tony rolled his eyes and raced after another Doombot.

"How the freakin' hell are you not cold?" Clint snapped, landing beside the Thunderer. He drove and arrow through a bot and kicked it.

"I am cold, but it is even colder on Jotunheim, friend." Thor smiled. "Isn't that right, brother?"

Clint swung his head around to look at Loki, who was battling next to the Captain and Natasha. Like Thor, he too seemed impervious to the cold. The god of Mischief just smirked and tossed a snowball at Thor's head. It just so happened that Thor was reveling in defeating another Doombot that he had his mouth open in a huge laugh.

Thor's eyes went wide as he spit out the offending snow. "LOKI!" he sputtered.

"Is everyone ok?" Bruce's voice came over the link. Apparently the other guy did not enjoy the cold.

The Black Widow disabled another bot. "It's fine Bruce, just some Norse gods having fun."

"All right."

There were only a few bots left, and Doom had already turned tail and ran. Steve smashed a Doombot in the face when he turned around. What he saw made him freeze. An overpass bridge was starting to collapse due to those cursed robots, and it seemed like Tony had seen it too because he was rushing civilians to safety.

"Tony! Look out!" Cap shouted, as the bridge gave way.

There is a screeching of metal and Tony is more concerned about the people than himself. Cap noticed a streak of green whirl past him as bridge came down in a giant roar, but at the time it all that was important was protecting the civilians. The remaining people ran for cover as the Avengers rushed forward, seemingly ignoring the confusion and debris that was filling the air.

"TONY!"

As the dust settled, the team franticly searched the area, but their teammate was nowhere to be found.

"Tony, can you hear me?" Steve was holding his finger up to his ear, a look of panic clearly written across his face. His eyebrows knitted together when all he heard was static at the other end.

Thor stopped overturning giant slabs of rubble. "Loki?" He called, looking around. "Brother?"

It fell silent for a second.

Clint scanned around. "I don't see him."

Thor frowned, overprotective brother instincts kicking in.

Captain America froze. Green blur… Oh God…

Tony slowly opened his eyes and looked around. All he could see was darkness, with tiny rays of light penetrating through the rock. He shook his head a couple of times to resituate himself.

"Cap? Are you there?"

All he could hear was static.

It seemed that the bridge had fallen in a way that beams had landed and created a roof somewhat. It was barely tall enough for Tony to stand, and it was dark as hell. He walked a few yards when he heard movement.

"Guys?" Tony called.

There was a bout of coughing then, "Stark?"

Tony rushed towards the voice and dropped to his knees where Loki lay, or where he hoped he was, it was really dark.

"Loki!" Iron Man shouted. "God, are you ok?"

Loki coughed again and spat out a mouthful of blood. "Does… it look like I'm ok?" He gasped.

Tony pushed his faceplate up and squinted into the darkness. Jarvis was down for the count, so it looked like he would be doing things the old fashioned way. Nice.

There was a blurry outline of what looked like to be a support beam running down from the ceiling and into the ground. Only problem was, it went straight through the god of Mischief's abdomen.

"Shit." Tony breathed.

Loki smirked weakly. "I'll say."

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Tony kept whispering to himself, as if it would somehow help calm him down. "Oh God, shit, Loki. Fuck!"

"Calm down, Stark." Loki winced. "I believe this beam is the only thing keeping the concrete from falling and crushing us."

Tony ran his hands through his hair. Loki was right, if he tried to remove the beam, the whole thing would collapse and they would both be pancakes. Mhmm, pancakes, no! Focus Stark. He punched the ground and Loki cringed.

"Sorry."

Loki shut his eyes. "It's…fine…"

Man, was it freezing. Tony wished that his suit was working. "Jarvis?" He tried again. Nothing.

Damn.

He glanced at Loki. "Are you cold? I mean, can gods get cold?"

Loki opened his eyes. "Yes… though I am immune to it."

Tony was going to press the issue further when the beam shifted a bit and Loki bit his lip to keep from screaming. Blood ran down his chin and onto the snow, staining it crimson. He clenched his fists. It physically hurt Tony to see his friend in this much pain, and there was absolutely nothing he could do.

The others must be trying to move the rubble around to make an exit.

"Steve! Steve stop! You're going to kill him!" Tony shouted into the commlink. "STEVE!"

There was crackling. "W..what? To…you…ere?"

"Stop! Loki's trapped because of a support beam! Stop moving the concrete around!"

On the other side Captain America paled. "Thor, stop!" He commanded.

The god of Thunder gave him a look.

"Loki is trapped, and moving the debris is making it worse." Cap explained.

"Loki's trapped?" Thor growled. "We must free them at once!"

Clint put a hand on Thor's massive shoulder. "Hang on big guy. We'll get them out."

Thor stared at the ground.

Down below, Tony was just glad that the transmission went through. It seemed his armor was slowly coming back online. That was good, right?

Due to the movement, the Avengers allowed more light to leak through. Tony could see the extent of the damage. Loki was drenched in sweat, even though it was cold enough to make Tony want to run inside and hide until summer. There was a pool of blood forming underneath him, mixing with the dirt and snow. His emerald eyes were cloudy and glassy. That was not good.

"Hey, hey!" Tony scooted closer and took off his gauntlets in order to place is hands on either side of Loki's face. "You have to stay awake. You got it?"

Loki blinked slowly.

"I'll take that as a yes." Tony replied. "Can't heal?"

Loki grimaced. "No. Not with this," he motioned to the beam, "running through me."

Tony cursed in ever language he knew. "And we would die if we did remove it…well fuck…"

The god nodded. "I believe this is what you mortals call being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Or between the devil and the deep blue sea."

Tony snorted. "Never heard of the last one, but yeah."

They sat there for awhile not speaking, as if words would do any good.

"Loki?" Tony whispered, alarmed. "Why are you Smurf blue?"

The raven haired man startled. He slowly raised his arm, and yes indeed, he was turning a dark shade of blue. Loki gritted his teeth as it made its way up to his face.

"I'm not Asguardian, like Thor. I'm…"

"Adopted?" Tony supplied helpfully.

Loki actually smiled at that. "Yes, to put it mildly. I am Jotun. A frost giant. Monster."

"So that's why you aren't cold." Tony realized. "I bet that comes in handy. Oh, if I choke you, what color would you turn?"

Loki's eyes widened and his eyebrows disappeared into his helmet. "What?"

"Never mind." Tony waved his hands. "Not of import right now."

"You are most different Tony Stark. Most would cower in fear from what I am. But you, you ask if it comes in handy, then you crack a joke. You Midgardians are strange." Loki rolled his eyes. "And you are not the least bit concerned with my skin or eye color."

Tony shrugged. "Eh, we have what he call equality in this country."

"I see."

"Can't you use your magic to get us out of here?"

There was a pause. "Unfortunately, it takes a great deal of concentration in order to accomplish that. And if you haven't noticed…" Loki snapped his mouth shut as the beam moved again. He was clenching his fists so hard together, that his fingernails were drawing blood.

Tony felt stupid. "Right…"

"Sir, are you hurt?"

Tony had never in his life been more relived to his AI's voice. "Jarvis! We need help!"

Loki turned his head. "Your suit is fully functional again?"

Stark nodded. "Getting there, why?"

"When it is ready, I want you to blast through the rock, and get help."

Wait.

"No way!" Tony yelled. His voice raised an octave, but he would later deny it. "You'll be crushed!"

"I'm already crushed Stark."

Tony looked away and grit his teeth. Loki was right, there was a huge metal beam through his stomach, and debris crushing both legs. As much as he hated it, he was pinned. There must be another way, there has to be!

"There is no other way," Loki sighed, as if he could read his mind. Was Tony really that transparent? Apparently.

"Go, Stark." Loki commanded.

"No! I won't just leave you!" Tony shot back. "I'm no soldier, but I never leave a man behind!"

Loki was touched, he really was, but now was not the time. He could feel his strength waning and his eyelids felt heavier. "Stark…" he slurred when he couldn't fight back the darkness any longer.

"There's gotta…" Iron Man mumbled. "Hey! No! None of that!"

He lightly slapped the Norse deity.

"Loki." Stark shouted. "Loki! Damn it!"

The god was unresponsive.

Fuck.

Tony looked up.

"You better be fucking alive when I come back," he whispered, as he readied his thrusters.

The team jumped as Tony came barreling out of the remains of the bridge. The movement caused the rocks to shift, and the bridge collapsed onto itself, covering them with clouds of dust and smoke.

Tony landed next to them.

"Man of Iron!" Thor came running up. "Where is Loki?"

Stark flipped his plate up. "He told me to get outta there. He's pinned down by a beam and I couldn't…"

Thor shook his head. "Loki is stubborn." He meant it as words of comfort as he raced forward towards the wreckage.

The team was already at work digging when medical transport arrived. It took an hour to dig through the mess until they found him.

"LOKI!"

Thor turned.

The medical team immediately put him on a stretcher. Tony watched in horror.

Loki looked terrible. Actually there isn't a word in the English dictionary that could describe it. There was blood everywhere, turning rocks a sickly brown color and staining the sheets on the stretcher. The god had done this for him. Him. Iron Man. Tony Stark.

Tony clenched his fists. This wasn't fair, that should be him, not Loki.

The team took Loki away, back to the tower for treatment, Bruce was ready and standing by thankfully. The Avengers silently crawled into the quinjet and followed. Not a word was uttered until they were back at base. As soon as the jet landed, Tony went straight for his bar and poured himself a large glass of scotch.

Normally, Steve would admonish him, but not today.

Thor ran down the med bay to check on Loki, while the rest of the team changed. Tony allowed Jarvis to take his battered suit off while he nursed his glass.

Twenty minutes later, Tony walked down to medical. Thor, Steve and Clint were already there. They would not allow even Thor into the room, which caused him to look like a kicked, dejected puppy. Tony hated that face, it was his fault. He wasn't paying attention and Loki and to swoop in a save his pathetic ass.

Steve put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Tony it's not your fault."

Tony rounded on him. "It is too! This is all my fault! I wasn't looking at where I was! This IS my fault!"

"I'm not sure Loki would see it as such." Thor said quietly.

Tony stopped glaring at Steve. "What?"

Thor slowly smiled. "Loki, even as a child, did as so pleased. You could ask him right now, and he would save you over and over again without hesitating, Tony Stark. No one could ever change his mind. Not even me. Loki is very protective of the ones he cares for."

Now Tony was even more kinds of confused.

Two Days Later…

The Avengers were notified when Loki had regained consciousness and immediately ran for the med bay. The doctors informed them that Loki was doing fine, and that it would be a few more days before his magic could fully heal himself. He was a god after all.

Thor shed tears that he didn't know he had and Tony silently prayed to any god out there.

The doctors said that they would admit one person to visit Loki, since he was still extremely weak. Thor was easily the logical choice, but he shook his head.

"Tony Stark, you may go."

Tony was surprised to say the least. "Why me?"

"Because I think you need to speak with him the most." Thor smiled. The Thunder god may act like a big child most of the time, but damn was he perceptive sometimes.

Tony walked up to the door and nodded at Thor. He slowly turned the knob and walked in.

The scene before him wasn't right. Loki looked as white as the bed sheets and he was hooked up to so many wires it made Tony's head spin. There was no sound except for the occasional beeping and whirring of the machines. Tony cringed, gods weren't supposed to look like this. He would give anything to see Loki standing before him, in his full armor; yes even that ridiculous horned helmet and green cape, making snide comments.

Tony walked up and sat down in the nearby chair, and gently grabbed Loki's hand. He was cold, but not blue anymore.

Loki stirred and opened his eyes. "Stark," he rasped.

Tony shushed him. "I'm so sorry, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't be… I should have been… I mean…I'm not worth…" He was babbling now.

Loki glared at him with as much strength he could muster. "You… are worth it… Tony," he whispered. He winced as he moved.

Tony struggled with his words. He had called him 'Tony', he'd never called him anything other than 'Stark' before. "You would do it all again, for me?" Tony said after he found his words.

Loki slowly closed his eyes. "In a heartbeat."

You can look at this story in one of two ways: FrostIron or just friendship. Or I suppose pre-FrostIron. So three ways. Yes three.

-Nicholls