I wrote this fic because im having major writers block in regards to "Stitched Up", so im writing some one shots. If you have any prompts, let me know! Also this fic belongs in the Forever and Always universe, so you should read that if you havent. Enjoy :D I own nothing
AKA 3 Times one of the Avengers (mainly Tony) tried to teach Loki about Midgardian Life, and one time Loki taught Tony something about himself.
"What are you doing, Anthony?"
"Playing video games, you want in? We're on Mario Kart now, but we still have Halo and Portal to go through." Tony Stark spoke hurriedly to his husband, eyes glued to the screen. He was so close to winning, but Clint was coming up fast behind him, and he knew he had at least one green shell.
Loki perched himself on the arm of the sofa, eyebrows drawn together. It was happening all too often for his liking. Although he had been living on Midgard for a while now, he was ashamed to say he had picked up very little about their technology, mostly content to use his magic for everything he needed, and asking JARVIS to help him with anything else. He knew he should probably be taking a more proactive role in learning about how his Husband, and his friends, lived, but it seemed so very different from what he was used to, and it left him...anxious, to say the least.
Why, it had not been that long ago that Clint had finally stopped making various appliances sound -the phones ring, the microwave bell going off, JARVIS randomly talking- just to see Loki twitch at the shock of it. It wasn't that there wasn't technology of a sort in Asgard, he had certainly seen some interesting technology with the Chitauri, but there the technology had all been based on magic, and the pure energy of the Tesseract. It was something Loki could understand, which had a purpose he could need. He couldn't understand Tony's machines, which let them speak to one another across vast distances, or which allowed him to play frivolous games without another human being actually being in the room, or even another person participating! All the games Loki knew required another player, certainly in Asgard anyway.
"No...Thank you. I think I will return to my books." Loki bit his lip as he stood from his perch, fingers going to fiddle with the sleeve of his other arm. He hated not understanding Midgardian appliances, and he hated it even more when other people saw this. It made him feel stupid and ignorant. It made him feel lost. Out of his depth.
Tony caught the note of anxiety in the Tricksters voice. He wanted to slap himself when he realized, of course Loki wouldn't know how to play and of course he would never admit to needing help to understand. Tony had heard Loki speak of his childhood before, of how the other children would exclude him from games because he seemed different, how even though he loved his books, sometimes he wanted to play outside too. Loki felt like an outsider when he was a kid, and now he felt like an outsider as an adult too, because he couldn't understand.
Well that just wouldn't do.
"Wait, Loki, hang on, come back a second" He paused the game, murmuring in his headset to Clint that they would have to play again another time, he had something he had to take care of now. He seated the befuddled Trickster on the floor in front of the TV, taking his own seat directly behind, his legs spread wide so Loki was seated between them. "Let me teach you."
He restarted the game, keeping his hands either side of Loki's on the wiimote, showing him what all the different buttons did, how to avoid the red shells and blue shells, taking him through track after track as he finally got the hang of it. At first, Loki had been uncertain, eyes glistening when he dropped off of Wario's Gold Mine that first time, looking at Tony in anticipation, as though he expected to be called a failure, and for the remote to be pulled away from him. Tony had laughed lightly at him, explaining that when Thor first started playing he had driven round the whole course backwards, which Tony didn't even think was possible. Steve had dropped off of Rainbow Road 40 times in one game. Bruce couldn't play any more after he hulked out the second time he got hit by a Blue shell.
By the end of the Lightning Cup, when the credits started to role, Loki had a light in his eyes Tony didn't think he'd seen before. It was like a child at Christmas, who's just been given a puppy, it was like everything he'd ever missed out on had been given to him in a box. And Tony had never been happier playing Mario Kart with someone.
He couldn't wait until Avengers Game Night came round again.
Loki cried out, snatching his hand away from the tray as he set it on the side. It had hurt from when he picked it up, but he had assumed this was the price you had to pay to access the cooked food in the oven. In order to get the food you wanted, you had to pay the price of pain. It sounded similar to rites of passage in Asgard, like the quest required to ask a woman's hand in marriage. You would have to go on a quest and bring home a prize it took sufficient danger to acquire, in order to prove you could protect the Lady. it wasn't a massive stretch of the imagination to think that Midgard might have the same sort of customs.
At once Tony was by his side, holding the burnt and blistering fingers under the running cold water tap, grimacing in sympathy as Loki hissed through his teeth, jaw clenched shut in shame from crying out and being babied in such a manner. He should not have shown that it hurt, especially with Bruce sitting at the counter, watching over the top of his newspaper. Steve prepared dinner every night without fuss, and he certainly never showed any signs of pain afterwards. Why was he so weak?
"What the hell, Loki? Why didn't you let go when you felt how hot it was in the first place?" Tony sounded incredulous, and it confused Loki to no end.
He was pretty sure the confusion showed on his face as he answered. "How then would I access the food? If I do not pay the price of pain? In order to be allowed the meal, I have to give pain to the oven, do I not? This is the first time I have cooked by Midgardian custom, I am going to do it right, Tony. Would it not be cheating if I protected myself from it?"
Tony's eyes softened, seeing how genuinely bewildered his lover looked, but his explanation on confused the Billionaire more.
"Wh-"
"Loki." Bruce cut across his question, laying his newspaper on the table, removing his glasses and leaning forwards so his elbows were on the table. "That's not how it works here. You don't have to give anything to get the food. The oven is just a machine, it doesn't want anything from you. Most of us use oven mitts to take stuff out of the oven, Steve doesn't because it just doesn't seem to burn him, we don't really know why. You don't have to pay penance to get to it. And having it hurt doesn't make you weak. Have I told you about when Thor tried to toast a pop tart over an open fire, and dropped it? He stuck his hand right in the fire to get it out and by gosh did he yell. His hands were wrapped up for days and days, he could hardly pick up Mjolnir, it hurt so bad."
Loki let himself smile a little despite his burning hand, not pointing out that he would also be more sensitive to heat damage than Thor anyway, given his Jotun heritage. He saw Bruce give a gentle smile back. He was pulled out of his thoughts by his own gasp as he felt a sharper pain added to his injury.
"Sorry, I know it hurts, but now you get the fun of having your hands wrapped for a while. But you don't need to worry about picking stuff up, I think I'll rather enjoy feeding you dinner." Tony noted with a smirk, still present even when Loki shot a death glare his way. "Now, hows about we show you what oven mitts are for, huh?"
"Hey, hold the door, would you, Loki?" Steve exclaimed as he jogged to catch the elevator, smiling when Loki threw his arm in the doorway at the last moment, allowing it to shut on his arm before it reopened. He winced, not knowing if it actually hurt the Trickster God, but hoping it didn't. He didn't want to be the cause of his pain.
As he stepped into the elevator, he noticed that Loki was standing in front of the panel of buttons, but that none of them were lit. It seemed a bit odd, but maybe Loki was just waiting for him to say which floor he was going to, part of the slightly weird, princely manners he and Thor both had drilled into them as they grew up. When Loki said nothing, and they had been stood in the closed lift for a good half a minute with the doors closed, he decided to speak up.
"Err...what floor are you going to?" He tried to smile through his bewilderment as Loki's eyes flicked to his, brow furrowed.
"I am trying to get to Tony's workshop. I had hoped to check that he was eating as he should be, but this infernal contraption doesn't seem to be moving, no matter how I will it to do so. Yourself?"
Steve laughed, shocked. He knew Loki usually teleported everywhere, and that recently he had been trying to understand Earth technology more and more, but he didn't realize he didn't actually know how to use the elevator. He squashed down the tiny surge of smugness that tried to force its way out of him. Even he knew how to use the elevator.
"Ninth floor, same floor as you, only I'm looking for Tony to spar with me. After he's eaten of course." He added, noting the Tricksters mouth had opened, ready to argue with that. "But err...if we want the elevator to move, we're gonna have to tell it where we want to go...you know, by pushing the buttons?" He gestured to the control panel, looking away as he saw Loki's face flush as comprehension dawned. No-one liked to be seen when they were embarrassed.
He was startled by the soft tones of Loki's voice in his response, and how guilty he actually sounded. "Forgive me. You have been waiting patiently all this time whilst I have impeded our travel. I should not have tried to operate such a large machine without Tony's help. I shan't bother you longer."
As Loki's body began to shimmer, the way it does when he teleports, Steve darted an arm out to grab Loki's barely tangible one. When the God solidified in the small space once more, looking apprehensively at the super soldier, Steve smiled openly, allowing Loki to see he wasn't laughing at him.
"Maybe...I don't know, maybe I could help? It's really easy once you know what all the buttons do and which to press when and which not to press at all. I had some trouble with it once too. I pressed the alarm button by accident and everyone thought I was trapped. It was pretty embarrassing. Here, let me show you which one that is."
And if Loki spent the rest of that day going up and down the tower in the elevator that day, pressing all the buttons, even the alarm one, just for fun, well...no-one said anything against it.
"No, no, NO, what the hell did you DO?" Tony screamed as he threw his tablet to the floor, where it lay in its puddle of water, dripping from every side. It wasn't that he hadn't been working on making them waterproof, it just wasn't a high priority, seeings as most people realized that they shouldn't be taken in the bath.
"I-I was trying to learn how it worked. I couldn't understand. It wouldn't to my touch like it does yours, and it angered me. Banner suggested...suggested I take a bath to calm myself down, and said that it wouldn't feel my touch because it responds to heat, not pressure, and my hands weren't warm enough...I thought if I took a bath to relax...and I used hot water...maybe then it would respond to my touch."
"And you couldn't wait until after to put your hands to my tablet? It had to be while you were in the bath? You were just asking to drop it!" Tony ran his hands through his hair. Sure, he had backup copies of all his work, but that Tablet was his baby, he carried it almost everywhere...he felt like he'd lost an old friend.
"I'm sorry. I thought my skin would be too cool if I waited, and I didn't know they couldn't be taken in the water! I didn't do it on purpose!" Loki had tears in his eyes and turned to face the wall, no wanting Tony to see. The other man had a right to be angry at him.
"How could you not know that? How can you be so stupid! Sometimes Loki, I swear you just haven't got a brain to think with, you're useless." Tony regretted that the instant it left his lips, knowing the effect it would have on the other man in the room.
Loki felt his heart shatter and his tears start to flow freely, a sob bubbling up in his throat. He tried to swallow it down but couldn't help the choked sound that escaped him. He prided himself on his intelligence, it was the only thing he was really happy about himself for, and Tony knew it. To have him throw that in his face, and use it to hurt him...to be told your greatest insecurities by someone you trust with all your heart...it hurt more than any punishment he had ever known. He swiped at his eyes with the backs of his hands, turning to push sorrowfully past Tony and out of the door to the room, ignoring the Avengers he found with their ears pressed to the door. He didn't want their pity.
"I know." Tony heard the choked out reply before the door slammed shut behind Loki.
Tony sighed, throwing himself onto his back on his bed, rubbing his hands over his face, tears pricking at his own eyes. They never fought, barely ever, and it was even worse knowing it was completely his fault. He shouldn't have over reacted. He knew Loki didn't know much about technology. He knew even more that he shouldn't have called Loki stupid.
Basically...he had been an ass.
Tony looked up when the door clicked open, allowing his head to fall back onto the bed with a groan when he saw Steve striding towards him. Great, here comes the lecture.
"I'm not going to lecture you."
Tony raised one eyebrow at the Super Soldier, wondering when he got the ability to read minds. Oh wait, he should probably pay attention to what he was still saying.
"You don't need a lecture. You know you just messed up. I'm just going to give you the facts, and let you know how much damage you just did."
Tony snorted. "Hey, Cap? You realize that's sort of the definition of lecture, right?"
"Shut Up, Tony. Loki's locked himself in his room. The only person who's been able to get in there to talk to him is Thor, who JARVIS tells us has his arms full of a positively sobbing Trickster God right now. Bruce pulled up the video feed, and I'm telling you, I've never seen him so torn apart. Bruce is trying to get in there now, to stitch up his hand and face-"
"Wait what? What happened to his hands and face?" Tony sat bolt upright in the bed, eyes wide.
"Put his fist into his mirror, some of the shards caught his face. It's not too bad, just bleeding a little more than Bruce can be comfortable with. Probably stop soon, seeing how hard he's pressing his face into Thor's cape."
"It can't be that bad." Tony refused to believe that one little comment from him could hit so hard. Partially because Loki was a strong person, but mostly because he didn't want to know how badly it would hurt to know it could.
"JARVIS? Can you bring up the video feed of Loki for me please? I think Mr Stark needs to see it." Steve waited until the video started playing before sitting down next to Tony, one arm round his shoulders to keep him watching.
Tony was horrified, to say the least.
Loki was curled up into the tiniest little ball Tony had ever seen a human get into, laying in Thor's crossed legs in the middle of his bed. His face was pressed deep into Thor's cape, not attached to his armour as usual, but instead wrapped around his little brother like a force field keeping the evils of the world away. Keeping the evils of Tony away.
As he watched the Asgardian in the little ball twitched, sobbing quietly, and Thor's hands reached up to comb through his hair, eyes filled with sorrow for the upset of his sibling.
"Enough." Tony croaked. As Steve watched, he rose from the room, and left through the open door.
Shall I stop the video feed, sir? JARVIS' voice rang through the room.
"No." Steve announced. "Leave it open." He had his own suspicions about where Tony had gone.
And sure enough, within a minute of his departure, a resounding knock came from Loki's door on the screen. Thor didn't move, and neither did Loki, both obviously taking the stance that if they ignored it, it would go away. But when no answer was given, the door clicked open, and Tony hesitantly took a step in. He made his way over to the bed, taking in the sight of the sobbing mess that was his husband right now, and how beautiful he still was, each step causing an echo in his mind, telling him how much of an idiot he was. Thor shot him a look, more like a death glare, but he gave over with little fuss. Tony took his place on the bed, taking the body passed to him by the Thunder God, making sure to show his thanks with his eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry." It may have been a whisper, but even Steve could hear the tears behind the words as he watched. He smiled gently as he watched his best friend cradle the man he loved, rocking backwards and forwards, pressing kisses to his crown. At first Loki resisted, pushing at Tony with limp hands, crying even harder, but eventually he relaxed into the hold, breaths slowing a little as he calmed.
After ten minutes of watching this intimate moment between his team mates, Steve moved to leave the room, but not before he heard the first murmured exchange between the two since the argument.
"Tony?"
"Yeah Lokes?"
"You can hurt me worse than anyone, you know that right?"
A hesitation before Tony's response and the breaking of his voice betrays his tears to the camera.
"I know. I know that now."
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