FrostIron HeadCanon #46: Tony once met Loki's mother when she came to try to persuade Loki to continue eating the golden apple. Tony hadn't even known he'd stopped eating it.

Loki looked up as he felt the disturbance of the opening of the Bifröst. Usually it was Thor, coming to check on his brother and make sure that his romantic relationship with his teammate was not going to combust in a traumatic argument that would probably leave half of Malibu as dust and debris. But this time it was different, it felt different. And so, he stepped out in the heavy humid air and came face to face with his own mother. He had not seen Frigga since his and Thor's battle in his father's sleeping chamber. Even now she looked at him differently, keeping her distance as if she feared he would hurt her. He suddenly wished he hadn't been so curious.

"My son," she said in what sounded like a relieved sigh. "You are alive."

"Indeed." he replied, expertly covering up the longing to hold his mother and apologize for every wrong he'd done to her. Her curls were neat, piled into a nest on the top of her head and falling well past her shoulders. She looked every bit the Queen as he remembered her, and yet she seemed haggard and tired; one arm was completely sheathed by her white robes. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this surprise?"

"Who're you talking to?"

Loki cursed his luck as Tony appeared from the door he'd oh-so-inconveniently left open. Frigga's eyes went over Loki's head to look at Tony, sizing him up. She looked startled to see the human was supposedly sharing his bed with. When her eyes froze, widening in confusion—and was that fear he saw?—Loki knew she was staring at the glowing reactor embedded in the man's chest, visible even through the navy blue T-shirt he'd thrown on. Realizing he'd been holding his breath, Loki let it out in a slow, heavy huff through his nose.

"Tony," he said, wrapping his hand almost possessively around the human's elbow. "I would like to formally introduce you to Frigga, my mother."

Tony gave him a look that blatantly and sarcastically said "thank you for the warning" before nodding to her. Frigga said nothing, bowing her head in acknowledgement.

"I came to speak to you." Frigga said, and uncovered her arm. In her hand was an all too familiar golden apple, about the size of a grapefruit. The moon reflected off its surface in a silvery sheen across its skin.

"What's that?" Tony asked, and Loki could almost hear the gears turning in his head. He bit the inside of his cheeks to keep the smile from surfacing on his face.

"Thor told me you had not been eating them." Frigga stepped closer, and Loki's grip on Tony's arm tightened. The movement didn't go unnoticed by anyone. Just two feet away, Frigga stopped. She looked to Tony. "You do not know what these are to us?"

"Silence." Loki hissed. "It is none of his concern."

Frigga frowned at him. "Surely he has a right to know why you would kill yourself."

Loki closed his eyes, cursing as he felt Tony tense next to him. Suddenly he wrenched his arm away. Loki's eyes opened as Tony grabbed his shoulders. He looked pissed.

"What is she talking about?" he demanded. Loki saw a muscle in his face twitch, his frown curling into a scowl. Suddenly Frigga was no longer there on his radar. That he was even going to have this conversation with Tony was asinine.

"I am not killing myself, Anthony." he said calmly despite the bubbling rage in his chest.

"Then why is it so important that you eat that…whatever it is? Why have you even stopped eating it?" Suddenly a look of horror crossed his face, and he turned to look at Frigga. "Has he been poisoned?" His sudden question brought a look of terror to his mother's face, and she looked at him.

"Do not exaggerate. I have not been poisoned." he said. "And I will not eat the apple. You may as well return it to Iduna's box, or it will sit here and rot like the others that Thor has brought me." He turned to go back into the house, but Tony grabbed the collar of his shirt, almost choking him as he was suddenly jerked backwards.

"Wait a minute." Tony said harshly, his back to Loki. "Why does he need to eat that apple?"

Frigga looked to Tony, both hands wrapped around the fruit delicately. They were shaking. "We eat these apples to keep ourselves young and powerful." she explained slowly. "Without them we grow weaker, we age, and we die."

Loki knew Tony wasn't a fool, and it did not take him but a few mere seconds to put the puzzle pieces together. He released his chokehold on Loki's collar. The God didn't have the courage to face him. "Are you doing this because of me?" he asked quietly. "You're going to give up your immortality, your incredible powers, because of me?"

Loki sighed, and nodded slowly. "Would you not do the same?" he asked.

Tony was silent as Loki retreated back into the house. When the human dared to look at her, Frigga was staring down at the apple in her hands. Tears streamed down her face.

"I do not want to lose him." she said, and set the apple onto the ground. "I will leave this here. It will shrivel at the touch of a human." she added when she saw the resolve in his eyes. "If you would convince him—just a small bite. Not even half of it. It would lighten my heart."

Tony could not find a proper response to her, so he nodded. The Queen smiled and dried her face.

"You are a good man, Anthony Stark." she said, and looked to the skies. The usual rainbow tornado Tony always looked out for began to form, displacing the air around them. Tony watched Frigga leave, and then went back inside. Loki was scanning the bookshelf, his arms crossed and his shoulders hunched. By his body language Tony could read that he didn't want to talk about the golden fruit just sitting on the driveway. But that sucked for him, because Tony wanted answers and he was not going to be ignored.

"You're letting yourself die?" Tony demanded. Loki stiffened, but did not turn to face him.

"You don't seem to mind."

"News flash, Dumbo: I don't have a choice. But if I did, believe you me when I say I wouldn't jump at the chance. If your mother hadn't told me human hands cause the fruit to rot, I would have already tried it."

Loki glared at him over his shoulder. "Why does it bother you?" he demanded, spinning on his heel to face him. "I've lived so long, and yet you're the first person I've truly loved, enough so that when you perish I do not want to live a moment longer in this world. Most would be flattered I've chosen that path."

Tony pressed his lips together. He was flattered; not many people would even be able to make such a sacrifice for him, and fewer willing. But it felt too much like suicide. No matter at what angle Tony sharp mind approached the matter, it always told him Loki was allowing himself to die.

"Just eat a small piece." Tony said. Loki's brows furrowed further. "Your family is worried about you. Just a bit, to appease them. I won't ask you for anything more on the matter after that."

Loki sighed, shaking his head slowly. His refusal was final.

The lovers slept in separate rooms that night, and neither was comfortable with so much space left next to them. Tony spent most of the night running their final conversation through his head, his mind offering words that may have helped to change the outcome of the scenario, but they came just a few hours too late. He'd have to apologize, he decided with chagrin, as the sun began to stab at his sleep-deprived eyes. He went groggily went through his usual afternoon routine rather early, planning to retreat down to his workshop and avoid any chance of awkwardly running into Loki while they were still mad at each other.

So it came as a complete surprise when he smelled coffee as he stepped into the kitchen. The pot was still hot, halfway filled and still running. Strong enough to resemble tar as it dripped, just the way he liked it. And on the counter next to it was the golden apple. The flesh beneath the shimmering aurous skin was white, a piece cut out of the side no bigger than a cup coaster. A butcher knife lay on the granite counter next to it, transparent juice drying on the blade. Tony laughed to himself as the coffee maker beeped, signaling that the beverage was ready to drink. He poured himself a generous cup, drinking the bitter liquid black and scorching the surface of his tongue and mouth.

And then, out of curiosity, he reached out to touch the apple.

The white flesh turned beige, then brown, then black, drying up with a dull hissing sound. The skin turned white, flaking off like old paint. The apple continued to rapidly decay until it was nothing more than a pile of ash on the counter.

"Pity." Loki said, leaning against the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest. "I was seriously contemplating eating all of it." A ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Well, what's done is done."

Tony smirked over the rim of his coffee mug. "You can always get more, right?"

"Of course." Loki licked his bottom lip, satisfied with the way Tony's eyes followed the movement. "But I have had enough. For now."