/Edit: I've had to change the date at the end of the story. It is supposed to be the 21st of December, not the 13th. I wasn't paying attention and thought Yule ended Christmas day.

Loki was a strange, but thankfully quiet, house guest. The god of mischief had been under Tony's Stark's roof for the last six months and hadn't made a blip on the super-villain radar even once.

Rather than be executed, Frigga had pleaded (and demanded) on Loki's behalf that, in context, Loki's crimes were no worse than Thor's. The killing of humans did not phase her much; they could always make more.

After gaining Odin's consent, Frigga had gone to Earth to bargain with Anthony Stark, as she felt he was the only mortal to understand and appreciate what she had offer. Tony was also one of the only people who wouldn't throw Loki to SHIELD, given the chance.

At first, Tony had outright refused. Loki was a psychopath and a murderer. Reindeer Games and Ironman were not the fucking odd couple.

After several conversations about Loki's mental health (and how much it had improved by not wielding the Tesseract,) what Frigga was willing to offer in exchange for the housing (all of the knowledge of Asgard, save weapons, and a backing that even Thor couldn't match,) and what Loki's punishment would be for failure (detailed torture followed by a slow death,) Tony had hesitantly agreed.

If the Mother of the Gods was willing to chat up her son's death like she were merely discussing dinner, Tony felt pretty confident that she meant every word.

On a cold December morning, watching the god putter around the kitchen in his pjs while he made breakfast, Tony almost convinced himself the caution was unwarranted. Almost. Tony would always be waiting for the other shoe to drop, but as the days ebbed into months without incident, it seemed fated to be a short fall when it did.

Like a pair of newlyweds, most of their fights had happened in their first month anyway, and were mainly about Loki being bored.

Odin couldn't separate Loki entirely from his magic, as it was a key part of his being, but Mischief Incarnate was severely cut off. Unable to entertain himself in his traditional fashion, Loki had pleaded for access to a library. He was one of the more intelligent minds of the universe and needed something to stimulate his senses.

In likewise fashion, Tony had refused. Any knowledge could be considered dangerous in Loki's hands. The man who had tried to take over the planet wanted to learn more about Earth just for the sake of reading material? Yeah, no.

Strangely enough, Jarvis came to the poor god's assistance. Feeling that a bored god was the more dangerous of the two, Jarvis agreed to monitor everything Loki did and immediately report any suspicious activity.

Loki was to have no privacy. He couldn't eat, sleep, or use the little mischief's room without Jarvis' constant presence.

For the sake of books and entertainment, Loki agreed. The god tore through fantasy and old world lore like a drowning man to air. After a few boring weeks of watching Loki read, write essays debating various issues about what he had read, and dance while making notes on a holographic white board, Tony was content to let the god be.

Loki also communicated with his mother on a frequent basis, but Tony could not bring himself to watch over their conversations. There was something about the way Frigga spoke that left Tony longing for his own mother and made the rest of his day feel very lonely and bitter.

Having Loki around had both helped and hindered Tony's feelings of loneliness. On the one hand, it was nice to have someone around who wanted nothing from him other than his occasional presence. There was something about simply being around to remind one another that they were not alone.

On the other hand, it meant that Pepper had stopped coming around as much. When Pepper had learned of the arrangement, she had been furious. She had raged all of the worries Tony himself had expressed, but would not listen to any of his reasons. As the months passed, she constantly straddled the line between overbearing mother and obnoxious, possessive girlfriend. Given his previous employer relationship with Pepper, Tony hadn't realized it was possible to have so much headache over someone he wasn't sleeping with.

And watching Loki mumble over his breakfast, Tony realized that his lack was quite unfortunate indeed because the god had been blessed with a fantastic ass.

Tony stirred some sugar into his coffee and asked, "Whatca mumbling about?"

Loki jerked at the sudden noise and turned, "Oh! I had forgotten you were still here. I'm, er, trying to recall one of Shakespeare's sonnets. I've made a point to memorize them all, but I have one that simply won't stick with me. It's.. frustrating."

"Why don't you ask Jarvis to read it to you?" Tony inquired, walking to the cabinet to pull out a plate.

Loki rolled his eyes. "What," he teased, "is the point of learning a skill if you don't have to practice?"

The god halved his egg and hash-brown monster and slid the larger portion onto Tony's plate. When he passed Tony a fork, the latter mused, "I wouldn't know actually, I've just always had things come easily to me. Ain't that right Jarvis?"

"As always, sir," came a quick reply from the ceiling.

"This," Loki said, waving his spatula, "coming from the man who barely knows how to operate his refrigerator and refuses to learn the basics of cooking."

Gathering up his plate and coffee mug, Tony took a small bow and shot back, "True, but I know every good joint in L.A. that delivers in 30 minutes or less."

Loki rolled his eyes again and chuckled as he began putting things in the sink, "Ironman, the world's mightiest hero, bested by breakfast. Shocking!"

"Don't hurt yourself, princess," Tony grinned at the evil look, "I'll be in my lab. If Rhodes or Pepper show up, lock the doors and tell them I've been eaten by aliens or something."

Loki seemed to ponder the sink for moment and then flashed Tony a quick lewd look. Tony started to return it, stopped, and then quickly made strides to his lab. He grumbled at the muffled giggles that followed.

Tony sipped his coffee as he rode the elevator down to his lab and wanted to sigh. He couldn't handle it if Loki started making passes at him. With the slow destruction of his relationship with Pepper, his will power was all but ebbed away. He wanted to hold someone and be reassured that the monsters weren't real at night.

Throwing stray thoughts to the wind, Tony wolfed down his breakfast and started making a new missile system for War Machine. Machines didn't question him or make him have feelings. Working with his machines was as natural as breathing and with improvements, Rhodney would hopefully stop bitching for a while. It was unlikely, but damn it, Tony would try.

Tony's last nonworking thought was that he owed himself a vacation from bitchy, whiny, Tony-obsessed people. They could all go fuck Fury for all he cared.

–

Several hours and a sore back later, Tony sat back and grinned at his handiwork. He had configured the missile system and had worked out energy relay in his own suit. Rhodney would probably hurt himself in his excitement.

After washing the grease from his hands, Tony returned to his desk to find a plain white mug and a note. "For Mother's Day," was all it said.

Tony scratched his head and checked his watch. As it was only December 21st, he was confused by the Mother's Day, but took the cup anyway.

The handwriting was Loki's and it wasn't the first time Tony had received an edible gift. Loki was an amazing cook and Jarvis was constantly vigilant of poison or malicious intent. As no alarms were going off, Tony sat back and took a long sip.

He was suddenly seven years old again and curled in his mother's lap. Opened presents lay before them, the beautiful wrapping torn to pieces in a child's delight.

His mother fed him a mug of warm cider as they watched the snow fall. Howard had attempted to partake in the holiday, but too many hours of work not done ate away at him. Maria choose to let him go, lest he snap and ruin an otherwise happy day, like he had so many times before.

Maria was content to cuddle with her baby, help him play with his toys, and do what she could to make him feel like a normal child, even if was only for a day.

Tony fell asleep in her arms, the taste of cider on his tongue, and the fervent wish the Christmas day would never end. The feeling of his mother's simply love was something he could never replace, nor get back.

Her death from cancer when Tony was 12 had almost made him so embittered that he couldn't feel anything. He didn't want to process happy emotions because they represented a world without her.

Tony finished Loki's concoction, slowly set it on his desk, and cried. He cried for his mother, realizing that he had stopped celebrating holidays entirely with her passing, and terribly missing the way she loved him without expectations. She never judged him or him that he was a failure the way his father did, she just tried to steer him onto the right path and let him do the rest.

Would you be proud of me now, mom?

Wiping the tears from his cheeks, Tony washed out his cup and went to find Loki. Christmas was coming and hell or high water, he was going to celebrate it.