For Tony Stark

[throneenvy]

Sometimes Loki could not quite remember why he had set himself down the difficult path of redeeming himself. Each punishment that he had to bear, each scornful look or insult thrown at him that had to be borne without retaliation, each bitter reminder that he was still the second son in every sense, all made him question the wisdom of his own decision.

Yet he did not turn back from it.

He had no other choice now, it had become an ultimatum between execution and redemption. The All-Father had made it clear that only the memory of Frigga's love and hope for him had motivated this last chance, and that any further acts of hostility would not be met with lenience. No more prison, no more trickery, simple execution. Even then, he might have chosen death over bending knee once more to the man who had lied to him for so long, but there had been Thor.

Stupid, bumbling, arrogant, trusting, loving. He had never given up on Loki however many times they had faced one another in battle, no matter what he had said. and, in the end, Loki had been unable to turn his back on that for the final time.

He had not apologised. Nor would he, for that would be more than his pride could bear, but he did the punishments required of him with as much grace as he could muster. It had been the All-Father's idea that he should spend some time on Midgard, serving the mortals, in order to pay restitution to them. It had been Thor's idea for that mortal to be Tony Stark, trusting in his friend (possibly foolishly) not to abuse the power given to him.

Which was how Loki of Asgard came to be once more outside Stark's home, though this time knocking on the door rather than destroying the architecture. He covered his wariness with a mask of calm nonchalance, and held himself in a proud, upright posture as he waited for the door to open.

Comments

[gbpp]

It had taken a lot of convincing for Tony to accept Thor's request. There were so many reasons why it felt like it could be a bad idea, and after a brief discussion with Pepper about what it would mean as far as making sure he didn't try and do something he would regret to Loki, he'd almost refused.

He still woke up in the middle of the night from visions of the open sky and the Chitauri Army descending from it, and onto New York but he refused to allow it to become something which would burden him for the rest of his life. So he'd said yes, in the end. Listened to advice from Roger's without making it look much like he was listening and taken time to hear Banner's point of view and he was ready.

At least as ready as he thought he'd ever be.

Malibu had felt like the safest place to spend their time. Somewhere away from the millions of innocent people who lived their day-to-day lives in the City, and where if things heated up, they'd have plenty of space to fight it out in. That, and the notion of New York made his stomach turn even now.

JARVIS informed him of Loki's arrival before the heavy knock on the door echoed through the foyer, and Tony was already on his way - slow, up the stairs from his workshop, briefing JARVIS on a few things to keep running whilst he was busy. He had no intention of letting Loki's agenda cloud his own, his projects would continue, just with a little less of his own personal input.

As soon as he spotted Loki through the clear glass doors he managed a wry smile, gesturing with one hand in a motion that would slide them open in front of him.

"Loki." He held his mouth open on the last syllable, letting it close after a moments pause, shaking his head. "I've got nothing."