Still Holding On

Chapter 34

It's a fairly uneventful day. Tony introduces Loki to a variety of new TV shows — with America's Funniest Home Videos taking the title of his favorite by a landslide — and then he orders pizza for dinner, which Loki decides he likes, though he wasn't quite sure about it at first.

And then it's time for bed.

Loki's kept Edward the stuffed bear by his side throughout the day, but he hasn't paid it much mind. It sat next to them on the couch during their television marathon. It had a very special seat on the counter during dinner. It hasn't really gotten any use, but he does make sure he has it with him whenever he leaves the room he'd been in, bathroom breaks excluded.

It comes as no surprise, then, that when they head to Tony's room, Loki carries Edward by his side. He doesn't give it much attention, letting it swing back and forth with every step. Tony doesn't really mind. It was kind of an impulse buy. He didn't expect it to be Loki's new favorite thing; he just figured he'd give it to him and see what happened.

As has become the routine, Tony grabs his pajamas and heads to the bathroom to get changed, because, unlike Loki, he can't magic himself into new clothing. He throws on a new shirt and a pair of sweatpants, and then he heads back into his room.

And he finds Loki already curled up in bed, Edward held tight in his arms.

The sight puts a smile on Tony's face, but he tries not to draw too much attention to it. He throws his day clothes in the hamper, and he lies down on his side of the bed. Oh, how he loves his bed.

"I see why people like these stuffed bears," Loki remarks. "It is oddly comfortable to hold."

"Isn't it?" Tony says. Who doesn't love a good stuffed animal?

"Why don't you have one?" Loki asks.

Huh.

Why don't you have a stuffed animal?

That's a question he never thought he'd be asked.

He has a feeling that "I grew out of them' is not the right answer, so instead, he half-lies and says, "I don't know. I've moved around a lot. I guess none of my stuffed animals made the cut when I moved here." Which, technically, is not false. He has moved a lot. He did not bring any stuffed animals to the Tower. It's slightly misleading, he'll admit, but he's not really lying.

"You should get one for yourself," Loki says. "In whatever way you got mine. I imagine it wasn't too difficult?"

"Oh, no, it was easy," Tony says. The internet is a wonderful place. "I don't think I need another one, though. I'm sure I have some in Malibu already."

"Malibu?"

Oh, right. Loki has absolutely no idea what that is.

"Yeah, I have another home on the other side of the country," Tony explains. "This one's new — kind of an experiment, really — but I've been living in Malibu for years. Most of my stuff is over there." Including a grand total of zero stuffed animals (he assumes?), but he doesn't mention that. "It's where Pepper lives, actually."

"Where who lives?"

Tony fights back a sigh. Sometimes he gets so wrapped up in the euphoria of living with his new friend that he forgets why that is: because Loki doesn't remember jack shit.

"My friend, Pepper Potts," Tony explains. "She's great; you'd like her."

"'Great' like Natasha Romanoff," Loki asks, "or great as in...?"

Tony chuckles. "No, actually great." Because it's a casual segway into something he's already planned, he adds, "I should see if she can come by soon. I think you guys would get along." Or, more accurately, he hopes they will. If Pepper follows directions better than Natasha did, they should get along. She just has to pretend she likes him long enough to learn to actually like him.

"I'd like that," Loki says. "I'd like to meet your friends — but the nice ones this time."

Tony smiles to himself. "I'll try to keep the dickish ones away, how about that?" He can't guarantee it will work — he's already agreed to let Fury come by — but after that, he'd like to think he can keep SHIELD off his back. Fury just has to realize Loki's not a threat, and hopefully he won't provoke the god too much in the process.

But Loki disagrees. "Don't let me keep you from your friends," he says. "I can stay away if they won't like me, but you shouldn't push them away for my sake."

"They're barely my friends," Tony assures him. "I've met them, like, four times, and we barely tolerate each other. We're more work-friends than anything."

"Ah."

And silence.

Tony closes his eyes, ready to attempt to drift off to sleep. He assumes that's the end of that, so he's surprised when, only moments later, Loki rests his head on his chest. He peers down at the god, as subtly as he can, and he catches the faintest glimpse of Edward still in his arms, so close to Tony's side that it nearly touches him.

Loki's eyes are closed, but he's doubtlessly still awake. After all this time, it still shocks him that he does this. He's so casual about it. Is that just how Asgard is? Do people just casually snuggle up against their friends in bed and not think anything of it? Does nobody think it's at all weird?

Granted, Tony himself is long past the point of considering this weird. This is normal now. And objectively, he knows it's a weird normal, but it's normal.

And he's very content letting this weird new normal be the last thing to cross his mind before he falls asleep.