In Plain Sight (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 18

"You seem distraught today." Loki muttered, looking sideways from the overly dramatic, badly performed play running in the television. Tony, next to him nodded absently.

The god fell into silence again, still watching the human. He hadn't said a word since he had arrived, and when Loki had turned the TV on, he'd barely even paid attention. Now he sat looking at the screen without actually seeing it and he could tell by his eyes that his mind was really far away. If he'd had to make a guess, Loki would've said it had something to do with his fellow heroes, even though he knew his problems were more likely to come from him. Who likes to blame themselves anyway?

"Did anything happen?" He voiced finally, his eyes going back to the screen just in time to avoid Tony's questioning stare.

"What?"

"You heard me."

Tony smiled over the knot in his stomach. He had worried the god, it seemed.

"Nothing serious."

"So?"

Tony, being more of a man of action, decided to drop the bomb and plan on the way.

"Thor asked me to talk to you."

Loki huffed. "That fool..." And he stretched on the spacious couch, his naked foot intentionally poking Tony's tight. "Feel free to pay him no mind, for there is nothing to talk about."

"Really?" Tony grabbed the god's heel, driving it away rom him. "He gave me a preview, and I spotted quite a few topics to check on."

"And you would like to discuss them because...?"

"I wouldn't."

"Do it because you want to, not because you don't have a choice."

At Loki's sarcastic dramatization of himself, Tony turned to find him sporting a shit eating grin.

"I have a choice."

"Of course. Many of them." The foot was back for barely a second, rubbing up his calf and retreating just as fast.

"Stop that."

"Huh?" Loki faked innocence.

"You're trying to distract me. Stop it" He pinched his nose. "I want to talk."

"You are a lousy liar, Tony Stark." Loki smirked, and that was the sight Tony looked up to.

"Don't you ever wish someone to just listen? It's not something I offer everyday, but it seems to me like you need it." And he watched as the smirk slipped from his face. "There it is, am I right?"

"I am in no mood to be judged by just another inferior being."

"That is a risk you have to take."

The human and the god stared at each other, solemnly.

"There is no redemption for me" Loki broke the silence, staring back ahead. "And I don't seek it, either. There is no forgetting what I've done."

"Forgetting and forgiving are not the same."

"What I've done is unforgivable."

"Thor forgave you." There it was. The nervous swallowing and the averted gaze. Thor had been right when he warned him of Loki's reaction to reminders of affection... Which he had found particularly sad.

"Thor will always forgive. It's in his nature." And his voice faded. "Others are not so simple, and I don't wish for anyone's pity."

"The thing is you don't want to be forgiven." He could practically feel Loki tensing next to him. Whatever he said from then on would either make it impossibly better or impossibly worse. He'd stabbed the knife, and he prepared to twist it in the wound. Whether he had stabbed Loki or something entirely different was yet to be seen. "I could forgive you."