Still Holding On

Chapter 28

Tony nudges Loki's shoulder. "Hey."

Loki furrows his brows. "Yes?"

"How you doing?"

Loki gives a small shrug. "Fine."

Tony raises a brow skeptically. "Are you sure?"

"I am."

Tony purses his lips. "I don't believe it."

"Okay?" The corners of Loki's lips twitch upwards, though it seems to just be less because he's doing okay and more that he finds Tony's antics amusing. "You can believe whatever you'd like, though I don't know why you wouldn't believe my own words."

Tony shrugs. "'Cause I don't want to." And because he was looking vaguely sad, though he seems to have cheered up a little. "You want to go do something?"

Loki shakes his head. "I think I would like to just sit on the couch for now."

Tony snorts. "That's boring."

"Sometimes boring is nice," Loki says.

Tony rolls his eyes. "No, it's not, and I'm not gonna let you keep moping, so c'mon." He pushes himself to his feet and looks down at the god expectantly.

"I am not moping," Loki says. "I have nothing to mope about."

Tony just raises a brow. He was here when Loki threw his mother out of the building and cut off contact with nearly everyone in Asgard. He knows damn well that's not true.

"I am not!" Loki insists.

"Yes, you are, but it's okay," Tony says. "'Cause I've got another surprise for you — a good surprise. One that doesn't involve anyone but us."

"Are you sure you want to attempt another surprise?" Loki asks, a weak attempt at teasing. "The last one didn't go so well."

"Oh, I know," Tony says. "So I gotta redeem myself. C'mon, let's go have some fun." He grabs Loki's arm, and though the god could doubtlessly fight back, he allows himself to be pulled to his feet. He leads the god through the building, to what will hopefully be a much more fun surprise than the last one. "Can you fly?"

Loki stares at him. "I beg your pardon?"

"Can you fly?" Tony asks again. "'Cause I know you're magic. Can you fly?"

"I cannot," Loki says cautiously. "Why do you ask?"

Tony shrugs. "Just curious." And that's exactly the answer he'd hoped for. It should make this even more exciting.

Loki eyes him suspiciously. "What are we doing?"

"You'll see," Tony says with a smirk.

"I don't know that I want to see," Loki says, which sounds like a lighthearted joke and Tony hopes there's no underlying truthfulness to it.

Tony leads him down to his lab, and Loki is captivated by it. He's been here once before, but it seems he doesn't remember it because he looks as though he just stepped straight into Heaven. His eyes widen as they scan the room, taking in the sight of all this technology he doesn't know he's seen before.

"Do you know that I'm an inventor?" Tony asks.

"You've mentioned it before," Loki says absentmindedly as he approaches Dum-E, admiring every little detail about it. If only he knew just how dumb this robot is. There are so many more impressive things in this room. In fact, there's very little that's less impressive.

"Dum-E, say 'hi,'" Tony says.

Dum-E whirs, raising its arm as though looking straight at Loki. The god jumps backward, then slowly leans back in, studying it.