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batsutousaiTitle: The Lightning Strike
Fandom: Marvel (movie 'verse)
Author: Batsutousai
Betas: Runic, SharaLunison, Nimohtar
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Loki/Tony Stark, Phil Coulson/Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Thor/Jane Foster
Warnings: Alpha/Beta/Omega trope (to an extent), actual wolf pack dynamics, intersexual Jötnar, sexism, suggestion of previous dub-/non-con, mating, hurt/comfort, Loki just needs some love, Bruce really wants to go Hulk on Odin, Tony is confused about everything (but not as much as Steve), Clint is an absolute ass (& drags Natasha and Phil along for the ride), Pepper is kinda a BAMF
Summary: Pack dynamics are confusing enough for the Avengers without adding the complete mess that Thor and Loki grew up with, but they aren't given much choice when Loki goes into heat in the middle of a battle and Tony's alpha instincts tell him he has to take care of his pack, enemy or no.
About a week after Tony had joined Loki in the apartment, he went to switch the used breakfast plates with fresh lunch food, only to find the breakfast untouched. He blinked at the tray for a moment, then knocked on the door. "Loki?"
There was a moment's silence, then a tired voice mumbled, "Come in."
Tony pushed the door open, but didn't pass the threshold. "You didn't eat breakfast," he commented.
A dark head poked up, out of the nest of blankets on the bed. Green eyes blinked sleepily for a moment, then Loki said, "Tired," and vanished back into the blankets.
Tony bit his lip to keep from laughing and took a moment to scent the air. It certainly smelled as though Loki's heat was over, but... "How are you feeling?"
"Tired," Loki repeated, irritation in his tone.
Irritation was good, so far as Tony was concerned, so he finally stepped into the room. "Eating something will help with that."
Loki raised his head out of his nest enough to fix one disgruntled eye on Tony.
Tony smiled at him and held the tray forward. It was only a bowl of Spaghetti O's and some bread, but it was something. "Come on, Comet. Food is good. Food is fucking awesome."
Loki made an irritated noise, but reached out to accept the tray. It shook a little as he took it, and Tony steadied it as unobtrusively as he could. "Let go, Stark," Loki snarled.
"Have you got it?" Tony returned, refusing to let himself be bullied by the god who was clinging to him less than a week ago.
Loki curled his lip in a snarl. "You have fulfilled your obligations, Stark. There is no need to–"
"What? Take care of my pack?" Tony interrupted, narrowing his eyes.
"Pretend to have any care for me!"
Tony bit the inside of his cheek to keep from responding in anger. Once he was sure he could speak without shouting, he stated, "I get it that things are different in Asgard, and fuck knows I've butted heads with Thor often enough over everything, but here's something you need to understand about human packs: We don't always get to pick each other, but packs aren't something you can just....turn off at will. Thor is part of my pack, and Thor still thinks of you as his brother. That means you're part of my pack. That means you're my concern. None of that ends just because your heat is over."
"And when I attack your pathetic world? What then?" Loki snarled, eyes wild.
"I'll knock you around like the errant pup you're acting like," Tony shot back, frowning. "And then, if you don't run away, I'll give you a drink. And probably yell some," he added as an afterthought.
Loki blinked, all the anger draining away. "I– What?" he breathed, confusion making his hands shake.
Tony took the tray away and set it on the table next to the head of the bed. He let out a quiet sigh and ran his hand through his hair. "Look. I get that, in Asgard, it's all a bit 'Every man for himself'. But here, on Earth, your pack doesn't leave you out to dry. No matter what you do, no matter how fucking pissed off I get at you, you're always going to be pack. I'm always going to worry about you getting hurt. And–" He grimaced. "Okay, I know, you're a fucking super person of unfathomable strength, with the ability to hold your own against the Hulk for a good two minutes, but you're also– Ugh. We don't really have a proper word for it."
"An omega," Loki suggested with such a well of disgust, that Tony wanted to hold him until his pain went away.
"That means something different to humans," Tony said quietly, and Loki frowned. The inventor sighed and shook his head. "I know Natasha can easily take me down, but there's a part of me that recognises that she has times when she's, well, compromised. There's a period of time, every few months, where she's less capable of protecting herself. She's got two mates who are more than capable of protecting her, but that doesn't stop me from worrying about her more the closer she is to her heat.
"You, though." Tony sighed again and offered Loki's blank stare a helpless little smile. "From what we got out of Thor, your heat cycle is completely erratic. I have no idea when you're going to need a week or a couple months hidden away. That means I worry twice as much as with anyone else. That means, when you let me, I'm going to worry over you. I'm going to steady your fucking tray and tell you you need to eat and offer you a drink while Bruce calms down enough to check your wounds from our most recent scuffle."
Loki let out a shuddering breath and looked away. "Get out of my room, Stark," he said, voice quiet and a little helpless.
Tony nodded and turned to leave. "I'll be on the couch if you need me," he threw over his shoulder.
Loki lasted a whole hour before he stumbled out of the bedroom, a blanket wrapped around his thin frame, and stopped at the end of the couch.
Tony glanced up at him from his blueprints. "You okay?"
Loki swallowed, eyes swimming with a fear that was distressingly familiar. "May I...sit with you?"
Tony smiled and patted the couch cushion next to him. "Absolutely."
Loki shuffled around him, careful not to touch, and dropped onto the designated cushion, perching uncertainly on the edge. Tony, very determinedly, didn't so much as glance at him, instead turning back to his blueprints as if he hadn't been interrupted. But he kept an eye on the god through the reflection of the television, paying just enough attention to his blueprints to make it seem like he was actually doing something with the suit, rather than just moving around pieces.
Slowly, Loki started to relax. When his back met the back of the couch, he jerked in surprise, shot a glare over his shoulder – Tony bit his lip to keep from smiling – and cautiously leaned towards Tony. When their shoulders touched, Loki jerked back, watching for any sign of disapproval from Tony, which he refused to give.
Loki leant against him again, spine tense, eyes darting between the side of Tony's head and the blueprint he was manipulating.
When he was pretty sure Loki wouldn't jump at a sudden movement, Tony slipped his arm around the god, lightly holding Loki in place next to him. Loki tensed again, then let out a quiet, helpless sound and relaxed fully against Tony, eyes sliding shut.
"Tired?" Tony murmured.
"Yes," Loki admitted, voice nearly silent.
Tony carefully leaned back against the cushions behind them, bringing Loki with him. "Okay. I'll wake you for dinner." He moved the arm around Loki's waist up to comb through the god's hair, absently noting that Loki needed a shower.
Loki let out a quiet noise of assent and dozed off.
Tony, he thought to himself once Loki's breathing had evened out, what, exactly, have you gotten yourself into?
Tony called Bruce after dinner, while Loki was in the shower. "He's back to normal again. Or, well, something like normal, I suppose."
Bruce sighed. "What happened?"
Tony rubbed at the tip of his nose and glanced towards the bedroom door, which was shut again, running water from the shower just audible through the barrier. "He seems... I dunno, Bruce. It's like he's having trouble accepting that he's my pack. That I actually want to take care of him."
"From what I know about their culture, I get the sense that omegas are...disposable," Bruce replied, voice too even.
Tony closed his eyes against the well of absolute fury that flooded through him. "He's not. He's....he's a pain in my ass and an occasional threat to our planet and he's probably going to drive me insane faster than Clint because I just can't–"
"He's pack," Bruce soothed.
Tony ran a hand over his face, feeling so very tired. "He is." He sighed. "We need to figure out what to do about Thor. Loki's an omega, no matter how you look at things, and his heats aren't regular enough that we can just send Thor away for a couple of weeks every time one's about to come on. And I don't want to chance Thor getting to Loki when none of us are there to stop him."
"We should probably involve Loki in this discussion," Bruce pointed out.
Tony nodded. "Everyone needs to be involved in this discussion." He shook his head. "Loki's in the shower right now. Once he's done, I'll see about bringing him over to the tower."
"Do you want one of us to drive over to pick you up?"
Tony considered that for a moment. "Did you and Steve bring my car back with you?"
"Oh. No."
"We'll be fine. Assume an hour and I'll call you if it's going to be longer."
"I'll let the others know to stay up," Bruce promised.
"And make sure there's caffeine in my coffee pot, Dr Jekyll," Tony ordered drily.
Bruce chuckled. "I'll see that it's percolating when you get upstairs, Mr Utterson."
"You're my favourite," Tony swore, grinning a bit madly. He always loved it when one of his pack-mates turned one of his references back on him.
"I'm sure that will have changed by morning," Bruce returned.
"Brucey, you wouldn't really deny me my morning coffee, would you?"
"I'll see you soon."
"Brucey~" Tony whined as Bruce hung up on him. He took a moment to grin at his phone, then realised the water had stopped and turned to find Loki standing in the doorway of the bedroom, expression carefully blank and hair wet. He'd changed back into the leather trousers and jacket that he usually wore under his armour, and Tony spared a moment's sorrow for the return of the heavier fabric; he'd grown fond of seeing Loki in a blanket or the flimsy trousers and shirt he'd worn the first day.
Standing from the couch, Tony slipped his phone into a pocket and said, "We – well, just me, really – suggested to Thor that your heat was brought on by a curse or something, since you'd never had a heat before. He bought it, but the story isn't likely to hold for long. I don't want to chance Thor catching you off your guard again, which means making plans for any future heats. I'm going to head over to Avengers Tower and discuss our options with the others; you're welcome to come."
Loki blinked, his expression unchanging. "Why lie?" he requested, an odd note to his voice which Tony couldn't quite figure out.
"Honestly?" Tony asked with a shrug. "I was tired of him vacillating between his idiotic ownership mentality and brotherly regret. It was easier to get him to think you'd been cursed than it would have been to convince him Jötnar can be just as useful as he is. More useful, in some regards, I'd think."
Loki's expression hadn't twitched, but he swallowed at Tony's last comment. "I see," he said, still that odd note in his voice, and turned towards the door. "Shall we leave, then?"
"Yeah, let's go," Tony agreed and grabbed the Mark V before leading the way down to the car, trusting that JARVIS would lock the apartment up behind them. Anything that had been left behind could be collected later, and Tony was already halfway intending to just let Loki have the apartment, should he wish it. If nothing else, at least Tony would know the god had a safe place to sleep.
The drive to the tower was absolutely silent, as was the trip in the elevator.
Bruce met them in the foyer with a careful smile and a mug of coffee. The latter was handed over to Tony while the former was turned on Loki. "How are you feeling, Loki?"
Loki met his gaze with that same blank stare. "I am of sufficient health, Dr Banner," he stated, tone stiff.
Bruce shot a sharp glance at Tony, who frowned into his mug. "Everyone else in the living room?" he asked.
Bruce nodded and turned to lead the way into the living room. Clint, Natasha, and Phil were all seated on the couch, a careful distance between them, and Steve was sitting in the chair farthest from the television, where he always sat. Bruce usually sat with Tony on the smaller of the two couches, but he picked Thor's usual chair near Steve's, leaving the couch for Tony and Loki.
Tony offered his friend a nod as he ushered Loki onto the couch. The god held himself stiffly in his seat, while Tony dropped into a comfortable sprawl next to him. "Any word from Hephaestus?" Tony asked of the room at large.
Loki's brow furrowed with a frown – the first proper reaction Tony had got yet, and he revelled in it, as minor as it was – but it smoothed over when Clint commented, "Jane called this afternoon to complain about his inability to keep his fingers out of her lab equipment."
"We wouldn't know anyone like that around here, would we?" Tony mused, glancing towards Bruce while Clint fought a smirk.
"What, exactly, do you intend to do with Thor, Stark?" Natasha demanded. "He won't react well to discovering you lied–"
Tony flashed her his most disarming smile. "Who says it was a lie? For all we knew, at the time, it was true."
"You knew it wasn't," Natasha pointed out, unmoved by his charm.
"Compounding lies isn't going to help anything," Steve interrupted, leaning forward in his chair. "We need to sit him down and explain that Loki is one of their sort of omegas. But we're on Earth right now, and that means Thor is going to abide by Earth laws."
"What, that omegas aren't property, just obnoxious?" Clint said.
"Thank you, Agent Barton, for that demonstration of SHIELD-trained diplomacy skills," Tony intoned.
Clint shot him his most obnoxious smile.
"I suggest we have this conversation via video conference," Phil suggested coolly. "If Thor chooses to react unfavourably, Loki will be out of his immediate grasp, and Dr Foster is the most likely person to calm him down."
"We'll have to brief her," Steve murmured, more to himself than the room at large.
"Not a problem," Phil promised, and Steve smiled at him gratefully.
"Honestly, I'd be more worried about keeping Thor out of Stark's grasp, than Loki out of Thor's," Clint announced, wagging his eyebrows at the inventor. "Seriously, Stark. You looked like you were about to go for his throat every time he opened his mouth, never mind when he started talking."
"It's an expression Clint is quite familiar with," Natasha added, shooting her mate a silencing look.
"Yeah, but when it's aimed at me, I run. Thor just kept talking."
"Guys," Tony interrupted with an eye roll. "Focus."
"Loki," Bruce said in the following moment of silence, and everyone turned to look at where the god was still sitting stiffly on the edge of his seat, "I wondered if you could clarify some things for me."
Loki's shoulders twitched in a suggestion at a shrug. "I can try," he allowed, voice as stiff as his bearing.
"Thor seemed to think you were a beta."
"Everyone did," Loki replied, a clear agreement, though his voice didn't modulate right.
Bruce paused for a moment, and Tony could see the carefully hidden frowns of concern in the eyes of all his pack-mates. "Right. Thor explained the differences to us. Well, to me; no one else seemed to have a patience to internalise anything. But, I have to ask, was there ever any sign that you might have been an omega? Anything that didn't quite fit?"
"Men are never betas," Loki stated, a bland fact.
Tony sat forward. "Everyone out," he ordered.
All of the humans immediately climbed to their feet and filed out of the room, clearly having expected it. When Loki shifted like he might follow them, Tony reached up and brushed his fingers through the god's hair. Loki froze at the action, surprise thrumming through him for a long moment before, without any warning, all the tension left him and he pressed himself to Tony's side. Just like they'd been that afternoon.
Tony gave him a few minutes to relax before using the hand not in Loki's hair to motion his pack back into the room, certain at least one of them was watching. They filed back in quietly, returning to their previous seats, and when Loki started to tense again, Tony very firmly stated, "Stop that," and pressed his fingers a little tighter against the skin of Loki's scalp.
No one spoke, waiting for Loki to decide what to do next. At last, the Jötunn quietly said, "Women are always betas, always capable of bearing children. Betas are to be had, they never have, not like alphas. I would... I was happy to be receiving or giving, either. Both." Loki shuddered, one hand clenching in the back of Tony's shirt, where none of the others would spot it. "It is shameful, for a man to be taken. To need to be taken."
"Your heat was bleeding through," Bruce murmured. "You couldn't go into a proper heat – whatever magic was suppressing it saw to that much – but it couldn't completely hold off the urges. The need to be the sexually – really, Steve, deep breaths – submissive partner, was it a constant thing, or intermittent?"
"Intermittent," Loki answered.
Bruce flopped back in his chair and removed his glasses to rub at his eyes. "There you go."
"Question," Clint interrupted, raising one hand like he was in school.
"Oh boy," Tony muttered, rolling his eyes.
Clint dropped his hand into his lap, twining the fingers of his hands together over the gap between his thighs. "The way Thor always put it, Jötnar can carry children, same as a woman."
"Correct," Loki agreed cautiously, watching the archer around Tony's chin.
"But you're male."
"Jötnar are without sex."
Everyone was silent for a moment, then Bruce asked, "By that, you mean they have both sets of sexual organs? Male and female?"
"Holy fuck, that's got to be spectacular in bed," Tony breathed.
Loki's breath caught, quiet enough that Tony was the only one to hear it under Steve's agonised moan. "Tony, please."
"Sorry, Captain Prude," Tony retorted, gently scratching blunt nails along Loki's scalp. "I promise, my New Year's resolution next year will to be to think less with my cock, and more with that other brain."
Steve moaned again and covered his face with his hands.
"Don't worry, Rogers," Clint sing-songed, "we'll have desensitised you by then."
Tony pointed his free hand at Clint as the archer unlaced his fingers. "I will throw my coffee at you. And then I'll be twice as mad because you made me waste the only caffeine Bruce is going to let me have for the rest of the week. Hands to yourself, Rambo."
"No, Clint," Natasha and Phil intoned, eerily in sync.
"...I'm officially creeped out now, thanks for that," Tony muttered into his coffee while Clint very pointedly sat on his hands.
"Loki," Steve called before anyone could bring up something new about sex, "do you know who might have suppressed your nature?"
"The Allfather," Loki replied with absolute certainty.
Bruce jumped out of his chair and raced out onto the balcony, looking a little green around the edges.
Tony cast a quick glance around the room, calculated who would have the best chance of calming Bruce down before he Hulked out on the balcony, then sighed and dropped an absent kiss to Loki's hair. "I'll be right back," he promised as he slowly stood, giving Loki enough time to unfist his hand from the back of his shirt without anyone the wiser.
On the balcony, Bruce was clutching a little too hard at the metal edging on the glass retaining wall, green and peach chasing each other across his skin. Tony casually leaned against the glass wall next to him, turning his eyes out over the city. "I think I missed this view the most while I was stuck in that apartment."
Bruce let out a strained laugh and loosened his grip on the metal edging. "I'll bet. Hard to see Central Park from up here, though."
"Mm. Yeah, that wasn't a terrible trade-off."
They were both quiet for a moment, letting the whistle of the wind fill the stillness between them.
"His own father, Tony," Bruce said at last, decades of buried pain lacing the words.
Tony glanced at him, blinking away memories of his own father; it wasn't fair, really, that not a one of Tony's pack had got through life with a proper, non-abusive, wholly attentive father. (Save, perhaps, Phil. But the agent was notoriously reticent regarding his life before SHIELD, and Tony had always left those sorts of talks for his mates to handle.) And Thor was the only one that seemed to hold nothing but fond memories of his mother.
"Are you okay to go back inside?" Tony asked.
Bruce swallowed and stared down at his hands as though he could see the green of the monster inside of him creeping across them. "Don't ever let me go to Asgard."
"I think that's going to have to be a rule for all of us," Tony replied drily.
Bruce smiled at him, tired and full of so much old pain that Tony's heart clenched in his chest. "You want me to go in ahead? Make sure Clint is behaving?"
Tony let out an irritated growl. "If Clint is misbehaving right now, I'm installing a flag pole on the edge of this balcony and hanging him from it overnight. If he's lucky, it'll hold. If he's not..." He turned and stalked back into the tower, Bruce following him with a laugh.
Clint was behaving, but Loki had tensed back up on his side of the couch, hands fisted in his lap and expression just barely keeping to this side of hostile. Tony resisted the urge to sigh and indulged himself by gently smacking the back of Clint's head as he passed, then settled back into his spot on the couch.
To Tony's surprise, Loki barely waited long enough for Tony to get comfortable before he was curled up against him again.
Tony hummed and returned his hand to Loki's hair. "We should probably wait until tomorrow to call up Thor. What time does Jane usually get up?" he asked, looking to the SHIELD trio on the other couch.
"Between five and six," Clint reported, a fond twist to his lips.
Tony nodded. "Man in Black, eight o'clock, fill the lovely doctor in."
Phil nodded his assent.
"Eleven o'clock, everyone needs to be up and capable of holding a conversation beyond monosyllables. Bruce, that means coffee. Real coffee."
Bruce sighed.
Tony considered the other scientist for a moment, then continued, "Steve and I will be doing most of the talking, but I want everyone there. Out of screen, so Thor doesn't feel like he's being ganged up on, but in the room." He looked around at them, noting their nods of understanding, then met Steve's stare. "I'll tell Thor that Loki is an omega, has always been an omega, but Odin suppressed it for reasons none of us can guess at. If he starts spouting ownership claims again–"
"Point out that if Odin wanted Loki to be property, he never would have suppressed his nature," Natasha cut in.
Tony raised an eyebrow at her, then glanced at Steve. "I'm good with that explanation," Steve agreed easily enough.
"Good. We'll go with that, then. Explain that the Void or the distance from Odin or something broke through the suppression and now Loki's body has gone into overdrive. That means no discernible pattern to his heats. Loki's got my permission to spend time in the tower if he wants, and it's entirely possible he could go into a heat while in residence. Thor needs to decide if he's capable of controlling himself, or if he needs to move out until everything settles."
"He won't be pleased," Loki commented quietly.
"Thor's a big boy," Tony muttered.
"Tony's house, Tony's choice," Steve insisted. "He says you've got priority, you've got the priority and Thor's just going to have to make do."
Tony nodded, then craned his head around until he could meet Loki's gaze, vaguely disbelieving as it was. "It's up to you whether you want to face Thor during any of this. If you even want to be in the same room."
Loki blinked and the hand returned to clutching at the back of Tony's shirt. "We shall see," he said, voice faint.
Tony glanced back around at his pack, pausing on Steve. "Anything I missed?"
"What if Thor wants to go back to Asgard?"
Loki tensed against Tony and the inventor gave a careless shrug. "I'm not going to stop him."
"What if Thor wants to take Loki back to Asgard?" Steve pressed.
"I won't go," Loki insisted.
Tony met each of the other humans' eyes, looking for the determined nods – the silent promises that they would all stand between Thor and Loki if necessary – that were given without pause. When he got back to Steve, the soldier wore a grim smile as he said, "I think we're good."
"Good." Tony glanced at his half-empty coffee mug. "Right. Good night, everyone. I'll see you in the morning."
Bruce collected Tony's mug without a word as he passed, and Tony spared him a quick smile before turning his attention to Loki. "We've got, I think, two empty rooms that you can pick from," he offered. "There's one up on the floor where my suite is, one down on the floor Thor claimed. Your choice."
Loki scowled. "Really. Sleep surrounded by the buffoon's scent–"
"The room down there shouldn't smell a bit like Thor," Tony insisted. "The air circulation is state-of-the-art. Designed to keep anyone from smelling anyone else if they don't want to.
Loki's expression went carefully blank. "I would rather not sleep so close to anything belonging to Thor," he stated in that bland tone.
Tony nodded and stood. "Upstairs it is, then. Come on."
Loki was already up when Tony finally dragged himself from bed. The god had perched himself at the kitchen table, stiff as plywood and about as friendly. Natasha, Phil, and Bruce were sitting around the table with Loki, while Steve was frying something at the stove; all four humans were far more relaxed than Loki.
"Coffee's in the pot," Bruce offered when he caught sight of Tony in the doorway. "And, yes, it's caffeinated. Why I pander to your addiction..."
Tony gave a brusque nod and hurried over to pour himself a mug. Only after he'd gulped down half of it did he reply, "Because you love me, of course."
Bruce snorted and hid a smile behind his own mug, which looked to be filled with some of the green tea that he favoured when he was looking for his own caffeine boost.
Tony refilled his mug, then grabbed a wooden spoon from the sink to hit the vent over the table. "Get out of there before I have JARVIS turn on the fans."
Clint huffed from behind the venting, then wisely receded so he could come out somewhere that wasn't over the table. Phil saluted Tony with his mug while Natasha rolled her eyes.
Tony tossed the spoon back towards the sink, grimaced when it missed and clattered against the floor, then quickly dropped into the open chair at Loki's left. "So, how is everyone this morning? Getting along?"
Steve let out an irritated sound and paused his cooking to put the spoon back in the sink, but since he didn't actually say anything, Tony ignored him.
"Loki was asking about human pack dynamics," Bruce offered. "We've been discussing the differences between our cultures for the past two hours or so."
"You may know a bit too much about the subject," Tony informed him and Bruce rolled his eyes. The engineer turned to their resident god and asked, "Any interesting conclusions?"
Surprise flickered in Loki's eyes at being addressed. "I–" He cleared his throat and brought his hands up to wrap around the mug of berry-scented herbal tea that someone – most likely Bruce – had made him. "Midgardian pack dynamics are...entirely too convoluted."
"Yeah, well, Asgardian pack dynamics are archaic at best, highly discriminatory at worst," Tony retorted, rolling his eyes.
"At least we know where we stand," Loki returned, a sort of fire brightening his eyes. "You Midgardians trade between hierarchical roles like you do garments."
"Yeah, sorry we humans are so big on personal choice." Tony turned to give the god a searching look. "You know, from what humans know of you, I'd have thought you'd love the chaos of our system."
Loki went very still at that, his expression blanking over. (Someone on the other side of the table let out a regretful sigh at Loki closing up again, and Tony very much wanted to mirror it.)
Tony shook his head and turned back to his coffee. "Whatever. Ste–"
"I do," Loki whispered and Tony's eyes jerked back to him. The god's eyes glimmered with a heart-breaking sort of sadness, and there was a vague twist to his lips that might have been a smile. "Would that I could have always known your way."
Tony's hand made its way up to brush his knuckles against the sharp edge of Loki's cheekbone. "Better late than never," he offered.
Loki closed his eyes and leaned into the touch, body relaxing into his chair.
The kitchen was absolutely silent for a long moment, then Steve very pointedly cleared his throat and a plate of homemade potato chips, drenched in ketchup the way Tony preferred them, was placed in front of him. "Seriously, Tony. Coffee on an empty stomach," he complained, eyes bright with the familiarity of the words.
Tony grinned in return. "Thanks, Steve."
Steve dropped into the open chair at Tony's side as he slid a large bowl of the rest of the potato chips and the bottle of ketchup across the table so everyone else could easily grab some.
"How many potatoes did you murder for our pleasure?" Clint wondered as he snatched a handful, then proceeded to stuff them all into his mouth at once.
"They're hot," Steve warned a bit belatedly, and they were all treated to the view of Clint waving a hand in front of his open mouth and running for a glass of cold water. "And I cut up seven."
"It is utterly unfair how good you are at these," Tony complained as he held one of the chips from his plate up for Loki to take. The god did so gingerly and made a face at the appearance, but bit into it nonetheless.
"If you'd stop trying to improve the stove every time I tried teaching you to cook–" Steve started.
"But it's so slow!" Tony cut in, pushing his plate a little closer to Loki when the god reached for another chip. "And you're constantly complaining about how often the pilot light goes out–"
"That's a problem in the kitchen's air-flow, not the stove," Clint offered as he dropped back into his seat and snagged another couple of chips for himself from the communal bowl.
"You know," Phil commented with a smile that was halfway between fond and exasperated, "an electric stove wouldn't have the same problem."
"No," Steve and Bruce chorused.
"Electric stoves kind of suck," Clint added, shrugging apologetically at his mate.
"If we got an electric stove, it would spend three days in pieces while Stark 'improved' it," Natasha pointed out, shooting a knowing look Tony's way. "Half the reason he hasn't pulled this one apart is because it runs on gas."
Tony shrugged, entirely unrepentant. Then he frowned to find his plate of chips empty. "Oiy. Bowl. Gimme."
"What are you, five?" Bruce complained, but pushed the bowl close enough to Tony that he could transfer some onto his plate. Steve passed him the ketchup, and shook his head when Tony squirted an excessive amount onto the chips.
Tony grinned his thanks around a chip that was piled with so much ketchup, it was probably more ketchup than potato.
"More like two," Phil deadpanned and Clint let out a loud laugh, emphasising the faint grins the other humans failed to hide.
Tony's second plateful of chips vanished as quickly – and inexplicably – as the first, but the bowl had also been emptied by then, and a glance at his phone said it was almost time to call Thor, so Tony sighed and stood, sipping at what was left of his coffee. "Right. Let's head upstairs."
Mumbled agreements followed that statement and everyone rose from the table. Steve and Phil cleared the dishes while Bruce ushered Tony out of the kitchen without letting him close enough to the coffee pot to refill his mug. Loki, Clint, and Natasha followed and they crowded into the elevator together. They didn't bother waiting for Steve and Phil, though Clint did give a jaunty little wave as the doors slid closed between them.
The conference room was the floor above Tony's, and had been set up to allow video conference calls with other Stark Industries offices, originally, but was now used more for video debriefs with Fury. (It had been unanimously agreed that the less physical interaction between the Avengers and SHIELD, the better. Especially once the Avengers had all moved into the tower and made Tony their off-field alpha.)
While they waited for Steve and Phil, the four humans already in the room set about moving the chairs to let them sit out of the camera's frame without making it obvious that there were chairs missing from the table, while Loki stood stiffly next to the door and watched. Everything was in place when the elevator finally spat out the last two humans, and Steve directed everyone to their places while Tony got the electronics in order.
When Thor finally appeared on the screen, Jane standing just behind his left shoulder, the conference room looked empty, save for Tony and Steve in the middle of the camera's view. Tony had hopped up on to the table, kicking his legs just above the floor, while Steve stood at parade rest next to him.
Tony gave a cheerful little wave. "Hey, Thor. Dr Foster."
"Mr Stark," Jane replied politely. "Captain Rogers."
"Is all well? Have you found a cure for my brother?" Thor pleaded.
Steve shifted, clearly uncomfortable, but Tony just gave a careless shrug. "Nothing to fix, as it turns out. Your dad went and suppressed his omega traits, and that magic's gone now."
Thor shook his head. "But, but Loki can't be an omega!"
"Why do you say that?" Steve requested.
Thor frowned. "It is as Tony had pointed out: Loki is too capable to be an omega."
Steve turned to stare at Tony and the inventor buried his face in his hands, mumbling, "I had to convince him Loki wasn't an omega," to Steve.
Steve sighed. "Thor, help me out here. All Jötnar are omegas, right?"
Thor nodded. "That's correct."
"And all omegas are, what, useless?"
Tony couldn't suppress a growl and Steve shot him an apologetic look.
"They have use only as bree–"
Tony's growl rose in volume and he glowered through the screen at the Asgardian.
"They have to have a society," Jane cut in, frowning, and Thor turned to look at her. "You said it's just the various Jötunn clans in Jötunheimr, right? So that means they have to be self-sufficient. They have to be able to hunt or grow their own food, to be capable of building dwellings and caring for their young. They waged a war with Asgard and you told me it was close for a while there, so they have to have some ability to strategize, some way of making weapons and caring for wounds. You also said they have a king, which suggests they have some form of hierarchy."
"Not so useless," Steve remarked. "Maybe they're not as technologically advanced as Asgard, but then again, the way you make it sound, neither is humanity."
Thor looked between the soldier and female scientist, almost adorable with how confused he appeared. "But, in all the stories–"
"Oh boy," Clint whispered, quiet enough that the microphone shouldn't have picked it up.
"–I heard as a boy, a Jötunn is only useful when they have been made claim of. And, then, only as a– As omegas should be useful," Thor corrected before Tony could start growling again.
"Maybe," Tony said, voice tight with disgust, "the Jötnar are capable of taking care of themselves just fine, but when an Asgardian comes along and claims them as some form of property, it's all they can do to just keep surviving. Maybe it's the Asgardians that make the Jötnar appear so incapable."
"It could also be tied to their heat," Jane suggested with a calming tone. "I mean, most women are barely more capable than a child when in the full throes of their heat. If the Æsir were only really using the Jötnar as, as – I'm sorry, Mr Stark – as breeding stock, they wouldn't know much about Jötnar culture. You come in, you go to the nearest Jötunn in heat, you–"
"We get the picture," Steve managed, face shaded a dark pink of embarrassment.
Jane offered an apologetic smile. "You're not going to learn a lot if you're just coming around for sex," she said to Thor.
Thor considered that for a long moment, then nodded. "Your words carry much wisdom, Jane," he admitted.
Tony made a mental note to send some money to Jane for any side projects she was interested in trying that SHIELD wouldn't cover. Because, seriously, the woman was an absolute God-send in dealing with Thor.
"Now that that's out of the way," Steve muttered to Tony, then raised his voice to say, "Thor, we need to know if you can control yourself around your brother."
Thor frowned. "In what manner?"
"No offence, buddy, but you went kind of nuts out in Central Park," Tony commented dryly.
Thor grimaced at the memory.
"Either because of whatever your old man did, or because of his trip through the Void, Loki's heats aren't cycling properly. He said this is the second one he's had since he fell off your gay bridge–" Jane choked and Tony flashed her his most obnoxiously charming smile "–which is way too quick for Jötnar, right?"
"It– Yes. The warriors always told that a Jötunn's heat is every fifteen years." Thor's brow creased. "Did my brother say when his other heat–?"
"Bottom line is," Tony interrupted, having no intention in telling Thor that his brother spent his first heat amongst the Chitauri, because there was no telling how Thor would react to that, "we have no way of knowing when Loki's next heat is going to happen. It could be next month, it could be fifteen years from now. I told him he can stay in the tower, so there's a chance he might be here next time it happens. I need to know if you can control yourself around him."
Thor shook his head and shrugged. "I know not."
"Then you need to stay out of the tower."
Thor tensed. "The tower is my home!"
"Now it's Loki's home, too," Tony replied firmly. "He needs the stable roof over his head and a pack far more than you do, so if you can't control yourself in the event that he goes into heat again, you can't stay here."
Thor let out an angry growl. "I shall return to Asgard with Loki. Father can again suppress–"
"Absolutely not!" Tony snarled, jumping off the table for the added sense of stability the firm ground under his feet gave him.
Steve gently touched Tony's shoulder in an attempt to calm him. "Thor, Bruce seems to think that suppressing Loki's heat is only ever going to hurt him. And Loki doesn't want to return to Asgard."
Thor snorted. "He is an omega and a sentenced criminal. Such choice is not his to make."
Tony was about five seconds from punching the screen just to make himself feel better, when long arms encased in leather wrapped around his chest, instantly calming his rage. It was only natural for Tony to reach up and grab for them, holding them in place. "Indeed," Loki commented lightly. "That choice belongs to my alpha, does it not?"
Thor had tensed, eyes wide.
"What say you, Anthony?" Loki purred, nuzzling Tony's ear.
Tony's mouth curled with a smirk, victory sweet on his tongue as he said, "Loki stays here."
Thor shook himself. "Tony is no true alpha, Brother!" he insisted. "He cannot provide–"
"Thor," Loki interrupted, voice smooth and tinged with amusement, "do take a moment to consider your words before you let them loose. In this Realm, in this tower, do you not defer to Anthony? Do you not see him as equal to yourself?"
"He is– That–"
"Either you have been unmanned, or he is Alpha. Which is it, Brother?"
Thor stared at them for a long moment, blinking rapidly. Finally, he closed his eyes and said, "I see."
Jane glanced down at Thor, eyes bright with concern, then looked back at the screen. "Keep us posted," she requested.
"We will," Steve promised and the screen went dark.
"I am so unbelievably turned on right now," Tony commented a bit absently as he traced his fingers along the folds of Loki's sleeve.
At his back, Loki relaxed and nuzzled against the side of his head.
"Does someone want to explain what just happened?" Steve complained as the others walked over to join them, expressions odd.
Natasha took a long, deep breath and raised an eyebrow. "Stark and Loki have a mate-bond."
Tony tensed, fingers stilling against Loki's arm. "What?" he demanded. When Loki started to withdraw, he tightened his grip around the god's arms and said, "Stop."
Bruce took off his glasses and carefully cleaned them with the bottom edge of his shirt, watching that instead of Tony and Loki as he said, "It's incomplete, but there's definitely something forming between the two of you."
"I'm sorry," Loki breathed, trying to pull away from Tony again. "I didn't–"
"Stop it," Tony ordered, scowling at nothing. "Fuck. I'm not–" He let out a huff and focussed on Bruce. "I don't understand how," he admitted. "Pep and I tried for years–"
Bruce shrugged, slipping his glasses back on. "You said you thought you weren't ready. Maybe now you are."
Or maybe, Tony thought to himself as he leaned back against Loki, forcing the god to stay, if only to keep from dropping him, I needed to be needed.
"Well, on the up side, a mate-bond would make Loki less palatable to Thor," Clint offered cheerfully.
"While that's certainly true for humans, I have no idea whether or not it would hold true in this case," Bruce replied with a helpless shrug. "I've never heard of a mate-bond forming like this, before. It shouldn't even be possible."
Tony took a deep breath and squeezed Loki's forearms. "Then we take it one day at a time." Loki relaxed against him again, hopefully taking Tony's words as acceptance of the forming bond. "For right now, I really, really need coffee."
Bruce groaned. "Of course you do."
"As long as Steve and Phil didn't empty the pot..." Clint pointed out with a wide grin.
Judging by the apologetic look Steve sent towards Bruce, Tony was in luck. "Right!" He straightened in Loki's arms, pasting on his most shit-eating grin. "Last one to the kitchen's a rotten egg!"
Light danced at the edges of Tony's vision, and he was suddenly, impossibly, in the middle of the kitchen, Loki's arms still tight around him. He craned his head around and found a hopeful smile on the god's face. "Okay?" Loki asked.
"Useless my ass," Tony growled under his breath and brought one of Loki's hands up to his mouth to kiss, the action feeling entirely too natural. But, then, physical signs of affection were apparently already a thing between them, had been nearly from the start. "I'm keeping you forever," he informed the god, tugging him over to the coffee pot.
Loki's breath against the back of Tony's head as he let out a quiet laugh was cool, but the sound made an odd, warm feeling spread through Tony's chest.
When the others finally made it into the kitchen, Clint immediately shouting, "Cheaters! The both of you!" Tony burst out laughing and just let himself enjoy being with his pack.
Bruce wanted to run a few tests, see if there wasn't a way to stabilise, or at least predict, Loki's heats. Tony stayed long enough to determine that he was going to die of boredom if he remained, and that Loki would be fine without him, then made his way down to Pepper's office. She was on the phone when he poked his head in, and at her pointed glare, he slunk over to the couch and sat on it, holding his silence.
It didn't take her long to ring off and send a quick, "I'm indisposed until Mr Stark leaves," to her personal assistant – a young woman full of far too many smiles, but enough good sense that she didn't even bother trying to tell Tony that he couldn't just walk right into Pepper's office. The assistant sent back an affirmative, then Pepper turned to Tony, nostrils flared, and ordered, "Start talking."
Tony swallowed and refused to duck away from her stare as he explained, "I don't know how, it was entirely unintentional, and I swear I didn't have sex with him, but there's a mate-bond forming between Loki and me."
Pepper held his gaze for a long moment, a familiar strain in the lines of her face, then she let out a little laugh and closed her eyes. "Only you, Tony."
Tony relaxed enough that he could let himself sprawl out across her couch. "Electric locks really aren't the way to keep me out of things, you know," he commented with a shit-eating grin.
"I'm aware," Pepper returned in a tone that made Tony think he'd missed something entirely. "Where is he?"
Tony blinked once, twice, then his mind moved past her first comment and focussed on the question. "Loki? Bruce is running some tests." He closed his eyes and dropped his head against the arm of the couch. "Odin had been suppressing his heats, and now they're a complete mess. From what we got out of Thor, he's supposed to have them only every fifteen years or so, but his last one was less than two years ago."
"He may just be naturally irregular," Pepper pointed out, but Tony could tell by her tone that she didn't believe that for a moment. "It's uncommon, but not unheard of."
"In humans," Tony reminded her.
Pepper's chair creaked. "When do I get to meet him?"
Tony twitched, then glanced around at her. "I'm having trouble not touching him," he admitted.
Pepper sighed and shook her head. "Bring him down tomorrow afternoon."
Tony smiled, awash in relief. "Okay. How much paperwork do you need me to do to make up for...whatever I need to make up for this time?"
Pepper snorted and shook her head. "Go spend time with your mate, Tony."
Tony flashed her a wide grin and escaped the office before she could change her mind; he'd stop by his workshop for something to work on while he waited for Bruce and Loki to finish.
The Lightning Strike ~ Chapters
Movement I ~ What If This Storm Ends | Movement II ~ The Sunlight Through the Flags | Movement III ~ Daylight
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