The Loco of Loki (MCU Fanfiction, Loki/Tony/Pepper)

6. Problems and Priorities

Acknowledging Loki's status as a Prince of Asgard seemed to be exactly the right approach from SHIELD. Even though Loki professed to dislike his home, he seemed to care about his position. Tony secretly thought that being reconciled with his family was something that would overjoy the demi-god, but he wasn't stupid enough to say it out loud.

There was only so much Loki was willing to admit, and since the demi-god knew stuff that was in his head just like Tony knew what was in Loki's, he figured it was better to keep his mouth shut. They both had each other in a corner when it came down to it and Tony didn't want his personal stuff spread around, so he kept his silence on Loki's.

Loki turned out to be intelligent, sarcastic and sassy when he wasn't trying to take over and Tony found himself liking Loki a lot as they got to know each other over the next two weeks. Even Clint seemed to settle down and accept Loki's presence once JARVIS had tracked down actual proof of Coulson's survival. They still didn't know where the man named Agent was and Tony was considering just confronting Fury, but the evidence was clear: Coulson was alive. Fury probably had a nefarious plan they could all wreck once JARVIS had tracked down more evidence.

It was just after Clint has changed his attitude they had had the coffee incident. It had taken Tony falling asleep in his workshop for anyone to realise all the coffee in the building had become decaf. It hadn't been switched with decaf, it had actually become decaf and Loki did the most beautiful innocent face Tony had ever seen. Luckily even Natasha found Tony snoring funny and JARVIS, the traitor, played it all back for everyone to see.

It had become common place to see Loki wandering from the microwave with a mug that was very definitely not filled with coffee first thing in the morning. No one mentioned blood, because it made Steve go a funny colour, but everyone knew what it was. Loki was staying on Thor's floor which had its own kitchen, but it had become kind of the thing for the team to have breakfast in the communal kitchen on the main floor (totally Steve's fault) and Loki had just slipped into that with them.

Bruce and Loki had bonded over tea; the God of Mischief was not a lover of coffee like his brother. Tony had decided to forgive Loki for that though, because he had a big crush on Loki's brain. Almost as big as the one he had on Bruce's and bigger than the boner he had for Loki's body, which was huge, in both cases.

Watching Loki steal Thor's pop tarts was also a daily joy. Steve insisted everyone eat properly in the mornings, but Thor always added on pop tarts and Loki seemed to have picked up a taste for them. The chocolate ones usually disappeared before Thor even got a look in, but Thor didn't seem to mind. It was cute how Thor always heated a chocolate one and a blueberry one first and then pretended not to notice when Loki stole the chocolate one right off his plate.

However, there was one thing Tony had noticed day after day: Loki didn't seem to consume the blood with much enthusiasm. For the last two days Loki had seemed irritable and tired and had spent more time curled up reading on Thor's floor than in the lab with Tony and Bruce. Since they had become science buddies, or rather, science and magic buddies, that was unusual.

He knew Loki used some kind of glamour to deal with the sensitivity to light issue, but as he watched Loki heat his usual mug of blood, Loki looked pale even with the magic.

"You feeling okay?" Tony asked as he mixed up his usual smoothie.

"I am fine," Loki snapped back.

"Hey, I was only asking."

Loki took a deep breath, still looking at the microwave, before turning.

"I am sorry," Loki said; "I am not feeling quite myself."

There was a ding from the microwave before Tony could ask Loki what the problem was, and the demi-god turned away again.

"Anything I can do?" Tony asked as Loki retrieved his mug.