Tony starts the morning off with muffins, because, depending on how the rest of the day goes, they really might need their emotional support muffins.
Loki's not the least bit suspicious that there may be any ulterior motives for their baking session. He's as enthusiastic as ever – the novelty of baking his own food has yet to wear off, it seems – and it's hard to think about the rest of the day when Loki's right there being so freaking precious as he meticulously measures out each and every ingredient.
It's as they sit down to eat their muffins that he finally breaches the topic.
"So," Tony says, "I got a call from a friend last night."
"Hmm?" Loki hums, his mouth full of muffin.
"Mm-hmm," Tony hums back. "I haven't seen him in a couple months, so he was thinking he might swing by today."
"Hmm." Loki holds up a finger as he finishes chewing.
"He's not a super close friend," Tony adds. "He's not, you know, Pepper. We're not that close. So if you're all peopled out–"
"I wouldn't mind," Loki assures him. "I like meeting your friends. I like when we do different things."
Well. That was easy.
But he'd assumed it would be. Loki seems to be quite the "yes" man. He'll do just about anything Tony suggests, and, for the most part, he really does seem to enjoy it. Hopefully this brief visit from Clint will be just as nice.
"What's your friend's name?" Loki asks.
"Clint Barton."
Unsurprisingly, the name seems to mean nothing to him. "Is he a friend from work? From SHIELD?"
That's something he hadn't planned to mention, but since he asked, Tony admits, "Yeah, he's from SHIELD."
That seems to dampen Loki's excitement only a little bit. "I don't suppose he has any new information."
Tony shakes his head. "Nothing yet," he says.
"Oh." That dampens his excitement a little bit more. "When should we expect him to arrive?"
"Not for a few hours," Tony tells him. "We've got time. And I don't think he'll stay for long." In fact, he won't stay much longer than 45 minutes – less, even, if he says anything Tony doesn't like. It's not going to take up much of their day. He just can't say that, because when he kicks Clint out, he'd like it to be somewhat subtle.
"Alright," Loki says, and that's all he says before he grabs another muffin and takes a bite.
Tony waits for him to finish chewing. He gives him plenty of time to say something else. If there's anything else bugging him, anything else on his mind, now's the time to share. But Loki just takes another bite of his muffin.
So, that's that, then.
That was easy.
~~~
It hasn't been all that long since Loki was in Tony's lab – a week or two, maybe, but no longer than that – but he hasn't had more than a passing glance at any of the Iron Man suits for well over a month. So, with the time they have to kill, Tony decides to let Loki try them out again. It gives him the chance to have some fun, and Tony gets to spend a little while working on his newest model, which he's been severely neglecting in favor of actually adopting a healthy sleeping schedule.
Still, he hasn't gotten a whole lot done in the hour or so they've been in the lab. Loki's been trying out various pieces of the suit – not at the same time; he's interested how they work individually – and watching him toy around with it has been far more entertaining than any blueprint-making could be.
"You know," Tony remarks, "I don't think this is going to be a good idea."
"Probably not," Loki agrees. "Any objections to me trying anyway?"
Tony huffs and waves him on. "Go right ahead. Try not to break too much."
Loki cracks a smile, and the helmet's face mask slides down. Slowly, very slowly, he begins to hover off the ground. The boots are doing all the work – and by all, he really does mean all. The only pieces of the suit Loki wears right now are the helmet and the boots, which is concerning in and of itself, but especially because he doesn't have the gloves on.
Still, he manages it surprisingly well. He's able to levitate off the ground, which is probably more than Tony could do — and definitely more than he could have done when he was first getting used to the suit. It's impressive. It really is.
He starts wobbling a little bit, and his arms shoot out to the side to keep his balance. It seems to have the opposite effect; his whole body begins to wobble, growing more dramatic as he tries to overcorrect.
"Okay," Tony says quickly, "let's—"
Loki falls over, and the boots launch him straight into the wall before they shut themselves off. He whimpers quietly, his body mostly limp as he sits against the busted wall.
"Holy shit," Tony whispers, already taking off. In an instant, he's by the god's side. "Are you okay?"
Again, Loki just whimpers.
"Hey, hey, come on." Tony rests his hand on the helmet, and the face shield slides up.
Loki is not, in fact, whimpering.
He's just laughing.
"Oh, my god," Tony breathes. He sits on the floor, legs crossed in front of him, and takes a deep, calming breath. "You scared the shit out of me!"
Loki just laughs harder. "That was so fun!"
Tony scoffs. "How is that—" He cuts himself off. This must be how Pepper felt when he was still new to being Iron Man. But it's worked out pretty okay for him, so Loki and his god powers are undoubtedly going to be fine, too.
"I have a much greater appreciation for the gloves now," Loki adds. "They certainly make a difference."
Tony sighs and shakes his head to himself, more amused than anything at this point. "You're killing me, buddy."
"Sorry," Loki says. He is very clearly not sorry.
JARVIS cuts in with, "Sir, your guests are here," which is probably a blessing in disguise. God only knows what Loki would get up to in here if he had more time.
"Alright," Tony says, waving it off. "Tell him — wait." He repeats that message in his head."Guests? Plural?"
"Yes, sir," JARVIS says. "Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff."
Tony scowls. "Great." That was not part of the plan.
Loki looks at him warily. "Agent Natasha Romanoff, I presume?"
Tony sighs. "The one and only," he says. "I can go kick her out. I never said she could—"
"No," Loki interrupts. "No, that's alright. Perhaps with two other people in the room, she won't be all too concerned with me."
Tony frowns. "I really can just tell her—"
"I don't want to sour the evening — or the afternoon, or whatever time it is now — before it begins," Loki says. "I'll be alright. I assume they won't stay all too long — no more than a few hours?"
"Probably not even that long," Tony assures him. (Definitely not even that long. He may not even honor the 45-minute deal now that Natasha's here.)
"Then I suppose all I need is help getting out of this suit."
Tony cracks a smile. "I don't know if I'd call two boots and a helmet a 'suit.'"
Still, he helps Loki out of what little bit of the suit he wears, and he carefully puts it away where it belongs. Loki gets up off the floor, and they're all ready to go greet their guests.
But then Loki catches sight of the wall he'd just flown into — and it's clear that it's the one he just flew into, because there's a nice, Loki-sized dent in it.
"Did I do that?" Loki asks warily.
Tony waves it off. "You've seen the tower," he reminds him. "Trust me, this is the least of its issues."
The corner of Loki's lips turn upward at that. "I suppose that's true," he admits.
Tony steps aside and gestures dramatically to the doorway. "Shall we?"
"We shall."
So, with that, they head out of the lab and off to meet up with Tony's "friends." He checks in with JARVIS to see where they are – still in the lobby, apparently – and has the AI send them up. He'd like to avoid any awkwardly silent elevator rides with them if he can.
As they're on their way to greet the two SHIELD agents, Loki asks, "Is Midgard usually like this?"
Tony furrows his brows. "Like what?"
"This... broken."
Tony gives him a weird look.
"You said there was a battle here of some sort," Loki recalls. "That that's why the buildings and streets and sidewalks are ruined the way that they are. I know Midgardians fight amongst themselves far more than they interact with any of the other realms, but I don't know much more than that. Do they just attack..." He gestures vaguely. "Everything? Could another battle begin here at any moment? Is there some sort of warning? Most humans aren't equipped for battle, are they?"
"No, no, this was a freak thing," Tony says quickly. "There are some places where civilians get caught in the crossfire, but that's in, like, Sokovia. New York's different. New York's safe. You don't have to worry about that."
Loki huffs. "I'm not worried about anything," he says. "I'm a god. There is nothing on Midgard that could harm me."
Tony's mind flashes back to the Hulk.
There might be something on Earth that can hurt him...
Loki's oblivious to that. "I was only curious. Much of this city is a mess and I feel it hasn't changed much in the weeks I've been here. I suppose it makes sense, if this violence happens here so infrequently. New York must not be prepared for repair such a massive amount of damage."
Tony huffs. They've got their hands full; that much is obvious.
"I assume one day, somebody will fix the tower," Loki adds, a hint of a question in his voice.
"In theory," Tony replies. "But I'm in no rush. There are other places that need the help more." He definitely has enough money to get Stark Tower on the top of the rebuild list, but every construction worker in a 30-mile radius is working day and night. He doesn't need to add more to their plate. Stark Tower is fine as it is.
"That's nice of you," Loki remarks.
"Nah; I just don't want to head back to Malibu for however long it takes for them to finish," Tony says with a shrug.
"And Malibu is where Pepper lives?" Loki asks.
Tony clicks his tongue. "Good memory."
"We both know that's not true," Loki reminds him.
Tony really can't argue with that, so he doesn't.
They continue chatting a bit until finally, they've met up with their guests.
It's a little weird, he must admit, to see Natasha in normal clothing. Dresses, skirts, and body-hugging cat suits are one thing. From the handful of times they've worked together, that's become somewhat normal to him. But skinny jeans and a tank top? Not so normal.
Clint, meanwhile, looks as average as average can be — his expression included; he doesn't look like he's super thrilled to be here, but he's certainly not dreading it, either. He doesn't look like he's going to cause problems, and that's what really matters.
"Romanoff," Tony says, an eyebrow raised in as judgmental a way an eyebrow can be. "I don't remember extending you an invitation."
She just shrugs, the small smirk on her face showing just how unbothered she is by that. "Barton and I are a package deal."
"I'm starting to get that," Tony remarks. First the FaceTime meeting, now here. She really does just go anywhere Clint does, apparently. Maybe evil Loki should have mind-controlled her when he mind-controlled Clint. It sounds like she would have appreciated that.
Loki clasps his hands in front of him, looking between the three of him with a look of polite intrigue. Tony takes that as a cue to introduce and reacquaint them with each other, for Loki's sake more than anything.
"It's nice to meet you," Loki says to Clint. Hopefully, that remains true for the 45 minutes he has to deal with him.
"Yeah, you, too," Clint says. He extends a hand, and Loki shakes it politely. That alone makes it feel like this is going better than any other meeting Loki's had with SHIELD employees.
"I know you've got a lot to do," Tony says, "so we don't want to keep you too long—"
"You got snacks?" Natasha interrupts.
Clint scoffs and slaps her on the arm. "You can't just walk into someone's house and demand food."
"I just did." She plasters on a smile.
Clint rolls his eyes. "Why do I bring you places?"
"Because you love me."
Clint shakes his head to himself. "You're killing me, Smalls."
Tony glances at Loki, admittedly a bit wary. This isn't quite the great introduction he'd hoped for — not that he'd genuinely expected it. Still, when Loki glances back at him, he looks more amused than anything.
Maybe this will be okay after all.