The rest of the holiday seemed to fly by, each day relaxing, with consistent sunshine. Tony didn't work, Loki was happy, the kids weren't to obnoxious. The kids were particularly upset while they were waiting for the plane at the airport.
"Can't we stay for longer?" Bruce whined.
"Beach." Natasha said sadly.
"No. I've been away for plenty long enough." Tony told them firmly. "And I've got plans."
"Plans?" Loki echoed. They were bordering the plane now, and as they sat down in their seats, Tony replied. "Yes, I'll tell you when we get back home. It's all organised!" Loki swallowed.
"Yes, well I have plans to tell you too." Tony smiled and nodded, before going back to listening to his music. Loki signed and went back to watching his film.
***
They stumbled in at eleven o'clock at night, and the kids sleepily climbed into bed straight away. Tony smiled at Loki and took him to the balcony, where he took out a glass of expensive champagne, and poured them each a glass. "What're we doing out here?" Loki asked curiously. He then let out a gasp. Tony bought out a shining green jewel ring. "Tony... I-"
"It's not a marriage ring!" Tony assured him quickly. "It's a going out ring... Y'know. Dating ring. What do they call it in space? Courtship?" He quickly smirked at him. "So... Will you... Be mine?"
"Of course." Loki said, his heart pounding. Loki reached out and pulled Tony towards him by his shirt. Tony kissed the other happily for a long time until Loki broke away sadly.
"Now for my news. It's about Asgard... I suppose."
"Oh god, not another loony is coming here, are they?" Tony asked annoyed.
"Well..." Loki hesitated. "Yes." Tony almost choked on his drink. "It-it's my sister."
"What?!" Tony exclaimed,dropping his glass and not caring in the slightest when glass smashed up his leg. Tony seemed to be struggling to decide what he wanted to do, swear or ask questions. "No one knows about her." He started to explain quickly, "But she's coming here." Tony scowled and turned away angrily, facing the view instead of the other.
It only took the tiny glance that Tony gave towards his suits to tell Loki how mad he was. "Don't go!" He pleaded quickly, grabbing Tony's hand but letting go when the billionaire didn't hold back. "It'll be fine! I should've told you I- I just um-I didn't want to ruin the holiday!" He stuttered, excuses pouring from his mouth. Tony shoved him back angrily. "Stop lying! You didn't tell me because you didn't want to." Tony snarled. Tony turned around and started to storm back inside when Loki grabbed him and pulled him back. "Get off!" Tony cried as Loki pulled him into his chest and refused to let him go. "No." Loki hissed,his voice like ice. The tone shocked Tony into silence and he stopped struggling for a moment. "Now shut up and listen to me." Loki hissed in the same tone. The God let Tony shove him back and sit down in a chair, letting his glare communicate everything he thought of Loki at that moment.
Loki smoothed down his shirt and started pacing, talking at the same time, "My sister is older than me. I discovered her while I was in Jotunheim (The Frost Giant Realm) and she made me vow not to tell anyone else. What reason had I to break that vow?"
"I don't know, maybe the part where you didn't want me to find out about your secret sibling!" Tony cut him off, regaining his ability to speak at last. "I told you to shut up and listen for once." Loki snapped. "She's coming here and yes, I know I should have told you and yes, she's kind of crazy and yes, I'm sorry so please stop being mad with me." Loki said quickly in a snarky tone which made Tony grit his teeth. After a long moment of sullen silence, Tony finally said something. "What about the kids?" He asked.
"She won't harm them," He said hurriedly before correcting himself, "Well... I won't let her hurt them."
"When's she coming?" Tony asked with a sigh.
"Tomorrow."
To his surprise, Tony looked more disappointed then shocked or angry. "What is it?" Loki asked cautiously.Tony blushed. "It's nothing just... tomorrow. I organised us a first date." He mumbled looking embarrassed. It made Loki's heart ache."That's fine! That's great!" Tony looked confused and stared at Loki. "In the evening right?" Tony nodded.
"I'll have to set a few things up earlier..." He trailed off, still staring at Loki and not understanding. "Well she can look after the kids!"
"I already asked Parker!"
"Parker?"
"Peter Parker. He's this kid who used to follow me around all the time and try and get an appointment with me and things like that. He'd do anything just for a five second conversation but he was just this street vigilante with a serious spider bite issue. Eventually, I was forced to talk to him and now we're buddies. It was kind of weird though, he didn't seem at all surprised when I told him about the kids-"
"You told him?!" Loki exclaimed.
"Don't worry, it's not as if he's gonna go running to Fury." Tony dismissed.
"Well, they can babysit together. It's probably for the best to have backup when dealing with those five." Tony nodded and smirked.
"So date not cancelled?" He asked hopefully.
"Date not cancelled.
***
The next day, they were just clearing away the plates after lunch, when Jarvis interrupted them.
"Excuse me sirs, there is someone trying to enter the facility."
"Description?" Tony said.
"Dark hair, green eyes. A resemblance in your new found love."
Tony rolled his eyes and said, "Access granted."
The kids were ushered out of the way, and sent to the living room, while Tony and Loki stood back. She appeared in a flash of light and very suddenly, looking up at them with light green eyes.
"Oh, look. She has your eyes. That's creepy," Tony said. Loki nudged him hard.
"We meet again, brother." She said in a strong powerful voice.
"Yes... That was the point." Loki answered. Tony sniggered. She looked vaguely irritated.
"So what's your name, strange, Loki woman?"
"Night Star." She looked around.
"She's new. She's a my blood sister so be nice." Loki told Tony firmly. Tony rolled his eyes.
"I'm always nice. How could you say that, Loki?" Tony said mockingly.
"I'm being serious." And with that, he left to check in the kids.
Awkward silence. "So why are you here again?" Tony asked sounding bored, "World domination? Murder?"
"Visiting my brother." She said coldly. Tony narrowed his eyes.
"I don't know who you are but don't play with him." Tony said in a conversational tone, "Because if you think for a second that you're going to manipulate him. I will -" Tony's polite threat was interrupted by Loki re entering with the kids who were looking nervous. They immediately flocked towards Tony and surrounded his legs, giving scared glances towards Night Star. Tony gestured for her to introduce herself and said softly to the kids, "Don't worry, Spiderman's coming too." Looking reassured, the kids turned to face the unfamiliar person.
"Er... Hi." said Steve slowly stepping forward. "I'm Steve-"
"Hey, I'm Clint!" Clint said jumping in front of him. Night smiled, but not an amused smile. A smile that sent a shiver up your spine. It made Tony feel very uncomfortable watching. He gave her a warning look so threatening even she couldn't ignore as Natasha stepped forward and carefully lifted a hand. Thankfully Night Star just looked at all of them in an unamused way.
"Well, Peter should be here in five." Tony shrugged, checking his watch and glancing towards the door hopefully. As if on cue, there was a knocking on the window and everyone turned to see Peter on the outside. Tony threw open the window quickly and Peter jumped inside, pulling off his mask. "Tony!" He exclaimed, pulling the other man into a hug. This time, Loki did his best not to become jealous since Peter was pretty much a kid. The kids ran towards Peter and hugged his knees and Loki, who presumed it was just Peter's friendly demeanour and hero status which made them happy to see him, thought this was a bit much. Tony watched them with a grin and looked so much more relaxed now that Peter was here too. He turned around, his brown eyes sparkling and contagious grin causing Loki to smile too. He grabbed the God's hand and started pulling him towards the door. "Basement." The billionaire said simply before Loki had a chance to ask where they were going.
"Hi." Peter introduced himself politely to Night. "I'm Peter. Peter Parker." He stuck his hand out to shake her hand, but she recoiled. "Don't touch me." She said in a final tone. Peter looked taken aback. "Alright, sorry. Well, what do you guys want to do tonight? Colour, watch a film, playing a game?" Peter suggested, addressing the kids who were watching him excitedly. Clint gave him a wicked grin, "Let's play a game." He said, sharing a look with the others who nodded.
"Why are we playing a game with these infants?" Night Star asked sounding irritated. Peter sighed, "I don't blame people for not trusting you with their kids or anything, but this is called babysitting and this is what you do." The kids were biting back laughter, still slightly scared of Night Star. The God looked furious, "How dare you patronize me! I am a God! I-"
"Oh please." Tony's cut her off as he walked into to, "We already had that crap from Loki." He said, smirking at the memory. "I can hear you!" Loki called from down a flight of stairs, "Now hurry up, I want to see what's in this basement you love so much!" Tony grinned at Night Star's outraged face before swaggering back downstairs holding a screwdriver much to the kid's disappointment.
Tony walked down to find Loki who was standing impatiently outside the basement door. "Finally!" He said, rolling his eyes but still smiling. Tony tapped in the code for the door and walked in, gesturing for Loki to follow. Loki had only been down here once and looking around properly, he realised how amazing it was. Picking his way over some car parts, Tony apologised for the mess which made Loki laugh; he doubted this place would ever be tidy. After a while, they came to the huge showcase of Tony's suits. They were incredible, different colour's and sizes, not to mention that he had more suits then Loki had predicted but immediately, Loki's eyes clung to one right at the very end.
The suit was emerald green and gold, sparkling new. The most strange thing about this one was that it was taller than any of the others. The rest had been made for Tony to fit inside perfectly, so why was this one too big? He was just figuring it out when Tony gestured to the suit. "I give you, the Loki suit." He said proudly. Loki's jaw dropped, it was actually made for him? His favourite colours, the height, he should've realised that earlier. "Come on, suit up! It's time for our date." Tony instructed happily. Loki grinned, how stupid of him to expect Tony just to take him out to dinner.
"Hide and seek?" Night Star asked looking disgusted. The kids nodded happily, glancing at one another. That was starting to weird Peter out a little, but he put it down to the fact that they were still nervous about Night Star being in the room. "You have to hide in pairs." Clint stated. This was a new rule to Peter but he supposed in a place this big it was good to have backup in case you got lost or something.Quickly, everyone was paired up and, to both of their utter despair, Night Star and Peter were stuck together. Clint and Bruce started to count and all the others rushed from the room. Passing the doorway, Peter felt a tug on his trousers. He looked down to see Bruce who was giving him an adoring look. "The best place to hide is the basement." Bruce whispered, "Here's the door code." He confided, pressing a piece of paper into Peter's hand. Spider-man smiled gratefully, reflecting on how kind and good the Avengers were, even as kids as he and Night Star made their way lower down the building.
"Er Tony? Quick flying lesson?" Loki asked hopefully, pulling up his mask.
"To start, thrusters on low and feet together. You'll get the hang of it fast." Tony reassured the God, lifting effortlessly into the air and seeming even more comfortable in his suit than he was on the floor. He commanded the thrusters to come on but the suit remained lifeless. "Tony!" Loki exclaimed, sounding whiney, "Jarvis won't listen to me!" The God complained.
"Come on you two. Play nicely." Tony said and you could hear the eye roll in his voice. Loki's suit flickered to life and cautiously, Loki turned on the thrusters. Needless to say, it was harder than he thought it was going to be. "You're even worse than I was." Tony pointed out.
"Shut up." Loki ordered, managing to hover successfully at last.
"Aw, now let's go!" Tony exclaimed, flying over and pulling Loki towards him sending him struggling to stay upright. "But-" He started to complain.
"Loki, sometimes you have to run before you can walk." Loki nodded, staying silent until Tony pulled him again, flying at high speed up the car ramp. At that point, Loki let out a yell which made Tony laugh.
Shortly after their dramatic exit, Peter and Night Star entered the basement. Peter looked around. "Man, my dad would have killed for this stuff..." He trailed off, torn between wanting to touch stuff and not wanting to break stuff. "Thank you for the fun fact about your parent." Night Star replied coldly. Peter bit his lip and decided to shut up for now. But if that stupid God made one more comment about his "parent" she was spending the rest of the evening in a web. "Bruce was so cute giving us the best hiding pla-" Peter began enthusiastically when from behind them came an incredibly ominous series of clicking. They spun around at the same time to see all of the kids standing behind the glass basement door, all wearing matching mischievous grins.
Peter's confused face was replaced by one of horror as Jarvis' voice announced, "Doors to the basement locked. Locks on the inside disabled." Peter's jaw dropped and he looked at Night Star. He watched her with a sigh as he strode towards the door and attempted to open it. It didn't give way in the slightest. She scowled at the children who were safe behind the glass. Clint laughed and stuck out his tongue. Peter raced over before Night Star lost it completely. "Guys, open the door." He commanded. Steve shook his head.
"We don't have to do what you say! You're not in charge of us!" Steve said triumphantly. Peter attempted to give them a stern look. "Yes I am." He told them. Natasha shook her head, "Tony and Loki." She said simply, nodding earnestly. Peter sighed in frustration, he had no idea how to get them to open the door. He opened his mouth to bribe them but Clint whispered something to the others and without warning, they turned and ran up the stairs, leaving the two adults trapped in the basement.
"This is incredible!" Loki shouted as the two of them tore through the night sky, leaving trails of light as if they were shooting stars. Tony laughed, filled with so much excitement that it made Loki's heart race. Stars glittered above them and New York city spread below them, looking like a children's toys. Loki flew as close as possible as he could to Tony without smashing into him. He had no idea where they were actually going or if they were just going to fly which was already one of the most amazing things that Loki had ever done.
They were right in the heart of the city and Loki was struggling with trying to look at everything at one and also trying to fly straight. "Get ready to land." Tony said and accelerated quickly. "Tony!" Loki shouted, narrowing his eyes. The game was on. He sped up too, going as fast as he dared and flying after Tony. He heard the other laugh as he spun over in his suit, a trick he knew Loki was nowhere near achieving. "You'll have to do better than that!" He shouted at the God, flying ahead once more, heading directly for the statue of liberty. Loki followed, feeling increasingly better at flying as he went along.
Tony landed smoothly, pulling off his helmet and turning around to look out for Loki. The God landed beside him, heavily and ungracefully of course which made him blush. Tony lifted his mask for him and kissed him gently. "We are having a first date...on top of the statue of liberty?" Loki asked, his eyes wide. Tony nodded, looking hopeful. Loki let out an elated laugh, wrapping his arms around the other and they had a very hard metal hug which they both enjoyed none the less.
The God peeked around Loki as the other was pulling off more of his suit.
Warmth spread through him, a very unfamiliar feeling for Loki, as he saw the picnic blanket laid out covered in candles, foods and wine. So this was what Tony had meant by setting things up. He felt guilty knowing that he had done absolutely nothing and looked down, twisting his ring around his finger. Secretly, when he was alone in his room, he liked to wear it on his ring finger but he always took it off after a while, feeling like an idiot for wishing something like that to be true.
"What's wrong?" Tony asked anxiously, his suit now lying discarded on the floor.
"Nothing!" Loki assured him. Tony just raised an eyebrow. "Nothing, I just feel bad. You've made this amazing date for us and I've done nothing for you." Tony was giving him such a shocked look Loki was starting to get scared. "What?" He mumbled.
"Nothing?" Tony echoed, "You've done nothing?" Loki looked ashamed. "Loki, you've done more for me then anyone else in the entire world." Tony whispered urgently, his eyes clinging to Loki's. "You fixed me." He murmured, holding Loki's hand tightly. Loki smiled again and hugged Tony tight. "Something as perfect as you can never be broken." They held each other for a long moment before Tony pulled away. "Come on, let me help you out of that thing." He smirked, pulling off parts of the suit. Loki laughed and allowed the pieces of metal to fall to his feet.
The kids sat in a circle in the middle of the film room with a pile of disks in the middle of them. They had been laughing for a long time about their victory against Night Star and Peter. They all felt a bit bad about locking Peter away, after all he had only been a friend to them but as Thor had said in a heavy tone, "It had to be done my comrades. It had to be done." This statement made the others nod solemnly until Clint had shouted,
"At least we got Night Star to get lost!" Which made them all dissolve into laughter.
Now, they were all staring at a pile of intimidating looking DVDs all angrily branded with the number 18. They all seemed kind of nervous even though no one was exactly around to tell them off for it. Eventually Steve rolled his eyes. "Come on," He shrugged, making them all look at him in surprise, "It's just a film." He pointed out. The rest of them seemed to come out of a daze. Thor laughed, "Why should we be scared of moving pictures?" He exclaimed, clapping Clint on the shoulder who nodded his agreement. Natasha also nodded, breaking out a smile and giving Bruce a look. He was the only one who still looked a bit nervous but he swallowed, "It is sort of stupid to be scared of something that's not even real." He admitted. The others made sounds of agreement, looking reassured even though Bruce was mainly reassuring himself.
Clint grabbed the film and ran over to the player to set it up. It only took him a few seconds to put the horror film on and run back to his seat. The first scene started and all five of them began to regret their decision, even though none of them dared to be the coward who asked to turn it off. Bruce clutched his pillow and Clint started to feel a little sick as he watched, Natasha leaning against him and watching with wide eyes even though she appeared to be the calmest. Thor was looking pale and occasionally he eyed Steve, wondering if he was going to pass out.
Down in the basement, Peter was desperately trying to stop Night Star from blowing open the door using magic. "I'm serious, if you damage his tower, Tony will seriously hurt you!" Peter warned. Night Star looked disgusted, "That Midgardian!" She dismissed.
"He's stronger than you think." Peter replied calmly. Night Star gave an irritated sigh and sat down, making Peter feel a flood of relief. "Listen, I have a plan, but it was a last resort."" Night Star looked up and now she was looking hopeful as opposed to angry, she looked quite different. "I can climb out the window and enter back in on the next floor."
"Why didn't you do that before?" She demanded with a scowl.
"Most people aren't accustomed to seeing a person scaling the wall. I have a secret identity to protect." Feeling relieved when she didn't question his reasons for having a secret identity, Peter crossed to the window. "Good luck." Night Star said begrudgingly, looking less annoyed than before now she was faced with the chance of escape. Peter smiled at her which she at least considered returning, before he was gone out of the window.
Night Star counted four minutes before Peter opened the basement door. He smiled at her which at last she half heartedly returned. "Finally free." She muttered, walking past him. She considered what she was going to do to the kids. Much to her irritation, she knew that Loki really would be angry if she hurt them so she decided that she would have to settle with shouting or perhaps a light threatening. Stupid midgardian children...
"This is the best food I've ever had." Loki declared proudly as he ate another slice of pizza.
"I can't believe you don't have this in Asgard." Tony muttered in disbelief as he shoved some stuffed crust into his mouth. Loki laughed, for once allowing that Midgard may actually have something good that Asgard did not. The wind had blown back Tony's hair and he kept flattening it back again. "Don't." Loki teased, "It looks cute." This made Tony's flattening more urgent. "I am not cute!" He protested, "Just because you're tall doesn't mean you get to call dangerous superheroes cute." Tony pointed out, leaning against Loki as they watched the city below them. "You are cute." Loki teased, running his hand through Tony's fluffy hair which made him scowl. "Whatever Frosty." Tony mumbled. Loki just laughed at the nickname and Tony joined in.
They took another sip of wine and Tony pointed out a constellation, "That's Pegasus. A winged horse." Tony pointed out. Loki wrinkled his nose.
"Pegasus?" Loki was confused, "No it's not!" Tony learned that in asgard it was called something completely different and had apparently appeared when the stars were drawn towards the glittering palaces. "Crazy..." Tony mumbled.
"Crazier than a flying horse?"
"Touche." Tony said with a laugh.
Bruce let out a cry and Steve jumped backwards, tumbling over his seat and landing in an ungraceful heap behind where they were sitting. None of the others could even ask whether he was okay as they all too were in varying states of terror. At the very moment that all of them started to scream, Peter and Night Star burst in. "What the Hell?!" Peter exclaimed, looking between the children and the screen. He raced over and turned off the film while Night Star turned on the lights. Peter looked at the DVD case before turning to the pale children, "You know you're not allowed to watch this!" Peter scold them.
"Or lock us in the basement!" Night Star cut in, her voice menacing. The kids recoiled.
Peter gave Night Star a look and she toned it down a little, making the kids look relieved. "Why are you guys behaving so bad?" Peter demanded. The ids just shrugged, starting to share looks and smiles again. Peter scowled and told them to do something quiet like colouring instead. Begrudgingly, they filed into the lounge and spread out on the floor, starting to draw on large bits of paper. "This is lame!" Clint said unhappily.
"It's like school." Steve pointed out in disgust. Clint gave the others a wicked grin before starting to draw a very unflattering picture of Night Star. The others caught on quickly until after about twenty minutes five pictures laid proudly on the coffee table. One featured Peter and Night Star kissing, another one them getting struck by lightning, Steve's had them inside a volcano and so on. Proud of themselves, the five of them crept out of the lounge and headed to the kitchen. It was time for a snack.
"This is the best date I've ever been on." Tony said quietly as he pulled his jacket tighter around his shoulders; the night was cooling fast. Loki noticed his shivers and put an arm around the other, pulling him into his side. Tony immediately cuddled into him which made Loki grin like mad. "Confession time. This is the only date I've ever been on." Loki admitted reluctantly. Tony started to shake with laughter and Loki pushed him gently. "Shut up, I never got around to it. Everyone was just so... ordinary." Tony smirked and looked up at him, "I'm not ordinary?" Loki just rolled his eyes.
"You know you're not. You know you're a brilliant genius and a billionaire and a hero." Tony smirked even wider. "Thank you." Tony said, grinning at him. "It's not as if you're ordinary either." He pointed out. Loki smiled.
"I hope you mean that as a good thing."
"Not being ordinary is always a good thing."
Loki looked out at the night sky and sighed reluctantly. "What's wrong?" Tony asked him.
"Just that we'll have to get back sometime soon." Loki said sadly.
"Let's hope your crazy sister hasn't blown up our kids." Tony said with an eye roll.
"Our kids?" Loki asked, smirking. He watched Tony blush.
"Well, they are, y'know, ours." He spluttered, "I mean, not like our ours just -" Loki cut him off with a kiss which Tony returned with no hesitation. He grabbed Loki's collar and closed any space between them. "I love you." Tony murmured.
"I love you too." Loki replied softly as he wrapped an arm around Tony's waist to keep him close.
"Those little..." Night Star went off into a trail of curses which made Peter wince. He looked at the drawings and rolled his eyes. "Wait, where are they?" He exclaimed, instantly worried. Night Star shrugged even though she started to look around the room in case they were hiding. They instantly started to search and it only took them a few seconds to find them in the kitchen. Cereal was spread across most of the countertops and all five of them sat on the kitchen island eating cereal directly from five different boxes. Peter started to panic. "Tony's going to kill you guys!" Peter shouted.
"Been there, done that." Clint said lazily, hopping off the island and discarding the cereal box on the floor which made Peter's jaw drop.
Peter was just about to start cleaning it up when he heard a shout from the entrance hall. "We're back!" Peter watched as the kids face lit up and they ran out of the room. Peter and Night Star followed and walked into the entrance hall to see the kids surrounding Loki and Tony's legs. "Nice suits." Peter praised, looking jealously at Loki's new one. Tony just grinned. "Have they been alright?" Loki asked Peter. The kids gave Peter a nervous glance but Peter just said, "They've been great." The kids shot him grateful looks and he mouthed, "You better be good next time." At Clint when Tony and Loki weren't looking. Night Star stepped forwards and gave Loki a quick hug. "It was nice to see you, brother. Make sure to tell me whenever you need help, unless of course it has anything to do with looking after the infants." Loki nodded in response and with that, Night Star teleported away. Tony gave an exaggerated sigh of relief which made Loki glare at him, "She's not that bad." Tony didn't reply which made Loki roll his eyes.
Peter waved them all goodbye and then left, feeling somewhat relieved now that he was no longer responsible for the kids. Loki and Tony quickly de-suited and then asked the kids about what they had been up to. They told them it had been pretty boring and they hadn't got up to much. Soon everyone was yawning and Tony tucked the kids in before returning to Loki. "Thanks for the best night ever." Loki said, kissing Tony gently. Tony smiled and yawned before stumbling off to his room and falling fast asleep. Loki watched after him wistfully before returning to his own room. "Night Tony!" He called through the wall, but Tony was already sleeping.