Who: Loki and Tony Stark (Iron Man) When: Circa Monday, Sept 29 Where: The Agency What: Bumping into, snark? That sort of thing. Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete when posted
It’d been a while since Tony had been at the Agency. The last time he was here, he’d bumped into Steve’s “best gal” and had been shown the door. It wasn’t her fault, she was doing her job. Tony was trespassing. For the most part. But Steve had officially asked Tony to be part of his team, and Nick Fury had asked Tony to build him this… thing. SUV with all the bells and whistles. So he was at the Agency today to drop off the car for Director Fury, and swing by and see Steve, if he could find him.
But one wrong turn and Tony was wandering down a corridor he’d never seen before.
It was certainly not a place where Loki had ever intended to end up. Still, it was a good vehicle to keep up appearances and it kept him very much in the loop of magical and mystical goings on. Though, since he was something of a head of his own division, he needed to actually make appearances at the building and he liked to snoop. It was important to him to know where everything was.
The sound of footsteps down the hall caught his attention and he glanced over, and Loki’s entire good mood - or what he had of one - left quite quickly.
“Oh, marvelous.”
Tony couldn’t help the grin that came across his lips. In the Dreams Loki was a formidable foe. But in the Real World? Well, Tony wasn’t as nervous around him as he could have been. Now he was more amused than anything else to see Loki there in the hall. It was… unexpected. “Hello, there.”
Loki hated that grin. Something about Tony Stark got under his skin and made it crawl, and if Loki wasn’t working on putting up fronts and playing nice he’d have made sure to wipe that grin clean away.
“Out for a leisurely stroll, are we?”
“How’d you guess?” Tony asked, shoving his hands into his pockets in a very leisurely way. “I didn’t think I’d bump into you here. What, did you get lost trying to find… insert witty banter here. I’m kind of hungover, so that’s the best you’re gonna get out of me today, I’m afraid.”
Loki regarded Tony with a thin lipped look. It reeked of disinterest and distaste all at once. Then he rolled his eyes. “As it happens, our mutual acquaintance Director Fury has given me my own division here. It looks like I’ll be playing in your team for a while, hmm?”
Tony's eyebrows shot up into the air at that. The smile faded a bit from his lips. "You... Fury brought you here. To the Agency. In your own division," he added, searching for clarification. That was a hard pill to swallow. Wasn't Loki... well, evil? Isn't that what had caused so many problems in the Dreams? His penchant for... evilness?
That was, at least, good for a bit of satisfaction. Loki maintained an outward air of coolness, though inside he was feeling quite smug. “It’s likely better I’m working with you than against you, hmm?”
Tony let out a gush of air slowly, as if deflating. He lifted both hands to run them through his hair, then shrugged his shoulders as they fell back down to his sides. “...can’t beat that logic, I guess. What, exactly, are you working on? Maybe I can… lend a hand?” Because hey, if Nick Fury decided to trust Loki, then Tony would have to follow suit.
That got Loki to raise his eyebrows. “Unlikely,” he replied. Also, the chances of him actually accepting help from Stark, unless completely necessary, were slim. “I’m dealing with occult investigations. Keeping my eye on all the people who happen to possess a bit of magic.” Which suited Loki just fine.
Good, really. Tony wasn’t sure he and Loki could work side by side. Not here in this life, anyway. Trust was a possibility. But amicability? Teamwork? Probably not. “That must keep you busy. With all that weird stuff on Valarnet. Trying to figure out what’s true and what’s unfounded.”
“Oh, I believe there’s truth in almost everything. The best of lies always have some element of fact. Otherwise they’d never be successful.” Loki’s lips quirked up. “I do enjoy being left, mostly, to my own devices when it comes to it.”
“I see. Well.” Tony squared his shoulders. “Should anything come up, I’ll... be in contact.” If there was ever anything that Tony thought Loki should look into, he might send off an email or PM or something. Sometimes things like that came up. Vampires, magic, et cetera.
“Hmm.” Loki regarded Tony with a thoughtful and stoic look. “Yes, I suppose that seems … Appropriate.” At the very least, it made Loki feel a little better that Stark was having some issues with this as well. “Until then, Mister Stark.”
“Until then.” Tony hated that they agreed on something--anything--but at least agreeing on ending this conversation was a fairly safe thing to agree on. He lifted his hand to give him a salute, then turned to head down the hall.