st_ratagem

Loki shrugged. "It was in my best interest to stay on Thor's good side," less of an issue now, "and make sure he didn't lose his primary distraction," much more important now, "so letting you die would have been a tolerably bad move on my part." It had, in fact, been as simple as Stark thought: Loki simply hadn't wanted to let him die. The calculation and justification came later, as a method of saving face. "If you really want to assign more virtue than that, feel free. I'm always happy to take advantage."