Therapeutic?

[st_ratagem]

Following Thor without being hugely obvious was already getting tricky, even after only a day. It wasn’t surprising, really; Thor was more observant and aware of Loki’s tricks than he’d once been, and the Inn was still a confined space. That really only meant that instead of being sneaky, Loki was trying artful.

For whatever reason, Stark was confined to Thor’s room. Some kind of breakdown, who cared? It was an opening. If Stark was confined, they couldn’t have lunch in the cafe as they occasionally did, so bringing lunch was an excuse to lurk around Thor’s area. It was also a way to be a little bit of a jerk in the guise of being a medical type. Stark was an iffy eater at the best of times. And yes, Loki himself wasn’t interested in food, much, but he maintained weight and muscle mass without difficulty, which was more than Stark could say.

But the fact that he had multiple good reasons was why he turned up at Thor’s door and knocked by kicking it because his hands were carrying lunch.

Comments

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

When Tony'd been allowed to his room to pick up a few tinker toys to sit down in Thor's and decide what he wanted to build, he didn't anticipate on ending up with 'Roomba But With A Silly Face' but there it was. He'd gotten distracted with installing the vacuuming unit to paint the top panel purple and add menacing but cartoonish cross sections of lines. The end product was looking disquietingly like the alien from his nightmares.

Thor probably wouldn't a fan of this particular coping mechanism but eh.

It took Tony several seconds to make the connection between knocking and answering but he rose and opened the door, regarding the figure with a blank expression. "You do room service now?"

[st_ratagem]

“Not at all.” Technically yes, but that fact was inconvenient and thus ignorable. “I have to eat, I like company, you can’t escape. Also I can pretend that I’m being a caring medical professional by annoying you into eating as well.”

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"I've got paint on my hands." Tony replied as if that was the end-all-be-all to that argument, only to grab a half of one of the sandwiches and leisurely make off with it anyway.

[st_ratagem]

“Excellent. In the event it’s toxic I’m also here for the painted sandwich show.” Loki followed him into the room. No, he hadn’t strictly speaking been invited, but there was an argument to be made that acceptance of a guest-gift conferred guest-rights.

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony took one bite of the tuna salad before leaving it on the dresser, returning to his work station. “Your brother’s not gonna be back for a few.” Tony took up the paint brush, dabbing it on a paper towel. “Finally convinced him I wasn’t a flight risk.”

[st_ratagem]

Damn it. “My brother doesn’t have to be forced to eat.” Loki forced irrational anxiety out of his voice and expression, instead going to retrieve the sandwich where Stark had left it and set it nearer the man. “His absence isn’t relevant.”

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony spared another and more attentive glance at Loki, murmuring a quiet ‘huh’ before turning back to his project. The eyes had their outlines, now that the paint was drying they could be filled in. “Honestly? He’ll be back sooner than later. Guarantee it. I worried him some.”

[st_ratagem]

Slightly better. If Loki had been tempted to leave, he wasn’t anymore. “Not dififcult to do. He knows humans are fragile.”

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

“Sure are.” Tony leaned over and bit the top slice of whole wheat right off, leaning back to avoid getting any crumbs mixed in with the fresh white coat he was adding as he mouthed it into his throat, swallowing thick and barely-chewed gobs of it.

“Penny for your thoughts.”

[st_ratagem]

“No thoughts. Just bearing witness to the attempted multitasking.” It wasn’t even a lie, much. Eating a sandwich from the top down was... novel

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Heeding the viscous nature of the tuna salad, Tony's body was partially coated in his armor, though with a third arm sprouting from his shoulder to operate independently from the rest. It picked up the bottom slice with precision, holding up the rest for Tony to take a bite of.

"You could--" The third arm patted his mouth with a napkin, "Tell me what you think of my portrayal."

[st_ratagem]

Loki looked at the painted thing, then looked away almost immediately and more sharply when he wanted to. “Flat but recognizable. Equip it with a lethal taser and you’ll be closer.”

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"That may get in the way of his cleaning." Tony lowered it, dabbing his brush in more of the white paint to add a second coat. "WALL-E needed a friend and my room needs a maid."

[st_ratagem]

“It’s a terrible iteration then. Nothing like him.” Just the ‘friend’ part was laughable, really

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"I like to think I'm decent at capturing peoples' essence. The target I fashioned in your image is still MIA." The third arm brought his sandwich in for another bite. It was less about being hungry so much as wanting all parts of his body to be occupied.

[st_ratagem]

“I suggest you bid farewell to your WALL-E, then.” Loki shrugged slightly and took a bite of his own sandwich. “No one survives Thanos.”

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Tony glanced at Loki meaningfully but opted to not keep silent on that point. "Well, then here's to me making yet another MurderBot. If I'm nice enough, maybe Thor won't throttle me for this one." Tony marked in the pupils, not yet touching them with paint.

"Bigger and brighter things. The snow was nice. About as much fun as I've had here."

[st_ratagem]

“What was the first one, yourself?” Loki wasn’t actually curious, it was just something to say. The subject change to snow was welcome. “It was decent practice, yes.”

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"I hijacked your scepter to make an AI peacekeeping program. It tried to induce a technological singularity via the genocide of humanity." Tony's grip on the brush tightened minutely. Though a dull stab of guilt hit his gut, Tony described it with as much emotion as he would any other robotic venture. "In hindsight? Not a great plan."

[st_ratagem]

“Ah, just what I would do. Though of course, since AI always goes sideways, I would use regular sight to see that backing such an entity with one-sixth of the force that created the universe would go badly for someone.” Loki smiled slightly. “Perhaps it was fortunate that I was either imprisoned or ruling Asgard at the time.”

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

Shrugging in acknowledgement, Tony gave Loki another little side-eye. A Loki-Ultron team-up--there was a nightmare for the ages. "Well, another bright spot. The whole thing gave me and your brother the only child we're likely to get. Banner was involved in conceiving. Doctor form. The beloved Jolly Green Giant would've been too much to take."

[st_ratagem]

Even less interesting, even the part that he should have pointed out: that none of Stark’s assorted ‘children’ would inherit from Thor. The throne of Asgard had to be held by an Asgardian. (Which was why it was on his eventual to-do list, within the next thousand years or so, to make sure that Thor actually did spawn and relieve Loki of heir status.) “Congratulations?”

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

"Thanks. He's an Avenger now. Wields the Mind Stone like a champ."

For how well that worked out for him.

Tony's jaw tightened and he dropped the paint brush while his third arm dropped what remained of the sandwich. He shoved up and rubbed life into his clammy cheeks. "Christ, I need to get out."

[st_ratagem]

“Then go. I’m not stopping you.” Loki watched Stark carefully. Dropping things wasn’t usual. And he’d mentioned.... “Of course, that would prove your are in fact a flight risk.”

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

A harsh sigh followed by a frantic chuckle, and Tony was forming his helmet just to take it off and bounce it about. "Then Thor'd go chasing after and you'd miss out. No way to treat a guest."