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After the New York incident, the All Father sentenced Loki to be a resident of Midgard and repent on his sins (albeit he was found to be controlled by Thanos at the time) by aiding his brother Thor and the rest of the Avengers. At first, the Avengers had a hard time accepting Loki, most especially Clint but after Thor cleared out the "Loki being controlled at the time" part, there was a general consensus to tolerate Loki. It also helped that the God of Mischief was very capable as a teammate, what with his magic and Frost giant nature, he saved the day almost all the time, and in no time at all.
Now that its relatively peaceful in Midgard, the same could not be said, somewhat, in the Stark tower.
It all started with how Tony found a kindred spirit in Loki, apart from his science bro Bruce, that he invited the latte to his lab. They would chat about anything and Tony started to like Loki as a friend. Loki though liked Tony too much that he proposed that they sleep together. Really, Tony had no warning when the Mage suddenly stood up, sashayed and stopped in front of where the engineer was sitting, and then seductively sat on his lap and kissed him tenderly. Tony almost jumped off of his chair but his self-preservation was strong.
"Woah there Reindeer games, how did we go from talking about quantum theory to you wanting us to fuck?" uttered Tony, effectively stopping the God of Mischief.
"Well my dear Anthony" Loki purred "I have my own theory that you'd be great in bed. And besides, what would be so bad about it, if you prefer the body of a female, I can shapeshift or give you the best of both worlds with my frost giant form."
Although Tony had his fair share of male conquests and truth be told Loki was very attractive but after his breakup with Pepper he hadn't an inclination to sleep with anyone he had worked with, especially since he had to let go of the most capable person to handle Stark Industries. He just doesn't want to deal with what will happen to their team dynamics, even if the mage says that there would be no strings attached but the trickster's said it all. He was about to reply when Loki beat him to it.
Loki rested his palm on the side of Tony's face and said "That is very unfortunate, but don't worry I won't force myself on you. If you ever change your mind, you know where my room is." The trickster got off of his lap and walked out of the lab.
After that incident Tony made sure to not interact with the God of Mischief alone. He no longer gave hime access to his lab. True to his word, Loki didn't try anything untoward to Tony. They both went about as if nothing happened in front of their teammates.
Three years went by and new faces (the Maximoff twins and Vision) joined the Avengers. They have been accepted warmly in the tower and its inhabitants. Loki, in particular, grew fond of the fast one. It wasn't hard because Pietro decided he liked Loki from their first meeting and made sure to let him know it by always hanging around the trickster. He would always try to engage Loki with idle chitchat and bring him sweets after every battle with villains. Not long after wherever the other one, the other one would be too. If someone paid close attention to the two, they would be observing a start of a romance. And this someone happened to be Tony of all people. Now, Tony didn't mind if his teammates hooked up with each other, in fact he helped Bruce woo the scary Russian spy. But he can't help feel a bit of a pang when he sees Loki with the speedster. It was ironic for the billionaire to feel this way after he had initially rejected the trickster. He can't pinpoint when had begun to think of Loki romantically despite what he said or thought of before. His green-eyed monstrosity showed in meetings where he would flat out criticize anything Pietro suggested.
Loki confronted Tony when Pietro accompanied his sister on a particular mission. Tony was down at his lab, getting his screwdriver that fell off when he bumped his table, when suddenly the God of Mischief materialized before his eyes.
"Well ain't this a surprise, so Reindeer games, what ca-"
"If you think that just because you provide shelter to the team that it gives you the right to insult anyone you want."
"It's not my fault that kid gives stupid remarks without thinking about it first." challenged Tony.
"Well we can't all be the great Stark! I didn't think your head would get this big. Why are you singling him out? Why?!" Loki shouted and was about to shout some more when Tony grabbed his shoulders.
"Because I can't stand that he now has your attention! And I know what I said and did to you before. I know don't have the right and believe me Lokes, I know irony."
"What are you trying to say Anthony?"
"I don't talk about my feelings, hell Pepper knows about that. And I know that I rejected you and I don't have the right to feel jealousy and act out on the kid when I didn't even try to show you that I've come to care about you that I want to start a relationship with you not just fuck you so Loki if you'd just give me a chance, I can show you now, I can give you anything you want just please-"
"I wasn't expecting to find anything interesting here in Midgard, when we begun to hang-out as you put it, I didn't expect to feel more than what I should have. When I tried to seduced you I thought that maybe I'd be fine with just a taste of you, after you rejected me, I tried to tell myself that you are just a mortal, a fleeting fancy, nothing more, nothing less. I tried to go on as I did usually when I experienced another disappointment. But I don't what it was about you that made me drawn towards you. That is until I met Pietro. Naturally, I didn't want to assume so much with him, just to get myself into another disappointment, but he kept on trying to get to know me, asking my opinion in everything, and always touching me in sweet innocent ways until one day I came to know why. I never thought I could feel so happy to hear those three words. To love and be loved. My dear Anthony, I wanted to wipe you out of my heart but I couldn't really hate you that's why Anthony my response is this, I love you but in a different way now."
Tony didn't know how to respond to what Loki had said. So he let Loki leave. The following day, at the Avenger meeting, Tony didn't retort to any of Pietro's ramblings which the others found odd but didn't comment. Tony didn't try to approach Loki and the latter didn't approach him. The months that passed by weren't any easy especially since Loki and Pietro's relationship grew and they finally announced their relationship to their teammates. The others thought they should celebrate the new couple. Tony who was sittiny at his bar drinking far too much than usual was left to his own devices, observing the happy occassion with the scotch of his choice. He saw how happy Loki was, how happy that kid made him. He drank another glass accompanied by his thoughts "I didn't want him when he wanted me. When I had the chance I passed on the opportunity. Now, he says he loves me but in a different way."