As time went on, both Tony and Loki improved. They still had their issues, sure, but life went on and events slowly resumed. They were public figures once again and, if there were some changes in their company presentation and their indefatigable image as company directors, nobody mentioned it.

Things had been rather too mundane for a while when Tony finally decided Loki needed excitement, or rather chaos, in his life.

"Alden, Alden, come and look at this!"

"What is it?" Loki questioned, staring stubbornly at a table of hovering numbers.

"Something a lot more interesting than money," Tony remarked, steering Loki away from the monitor. "I've invented something."

"This better be good," he warned, allowing himself to be led down the hallway to Tony's workshop.

"Oh it is," Tony said with a smile.

Loki saw a flash of red and gold through the transparent walls before Tony childishly covered his eyes.

"No peeking!" He ordered, typing the code into the keypad.

He was ushered inside.

"You know I don't like surprises, Tony," Loki reminded.

He didn't like the dark either, and Tony was currently covering his eyes, but the other didn't know that.

"This is a good surprise, I promise. Now, look!"

And Loki opened his eyes.

There before him was... A suit of armour. Armour made of red and gold plates with gauntlets, boots and a visor. 

"Is there titanium in this?" Loki asked, moving around the suit to admire the sleek design.

"Yep," Tony said proudly. "Titanium-steel and chromium plating."

"Very nice," Loki remarked. "And what is it to be powered by? We don't want to cause a statewide power cut again."

"No," Tony admitted, grinning a little at the memory. "I've been working on a miniaturised arc reactor."

"What material? Palladium perhaps?"

"I think palladium will do the trick," Tony replied. "Jarvis reckons it could power three gigajoules per second. He also reassures me that it could power my mechanic heart for fifty lifetimes. I can replace the car battery with an arc reactor."

"Or give a spectacular fireworks display for fifteen minutes," Loki scoffed.

"Anything's better than a car battery," Tony pointed out seriously.

"Fair enough," Loki acceded. "Rhodey will want one, you know."

Tony grinned.

"I would be offended if he didn't. He'll get his turn once I've made a suitable substitute for a heart."

"I'm seeing him tomorrow - want me to inform him of your grand invention?" Loki inquired, smiling.

"Nah. I want to tell him myself, I'll give him a ring."

"I'll remind you."

Loki made to leave.

"Alden?" Tony asked.

"Yes, Tony?" He asked, turning back.

"Do you like it?" The inventor questioned in a surprisingly timid voice.

"Tony, it's a marvel and a work of art," Loki said, exasperated. "Of course I like it! It's phenomenal! You really have a gift for tinkering."

"Thank you," Tony answered shyly.

"Now that I've successfully flattered you, I really must get back to my figures. Those numbers won't cheer up the stock market on their own."

*

The next day, Loki met up with Rhodey in a little cafe close to the military base where Rhodey was temporarily staying in California. Loki hadn't seen Rhodey since Tony's kidnapping and he knew he hadn't exactly been a pleasant sight back then. When Loki expressed this aloud, Rhodey gave him a sympathetic smile.

"You know I care a lot about Tony's wellbeing," he said, "But I care about you too, Alden. How are you doing? And don't give me any crap about being fine."

Loki was startled by Rhodey's forwardness.

"I'm tired," he confessed. "But it's strange... I'm tired of caring. Of having people to care for."

Rhodey appeared unsettled.

"That's a new one. You never did say what your life was like before all this, Al."

Loki sighed again.

"Well you know all about my time as a doctor, of course," Loki replied, keen to give Rhodey the shortest version possible.

The other man nodded.

"Before I was a doctor, I was a student at Oxford University studying Classics and History."

This was the kind of thing Rhodey could read online but it would help fill in the gaps that Loki didn't want to fill.

"I got interested in Astronomy then and became pen pals with Jane Foster who you have met. I wrote quite a few papers on Astronomy and got a bit of a reputation as an astronomer who hadn't studied Astrophysics before or anything of the kind. It was a good few years and, while my dissertation was hard work, it was certainly very rewarding, researching Norse gods. Before that..."

Loki sighed.

"My mother was wonderful," he continued hesitantly. "She was great, and did everything for everyone. She truly loved me and that was a bonus, I suppose. My father, rather like Tony's, cared little for anyone else bar himself. He was very high up diplomatically, and that meant he had no time for his family."

"That explains your diplomatic powers of persuasion then," Rhodey said with a little laugh.

"Yes," Loki said quietly and Rhodey said nothing more, sensing that this wasn't a laughing matter. "My brother was reckless and a constant danger to everyone, especially himself. He had anger issues but he was kind at heart. Then, when I was fifteen, I found out that they weren't my real parents and that he wasn't my real brother. I had been adopted as a baby because I had been cast out by my real parents."

"I'm sorry, Alden, I didn't know," Rhodey said, looking hugely apologetic.

"It's fine," Loki said heavily. "My biological mother had already died. But, shortly after I met my biological father, he died too. I felt betrayed and was now even more alone than I'd been before. Unable to stay surrounded by people who had lied to me, I left. I spent some time in Mexico before university and was knocked down by a car not long before I returned to England ready to start my degree."

"You've had a rough life," Rhodey stated, looking uncharacteristically downcast.

"All people have their shortcomings," Loki shrugged, unable to meet Rhodey's eyes. "You just happen to be friends with two people who've had the worst of it."

"Be that as it may; you didn't deserve that to happen to you, Alden."

Rhodey stood and clapped a hand on Loki's shoulder.

"You can always talk to me, Alden. Even when you feel you can't."

"Thank you, it means a lot."

And, coming from a former prince of Asgard, God of Lies and Trickery, it did mean a lot. In those words there were no lies. Only honesty.

*****

A.N. Rhodey's a true bro and Loki reveals a tiny bit about his true background... In code, of course. Oh and of course Tony made his Iron Man suit lol. xD

Thank you for reading!