"I am sorry, everyone, that I have been out of commission for a while, but I've been dealing with some important stuff," Stark said to the large room of reporters from his higher spot at the podium in front of the microphones. Loki was watching all of this from the side door that led right to the stage. The door was open, so Loki was hidden from the audience by the open door. His arms were crossed and he was leaning against the doorframe, ever the picture of carelessness, but inside he was nervous. What was Stark planning on telling all of his fans?

There were reporters asking questions left and right, and Stark ignored most of them, only answering when he deemed necessary. "Well, let's just say that I have been working on some SHIELD business," Stark said calmly. "And this business has been turning out much better than I thought it would. Everyone in SHIELD is very impressed with the results, and out of it we may have just earned ourselves another Avenger."

At this the room burst into more frantic questioning and snapping of cameras. "Mr. Stark, sir, we all heard of your joining together to fight the aliens that one last time two weeks ago, but we heard nothing about this new Avenger," said a reporter in the front, and he held his recorder up nearer to the podium to catch Stark's reply.

"Well, said new Avenger is here to meet you all," Stark replied calmly. The room had gotten surprisingly quiet, waiting for what was going to happen. With Stark you really never knew what was coming.

Stark had wanted Loki to make sure he styled his hair exactly as it had been when the aliens had taken over just to see if anyone would recognize him as the one who brought the aliens onto Midgard. Loki really did wonder why he wanted this, but he knew that Stark probably had some reasoning of some sort, and it wasn't like Loki ever styled his hair any different. And then Stark looked over at him, motioning for Loki to come and stand with him out at the podium. Now this Loki was acquainted with, making appearances in front of large populations. He had been the Allfather's son once. Loki walked out next to Stark, his head held high and his steps long and purposeful, confident.

Again there was silence from the crowd as they took in his appearance and tried to figure out who he was; if they had seen him before. He stopped next to Stark, who put his arm around Loki's shoulders. The silence was broken by the continued questioning of the reporters.

"Hey!" one shouted above the rest. "Isn't that the guy who brought all of those aliens in to destroy us?"

The others fell silent, staring at Loki closer now that this had been brought to their attention.

"Yeah, we covered that incident in Germany with the crazy guy that attacked an older German fellow in the middle of an important party, and then fought with Captain America in front of all of them. He was claiming that he was going to rule us all," continued the reporter, glaring at Loki with new venom. Now that the other reporters had realized that Loki was, indeed, the one that had caused so much devastation, they started yelling out more urgent, biting questions.

"Good call," Stark said, smiling wider if possible. "Really glad to know that you all recognize my friend." He paused, allowing them to blubber some more. "Well, while you have been sorely missing my great presence in the world of the media I have been very busy. Very busy reforming and working with said 'evil villain.' Now, everyone, if someone was truly as evil and crazy as you all say he was, would he look as good as he does in those awesomely tailored pants?"

He was met with astonished silence. He continued on, un-phased. "I would like you to know that even the leaders of Avengers, the most untrustworthy bunch you could find, believe Loki to be refined and reformed. He regrets his actions and wishes to apologize to all of you."

Stark literally thrust Loki in front of the podium and microphones, leaving Loki at the will of the vicious reporters. He did stand there smiling behind Loki, though, an action that he was going to regret later, Loki would make sure of it.

"Uh, hello," Loki greeted, not really sure what Stark wanted him to say and what they needed to hear from him. "What Stark says is true. I regret my past actions against your people and wish to make amends."

"Is that all we get after you completely destroyed our city and tried to enslave all of us?" another reporter yelled.

Loki closed his eyes in frustration. Why did he have to deal with these stupid mortals? Well, he did suppose he owed it to them, having done so much to them. "I know that there is nothing that I can say that will make you warm to me immediately, but I ask that you hear my apologies and think about it. I hope to keep saving your lives as one of the Avengers and I hope that you will come to see that I am through with my dark ways."

There were more questions, but Loki ignored them, allowing Stark to take his place back at the podium. "Oh, and another thing that I thought you all should know, since you all are so obsessed with my private life," he said, pausing, waiting for the full attention of the crowd. "Mr. Loki and I are going steady."

There was silence again from the crowd, and Loki could tell that they thought that Stark was just pulling another one of his jokes on them. And then to make them even more confused Stark gently pulled Loki by the arm up to him and kissed him heartily on the lips, and Loki saw a few cameras snap. Stark turned back to the audience to smile innocently.

They exploded; asking questions loudly and snapping pictures. It was a madhouse, and Loki could hear that some of these questions were directed at him, and were not what one would call polite. Loki felt his blood begin to boil at all of these simple humans knowing his business and questioning him about it. Why did Stark want this, anyway? Was this information not sacred to him? Apparently not.

"To anyone who is wondering, I have not gone insane. I have merely decided what I like," Stark said. "And I am Tony Stark, and you know I don't settle."

Loki was done with this. He did not want to be up here anymore, getting judged by these simpletons. He shook Stark's arm off of his shoulder roughly. "Stark, I've had enough of this," he growled, and Stark looked over at him in slight surprise. "You may be fine with standing up here getting grilled, but I am not. You may have been angry at Thor for telling his subjects our business, but this is far worse. I thought you above this."

"Loki," Stark said, but Loki had already turned heel and swept out of the room angrily. He would not stand up to this kind of treatment, no matter if he happened to be human or not. He was not some toy that Stark could just show off to his friends whenever he liked. No, he was not going to stand for this. As he walked away he heard Stark's crowd get loud again, obviously excited at Loki snapping at him, but Loki could care less. Stark was probably used to dealing with the reporters and could handle their questions himself.

Loki walked back to Stark Tower, not caring that it was raining gently, not caring that it happened to be a bit of a long walk. He had not really liked the idea of going back to Stark's place at first, but it wasn't like he had anywhere else to go. Loki found that being alone was the best way to settle his anger, and walking along in the rain seemed to have a freshening affect. Loki was suddenly overwhelmed by the fact that he didn't really have a place; that he was neither human nor Asgardian, and he had been cast out from the Frost Giants when he was just a baby. He was here on Earth, but did he really have a purpose here? Was he really doing something worthwhile? No, he was doing nothing of importance except having a little fun with a rich human, and this hurt him to think, but that was really what it came down to. Was this what Loki, God of Mischief, should be wasting his time doing? But if not here with Stark, where would he go? And Stark seemed to understand him more than anyone else did. He was someone who didn't care that Loki was a Chaos God or that he had almost destroyed New York and killed them all. No, Stark saw him for his true personality and cared that he was doing okay.

By the time Loki made it back to Stark Tower he was drenching wet and his mood really hadn't improved any. His emotions were swirling around in an unsure mixture and he felt more lost than ever. He found himself up on the large balcony of Stark Tower, staring out over New York deep in thought, pondering the meaning of his existence, the events that had led him to this point, pondering just how angry he was at Stark. He realized that Stark had never even seen him in his true form, blue and marked. Loki didn't know what Stark would think of this. He had said it himself not thirty minutes ago, 'I don't settle.' Was he really that conceited and self-obsessed? Well, yes. Had Loki been wasting his time here, was it all really worth it? Did Stark really even truly care for him, or was it all an act?

That was all it took, and Loki found tears sliding down his face, blending with the rain that was coming down. He sat on the very edge of the balcony, not caring that it was dangerous and that he was in a mortal form. He didn't care.

XxX

Originally Tony had thought it a good idea to show Loki off, that Loki would enjoy the attention. He really had been meaning to take a more serious turn on the conversation with the press, but Tony had a bad problem with getting out of hand in front of his fans. He really hadn't meant to kiss Loki in front of all of them, but when the time came he couldn't resist. Tony couldn't blame Loki's anger at him, he really couldn't. He supposed it was humiliating to be displayed like that in front of all of those cameras and nosy reporters. And Loki was not one for humiliation.

After Loki had left Tony cleared up some of their questions, insisted that he was not insane or under control by Loki, and then left. He was really worried as to what was going to be in the newspapers the next day. He needed to get home and make sure that Loki hadn't hurt himself doing something in anger that he would have gotten away with being a god. He was not immortal at the moment, and Tony really should have been keeping a better eye on the guy and not ticking him off. He knew that Loki was more self-sustaining then Thor was, but it didn't mean that there wasn't something bad that could happen to him on the streets of New York, because there were many more things that could happen here than in a small town in New Mexico like where Thor had been.

Tony quickly cleared out, leaving the shocked reporters to fend for themselves. It wasn't likely that Loki had decided to take a taxi or the subway, so Tony figured that the angered god had walked back to Stark Tower. Tony looked up at the sky, cursing the rain that was now falling steadily. Tony had known that he was somehow going to wreck this somehow, and now it was probably happening. He had ruined it, made a fool of Loki on television, most likely. He pulled his coat tighter around himself and turned up his collar against the cold rain and wind that was now picking up. Why was it that there was always rain when you were feeling down?

Tony made it to the building eventually, shaking the rain off of his coat in the lobby and making his way to the private elevator. He stepped inside and took a deep breath before he hit the button for the penthouse, and he wondered how he was going to make this up to Loki as the elevator rode smoothly upward.

It took Tony a good amount of time to find Loki, because he did not want to call out to him, giving the god a chance to ignore Tony. He eventually spotted him sitting on the edge of the balcony near the place where Tony landed to take off the suit. He was sitting out in the rain, obviously not caring that he was getting wet, and his shoulders were hunched. From where he was standing Tony could not see Loki's face so he had no idea what was going on out there. Tony slowly walked outside and took a seat next to Loki, who didn't acknowledge his arrival in the least.

When Tony turned to look at Loki he noticed that Loki had his face in his hands.

"Hey, Loki," Tony said softly, not daring to touch the forlorn god. "That was a mess, wasn't it?"

"Loki looked up at Tony with a frown on his face. His eyes were red like he had been crying. "Understatement," Loki rasped, pushing his wet hair out of his face with a frustrated gesture.

"I can be a bit of an ass sometimes," Tony said simply. "I get out of control when in public."

Loki looked up at him and there was a seriousness in his face that worried Tony. "You could have warned me about that," Loki said softly.

"Yeah, I know, bad planning on my part, but I am just so excited that I get you to myself that I kind of went overboard."

"Tony, I am sorry that I may have overreacted, but I am trying to figure things out. Things about myself that I have tried to hide for quite some time," Loki said, staring down at the city that stretched below.

"You know, you can always talk to me. I know that today I did not really prove myself as worth it for that kind of thing, but if you have something secret that you really need to talk about I am here for you," Tony said slowly, trying to let Loki know that he meant it.

Loki sighed, his shoulders slumping more. "What is my purpose, Tony? I am a god that doesn't belong anywhere, that has no real purpose anymore. I do not belong on Earth even though I am human right now. I do not belong on Asgard even though I grew up there. I do not belong in Jotunheim where I was born. I know that you have taken me in and care for me, but I am not doing anything of worth here. I am a monster that not even the monsters want."

"But you have people who care for you. Whether or not you want to believe it, your family cares for you, the people that you grew up with care for you, and I care for you," Tony said, placing a hand on Loki's shoulder in comfort. "It's up to you to decide what you want, and you can't let anybody tell you what you should do."

Loki looked at him, and Tony felt as if he was looking right through him, trying to see if Tony was being truthful, if he really meant it. Loki looked back down at his hands again. "You have never seen me in my true form," he said finally.

"Your true form?"

"I have talked to you about my true heritage, have I not?"

"Yes, you're a frost giant, correct?"

"I am. And when I use those powers I....look slightly different," Loki said slowly.

Tony's brow furrowed, not really understanding what Loki was getting at. "You grow a mustache or something?"

Loki shook his head, a smirk playing on his face involuntarily. "No, not exactly. When I get my magic back I shall show you," Loki said.

Tony didn't really care what this 'true form' looked like, just that Loki was happy, and he really hadn't meant for the press conference to anger and humiliate Loki so much. Tony wrapped an arm around Loki's waist and pulled the god tightly to his side. Loki leaned his head against Tony's shoulder.

"Just to let you know, Stark, I really dislike your fans," he said softly.

"Yeah, I dislike most of them too." He felt Loki chuckled against his shoulder, and for the moment everything was peaceful, out in the rain overlooking the city with his favorite god leaning on his side, laughing at a dumb joke that he had just said. He hoped that it would stay perfect and that he would stop messing things up. Not likely, though.