"And here is the Empire State Building," Stark said, pointing to the tall, spiked building that they were walking past. They were currently on a tour of New York that Stark thought was necessary to give him. He had said something about seeing the city from the view of the tourist and not of the insane villain incessant on taking over the Earth. Loki had told him he couldn't see the difference. They had been walking around the city all day, and Loki was getting very tired. And he had also decided that eating at a hot dog vendor was not one of his favorite things. He preferred nicer places to eat where one did not have to magic ketchup off of one's shirt.

"Why must we keep looking at pointless buildings?" Loki asked, weary of walking around the city and pretending to look like he had any interest in what Stark pointed at. He wasn't one to marvel at architecture or gape at beautiful statues, even though it had been a little interesting about the first five buildings.

Start looked at him a little helplessly. "Oh, come on now, you aren't just a little impressed?" Stark asked.

"Not really, we have plenty of tall buildings in Asgard," Loki said simply. "Not to mention our buildings are all made of gold and actually defy gravity. And this place is dreadfully crowded," he said just as a man wearing a suit and holding a briefcase shoved past him. Loki turned and opened his mouth to threaten the guy, but stopped at the look that Stark was giving him.

Stark sighed. "Fine, what would you rather do?"

Loki thought about this. He also realized that he was rather hungry, as that hot dog had been a while ago. "Do you know of any nice restaurants here that are up to par?" Loki asked him.

A smile split Stark's face. "You bet I do," he said, dragging Loki by the arm and hailing the nearest taxi.

By the end of the trip Loki decided that he hated taxi drivers of all kinds. They were rude, noisy, and they smelled bad. Not to mention the fact that they drove like maniacs. Stark and Loki stepped out of the cab and Stark paid the driver. Loki leaned down to the window.

"You know, sir, I could make you suffer for what you have put us through," Loki hissed at the driver, giving him his evil look which could scare everything but a New York cabbie, who glared at him, but before Loki could make any more threats or get into a fight with the driver, Stark had pulled him away as quickly as he could.

As soon as they got into the restaurant that's name Loki didn't catch and found a seat Stark explained to him the way things went in New York City.

"First, do not question a cabbie's driving. You could get killed, and I do not know how much magic would help in that case," Stark began as they situated themselves into the rather small booth. "Second, do not threaten random people in New York. You never know which ones will stalk you until they get a chance to kill you. I have lived in California, which is all the way across the country, and the people there are much different than they are here. These people are of a tougher breed and it is best just not to mess with them if you are trying to keep up the 'not an evil villain right now' façade."

Loki just nodded, not really knowing what to think of being told what to do. Usually when people told him what to do it didn't end well, but somehow he knew that Stark was trying to look after him. He didn't know why exactly, but this made him happy; happier than he had been in quite some time.

A young waitress with an accent that Loki took to be New Yorker one took their drink orders, smiling at Stark in the way that a lot of women smiled at Stark. He was a bit of a catch with the women, especially since the whole 'Iron Man' thing. Loki didn't know why, but this irked him. Why must she ruin their dinner with her batting eyelashes?

Stark had asked for an expensive bottle of wine for them to share, and the waitress bobbed off to fetch it. As Loki looked around the place he realized that it was quite nice. There were small tables clustered around all with white table cloths on them, which were all filled with people on dates or here with family. It was a small restaurant, but they had arranged the tables in a way that sat a lot of people and still made the place seem spacious. The chairs were of deep wood, and there was soft lighting on all of the tables. All of the waiters and waitresses were wearing nice black and white clothing.

If Loki had known more about human customs he would have wondered why Stark had brought him to an almost romantic restaurant, but Loki didn't think about it once. He didn't know any better. Truth be told, Stark didn't think about it much either, he just remembered having fun at this restaurant many times before and thought that Loki might like it.

"So, is this a regular place for you?" Loki asked, picking up the menu and inspecting the dishes, none of which he had ever heard of before. He picked one at random and hoped for the best.

"Not really, I have only been here a few times before, but I do enjoy it," Stark responded, also picking up his own menu. He glanced through it once and then set it down. He had been here enough times to know what he liked.

The waitress brought their bottle of wine and two wine glasses, setting them in front of each man. She uncorked the wine and set it in between them. "Are you ready to order?" she asked.

"Yes, I am, what about you?" Stark asked Loki. Loki nodded and closed his menu. They ordered and the waitress left.

"So, this is rather strange," Stark said, running a hand through his hair. "A few weeks ago, it seems, you were threatening us and you threw me out of a window, and now we are sitting together in a restaurant in New York together." He looked a little uncomfortable, to say the least. Loki wondered if this had been a bad idea, going out into the city with Stark, alone. He wasn't used to being social, anyways, and didn't really know what to say. When he was young, Thor had done all of the talking and Loki had just followed along, and when he had gotten older and became the evil type he hadn't needed to be social. People tended to avoid the evil villain. The name 'silver tongue' had just come from how well he was able to lie to people, and sometimes for the quick, clever comments he sometimes made.

"You know, we can leave if you would like," Loki said, beginning to get a little claustrophobic in the tight booth.

"Naw, we're already here," Stark said, and he picked up the bottle of wine and poured it into both of their glasses. He picked up his glass and took a healthy sip. "Ah… everything is better with a little buzz," he said.

Loki picked up his own glass and took a little sip, testing it out. It was a deep red wine and was sweet and tangy at the same time, and it went down pretty smooth. It was the kind of wine that you could keep drinking without realizing how drunk you were getting until you fell over or vomited out your guts.

The somewhat awkward conversation did not stay awkward once alcohol was introduced, and soon they were happily discussing their childhoods, parents, and friends. Loki found himself saying much more than he usually would divulge to anybody, especially a known enemy, but everything was easily flowing off his tongue, and he wasn't much of a drinker, so he was more affected by the alcohol than Stark was. He also started to notice how much he wanted to pet Stark's goatee. He bid the urge away by shaking his head a few times.

"So, Mr. God of Mischief, do you have a lady friend back home that is waiting for you?" Stark asked him, waggling his eyebrows in a very childish way.

Loki started into his glass. "No," he answered, swirling the small amount of liquid at the bottom around.

Stark started at him for a few seconds. "Boyfriend?"

Loki looked up sharply. "No, I do not have either of those. I am a convict, you know, and people tend to stay away from convicts."

"Not here on Earth. You would be surprised," he chuckled. "Well, I had a girlfriend until I screwed up, but it really makes me wonder if tiptoeing around your girl is a good thing, you know?"

Loki didn't really know how to respond to that, so he took another sip of his wine.

Their food came, and it was fabulous, but neither of the two really noticed the flavor of it too much. Truth be told, if asked what they had ordered the next day, they would draw a blank. They were more than slightly drunk and were deep in conversation, having moved from personal stuff to science and magic. It was something that both of them knew a good amount about, and they went on about it until both of their plates were clear, discussing deeply the reason behind the need for arc reactor technology and how it was related to the magic that Loki used. The bottle of wine on the table got lighter and lighter. Eventually they couldn't talk exactly clearly, so they decided it was about time to leave the poor restaurant alone. Stark did have a tendency to get rowdy when he was drunk.

They hailed a taxi, and this time around Loki was too drunk to care that the taxi driver was weaving through traffic wildly, or the fact that Stark had his arm around Loki's shoulder. These were just minor details that were overlooked in drunkenness. They made it back to Stark Tower without incident, and soon stumbled into the apartment level with all of the living quarters. Stark managed to stumble to a chair in the living room and flop down into it, leaning his head back on the headrest. Loki was very dizzy, but he managed to sit on the couch across from him.

"So, Reindeer Games, what did you think of your first day as a human?" Stark asked him, squinting as he tried to focus in on Loki.

"Quite interesting," Loki responded. "Glad that I was sent here, though."

Stark raised an eyebrow. "Glad that you were sent here?"

"Yes, if I would have landed at any of the other Avengers' houses they would have given me up. And anywhere else I could have gotten hurt, or been shot at, kidnapped, drowned, sacrificed, or something even worse," he slurred, rambling a little bit. But it was true, he was very happy that he had landed in Stark's place. It had turned out rather nicely.

"Well, I'm glad you landed here too," Stark responded plainly. Loki looked up, surprised, but his surprise was a little muffled by the alcohol. "Better to have intelligent, interesting company than nobody at all."

Loki thought about this for a second, and then he decided he needed to show Stark just how much he appreciated everything that had been done for him. "I- I need to thank you properly…" Loki said urgently, not knowing where this random sense of urgency came from. He wanted to act, but didn't know how. And then an idea struck him. It was a drunken idea, so not something that he would do normally.

"S'no need to thank me," Stark mumbled, his eyelids fluttering, and Loki could tell that he was about to fall asleep. He would need to act soon or he would not have time. Loki stood up and marched over to Stark, fisted his hand in the front of Stark's shirt, and yanked him to his feet. Stark's eyes widened, and he looked panicked, expecting Loki to attack him. And that he did, except not with violence.

Loki smashed his lips against Stark's and his brain went haywire, sent crazy by the feeling of Stark's mouth against his. Stark sort of melted into him, and the pair fell awkwardly on the couch, lips still connected. Loki felt Stark grab his shoulders and Stark was actually kissing him back. They broke apart far too quickly, in his opinion.

"Whoa," Stark murmured, and then proceeded to fall asleep on top of Loki, his head resting on the god's chest, who was way too drunk and tired to push him off, and it was also kind of comfortable, despite for the piece of metal in Stark's chest pressing into him. He fell asleep also, there on the couch with Tony Stark lying on top of him, wondering what in the world he had just done.

They both slept through the phone call that was for Stark, telling him that the other Avengers would be arriving there in the morning for a briefing and training. Stark also didn't receive the message that told him to warn the others about Loki, because Fury sure wasn't going to explain why the god was living with Stark to the others. They didn't hear one thing.