Tony groaned when he opened his eyes. What had happened last night that had made him feel so crappy? Oh yeah, he had gotten pretty drunk last night, but with whom and where? He remembered something about a nice restaurant with too much wine, but the events were kind of blurry. And then he remembered the tour of New York that he had given to Loki and things started to click into place. So, he had taken Loki to one of his favorite restaurants here in New York and they had drunk way too much wine, which in itself wasn't all that unusual for Tony.

And then Tony came to his senses more and realized that he was not in his bed. In fact, he was not sleeping on a bed at all. He became utterly confused when he opened his eyes and was about to backpedal off the couch, but a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Tony turned his head and was faced with the group. All of the Avengers were standing there, holding their suitcases, with various expressions of alarm and surprise and fury on their faces. Romanoff was hiding a grin, Banner just looked frightened, Rogers was blushing slightly and frowning, and Thor looked rather angry. It was Barton who had asked the question on everyone's minds, including Tony's.

Tony quickly climbed off of Loki, who was stirring, and stood up, straightening his shirt, which had not been changed from last night.

"What is going on here?" Thor asked, moving forward and standing right in front of Tony. Tony suspected that if he did not start talking fast he would probably get Mjölnir to the head. At this point, Loki had sat up on the couch and was holding the side of his head, also hung over from last night. His hair was only a little askew, whereas Tony's looked like it had been in a wind tunnel.

"Um, it is really not how it looks," Tony said, holding up his hands.

"You better explain quickly, man of iron, or you shall face the consequences," Thor boomed at him, and Tony took a step back.

Loki stood up. "Thor, when you let me out of the cell I felt the need to get off of Asgard. You see, if the Chitauri knew I was no longer there, then they might stop attacking. I was about to jump off of the Rainbow Bridge, but the aftermath of an explosion hit me in the back. I fell off of the bridge unconscious and ended up here, in Stark Tower. Stark helped me until my magic was able to heal me." His quick explanation was met with stares from everyone.

Thor relaxed just slightly. "That still does not explain why you are still here, and why you were sleeping on the couch together."

Tony shrugged. "Fury came over here and told me that he did not want Loki out of our sight if he was going to be staying on Earth. He told me that Loki would stay here with me and we would keep a tracker on him." Tony explained, and Loki held up his wrist, showing off the silver band around it.

"Brother, you wanted to stay on Earth?" Thor asked Loki.

"Yes, I did not want to get caught by the Chitauri, and since I was brought here I thought I would take that to my advantage, especially since I was literally handed a nice place to stay."

Thor just nodded. Barton raised a hand. "I still would like to know why you were sleeping on top of him, and I believe that I am not the only one."

Tony shook his head. "We were out on the town, got some dinner, got a little drunk. We came back here and fell asleep on the couch." He remembered something else that had happened last night, but he was not going to be discussing that with the others. He had done some odd things while drunk, but this was something that he would be looking into, something that was not going to let slide. It was just too strange.

The others nodded and got onto unpacking, finding their rooms, and other things. Thor did not leave though. "If it is alright with you, I would like a private word with my brother," Thor said to Tony, who shrugged and went to find Banner. Loki looked a little peeved at having to get a 'talking to' from his adoptive brother, but there was no getting out of that.

Bruce was hauling his suitcase into the bedroom that had been given to him, smiling at the large, 'Keep Calm' poster that was on the wall. He turned when he saw Tony. "Did you do this?"

"Yeah, I thought it would be funny," Tony responded. He had found that poster online and couldn't resist pasting it on the wall in Banner's room. He had kind of forgotten he had done that, it was so long ago. It hadn't actually been that long ago, but Tony had a really bad sense of time.

"So, you really think it is a good idea to have Loki here with you?" Banner asked him, setting the bag on his bed and starting to pull things out of it.

"You would have had to have seen him when he transported here to understand. He was a wreck, burned up and bleeding, not to mention unconscious on my floor. When he woke up he seemed so lost and tired. And then Fury just kind of dropped him on me."

Banner looked up at him. "Fury can be a little quick to act sometimes, I do agree with that," he responded.

"And yesterday Loki was so… I don't know, normal. He has all his magic and everything, but he has not tried to kill me or anything dastardly. You know, his normal personality is there, just without the majorly screwed up part."

"Is that why you went and got drunk with him?" Banner asked calmly.

Tony looked up sharply. "Okay, the guy looked like he needed a good time. Needed to take his mind off of things. And you know me, when in doubt go get some alcohol."

Bruce chuckled and put a stack of shirts into the dresser. "Well, if he ends up killing one of us, I am totally blaming it on you," he finally said.

"Okay, fine, but if you kill somebody I am totally blaming it on you," Tony retorted. Bruce smiled. Tony decided that Banner's easygoing attitude was just right at a time like this. "Just out of curiosity, why are you guys here, anyways?"

"We were called in to help for some reason. Fury said he would brief us once we all got settled in," Bruce explained.

"Hmm… nice to know that I am in the loop, and all, considering it is my building," he grumbled.

"Hey, Nick Fury did call and left you a message, you just didn't answer."

Tony just grumbled some more.

"Oh yeah, I was wondering if you would like to help me in my new research, you know, after whatever catastrophe has been diverted," Tony said.

"New research?"

"Well, now that Loki is here, we could totally look into what makes his magic tick, and how it affects technology and science. He seems like he would like to learn more about my arc reactor technology, so I figured it could be a little trade-off. Think about all that we could learn from him."

Banner nodded. "I would like that, actually. Thor could help out, too, if he doesn't mind. His magic is different than the magic that Loki uses, so it could be interesting."

Tony held up a thumbs-up and left Banner to his unpacking. He walked into the living room to find Loki and Thor standing apart facing each other with equal looks of anger on their faces.

"I am not your brother!" Loki shouted in exasperation. "It would do you well to stop calling me that!"

"Not by blood, but by bond, and that is the only thing that matters to me," Thor responded, his deep voice lowered even more in anger.

"I am not going to go back to Asgard to die or be captured. Whatever it is that you are going through you can figure it out yourself," Loki hissed, crossing his arms.

"I am not asking you to come back and get killed; I just think that we would do better if we had your assistance."

"You do not need my assistance. You have all of your freak friends to help you, and look, they're all here," Loki said bitingly, gesturing around him, and he left the room quickly. They heard his bedroom door slam from across the hall.

"What was that about?" Tony asked, walking into the living room next to Thor, who had his arms crossed and a frown on his face.

"Asgard is still being attacked by the Chitauri. They don't seem to care that Loki is not with us; that is not the reason they came. They think that we sent out Loki as our spy just to ruin them. They think that Loki purposely lost in New York, that it was our doing, so they swear they will get revenge on us. That is why all of the Avengers have been called here; to help out in Asgard, because if Asgard falls so does the Earth. We are Earth's protectors."

Tony blinked a few times. "They're just going to send us to Asgard and expect us to fight there?" he asked in surprise.

"I have not heard the exact plans as Nicholas Fury will be telling us all of them later on, but I am assuming that it will be something like that," Thor responded.

"And what where you telling to your diva brother that made him flip out so much?" Tony asked.

"I was merely requesting that he help us out. We could use all of the numbers we can get, and he is one powerful fighter. He knows magic better than any of us," explained Thor. "He thinks that if he goes over there it will inevitably cause his death."

"Well, it's not like we have done anything to deserve his help," Tony responded. "And he doesn't really like us that much."

Thor sighed and sat down on the couch heavily. "I just wish there was something that I could do to make him see that there are individuals out there that do care for him. He tried to take over the Earth, lied to me, and did all sorts of horrible things, but I still love him. We grew up together, and just because he happens to be a Frost Giant it does not make me love him any less."

"I think that the way you express love and the way that he expresses it are two different things. You forcing your care on him is not something that he needs or wants. And you know, I think that he does have potential to become something other than an evil villain filled with hatred. Yesterday I saw a side of him that I have never seen before; a calm, content side," Tony explained.

"Yes, and you were able to get him drunk," Thor said, chuckling. "I have never seen anybody able to do that before. I think it was fate that brought my brother here, Stark. I think you might just be the right person to bring him through."

"Yes, and I think your presence just stresses him out," Tony responded, looking in the direction of Loki's bedroom. "He was fine until you showed up." Tony had the amazing skill to say what was on his mind, no matter what the repercussions.

Thor put his face in his hands. "Yes, it really does seem that way, now doesn't it? Maybe you should go talk to him before he jumps out of his window or something," Thor told Tony, raising his head up to meet Tony's gaze.

Tony nodded and left the room, headed to the other side of the floor. He started at the closed door to Loki's room for a few moments, steeling himself, and then knocked quietly.

"Go away, Thor, I've no wish to talk to you," came a muffled reply from inside.

"Yeah, definitely not Thor out here," Tony responded. He heard a rusting, and then the door was opened by Loki, who was glaring at him.

"What do you want?" Loki asked icily. "Here to try to convince me to listen to Thor?"

"No, actually. I just thought I'd make sure you didn't kill anyone or possibly hurt yourself trying to destroy the place by making Bruce Banner angry," he answered, smiling. "Because last time you made Banner angry you ended up lying in your own indentation in the floor."

Loki cringed and then sighed. "I am just tired of him."

"Banner?"

"No, I am tired of Thor. He thinks that he can come here, talk to me, and then everything will just be all fine and dandy. I want him to be out of my hair for just a little while, I need my space. I lived in his shadow when I was a child, and now here he is again, casting a huge shadow."

Tony thought about what he should say. He was standing on very thin ice here, and the water underneath was very deep. Loki had some dangerous issues, ones that he had dealt with for a long time, and plunging into those would be scary and hard to get out of. "Unfortunately, he won't be leaving anytime soon now that the Avengers have been called together. Maybe now is the perfect time for you two to work out your issues. You have enough room to get away from each other, and a whole group of people that can separate you if things get out of hand."

Loki nodded slowly. "Maybe you are right, Tony Stark," he whispered. Then he looked up, cringing. "You don't happen to remember anything that happened last night, do you?"

"Well, if you mean getting drunk, coming back here, having you literally attack me with your lips, and then falling down asleep on the couch together, then no," Tony chuckled, and Loki cringed even deeper. "Don't worry, Reindeer Games, things happen when people get drunk. I have accidentally kissed my fair share of men I hate."

"I don't hate you, Stark."

"Well, that's a new development."

"Surely you know that by now, as if I did hate you your life would be more of a living hell than it already is," Loki said calmly. "And how can I hate somebody who has lent me one of their rooms to stay in and kept me from dying a painful death out on the cold streets?"

"Point taken," Tony said. "Well, now that I know you are not going to do anything stupid in here, I will leave you in peace." He turned and left, conscious of Loki's eyes on him as he walked away. The way Loki had told him that he didn't hate him made Tony think a little bit. He had said it in such a way that suggested that he was hurt by the fact that Tony had said he hated him. If that made any sense at all. Tony, of course, was not very good at reading feelings, so he just kind of brushed it off to one side, the whole kiss thing and then the 'I don't hate you' thing. Tony had also tried to ignore the little flurry of chills he got whenever Loki said Stark in that crisp, British-sounding voice. He didn't know why, but he liked it a little too much.