children;

[kalisona]

After the incident with the very young Thor, Loki seemed thoughtful for a time. Tony let him be for the most part, and was mostly glad to be able to return to their usual amounts of physical affection, which had been tamed to almost unbearable limits while the baby had been around. But the moment Thor had been returned to normal, the big guy shuffling out of Tony’s home in a daze, Tony had turned to Loki and they’d made up for lost time.

Loki hadn’t seemed to have minded at all.

But now he was oddly contemplative. Not distant, just quiet. And it was a strange mood for the Trickster God to be in, that’s for certain.

For lack of any better ideas, Tony let him be, gave him space but was always there at night holding him close.

Loki didn’t seem to mind that at all, at least, so Tony knew it wasn’t anything he did.

There was just something on Loki’s mind, and he hoped he wasn’t being naïve in expecting that eventually, Loki would share it with him.

Thankfully, it seemed his hunch was right—one night, as Loki slid under the covers, he inspected the man beside him for a long moment and then he said, equally contemplatively, “If I asked you if you wished to visit my children, how would you answer?”

Now that was a loaded question if ever Tony had heard one. But thankfully, it was also an easy one to answer. While the topic had made him uncomfortable before, after hearing Loki talk about them and with the memories of his own father forever weighing heavily on his mind, could he ever really do anything that would discourage Loki from visiting his children?

He had no idea what he would find, but the only reason he hadn’t spoken of it was because he had known it was Loki’s right to ask—

And now, roundabout though it was, he was asking.

So his answer was actually surprisingly easy to give.

“I would say I would be happy to go,” Tony answered, careful to leave it in the hypothetical even though he knew very well it was nothing of the sort. But if it made this easier on Loki, they could talk circles.

It seemed he hadn’t needed to have that caution, though. Loki just exhaled quietly and nodded, looking up at the ceiling as he responded, “Tomorrow afternoon, then.”

He glanced over at Tony and added, “Don’t wear clothing you wouldn’t want to get dirty.”

And Tony wondered, at that, what he’d gotten himself into.

--

He found out the next day.

Loki looked calm and unruffled as he tended to always look (when not being psychotic in some way or another), but Tony knew him well enough by now to recognize that he only tended to a flat expression like that when he was nervous.

The God of Lies was nervous.

Good god.

But he wasn’t about to back out (not that he was given the chance to), because the moment Loki reached him he was grabbing his hand, the world caving in around itself as they somehow broke the laws of physics in order to teleport.

Tony squeezed his eyes shut, not at all fond of the feeling of the world shifting in a way that it wasn’t supposed to.

Still, they’d done this often enough that he was able to keep his vertigo when they arrived, looking around quickly at—wherever they were.

He didn’t recognize the area, which immediately sent warning bells off; the area was forested, grassy, pretty much as far from New York or California as could be. This looked like it could’ve been a wildlife preserve or something—

Oh.

Loki strode forward easily, though Tony noticed that he didn’t release his hand, and he was quick to catch up or risk being dragged by a rather distracted god. But when Tony lifted his head, he started to notice other things.

For one, there were people around. Not people, not exactly, they were…they were guards, if the weapons they carried around were any indication.

Asgardian guards.

Tony’s brow furrowed as he tried to figure that out, honestly baffled. Why would they keep Loki’s kids in a guarded place—

Unless they were making sure that he wasn’t going anywhere.

The thought struck him quite suddenly when they came across a cave in the middle of everything. The guards nearby looked visibly nervous, and Tony couldn’t say he blamed them, exactly, when what came bounding out of the cave was a rather massive, black wolf.

He didn’t have the time even for a shout before the wolf was on top of Loki and—

And then Loki was laughing, a freer sound than his usual mockery, even as he stumbled backwards, only retaining his feet by clinging to his son’s fur.

Because Tony was smart, even when it came to supernatural insanity, and this was Fenrir, Loki’s eldest son, and he was, indeed, a giant black wolf. And the guards where there as if to guard a monster and of course, things were starting to make sense, and Loki’s wistful expression when he’d said he was incapable of seeing them very often.

Of course he couldn’t, if they were kept tucked away like this.

But Tony kept his thoughts to himself, and watched awkwardly off to the side as Loki pressed his forehead to Fenrir’s, as if they were very well communicating in that way.

Loki quite suddenly glanced up, looking almost uncertainly at Tony. He didn’t make a single movement, not beckoning or foreboding, but Tony squared his shoulders and he stepped forward, because giant wolf or not, Loki had asked him if he wanted to see his son, and Tony had said yes.

It was more than worth it for rather surprisingly relieved smile on Loki’s face.

It was worth the grass stains, too, when Fenrir bowled him over in exuberance.

--

Loki didn’t say anything about the visit for a few more days.

So it was that Tony was sipping his coffee and most certainly not thinking of mythological creatures one morning when Loki appeared into existence right next to him.

He burned his tongue on his coffee in his surprise, biting back a curse, but one look at Loki’s face told him the other had a good reason for his sudden appearance. So he blinked. “Did something happen?”

Loki paused for another long moment—and then he huffed.

“Would you like to meet Jormungandr?” Loki asked, voice rather tense.

Tony blinked. The last visit had gone well enough, so he wasn’t sure what could possibly be making Loki this stressed out—

“Sure, I said ‘yes’ before, didn’t I?”

“Then we have to go now. There is an unfortunately short window of opportunity.” Loki shook his head quickly. And then he grabbed Tony’s wrist before the other could say a word, and then they were gone, Tony’s coffee left forgotten on the counter.

And then they were on the beach.

Tony was enough of a Californian to be able to recognize the beach when it smacked him in the face with an ocean breeze, and he blinked, arching an eyebrow at Loki questioningly.

Loki just sighed quietly, looking out to the horizon for a long moment, mouth tightening.

And then there was a giant wave crashing onto the beach (Tony grimaced as it washed up to his thighs before he could even think about moving back, soaking his shoes and pants), followed by a suddenly very distracting gigantic serpent.

…Jesus Christ.

Loki’s kids--

But when he glanced over to maybe make some sort of wisecrack despite himself, because a giant serpent, his mouth snapped shut as Loki grinned fiercely and possessively, stepping forward to lay a hand on Jormungandr’s very large nose.

Tony, uncomfortably wet, stared at this scene for a long moment.

And then before his eyes Loki quietly rested his cheek against Jormungandr’s nose as well and it wasn’t a scene Tony was willing to interrupt.

(Later, there was a large fish flopped onto the beach. Loki, grinning, told him that it was Jormungandr’s attempt at an apology for getting Tony wet.

He still had no idea what to do with it.)

--

At this point, Tony knew it was only a matter of time before he met Loki’s final child and only daughter.

What he wasn’t expecting was Loki spinning him into a hug of sorts, grinning an almost triumphant grin.

Tony blinked. “Special occasion?”

Loki just breathed, “Very” and kissed him deeply for a moment.

And then they went to Helheim.

Tony had been expecting the land of the dead to be rather. Well. Dead. Creepy, cold, gross. The sort of thing you think of when you think “land of the dead”.

Instead he found himself in a rather cozy hall, empty but well-lit.

Loki watched the door, waiting intently for his daughter to appear, and Tony slowly forced himself to relax. He had no idea what to expect this time, but…he’d met a giant wolf and a giant seacreature—he thought he could handle Loki’s only daughter.

And when Hel appeared, his first thought was that she was reassuringly humanoid.

But she was interesting, he noted, as she stepped forward. It was like a split, like two people plastered together—one half was warm, full of life, and the other pale, deathly thin.

He had to let his brain process this for a moment, thinking.

But then Loki was stepping forward, sweeping his daughter into a hug, murmuring something into her ear that caused both sides of her lips to tweak into a smile and Tony decided it didn’t matter.

There were some things that stopped mattering at points like this, he thought.

And as Hel stepped forward to greet him with a smile, he met both of her eyes unflinchingly.

And he could sense more than see Loki sag a little in relief beside him.

--

That night Loki was quiet again, thoughtful.

But Tony just wrapped his arms around him and murmured into his ear, “Next time you go to see them, can I come along?”

And that was all it took to make Loki smile.