Supervision

Tony does what the trickster asks of him, and immediately puts in a call to his second favourite redhead. Pepper most definitely being the first, of course — not that he would make the distinction out loud. The call lasts longer than he expected, and it isn't pleasant. Natasha successfully and purposefully makes him feel worse than he already did, and now he hates himself. She is fiercely protective of her friends, she will defend them to her death, and Loki is, for all intents and purposes one of her best. This apparently gave her a full warrant to interrogate him, her needing every, single detail of — and in her words — Tony's "terrible" idea.

"Tony! You know how much Loki loves this damn cat, how can you tell him Mischief can't live with you anymore?" Her voice is disbelieving.

"I didn't say that! I said we should trial run it first, you know, beta test…" He trails off, not sure how else to explain himself, he already doubted himself.

"Tony, this is a terrible idea," She groans. "But what's done is done. We'll bring him over this evening."

Tony doesn't have time to say thank you, before the assassin hangs up on him. As soon as he gets off the line, he marches upstairs and out of the workshop. The engineer is unsurprised by the view he finds in his living room. Thor is sprawled across the sofa, a box of Pop Tarts in one hand, and the TV remote in the other. It took a while to teach the Thunder God to use the television with throwing something at the screen, but he finally managed to work it out — thankfully, says Tony's bank account. It really took a considerable chunk out of his fortune when he had to replace thousands of dollars worth of electronics every other day.

"Ah, Man of Iron, how are you this fine day?" Thor's booming voice never fails to startle Tony with its intensity.

"I'm good, Thor," He lies suavely. "Have you seen your brother?" Tony's enquires; he really needs to talk to him.

"He is with the youngling, in his nursing room." Nursery, Tony corrects silently, and thanks him.

Tony traces the familiar, well-worn path to Peter's room, and sure enough that's where he finds Loki. He watches the soft movement of the rocking chair, swaying forward and backwards, and takes a few moments before he steps towards his partner. Loki is sat with Peter comfortably in his right arm, his left hand holding a bottle of milk to the baby's mouth. Peter happily suckles, drinking in the milk. Loki looks up and smiles softly at Tony — the smile not quite reaching his eyes, he notes — before returning his attention to Peter. Tony sits himself at Loki's feet, his chin resting on the god's knee, watching him attending to their child with love in his heart. They are silent for a few more moments, before Tony's speaks.

"Loki, what was said earlier, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad, I know Peter is your priority." He places a kiss to Loki's knee, "You are the best mother I could have ever wished for, for my child."

Loki doesn't respond, slowly mulling over Tony's words as he waits for Peter to finish his bottle. Once the milk is gone, he puts the bottle on the small table beside him, and brings Peter to his chest, and lightly pats his back to burp him.

"It's hard sometimes, Anthony, I've made mistakes and I will forever be haunted by them. I don't want to make any mistakes with Peter." He voice is tight, his throat constricting with emotion, "I love him too much for that."

A better idea than his one earlier that day comes to mind, and Tony stands up. He steps away from the chair, beckoning Loki to follow. Once on his feet, Tony guides Loki into the en suite that is attached to the room, the place they bathe him and keep a plentiful stock of anything Peter would need to keep him healthy. He positions Loki in front of the large mirror and stands behind him, adjusting his posture so his head is visible over Loki's shoulder, their faces side by side.

"Look, Lo', just look at the way he sits perfectly in your arms, and how perfect you are in mine." Tony's arms squeeze lightly around his waist, looking eye to eye with his lover in the mirror, "This is love, Loki. This is us for forever more, our little family."

He continues, but taking extra care to be sensitive, which honestly doesn't come naturally to the billionaire, "I'm not saying we won't make mistakes, because we will, everyone makes mistakes, but Peter will forgive us, and do you know why? Because we love him unconditionally and he loves us in return."

Loki stops his intent staring at his lover, and drops his eyes to the child in his arms, "And what if he won't forgive my past mistakes? He will forever been known as the child of the God who attempted to overthrow and rule this realm, Tony. He'll understand one day when he's older the destruction I have caused, the number of deaths I was responsible for. He won't forgive that."

"I did." Loki's eyes snap back to Tony's reflection, tears ever so gradually forming and sticking to his eyelashes. He blinks them away, causing a few strays to fall down his pale cheeks. Tony's hand moves from Loki's waist, to cradle Peter's head, "Why won't he?"

Loki turns burying his face in the crook of Tony's neck, and softly lets his fresh tears fall. Tony brings his arms up to hold onto the God, careful not to crush their child between them. Loki breath catches, sniffling lightly, his voice broken, "I love you, Tony."

"I love you so much, Loki. I promise everything will be alright." He kisses Loki's forehead devotedly.

Tony didn't like to make promises he couldn't keep, but this is one he would. He would fight with everything he has, whether it cost him his company, his Iron Man, or his life, he would keep Loki and Peter safe and happy. They would want for nothing. And if Loki wanted that to include Mischief then so be it. Tony would have to put aside his reservations about Mischief, and make it his mission to make sure the cat and Peter could both live in the tower in harmony.

Tony realised he was being too harsh on Loki; Mischief has always been more than just a pet cat to him. Mischief was the reason they decided to take the huge leap to have their own child. Without him, they probably wouldn't be where they were now. Tony really did owe more to him than he gave credit for. Tony was going to put aside his uncertainties if he wanted to keep his God happy, and that really is a small price to pay to see Loki smile.

Notes