Only Fools Love Monsters

"Hey, Pep," Tony said sheepishly, walking over to the redhead.
"Hey?" she screeched, looking like she was ready to rip the arc reactor right out of his chest, "You break up with me, over the phone at that, and I walk in on you coddling… That!" She screamed, pointing at Loki, "And you say 'Hey'?"
"Look Pepper, just listen ok?" Tony begged, his mind racing to find a way to appease the fuming redhead and salvage some dignity in the process.
He loved Pepper, of course he did, but not like she wanted him to. He loved her because she put up with his crap on a daily basis and had always been there. He had thought he loved her how she loved him, but no matter how he tried, he could not look at her like that. Not to say he wasn't attracted to her, he was still Tony Stark, but he had interpreted his attraction as love. Now though, after being with Loki, he knew better. With Pepper, his heart had never skipped a beat by her walking into the room or took his breath away with something as simple as a smile, no, those feeling seemed to be reserved for Loki, and only Loki.
"No, I will not listen!" Pepper screamed, "Are you under his mind control or something?" a shadow of concern passed briefly over her scorching glare, but disappeared when Tony shook his head.
"He can't, remember?" he tapped his arc reactor. Well, that seemed to have been the only plausible excuse she would've accepted, because he was suddenly aware of her hand being less than a second away from making contact with his cheek. He closed his eyes and braced for impact, ready to take whatever it took to make her feel better. She had smacked him before, of course, he was snarky and rude and vulgar more than half the time, but this time it seemed to be taking an extremely long time for her hand to reach his face. Tony became suddenly aware that there was no way it would take her this long, so he slowly opened one eye.
"Oh fuck," Tony thought, his eyes now open wide.
"I suggest that you control your temper," Loki growled, her hand clutched in his own. As far as Tony could tell, Loki had managed to grab a hold of her hand before it reached its target, which might be the single worst thing ever to happen to Tony, "For, if you don't, I cannot promise that I will keep mine," Loki's emerald eyes were dark, narrow, and angry.
"Let go of me, now!" Pepper growled, trying to wrench her hand away from the god's vice-like grip.
"Pepper, calm down, please?" Tony begged.
This was terrible, Tony had no control of this situation and leaving Loki and Pepper to have at it did not seem like a wide choice. 'Why can't I have nice things?' Tony grumbled silently.
"Tell your pet to let go of me then!" Pepper snarled, ignoring the warning looks from Tony and the group.
"I am no one's pet, mortal quim!" Loki said through barred teeth.
This was something Loki had never experienced before. He was not used to people coming to reclaim his prizes, especially not over something as trivial as a relationship. There was a twisting, horrid feeling in the pit of Loki's stomach as he listened to the woman.
Who was she to stroll in and try to take away what was rightfully his? Despite himself, he watched the woman with a tilted head, watching her struggle in his grip. It was obvious to him that, if he wanted to make her go away, or at least calm down, he would have to change his strategy. He sighed, dreading what he was about to do, "Excuse me," he said, releasing the woman, "forgive me, I panicked. Let me speak, please."
Loki took the woman's silence as permission to continue.
"I was unaware that Tony was involved with you previously. I can assure you, if I had known, I would've been far more courteous. Furthermore, forgive me for restraining you, it was instinctive," Loki paused, deciding to allow this woman to process what he said. He could not directly place the emotions written on her face, which he did not take as a good sign. He anticipated the slap far before it made contact with his cheek, but decided that it meant she was unsure as of what to say, which was good.
"You dare strike my brother!" Thor boomed, his face contorting into the angry expression reserved only for someone foolish enough to attempt to harm Loki in his presence.
"Thor, it's fine," Loki said, never breaking eye contact with the woman, who seemed to have gotten calmer, "Look, I apologize. I am saying this as someone who, albeit unknowingly, partook in the wronging of you," The words tasted like vinegar in his mouth, but he was skillful in the art of lying and covered it easily. In actuality, he could not care less, he was Loki, god of mischief, lies and chaos, what did it matter to him if some wench thought herself worthy enough to challenge him? She was no threat to him.
"If you're apologizing to me, why don't you just go ahead and apologize to the millions of people you hurt?" She snarled, fire flaring in her eyes.
"By involving myself with Anthony? I do not believe it affected that many people," Loki smirked, unable to resist himself. The woman did not seem to enjoy his humor, which was made evident by the way she was shaking in her impractical shoes, her fists clenched, "Excuse me, poor humor on my part. But, in all seriousness, if you will allow me to explain what you seem to believe is an unchanging and unwavering truth then I will be more than glad to do so."
"That's hardly necessary," Pepper snapped, angry at the god's placid demeanor.
"Not even willing to hear my side of the story?" Loki asked his voice even and stale. He had expected this from mortals. Not that he could blame him. He held no resentment towards them for hating him, he was used to it.
"I don't need to be told what I already know," annoyance flared in the pit of Loki's stomach, which was replaced by confusion when the quarrelsome woman gave him an evil smile, "No, I don't need to hear the story of the poor little prince who found out that no one wanted him, who was a monster that was not even wanted by monsters," Her voice was dripping venom with every word, knowingly ripping him apart from the inside. Thor began to yell, but realized it would be futile, "Did it hurt when you realized that no one actually ever cared about you? Did it burn you when your fragile little world, that had resided in your golden brother's shadow for so long, was suddenly shattered? When those big bad aliens came and took you away, what was it like? Did you have some small little hope that your big brother or mommy or daddy would come to rescue you? Did it rip you apart from the inside when you realized that no one would ever come for you? Then they sent you here as their errand boy, their broken little abandoned errand boy. Was it torture, this whole time? Even now, do you wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, afraid and alone? When you failed and hung there in a jail cell like a useless wall ornament, was it like hot coals in your stomach? Over and over again, the poor little prince falls.
"Now you're here, I bet you've been really happy. I bet you've felt happier in this last month or so than you have been in years, maybe your whole life. Are you planning on building up a relationship with your big brother? Are you planning on staying here with Tony and being happy? No, no, I bet you're anticipating the day it all comes crashing down just like everything else. That's good; it's good that you're being realistic. Now you'll be at least a little prepared when Tony gets bored with you and throws you away, same with Thor, who will probably realize he's wasting time on a lost cause and send you back to your little private hell in Asgard soon enough. I can assure you, it'll happen, probably just because you're you."
Loki stood stark still, a horrifying mixture of anger, shock, and disbelief held him down like an anchor. He felt the shameful need to curl up on the floor and cry, but stood his ground.
The team was shell-shocked, unsure as of what to do. They couldn't decide who was going to kill her first, Tony, Thor, or Loki.
"You are aware that I am perfectly capable of killing you as of this moment, correct?" Loki asked, his voice a forced monotone.
"I don't think that is a part of your 'reformation process', or maybe killing more innocent people really will restore your reputation on earth. It's your call really."
The condescending, humorless voice sent Loki over the edge. In one swift movement, he was tackling her to the floor. He pinned her shoulders down, his knee pressing down on her sensitive human gut. His teeth were bared and a sick satisfaction pulsed through him as the breath was knocked out of her lungs "What do you know, you ghastly woman?" he snarled at her, the fear hidden in her eyes only egged Loki further, "Under what pretenses do you come here? Did you come to reclaim Stark, or to shatter what little hope I have been able to salvage? You could never understand how I have felt! Your petty jibes do not even touch the surface, yet you stand here and mock me! You could never fathom my pain!
"Have you ever had someone penetrate your mind, force you to live and relive every soul crushing memory you possess within your being? Have you ever felt so utterly alone that even the idea of comfort from another being seems inconceivable? Have you ever had everything you had ever once held as a steadfast truth, become nothing but a complex lie? No one, especially not you, you moronic quim, can ever understand. But please, explain to me, if you understand that it was not of my free will that I harmed Midgard, what quarrel do you have with me? If you can even begin to comprehend the depth of my pain and yet continue to mock me, what mortality do you possess? You stand here and call me a monster, well, what does that make you?"
Pepper was silent, staring with wide eyes at the god. She had come here, because she had found out from the SHEILD database that Loki was at Stark Tower. She had paid no mind when Fury suggested she refrain from the rash decision, though he had given her what she thought had been all the information. She hadn't known about the relationship between the trickster and Tony, which was why she had been so surprised. She had not intended to recall all the information she had been told before leaving, she had a heart and it had hurt slightly while Fury recalled all known information on the god. Her only intent had been to confirm for herself, that the god was safe to have around.
Loki was right; she had no quarrels with him, except maybe about the whole relationship thing. Which was why she felt particularly horrendous when she saw one salty, wet tear break from the confines of his eyes and run down the tip of his nose and fall on her cheek.
She was at a loss for words as Loki looked horrified at the offending wet puddle on her cheek. The pure, utter self-hatred that flooded his eyes as his lower lip began to quiver would make even the tautest heart strings pull. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but the god was gone.
She barely registered a shock of black hair before it disappeared down the hallway.
"Great going, Pep," Tony said coldly, "That was just perfect."
"You… You…. Disrespectful….. Horrid…" Thor rumbled incoherently as shadows darkened his golden features. Thor was beyond angry. He was positively livid. No one, no one, made Loki cry and lived to tell the tale. He could deal with someone attacking him; Thor knew how to settle that, but something that dealt with the fragile emotions of his baby brother, that was one of the few things that pushed the thunder god passed the edge of coherent thought. White hot rage consumed every cell as he took one thundering step towards the woman. The team reacted quickly, attempting to restrain the Norse god before they were given probable cause, "How dare you!" Thor boomed, struggling against the combined strengths of his friends, "How dare you speak to my brother so!"
"Thor, Thor calm down!" Natasha begging, her voice was uncharacteristically shrill. They were fully aware that the god could call a very painful form of weather phenomenon at any second and decided it was in everyone's best interest not to be burnt to a crisp.
"You dare put such thoughts in his mind? To make him think that… that he will be tossed to the side… that I will return him to those blasphemous guards? My brother… my baby brother… he has been put through enough, without a mortal enhancing it! I should destroy you! I should show you exactly how much he is hurting! I would rip the skin from your bones and adorn the halls of my palace if it were not for the fact that it is not worthy!" Thor was blind with rage and it was all the team could do to dig their heels in the carpet and pray to any god, preferably not of Norse origin, that Thor would calm down.
Pepper looked ready to burst into tears. Tony would've felt sorry for her if it were not for the fact that she had just set Loki's improvement level back to nonexistent. He had half a mind to let Thor go and give her what was coming to her, but Tony knew he would regret that later.
"Dammit Pepper, get Bruce's emergency tranquilizers out of the cabinet!" Tony yelled over Thor's continuing rant. He thought for a second that she hadn't heard him, but after a second, she stumbled to the kitchen area on shaky legs. She opened the mahogany doors and pulled out the moderately sized epipen.
She approached them at, what seemed to the slowly weakening group, an extremely slow pace and with shaky hands, she plunged the needle into the struggling god's arm and winced as he let out a snarling growl, reminding Pepper too much of a wild animal for her liking. Everyone let out a breath as the god's muscled relaxed and he sunk to his knees.
"I... I am so… so sorry," Pepper stammered, her voice as shaky as her hands.
"Do not speak to me, mortal" Thor snarled as he head fell onto his chest. Pepper winced at the malice in his voice.
"Tony, please, listen, I am really sorry," Pepper begged, turning to Tony with pleading eyes. If it had been any other day, under any other circumstance, he would've smiled and forgiven her. But, this was this day and circumstance and he would not forgive her right there. It hurt him slightly, to be so utterly angry with her, but it hurt worse to think of the god, his god, locked away in his room.
"Get out," Tony said in a deadly steady voice. He did not want to yell at her, he did not want to hate her. So when she did not respond, he repeated himself, louder and angrier. He frowned slightly at the pain in her eyes and the glistening tears lining the edge of her lashes.
"I'm sorry," she whispered before turning on her high heels and scampering towards the elevator, which, to her utter anguish, was open and waiting for her. Tony silently thanked Jarvis.
"Good," Thor said between his teeth as the doors began closing on her. No one missed the choking sob that escaped between the cracks before the elevator doors sealed shut.

Notes