Chapter Text
“Mister Loki, what if we don’t find her?“ Peter looked at Loki with panicked eyes.
“We will.” Loki waved him off. “We have to. Now keep looking.”
“Morgan!” Peter called out. “This isn’t funny!”
“You do not honestly believe she is doing this to be funny, do you?” Loki hissed. “Peter, simply yell her name and ask her to come.”
Peter sighed. “This isn’t my fault.”
Loki closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A fight would not help; he had to concentrate on finding Morgan. Pepper had been right not to trust him. Originally, he had been angered by her words -she had really told Peter that she was wary of him- but now he understood her. He could not be trusted.
“Morgan!” He called out again.
“Mister Loki, do you think something might have happened to her? What if a wild animal got to her-- maybe a mountain lion. Do those live here?”
“I don’t know, Peter.” Loki sighed in exasperation. “Morgan, would you please come back to the house?”
Peter looked around. “Mister Loki?”
“Not now, Peter.” Loki hissed at him. “Morgan, your food is getting cold!”
“Mister Loki, I--”
“Peter, no.” Loki shook his head. “Morgan, please!”
“Mister Loki!” Peter exclaimed loudly.
Loki turned to him. “By the Norns, would you please stop calling me Mister Loki?”
“Loki.” Peter corrected. “Where are you?”
Loki looked up, turning around, whipping his head from side to side. They were lost. Not only was Morgan lost, now he and Peter were, too.
“Karen.” Peter whispered.
“Karen?” The god raised an eyebrow. “Who is Karen?”
“I am Karen.” A voice came from somewhere. Loki located it to have been coming from Peter’s suit. “How may I help you, Peter?”
“Can you tell us where we are? And how to get back to the house?” Peter whispered.
“Of course, Peter.” Karen said in a gentle voice. “You need to head to your right and walk a while in that direction. Eventually, you will come to a road and from that, you will have to head to your left. Then you should reach the house.”
Loki nodded along. “Then I will bring you back to the house and continue looking for Morgan.”
“I want to help!”
“No.” Loki shook his head. “Come, Peter.”
Peter grumbled something Loki didn't understand but he knew it wasn't something nice. The two of them walked for a while until they made it to the road. Luckily it was illuminated. The light of the moon had been nearly useless in navigating the woods. They walked down the road until they heard a quiet gasp from their left.
“Is that--” Peter began but Loki interrupted him.
“Is that you, Morgan?”
“Yes.” She sniffled sadly. The two men saw her crawling out from behind a tree. “Are you angry at me?”
Loki bit his tongue. He was angry but more so was he simply glad that she was safe. He quickly strode over to her and helped her onto the street. Her pyjamas were dirty and her hair unkempt. She was also not wearing shoes.
“What were you thinking?” Loki hissed quietly, quickly hoisting her up onto his hip where he held her. “Let us get you inside.”
“No.” Morgan whined, holding onto Loki. “Not home.”
“Why not?” Peter asked in confusion. “What were you even trying to do?”
“I wanted to go see Mom and Dad.” She whispered. “And I wanted to tell them that Loki is very nice and I like him.”
Loki’s face contorted at that. He quickly shook his head. “Now that was not the smartest idea, don’t you think? Do you even know the way?”
“No.” Morgan whispered, sniffling again. “Can’t we go see my parents?”
“You’ll see them again later.” Peter smiled. “They won’t be gone forever. Come on. Your pizza is waiting.”
Morgan sniffled and looked up at Loki. “Will you read me a story?”
“Yes, I will if you agree to come home with us.”
“Alright.” Morgan sighed and leaned back against Loki. “I’m tired.”
“I will carry you all the way home.”
That was easier said than done because just half an hour later, Loki and Peter realized that they might actually be farther from the house than they originally thought.
“I hate the woods.” Peter grumbled and then sighed. “I think I see a sign ahead. It may have a map on it. People go hiking around here. We’ll see how far it is and what’s the shortest way.”
“Good.” Loki sighed. “Morgan, are you still fine?”
“I want my Mom and Dad.” The girl whimpered sadly. “And I’m cold.”
“Cold?” The god thought for a second before putting Morgan down. He then removed his coat and put it over her shoulders before picking her up again. “Better?”
Morgan nodded. “But won’t you be cold?”
“I’m quite resilient against the cold.”
Peter perked up. “Oh, I know! It’s because you are a Frost--” He stopped when he saw Loki’s annoyed face. “Frost-- The sign!” He exclaimed. “Let’s look what it says.”
“Yes.” Loki nodded.
“A frost?” Morgan looked at Loki. “How can you be the frost? That’s just cold water.”
“I will explain it to you another time.” Loki dismissed her. “Try to wrap the coat tightly around yourself, yes?”
“Yes.” She whispered.
The three of them headed to the map and Peter got onto his tiptoes to read it. Then he turned to Loki and Morgan.
“I think if we just follow the road and then go left at the next parting of the road we need to go left.”
“Good, then let us go.” Loki nodded and started walking along the road. “Hurry up, Peter. It’s already past Morgan’s bedtime.”
Peter nodded and quickly hurried after Loki. “There is a car coming from behind us. Maybe they can take us with them-- or maybe they shouldn’t. May says it’s dangerous to hitchhike but--”
“It’s the red car!”
Morgan shrieked right into Loki’s ear and the god cringed at that before he realised what he had said. “You know this car?”
“The man and woman in there said they would drive me home but Mom and Dad said not to go into strangers’ cars. I ran away and hid.”
“That’s why you were hiding.” Peter looked back. “Can’t you hide us with magic or something?”
Loki slowly shook his head. “They already saw us. Just keep walking.”
Peter nodded and did so as Loki held Morgan just a little tighter. She was holding onto his neck so tightly that she was almost choking him. It did bring back unpleasant memories but Loki ignored the tightness in his chest at the feeling of something tightly wrapped around his neck.
“Hey!” The car was next to them and the woman in the passenger seat was looking at them. “Can we take you somewhere?”
“No need to. Thank you.” Loki sneered, walking a little faster.
“Come on. The girl must be cold.” She insisted.
“She is fine.” The god hissed. “Keep driving and leave us alone.”
“Really? It’s pretty late and you’re out in the middle of a forest.”
Loki stopped walking and turned to her. “Should you not have the wish for me to make you suffer in the worst ways you can imagine then I suggest you drive off and leave us alone.”
“Oh, you will make us suffer?” The woman began laughing and the man stopped the car.
Morgan cuddled closer to Loki and the god handed her to Peter before walking up to the car. He then leaned forward down to the window.
“Imagine if you will the feeling of your whole body crumbling to pieces, blood pouring out of every crevice, the air knocked out of your lungs, every bone in your body breaking and contorting while you slowly succumb to your death.” He smirked menacingly at her. “Now imagine that I can make you feel that way without actually harming you. You will writhe in pain but you cannot die. You will beg me for death but I am not merciful. Would you like that?”
The woman stared at him in horror and the man leaned forward. “Who do you think you are, a damn wizard?”
Loki straightened up again and lifted a hand. His fingers slowly became engulfed in green light and little orbs floated around the people in the car. He slowly turned his head to Peter. “Cover her eyes.”
The boy did so as he himself kept staring at Loki. The orbs circled the throats of the man and woman. Then Loki clenched his hand into a fist and the two began to gasp for air, writhing in their seats as the god himself just stood by, completely relaxed as if it wasn’t a toll at all.
“We’ll leave!” The man gasped out. “Please!”
“You better leave otherwise I might not be merciful enough to let you go the next time I see you.” Loki dropped his hand and the couple took several deep breaths before they started the car and began to drive off.
“What did you do?” Peter whispered.
“Used my abilities to protect you and Morgan. Now come along.” He said and walked over to Peter. “I can carry her.”
Peter didn’t object and began to walk ahead of them to lead the way. Loki held Morgan tightly in his arms as the girl looked up at him from where her head was located on his chest.
“Did you hurt them?”
“Only a little.” Loki whispered.
“Dad said it’s bad to hurt others.” Morgan whispered. “But the man and woman wanted to hurt us, too.”
“If someone wants to harm you, you can hurt them to protect yourself but only if they really want to do something bad to you.” Loki explained, hoping it was what Tony had meant when he taught Morgan the rules of what and what not to do. “If someone is mean to you, you try to solve it with words. But if someone tries to grab you and take you away you can kick and hit them until they let you go.”
“Okay.” She mumbled sleepily. “Loki?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for protecting me.”
---
Eventually, they reached the cabin and once inside Loki made Morgan and Peter eat at least a little bit. Peter decided to sleep on the couch since it was already late and Loki got Morgan into bed.
“Loki?” She whispered, snuggled up under her covers.
“Yes?” He turned around in the doorway.
“Will you stay until I fall asleep?”
Loki slowly made his way across the room and sat down in the armchair by the window. Morgan thanked him and snuggled down and closed her eyes. Loki leaned back in the armchair, crossing his arms over his chest as he closed his eyes, as well. Peter was safe downstairs, Morgan was safe and sound in her bed and he was comfortable in the armchair. He could allow himself to close his eyes for a few minutes.
---
“Loki?”
“He’s asleep, Tony.”
“Reindeer Games, wake up.”
Loki groaned as he scooted up in the armchair, blinking a few times. He must have fallen asleep because it was already the next morning.
“I apologize. Morgan asked me to stay and I must have fallen asleep.”
“That’s fine.” Pepper smiled. “Thank you for watching her. It seems that everything went well and you had fun. Peter left earlier because he had promised May to help her clean out the kitchen today. He said you did a great job watching Morgan.”
“Yes, everything went quite well.” He lied. He had always been good at lying. “We ordered a pizza and watched a movie together.”
Tony raised an eyebrow in the background before smiling. “Wanna have breakfast with us? You said you didn’t want money but have pancakes at least.”
“I’d like that.”
Once everyone was downstairs, Morgan ran over to Loki and hugged him. The god was surprised but he put a hand on her head and ruffled her hair gently.
“Uncle Loki.” Tony snorted and went into the kitchen to get plates.
“Thank you for watching me and playing with me.” Morgan smiled happily.
“No need to thank me.” Loki looked up at Pepper and Tony. “Did you have fun?”
“Yes.” Pepper smiled. “And I have to say I misjudged you. Morgan seems to like you and you took good care of her. I’m sorry if I was rude yesterday; Rhodey cancelled on us as a babysitter and I was stressed out. And with your past, I was worried.”
“I get that.” Loki sighed softly. “I’m glad you think differently now.”
“Now, let’s eat.” Pepper smiled.
Apparently neither Pepper nor Tony knew about the things that transpired the previous night. Or at least it was what Loki thought until it was time to leave. After saying goodbye and Pepper going to do the dishes, Tony and Morgan saw Loki at the door.
“So you were in the house the whole time?”
“Yes.” Loki nodded. “Morgan didn’t feel like playing outside, I suppose.”
Tony smirked and raised an eyebrow. “And at no point did you leave the house?”
“No.”
“Then how come I have footage of Morgan running away and you and Peter going after her to try and find her? And why do I have footage of you three coming back, Morgan tightly wrapped in your coat two hours later?”
Morgan looked at her feet. “I ran outside. It was my fault. Loki said you and Mommy didn’t like him being with me. I thought that if I run away and Loki finds me and saves me that you would trust him and like him.”
Loki looked down at the girl. “Morgan, you should not have done that. It shouldn’t be any of your concern whether or not other people like me. Let that be my worry.”
“Oh, darling.” Tony crouched down. “That was a bad idea and you should never do that again but it was sweet of you. Mom and Dad like Loki. Mommy was just a little worried because Loki did some not so nice things in the past but that’s all forgotten, yes? He fought Thanos and is good now. And Daddy likes him; he’s funny. I like how he went after you immediately.”
“He even scared off two bad people that really wanted us inside their car.” Morgan smiled. “He’s really brave.”
Tony’s mouth fell open. “Thank you, Loki. That was really freaking brave of you. Did you by any chance get the license plate?”
“No. But perhaps Peter knows it. It was a red car.”
“I see.” Tony nodded. “Well, I’ll see if I can find it. Thank you for protecting my little girl. Really, thank you.”
“No need to thank me. I wouldn’t let anything harm her.” Loki gave a small smile.
Tony chuckled. “You’re a softie, Bambie.”
“Oh, be quiet, Anthony.”