Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was all Darcy’s fault really. The rest of the team were quite happily enjoying a mostly-silent breakfast when she burst in, hands full of bulging plastic bags.

“Hey kids, I bought presents!”

Bruce made a non-committal grunt but Tony immediately perked up. “Presents? Gimme, gimme, gimme!”

“Like you need anything new.” Clint rolled his eyes, but he got up and moved to where Darcy was setting down the bags.

She reached in and pulled out two rectangular boxes. “Look! What do you think?”

Steve frowned. “Is that…”

“A Captain America action figure? Yes, yes it is.” she held it out to him, waving Iron Man in the other hand.

“You know we’ve all seen kids with Avengers merchandise before, right?” Natasha drawled.

“Yeah but I couldn’t help notice none of you own any. Not even Tony, and he put a frickin’ Iron Man painting on the wall of his workshop.”

“Hey, that’s a very tasteful piece!” the billionaire protested.

“Maybe we don’t consider ourselves heroes Darce.” Clint said.

“Too bad. I got one of each of you.” She continued unpacking the toys, lining them up on the kitchen bench.

Tony leaned in to examine the tiny Hawkeye more closely and snorted. “They really fucked up your chin, Barton.”

“What?” he bent down worriedly, “That’s how it looks!”

“Uh uh.”

Clint glanced at Natasha and she raised a brow, tilting her head ever so slightly.

“Really?”

The redhead took her bowl to the sink and walked out without comment.

“Darcy, it was a really lovely gesture but I think we’re a little past dolls. Especially dolls of…us.” Steve rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well I’m just gonna leave them here as a reminder that you guys rock, no matter how sucky some missions can be.”

She arranged the boxes so the plastic doppelgangers were staring at them eerily and left.

“She’s stubborn.” Bruce sighed.

“Ah leave them,” Tony shrugged, “They can be our new mascots.”

“Are you sure that’s not my chin?”

*****

Someone (no one would admit it, and if Tony had footage he wasn’t sharing) took them out of their boxes at some point. The little Avengers sat on the edge of the bench, posed in their permanent smiles. Clint shook his head when he saw them.

“Well there goes their mint condition.”

“I’m pretty sure Avengers figures owned by the actual Avengers are worth something whether they’re in the box or not.” Tony snorted.

“I can’t believe we’re action figures,” Natasha shook her head, “We’re supposed to be anonymous.”

“Get used to it.” Bruce shrugged.

“I do not understand,” Thor frowned at the smaller version of him curiously, “What is the purpose of these playthings?”

“I dunno…kids use them to act stuff out. Like their own little dramas.” Tony waved a hand in a failed attempt to explain the Midgardian concept of childhood.

“So they may pretend to be part of the team?” the god quirked his lips.

“Yeah, kinda.”

“I like it then! The Lady Darcy has made us a grand gift in these figures.”

“Yeah, if you say so.” Steve turned the page of his paper.

The next time they came down for breakfast, the toys were posed around an upturned icecream container in the exact same positions their counterparts preferred at the table. Bruce laughed.

“Alright, I guess the little guys aren’t so bad.”

As if by some unspoken agreement the figures started showing up in stranger and stranger places. It was like everyone secretly enjoyed hiding them but no one wanted to say so. Tony would find the Iron Man holding one of his workshop spanners, or Clint’s Hawkeye would be dangling from an air vent on a floss rope. Natasha found Black Widow under her pillow and wondered who would have the guts to sneak into her room (even Clint wasn’t that suicidal). They migrated from floor to floor but always found their way back to the kitchen. When Tony found them playing cards with an actual tiny deck, he’d had enough.

“This is ridiculous.” He huffed, spinning around and heading back into the lift.

“What, is the poker too much?” Clint yelled after him.

“He’s just sour he always gets beaten in the real thing.” Bruce chuckled.

“Well he should learn to bluff.” Natasha shrugged, repositioning the chips more accurately in front of the plastic her.

“Dr Banner?”

“Yeah JARVIS?” he looked up from his book.

“Mr Stark has requested everyone assemble in the common living room right away.”

“Uh, okay. It’s not an emergency is it?”

The AI paused longer than was comforting before answering. “Not that I am aware of, sir.”

Bruce sighed and put down his book. It was probably another of Tony’s chaotic team-building plans that always resulted in the genius wrestling with Clint or someone getting hit in the face with mashed potato. But it was better to go along and bail when it started to look grim than try to avoid it altogether and have Tony riding his ass. Bruce got into the lift, stopping at each floor to collect the rest of the group.

“Any idea what Stark wants this time?” Steve asked with the same exasperation Bruce felt.

“No clue.”

“I hope it involves modified NERF guns again.” Clint’s eyes glittered.

Bruce shuddered. “I definitely hope not.”

Thor got in, beaming as usual. “Friends! Does Man of Iron have a new mission for us?”

“Maybe he finally got that NERF Mjölnir to work.” Clint smiled.

“It doesn’t matter if the hammer’s foam or not, Barton,” Nat frowned, “The arm swinging it is still super strong.”

They reached the communal level and filed out, approaching the lounge room suspiciously. Bruce hesitated at the doorway.

“Nothing’s going to blow up, right JARVIS?”

“I do not believe so, sir.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure Brucey?” Clint snickered and pushed past.

Tony was standing in the middle of the room next to something covered in a black sheet as tall as himself and only slightly wider. He was grinning wickedly, but not so wickedly Steve got worried. They spread out in front of him with a mixture of interest and dread.

“What was so important Tony?” Bruce asked.

“Is it laser tag?” Clint grinned, “Please say yes.”

“Nothing that exciting. I made us something.”

Steve’s gaze narrowed. “What kind of something?”

Tony winked at him. “Behold…Avengers Tower!”

He whipped off the sheet to reveal a huge scale model of their living spaces, complete with furniture. Every side appeared to have a hinged clear door, the lights and electronics actually functional. He spun it slowly, showing them the little figures posed in their various quarters.

“I got sick of them being homeless.”

“So you decided to expend your energy building a replica of the Tower they’re already in?” Bruce said wryly.

“Well it made more sense than splitting them up.” Tony rolled his eyes, as if it should be obvious.

“I like it, friend Stark!” Thor poked a finger at the structure, “It is a fine reproduction of our chambers. Now our avatars shall live as well as their inspirations!”

“I have to admit, it’s kinda cool how everything works.” Clint nodded.

“You even got the names on all my books.” Bruce peered at the stack next to his bed.

“I’m not gonna lie…it’s a little weird.” Steve made a face.

“Cap, look around you for a sec. Everything about our lives is weird. An Avengers dollhouse is actually incredibly normal.” Nat said.

“And just think of the possibilities! We can run mock drills and battle plans. Visual aid, anyone?” Tony looked around.

“Fine. It’s good, Tony. Thanks for all the effort.”

“No problem.”

The first time Darcy saw it, her squeals hit new octaves.

“AWWWWWW, it’s so frickin’ cute!”

Steve muttered. “Battle plans my ass.”

Chapter Text

Coulson came to debrief them after a particularly difficult mission when no one could be bothered going all the way to HQ. He was their handler after all, and he knew when to give in. Tony Stark was capable of spectacular diva-like arguments when he wanted and Dr Banner was best not to piss off when he had post-battle fatigue.

The agent walked into the communal level with his stack of paperwork he already knew nobody but Natasha and Bruce were going to do and listened for the quiet tired voices of his team. He followed them to the lounge room, walked in and stopped.

“Is that a model of the Tower?”

“Yeah.”

“Tony made it.”

“And the action figures?”

“Darcy’s idea.”

“Huh.”

He kept staring, long enough that one by one they all looked at him curiously. Coulson was unflappable – they’d seen him take a spear to the chest and still fire his gun with a witty retort. Yet he looked like someone had just slapped him in the face with some kind of raw meat.

“Paperwork?” Steve said gently.

“Yes,” Phil turned, “Lots.”

Clint groaned but Tony jumped up.

“I think I know Agent’s problem. There’s no little Phil standing around yelling at us.”

He leaned in, eyes scanning the model thoughtfully.

“Oh yeah. Yeah I can see it – we’ll put him in the kitchen with a cup of Joe.”

“Stark, I would advise you not to create any replicas of SHIELD personnel that may lead to defamation or invasion of privacy cases.”

The inventor chuckled. “Don’t worry, boss. I’ll be good.”

The artificial Coulson wore an authentic tailored suit and miniature sunglasses, and even though he shook his head the handler couldn’t keep from smiling.

“You know everyone else is gonna want a representation now.” Natasha said.

“I can work with that.” Tony smiled.

Coulson raised a brow. “My advice? Leave Fury and Hill out of it. They’re not so forgiving.”

Darcy proclaimed hers better than any gift she’d ever gotten, Jane blushed, and Pepper just shook her head and smiled.

*****

Tony walked past the living room, stopping when he noticed the solitary figure standing in front of the Tiny Tower (as they’d taken to calling it). He leaned against the doorframe, taking in the redhead as she stared at the dolls with her arms crossed.

“Plotting a new arrangement, Romanov? I’m pretty sure you can’t outdo Clint’s mini golf set-up. The putters were ingenious.”

“I was thinking it’s all wrong.”

“What? Don’t tell me that’s not the best scale model of a building you’ve ever seen! I do have the original blueprints you know.”

“Sorry to wound your pride,” she rolled her eyes, “The Tower’s fine. It’s us.”

“These are the official trademarked figurines. I mean, they may not be the most accurate – the detailing on this suit panel is just all kinds of bad aerodynamically speaking-”

“That’s not what I meant. We’re not these people when we’re here, together. Outside the Tower we may be the Avengers but inside…we’re Steve, Natasha, Clint, Tony, Bruce and Thor. We’re people, not costumed wonders.”

He shrugged. “Ordinary people don’t get action figures. No one wants to pretend to be them.”

“Maybe that’s the problem.”

She wandered off and left him there, staring at the replica Iron Man sitting on the couch with the replica Pepper. Maybe she had a point.

Nat walked into the living room and stopped. Clint was probably the only other person who would have noticed it, but something had definitely changed. She looked at the superhero figures back in their boxes, lined up along one shelf of the bookcase. In their place in the Tower were the most life-like dolls she’d ever seen. On her level a redhead with the perfect length curls sat in a yoga pose in black workout gear; in the main room Tony, Clint and Steve sat on the couches in their pyjamas. Bruce – a human Bruce, not the Hulk he’d been before – sat with a book and his reading glasses while Thor shoved his face with cardboard Poptarts. The model wardrobes now included mini outfits for each of them in the colours they liked best.

She left the living room and walked into the kitchen to find Tony making pancakes.

“Hey Romanov. You’re up early.”

“I could say the same about you.”

“Technically I never went to bed.”

“Since when do you make breakfast?”

“Since I needed the coffee anyway.”

She walked around the counter and kissed his cheek. The inventor’s hands stilled on the frypan handle, Tony blinking rapidly as he looked at her.

“What was that for?”

“Thank you.”

“Oh. No idea what you’re talking about.”

She smiled and started taking out spreads.

Chapter Text

Steve was folding his clean laundry when Tony’s voice came through the speaker system.

“Urgh guys, gross! Who the hell put my mini-Tony’s head in mini-Clint’s naked lap?”

Captain America closed his eyes and sighed. It was only a matter of time, he supposed. He was just grateful Tony’s creations didn’t have actual junk.

“Although kudos on the dominatrix set-up with mini-Nat and mini-Steve. Very nice. I like the leather chaps.”

Chapter Text

They were having a movie night to further Steve and Thor’s pop culture knowledge. The team was spread over the couches, handing out popcorn and beers as JARVIS pulled up the first selection.

“Wait!” Darcy jumped up, “We gotta make the little guys comfy too.”

She opened the door and started shifting the dolls onto the mock couches, chuckling when she noticed the same movie was playing on their small screen.

“So Clint’s here, Tash next to him…Tony and Pep on this lounge…Thor and – whoa.”

“Whoa?” Tony frowned, “What whoa? Barton, did you draw something stupid on the whiteboard again?”

“That picture was not stupid!”

“No, ‘there’s a dude who doesn’t belong here’ whoa.”

“What do you mean, Lady Darcy?” Thor sat up.

She reached up to the dollhouse’s balcony and held up a small figure with long dark hair. His skin was very pale, his eyes green, and he wore a green shirt and black pants under a long coat with a scarf.

“Loki?” Steve stood.

“Why the hell is there an imitation Loki, Tony?” Bruce hissed.

“Not funny, bro,” Clint scowled, “Unless you’re planning to do weird stuff with him.”

Thor gave him a menacing look and Clint held up his hands.

“Hey, sorry. Gut reaction.”

“Guys, believe it or not I’m not crazy enough to make scaled-down versions of our enemies. If I’m not stupid enough to make a small Fury, I’m not gonna bother with the god of mischief who tried to kill us all.”

“Then how’d he get here?” Darcy pursed her lips.

They looked at each other and seemed to have the same idea at the same time.

“Darcy, drop that thing. Right now!” Clint barked, getting to his feet.

The doll hit the floor as Steve headed for the hall and Tony looked up.

“JARVIS, you got footage of when this thing appeared?”

Thor and Natasha hurried out to check the perimeter as they waited on the computer’s answer.

“Wouldn’t we have heard alarms and shit if Loki suddenly popped in?” Clint asked.

“Not if he found a way around them.” Tony clenched his jaw.

“Sir, I do not have any video of Mr Laufeyson placing the doll there, but I can show you the moment it arrived.”

“Project that shit, buddy.”

The Fox and the Hound changed to a shot of the lounge room, zoomed in on the Tiny Tower. All the figures were as they’d been before Darcy started moving them, with the exception of the Loki doll. As they watched it faded in out of nothing, glowing with a green and gold light. Nothing else moved during the clip.

“We need to scan this thing for magic.” Tony said.

“You mean like, in case Loki turned them into voodoo dolls or something?” Darcy looked worried.

“That, and the fact that he can magic anything in here at all.” Clint added grimly.

“Looks like movie night is postponed until further notice. JARVIS, let’s lock the place down.”

The others returned from their recon.

“I can’t see anything else different.” Natasha shook her head.

“And I do not sense Loki’s presence.”

“Yeah, we checked. He never actually set foot in the building. My security needs a major overhaul though.”

Steve jogged in. “Coulson’s on his way.”

“Great. They’re gonna confiscate our little dudes, and then the whole agency will be giggling behind our backs.” Clint sighed.

“Or you could inform your Agent Coulson it was all just a prank.”

They jumped at the new voice, twisting to find Loki himself reclining along the couch. Steve got his fists up but Thor stepped in front of him.

“What are you doing here, brother?”

“I came to see how you liked my addition to your diminutive shrine. I must say it’s rather funny - you are internationally beloved superheroes, and you thought you needed even more of an ego stroke?”

“How did you even know it existed?” Bruce frowned.

“I have my own methods of surveillance.”

“And what, you just check in now and then?” Natasha raised her brows.

“Screw this!” Clint snapped, “Let’s get him!”

“Wait,” Steve shook his head, “We have to know if he did something to the dolls first.”

“Oh please. If I wanted to enchant your action figures I could have found them anywhere. These Midgardians love their hero worship almost as much as the Aesir.”

“Then I don’t get it. What were you expecting us to do with you?” Tony raised his hands, “Act out Happy Families?”

“Not to mention how upsetting it would be for Thor.” Steve added, folding his arms with his best disapproving look.

“I am not upset.” The thunder god mumbled, but nobody really acknowledged it.

Darcy squinted at him for a moment, catching the slight twitch of his mouth, and gaped. “Oh dude! You felt left out.”

“What? Preposterous. I merely wanted to rattle you with a display of my powers.”

“I’m guessing they don’t make action figure villains when they’re not fictional. Too upsetting for people.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Humans are right to fear me.”

“Is this true, Loki?” Thor frowned, “Did you feel overlooked?”

“I refuse to discuss this any further!”

He vanished, evaporating into nothing, and the Avengers looked at each other.

“Did a freakin’ Norse god just risk a full-on attack in Avengers Tower because his feelings were hurt?” Clint scowled.

“Apparently so.” Natasha blinked, which for her was almost like a gasp.

“It still seems like a trick to me.” Steve stuck out his lip.

“Loki enjoys these sort of foolish pranks. It is quite likely he did only mean to startle us.”

Darcy bent and picked up the fallen Loki doll. She neatened his hair thoughtfully before holding it out to Thor.

“Here. He might not belong in the Tower but I think you should keep him around. He might come in handy after all.”

The blond took the tiny image of his brother and looked up at them. “I see Loki’s sense of humour has not suffered. He wore something very similar to this in New Mexico.”

“So...more Disney?” Tony bit his cheek.

“We gotta tell Coulson and Fury about this. A hostile was in the room with us, Tony.” Steve clenched his fists.

“He didn’t seem very hostile to me.” Darcy muttered.

“I think it can wait til tomorrow, yeah?” Nat caught the captain’s eye and gave a pointed look at Thor still staring at the Loki doll.

“Uh, right. Tomorrow. Let’s just watch the movie.”

Tony glanced at the screen. “About that...maybe something more upbeat. Who likes The Incredibles?”

Chapter Text

“Tony?”

“In here, buddy.”

Steve walked around some large toolboxes to a bench in the very far corner of the workshop. This one was scattered with scraps of fabric and metal and large floating photos. Tony was bent over a doll, glancing at his reference image as he drew on eyebrows with a thin marker.

“Is that Amora?” Steve arched a brow.

“As batshit as he is, Loki had the right idea. We can’t talk strategy without our little villains, can we?”

“Tony, I know that battle plan talk was all bullshit. You just wanted Avenger dolls.”

“And yet I’m coming around to their practical uses. Besides, I think I may have discovered a hidden talent.” He held up the figure.

Steve had to admit the tiny blonde was well-made, the face very realistic. He assumed it had been fabricated using Jarvis’ 3D scans, every detail perfect.

“Are we going to talk about Loki just...appearing like that?”

Tony half-shrugged. “What’s to talk about? It’s like Darcy said, his feelings were hurt and he had to make a big dickish display about it cos that’s what he does.”

“Hurt feelings is not a little thing with him,” Steve sighed, “Last time he got his feelings hurt he brought down an alien invasion on us.”

“Look, Cap,” Tony put his scissors down, “If he wanted to be reconciled with Thor, all he’d have to do is ask. The guy wants his little bro back so badly I can almost feel it all the way down here in the labs.”

“He’s too proud to come back to Thor now.”

“That’s his problem then.”

“And he’s not stupid. He knows SHIELD aren’t going to throw him a welcome party and wipe the slate clean.”

“What do you want us to do then?” Tony looked up scornfully, “Intercede on his behalf with Fury? Clear the way for a reunion?”

“I want us to be vigilant. Loki...he’s more fragile than he wants us to think. It makes him unpredictable.”

“It’s like I said, Rogers. Thor isn’t the one holding out. If Loki wants to be included in the team, he’s the one who needs to work at making that happen. He needs to find a way to appease Fury - and certain spies living under this roof – and I don’t think it’s in his nature right now to feel sorry about his actions, so it’s not gonna happen.”

Steve pouted, folding his arms. “Just promise me you will take this threat seriously.”

“Trust me, cap, I do. I don’t think I’m the one you need to worry about.”

“What do you mean?”

Tony laughed mockingly and looked up at the wall in front of him. “Jarv, wanna pull up the current feed from Thor’s floor?”

A projection opened on the blank panelling of the workshop and Steve’s brows shot right up.

Thor was sitting cross-legged on his bed in a t-shirt and loose pyjama bottoms, eyes fixed on the small Loki doll in his hands.

“Increase audio.” Tony said, glancing at Steve.

Thor’s sigh immediately doubled in volume as he stroked the tiny strands of hair off his faux-brother’s face. “I fear I will never again get to touch you so easily as I once did. It was unthinking, how we scrummed and petted each other as boys – playmates. And now there is a distance...that I do not know how to bridge.”

“Holy fuckin’ shit,” Steve shook his head, “Is he talking it out with a doll?”

“Yeah, but that’s not the important part. Listen to him, Steve. He’s so broken. Easily as much as Loki, he just hides it better.”

Thor’s lip trembled and he huffed back a sob, and Steve suddenly felt sick invading his private moment like that.

“I think that’s enough, Jarv.” Tony said, his voice echoing the bitter chalky taste in Steve’s throat.

“How often does he do that?” he tapped a hand on a rack of wrenches, “Talk to Loki?”

“According to Jarvis? Every night. So I think there are bigger issues at play here than our safety or Loki’s pride. I think we need to fix this before Thor goes off the deep end.”

“How are we supposed to do that? We can’t magically end their feud, Tony.”

“I dunno. Get the thunder god some therapy or an endless supply of icecream or some shit. Distract him. Let’s tell him to move Jane in.”

Steve shook his head. “He’s not going to just forget his brother, Stark.”

“What do you suggest then, oh captain, my captain?”

He stroked the edge of the bench thoughtfully, staring at nothing. “Maybe you were right when you said we should pave the way for a reunion.”

“What? Uh no, if you remember I said that wasn’t going to happen.”

“Not without help, maybe. But if we’re here to facilitate and supervise...”

“You’re insane. Barton is going to lose his shit the second you bring Loki anywhere near him – hell, the second you even mention forgiving the crazy bastard!”

“Tony, all I want is to remove a threat. Loki would be a good ally if he could be persuaded to cooperate. And if the bonus is making our teammate happy, I say good.”

“The guy threw me out a window!”

“And Thor tried to electrocute you, but you got over that.”

“Not the same.”

Steve shrugged. “This situation isn’t gonna hold up over time. Thor will eventually break down or Loki will crack and do something awful. We should try to head that off.”

“And if we make it worse?”

Steve grimaced. “Then at least we’ll have control over some of the variables.”

Tony sighed, running a hand through his hair. “How do we even find him?”

“I’m sure Fury’s working on a theory. We’re gonna have to bring him in anyway.”

“Talk to the others first. I am not going to be responsible for Bruce Hulking out.”

*****

If Steve had to describe the meeting with Nat, Bruce and Clint, he would not have said it went well. Clint yelled for fifteen minutes, then charged downstairs and broke his own coffee table. Natasha just glared at Steve in total, icy silence, and Bruce had to go out on the balcony and calm his breathing for half an hour before he could come back in.

But he was persistent, and he knew they had to do something about Loki before he became this giant albatross around their necks. If they couldn’t keep him out of the Tower, they needed to have him on their side. He knew Natasha would have to accept that reasoning – she was all business at heart, and even with her loyalty to the archer she had to admit it made sense.

Bruce he won over by pointing out it was better to have Loki where they could keep an eye on him and within easy smashing distance.

Clint was harder.

“I know you hate the guy. We all do-”

“And yet you’re sitting here telling me we’re all gonna be best pals?” he fumed, pacing his own lounge room. Tony had replaced the coffee table with an all metal one – maybe as a statement about destroying his furniture.

“Not pals,” Steve made a face, “Colleagues. It’s important to get Loki on side.”

“You know that’s never going to happen. We beat him! He wouldn’t be able to look himself in the face if he joined us, let alone trying to sort out the whole mess with Thor.”

“He’s too dangerous, Clint. We’ve got no hope of containing him any other way.”

“You think I don’t know that?” he snapped.

“I know you do. Better than anyone else, I think.”

“If you’re so concerned about him getting into the tower, why doesn’t Tony come up with some shield to keep magic out?”

“He’s been working on one since the Chitauri but it’s no closer to anything real and useful. Magic is kind of a new concept for us and we don’t have the tools to even measure it yet.”

“He’s a fucking genius!”

“He’s also Tony, our friend,” Steve said coolly, “And we know he’s doing the best he can. Right?”

Clint sighed. “Whatever.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to be okay with this if it wasn’t important. I’m not trying to get to know Loki from any desire to be social with the guy. I just want him neutralised.”

“He’ll be plenty neutral when he’s dead.”

“You know Thor won’t go for that.”

“Give him time,” Clint seethed, “He might get there.”

“And what are we supposed to do with him afterwards, hmm? When he’s lost the brother who’s been at his side for a thousand good years before these last few crappy months?”

Clint was silent, hugging himself as he stared at the floor. Steve stood.

“Just think about it.”

The answer came when he was getting ready for bed, wondering yet again how he could talk the team round. Jarvis’ soft tones interrupted his jazz apologetically.

“Excuse me Captain Rogers, I have a message for you from Agent Barton.”

“Go ahead.”

“He says he’s not going to tolerate sharing space with Master Laufeyson but he’ll feel better if they are at least pretending to play nice.”

“So...is that a yes to meeting him?”

There was silence for a moment and Jarvis answered.

“It is a yes, provided we take precautions to ensure Master Laufeyson is always well supervised.”

“Okay. Uh, tell Tony and arrange a meeting for us with Director Fury tomorrow. Please?”

“Right away, sir.”

*****

“This is still fucking insane.” Clint muttered over the comms. He wasn’t even at the meet, the idea of getting that close to Loki nauseating.

“Just keep an eye on Thor and make sure he doesn’t run off. If Loki agrees I want to take him back to the Tower before he can change his mind or plan anything.” Steve muttered, glancing around.

They were on the roof of an abandoned workshop in Jersey, far enough away from anything built up that no one would get hurt if Loki reacted to their proposition...badly. As in, classically Loki. Tony was next to him in the suit, faceplate up. Natasha was watching from a neighbouring fire escape and Bruce was on standby downstairs.

“We don’t even know if he’s going to show up.” Stark added.

“Fury said he left a very distinctive message.”

“Did he mention what kind?” Natasha growled.

“He did not. I didn’t really want to know.”

They were quiet as Steve mentally counted down the window they’d offered the god. If he didn’t show up...well. Then Barton’s hatred didn’t matter, did it? They’d just have to find another way to stop the trickster and help Thor.

He was close to calling it time when Loki suddenly shimmered out of nothing. One second the roof in front of them was empty; the next it was like a mirage, heat haze rising to leave behind a smug-looking Asgardian.

“Greetings, Avengers. Such an odd invitation. I hope you have not been waiting too long.”

“We’re fine,” Steve cut him off, “You know why you’re here?”

“To talk, the good director said.”

“About?”

“He did not specify. But I was curious, as you can see.”

Steve glanced at Tony, who merely clenched his jaw and gave a tiny nod. Stick to the plan.

“We’d like to offer a truce.”

“A truce?” Loki’s brows shot up.

“You move into the Tower, join the team, and we’ll overlook all the stuff you’ve done up to this point.”

He burst out laughing. It was a horrible, jangling sound, too light and too low at once. Tony wondered if Loki had invented cynicism, cos it sure sounded like he was a master.

“And why should I do that? I am not concerned with being part of any ‘team’, let alone one comprised of weak Midgardians like yourselves.”

“And your brother?” Steve said flatly.

His face stiffened. “What of Thor?”

“I dunno, showing up on movie night just to bug him sure makes it seem like you wanna spend more time together. That’s not going to happen unless you give up the supervillain shtick.”

His gaze narrowed. “You wish to cage me. Keep me under your eye like a tamed attack dog, and you think you can use Thor to do it. But I don’t care about him, Captain Rogers.”

“Lie.” Tony smirked.

Loki looked at him wryly. “You think you have some insight, Stark?”

“You could have killed him like a hundred times by now and you never even come close.”

“I dropped him out of your flying ship.”

“You’re known him for centuries. Pretty sure you’ve got a good idea what his body can take.”

Clint snorted over the comms and Steve had to admit it sounded bad – but at least Barton was laughing.

“I still fail to see the appeal in your bargain. I neither need your protection nor your aid, and I seek not Thor’s company. Why should I ally with you?”

“You don’t ever get tired of us throwing a spanner in your works?” Steve raised a brow.

Loki smiled. “On the contrary. I quite enjoy a bit of chaos.”

“This is a waste of time.” Tony sighed angrily.

“Perhaps not,” Loki’s eyes flicked to him, “Your proposal may yet persuade me to drop my hostility. I shall need time to think about it.”

“Too bad.”

“Pardon?” he asked Steve very deliberately.

“We’re not giving you a second shot, and we’re sure as hell not gonna let you go off and plot. Yes or no, right now. Are you interested in becoming an Avenger or not?”

He could see the wheels turning as Loki pursed his lips. No doubt the god was thinking of all the ways he could use the situation to his advantage, even with the team’s distrust. Steve was banking on the fact that he wasn’t going to turn down a chance to get close to them, and if Thor managed to reconnect and curb those murderous impulses it shouldn’t matter what motives Loki might have now.

“Very well.”

“Yes?”

“Yes,” he hissed, “I shall come with you.”

“Alright. Car’s a couple buildings down.”

“Yay,” Clint said weakly, “New housemate.”

Natasha muttered. “Guess we’ll have to move his doll back into Tiny Tower.”

Chapter Text

The car ride back was easily the most awkward Tony had ever endured. It was worse than the one with Pepper after his ‘I am Iron Man’ speech; worse than the one after the Grand Prix when he’d been planning how to tell her he was dying. Loki sat boldly on the seat by himself, posture perfect and face full of quiet interest as he watched them. Tony could tell Nat was glaring just as firmly as he was, but Steve and Bruce were both looking out the windows like they could ignore him to death.

“I take it you are all thrilled with my acceptance.” His lips twitched, and Tony had to bite down on the automatic retort.

“It’s for Thor.” Steve muttered into his fist.

“Ah. The noble sacrifices you heroes make.” He gave a great exaggerated sigh.

“Don’t laugh too soon, Reindeer Boy – you just agreed to become one of us.”

“A strange conclusion to our meeting,” he mused, “And not one I anticipated.”

Tony crushed what was definitely not pride at surprising the trickster god and kept his tongue to himself the rest of the way.

They climbed out in the garage of the tower and crammed into the elevator, Loki’s smile like a niggling itch behind his ear he wanted to scratch out. Tony took a breath and thought of Thor, and tried to get used to being so close to the other Asgardian for his sake.

“I assume there are rules?” Loki looked between them, “Guidelines for keeping the peace?”

Steve’s head jerked slightly and he looked over. “Uh, yeah. No killing and maiming unless it’s bad guys, obviously, and even then try to take prisoners alive. No using your magic on anyone in the Tower or at SHIELD. You’re to stay out of Tony’s workshops and Bruce’s lab, and if any member of the team asks you to give them some space you do it.”

“Any member meaning Barton, I assume.”

“Or me.” Bruce said gruffly.

Loki eyed him and nodded. “Understood. Anything else?”

“You’ll be staying on Thor’s level until you’ve proven you can be trusted out of sight. And remember – out of sight in my house means human eyes, not electronic ones. Jarvis will be keeping tabs on you.”

“And should I require space?”

Natasha shrugged. “Stick to your floor. Making Thor back off is entirely up to you.”

“Am I under house arrest?”

Steve and Tony exchanged a look. “We’d feel better about someone accompanying you if you wanna go out. I’m sure you understand why.”

“But no, technically you’re not confined to the building.” The inventor clarified.

The doors opened on the common floor and Tony headed for the bar, keeping his armour on even as he poured himself a drink. The captain leaned his shield against the couch and looked up.

“Jarvis, can you get Thor up here?”

Loki clasped his hands behind his back and took a speculative walk around the room, examining the small knick-knacks they’d started accumulating and the view from the window.

“Is it up to your fine Asgardian standards?” Tony sneered.

“It has something of that flavour, yes.”

Natasha moved to a chair by the kitchen door where she could watch him better – openly, not even pretending to be friendly. Tony shook his head internally. They had to be crazy to invite Loki here, knowing he wasn’t buying the harmonious team line. He wouldn’t put up with this tension if he wasn’t looking for all the ways he could turn it to his own purposes.

The elevator doors opened and Thor wandered in. “Friend Steve, you called...”

The blond stared at Loki for a long moment, at the apparent ease of everyone just sitting there letting him be in the Tower and not raising an alarm. He half-frowned, glancing from Tony to Steve to Loki and then back again.

“What is this?”

“Your brother has graciously-”

Tony snorted.

“-accepted our offer to switch sides and join the Avengers. He’ll be sharing your rooms and working with us for SHIELD.” Steve explained.

Thor’s face – Thor’s face hit Tony in the stomach like his hammer and he remembered why exactly they were doing this. Let the Cap spin bullshit to Fury about keeping Loki under surveillance and eliminating a direct threat, this was the fucking reason. The absolute shock and wonder in Thor’s expression made him look like a gawky teenager, and the billionaire suspected he was an inch away from running over and sweeping Loki into his arms.

“Is this so, brother?”

“Indeed. The choice was rather thrust upon me but I accepted.”

“This is fortunate news!” Thor whooped, making even Natasha smile, “Let us break open the mead and feast.”

“I don’t know if your comrades are in the mood for feasting...” Loki twisted his lips.

“Nonsense, they have opened their home to you, a very grave and kind thing for both of us. Surely they will join us in rejoicing.” He glanced at Tony as if knowing he was the man to convince when it came to parties.

“Sure, why the hell not?” the engineer shrugged, “I could use a few dozen drinks.”

“Lady Natasha?”

“I think Steve can supervise you four well enough.” She stood, loping out.

“Three,” Bruce corrected, “I’m not much for drinking.”

He followed her to the elevator and Steve dragged his cowl off with a sigh. “Well I can’t get drunk but I’ll take a drink anyway if it’s all the same to you.”

“Help yourself Rogers.”

He crossed to the bar and Thor crept closer to Loki, hands fidgeting warily. The trickster watched him approach with heavy-lidded disdain, finally rolling his eyes.

“Speak, Thor, since you are obviously about to burst.”

“I would embrace you, if you’d allow it.”

His gaze narrowed. “Once you would not have asked permission.”

“I once did many things without considering your feelings. I shall not be so arrogant and unthinking again.”

Loki gave a hum and sighed. “You may embrace me – briefly.”

Thor threw his arms around him, crushing Loki to his chest. The other god kept his arms tight at his sides but he allowed it for a full thirty seconds before he shoved at Thor’s hold.

Tony snickered. “Isn’t that heart-warming?”

Steve smiled as Thor stepped back to give Loki his space. “I’m happy for the big guy. And I think it’s going to have a better influence on Loki than we realised.”

“I’m not as convinced as you, captain. You really think Thor is going to talk him round? The guy’s sweet but he’s not the most eloquent of folks.”

Steve shrugged. “Maybe that works in his favour. Loki’s used to people lying – I’d bet words aren’t worth much to him.”

“Man of Iron!” Thor hurried over, Loki trailing in his wake, “Furnish us with liquor.”

“What are you in the mood for?” Tony grabbed a pair of glasses.

“We shall take whatever your warriors drink in celebration of life, love and family.”

Steve and Tony exchanged a glance. “Whiskey?”

“Whiskey.” Stark nodded in agreement, poured out two measures, then looked at the gods and topped the glasses up almost to the top.

“To Loki.” Thor beamed, holding up his glass.

“Right, to Loki.” Steve toasted.

The Asgardians threw the whole lot back in one go, Thor sighing contentedly. He offered his glass again and Tony raised his brows but poured another.

“What about you, Iceman? You want a refill?”

“Thank you. It is surprisingly pleasant.”

“Well I’ve got good taste in booze.”

“Perhaps I should have taken up that offer of a drink long ago.”

Tony tensed, the suit’s pneumatics hissing, but Loki didn’t look malicious as he held out his glass. Tony poured and Steve waved at the couches.

“Shall we sit?”

“Anthony will have to shed his armour.” Thor said.

He eyed Loki warily and nodded. “I think I can manage that.”

They arranged themselves in the armchairs, Thor next to Loki, the others facing them. The mischief god kept his fingers curled around his glass elegantly as he watched them. Steve shook off the tension and leaned forward.

“So why don’t you tell us about yourself? We only know what we’ve heard from Thor and he’s not the most objective source.”

“Tell you about myself? What would be of interest, Captain?”

“I dunno. Favourite colour, favourite food, most amazing place you’ve ever been. Why you got into magic. What your deal is with family – anything, big or small. We just wanna get to know you.”

“You do know me,” he drawled, “I am Loki Liesmith, sorcerer and slayer of men.”

“Yeah, the thing about that? The way you say it so bluntly makes me pretty damn sure that’s not even close to who you really are. Real monsters don’t realise they are.”

“Have you much experience with monsters, Captain?”

“Enough.”

He pursed his lips thoughtfully and sighed. “Very well. Shall we trade?”

“Trade?”

“An exchange of questions or statements. I tell you about me, you must share as well.”

Tony looked uncomfortable but Steve had seen Clint’s debriefing tape. He knew Loki already had all the information that might be damaging in a fight, so keeping quiet about the insignificant stuff was probably a waste of time.

“Sure. But you have to be honest.”

“Of course.” Loki smiled.

“Okay. I’ll start.”

The god nodded indulgently, sitting back to listen.

“Thor says you know lots of hidden paths between the realms. Have you visited them all?”

Loki made a face. “Most. Niflheim is barred to me, and only fools go alone to Muspelheim – even with magic to conceal them.”

Steve stared back at him blankly, Tony arching a brow in his own expression of confusion, and Loki rolled his eyes.

“Niflheim is the realm of the dishonoured dead, so naturally its borders are guarded by enchantments even I cannot break. Muspelheim is home of the fire demons. The climate is not exactly welcoming, and the inhabitants decidedly hostile.”

Thor gave a shudder beside him. “Indeed.”

“Alright, so did you travel a lot?” Steve asked.

Loki shrugged. “Frequently.”

“Even Earth?”

He shook his head. “Midgard had nothing to interest me. Your magic is archaic and minimal, your people ignorant of the other realms. There was no point.”

“The question I asked before...what’s the most amazing place you’ve ever been?”

Loki frowned. “Amazing?”

“You know, the most beautiful, the most unique, the most interesting – however you wanna judge it.”

Loki looked up for a moment. “Vanaheim.”

“Vanaheim?”

“Home of the Vanir. Their libraries hold the oldest magical texts in all the realms, and their palaces put Asgard to shame for grace and subtle wealth.”

“Frigga is of Vanaheim,” Thor smiled, “She used to take us to visit her relatives. It was a glorious place of sun and song.”

“And now I believe it is my turn to ask questions,” Loki leaned in, “Tell me Captain, did you dream while you slumbered in the ice?”

He should have known the god wouldn’t pull any punches, laying in with the hard questions right away. Maybe he was hoping if he got too intrusive they’d call the game off and he wouldn’t have to spill any more about himself. If there was one thing Steve didn’t like talking about, it was the ice, but he couldn’t run from it forever.

“I assume Hawkeye gave you the contents of my report to Fury.”

“He did.”

“I told him I didn’t feel anything. One minute the plane was crashing and all I saw was white, rushing at me...then I was in a hospital bed listening to the radio. No blackness, no cold, nothing.”

Tony looked away sympathetically and Steve passed his glass from hand to hand.

“I think that is not the truth though.” Loki said carefully.

Thor frowned. “Loki-”

“He’s right.” Steve said.

“Cap?” Tony clenched his jaw worriedly.

“I remember hitting the ice, I remember blacking out. My body was frozen but eventually my brain came back online. It was weird...not quite a dream and not quite a coma. I sort of...drifted. I knew it was cold, and dark. I was alone. I think if I’d been fully aware I would have gone mad but as it was, I slipped in and out of strange dreams and images. It felt like being half-awake.”

“Jesus, I didn’t know.” Tony took a sip.

“I didn’t want anyone to.”

“It is well enough, Captain,” Loki said, looking uncomfortable, “I too have nightmares of the heartless ice.”

Thor blushed and looked away but Steve nodded.

“Mine’s caves.” Tony piped up.

Steve glanced at him sidelong and Tony shrugged, muttering into his chest.

“I don’t like the dark.”

They were quiet, Loki looking at the floor, and Tony wondered about that place Thor had described, the black pit Loki had fallen into and emerged as a mind-control-happy maniac. What happened down there that changed him like that? Did he fear the dark too?

“My nightmares are always the same,” Thor murmured, “The slain bodies of my fellow warriors, women, children...blood staining the halls of Asgard...Mother staring up at me unseeing, Father...and Loki.”

He drained his glass as the lie god looked him over with surprise. He looked almost sorry for Thor for a moment before his face hardened again.

“And in these nightmares, am I a victim or the cause of the slaughter?”

Thor flinched. “Sometimes both.”

The silence dragged on as Loki glared at him, and Tony clapped his hands.

“Well! Not that I don’t love a good heart-to-heart but we seem to have forgotten the exercise. My turn to ask a question.”

*****

“No ba Loki, Loki, you are b’far the best singer in the f’mly.” Thor hiccoughed, leaning heavily on his brother’s shoulder.

“Sssssh,” the mischief god flapped his hand, “M’not singing.”

“Oh pleeeease.” Thor pouted, “Jus one.”

Loki wrinkled his nose at Steve. The blond was trying to look encouraging, but between Tony snoring next to him and the two gods swaying in their seats, he was pretty ready for bed.

“Rogers doesn’t wanna hear it.”

“He does!” Thor clapped a hand to his knee, “Right, friend Shteve?”

He smiled. “Sure thing.”

At least he’d be able to laugh about it with Darcy later.

*****

His head ached. Not hurt, not throbbed, it has a good solid ache like someone was sawing through the top with a rusty implement while playing deafening drum solos. Tony sat up, holding his forehead together in his hand. He was on the lounge room floor, a pillow and blanket forming a makeshift bed on the rug. There were empty bottles and glasses all over the coffee table, and he vaguely remembered Thor and Loki drinking enough to keep Jack Daniels in business for the next decade.

“Jarvis?” he whispered, “What time is it?”

“11:07, sir.”

“Where did the others go?”

“Captain Rogers is in his quarters reading. Masters Odinson and Laufeyson are asleep on their floor.”

“Ask Steve to come up? And bring me some aspirin.”

He lay back and waited for the super-soldier, closing his eyes against the light. Tony must have nodded off because the next thing he knew Steve was shaking his arm and offering painkillers.

“Tony? Tony!”

“Hmm, wha? I’m up.” He blinked, yawning.

“I doubt it. Do me a favour and don’t try outdrinking the Asgardians again. I promise you cannot keep up.”

He swallowed the pills and washed them down with the last swig of bourbon, winking at him. “I had to give it a try. And if it makes you feel vindicated, I’m sincerely regretting it.”

He hunched over again and Steve sighed, sitting on the couch.

“It went well though?” Tony asked quietly.

He nodded. “Yeah, I think it did. The guy’s got issues, that much is clear.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“But we’ve all got our own shit anyway. I think...I think if we keep it up, we might just be able to help.”

Chapter Text

Natasha was making oatmeal when Thor walked into the kitchen, whistling to himself. The redhead eyed him sidelong, watching as he opened the fridge and started piling boxes of cheese and meat into his arms.

“Is that all for you or are you opening a smörgåsbord I don’t know about?”

Thor’s face brightened. “Lady Natasha! Good morrow.”

“I take it things are going well with your brother?”

His smile faltered a little. “I believe so. He spends much time in my chambers reading, but he has moved his things into his room and he grants me conversation when I attempt it. I think our night of revelry with the Captain and the Man of Iron was very helpful...though I confess, if Loki opened his heart I cannot recall much of it now.”

She looked back at her breakfast. “Are you heading back down there now?”

“Yes.”

“Mind if I come with?”

He frowned. “I did not think you much interested in making Loki’s acquaintance.”

“If he’s going to be living here and working with the team, I should know him better. There’s nothing worse than being in the field and not being able to tell what’s going to set your partners off or what their weaknesses are.”

“And the Hawk?” he asked with more tact than she was used to from the Asgardian.

“He understands that we’re giving Loki a chance to redeem himself.”

Thor nodded. “Very well. Let us go down and see Loki.”

She finished making her bowl and he loaded a bit more into his grasp before they headed for the elevator. Natasha smiled as Thor struggled with his armful, pressing the button for him.

“My thanks, Lady Natasha.”

“No problem.”

She was silent as they rode down. She’d watched the footage from their drinking fest. Loki had given up several interesting pieces of information but he’d managed to get more out of Tony and Steve, and he’d never let himself get too plastered. He’d seemed genuine though, avoiding uncomfortable answers rather than spinning a bunch of bullshit. It seemed like Loki got a kick from being unpredictable. They expected him to lie so he hadn’t, probably guessing they wouldn’t believe him anyway. She could respect that.

The doors opened and Thor strode in, dumping his bounty on the table. “Loki?”

The god was on the couch in a green woollen shirt and trousers, legs crossed under him as he flicked through channels. He looked puzzled by Nat as first, slipping into his blank mask.

“Greetings, Agent Romanov.”

“Good morning.”

“I trust you are well?”

“Fine.”

“Does the director require my presence?” he asked coolly.

“No. I was just in the kitchen when Thor came in and I thought we could chat.”

“You do not chat.” He arched a brow with amusement.

“I do when the occasion calls for it.” She sat on the neighbouring couch, taking a bite.

“Very well,” he switched the TV off, “What are we going to talk about?”

“How much experience do you have with Midgardian technology?”

He looked a tad intrigued at her use of the word but shrugged. “It is far inferior to the other realms. A child could operate it.”

“Maybe you could give Tony a rundown of some Asgardian tech one day. You might give him a few new ideas.”

“Perhaps. Is that how SHIELD sees me, Agent? As an asset to be mined of all useful knowledge?”

She stared back evenly, not rising to the challenge. “I wasn’t thinking about SHIELD. Tony doesn’t really like to share his toys with them anyway. I was more thinking that since you threw the guy out a window, talking him through your science would go a long ways to mending any hard feelings.”

“Why should you care for Stark’s hard feelings? Do I not deserve them?”

It was her turn to shrug. “If you’re going to be living here, you two should probably get along. You’re both antagonistic enough with other people. I like a bit of peace every now and then.”

He smiled. “It is a good suggestion.”

“Has anybody given you a tour of the Tower?”

Loki smiled coyly. “It is not necessary.”

“Because you can find your way around with magic, or because you’ve already been here?”

“Both.”

“Then you know where the Avengers’ gym is?”

“I do.”

“Meet me down there in ten minutes.”

“Is that an order?”

“It’s a friendly invitation.”

Loki nodded. “Very well.”

Nat finished her breakfast on the move, heading to her floor to change into workout clothes before taking the elevator down to the gym. Steve was there, as always, sprinting on the treadmill with his headphones on. He was so focused he didn’t even notice her.

Natasha made her way to the big mats and started stretching, scanning the area to make sure they had enough space. Loki appeared beside her in the same outfit with a leather vest over the top.

“Agent Romanov?”

“Do you mind going a couple of rounds with me?”

“You wish to spar.”

“Yeah.”

“I fear you will be injured and I shall face your team’s wrath.”

“I can handle myself. I’ve watched the tapes of you and Thor and trust me, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve fought stronger guys.”

He stuck out his lip and tilted his head. “Very well.”

“No magic though. We’ll save that for another time.”

“Weapons?”

“What are you comfortable with?”

Loki shrugged. “Daggers, mostly.”

“Maybe later. We can compare tricks.”

Loki glanced at Steve running behind them. “Should we ask the good captain to arbitrate?”

“I don’t think we need a ref.”

His gaze swept her head to toe speculatively. “You trust me?”

“I trust myself.”

He nodded and squared off in front of her, hands relaxed by his sides as he waited. Nat eyed his stance and couldn’t find a weak position. Whoever taught the Asgardians to fight was good.

“You know, you need to find some way to make it up to Clint.”

She struck fast, fists aimed under his ribs. Loki twisted away from the blows and elbowed her hard, Nat spinning out of his reach.

“I very much doubt Barton is going to accept my overtures.” He sunk into more of a crouch.

“You two need to work together, same as you and Tony.”

“Is he not professional enough-“ he aimed a kick at her knee that she rolled away from, “-to put his feelings aside for the mission?”

“There’s a difference between completing the mission and watching each other’s backs.”

Natasha slammed the blade of her hand into his windpipe and Loki threw her over his hip, gasping. She put her foot firmly in the back of his thigh and he acted like she hadn’t even hit him.

“And if Clint can tolerate you, the rest of the team will fall in line pretty fast.”

“Why help me?” he blocked her next blow on his forearm, “You are Barton’s creature.”

“I may not like you, but I can appreciate the advantages of having you here. If you can change, if you can cooperate.”

He caught her arm, holding her close as he stared down into her pale eyes. “And if I can’t change?”

“I killed people for decades and here I am with the good guys. From what I hear you’ve only got about a year of temporary insanity on your books, and yeah, you did some major damage. But everyone can change.”

He released her and she elbowed him in the diaphragm.

“What do you think? Ready for the knives?”

“If you think you can keep up.” He smirked.

Natasha brushed the hair back out of her face. “Please, I’m not even breathing heavy yet.”

Between Loki’s natural abilities and Natasha’s serum-aided ones, they had the stamina to continue on long after their muscles should have been screaming for rest. Nat had a couple of cuts from where she’d gotten careless but there was one big slash down the front of Loki’s tunic that she felt pretty good about when she called time.

“I think I’m done.”

“A very spirited bout,” Loki smiled, “Thank you. I haven’t had such a challenge in quite some time.”

“That was amazing.”

They both looked over to where Steve and Tony were both sitting on the exercise bikes watching. The captain was shaking his head slowly in disbelief while Tony beamed.

“When did you get here, Stark?”

“As if you didn’t notice, Romanov,” he teased, “Cap told me I didn’t wanna miss this.”

Steve looked at the god. “I was wondering if you’d maybe do the same with me tomorrow. I can’t use knives but I’m good for hand-to-hand.”

“It sounds enjoyable. Shall we meet here at say, six of your clock?”

“Don’t wear him out too much, Steve,” Nat smiled, “I’ll want my turn after you.”

“Trying to catch me when I am tired and slow?” Loki smirked.

“I just like a good workout.”

He glanced at Tony. “Will you be joining us?”

He snorted. “Yeah, count me out pal. I’m not stupid enough to come down here and get my ass beat that early in the morning.”

*****

He didn’t stir when she knocked, but she also didn’t wait for him to answer before easing the door open. Clint hunkered down further into his nest, pulling the blankets up to his chin.

“Are you coming to the briefing?”

“Director didn’t ask for me.”

“Still, Morocco, arms smugglers – might be fun.”

“I think I’m good.”

She didn’t come closer, didn’t ask how he was. Clint always liked that about Nat. She didn’t ask stupid questions. She always just knew.

“I’ll bring you some pork rinds.”

Her hand was on the door knob when he sat up.

“What’s he doing?”

“You could find that out for yourself any time you choose. Ask Jarvis. Get out of this room and go check.”

“I wanna hear it from you.”

She didn’t answer and he slammed his fist against his leg.

“Damn it Nat, we both know he’s not here to bond with Thor or play white hat. He’s planning something, and I won’t be caught out again.”

“Honestly Clint?”

“Yes, please.”

“He hasn’t done anything. Yet.”

“Yet.”

“Yeah.”

He exhaled, slow and deep and loud. At least he had one person looking out for the team.

“I’ll get you those pork rinds.”

“Thanks.” His gaze was piercing, knowing she’d take the hint.

Natasha shrugged. “Don’t mention it.”

Chapter Text

The first time Jane met Loki, she slapped him and started yelling at the top of her voice (which was surprisingly loud for such a small woman, Bruce thought). Thor tried to intervene and only got himself drawn into the lecture, but once she’d calmed down the scientist seemed willing to overlook Loki’s faults for his brother’s sake, and because he was the only person on Earth with an expert knowledge of the Bifrost and the paths between realms.

Pepper took longer to warm up to him. Whether she was offended about the rebuilding they’d had to do at the Tower after Loki’s attack or just loathed him for all the shit he’d done to Tony, she was civil but cold in a way that didn’t seem likely to change.

Bruce had personally been avoiding the god as much as possible. Some days just knowing he was in the Tower was enough to make the doctor meditate every ten minutes, and others it was so bad he didn’t leave his floor at all. Whenever he thought of Loki he felt that sickening fever rising through his muscles, and the only thing that cut Hulk off was thinking about slamming him into the penthouse floor over and over with smug satisfaction.

He was in his lab when someone knocked on the glass. Bruce looked up and smiled as Natasha waved. He buzzed her in and the redhead drifted over to the counter.

“Hey Nat. What’s up?”

“You’ve been spending a lot of time down here. I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“Fine, fine. Just holed up with my research.” He grinned weakly.

“Not avoiding Loki?”

The Hulk screamed in his head and Bruce clamped down, biting his tongue as he breathed through it.

“I’m not avoiding him, I’m just busy.”

“Bruce,” she said with a disappointed tone, “What makes you think you can lie to me?”

“I don’t know, you seemed to believe my acting in Calcutta.”

“I didn’t know you then.”

“You only knew what you’d heard. The monster.” He said it without the usual bitterness, just hard truth. He knew what the SHIELD files said about him.

“Yeah, I made a judgement because I didn’t know you and I had to assess the risk. Sound familiar?”

He sighed, looking at the floor. “Loki.”

“We’ve been sparring every morning, talking. He’s dangerous, no doubt about that, but I don’t think he’s irredeemable.”

Bruce resettled his glasses, “You should hate him more than anyone except Clint. Why come down here with the big ‘give him a chance’ speech?”

Her face was stony as she answered. “Because Clint’s compromised. Having Loki here in the Tower with us is eventually going to drive him crazy. He’ll start doubting himself, even if Loki does nothing to encourage that – which we can’t count on. I’m not gonna let that happen.”

“You think if we all get friendly he’ll what, forgive Loki? That’s not how it works, Nat.”

“I think if we can reach Loki, build up some loyalty and trust with him, Clint won’t have to worry so much about sleeping three floors away from an enemy. Right now that guy is like the Trojan Horse, sitting here smiling and pretending to be part of the team. We need to make him believe it so we can.”

“Sounds like you’d rather just kill him and be done with it.”

She blinked. “He’s Thor’s brother.”

“I don’t think that would stop you.”

“Once upon a time, it wouldn’t have,” she shrugged, “But it’s different now.”

Bruce looked away as she turned and traced a hand over a stack of notes. “So...you really think he can switch sides? For real, not like he has now.”

“I think if Clint can, if I can, if Tony can – if you can – there’s no reason he can’t.”

“I was never intentionally on the wrong side.”

“But you never used to let anyone get close to you either, and here we are. People can change.”

He tapped his pen against his hand and looked up. “I’ll think about talking to him.”

“Thank you.”

“But you might wanna go now. The Other Guy is getting a bit restless...”

“I’ll seal off your floor.” She nodded, heading out.

Bruce closed his eyes and sat back, counting down from ten. People could change. He just wasn’t so sure about gods.

He had to approach it carefully. His rooms would be better, with the special Hulk-proofing Tony had given them, but the Other Guy didn’t like the idea of having Loki enter his territory. The common room seemed safer, more open, and if it got bad and he did Hulk out there’d be half a dozen superheroes nearby to help contain him.

He headed for the elevator, stopping each step to take a breath and reassure himself it was going to be okay. He made it inside and punched the button for the common floor, leaning back against the wall.

“Dr Banner, your heart rate is severely elevated.”

“Thanks Jarv. I’ve got it under control.”

His pulse was pounding like a jackhammer but he did feel like he had a grip on the Other Guy. He was mad but not enough to smash Loki’s face. The doors opened and he stepped out carefully, scanning the room. Loki and Thor were on the couch playing a game that looked a bit like checkers or chess but might have been backgammon. They both looked up as he entered.

“Ah, friend Bruce. How fare you this morn?” Thor beamed.

“Good, good.”

Loki didn’t look too convinced, and Bruce wondered if he could sense the tension running stiff through his bones.

“I was hoping to have a word to your brother but I don’t want to interrupt.”

“Go ahead. Thor is losing anyway.” Loki smirked.

“I was making a strategic retreat.” The blond mumbled.

“Right into my clutches.”

He stood, offering Bruce his seat. “I shall see what Lady Jane is doing.”

“No, stay,” the scientist grimaced, “I’d feel better having someone close who can...”

“Ah,” Thor looked between them, “I shall be in the kitchen then.”

He loped off and Bruce clenched his fists, sitting lightly on the very edge of the cushion.

“You do not seem very eager to speak to me after all, doctor.” Loki noted.

“I need to get used to being around you, right? Otherwise the first time they call us into the field, Hulk might get distracted from the real targets.”

Loki paled, just a little, but it made Bruce feel better anyway.

“Do you think it best if I stay silent or should we make some light small talk to keep your mind occupied?”

Bruce’s brows rose. He hadn’t expected Loki to be so helpful, but he supposed there was no small amount of self-preservation involved.

“Talking would be good. Uh, I guess I’ll start. How are things with you and Thor? I mean they look good, what with the board games and all.”

Loki rolled a shoulder expressively, turning his face away. “Oh, well enough I suppose. He is trying so very hard.”

“Do you care about him?”

The god looked thrown; he seemed to edge away from the intensity in Bruce’s eyes. When he answered it was so quiet he would have missed it if not for the Hulk’s effect on his senses, and he was certain the tone was designed to keep Thor from hearing in the kitchen.

“He was my brother for a thousand years.”

“It’s a long time.”

“It is eons.” He said, hushed.

He didn’t really want to delve into that bag of cats right now. Bruce looked for something to change the subject. “This thing you two were playing – think you could teach me?”

“If it pleases you.”

“Sure. Spending time in your company, remember?”

Loki started resetting the board. “Very well then.”

He gave Bruce a quick rundown on the rules. It was a bit like chess in that there were two sides, one with a king piece that the player had to protect from attackers, and one side dedicated to capturing him. The king could escape off the edge of the board but he was outnumbered from the beginning.

“This seems like a strange game,” Bruce’s hand hovered over one of his men, “One person’s got a disadvantage from the start.”

Loki pursed his lips. “It is a lesson in tactics. Many times you may find yourself surrounded and you must use your wits rather than your strength to escape.”

“Is that why Thor sucks at this?”

The trickster laughed. “Yes. But if you have greater numbers, I at least have the rules in my favour, and in the end that is what makes a difference.”

“Is that what happened with the Chitauri? The rules were in our favour?”

Loki clenched his jaw, eyes on the board as he moved. “Your leaders changed the rules.”

“You didn’t expect them to sacrifice the city.”

“I expected Director Fury to stop them.”

“He did.”

“No, Stark did. And it almost cost him his life.”

Bruce adjusted the arm of his glasses and sighed. “Well he’s an idiot like that sometimes.”

“In Asgard, such an act would have been hailed as the ultimate proof of valour and honour.”

“You disagree?”

“It was brave.”

Bruce blinked at him critically. “But you wouldn’t have done it.”

“I am not so selfless, no.”

He tilted his head. “You never know. Tony’s not someone most people would call selfless either, but he did what was necessary when he had to.”

Loki didn’t seem like he wanted to respond to that, so they played in silence for a little while. Bruce thought he was close to victory a couple of times but Loki always found some way to wiggle free. It was a challenge, and a good one, the doctor too enthralled for the Hulk to do more than stir impatiently in the back of his mind.

“How good do you think your control?”

“My control?” Bruce looked up.

“I mean, if you feel yourself about to turn, how close can you get to the transformation before it is unstoppable?”

Bruce stuck his lip out, avoiding Loki’s gaze. “It depends. If I’m hurt or afraid I can’t stop it at all. If I’m just pissed off, I can usually talk myself down in the space between turning green and growing.”

Loki made a noncommittal hum, still focussed on his pieces.

“Does it worry you? Being around me?”

“Why should it? I am not your enemy, am I?”

Bruce didn’t even dignify that with a response. “I know what it’s like to be feared and shied away from, trust me. It’s been my life for years now. I wouldn’t be in the Tower at all if Tony didn’t seem so convinced I could stay calm.”

“Ah, but I think you would have refused him if you were not also sure you could do so.”

“Yeah. I guess I learned to trust myself a little.”

Loki wrinkled his nose, looking Bruce over thoughtfully. “It is a terrible thing when you cannot trust even yourself, too afraid of the monster inside.”

“Is that how you feel?”

Loki bit his tongue and moved his king to the edge of the board, standing. “Thank you for the game, Dr Banner.”

“Maybe we could play again tomorrow.”

“I would be open to that.”

“I’ll meet you here around lunch then. I should get back to the lab.” He checked his watch. His latest simulations should be done now.

“I think I shall persuade Thor to take me out for lunch. The air in here is...stale.”

The pair headed across the lounge, Loki veering off towards the kitchen, Bruce hitting the elevator call button. He put his hands in his pockets, watching the numbers light up. It hadn’t actually been so bad. Nat was right about Loki – the ease with which he’d beaten Bruce and his comment about Tony betrayed his ruthless, strategic mind, but there was pain there that Bruce recognised. I t was self-loathing but also fear. Loki was afraid of who and what he was.

The doors opened and he took a step forward without looking as Pepper tried to exit. The coffee in her hand splashed over his stomach like liquid fire and Bruce jumped back.

“Oh god Bruce, I’m so sorry! I didn’t expect you to be there! Here, let me get some tissues.”

The Hulk, already on edge from putting up with Loki’s presence for an hour, rushed forward in a vibration that rattled Bruce’s teeth. He tried to clamp down but there was shock and anger and his skin burned, and before he knew it he was hunched over.

“Jarvis!” he ground out, “Code Green!”

“Activating emergency protocol, sir.”

A siren started, loud steady whoops. Pepper’s brows shot up. “Bruce?”

“Run!” he yelled, spine cracking the wrong way as his head flew back.

Thor sprinted out of the kitchen, Loki close behind. The god’s face was the last thing Bruce saw before his body exploded out into the Hulk’s giant frame, green hands swinging at the elevator door and denting the panels.

“Holy shit.” Pepper gaped, too stunned to move.

“Friend Hulk?” Thor came a step closer.

He bellowed, beating his chest before slamming the blond into the far wall. Hulk turned to Pepper and the redhead screamed, backing up so fast she stumbled.

A hand grabbed her wrist and suddenly she wasn’t in the lounge room about to be flattened into mush, but in Bruce’s own Hulk-proof rooms with Loki still holding her arm.

“Are you alright?” he lowered his face to eye level, examining her pupils as she trembled.

“N-no!” she gasped out, hugging herself.

“You will be safe here. I imagine the alarm has summoned the other Midgardians and they will either subdue or trap Dr Banner quickly.”

“You’re not going back there?”

“I do not think I will do anything but aggravate the beast. Thor can hold him until help arrives. Stay here, and stay calm. The danger is past.”

He disappeared and she sunk down on the floor, hugging her knees as she hid her face against them. In the boardroom Pepper Potts might kick ass, but right now she was going to cry until her eyes swelled shut.

Tony muttered a mental apology to Pepper for breaking the Tower yet again and smashed through the window, landing on the carpet heavily. Thor and Hulk were trashing the place, throwing the furniture at each other while Steve tried to calm him down from across the room.

“Okay, looks like it’s naptime.” Tony cocked his special tranq bullet, firing at the enormous green back filling his vision.

The round pierced his skin and Hulk howled, wavering on the spot before the drug took effect. He fell forward, face-planting in the middle of the floor, and Steve breathed a loud sigh of relief.

“Hawkeye, Black Widow, stand down. We tagged him.”

“You okay buddy?” Tony offered Thor a hand.

His sleeve was ripped off at the seam and his lip was split but he looked otherwise fine. “I am well. I apologise for your abode but I was unable to pin him.”

“Hey, totally cool. I’ll charge it to SHIELD.”

“What happened to Loki?” Thor frowned, looking around with increasing concern, “He vanished when I was in the thick of battle. It is not like him.”

“Uh, it sounds like the Loki I know.” Tony frowned.

“In the old times he would never have deserted me.” Thor said sadly.

“Pardon me, Master Odinson, but Master Laufeyson transported Miss Potts to Dr Banner’s room when you were first incapacitated.”

“What? Pep was here?” Tony cursed.

“It was she who inadvertently triggered Bruce. I had assumed she ran when he asked. I’m sorry, friend Tony, I should have paid closer attention.”

“She’s in Bruce’s rooms now?”

“Yes, sir. She is quite distressed but unharmed.”

Tony took off, flying back through his hole in the window. Steve frowned at the ceiling like he always did when he was talking to Jarvis.

“Is Loki there now?”

"No, captain. He led an evacuation of the floors closest to the Avengers’ and is now in his own rooms.”

“He got people out?” Steve glanced at Thor.

“He cleared out the offices personally, sir.”

“Show me.”

The TV turned on, security footage of a normal office floor. The alarm started going off and people scrambled up from their desks, heading for the stairs. There were a few stragglers though, workers too panicked to run or further away from the exits. As the pair watched, Loki appeared  in the corner and ushered the last few towards the stairs, prodding them forward quickly before disappearing again.

“Why did he bother?” the blond asked quietly.

Thor shook his head. “He knew they could be in danger.”

“But was he doing it to impress us or...”

“Given that he has not returned to herald his actions? I would guess not.”

“He has to know Jarvis would tell us.”

“Actually, Master Laufeyson asked me not to. According to my programming he does not have the authority to make such a command.”

They looked at each other.

“Well,” Steve said, “That’s interesting.”

They opted not to discuss the incident with Loki, but it spawned a very quiet, late night team meeting in Tony’s room.

The next day, Bruce tried to cancel his game with Loki and found the god on his doorstep, board in hand.

“I thought after yesterday...” he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Why should I care what happened yesterday? So long as you are comfortable, doctor, it doesn’t bother me.”

“Um, okay. Come in then, I guess.” He waved the god through.

*****

Loki was reading in the lounge room he shared with Thor, legs curled up in the nest of pillows and blankets he’d made in his armchair. The thunder god was off somewhere with Jane and Loki was content to take a few minutes to himself after the constant cloying brotherly attention.

“Master Laufeyson, Miss Potts is requesting entrance.”

He stuck his lip out, brows furrowing. “Admit her then.”

He set the book aside as Pepper came in with a coffee in each hand. “Hey. I’m not disturbing you, am I?”

“No.”

“I just wanted to bring you this.” She offered him the paper cup.

Loki took it, looking even more confused. “Why?”

“Because I thought it would be nice.”

“Why trouble yourself?” he frowned, “Why ask permission when you can go wherever you like?”

She took a breath, playing with the lid on her own drink. “You saved me yesterday, Loki. You didn’t have to do that. No one would have blamed you if I’d died – I should have run and I didn’t, and Bruce is big and fast. So I thought I’d bring you coffee and say thank you.”

“Oh. You are welcome.”

She nodded and left, Loki staring after her with a steaming coffee and a baffled expression.

Chapter Text

Clint jogged into the common room to find Tony already suited up, his helmet on the table. Steve had his cowl back as he leaned over a holographic map, pointed something out to Natasha. Bruce stood nearby, shirt open and barefoot as if he’d just woken up and wearing his glum ‘premeditated Hulk-out’ face.

“What’s the situation?”

“We don’t have time for a full briefing at HQ so Fury’s going to patch through here. Quinjet’s on its way.” Steve moved over so he could get a closer look at the map. It looked like Detroit.

“We asking Thor along?” he scanned the streets.

Tony and Steve exchanged a glance. “We wanted to ask you about that.”

“What?” Clint looked up sharply.

“We were going to invite Loki.”

He scowled, gaze attempting to burn a hole through the image.

“We talked about this, remember?” Nat grabbed his hand, “We want him to fight on the team.”

“I know,” he pouted, but didn’t shake her off, “I just don’t like having him at our backs.”

“That’s why we’ve got you to watch out for us.” Tony grinned.

He sighed and leaned on his fists. “Fine. Whatever. Let him prove himself, right?”

“Jarvis, get Thor and his little bro up here pronto.”

“Certainly, sir.”

He bit down on the twitching in his jaw, concentrating only on the map while they waited. He had successfully not set eyes on Loki since the god moved into the Tower by taking extra missions from Fury and keeping to his room like a hermit or spending time just wandering through the city. But it was inevitable, Clint supposed. The trickster was a probationary Avenger now. They would have to fight together, probably save each other’s asses, trust each other. He was 2000% sure that wasn’t going to happen.

The elevator opened and Thor entered, cape billowing around him, Loki close behind in his more subdued armour.

“Trouble?” the thunderer scowled.

“We’re about to find out.” Bruce pointed at the TV.

Fury’s face snapped into frame, yelling at someone off-camera, and then he turned to them.

“Everyone present?”

“Yes sir.” Steve tucked his thumbs in his belt.

“We’ve got a team of what look like AIM soldiers tearing through a government building in south Detroit. They’re not taking prisoners either – we’re losing men fast.”

“What kind of government building?” Tony asked acidly.

“That’s classified, Stark. All you need to know is that the defences were supposed to be impenetrable and the guards top quality.”

“Sir, I think we have a right to all the information,” Steve frowned, “If AIM are after something we need to know what it is.”

“Trust me when I say you don’t wanna know, but I can tell you the facility specialises in organic compounds and experimental pharmaceuticals.”

Steve and Bruce exchanged a glance that was equally frightened on both sides. “Experimental like the serum?”

“More extreme than that.”

“More extreme?” Clint gaped, “So we definitely don’t want them getting their hands on it then.”

“Remember these guys are tough to kill. You’re gonna need to make sure they stay down.”

Tony cracked his neck, anger written in every line of his face. “Don’t worry, Nick. We’ll take care of it.”

Coulson was waiting for them in the quinjet when it arrived, checking off his internal attendance list as they filed past him. Loki entered the plane and the agent’s brow barely rose.

“Good to have you onboard.”

Loki ran his gaze up and down the human. “I highly doubt that. You have recovered nicely.”

“I could say the same for you.”

Loki smiled, quite taken with Coulson’s unshakable aplomb, and sat down. The door closed and they took off, heading for the Motor City.

“So our best tactic is to split up,” Steve said, “We form two lines with the security already there; that way if they break through the first, the second can pick them off.”

“The director’s sending some field agent squads to help but they’ll take a little while to mobilise.” Coulson added.

“Remember to take the head,” Tony clenched his jaw, “These fuckers can’t regrow their whole brain.”

“And watch out for the fire.” Natasha said.

Clint mumbled into his hand. “This just gets better and better.”

He looked around the jet as the others went over the building’s schematic again. Bruce would be fine – fire wouldn’t hurt Hulk and he could more than match the Extremis users for strength and speed. Tony had the various weapons in his suit and the advantage of having fought these guys before. Thor (and Loki, his mind supplied unhappily) were pretty much indestructible. But the rest of them were going to have to improvise because he didn’t really carry instruments of decapitation on his person.

He looked over at Nat, sending her his question with his eyes. What was her plan? Guns and Widow’s Bites wouldn’t do much good against the super-soldiers. She raised a long knife in a sheath against her leg and returned the look at him. Clint tapped his quiver and mimed an explosion, mouth moving in a silent boom. It seemed to satisfy her, the redhead sitting back.

With the quinjet’s speed it took them a little over half an hour to get to Detroit, the pilot circling around to the south and heading for what looked like an ordinary factory plant. The grounds were on fire, storage sheds and vehicles burning bright against the darkness, the sounds of gunshots echoing off the concrete. The only people in sight were either unconscious or dead and all wore black government uniforms.

“Shit. Alright, lower the door – Tony and Thor, get inside and give us a visual of what’s going on in there.”

“I may be able to assist with that.” Loki said.

Steve eyed him up and nodded. “Sure. We’ll send Bruce as soon as you confirm it’s all good. Hawkeye, Natasha and I will follow.”

The thunder god ran forward as the door lowered, jumping the distance to the ground easily. Tony threw himself out after, repulsors lighting up as he zoomed straight towards the gaping hole in the front wall. Loki’s exit was less flashy, the trickster merely disappearing from his seat.

Clint gripped the stock of his bow anxiously as they waited for word, eyes flicking to Bruce every now and then. The doctor didn’t like having to use the Hulk but today was one of those days it probably couldn’t be avoided, and Clint felt pretty bad for the guy.

“Tony, report.” Steve barked.

“This place looks like it’s been attacked by dragons. There’s melted shit everywhere, Cap.”

“Any sign of the AIM troops?”

“Not yet – oh shit.”

“What?”

“Looks like Loki found them first. He’s surrounded.”

“Bruce, go,” Steve motioned, “Tony?”

Bruce sighed and jumped, roaring as he Hulked-out midair.

“Thor’s got his hammer going but it looks like Reindeer Games is handling himself alright. I’d bring the rest of the team in now, Rogers.”

“Alright. Lower us.”

They jogged through the empty halls, Clint astounded at the level of destruction. He’d been in warzones and bomb blasts before, not to mention the mess the Chitauri made of New York, but Tony was right. Every flammable thing in sight had been melted or exploded, chemical sprays all over the floor as they ran through an empty testing lab and into a black-streaked corridor. Steve slowed as they approached a pile of what looked like large chunks of glass. He nudged the heap with his toe and they made a clinking nose as they shifted.

“What are they...” he trailed off as he spotted a piece with a nose.

“I guess ice beats fire after all?” Natasha offered.

There was a roar up ahead through a broken doorway that signalled Hulk had found his smashing candidates of the day and then they were over the threshold and into the main action.

It was a distillery, judging by what remained of the huge vats and tubes. A small group of guards were hunkered down in one corner, taking turns to cover each other any time an enemy soldier got too close, but Clint could tell they were low on ammo and exhausted.

In the middle of the room, Thor and Tony fought back to back in a ring of the AIM men, Tony slicing one of his lasers at neck-height with mixed results, Thor opting for skull-crushing that subdued his opponents only temporarily. Hulk was at the other end of the room, surrounded by a swarm of soldiers and cracking his fist against their heads like a macabre game of Whack-a-Mole. His foes weren’t getting up again.

And standing on a bench in the most vulnerable position of all of them, Loki was taking on half a dozen of his own. Clint could see why he needed the height though as frost exploded out of his palms, encasing the soldiers head to toe. Their eyes glowed red, immediately starting to melt it, but Loki had time to shatter one into shards with a good solid punch before the others broke free. He froze as many as possible again, repeating the process while their friends tried to grab him.

“Clint, cover the squad,” Steve pointed to the corner, “Nat, Tony and Thor.”

The archer took off, dodging around the only guy who came at him and sliding behind the desk with the regular troops.

“Hey,” he smirked, “Busy day?”

He knelt where he had the best view and notched an exploding arrow to his string, firing into the closest AIM head. The man’s neck jerked and then his brains were painting the wall, his body collapsing to the concrete.

Nat joined Thor, helping finish the ones he brought down, and Steve ran towards Loki. The next time his ice froze a trio to his left, Steve’s shield whipped through the space and blew them into jagged shards.

“Captain, hostiles remaining?” Coulson asked over the comms.

He didn’t have much time for a head count as a soldier slammed a glowing hand against his shield, but Steve took a quick glance.

“About twenty, sir.”

“Situation in hand? Our back-up teams are still five minutes out.”

He watched Clint shoot a woman in the chest, a hole bursting open where her heart should have been. “I think we’ll be fine.”

*****

The Quinjet landed on the roof, door lowering with a hiss, and Bruce sighed gratefully as he headed for the door holding his emergency pants up with both hands. Coulson let him pass but stepped in front of Tony when he made to follow.

“Paperwork, Mr Stark.”

“What!” he scowled, “How come Brucey gets out of it?”

“Dr Banner has recently suffered massive bodily trauma and requires rests to stabilise his mood. Is that something that applies to you?”

“No.” Tony grumbled under his breath.

“Then I’ll need all of you to stay together and go through the debrief with me.”

“Fine!” Tony threw his hand sup, “But I’m taking the damn suit off and we’re gonna order in. Thai anyone?”

“Indian.” Clint said.

“I could use a burger or six.” Steve nodded.

“We’ll get one of everything then.”

“The common floor in five minutes, Mr Stark.” Coulson said warningly.

“Yeah, yeah.” He breezed past.

The rest of them followed, talking about the mission or joking around. Loki made to leave and Coulson placed a hand gently on his shoulder.

“You did well today.”

“Thank you for your condescension, Agent.”

“He’s right,” Steve added, “Nice technique, freezing them.”

Loki looked a little puzzled at his praise but nodded grimly. “It comes in handy for something.”

“Do you need anything?” Coulson asked, “I’m not sure what the recovery time is for using so much magic.”

“Why do you care?”

“Because you’re one of my Avengers now, and it’s my job to see you’re all fit for duty.”

Loki regarded him suspiciously but Phil looked completely sincere. He shook his head.

“After I have eaten I shall be fully restored.”

“Okay. We’ll need you to fill out a report like everyone else.”

“I suppose I can do that.”

They headed inside and took the elevator down. Tony was still absent but the others were sitting at the dining table, Bruce back in regular clothes. Thor smiled when Loki entered.

“Stark’s servant has ordered a feast for us.”

“Charming.” He sat with a sigh.

Thor frowned. “You are not injured?”

Loki rolled back the leather that covered his forearm to show a large hand-shaped burn that covered part of his wrist. Thor winced in sympathy.

“Jesus – you need that seen to.” Steve said quickly.

Both gods frowned at him.

“That is not necessary.” Thor shrugged.

“What are you talking about? That’s third-degree at lea-”

He cut himself off mid-sentence as the burn started to fade, new skin growing in from the sides, until the whole thing had disappeared like it never happened. The look Loki gave him was full of disdain and the captain pursed his lips.

“Oh.”

“Now, shall we get on with this dratted paperwork?”

They made it through the debriefing just as the food showed up, the table suddenly cluttered with plastic containers. Coulson narrowly saved his reports from an explosion of tandoori sauce as Thor ripped into his first helping, fading away to let them relax. The high tension that always ran through the group after a fight slowly changed into normal hyper post-victory excitement, the Avengers laughing and teasing each other.

“So Loki, what did you think of your first official engagement with the good guys?” Tony asked between mouthfuls of noodle, “Do you feel like a winner?”

The god rolled his eyes. “Your dynamic was interesting.”

“Like I said before, you did a great job.” Steve smiled at him.

“It’s all about teamwork.” Clint drawled with no small amount of sarcasm.

“I too enjoyed fighting beside you again brother,” Thor beamed, clapping him hard on the shoulder, “Though our foes were much duller than I am used to.”

“You used that kick I showed you the other day.” Nat teased quietly.

“It came in handy.” Loki smirked back.

Suddenly there was a tinny caterwauling mixed with odd moments of deep, loud song and thumping. Loki froze, Thor’s gaze darting to him wide-eyed and panicked. Clint stifled a snicker as Tony pulled out his phone.

“Go for Tony. Yeah. Uh huh.”

Natasha raised her brows as Loki clenched his fist, face going pale with cold fury, his eyes glinting as he glowered at the inventor. Tony seemed oblivious, talking quickly, but Steve cleared his throat subtly.

“Okay. See you later.” Tony hung up.

“What,” Loki forced out, “Was that noise?”

“My ringtone? Means I got a call, Magic Man. I thought this Earth stuff was way below your Asgardian gadgets – do you not have ringtones?”

“I understand what it meant. I asked what it was.”

“Oh,” he glanced at the phone in his hand, breaking into a smile, “Jarvis gave me a recording of that song you and Thor sang your first night in the Tower.”

Loki’s cheek twitched and Natasha positioned herself to lunge in if necessary, but the god did nothing worse than glare.

“Friend Tony, perhaps it is not the best sound to use…” Thor rubbed the back of his neck.

“Why not? It’s great! ‘Come ye hardy wenches, bring us another flagon!’ – I love that shit.”

The trickster raised a hand and Steve opened his mouth, but he vanished.

“That was…less violent than I expected.” Clint said thoughtfully.

“Are you serious, Tony?” Steve sighed, “I think he was just starting to bond.”

Thor’s face blanched. “Man of Iron, I fear for you indeed.”

“What? Lokes is fine. He didn’t even yell.”

“That is the cause for concern.”

Tony scoffed. “Alright, sorry my hilarious ringtone chased him off when we were all having such a civil conversation. I’ll make it up to the team later.”

He was pretty sure Thor was exaggerating. If Loki had been truly pissed, he would have snapped or shouted or smashed the phone (or Tony). He’d done none of those, choosing instead to go off and sulk. He’d get over it in a day or two and Tony would be fine.

Thor was brushing his teeth when someone started hammering on his bedroom door. He spit out the toothpaste and frowned at his reflection.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me, buddy. You gotta open up.”

“Tony?” he put the brush down, wiping his mouth on his towel as he crossed to open the door. The inventor was slumped against the frame, supporting himself on his hands. Thor could hear a high-pitched noise coming from a bundled-up jumper at his feet.

“You have to talk to your brother for me. Tell him I’m sorry, please, tell him I’ll do anything, just make it stop!”

“Make what stop? What has Loki done?”

Tony unwrapped the bundle to reveal his phone. His ringtone was playing on an endless loop, the pitch wavering from low to high, the volume persistent.

“I can’t make it stop, I can’t destroy the damn thing. The battery never runs down and every time I try to throw it away or leave it in another room it follows me. I left it in my bedroom safe and it reappeared on the workshop bench next to me! I can’t get away from it!”

“I warned you something like this would happen.”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry. Just find Loki, please. I can’t sleep, Pep hates me, I can’t fucking concentrate. If I try to drown it out or use earplugs it just gets louder. Help me, man!”

“He is not allowed to cast spells on anyone in the Tower. This is grave indeed.”

“I’m not sure it counts – technically he cast it on my phone. But I’m not much in the mood to argue loopholes and semantics.”

“I shall talk to Loki. And then we may need to adjust the rules of his residency.”

He marched down the hall, knocking loudly. The door creaked open to reveal Loki reading on his bed, long legs stretched out.

“Evening, Thor.”

“Loki, you must release friend Tony from this curse.”

“Ah, I thought I heard Stark out there.” He smirked.

Tony pushed his way past Thor, throwing himself on his knees by the bed. “I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have used the audio, it was inconsiderate. I am inconsiderate, I’m a huge jerk, ask anyone. Please make it stop.”

“You will change it?”

“Like, yesterday.”

“And you will delete this recording from your system so that no one else may ever get their hands on it?”

“Deal.”

Loki nodded succinctly and touched the phone, and the ringtone stopped. Tony breathed out shakily, resting his forehead against the bed.

“Now, have you learned your lesson about mocking gods, Tony Stark?”

“Totally. All over that shit.”

“Then I shall relieve some of the damage.”

His hand touched Tony’s shoulder and something metallic washed over him like quicksilver, cool and refreshing. The migraine he’d had for the last eight hours faded away, his fatigue easing up to the point where he’d be good to go after a coffee or two. The ringing in his ears disappeared and Tony sighed happily.

“Much better.”

“Now shoo.” Loki went back to his book.

Tony dragged himself to his feet, murmuring under his breath. “Asshole.”

“Pillock.”

Tony glanced at the god and found him smiling. He couldn’t help laughing as he shook his head.

“Enjoy the book, Twinkletoes.”

He left but Thor stayed in the doorway, arms folded over his chest. Loki ignored him for five minutes but when the blond showed no sign of moving he sighed and tossed his text aside.

“What?”

“You are not supposed to torment my friends.”

“Stark brought that one on himself.”

“I do not agree what he did was right, but you could have merely asked him to change it.”

“He would have laughed and used it to taunt me even more.”

“It is no crime to tell us how you feel, Loki. If you had only said to me your pride was wounded, I would have made Tony change it.”

“I do not need your help!”

“But you are part of a team now, Loki. You must learn to accept help when it is offered.”

Thor closed the door and Loki scowled at the wood, too distracted to go back to his reading. He stared at the covers, sucking the bottom corner of his lip in and out of his teeth as he thought. Finally he clucked his tongue and walked into the lounge room, staring at the back of Thor’s head above the couch.

“I appreciate your concern.”

Thor looked surprised, nodding. “You have earned it.”

He flounced back into his room and slammed the door but Thor smiled. It was an improvement at least. Every little bit helped.

Chapter Text

Darcy bopped her way out of the elevator, earphones in as she carried the huge box to the kitchen. She set it on the counter and started unloading cartons of Poptarts, stacking them in the pantry on Thor’s overflowing shelf. The music was loud enough that she didn’t immediately notice the thin figure leaning against the sink, and when she turned around the sight of someone standing too close made her shriek, clutching her chest.

“Apologies.” Loki smirked as she ripped out her earbuds.

“What the fuck? Oh my god, be sneakier, Creepazoid!”

“It is not my fault if you were not observant enough. I did not conceal my entrance.”

She swore again as her heart rate peaked and started to slow, taking a huge breath. “Whatever, Mr Ninja.”

“You are a strange Midgardian,” he tilted his head.

“You’re just strange in general.”

He snickered quietly and cast an eye over her purchases. “For Thor?”

“Yeah, he likes the more unusual flavours. There’s an Asian supermarket that stocks a bunch of weird-ass green tea and honeycomb ones, so I load up sometimes on my way here.”

“You are Darcy, Lady Jane’s assistant.”

“Yeah. I guess we’ve never been formally introduced, huh?”

“I suppose not.”

“How’s life in Avengers Central goin’?” she went back to her unpacking.

He watched her, taking a moment to think on his response. “It is...chaotic.”

“Right up your alley then.”

“I am not so certain.”

“Aww, are the other kids being mean to you?”

He glowered at her and tutted. “I am not looking to become best friends with them.”

“Better not let Thor hear you say that. Ol’ Thunder probably wants to buy you all matching jumpers at Christmas.”

He studied her closer, disregarding the banter as he examined her face. “You are not afraid of me.”

“Did you not get that when I pretty much outed you that time with the doll?”

“And yet you do not believe I am interested in repairing my relationship with Thor.”

“Oh I believe it. Like I said that first time, you felt left out, which I’m guessing is a common theme for you. But right now, the whole living here and helping them with missions thing? Yeah, I don’t think you’d be doing that without an ulterior motive.”

“But you are not concerned about what I may do?”

“Not really. You live with a bunch of superheroes that can kick your ass five different ways at once.”

He scoffed. “I think you underestimate me.”

“Trust me, I don’t. I was there when the Destroyer came.”

There was a second, just an instant where her gaze turned hard and accusing, and then she was back to bubbly Darcy. Loki felt something akin to a shudder through his bones.

“You are not a woman to be toyed with, are you Mistress Darcy?”

“Not if you wanna live.”

He smiled. “I think there is at least one person in the tower whose acquaintance interests me then.”

She grinned back. “Wanna hang out once I’m done here?”

“I think I would.”

*****

Steve set the lasagne tray on the table and looked around, still wearing the Iron Man oven mitts with their big bright repulsors on the palms.

“Where’s Loki?”

“He is in our chambers with Lady Darcy.” Thor pulled out his chair.

The captain frowned. “They’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

“Are you worried, Steve?” Nat asked blankly.

“It’s not that I think he’d do anything to her...but we can’t know what he’s thinking.”

“Relax, Rogers! He and Lady Darcy are merely kindred spirits. I think it is good for my brother to have someone to socialise with freely.” Thor beamed.

“He has a point, Muscles,” Tony sat, swinging his chair back on two legs, “There’s all this bullshit history between us and Trickmeister. Darcy’s like a neutral party. Maybe she’ll be a good influence.”

Bruce snorted. “I doubt it.”

“Anything that helps him settle in is a good thing.” Natasha reminded them.

“Yeah, how’s that going?” Clint gave Thor a sidelong look, “The settling in?”

“I am not certain I understand your query, Hawk.” He frowned.

“Well he’s been on his best behaviour apart from the thing with Tony-”

“That Tony deserved.” Steve interrupted.

“We’ve been over this, Rogers,” he griped, “I already said sorry!”

“Anyway, I doubt he’s just done a complete 180 and is all psyched to be our pal.” Clint finished.

He’d expected Thor to get offended and start protesting (loudly) but instead the god tapped his thumb against his plate and looked at him thoughtfully.

“I have known my brother for centuries and I still cannot say I know his mind with any surety. Loki does what he likes, and I think at the moment he likes to watch, and to be around us. Tomorrow he may like to kill us all, or he may like to save our lives. It is impossible to say and I am not certain even he knows his own intentions half the time.”

“Great.” Bruce grumbled.

“If he had a plan, I think he would have done something by now. He spends plenty of alone time with me and Bruce and Thor and never once tried anything.”

“He’s been helpful even.” Steve nodded.

“And he’s honest about not being a hero. If he was pretending to have all new morals I’d be suspicious, but I think Thor’s right. He’s an ally for the moment.” The redhead continued.

Clint wasn’t happy to hear it. Half of him was paranoid Natasha had been compromised, taken in by Loki’s lies. The other half, the part that trusted her implicitly even though he should know better, told him she wasn’t stupid. If she said he was safe, it was the truth.

He still didn’t have to like it.

Clint was restless when he woke up, feeling penned in by the glass walls. He needed to be in the wind, scenting the air and tracking his next target. He decided to hit the range and work out some of that frustration with a few well-placed shots, changing into his practice gear before examining his bows. He picked one with a bright purple grip that Nat had brought back from some assignment in Istanbul. He’d never really asked where she got it but it was his favourite when he was feeling like shit.

He was heading for the elevator when Jarvis stopped him. “Agent Barton, sir requests your presence on his private level.”

“Now?” Clint sighed.

“If it is not inconvenient, sir.”

He slung the bow over his shoulder. “I guess not.”

Cursing Stark’s timing, he rode up to the penthouse, wandering in with a small seed of curiosity. What if Tony wanted help with a project or something cool? What if he wanted a drinking buddy? It wasn’t necessarily something bad.

“Tony?”

“Through here!”

He followed the voice to the hallway, where Tony was standing in the bedroom door with a small putter and a red golf ball. He was aiming for a curved metal rail that ended in a cage-like basket.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“It’s mini-golf!” the inventor beamed, “I got the idea from that set-up you had in Tiny Tower, made the course myself. It goes all the way from the bathroom through to the study and out the other side.”

“Sweet.”

“Wanna play a few rounds with me?”

“Sure.” Mini-golf was as good as archery for practicing his aim.

Tony reached back into the bedroom and pulled out a second putter and a purple ball. “I just started. Hope you like getting your ass whooped.”

“You know what I do for a living, right?”

“Dance around playing Robin Hood, yeah. Well a lot of business gets done on a golf course.”

“This isn’t that kind of golf, Stark. A big swing won’t help you here.”

“Who told you about the size of my swing?” he snickered, lining up his next shot. The iron tapped the ball with a click and it rolled across the hallway, hitting the curve with a dull twang and rushing on in a straight line to the basket.

“Oh, and that’s a two for Tony!” he pumped a fist in the air, “Let’s see how you do it, Hawkeye.”

He grinned and held up the ball, tossing it into the air. Without even looking he waited until it almost hit the ground and swung, the shot curling smoothly down the barrier to clack against Tony’s.

“Hole in one.” He said casually, hoisting the putter over his shoulder jauntily.

“Show off.”

“Hey, you asked to play.”

“Fine. But it’s on, Barton.”

They were on the fourth hole (a zigzag between the legs of his study desk and up a ramp – never let it be said Tony wasn’t faithful to his original design). The inventor leaned against the wall while Clint focussed on his next putt. He thought he could get it in two, maybe three, but it was a tricky shot.

“So you think you’ll ever stop hating Loki?”

His hand slipped and it was only with the reflexes of a hundred missions that Clint stopped himself sending his ball flying across the room.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Look, nobody’s saying the guy wasn’t a complete dick when he first got to Earth. He killed people, hundreds of them, and what he did to you personally is unforgivable.”

“Oh, you think?” he snorted angrily.

“But you have to let it go.”

“You just said it was unforgivable!”

“I know. And you don’t have to go out and buy each other BFF bracelets. You don’t even have to talk to the guy when we’re not on missions. But you absolutely have to learn to share a room with him without going over all broody because as long as Thor has some say in it, he’s not going anywhere.”

“What do you expect from me, Stark? I can never trust him, and from the sounds of it I shouldn’t. One of us needs to keep a clear head.”

“We’re not falling for the good boy act Clint, but you have to acknowledge that he hasn’t broken the rules since he got here. He is behaving, whatever the reason, and we should keep that in mind. Cap wants us to be welcoming. Nat said if we let him in, whether he’s faking or not he’ll eventually start to believe it.”

“I know what Nat said. She thinks we can con him into developing feelings. I’m telling you he doesn’t have any.”

“I have to disagree with you there, buddy. He was pretty hurt after my little ringtone debacle.”

“Oh he’s got them. Pride, envy, anger, those are his favourites. But warm fuzzies? Don’t hold your breath.”

“He wasn’t always like this. He has the capacity to change back and if he does, how are you gonna react?”

 “None of you know what it was like to be in his head! To be connected to all that crazy. The Tesseract was like...like this mind-meld where I knew exactly what Loki wanted no matter where he was. I could feel that need for revenge so bad it practically clawed away the inside of his skull. I know him, Tony, probably better than Thor. He’s not going to change.”

“Don’t you see that you’re the perfect person to make him change because of that telepathy shit?” Tony came closer, “You saw it all firsthand. You know why he did what he did. If you make some kind of gesture, even the tiniest hint of acceptance, it would go a long way to showing him he can be part of the team.”

“I can’t believe you’re asking this!”

“It’s not just me, pal. I am the representative of a larger concern here. I told Nat she should do it but she seemed to think you’d listen to me since I got the defenestration treatment and am – slowly – getting over that grudge.”

“I would never expect you to just let that shit with Stane go.”

“Stane’s dead.” Tony said flatly.

“Loki should be. He deserves it just as much.”

“We don’t always get what we want, Clint. Justice isn’t some universal law, and the good guys don’t always win all nice and tidy. Converting Loki is basically our only chance to defeat him, and if we succeed we get a pretty useful Avenger out of it. You need to get on board with this plan.”

“No fuckin’ way.” He threw his putter down angrily, storming out.

Natasha walked into the empty office and paused right underneath the vent, eyes on the window as she crossed her arms.

“You can’t hide in here forever.”

“Or at all, by the looks of it.” Clint grumbled, slamming his head back against the metal.

“Tony said he talked to you.”

“Yeah, thanks for that Tasha,” he kicked the grate open and dropped to the floor in front of her, “Thanks for the ambush. I thought you had my back.”

“I do. I want you to be comfortable in your own home.”

“And making it up with Loki is going to make me comfortable, is it?” he sneered.

“Yes.”

“Great fucking reasoning.”

“We have to be able to trust him. We can only do that if he trusts us, if he likes us, if he wants to earn and keep our allegiance.”

“So I just have to develop sudden amnesia of having the guy play around with my thoughts so he can join our big happy family?”

“Clint, when it comes to us, what’s one more compromise?”

He stalked away from her, fist against the glass as he stared at the towers around them. “This is too big to ask, Nat.”

“You’ve got two choices and they both suck, Clint. You can fear and hate Loki for the rest of your life or you can say it happened and move on. We need you on the team.”

He heard what she didn’t say: I need you. I need you because when you’re not around, I’m not sure about myself. I need you because I don’t know how to be part of a team and you make it easier.

Clint sighed, closing his eyes as he rested his head against his hand. Old enemies had a tendency to come back and bite him in the ass. Maybe he could avoid that this time. Maybe it was worth it, for Nat and Tony and Thor.

“I’ll talk to him. But don’t fucking say another word to me for about a week, okay Tash? I need some time to not hate you for being right.”

He hauled himself back up into the vent and closed the grate with a bang, shuffling further down the passage.

“Thank you.” She called.

“I said don’t fuckin’ mention it.”

*****

Loki was a light sleeper, but even Thor the champion snorer would have been woken up by the sudden thud of a person hitting the mattress next to him. The trickster sat bolt upright, flickering green light bursting out of both hands to hang in the air above their heads. His intruder didn’t move, crouching on the bed with his features set in a grimace.

“Barton?” Loki inhaled sharply, “Ah. So you have finally come to kill me.”

“Would you stop me?”

Loki licked his lips. “In the name of self-preservation, yes. I think that’s understandable.”

“Even if it got you booted out of the Tower?”

He was silent but eventually nodded. Clint knew Loki’s face could never be taken as gospel but he also recognised the tiniest micro-expressions that betrayed what was true and what was a lie, and he could see the hint of regret that crossed the god’s lips when he mentioned leaving the Tower. He didn’t question that the god wanted to stay; he’d been inside Loki’s head. Clint knew how much he wanted to belong – and what happened when he felt like he didn’t.

“We’re gonna get a few things straight, right now.”

“Go on.”

“I don’t fuckin’ like you. If I had it my way, I’d show you a few of the tricks I picked up in Burma.”

Loki’s eyes widened slightly and he chuckled.

“You remember that story? Good. But this isn’t about us. In fact, that whole brainwashing master-servant thing can just disappear from memory as far as I’m concerned. I never wanna think about it again.”

“We do not always get what we want.”

“You and I know that better than most, huh? The only reason I dragged my ass in here is because I want you to understand exactly what you’re doing.”

Loki’s brow creased. “And what do you think that is?”

“You took our offer because it seemed like a good opportunity, right? Get close, see behind the defences and hit ‘em when their guard’s down. But you’ve fucked up. Because believe it or not, they like you.”

Loki was silent but the look he gave Clint was disdainful at best.

“Yeah, they do. Nat and the sparring, Bruce and the games. Even Tony seems to think you’re one of those tragically misunderstood Greek characters who redeem themselves at the last minute.”

“I doubt your colleagues are as forgiving as you claim.”

“It’s the truth. Also the truth? If you really are as great as they say under all the bullshit and masks, then you deserve to be in their lives. We’ve all been through enough shit. When there’s a chance for a good person to be part of the group, we should take it.”

Loki arched a brow. “And you consider me the sort of person who should be around your friends?”

“Not this Loki, hell no. This Loki should jump up his own ass. The Loki they see? He wouldn’t be so bad to have around, I guess.”

“So noble, Barton. Putting aside your hatred for the others. How perfectly valiant.”

“Don’t play the villain with me, alright? I’ve seen what it’s like in there,” He tapped a finger against Loki’s forehead, “You think if you keep everyone at arm’s length, you can’t be rejected. But you only fear it because you want to be loved so badly.”

Loki hissed. “You dare-”

“Yeah, I fuckin’ do. See we’ve all played that card at one point or another – Tony did it for years, Nat does it every time she thinks people are getting too close. Bruce is practically an expert. But it’s completely transparent and it’s a waste of everybody’s goddamn time.”

“So you are saying...”

“I’m saying grow up, Loki. Stop letting yourself be a victim of Odin’s dickhead behaviour; stop trying to be a monster so people can’t let you down. If you clean up your act these people, these people you currently don’t deserve to be around, will be closer than fucking family. That’s worth more than your pride or fear or whatever keeps you so uptight.”

“And if I don’t change? If I can’t?”

“Then I will put an arrow right through your eye. Because the thing about family is you’ll do anything to protect them. Pick a side, Loki – you can either be with us or against us. I know which one I’d pick.”

He stood, walking out without looking back, not wanting to know what the god was thinking. It had taken everything Clint had to keep his anger in check for the conversation and now he wanted to beat the shit out of something. He headed for the gym, leaning heavily against the elevator wall. He’d meant all of it but the words still sat in the pit of his stomach like a bad curry, hot and suffocating.

“Jarvis?”

“Yes Agent?”

“Tell Tash it’s done. And that I’m still not talking to her.”

“It is 2:37am, sir.”

“Tell her anyway.”

The doors opened and he stepped out, finding the bag with all Steve’s boxing supplies. He was never going to be able to get to sleep now anyway.

Chapter Text

Loki spent the rest of the night staring at his ceiling, the vent Clint had dropped through still hanging open. It was annoying really, that someone (and an assassin at that) could get so close to him while sleeping, but he supposed Jarvis hadn’t alerted anyone because it was Barton. Presumably intruders would be detected long before they got that close.

He wasn’t really scared of the archer anyway. He was more than a match for the man, even half-asleep. It was his words that were terrifying. The Avengers didn’t actually like him – it was impossible. He’d personally tried to kill most of them, had psychologically tormented the rest, and had brought down an army on their city. He had seen the kind of long-term grudge wars sparked, was still suffering the consequences of the hostility between Jotunheim and Asgard. It was ridiculous that any member of the team could feel anything for him except hatred.

And yet...Bruce did come to talk and play games sometimes, and he hadn’t had an incident since that first day. Natasha sparred with him every morning, Steve joining sometimes, and they both seemed happy to trade moves with him without fearing he would hurt them or use what he knew later. Even Tony had been nice enough since the phone incident, perhaps out of guilt or fear but he was still nice rather than just avoiding the god. Thor’s feelings on the matter were clear. And if the Avengers liked him, they must have thought there was something there to like. What would happen when they realised they were wrong?

Loki was no fool. Clint seemed to think he could redeem himself, under the threat of death no less. But if he let himself grow close to the Avengers and slipped, the pain of their rejection would be worse than death. Honestly, after the void Loki had longed to die but after Odin and Laufey...he couldn’t handle being cast aside again.

And shouldn’t he be focused on getting his revenge for the thwarted invasion? Shouldn’t he be planning to kill each and every last one of them? The hunter doesn’t worry about whether his targets like him or not; it has no effect on his goal.

Did Loki even have a goal anymore?

He didn’t know what he wanted. If he killed the Avengers (if he even could kill Thor) then what did he have? SHIELD would be hunting him; there’d be no Tesseract and no Chitauri to secure him any victory on Earth. He could leave this realm but he could have done that any time since the Battle and hadn’t. Loki was forever cut off from Asgard and any life he might have had there. What was his new alternative? Why take petty vengeance from the Avengers and cut away even more of his options?

He didn’t know where he fit anymore, or whether he could meet someone else’s expectations (if he even wanted to). Normally he loved chaos but for once, Loki felt completely lost.

*****

He and Natasha had just finished sparring, the redhead going through her cool down routine as he wiped his neck and face on a towel. Loki glanced over at her and took a breath. If he wanted to test their commitment to keeping him, now was as good a time as any.

“I had hoped to get out of the tower for a few hours today. I believe I am feeling what Stark described as ‘cabin fever’.”

“Yeah? Where were you thinking of going?”

There was suspicion in her tone but less than he’d expected, and if she’d had none at all he would have been even warier.

“I was thinking of taking a tour through one of your art galleries. I understand I must have an escort and was hoping you had time to accompany me.”

“Why me?” she asked blankly.

“You are not afraid of me.”

“I wouldn’t say the others are either.”

“Then let us say it is because I feel comfortable with you. You have the intellect to carry on a conversation and you are not as attention-grabbing as Stark.”

She stood, looking him over. “You know if you’re going to the galleries you should take Steve. He knows way more about art than I do.”

“Perhaps you could both come?”

“Sure. Let’s go ask him.”

She headed for the elevator and Loki felt an immense relief. He’d expected her to insist Thor went with him, the thunder god better able to match him if Loki started trouble. Apparently she either thought the combination of herself and Steve would be enough, or she trusted Loki not to try anything. Surely Natasha wasn’t that naïve.

Was he going to try something? Having two Avengers outside the Tower, far from help...two Avengers who were both fierce fighters, knew his style and were probably expecting trickery or violence. Maybe not. Besides, if he did something he’d blow his access to the rest of them, because no one would believe Nat or Steve was hurt accidentally while he happened to be around. More importantly, he wondered as he followed Tash up to Steve’s floor, did he want to try anything?

The captain was having breakfast at his counter and scanning the paper, but he looked up when they entered.

“Hey,” Natasha said, “You busy?”

“No. Shoot.”

“Loki wants to check out some galleries. I was thinking maybe MoMA and the Guggenheim. Do you want to come with?”

Steve’s eyes lit up as he looked between them. “Really? That’d be great.”

“Cool. Let me change into something more presentable and we’ll meet in the lobby in ten.”

“Uh,” Steve bit his lip with a glance at Loki, “Do you have anything to wear? I might have something that would fit you but it’d be baggy.”

“I can garb myself well enough to blend in.”

“Great. Ten minutes then.”

Changing his outfit took twenty seconds. Loki spent the next eight minutes freaking out and pacing his room. It was stupid; he’d been alone with both of them often enough, and he didn’t have some evil plan in the works, but he was incredibly nervous at the idea of going out in public with the humans. What if he did something without meaning to? What if there was some reminder of the destruction the Chitauri had caused and they became angry? Not that he cared for the wrath of two insignificant mortals, but it would be unfortunate to ruin their day like that.

When he realised he wasn’t going to have time to take the elevator down Loki slipped through the pathways of Yggadrasil and popped himself into the lobby. Steve was there in a jacket and baseball cap that went a long way to hiding his face and broad shoulders. Natasha stepped out of the elevator, a hoodie covering her bright red hair, and smiled at him.

“Lovin’ the ponytail.”

Loki tugged the bottom of his green sweater vest and pouted. “I am told these are the traditional garments of your ‘hipsters.’”

She snorted, taking in the skinny jeans with a nod. “Yeah. All you need is a scarf and some thick black glasses.”

He smirked at her and waved a hand, a chunky grey scarf appearing around his neck as he held up a pair with plain lenses. He slid them up his nose with a wink.

“Better?”

“Oh my god, this is gold. We might have to rename you the god of vintage.”

“More importantly,” Steve shot her a look, “No one’s going to recognise you. Should we get a cab or take the subway?”

“Cab,” Natasha said, “Less chance of being spotted.”

They stepped outside and hailed one, piling in the back. Loki felt a little squished next to Steve’s giant arms, the sensation oddly similar to times he’d been forced too close to Thor, but Natasha made herself as small as possible to give him some extra room and he smiled gratefully.

The taxi ride was thankfully short and silent, the trio climbing out in front of the flat grey entrance. The entrance was full of people, children on school trips, tourists, university students and more hipsters, which only made Natasha snort again in Loki’s direction. Steve paid their admission and they wandered into the first exhibition hall, a mixture of modern New York-based artists across a few different styles.

Loki was soon lost in the artwork, examining each piece carefully before moving on. Steve had wandered slightly ahead but Natasha trailed behind the god in a way that felt more friendly than watchful.

“Do you like any of it?”

He nodded, not looking away from the still life in front of him. “It is very different from Asgard or Vanaheim.”

“Better?”

“More diverse in subject, though I must confess I am no fan of those minimalistic canvases.”

“You strike me as more of a Dutch Masters kind of guy.”

“Perhaps. It is not all about the appearance, though.”

“Oh?” she clasped her hand behind her back.

“The paint itself has absorbed some of its creator’s energy. I can sense a glimpse of what they felt, overlaid in a sort of patchwork of emotions. It’s very powerful.”

“Wow,” she raised her brows, “Sounds intense.”

“Would you like to see it?”

“You can show me?”

He nodded and lifted a hand towards her shoulder, stopping at the last moment. “May I?”

“Sure.”

He paused again, a little thrown by the easy trust, and then closed his hand over her collarbone. He looked at the nearest work, a portrait of an old man with very dark, shadowy wrinkles in his tan face. He opened his mind to Natasha and heard the gasp as she saw the painting through his eyes.

“What do you see?”

“It’s incredible...there’s so much sadness.”

“Yes. It suggests the artist knew their subject well and he was perhaps sick or dying.”

“It’s overwhelming. I mean, when I look at the painting normally I get the sense of that but it’s distant, objective. This is agonising.”

“Ah but if you look closer, past the sorrow?”

She squinted at the piece, lip stuck out thoughtfully. “Something sort of...it’s not respect, not really.”

“It’s awe. The painter is here to capture this man who has lived a long and hard life, from the evidence on his face, and he is awed at the opportunity. You will find that in every single creative work – a sense of wonder at the miraculous process of putting something together out of nothing and giving it life.”

“You have to show Steve this. He will lose his mind.”

“If you think he would appreciate it.”

“I know he will. Come on.”

*****

It took Natasha two seconds to convince Steve to let Loki show him, and when he did the captain stared absolutely gobsmacked for a good ten minutes without speaking. When he did look at Loki, it was as the god the Jotunn always claimed to be, as if he’d given Steve some enormous gift. Loki felt a little embarrassed and a bit flattered, and he spent the rest of their tour trying to corral the warmth in his chest as he watched Steve’s face with every new painting.

“I swear I’ve been to this gallery about a dozen times since I woke up but that was the best.” Steve beamed as they headed back outside.

“It is the simplest of spells,” Loki shrugged indifferently, “Residual energy clings to everything.”

“Maybe Loki could look over your sketches sometime? Might be interesting.” Natasha suggested.

Both men looked uncomfortable and Loki quickly cut her off.

“I would not like to intrude. I am sure the captain knows what he was feeling at the time without my help.”

“So where to next? Guggenheim?”

Nat smiled. “I can’t wait to see what Loki makes of the Picassos.”

Steve stuck his hand out for a cab and almost lost it as something red zipped past and smashed into the front of the building, creating a huge crater in the stone.

“What was that?” he jumped back as Natasha scanned the horizon, automatically heading for the cover of the doorway.

Another blast hit a tower on the other side of the road, smashing the window. Steve fumbled his comm out of his pocket as Loki pointed.

“There!”

A small swarm of about a dozen metal spheres flew up the avenue, firing at the buildings on either side. Pedestrians screamed and ducked as the laser bursts shot past, a hotdog stand exploding and punching holes straight through parked cars.

“Call Fury!” Nat grabbed her own earpiece from her pocket, tossing a spare at Loki.

“Shit, I wish I had my shield,” Steve huffed, “Jarvis, SHIELD secure line now. Tell Fury there’s an attack outside MoMa and alert the others.”

“Done, sir.”

Loki disappeared beside them and Natasha cursed. “What the hell?”

But a second later he was back with the familiar blue and red shield in one hand and Thor’s wrist in the other. The thunder god wore just a towel, his wet hair plastered to his neck.

“Loki, what is the meaning of – ah.” His anger cut off as he noticed the attackers. Thor held up a hand and Loki passed the cap his shield.

“Thanks.”

“It was no trouble.”

Mjölnir appeared in the distance, whistling towards them, and slammed into Thor’s hand with a crackle of electricity. His armour grew up his arm and across his chest, soon spreading to (thankfully) cover all of him.

“Stark should be on his way, maybe Bruce and Clint too,” Natasha said, “Plan?”

“Thor, get to a high point and try the lightning. I’ll go in from the ground, reflect some of those bursts back on them. Nat, work on clearing the street. Loki, what have you got?”

He glanced up at the spheres. “I think I shall find something.”

“Good. Tony can handle clean-up if any get past us.”

Thor took off, landing atop a building as clouds gathered. Natasha made for the nearest group of cowering citizens and started herding them away as Steve moved forward, shield on his arm. Loki found a vantage spot between two cars and crouched, eyes on the drones above. His clothes changed back to his regular armour as he cupped his hands in midair, muttering under his breath. Green light flowed out of his palms into a loose circle, the shape solidifying as he spoke. When the orb was perfectly formed, Loki flung it upwards.

Thor’s lightning was overloading the drones, huge hunks of metal falling frozen to the pavement. Loki’s sphere flew into their midst and snapped outwards until it was big enough to contain them. The confused bots tried to fire on him, their shots rebounding off the magical shield to ricochet across the sphere and hit them.

“Nice!” Steve called.

The shield didn’t stop them falling when they were damaged, bots raining into the street. Thor jumped down to give them all a final smack with his hammer, just to be sure. Natasha looked around.

“This can’t be it. Where’s their owner?”

“Uh, guys?” Tony said over the line, “Think I found him.”

The suit zoomed past overhead and Loki followed its path, groaning at the sight of even more bots coming towards them with a man in strange green armour on a hoverboard.

“Green Goblin’s Spidey’s territory.” Tony grumbled.

“Lucky us then,” Steve said, “Thor, lightning. Loki, can you cast another shield?”

One of the nearing drones hit the car in front of him and Loki flinched, backing away quickly before it blew up. “I do not think I can make it big enough before they separate.”

Tony looped around the cloud of bots. “Just focus on loose containment then. I’m gonna concentrate on Papa.”

Loki didn’t waste time avoiding the shots, simply popping himself to a rooftop opposite Thor. He threw his magic out like a lasso, dragging drones into each other. They exploded with a spray of orange fire, scorching the nearby buildings and littering the street with debris.

The Goblin flew at Tony with his exaggerated cackle, hurling a bomb at Iron Man. The inventor spiralled out of the way, aiming a repulsor at the villain. He raised his arm to throw another explosive and Loki’s lasso caught his wrist, tugging him back so he had to swerve away to right himself.

The Goblin looked around quickly for the interferer and quickly spotted the god. “Loki? Playing at hero are we?”

He didn’t answer, hands stilling in front of him. Loki wasn’t a hero...he was just pissed their excursion had been interrupted. Or maybe he was doing what the Avengers expected. Or maybe he hadn’t really had time to think, just reacted to a threat.

The maniac cackled again. “Oh, poor little lost Loki. He doesn’t know who he is anymore.”

Loki scowled and reached through the space between them, hands reappearing around the Goblin’s ankles. He tugged, dragging the man through the path to land on his back next to him on the roof. He gasped, disorientated by the journey, and Loki was on him in an instant. He straddled his chest, ripping the armour open with his bare hands and flinging it aside. The gauntlets went first, destroying his connection to his glider, then his helmet. Loki didn’t know who the hell this mortal was but he didn’t care, his words sharp and bright in the god’s chest like knife wounds. He pounded the brunette’s head back into the concrete, screaming his rage as he pummelled every piece of flesh he could reach.

Voices swirled around his head but he couldn’t process them, too far gone to even notice Steve calling his name.

“Loki? Loki, listen to me!”

“He’s going to kill him.”

“Let him,” someone that was definitely Tony said, “Osborn has it coming.”

“Thor, get up there!”

“If you think you’re going to be able to separate them without getting blasted for your troubles-”

“We can’t just let this happen! There’s a due process, Tony.”

“Friends, I would advise you stay back.”

The next thing he knew strong hands were under his arms, yanking him off the mortal and halfway across the roof. Loki snarled and drove his head back into the interloper’s stomach, rolling free. He got to his feet and struck without thinking, cracking Thor in the jaw.

“Loki! Listen to me, brother, the fight is past! Osborn is defeated!”

Loki kneed him in the side, slamming the blond back into a chimney stack. Thor braced his hands against Loki’s shoulders as the dark-haired Asgardian went for his throat.

“Loki, Loki, look at me! Look!”

Something in Thor’s tone broke through the haze. He panted, staring up at his brother, fingers going limp until his arms fell altogether.

“Thor?”

“Shh, yes, ‘tis I. You are safe, Loki. We are finished here.” He said soothingly.

Loki looked over his shoulder at the unconscious and battered Osborn, the human barely breathing. Tony was hovering a few feet away, face plate up as he watched them cautiously.

“It’s alright, Loki. Let us get you home.”

He glanced back at the thunderer and winked out of being, vanishing into nothing.

“What the hell?” Tony barked.

“Tony?”

“He’s gone.”

“Jarvis, is Loki back at the Tower?” Steve asked.

“Negative, Captain. He is not in the building.”

“Where else would he go?” Nat said, sounding mildly worried.

“We’re not...we’re not concerned he’s going to do anything, are we?” Tony winced.

“Stark, he just had some kind of breakdown and almost beat Osborn to pulp. We are definitely concerned.”

“Loki seemed to know himself.” Thor frowned.

“Alright, Nat, head back to the Tower in case he shows up. Thor and Tony, sweep the city and see if you can find him. I’m going to keep an ear out in case he took this rampage somewhere else.”

“My brother may be experiencing a fit of rage but he is not a danger to us, friends.”

“Thor, right now he could be a danger to everyone.”

“We won’t hurt him, big guy,” Tony said softly, “Promise. We just need to find him.”

*****

Loki didn’t go anywhere specific, merely floating through Yggadrasil’s embrace. His thoughts were too tangled to focus on finding a refuge and every time he thought of going back he was punched in the gut with the image of the bloodied villain and those harsh tones - “Poor little Loki, doesn’t know who he is.”

Osborn was right. Loki no longer understood his own motivations. How much of what he did was for show and how much was real? What did he want? The question bounced around inside his skull until he thought he might go insane from the thread that never led anywhere.

He didn’t know who he was, so how could he know what he wanted? Loki of Asgard wanted to be king, but he wasn’t that person anymore. Loki the Conqueror wanted to bring Midgard to heel under his rule, but he was compelled by outside forces and the god would rather die than go back to them for help. Loki the Jotunn had wanted to hurt Thor for being everything he wasn’t, for taking everything Loki wanted and could now never have. Did he want to hurt Thor and his friends?

What would it get him? It wasn’t going to make sense of this madness. Killing any of the Avengers would only bring even more trouble and Loki had a vision of himself lying on a roof top, face bashed in and half-collapsed, eyes unseeing. But there was so much anger in him, anger at Odin and Laufey and yes, still Thor, and the Other and Thanos. He couldn’t let it go, even though he could see it consuming him.

He stayed there for hours, maybe days. It was difficult to tell with the soft glowing blue of the tree and the stars winking around him. The longer he stayed, the more worried Loki became about potentially returning. Would the Avengers think he had broken their deal by fleeing? Would they want to punish him for what he’d done to the Goblin? He was fairly certain they weren’t going to be okay with it, even if the man was trying to kill them at the time.

Did Loki care what they thought of him? They wouldn’t be the first to label him a killer, unwanted and barbaric. They would be hypocrites considering their own pasts, but he would still deserve it.

He found himself thinking of that morning at the gallery and how much he had been enjoying himself with the delight Steve and Natasha took in what was really in the simplest of magic. They hadn’t mocked him or feared him or laughed it off as easy – they’d thought it was amazing, that Loki was amazing. He’d been almost...content.

Thor was rinsing out his dishes in the sink, humming a sad soft song to himself. They hadn’t found a trace of Loki for thirty-two hours and it looked like his brother had run hard and fast. If he wasn’t in Midgard anymore then he was beyond their reach, possibly forever. Thor didn’t really want to think about it. He’d already lost Loki once.

He put the last fork down and dried his hands, walking out of the kitchen. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself but he didn’t want to be alone. Maybe Tony or Steve would keep him company.

“Jarvis, where is friend Steve?”

“In the gym, sir.”

“And Tony?”

“The penthouse.”

“Tell him I come to seek his solace, if it pleases him.”

Loki appeared on the other side of the lounge, looking exhausted and battle-worn, arms hanging at his sides listlessly. Thor blinked, stunned silent. It took him a moment to understand and then relief flooded his system, the blond striding across the room to bundle Loki into his arms, cradling his head to Thor’s shoulder.

“Loki, by the Norns, I am pleased to have you back!”

“How long was I gone?”

“A little over a day. Are you well? Are you injured?”

“No, no, I am not harmed.” He pulled away gently and Thor let him go, eyes on him anxiously.

“I’m glad you returned. Will you...will you tell me where you were?”

“I was nowhere.”

“When you vanished we feared the worst. The ferocity of your attack...”

“Are they angry with me?”

“Who?”

His lip trembled slightly. “The Midgardians.”

“For almost slaying their foe? I do not see why they should be infuriated at that.”

“These people do not follow the codes of Asgard, Thor!” he threw his hands up, “They reserve punishment for their lawmen.”

“No one has spoken to me of your actions with anything but sympathy, Loki. I do not think they will hold it against you when they understand the confusion you must feel.”

“I am not confused.” he said, but it was so weak he knew even Thor wouldn’t fall for it.

“Go, you are still covered in the remnants of the fight,” Thor touched his shoulder gently, “Eat and bathe, rest, and then we shall see what the others say, hmm?”

Loki spent the next two days tense that he was about to be reprimanded or evicted at any moment. He avoided the common floor at first, but once the team heard he was back they all dropped by to check on him. Nobody said a word about Osborn, only asking if he was okay, and once they’d all seen him they kept inviting him to meals and things.

It was almost like it hadn’t happened, with the exception of the not-quite-concerned, not-quite-curious looks he was getting and the constant upheaval in his own head.

Loki wasn’t sure if this was somewhere he could fit, or if he even wanted to. Did he want to be a hero? Did he want to risk his life for others, knowing he might never get anything in return?

But as he looked around the dining table, the Avengers laughing and teasing each other, he realised there was a lot to be had from being part of a team. They made it look easy in the same way it had always flowed so well between Thor and Sif and the Warriors Three. Loki had always resented their companionship because he knew he was only included as a courtesy to his brother. Here though...

Here the Avengers were not staunch Asgardian warriors. They were scientists and soldiers and spies, people with different backgrounds and interests, some he could even relate to. And they were much more accepting of him and his magic, and his disinterest in the glory of battle. Maybe if he couldn’t have fame and power, having friends like these would be enough.

Chapter Text

Darcy walked into the living room humming under her breath and headed for the massive DVD cabinet. She flicked through a couple of covers idly, not really sure what she wanted to watch. It was just a grey, weary kind of day and she wasn’t sure what else to do. The Tower was quiet and quiet was boring.

Her gaze drifted to Tiny Tower and she grinned. Maybe there was some fun to be had there. She shuffled over on her knees and lifted the cover off, gasping.

Someone had created an elaborate scene in the common living room. The whole place was decorated with tiny streamers and baubles and miniature balloons. The Avengers, their better halves, Coulson and Loki were all posed either dancing or sitting around drinking, but the dolls wore the most detailed and beautiful costumes she’d ever seen. The girls had huge dresses that reminded her of Marie Antoinette, the bulging satin covered in bows and lace, and the guys all had cravats and canes and awesome white wigs with ribbons and curls.

“This is amazing. Jarvis, show me who did this!”

The AI pulled up the footage from the room. At first it was just the tower, and then Loki entered furtively and sat cross-legged before it. He picked up the dolls and moved them, magic transforming their outfits and creating the decorations, and when he had everyone in place he snapped his fingers and the little figures started moving on their own.

“Holy fuckballs! That is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

She glanced at the tower again to make sure they weren’t moving now, as on the video they danced and gestured silently.

“He has got to show me that.”

Jarvis’ camera drifted from the tower to Loki, his gaze wistful as he watched them, and Darcy’s smile faded. Loki wanted to be accepted. He could have enchanted the little dolls to fight or bow down to him or even murder each other but he’d created a party instead. She looked at the small Loki doll sitting between her and Bruce while mini-Tony and mini-Pepper danced beside Thor and Jane. This was what Loki wished he had. She might only be a college student, but that seemed like a pretty good sign.

“Jarv,” Darcy tugged the cover back down over the tower, “Where’s Tony now?”

“In his bedroom, Miss Lewis.”

“Sleeping?”

There was a pause. “No.”

“Is he with Pepper?”

“No.”

“Then tell him to get his ass in here. We need to talk.”

Loki stepped out of the elevator to find everyone else was already at the table, Steve spooning salad onto his plate as Natasha sipped what looked like sangria.

“This is a veritable feast.” He smiled at Pepper as he took his seat.

“Don’t praise me too highly, I ordered in.”

“Fantastic ordering skills, Pep.” Tony threw her a thumbs-up.

“Well technically Jarvis-”

“Shut up and take the credit.” Nat smirked.

Pepper grinned. “Alright. Thanks, everybody.”

“Hey speaking of everybody, we should have a movie night,” Tony perked up, “Cap and Thunderbutt have a lot of good Earth culture to catch up on.”

“And Loki too.” The god added with a slight hint of reproach to his tone.

“Are you kidding? I’m betting the magician knows more about Midgardian film history than I do.”

Loki snorted. “It was not an area of particular interest in my studies, Stark.”

“Still, you’re like the embodiment of curious. Your idea of ‘no particular interest’ is probably insanely thorough.”

He shrugged in semi-agreement, not sure if there was a compliment wrapped up in there.

“So movies! Everybody keep Saturday free,” Tony waved his hand, “You hear that Lokes? Tell all your supervillain buddies to take a night off. We have important team shit to do.”

“I shall send them a text.” He drawled.

“Do that.”

*****

He’d completely forgotten about it by Saturday. Thor went off to see Jane and Loki decided to treat himself to a bath. He was soaking when Jarvis interrupted the silence.

“Master Laufeyson, sir has asked that you join him in the common sitting room right away.”

“Is something the matter?”

“There is no emergency as far as I am aware.”

“Then he can wait until after my bath.”

Jarvis obviously relayed that because a moment later it was Tony’s voice blaring through the speakers.

“Get your Asgardian butt up here. Team stuff, remember?”

Loki sighed. “I am currently immersed, Stark.”

“Well hurry it up.”

He rolled his eyes but climbed out, emptying the tub. He was dry with a wave and clothed in another, choosing a more casual Midgardian sweater and slacks rather than fussing with his armour. Loki took the elevator up, determined to hold this against Tony for at least twenty minutes. The doors opened and he stared, unable to move.

Someone had attacked the living room with a glitter gun and some kind of streamer bomb. All the furniture had been pushed to the edges of the room to clear a large dance floor, one table covered in snacks. The other Avengers were all there, even Thor, wearing what looked like exact replicas of the tiny masquerade outfits he’d put their dolls in – right down to the masks. They were giving him identical smug smiles.

“What is this?” he whispered.

“Darcy liked your little display so much she convinced me to throw the party for real.” Tony walked over and handed him a champagne flute.

“This is...the costumes alone would have needed multiple seamstresses.” He eyed the intricate embroidery along the hem of Tony’s coat and noted that all the runes were accurate.

“You’re telling me. I had to foot the bill for these slackers.”

“Why would you go to all this trouble?”

“Because it’s totally fun. Duh.” Darcy snorted.

“Hey, you gonna make with the magic? You’re a little underdressed” Tony nudged him.

Loki smiled and changed his outfit, the 18^th century suede coat and hose strange but comfortable compared to Asgardian formal dress. His mask had tiny curved points at the top in a mockery of his helmet and Tony chuckled, beckoning him out of the elevator and pressing a glass into his hand.

“That’s the spirit. Drink up, we have enough of this stuff to drown an elephant. Or maybe your brother.”

“You underestimate Thor.”

“Trust me, I didn’t. I have seen him drink before.”

Loki found himself shuffled towards the couch, Darcy on one side and Natasha on the other. Jane was trying to teach Thor something called the ‘Twist’ with Pepper’s help, while Tony, Bruce and Steve chatted by the kitchen. Coulson perched on the arm of the couch next to Darcy and Loki raised a brow.

“I am surprised they convinced you to come, agent.”

“What can I say – I thought somebody should supervise. Stark has poor enough impulse control before you even factor in your brother, Dr Banner and alcohol.”

“And you dressed up.” He nodded to the man’s dark black velvet coat.

“It’s a costume party.” He said, as if that explained everything.

“I have to say Loki, these dresses are totally bitchin’.” Darcy spread her red satin skirts happily.

“Yeah. You’ve got quite an eye.” Natasha added.

“Call it a childhood amongst the ladies of the court.”

Darcy wiggled her brows. “Oh really?”

Loki huffed out a laugh. “Not like that. I spent a lot of time with Frigga studying magic.”

“Sounds fun.”

“It was usually quite frustrating, actually. There’s just so much that can go wrong with magic.”

“You should spend more time with the Science Bros and Jane. You’d totally blow their little human minds.”

“Well we don’t want that, do we?” he smirked.

“Seriously,” Natasha agreed, “You could be a lot of help to them. Tony’s huge on his clean energy stuff at the moment and I know Asgard probably had that stuff mastered centuries ago.”

“You think they would appreciate my input?” he glanced at the engineer.

“Uh, yeah. You’re like super smart, dude.”

Loki hid his pleased smile in his cup. “Perhaps we could make a trade, a lesson for a lesson. I am intrigued by this concept of bacon pancakes.”

“Do gods need to worry about cholesterol?” Natasha eyed him sidelong.

“I do not know what that is.”

“That’s a no then.”

“Tell us more about the magic.” Darcy bounced excitedly.

“You truly want to hear it? It is mostly dull books of theory and what your scientists would call formulas.”

“Loki, you can teleport and make yourself look different and be invisible. That shit is crazy cool, even if you think it’s all dry numbers.”

“Maybe Loki can skip the complicated explanations and stick to anecdotes,” Coulson smiled at him, “We don’t all understand the basics of astrophysics.”

“Very well. How about the time I tricked Thor into thinking I’d turned him into a goat?”

“What?” Darcy laughed.

“Well I didn’t actually possess the skill to do so, but I could cast an illusion that made him appear and sound like one.”

“What did he do?” Natasha bit back a smile.

“He had a very large and panicked tantrum and then attempted to run away on all fours.”

Darcy snorted loudly and the thunder god looked over as he and Jane swept past. Loki couldn’t help chuckling with her. It had been a good trick. Frigga had scolded him about using spells on his brother but the sight of Thor’s temporarily fluffy tail wagging had been worth it.

“How about a tale of the time Thor and I decided to go to Nidavellir to buy Frigga a birthday present?”

“Are there more magical pranks?”

“No, but there are dwarves.”

“Awesome.”

Clint leaned over the balcony rail, soaking in the feeling of being so close to the clouds. He always liked looking down on people. It made it easier to predict what they were going to do while staying out of their reach. The door opened and he glanced up, freezing as Loki took a step outside.

“I hope I am not disturbing you.”

“Whatever.” He straightened, not comfortable showing any weakness around the god.

“I know you are not thrilled to be sharing the tower with me, let alone enduring my company. I will not force myself into your path, I assure you.”

“Uh, thanks. I sort of expected you to go out of your way to piss me off.”

“I might have done so when I first got here, but now...” he glanced at the people dancing inside, the bedazzled living room and elaborate costumes that had all been arranged for him, and from a stupid spur of the moment doll arrangement at that.

“You want them to like you.”

“It is dangerous to want such things.” He replied softly.

Clint knew that well enough. “Give them the benefit of the doubt, okay? They’re pretty good at ignoring people’s rough edges.”

“I am not certain they can be trusted. After all, did they not ask you to tolerate a man who played with your mind? That does not sound like friendship to me.”

“It was shitty, yeah. But Tash never asks me to do anything without a good reason and it’s usually one I can’t see until it’s already happening.”

Loki nodded solemnly, looking down at the world below. “For what it is worth...I am sorry for what I did to you. My actions were not entirely my own.”

Clint’s brows shot up. He scanned the god’s face for any hint of a lie but Loki’s lips were pressed together grimly, his hands tight on the rail. It seemed sincere enough.

“Thanks.”

“I know what it is like to have your life toyed with by greater forces. At the time we met I thought if I could outdo Odin I would prove he had no hold over me, that he was wrong, that I was a worthier son than Thor. Now I have no further desire to emulate that monster, nor win his approval.”

He turned and headed back inside, closing the door behind him, and Clint was stuck somewhere between shock and confusion. The trickster wouldn’t open up to his own brother and here he was spilling his guts to the person with the most reasons to want him dead? Maybe he felt guilty. Maybe he felt he owed Clint something, though whether for the brainwashing or putting up with him was still unclear.

He wasn’t about to fall down in a heap and sob for Loki’s misfortunes, but he felt something like a shade of pity for the older man. He knew what it was like to feel like dirt under someone else’s shoe.

The door opened again and Clint sighed. “I did come out here for some peace, you know.”

There was a rustle of fabric as someone came closer. He looked up at Nat, the redhead’s face mostly blank, but he knew her well enough to see the apology there. Clint sighed and raised his arm.

“Come on then. You know I can’t stay mad at you.”

She leaned against his shoulder and he wrapped the arm around her waist, the two of them letting the silence say enough.

By two in the morning both Coulson and Bruce had beat a hasty retreat. The doctor had claimed being tired never worked out well for his control and though Tony tried to argue, Steve and Pepper managed to convince him to let it go.

Thor was fantastically drunk, giggling to Jane in a corner, and Darcy reckoned there was maybe fifteen minutes before they disappeared downstairs. Natasha and Clint were slow dancing, muttering to each other and smiling. Everyone else was at the bar except Loki, who was sitting on the steps up to the balcony by himself.

She made her way over and stopped right next to him, skirts swishing. That sound never got old.

“Mind if I join you?”

“Go ahead.”

She sat, taking a moment to rearrange everything and get comfortable before hugging her knees. She followed the god’s gaze to Tony and Steve at the bar.

“You could go over and hang, you know.”

“I was just taking a moment. I feel the feast is almost at its end and I wanted to drink in the music before it is over.”

“Hey, don’t you bail on me. I intend to keep partying til the sun comes up.”

He glanced at the window behind them. “It will be quite the view.”

“Come on, you can’t really be thinking of leaving yet. It’s early!”

He smiled. “It is decidedly not. But I admit I have no wish to return to my chambers tonight. I fear they will be less than peaceful.”

He shot a pointed look at Thor and Jane making out and Darcy snickered.

“Yeah. I bet it’s gonna be all ‘oh Thor, what a hammer!’ for the next hour or two.”

“Try four.”

Her brows shot up. “Way to go Jane!”

He gave her a bemused smile and drained the rest of his glass. Darcy nudged his shoulder.

“Come on. Stay up with me.”

Loki sighed. “Surely you have better company.”

“Nope.”

Loki made a strangled noise of frustration. “You are incredibly stubborn, do you know that?”

“Jane says so all the time.”

“Fine. I shall greet the sun with you, since my alternative is to let Thor psychologically scar me even more than he already has.”

Thor and Jane disappeared first, and then Steve, and then Tony and Pepper. Nat and Clint headed off but Loki didn’t think they were going to bed; they both seemed too wired. He supposed they spent a lot of time working late hours. He had a feeling if he asked Jarvis he’d either find them in the gym or one of the kitchens.

Darcy yawned beside him on the couch and Loki shook his head.

“You should go to bed.”

“No, damn it! I’m gonna see this through. It’s already four; sunrise can’t be far off.”

“Well your eyelids look set to fall before it gets here.”

“Distract me then.”

“With what, more stories?”

“No, I’ll probably fall asleep if we keep sitting here. Dance with me.”

He made a face and she sat up, poking his stomach.

“Come on. I think it’s kinda weird that someone who wanted a masked ball spent the whole night avoiding the floor.”

“I do not really dance-”

“Too bad. If even Thor can manage it, you should be a regular Fred Astaire.”

“Who?” he asked as she grabbed his hand and stood, dragging him to his feet.

“Darcy!” he tripped over himself following her to the open space.

“Shush,” she faced him, moving his other hand to her waist before placing hers on his shoulder, “Shut up and dance. Jarvis, give us some tunes.”

Loki grumbled but the music started, slow and light, and Darcy didn’t wait for him to take the lead. He had to move or risk one of them falling over, and as soon as his feet found the rhythm they were circling around the room gracefully hand in hand.

“You tricked me.”

“Doesn’t hurt to give you a taste of your own medicine once in awhile.” She wrinkled her nose.

He scoffed but kept dancing, thinking how long it had been since he’d done this.

“Dude, you're really good.”

“We had lessons as children.” He shrugged.

“Why were you playing wallflower all evening?”

He looked down, voice low. “I didn’t think anyone would want to dance with me.”

Darcy squeezed his hand until he looked up. “Well I do.”

Loki gave her a very small smile. “Yes. Thank you.”

They twirled and slowly turned and when the first orange rays crested the horizon, Darcy dragged him over to the window to sit on the floor and watch.

Loki thought it might have been the best party he’d ever been to.

Chapter Text

Loki wasn’t quite sure what woke him up. He’d been dreaming, though he couldn’t remember it now, and then something had tugged him awake. He lay still for a moment, keeping his body relaxed as he assessed the space around him. The room was in total darkness – not surprising, given that it was late, but it was more than that. The appliances usually had at least one or two winking lights to show they were on standby. He couldn’t even see those pinpricks.

He reached out with his magic, sweeping the walls. There was no trace of a spell, so the darkness was manmade. A blackout? But the Tower ran on its own arc reactor, unconnected to the grid. Perhaps it had malfunctioned? He pushed his awareness out further and stopped. There was nothing but silent empty space where Jarvis’ usual hum should be. Surely the AI ran on a separate backup power source. Tony wouldn’t leave himself vulnerable like that.

With an increasingly bad feeling, Loki pushed not only his magical senses but his real ones as far as they could go in all directions just as something jingled in the hall outside. The god rolled out of bed as the door flung open, something whistling into the pillow where his head had been. He flung a huge wave of light at the opening, clenching his eyes against the glare. Apparently it didn’t agree with the intruders either; when he stuck his head over the edge of the mattress they were ripping thick black goggles off their faces and cursing as they rubbed their eyes. They looked like soldiers, all in black with large rifles. He glanced at the pillow and made out the distinct shape of a dart.

“You are making a very big mistake.” He scowled, calling his armour.

One of them managed to clear his sight enough to aim and fire, the projectile whizzing past Loki’s ear. He popped away, reappearing in the hallway behind them. There were five, two crouched in the doorway with one standing behind them and two facing into the apartment to cover their backs. They spotted him immediately and fired, Loki dodging the tranqs effortlessly.

“The five of you, just for me? I’m flattered.”

Then he was lunging at them, too close for the soldiers to get their weapons up. The one closest didn’t have enough time to think before Loki snapped his neck, but his friend was smart enough to drop his rifle and draw a knife. He swung his elbow up hard, blade aimed at a slash across Loki’s chest, but the god caught his hand and crushed, bone splintering as the knife fell into his hand.

He jammed it through the commando’s throat and let him drop, kicking at the ones trying to hamstring him. They flew into the bedroom and tumbled over the floor. He snatched one of the rifles from the floor and rammed the butt hard into his opponent’s temple. He went limp and Loki shot the man scrambling to get a fix on him.

“Oh dear. I hope these aren’t poisonous.” He cocked the gun again, aiming at the last attacker.

He reached a hand up to his shoulder towards what looked like a radio and Loki shot him, sighing as the dart pierced his neck.

“Well, that was disappointing.”

He bent the rifle’s barrel back on itself until it was useless, dropping it on his bed. Loki grabbed his long knives and crept out into the hallway. There didn’t seem to be anyone else on the floor. Thor was at Jane’s, so he didn’t have to worry about his brother – or maybe he did. Were these men after him specifically or the Avengers in general? He needed to check on the others.

The elevator and the stairs were both too risky, but Loki didn’t need normal pathways. He cloaked himself and shifted to the next floor up, Steve’s. This level was also dark but Loki conjured a small light and held it up to survey the damage. It looked like a whirlwind had swept through the lounge room, furniture kicked into the wall so hard it had shattered. Why hadn’t he heard this? Tony’s walls must have been better soundproofed than he thought – and then he remembered someone saying the entire top of the Tower had been rebuilt after the Chitauri attack with new Hulk-resistant materials. They couldn’t risk Bruce having an episode fifty-odd storeys in the air and bringing the whole place down.

Steve wasn’t here, though there was an unconscious soldier.

“Nice sense of camaraderie, leaving you like that.” He muttered.

He moved upwards to Clint’s floor and immediately cringed back against the wall. More men were sweeping it, their guns up. There was no sign of the archer but his bow was on the bedroom floor.

Loki decided finding the others took priority over taking out this group, and he moved to Natasha’s level. She was being dragged out, her face a bloody mess, no sign of a dart in her body but apparently unconscious. There were more dead soldiers here, one man limping as he supervised the remaining two moving her.

Anger curled up Loki’s spine and he flung a dagger into the neck of the nearest commando. He gurgled and clutching at his throat, falling. Without his help the other man dropped Natasha heavily, whipping his gun towards the invisible spot that was Loki.

“What the-” the third man started before he fell with a knife in his eye.

Loki raised a brow as Clint somersaulted down out of the air vent and slashed the last soldier’s throat.

“I see you noticed our guests too.” He said, no louder than a murmur as he dropped the concealment spell.

“Takes a lot more than these amateurs to sneak up on me.” he panted, crouching to check Natasha’s pulse.

Loki hurried to his side. “Is she alright?”

“She put up a fight. I’d have been here to help sooner but the bastards had me trapped for a moment.”

“I subdued mine but Captain Rogers is missing. His chambers have been demolished.”

“God, I hope they haven’t got Bruce. Fuck, look what they did to her!”

Loki pressed a hand to Nat’s broken nose and whispered, light spilling out to fill her skin. The breaks realigned, swelling already going down. She still looked like shit but her airway was stable at least.

“We should find the others.”

“I don’t wanna leave her.”

“You cannot bring her with us.”

Clint sighed but nodded. “Help me get her under the bed.”

The two of them carried her gently down the hall and placed Natasha on the floor, sliding her under the frame. Clint tugged the covers down to hide the gap and stood back, rearming himself from Nat’s fallen victims.

“Is there any way of sending a message to SHIELD?” Loki asked.

Clint shook his head. “Tried my phone, they must be blocking the signal.”

He ripped the radio and earpiece off a commando’s vest and attached it to his own shirt. Loki offered a hand.

“We should keep moving.”

Clint nodded and took it, the two of them popping one level up. Bruce’s bed was rumpled, covers pulled back, but the rest of his apartment undisturbed.

“Fuck. Drugged?” Clint suggested.

Loki nodded. He was about to move them to Tony and Pepper’s penthouse when Clint shifted his grip to the god’s wrist.

“Wait. They’re talking…they’re upstairs. Team’s still looking for you and me and they know the guys who had Nat aren’t responding.”

“We should attack before they do whatever they mean to.” In his experience, sedating your foes never led to anything good.

“Too risky. We can’t just rush in; we’ll probably get one of the others killed. You think they picked a night they knew Thor wasn’t gonna be here?”

“Perhaps, though my presence didn’t seem to surprise or worry them if they were trying to avoid Asgardians.”

“Do you have a way to contact him?”

“If the phones are down, no.”

“Shit. Okay, let’s scope out the penthouse. Discreetly.”

“I cannot make us both invisible.”

“Can you get us in the vents without making any noise?”

“I think so.”

“You better do more than think.”

Loki grabbed his hand. “Barton, I understand the severity of the situation. Truly. You do not have to question me.”

“I didn’t-”

“You did, but it is understandable. Rest assured I want to protect them just as much as you.”

Clint scanned his face and set his jaw, but he nodded. “Alright.”

He closed his eyes and concentrated, sending out his feelers above them. Clint grumbled and shifted his weight.

“Patience, Barton. Shifting into an air vent is not like appearing in an open room.”

The archer opened his mouth, possibly to complain, and Loki found the right spot. He tugged Clint down to the floor and lay flat, shoving them through the space until the carpet was replaced by hard metal.

Clint gave him a thumbs-up and peered through the grille in front of them. They could see the main room, the door to the deck open. There was a large spotlight throwing its glare over a comatose Bruce on the floor with his wrists cuffed behind him. Beside him, but not close enough to do anything, Steve was encased in what looked like a small iron lung, only his head sticking out and several troops covering him with rifles in hand.

Tony was on the other side of the room looking incredibly pale and angry. He was cuffed too but standing in a square of guards, watching one soldier hold a knife to Pepper’s throat on the couch. Loki almost growled but controlled himself.

One man stood apart from the rest listening to his radio. He wore a long black trench over a military uniform and had several small pistols on his person from what Loki could see. He reached a hand over and touched Clint’s arm, making sure the archer looked at him before speaking.

We need to get Pepper out first.

What the fuck? The human jerked his head back, narrowly avoiding the top of the shaft. His nostrils flared as he tried to shake Loki off but the god held on, listening to his thoughts.

No, no, not again-

Clint, listen. I can hear you and you can hear me. It is the only way to communicate so close to the enemy. I promise you it is an entirely separate spell, not like the Tesseract. I cannot see into your memories. I cannot control you.

He was still puffing angrily but without any actual sound. You son of a bitch.

Do you trust me?

Don’t have much of a choice, do I?

Loki bit back the hurt at his tone, but he knew Clint still heard it through the link. He tried to empty his mind of anything but the current problem.

If you can zap down there and get Pep out, Tony will be able to go for the guys around him.

Steve is still helpless. He is in just as much danger of being used against Tony as Lady Pepper. And Bruce will not be able to defend himself until the sedative wears off.

Okay. Do the invisible thing and pop the locks off Cap’s cage, then take Pepper. He’ll be able to break out while I go for the guys around Tony, and you can either come back for Bruce or help us out.

I am going to warn the others.

Clint nodded in agreement and Loki let the connection stretch out to Steve first.

Goddamn HYDRA, thought we got these fuckers back in the war-

Captain!  he thought at the same time Clint sent Steve.

Huh? The blond went very still.

We have a plan.

He ground his teeth. Go for it.

Tony was very enthusiastic about the idea of getting Pepper out of there, his eyes twitching to her every few seconds. He was also very creative both at swearing and thinking up ideas of what to do to the HYDRA minions. As intriguing as some of them were, Loki decided not to wait for his patience to evaporate.

Clint shuffled backwards, moving silently despite not being able to see where he was going. Loki figured the archer knew the entire Tower’s ventilation layout by now, because he moved instinctively into the turn that would bring him closer to Tony’s position. Loki cloaked himself again and popped down to land next to Steve.

The tube had three big latches down one side. There was no way he was going to be able to unlock them without making a very obvious sound. He reached out to Steve and Tony at the same time.

I need a loud distraction.

The billionaire’s grimace was clear in his tone. My favourite kind.

“Hey,” he yelled, “You wanna tell me what the fuck you’re doing in my tower, Dr Oc?”

The man in the long coat turned slowly on his heel, regarding Tony like he was a stain on his shirt.

“Hold your tongue Mr Stark, or we will cut hers out.”

Pepper whimpered as Tony snarled, and the combination was enough to cover Loki popping the first latch.

“Real big man,” Steve took over, “Threatening civilians.”

Their captor smiled. “Captain Rogers. Always so noble.”

Get ready. “If it’s me you want, fine. But leave the rest of my team alone!”

Loki opened the second latch as Steve shouted, quickly moving to the third.

“Ah, and if it is your team we want? You all have your uses.”

“We’ll never work for you.”

“I second that.” Tony added.

Loki pressed his lips together, hand on the last latch. Steve?

Now!

He threw it open and zapped across the room, a hand clutching Pepper’s arm as the captain pushed the lid so hard it snapped off and shot across the room. Loki moved them to Natasha’s floor, scanning the room for more HYDRA and motioning Pepper under the bed.

“Stay here, and be silent. She should be awake soon. I would not get too close – she may react badly.” He nodded to the Russian.

Pepper scooted a little further away from the other redhead and Loki nudged a tranq gun towards her with his foot, just in case. He shifted back to the penthouse, taking a moment to size up the room before jumping in.

Tony and Clint had pretty much finished decimating their opponents. The inventor had gotten the arm of a suit from somewhere, firing his repulsor into a soldier who got too close to Bruce. Steve had the leader by the throat, looking like he was dangerously close to throttling him as he yanked out tooth after tooth looking for a cyanide capsule.

The elevator opened and the commandos who had been looking for Loki and Clint downstairs poured out, opening fire. The god raised a shield between them and the Avengers, the darts falling uselessly.

Tony, what will be required to get past their barrier on our communications?

You’d need to destroy the jammer but I don’t know where it is, if it’s even in the Tower at all. They could be pointing it at us from another building.

We don’t need SHIELD, Clint shoved a man backwards over the couch, They’re almost done.

And if they call for backup? Tony snapped.

Clint grumbled internally and cursed. Loki, go to Jane’s. Tell her to call Coulson and then bring your brother back here.

Loki glanced at the still unconscious Banner. His metabolism probably wasn’t going to take much longer to work through the drugs, and the last thing they needed right now was a disorientated Hulk. He dropped to his knees, sliding across the floor until his hand connected with the doctor and yanking him through Yggadrasil. They resurfaced in Jane’s bedroom and Loki wasn’t shy about waking the couple, throwing on the lights.

“Thor!”

His brother jumped out of bed with a roar, completely naked and already summoning Mjölnir. Jane shrieked but quickly recovered when she recognised Loki, looking at Bruce with concern.

“Loki?” Thor frowned.

“We have no time. Hold onto me, we need to move.”

“But-”

“I cannot explain, Thor! Just hurry! Both of you.”

The god grasped his hammer, armour spreading over him as Jane shrugged a robe over her pyjamas. She took Loki’s hand and Thor grasped his shoulder, the god moving them all through the spiralling paths and popping into the halls of the helicarrier. Loki released Jane and pulled an alarm on the wall.

“Jane, ask for Coulson. Tell him HYDRA are attacking the Tower.”

“What!” Thor barked.

“Have the agents put Bruce in his Hulk cell and stay with him, he’ll be distressed when he wakes.”

She nodded anxiously, Thor kissing her before taking Loki’s hand. He closed his eyes and plunged into the emptiness, heading for the bright spark that marked the Tower in his mind. Loki could feel his concentration drifting, the gods turning slightly off-course. He bit his tongue and steered them back, dragging Thor behind him.

They landed in the middle of the penthouse, Tony now wearing armour on both arms and his helmet but nothing else, Clint flinging knives. Steve was still pounding the leader into the floor but most of the HYDRA troops were down and not getting up again.

Loki swayed, knee giving for a moment. He caught himself and Thor grabbed his arm.

“Loki?”

Then the rest of his muscles buckled and his eyes rolled back, sinking into the dark.

*****

“He’ll be fine Thor, you said so yourself.”

“Carrying myself, Jane and friend Bruce such a distance was very draining. I worry he will not wake for some time.”

“The doctors said he looks healthy enough from what they can tell, just tired.”

“Yeah but what do they know about Asgardian physiology?”

“Jotunn, technically.”

“My point exactly.”

Loki blinked. There was bright light above him. It was strange – the last thing he remembered was nothing but black and here he was surrounded by white walls and a white ceiling. He was lying on something soft, a dull beep next to his ear. It was sort of soothing. He was so tired. He knew that feeling from the early days of his sorcery, the sensation of pushing his magic too far. It was like someone had wrung out his bones and left ash in their place.

“Look, he’s up!”

The air above his face was suddenly filled with a very concerned Thor, his brow furrowed deeply. “Brother?”

He tried to talk and couldn’t, choking on his dry throat. Someone handed Thor a glass and he held it to Loki’s lips. The god looked at him scornfully and took it himself, though his hands shook as he drank.

“What happened?”

“You used too much magic too quickly. You are in the tower healing rooms.”

“I know that,” he rasped, “What became of our adversaries?”

“Smoked ‘em.” Tony chuckled.

Loki tried to lift himself up to see around Thor’s enormous bulk, the god quickly moving to help. Tony, Clint and Natasha stood by the bed. The redhead still had a large black eye but she looked otherwise unharmed, though he could see her wince slightly as she moved.

“What kind of idiot goes jumpin’ around the countryside with passengers, huh?” the inventor continued.

“I had to...get Bruce to SHIELD.”

“Yeah, good goin’ with that. Apparently he didn’t de-Hulk for five straight hours. Guy’s been asleep about as long as you.”

“And how long is that?”

“Almost two days.”

Loki lay back against the pillows with a sigh. He could feel his magic as little more than a flicker in his core, but now he was awake he could eat and it would be replenished soon enough.

“So Cap took the HYDRA thing pretty badly. He’s off with Fury plotting a huge manhunt for any surviving tentacles,” Tony looked at his nails, “I’d volunteer to help but he’s gone all one-man army.”

“And Pepper?”

“Fine. Freaked but fine. She’s currently de-stressing in Miami with her sister. I’ve got all my systems back online and buffed up so this shit won’t happen again. Well I hate this place, so sorry but you’ll have to miss out on my devastatingly handsome company.”

“I think I shall survive, Tony.”

He scoffed and wandered out. Natasha stepped forward to take his place near the bed and put her hand on Loki’s arm for a moment.

“Thank you for the face. Scars don’t really mesh well with my job.”

“I would hate to see anything mar your beauty.” He said sincerely.

She turned and punched Thor affectionately in the chest. “Come on Highness, you need a break from all this Loki-watching.”

“But he has awoken-”

“And he doesn’t need you tiring him out with your constant attention. Come on.”

Loki bit back a protest. He hated having no magic, no defences. He felt weak and helpless and even though he’d never admit it, having Thor around made him feel safer. His brother would never let anyone hurt him.

“I do not want to leave him unattended.” The blond pouted.

“I’ll stay with him.”

All three of them looked at Clint, Natasha the only one who didn’t seem surprised.

“Are you certain, friend Clint?”

“Yeah. Loki probably needs someone to keep him entertained or else he’ll start blowing holes in the walls or teasing the nurses.”

“I assure you, I am in no state to be blowing holes in anything.”

“And the nurses?” the archer smirked.

Loki smiled back. “Perhaps.”

“Thor...” Natasha nudged him.

“If Loki is happy, then I shall take some rest.”

“Go,” he waved him on, “I will not wither and die in your absence.”

The blond leaned in and kissed his forehead, making the trickster scowl.

“Sentimental fool.”

“I am glad you are alright.”

“And I you.” He muttered.

The pair left and Clint slipped into the chair by the bed, clasping his hands over his stomach.

“You do not have to stay.” Loki said.

“Being stuck in medical sucks.”

“Ah. I suppose you have spent a lot of time resting up after missions.”

Clint gave him a wry look. “Do me a favour and don’t pretend you don’t know the intimate details of my life. You don’t have to bring them up but you can at least not play dumb.”

Loki sighed. “Very well.”

He looked at the covers, fingers tracing the stitching along the top edge.

“I am sorry.”

“You already apologised for that.” Clint shrugged.

“I meant about the spell I used during the attack. The one to share thoughts. I know the inside of your head is the last place you want me poking around.”

“It wasn’t fun, I’ll give you that. But you did sorta ask permission this time and it was necessary.”

“I will not do it again unless the circumstances are dire.”

“Cap’s actually thinking of using it on normal missions, if it doesn’t wear you out too much. Communications that can’t be intercepted or interfered with by bad guys or SHIELD, and that will let us know pretty much instantly if someone’s in trouble.”

“And would you be comfortable with that?” Loki tilted his head.

He curled his lip. “It’s different. You were right, what you said. It’s not like the Tesseract. I can hear you guys but I’m still...me.”

“Well I am not certain I could maintain the link over any huge distance but within a few blocks, yes. Once the connections are open it’s a fairly low-maintenance spell.”

“I’ll let Cap know.”

They fell silent, Loki’s eyes meandering their way to the ceiling. He wanted to eat an entire roast pig but his stomach was still unsettled and he wasn’t sure he could keep anything down.

“Why did you help?”

Loki glanced over, arching a brow. “What?”

“Why did you help us? Thor wasn’t there. Jarvis was down. You could have popped out and left us to die or whatever HYDRA had planned, and no one would have been able to pin it on you.”

He swallowed around the huge lump in his throat. “You think I would abandon you like that? That I have no honour? I suppose I should not blame you, after everything I have-”

“I just want you to tell me why.”

Loki looked away. “I did not want any of you to be hurt.”

“Because? I mean, you probably don’t care either way.”

He muttered into his shoulder and Clint leaned forward.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“I said I do!”

The god glared at him, Clint not breaking eye contact. Eventually he sat back, suddenly relaxing.

“I know.”

“You what?”

“I know you care. I just had to make sure you knew it too.”

Loki frowned. “You didn’t doubt that I would help?”

“Look at us, Loki. Tony, Steve, Bruce, Nat and me – especially me – we’re this ragtag bunch of orphans with severe social diseases and baggage like a freight train. How could you spend more than a week with us and not feel right at home?”

He picked up a magazine and buried himself in the pages, but he didn’t leave. Loki turned on his side, rubbing his thumb against his fingers thoughtfully. If he had to pick a group of people most likely to understand all the shit he’d been through, the Avengers were actually pretty perfect for it.

He looked at the bedside table and found someone had left a large vase of white and yellow daffodils with a cheery cartoon sun on the card. Beside it, someone had put the hnefatafl board within his reach, and a different someone (though he had some good theories who) had placed one of his daggers on top. Loki doubted that sort of thing was normally allowed in hospital rooms but it only made the gesture more impressive.

He could stay here, like this. It might not always be easy but it would be pleasant, and if he could quietly share a room with Hawkeye Barton after everything that had happened? Maybe he could learn to be a hero too.