Chapter Text
“You will be fine with watching Morgan?“ Pepper asked yet again, fiddling with something in her purse. “I wrote down mine and Tony’s number if anything happens. You know how a telephone works, right?”
“Pep, calm down.” Tony shook his head affectionately. “We’re only gone for the night. I mean I trust him, so why shouldn’t you?”
“For obvious reasons.” Pepper grumbled. “And remember to make her brush her teeth and not too many sweets, especially not before bed and-- Oh, I should just stay at home with her.”
“Pepper, it’s a charity gala held by Stark Industries. You are the CEO and I’m Tony Stark, so we should really both go. Loki can be trusted, I think. And Morgan likes him.”
“I do.” Morgan smiled happily before grabbing Loki’s arm, holding it.
“I will take good care of her. It is merely one night; what could happen?”
“Do you want a list?” Pepper joked. “Alright, but promise me to call me if anything even remotely bad happens.”
“Promise.” Loki mockingly put a hand to his chest, covering where his heart would be.
“I find it hard to believe you somehow but we need to leave. Happy is waiting outside.” Pepper sighed.
That was when Happy poked his head into the front door. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, we’ll be there in a few seconds.” Tony smiled. “Seriously, Pep, you should be less worried about Loki not taking care of Morgan and more worried about Morgan being a little rascal and causing trouble.”
Morgan narrowed her eyes jokingly and grinned. “I won’t, Daddy.”
“Good. Now, where are you not supposed to go?”
“Your workshop.” Morgan recited dutifully.
Pepper then nodded, pressing a kiss to Morgan’s head before leaving for the car. Tony ruffled Morgan’s hair and gave Loki one last look that said ‘You better take good care of her’ before following Pepper. Happy reached out to close the door before turning to Loki one last time.
“Listen, keep her safe and don’t do anything stupid or you will have to answer to me. That little girl is like a niece to me.” Happy warned before smiling at Morgan. “Bye, sweetie.”
“Bye, Happy.” Morgan smiled and then turned to Loki. “Can we play?”
“Well, what is it that you want to play?” Loki asked gently.
“Can we play knights and dragons?”
“Of course, we can.”
The two of them played for about an hour, Morgan dragging Loki behind her, making him act like a dragon while she pretended to fight him. Loki dutifully let himself be defeated, acted as if he had been slain and let himself sink to the floor. Morgan was absolutely thrilled at how much Loki played along and the god was glad to be able to entertain the girl. They only stopped once they heard the doorbell ring.
Loki stood up and looked at Morgan. “Wait on the sofa, yes?”
Morgan nodded and skipped off while Loki went for the door. When he opened it, Peter was there, looking a little confused at seeing the god. Loki was just as confused to see Peter, in his Spiderman suit, standing by the door.
“Why are you here?”
“I’m watching Morgan while Tony and his wife are on a gala.” Loki explained.
“Not to be rude but why would they ask you?” Peter mused. “Not that you aren’t cool and all but-- I mean after-- just-- I don’t know what I was trying to say anymore.”
“Natasha, Clint, Bruce, Thor and Steve are at the gala with them because apparently, they wanted the original Avengers there. The other possible people to ask are otherwise busy.” Loki explained nonchalantly. “What are you doing here?”
“I was just going on a little patrol to see if everything was alright, but I then decided to see how Morgan is doing. This morning she seemed a bit sad. So I decided to swing by.” He then laughed. “Get it? Because of the webs.”
“Yes, I get that. Why was she sad?” Loki raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to come inside?”
Peter nodded and followed Loki to the living room where he greeted Morgan with a big huh. “Hey, how are you?”
“Better.” She smiled. “Mommy called Emma’s Mom and they talked. Emma’s Mom said Emma is going to be nicer to me now.”
“Did someone pick on you?” Loki sat down next to the two. “Who?”
“Emma from my kindergarten group. She is really mean to me and she never lets me play with her and her friends.” Morgan mumbled.
Loki felt his chest clench a little. He knew all too well how it felt to be sent away by others when all you wanted to do was play with them; he spent his whole childhood feeling lonely and not worthy of being with Thor and his friends. Apparently, Pepper was already taking care of Morgan’s problems but Loki wanted to do something, as well. He didn’t want her to feel the way he felt as a child.
“I know that must make you sad.” Loki said and Morgan looked up at him. “But if Emma and her friends don’t want to play with you, it’s their loss. I’m sure a lot of your other classmates would love to play with you. Maybe you should try and play with them instead of wasting your time with mean girls like Emma.”
“I like Josh.” Morgan smiled. “He always colours with me. Do you think I should play with him?”
“Yes. I think if he’s nice to you he deserves you much more than Emma and her friends. Eventually, you’ll be happier with a friend like him.”
“Did you have a friend like Josh when you were little?” Morgan asked innocently.
“Not that I can remember.” Loki then smiled at her. “Now, do you want to spend some time with Peter while I try and make dinner for you?”
“Shouldn’t we just order something?” Peter suggested. “Not that I don’t think you can cook-- I mean I’m not sure-- but maybe ordering something is a safe idea.”
“What would you like, Morgan?”
Morgan smiled brightly. “Can we order pizza? I love pizza!”
“Then pizza it is. How do I order it?” Loki asked Peter.
“Call them and tell them what you want. I’ll get the menu. It’s in the kitchen.” Peter smiled and went off.
When he arrived in the kitchen, his phone rang. He looked down at it and saw that it was Tony calling him. Quickly, he picked up. Tony was video-calling him.
“Hey, are you two having fun?” Peter asked.
“We’re just calling to check in on you three.”
“How do you know I’m at your house?” Peter mused. “I mean you can see the kitchen but you called me to check so you must have known.”
“I know where you are, Pete.” Tony assured. “Now how are you three? Is Loki doing a good job?”
“As far as I can tell, he is.” Peter smiled and then turned the phone.
Tony looked past him into the living room where Loki was chasing an excitedly giggling Morgan around, pretending to be a monster.
“I see. Pep was worried.”
Pepper appeared in the background. “She’s my little baby girl and the only adult watching her is Loki. Nothing against him but he did invade New York and I’m a little wary about him watching Morgan.”
“He’s doing good.” Peter assured them once again. “Don’t worry.”
Pepper seemed agitated by Peter not taking her seriously. “You leave your child alone with someone that killed dozens of people and see how relaxed you can be.”
Peter went on to tell Pepper exactly what the three of them were planning on doing with the rest of the evening and that Morgan was fine. Little did he know that Loki had listened in on them talking about him after he went to check on what was taking Peter so long.
He quietly returned to the living room and Morgan eyed him sadly. “Loki, why are you sad?” She whispered, pulling at his hand. “Do you not want to play dragons anymore?”
“I’m not sad, silly.” Loki said softly, trying to mask his feelings.
“You’re lying!” Morgan exclaimed. “My daddy was often sad before he won against Thanos. I know that you’re sad. Why are you sad? Do you want to cuddle Shadow? I always cuddle Shadow when I’m sad.”
Loki felt tears rise in his eyes as he heard how worried Morgan was about him. He quickly crouched down so he was on eye level.
“You do not need to worry about me, yes? I’m a little sad that your parents don’t trust me to watch you and don’t really like the idea of me watching you. But that is nothing you need to worry your little head about.” He explained softly.
“I like it when you come over to play!” Morgan said quickly, embracing Loki and practically hanging from his neck. “Like when you came over on the weekend and you played hide and seek with me!”
Loki got up again, pulling Morgan into his arms. It was nice to know that the girl liked him and his presence. “If you like my presence then that is all that matters to me.”
“I don’t want Daddy to not like you.” Morgan whispered. “And Mommy, too.”
“You cannot change how other people feel about you.” Loki whispered, slowly moving back into the direction of the kitchen when he noticed that Peter had stopped talking. “Let’s see what Peter is doing.”
“Can I braid your hair later?” Morgan asked sweetly.
Loki gave an exasperated sigh but nodded. “Of course.”
“Yay!” Morgan went back to hugging his neck as she was carried to the kitchen.
Peter nearly ran into them when he came out. He shoved the menu into Morgans’ hands and she held it out to Loki.
“I can’t read that, yet.” She confessed.
“Then I shall read it to you.”
After everyone had placed an order, Peter called up the pizza place and ordered. While they waited, Loki let Morgan braid his hair a couple of times while Peter told him about something that happened in school.
Eventually, the doorbell rang and Loki got up. “Morgan, you should go and wash your hands.”
“I don’t want to.” Morgan whined. “I’ll wash them after we eat.”
“Now that would not be of no use.” Loki raised an eyebrow. “Peter, take her to wash her hands, please. You can wash yours, as well.”
“Yes.” Peter chuckled and took Morgan’s hand. “Come on, let’s just listen to him.”
Loki nodded and then went to walk to the door. He quickly paid the delivery man and then took the pizzas inside, putting them on the dinner table. Originally he wanted to wait for the two but when they didn’t come back after ten minutes, he got up and walked to the bathroom. Peter was standing outside, looking panicked.
“Mister Loki, Morgan told me she wanted to use the toilet and I waited outside. Now she’s gone.” He had opened the door and was pointing to the open window inside.
Loki felt his stomach drop. He was supposed to watch her and now she was gone. Tony and Pepper had been right to not trust him; again he was doing everything wrong even though he tried to do something good for once.
“We need to find her.” Loki said quickly. “She cannot have gone far.”
“Yes, should we split up or something?”
“No, we should stay together. Where do you think she might have gone?”
“I have no clue.” Peter mumbled. “Maybe to Tony’s workshop or the garage or maybe to the street.”
Loki nodded and then quickly walked off and outside the front door. He had to find Morgan; she was just a little girl and he didn’t know what dangers lurked in these forests. Visions of her being attacked by wild animals began to plague his head and he quickly tried to shake them off. Peter was behind him, calling out Morgan’s name, pausing ever so often so she would have a chance to answer.
“Maybe we should call Tony.” Peter suggested.
“No.” Loki shook his head. “We will find her ourselves.”