Chapter Text
Despite having worked alongside Tony for four years now and been trained by the black widow herself, the team still thought it best for you to stay home during missions. It was beyond annoying and you were completely over it -- your entire life Tony had been the overprotective older brother. Sure, he never actually showed affection towards you, but you had never been harassed or bullied by your parents like he had, and you knew it was because he was taking the brunt of it.
You had been adopted into the Stark family when you were eight. You never knew exactly why, but after being bounced around foster homes for your first seven years, you weren’t complaining about the new life of luxury. Tony had usually ignored you as a child - he was an angsty teenager at the time, and he was dealing with a lot of shit from your parents - but the one good thing that your parents’ deaths did was bring the two of you together.
Still didn’t change the fact that you were pissed he got to go off and save the world, and you were stuck house sitting. It was fine while you were in college, but now you were out and just bored.
Nothing fun ever happened at the tower.
You sighed, hauling yourself out of bed and down to the kitchen. If you didn’t get to go out on a mission soon, you were going to bake yourself into a stupor. You whipped out some cookie dough, deciding to just get a spoon at the last minute instead of cooking them.
Settling down in your corner of the couch, you grabbed the remote and turned on your latest binge watch. The show itself was pretty shitty, but you had put in too much time at this point and felt like you owed it to the characters to finish their stories.
A noise in the kitchen made you pause the show. It was silent for a few heartbeats, but you still felt uneasy. No one else should be in the tower…
Deciding to investigate - and kicking yourself for it since you always told yourself you wouldn’t be that person in horror movies - you unpaused the show to put the intruder back at ease and set your cookie dough aside. Pulling out one of Natasha’s many hidden knives from under the couch, you silently walked over to the kitchen. You took one last deep breath and stepped into the doorway.
“I am going to have to ask you to leave.”
The figure looked up, startled. It was… a man. No, more than a man… you were trying to place his face… Your eyes widened. “Holy shit,” you whispered.
This was the man who terrorized the city. This was the man that killed eighty people in two days. This was the man who wasn’t even a man at all. This was Loki, god of lies.
And he was trying to open a bag of popcorn.
He took a step towards you, causing you to take one back. You repositioned your hands on the knife. Loki paused, holding his hands up. “I mean you no harm.” You frowned. “I take it that you were not informed of the new arrangement?”
“I take it you are going to enlighten me?”
Loki smirked at that. “The queen of Asgard somehow convinced the Allfather to change my punishment. Instead of rotting in a prison cell for eternity, I am to be here on Earth, atoning for my crimes.”
You hesitated at his explanation.
“By all means, call the others to confirm my words.”
You nodded, pulling out your phone and dialing with your free hand. It rang once, twice- “What do you want.”
“Tony, is Loki supposed to be here right now?”
“Shit, I knew there was something I was forgetting.” There was some laughing on the other end of the line. “Yeah, Thor went to get him last night, he shouldn’t bother you much, just tell Jarvis if he does something and I’ll have him expedited off world.”
“Gee, thanks for the heads up. See you later.” You hung up, putting your phone back away and lowering the knife. “Sorry about that.”
“No apologies necessary, I would have expected nothing less, Lady…?” Loki paused, unsure of how to address you.
“Stark. (Y/N) Stark.” Loki raised an eyebrow. “Tony is my brother.”
“Ah.” The two of you fell into an uncomfortable silence. You fiddled with the knife and Loki turned the popcorn bag over. “What were you-” Loki started.
“Do you want-” You said at the same time. “Shit, you first.”
Loki gave a little bow. “No, you, Lady Stark.”
“Alright, we’re nipping that in the bud. If you’re going to be here long term, we have to be on a first name basis. I’ve been ‘Miss Stark’d too many times to put up with this in my own home.” Loki nodded. “Now that we’ve got that settled, I was going to ask if you needed help with that?” You gestured towards the bag of unpopped popcorn.
“Er… yes. I was going to bring it to you as a peace offering, but the cursed thing won’t open.”
“Well that’s because you haven’t cooked it yet, here.” You took the bag from him and tossed it into the microwave. The silence returned in the ensuing minute, but it wasn’t as uncomfortable this time. You looked at Loki. He seemed different now than he did in the security footage you saw. For one, he was in Earth clothes - a loose fitting shirt and low riding jeans - and he seemed less stressed. You could tell things still sat heavy on his conscience, but active anxieties were pushed deeper down. Not to mention, he had the most beautiful green eyes…
The microwave interrupted your observing. “Alright, now that the popcorn is cooked, the bag opens easily - reach into that cabinet and get a bowl for me, please.” Loki did as asked, and you dumped the popcorn into the bowl. “Be careful, it’s hot, but now you can eat it.” You smiled, offering Loki the bowl. He took a piece, skeptical, and slowly put it in his mouth.
Loki swallowed quickly. “That is terrible.”
You laughed, startling Loki. “That’s because it’s shitty microwave popcorn. It’s better when you get shitty movie theater popcorn.” You grabbed the bowl, heading back into the living room. “Come on,” you added when Loki didn’t move.
You sat back down and patted the cushion beside you. Loki sat down another whole cushion away, so you set the popcorn down between you. “Thanks for the snacks, by the way. It was very thoughtful of you.” Silence once again encased you, and this time you felt Loki’s eyes on you as he thought your attention was captured by the show. You let him look, it was only fair after your judgements of him just a few minutes earlier.
Eventually the season ended and you decided it was high time you go to bed. You got up off the couch, stretching your hands high above your head. “Have you been given a room yet?” You asked Loki.
“Indeed, on the thirty-first floor.”
“Oh! That’s the same floor I live on.”
“Apologies, my lady. I will speak to Thor about moving my quarters,” Loki gave you a little embarrassed bow with his head.
“Nonsense, it just means we get to walk up together. I am not going to uproot you because you think I might be uncomfortable. Come on,” you held your hand out for Loki. He took it after a moment’s hesitation and you helped him to his feet.
You lead him to the elevators and then up to your shared floor. “Well then,” you said when you got to your door. “Goodnight, Loki. See you tomorrow.” He smiled, and you slipped the rest of the way into your room.
You paused on the other side of the door. Three heartbeats passed before you heard Loki walk away and go into his own room. He was definitely different. You had not been a part of the Battle of New York, and you weren’t fool enough to trust Loki completely yet, but you would swear that he wasn’t the monster everyone was making him out to be…