This is an Avengers AU!fic. I'm no too sure about the pairings yet, besides Steve/Tony and Clint/Bruce (I can't help it, I love those pairings to bits!)

The fic will be centered around Loki and Bruce, maybe Tony or Steve will butt in at some point. Hope you enjoy!

When Loki was six years old, he found a grand piano down in the basement. Surrounding the piano was countless of old instruments, all of them looking rusty and dead, except the grand piano. Young Loki dusted it off and was rewarded with a heavy sneeze attack. The boy sniffled and touched one of the keys carefully. A soft sound dripped out of the piano, flowing into his fingers and warmed them. The young boy smiled. He sat down on the rusty stool and tapped one and one key at the same time as he smiled gleefully to himself.

When his mother called out to him come in for dinner, Loki startled and hurried out of the room like he was near being caught with his hand down in the cookie jar.

"My dear, where have you been? You're covered in dust" His mother grabbed a napkin and tried to get most of the dust off.

"Mother…" Loki whined, but stilled as his father walked in. He caught sight of the dusty boy and gave a disapproving sigh. The young boy shrunk where he stood. Moments later another young boy rushed into the room, some dirt in his face and grass stains on his clothes.

"I scored 8 times father!" The blonde boy beamed. His father smiled down at him and patted the unruly hair of his son.

"Good job son, soon you'll be able to join the junior football team"

Loki kept his eyes on the floor.

"There you are brother, I thought you went out with me?"

The dark haired boy looked up and met Thor's intense blue gaze.

"Loki wasn't feeling too well today darling, so I told him to stay inside"

"Oh good, some of the boys said it was because Loki is adopted. What's that even supposed to mean?" Thor looked up to his father; Loki looked down at the floor.

Right, Loki was adopted…

"I'll tell you later, son"

It wasn't a big secret, Loki had always known. Thor was just being his usual slow self.

"So what have you done today Loki?" His mother looked at him with kind eyes as she sat the pot down on the table. Loki opened his mouth, wanted to tell them about his discovery in the basement, but then he remembered Thor's 8 goals in the back yard and their father's approval. Loki had achieved nothing as of yet, he had only coaxed random tunes out from the piano. So the dark haired boy clamped his lips shut and just shook his head.

After dinner he taught himself Twinkle, Twinkle.

When Loki was eight he begun taking odd jobs around the house to earn a little money; he helped his mother in the garden, helped her clean the house (even though they already had great help from their house-maid and butler), he helped her make dinner and went on small errands for her. After a week or so he had finally saved enough to buy his first melody-book. But to understand the book he needed to learn about keys and notes and tunes and everything else. It seemed so vast, but Loki was stubborn.

Every day after school the dark haired boy would stay a couple of hours in the school library. He read, took notes and copied text into his own note-book. He never borrowed the books to take home.

One day he missed dinner. Odin was not pleased. Loki kept his head bowed during the entire lecture before he was sent to his room without dinner. It was alright though, at least it proved that the man cared a little bit about what happened to his adoptive son, besides, an hour or so later his mother would come up with left-overs and ask about his day.

A few weeks after that incident Loki taught himself Für Elise…

When Loki was 10 he began asking for piano music for Christmas and birthdays. It only took one Christmas for him to get a grand collection of all the greats like Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Bartok and so on. He listened to it all the time, trained himself in recognizing notes and writing them down on paper so he could play it later, perhaps correct it a bit if he had noted down something wrong or out of place. It took a lot of the boy's time, but he forced himself through it. Building up a patience that was beyond most 10-year olds, he still liked to play songs he heard in kid's show though.

When Loki was 13 he learned to play "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", he was beaming with pride the first time he managed to finish it in a decent tempo without any faults. He decided that it was time to tell his family what had been up to. He spent a whole week cleaning up in the music room, of course he had cleaned up there before, but he had never bothered making it cozy for other people as well. He got the butler to help him carry down the couch from his own room down to the music room after sorting through all the other instruments.

"So this is where the young sir has been spending his hours" The butler mused with a small smile. Loki smiled back.

"Would you like help to keep it clean from now?"

"That'd be great James"

The butler even helped him fix the lighting in the room, when they were done (and the maid had butted in and helped decorate the room) the music room looked wonderful. Loki's eyes must have been shining because both the maid and butler smiled affectionately at him which caused Loki to smile back. He was going to ask his parents down to the room during dinner.

He barely managed to sit still as he waited for the right moment to ask his parents down. He was just about to open his mouth and ask when Thor walked in.

"Sorry I'm late, but I was at band practice!"

"Band practice?"

"Yeah, I've been taking guitar lessons and me and my friends have decided to start up a band!" Thor beamed.

"That's wonderful son! My boy, a modern artist" Their father smiled.

"Can't you invite your friends over so we can hear you play, hm? It's no problem, you can practice here" Their mother smiled sweetly.

All Loki could think of as he listened to the cat choir noise coming from his brother and band-mates, was the lovely white rose that was slowly withering down in his piano room.

He learned the Moonlight sonata later that night.

Loki took notice when his Brother was going to practice at home, for he made sure that he ate up quickly so he could slip unnoticed down into the basement, no one would mind. Besides Loki had developed a rather harsh dislike for modern music, something he made sure his brother knew. The years passed by uneventful, Loki began coming up with music on his own or he made piano covers for music he heard on the radio. Modern music wasn't so bad once it came from a piano.

He became more distant, stood up to his father and was downright stubborn 60 % of the time. He never called them neither mother nor father anymore, it was always "Frigga and Odin" now, it upset Frigga. Loki didn't think too much of it though.

"Have you given a thought to where you want to go when High school is over, Loki?" His mother smiled at him, it was a careful smile. Loki had grown up to become a tall, lean and dark haired young man with brilliant green eyes. He glanced over at his brother who looked like his complete opposite. Tall, yes, but broad and muscular with intense blue eyes and a face that was so easy to read it was ridiculous. He looked back at Frigga again.

"Yes, I'm going to a music school in the states"

"What? And how do you plan on getting in?" Odin looked up at him, brows arched. "You don't play-"

"I play the piano" Loki said matter-of-factly, something childish within him cooed gleefully at the shocked expression on both parent's faces. Thor looked up as well, Odin opened his mouth again.

"I've already been accepted on talent alone, I sent a tape. It's a scholarship school where those with talent get accepted without having to pay a lot of money, especially if we just live on campus instead of seeking other places to live. I don't have to pay anything; I've already gotten a patron. He's a professor there and he vouched for me after seeing my tape. All I have to pay is the travel expenses" The words were silken, dripping out from his mouth smoothly. The maid used to say that the piano had given Loki its flow and tunes so that he may use it in speech, she had been quite poetic when she said it. She claimed it was because of Loki's playing. He adored that maid, if it wasn't for her and her sister over in the states Loki would never have known about the talent school. He would have been stuck here in England probably doing Odin's bidding because he wouldn't know where to go. Now he had everything sorted, all he needed to do was pack up and leave.

"T-that's wonderful" Frigga said, but her lower lip was quivering slightly, Loki only felt a small sting of guilt.

"I leave a month after graduation"

"But that's-"

"Why didn't you inform us Loki?" Odin cut off his wife, Loki got up from his chair.

"You have already done so much for me, I wanted to show that I can look after myself" Loki let his green eyes sweep over the three that was still at the table.

"Dinner was delicious mother" He said, marking the end of the conversation as he turned and left the kitchen.

That night Loki played Innovation no. 4 by Bach before he went to bed.

On their graduation Thor's band played an obnoxious song that was too pointless and upbeat for a graduation, it didn't fit the occasion at all. The students all cheered and stood, jamming with or whatever they called it. Loki didn't care and he stayed seated through the entire gig. When the hall calmed down and the teachers made everyone sit again the music teacher came onto the stage.

"It has come to our attention that one of our students has been sneaking behind our backs and acquired a talent great enough to be accepted into a talent school"

Loki sank into his seat, stupid Thor and his idiotic friends; this was their doing Loki was sure of it.

"Would you mind playing something for us Loki?" The teacher, ever friendly, had masked intentions for he seemed ever so pleased as all eyes turned on Loki who was forced to straighten up in his seat. The teacher met his eyes, daring him. With a straight face Loki stood up, a silent gasp going through the crowd. He walked, if somewhat stiffly, up to the stage and was almost guided towards a grand piano that had been pushed onto the stage. His mind race, what would he play? He knew many, plenty songs. What would fit the occasion? He glanced at the crowd as he sat down. What would they like… his eyes spotted Thor who wore a somewhat sheepish smile. Loki felt a heat pool within his stomach and it spread, filling his every nerve. His eyes narrowed and he fully glared at Thor and Thor noticed it.

Then Loki began playing, his fingers hitting several keys as the intro, making the crowd start. He turned his full attention towards the piano and let his fingers fly over the keys as he performed a song he wasn't all too sure of yet, but Stravinsky's "Petrushka" was damn impressive.

As the song built up intensity and speed, Loki's confidence grew, until it suddenly halted completely. His fingers stopped playing by themselves and his entire body froze, what was the next part? Oh god, he didn't remember the next part! A quick glance at the crowd, a devious smile formed in that pale face. These ones had probably never heard Stravinsky before, they didn't know how this piece went, time to improvise. Loki's fingers hit the keys again, making up pieces as he went, using random inspiration and notes from other songs at the same time as he tried to remember the actual notes for the rest of the actual song he was supposedly performing. His sudden hit on the keys made the crowd startle again, making it all look like it was for show and not that the pianist was uncertain.

Loki's memory finally caught up with him and somehow he managed to flip it back to the original piece without the crowd taking notice. He ended the song early in a very abrupt way that made it clear he did it on purpose. He closed the piano, got up, did an elegant bow and made towards the exit of the stage. That's when the applause hit, first from a bewildered music teacher, then the crowd followed suit. Loki stopped and looked at them, saw the faint sign of awe in their faces.

For the first time in what felt like forever, he smiled a genuine smile.

When Loki was almost 20 years old, he found himself on the plane bound towards America and his hard won place on a rather well-known talent school. He took out his phone, put it on fly mode and played magic piano with his head-set on.

This part is more like a prologue. The fun starts in the talent school where the rest of our heroes await.