It was stuffy. There were too many things on his bed. He could hardly move, tangled as he was in blankets and pillows. He systematically threw things off of his bed in his struggle to reach the lamp on his bedside table. Pillow, gone. Blanket, shoved down. Something small and hard...? He had no idea what it was but he shoved it off the edge of the bed anyway.

Finally, he reached the lamp and clicked it on.

"What? Again?" Clint groaned, looking down to see Loki with his arms wrapped around Clint's waist and his head pillowed on his stomach. "Dude, I thought i was trapped in my blankets."

Loki didn't respond, dutifully pretending to be asleep. Clint knew that he was pretending because Loki was the lightest sleeper he'd ever met. They may have only spent a few days together while they were in hiding, but he'd managed to pick up enough to know that.

Clint sighed and clicked the lights back off. As long as Loki was going to pretend to be asleep anyway, he might as well get some actual sleep of his own.

Loki was gone by morning. He was always gone by morning. Clint had yet to figure out how he was slipping in and out of the Tower without being noticed, but he chose not to ask questions. He didn't exactly want anyone to know that Loki liked to sneak cuddle with him in the middle of the night. Not only because Loki was an enemy that they still fought, or because he didn't want them to think that he was compromised, but he really didn't want Loki to get... stopped? Not that Clint wanted to cuddle with Loki! It was inconvenient as hell to wake up with a God of Mischief tangling you up, especially if you had to pee in the middle of the night and Octopus limbs didn't want to let you go.

It's just... even if they started off a little... rocky... the guy had kind of grown on him. I mean, they had their minds magically connected! You can't not bond with someone under those sort of circumstances. That was impossible. Like Stark waking up without coffee, it just wasn't done! Loki was the nicest dictating alien overlord Clint had ever met, end of story. Or... start of story?

Fuck it. Clint got out of bed to get breakfast. This was why he didn't think early in the mornings. Or late at night. His thoughts always got tangled up and confused. Tasha was for thinking. He was for shooting. End of story!

"You look distracted."

"Waah!" Clint jumped back, tripping over his bed and onto the floor in surprise. Pietro hopped up onto the bed to peer down at Clint.

"Something on your mind?"

"Yeah? The hell you doing in my room?" Clint yelled.

"Came to check on you, duh?" Pietro rattled off quickly. Stupid brat did everything quickly. Talking, eating, annoying the fuck out of him, everything!

"Pietro?" Wanda called from the hall. She peeked in the room and upon spotting her brother, let out a deep sigh. "I told you to knock."

"Door was open," He shot back, standing at her side in an instant.

"Was not," Clint complained as he pushed himself up off the floor.

Wanda glared at her brother, who just smiled in return. "We were sent to fetch you for breakfast," She explained. "Sam has made sausages."

"And bacon, eggs, ham, cholesterol-"

"We get it, Pietro!" Wanda interrupted her brother's tirade.

"Awesome," Clint answered. "Sam makes the best breakfast meats."

"What about that time he made ribs?" Wanda asked, her nose scrunching up in distaste. "That is not a breakfast meat."

"All meat is breakfast meat," Clint told them as he joined them at the door.

Wanda rolled her eyes. "Steve will have added something healthy to it by now."

"His mission in life is to ruin my breakfast," He said as he walked past them. Pietro sped away from them and to the stairs, apparently pressing the elevator on his way since it opened so promptly for them. "I'm gonna tie that kid to Mjolnir," Clint grumbled.

Wanda laughed as the elevator doors closed.

Steve was not feeling too hot by the time he got back to the Tower. The serum allowed him to heal rather quickly, but with the amount of injuries he had gathered, he was really feeling the pain. He had forgone being checked over by Bruce in favor of letting his teammates be looked at first. Sam had taken a particularly nasty fall when one of his wings had been blown out and Wanda had gotten hurt, as well, before Pietro was able to save her. It was more important for them to get looked over than Steve.

He wrapped his injuries himself, though he wasn't really able to do them all very well. He was sore all over when he crawled into bed. He had only been laying there a few minutes before he felt a coldness embrace his entire body. Steve let out a satisfied groaned. "You have to be the coldest thing I have ever felt."

He felt the body begin to move away from him, but Steve held on tightly. "Don't go!" He said. "I've never been so happy to feel something cold in my life." He couldn't see the body wrapped around him in the darkness, but he knew that it was Loki. No one else could be this could. No one else climbed into his bed at night, hot or cold. "Is something wrong?" Steve asked softly.

He could feel Loki nodding, his arms wrapping around Steve a little more tightly. He remembered the first time he found Loki in his room, in his bed. He'd been hurt during one of their battles and he hadn't had anywhere else to go at the time. He'd kept his blue form hidden beneath the blanket, only letting Steve see his arms or legs to treat his injuries. He remembered his surprise upon seeing Loki's blue skin, his confusion, how Loki had refused to explain anything or let Steve see him.

It had taken a long time to to get Loki to explain that he had returned to his true form due to the severity of his injuries, too much magic used for healing and not enough for hiding his true form. It had taken a long time to get Loki to admit that he felt safe in the tower because he knew that the Avengers were here, that his brother was here, even though he couldn't bare to have Thor see him that way. He trusted the Avengers, in a loose sense of the word, but he trusted Steve enough not to attack him while he was hurt or turn him into Shield. Steve had wanted to live up to that confidence. He'd told Loki that he was safe, let him stay the night in his bed, then woke up to find that the Trickster had gone.

"You have been hurt," Loki said softly, sliding his hand to Steve's back where one of his larger bruises was. Steve hissed, but pressed his body closer to Loki. "Why did you not see your healer?"

"The others were more hurt than I was," Steve explained. "I didn't want to take up their time when they need it more."

"That is foolish," Loki told him. Loki's voice was always a little rougher when he was in his true form and he usually tried to avoid speaking too much. Yet, after the first time he had let Steve see him completely in this form, Loki never came to him any other way. It was something that Steve still didn't understand, but accepted either way. "You are human, just as they are. You require tending, looking after."

"So do you," Steve said. "Even though you're not human."

Loki didn't reply. He never did when Steve brought up things like this. He didn't say anything when Steve pushed about Loki's own health or well being, when Steve asked him why he persisted in being a villain instead of trying to work with the Avengers. He new that Loki liked the Avengers, that he missed Thor, that his mischief was not borne out of malice, but Loki refused to stop or explain why. Steve had begun to wonder if it wasn't just stubbornness.

Steve opened his mouth to say more, but a cold blue hand reached up from under the covers to silence him, covering his mouth. Loki didn't speak. He didn't let Steve speak. There was really nothing for it but to sleep.

"This is a bad idea," Bruce said. He was leaning against the headboard as he looked down at his bed's occupant, making himself more comfortable than he was invited to. "Do you know how much of a bad idea this is?"

"You say that every time," Loki replied. "Nothing has happened yet and I doubt anything you shall. You underestimate yourself."

"You're our enemy! I shouldn't just-"

"Do not argue," Loki whispered sleepily as he pulled the blanket tighter around him and pressed himself to Bruce's side. "Just sleep."

"The other are going to kill me," Bruce groaned, placing his face in his hands.

"You talk to much," Loki said, pressing a hand to Bruce's lips.

Bruce glared and removed Loki's hand. "Thor said this was a one time thing."

"When have I ever listened to Thor?" Loki questioned. He pulled at Bruce until the man lying down fully.

"What if the Hulk shows up?"

"Then I will cuddle him, too, now let me sleep," Loki insisted.

"This is the worst idea..." Bruce repeated as he reluctantly settled down. He helped Loki one time... one time! And now he had this to deal with. He was never doing favors for Thor again. At least, that's what he told himself.

"This is the worse mission ever!" Clint complained loudly before letting his head fall face first to the table.

Natasha stared at him with an unimpressed look. Steve was sitting at another table with Sam, looking as downtrodden as a kicked puppy while Sam tried to console him. She kept an eye on the other hotel patrons from the corner of her eye. "No one told you to come with us," She said to him.

"I just wanted to help!" He whined.

"No, you just wanted to have a vacation," She scolded. "I told you that just because we were leaving the country didn't mean you'd get to have fun."

"This blows," Clint repeated.

Natasha just sighed. "I'm going to my room," She told him. "Try not to break anything before morning. And don't think you're getting out of this mission."

Clint groaned loudly.

Natasha rolled her eyes as she left him.

She stopped in her tracks after taking a few steps into her room, glaring at the woman that she saw sitting on her bed. "Get out," She said immediately.

Loki only smiled at her. The god was wearing tight, but not particularly revealing clothing. She always did when Natasha saw her alone, as if to emphasize the fact that she was appearing in a female form. "I heard you were going after Hydra."

"That's none of your business, Loki," Natasha told her firmly. "None of this is."

Loki rolled her eyes and waved her off. "Everyone knows Captain America is enamored with Hydra. They simply do not know why. I do. He is chasing The Winter Soldier, is he not?"

"What makes you think that?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You should be careful, going against Hydra," Loki told her. "You won't come out unscathed."

"We know what we're doing."

Loki's smiled faded slightly and she stared at Natasha silently, sadly, intently. She was looking directly into the assassin's eyes, neither of them moving. Finally, Natasha looked away and sighed. "Only for tonight, you got that."

"Of course, Lady Natasha," Loki answered easily, her smile returning. Loki watched her as she went about her task of getting ready for the night.

"You stay at the foot of the bed. No moving. No cuddling. You touch anything higher than my ankles and I kick you out." She slipped her gun under the pillow, placed a few of her weapons in the bedside table.

"Of course, Lady Natasha."

"You snore, I shoot you."

"Of course, Lady Natasha."

Natasha glared at Loki, who only smiled in return. Loki moved to the foot of the bed as Natasha slipped under the covers. She hesitated before turning the lights off.

It was less than an hour before Loki was pressed up against her back, one arm around her waist, legs tangling with her own.

It was only minutes after that that Natasha was able to relax and fall into deep slumber.

"How are they doing?" Tony asked once he felt the bed dip behind him. Two arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him against a lean torso. A face buried itself in the crook of his neck and Tony nuzzled against the boby behind him.

"They are safe, for now," Loki told him. "But they will fail."

"Figured that much," Tony said. His voice was low and rough with sleep, tiredness ringing clear. "Can't stop a man that determined."

"Indeed. The lady looked well rested when she crept out this morning," Loki said.

"You saw her leave?"

"Of course I did," Loki replied. "She becomes tense if I am awake before her, so I pretend. It makes her sleep better, having a warm body at her back, pretending at control."

"Makes me sleep better having you here," Tony said as he rolled over to face Loki, pressing his lips to those of the god. Loki hummed in pleasure as he as he pulled Tony closer. Loki sighed happily when Tony pulled away from his lips. "Now put your hand in my pants or I'll never get to sleep."

Loki grinned. "You'll never get to sleep anyway," Loki told him as he rolled on top of Tony.

The problem with being a late member to a team with a long history was that there was a lot of backstory to learn.

"What the hell are these things?" Wanda asked as she ineffectively tried to use her magic on an enemy.

"Doombot," Iron man answered her from above. He was hovering above her and blasting Doombots that approached from all side. "Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, 'Love yourself.'"

"Robots," Steve answered her. "Made by Doom."

"Who is Doom?" She questioned, destroying the bots instead of trying to effect their mind, now that she knew they weren't actually people. Pietro ran up to her, lifting her up and moving her out of the way of a magical attack that destroyed the ground where she was standing. Steve was blown away, only to be caught by Iron man. "Who the hell is that?" She asked.

"Amora, The Echantress," Thor answered when she was set down. His gaze was fixed on the blonde woman as she blasted green magic alongside the Doombots. "She is a sorceress that was banished from Asgard."

"What does she want?" Wanda asked.

She watched as the woman used her magic on the Hulk, causing him to attack Iron man, but Thor quickly intervened.

"She wants Thor," Natasha answered.

"Then why is she attacking him?" Wanda tossed out waves of red magic to fight the nearing Doombots. "What sense does this make?"

"I'm with you," Sam said as he landed beside her.

"Who ever said aliens made sense?" Pietro commented as he came up beside her again.

"Pietro, get me close to her," Wanda commanded. He picked her up and they were behind her in a moment. Amora turned around quickly, launching green magic at them, but Pietro dodged. A volley of arrows came at her from one side, distracting the goddess as she created a shield to block them. Wanda let her magic pour out into the woman's mind.

"Get out!" Amora cried, unleashing waves of green all around her. Both Wanda and Pietro were pushed back, but when they looked up, Amora's eyes were red. The goddess pressed her hands to her temple before looking around wildly. "Stay away from him, Lorelei!" She unleashed a torrent of magic, pushing all the Avengers away from her, though by the wildness in her red eyes she wasn't seeing any of them. The Doombots began to retreat under Amora's distraction.

"What did you do?" Iron man asked her, flying Steve out of the range of her magic as Sam did the same for Natasha. Pietro had already moved Wanda out of the way of the wild magic.

"I was just trying to help!" Wanda yelled.

The Hulk was coming out of the enchantress' spell and Thor was trying to fight his way through the waves of magic.

"That's enough," Another voice said as a man appeared out of nowhere.

Amora turned on her heel, arm raised to attack, but paused briefly. "Loki?" The red in her eyes dimmed a moment, then flared up. "No! You can't... You won't take him from me!" She attacked him, but Loki disappeared and reappeared behind him, grabbing her arms.

"It's alright, Amora," Loki said soothing. "I've got you." The two disappeared in a swirl of green magic.

The new found silence rang out over the battlefield. There were no Doombots left in sight and no sign of the man himself, if he had ever been there in the first place.

"Alright," Wanda said as she tried to bring herself to a calmer state. "I think you guys should tell us about your former villains."

Wanda's head was filled with a ton of information by the time she returned to her room for bed. The Avengers had a lot of villains, more than she or Pietro had ever considered before. They had both been rescued from Hydra and knew that the Avengers were after them, but she'd never even heard of this Doom person before. She had never heard of Amora. And then there was that Loki person. As much as they had told her, they also left a lot of things unclear.

Wanda crashed face first onto her bed as soon as she stumbled into her room. Most of the Avengers had their own floor in the Tower, but she and Pietro shared a floor. That was why when she felt someone tugging at her hair, she wasn't worried. At least, not until they spoke.

"You really need to get your magic under better control."

Wanda sat up quickly, staring wide eyed at the raven haired woman sitting on her bed. "Who are you? How did you get in here?" Her hands began to glow red with magic. "What do you want?"

"Now, now." The woman grabbed her hand, abruptly cutting off the magic that Wanda had gathered. "After what you wrought earlier, I would not like to see you cause such uproar again. That woman was my friend."

"She was attacking us!" Wanda cried, trying to pull away, but the other woman's grip was too strong.

"Yes, I understand that. That is why I am not attacking you."

Wanda calmed down slightly, half because she didn't seem to be in imminent danger and half because she couldn't really escape anyway. "You're... Loki?" Not that that guess made any sense. The Loki that she's seen earlier was without a doubt male and the person before her was... not. She couldn't deny the physical similarities though and she knew better than to underestimate magic.

"I am," She answered.

"What do you want from me?"

Loki released her hand and went back to tugging on Wanda's hair, which Wanda soon realized was because the goddess was braiding it. "I know a thing or two about chaos magic. What you did to Amora was messy and unrefined. It could have permanently damaged her. Enemy or not, I will not have you poisoning the mind of my friend."

"Then don't let her attack us," Wanda replied.

"I find it easier to simply make you better at your craft," Loki told her. "Tell me what you know about magic and I will correct you where you are wrong."

"Is this always how you handle your first meetings with people?" Wanda asked.

"When I first met Stark I threw him out a window," Loki answered, starting on another braid. "When I first met Barton, I took control of his mind. I threatened the Widow, fought your Captain, and was beaten by the Hulk."

"Guess I'm lucky," Wanda grumbled sarcastically.

"Watch your tongue, young lady, or I shall take it from you," Loki said calmly. Wanda obediently shut her mouth. "I wish you no ill will at present, but I will not stand disrespect."

Wanda debated with herself before finally saying, "Sorry."

Loki nodded. "That is better. Now speak, my young one. Tell me what you know and I'll share knowledge in turn."

Wanda didn't really know what else to do in this situation. She talked about her magic.

When it came down to it, her first meeting with Loki went much better than expected.

The second went much less smoothly.

"Leave them alone!" Wanda yelled, a wave of red magic exploding out around her.

Magneto was hovering above them, holding Iron man and Falcon in his grasp, along with Captain America's shield. Mystique had one blue foot pined against Natasha's throat as she pinned her to the ground, her other leg pressing down on both of the Widow's. Azazel had his tail wrapped tightly around Clint's throat, who tried desperately to pull it away. Sabertooth was staring down Thor, Emma Frost was holding the Hulk still, and Steve was down.

"This is for your own good," Magneto said to his children. "Humans will only betray you, as they've done already. Did Hydra teach you nothing?"

"You've betrayed me!" Wanda yelled back. "You betrayed us!"

"Your mother kept you from me!" He argued. "I'm just trying to protect you."

"You've never protected me!"

"Wanda," Pietro said calmly, laying a hand on her shoulder. "You have to calm down."

"Listen to your brother, girl. He's the quick one, after all," Emma said, flipping her hair over her shoulder and standing with arms crossed. "Come with us and we can all be one happy family."

Wanda glared at her, red wrapping around her hands.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," Mystique said, pressing harder against the Widow's throat.

"Not if you want your friends to escape this encounter unharmed," Azazel added.

"Pietro," Wanda growled.

"Don't move, boy," Magneto said. The sound of creaking metal echoed loudly. Iron man's suit dented, the falcon's wings folded until it's point was at his throat, the Shield was held at the ready to strike.

"You will not hurt my friends," Wanda told him.

"Wanda, I don't really care about your friends," Magneto told her. "I just want the two of you to come back with me. Come home."

"You want to control us," Pietro spat out. "You want to control Wanda!"

"That is not what I want," He told them.

A flash of green around the Iron man suit caught her attention, but Magneto didn't seem to notice it. Wanda's eyes began to widen before she controlled her expression. "Pietro," She said softly. "Go!" She unleashed her magic at Magneto, who used Captain America's shield to block. Pietro raced off, knocking Mystique off of Black Widow and racing towards Azazel, but the red mutant teleported out of the way. Thor yelled and attacked Sabertooth, who matched strength for viciousness.

"I warned you," Magneto said. He moved his hand, but the flash of green grew brighter, surrounding both the Iron man armor and Falcon. Magneto was distracted by this and Wanda gathered as much magi as she could and unleashed it all on her father.

He screamed.

"Magneto!" Mystique called, moving to run toward him, but Natasha held a gun to her head.

"Move and I shoot."

Mystique held dutifully still.

Azazel reappeared a the top of a building, dangling Clint over the edge by his tail for a moment before dropping him. Then he teleported quickly to Mystique's side and grabbed her. They were gone before Natasha could shoot, though the shot rang out just afterwards.

Magneto had released both Iron man and Falcon, who slowly floated to the ground as Magneto's eyes turned red and his screaming continued. "What the hell did you do?" Emma asked as she went to his side.

Quicksilver ran up the side of the building, jumping off of it to catch Clint before he hit the ground and running along another building as soon as his feet touched the sides of it.

"Sabertooth! Cut it out!" Emma yelled. She had her hands on both sides of Magneto's head to remove his helmet. "How the hell did she..."

Mystique and Azazel appeared at her side. Mystique immediately going to Magneto's side and Azazel frowning at her. "What did she do?" Mystique growled.

"Magic," Emma sneered. "We need to go. Now!"

Azazel disappeared, reappearing with Sabertooth in his grasp. Emma and Mystique both took hold of one Magneto's arms, reaching out to Azazel with the other. Azazel kept a tight grip on Sabertooth as he growled at the Avengers still. Mystique tore her eyes away from Magneto long enough to lock eyes with Wanda. "You can't hide from family," She said. Then the group teleported off.

Wanda let out a yell of frustration and in moments was enveloped in Pietro's arms. "Wanda, it's okay. It'll be okay," He said to her softly.

"It's not," She replied just as softly. "It's not."

When she returned to her room, her eyes were red. She almost wished that it was from her magic, instead of from crying her eyes out over family that shouldn't be important. She didn't know how to explain it, but she felt unbearable grateful when she saw Loki waiting for her on her bed.

The woman held out her arms and Wanda immediately fell into them. "I know," Loki said softly. "I know. It hurts when they only want you for what you can do." Loki stroked her hair, whispering soft condolences to her until she fell asleep.

When Pietro came in to join them, he didn't ask any questions, just cuddled up to his sister with his head in Loki's lap and fell asleep.

Tony woke to a soft touch on his cheek. Opening his eyes, he saw a pair of worried green eyes staring down at him. "You're still hurt," Loki whispered.

"I'm not that hurt," Tony replied, placing his hand over Loki's that rested on his cheek. "It could have been worse if you hadn't saved me."

Loki leaned down to place his forehead against Tony's. There were a few visible scrapes and bruises on him, but he looked better than he had a day or two ago. He wrapped his arms around Loki, tugging until the god relented and laid his body beside Tony's. "I'm sorry. If had only-"

"Hey," Tony interrupted. "It's not your fault. The Avengers can take care of themselves. It's not your job to o it for us, even if I am grateful for your help." Tony turned to press a kiss to Loki's lips. "It's not your fault. It's not Wanda's fault. It's not Pietro's."

"You watched us," Loki said. It wasn't a question, though it was posed as one.

Tony answered it anyway. "Yeah, I did. Of course I did. I always watch you when you're in the Tower."

"Paranoid?" Loki questioned. "Jealous?"

"Possessive," Tony answered. His voice was soft, but also shameless. "I want to have every part of you, even if you're giving it to someone else."

"Foolish mortal," Loki whispered, curling his body protectively around Tony's. "You that I... that you are..."

"Yeah, I do," Tony said. He relaxed in Loki's embrace, letting the warmth of Loki's body envelope him. "Doesn't make me want you less."

"Luckily for you," Loki whispered, "I do not mind you having every part of me."

"Good," Tony whispered. "Because I intend to take you. All of you."

Loki shuddered and pulled Tony closer to him. "Foolish mortal... what is there to take?"

Thor woke up to a body on top of his. This was not unusual, so he did not immediately react. It was only after a few minutes of waking that he took notice of his surroundings.

"Loki? What are you doing?"

Loki only snuggled closer, hugging his brother tightly. As happy as Thor wanted to be about Loki's presence, his brother only came to him before or after he attacked the city, so Thor was warry.

"Loki... you are planning mischief, aren't you?" Thor asked.

"Bad day, brother," Loki whispered.

Thor was uncertain whether that was a warning or a statement. Thor sighed. "Loki, get your hand out of my pants."

"Shut up, Thor," Loki groaned.

"Get out of my bed."

"No."

"Do not cause trouble."

Loki pressed a pillow to Thor's face and plopped his face on top of it. Thor groaned loudly, but didn't bother to move Loki. When Loki wanted, he could cling as though he were made of double the arms, double the legs, and thrice the determination. In their youth, when Loki had yet to master the physical strength he had now, he would often use magic to be just that, a many limbed creature that would not be moved before it was ready. He tried to mentally prepare for whatever bad day Loki was going to give him, but he just ended up falling back asleep.

"What the hell is this?" Pietro asked as he dodged blast of green magic from Amora. Loki was blasting inanimate things with magic and making them animate. Trees were reaching out with their branches and statues were coming to life, menacing people more than harming them. One other person was with them using yellow magic. She had a yellow apple that she tossed up and down and used for explosions of magic at times.

"My brother has decided to cause mischief again this day," Thor said with a sigh.

"Well he is the God of that," Iron man commented.

"But..." Pietro began. "Why would he attack us?"

"Because he's Loki?" Clint answered with an eye roll as he began to fire arrows. "We told you about all our enemies."

"But he's not..." Wanda began, interrupted by a golden apple appearing on the ground near her and detonating, blowing both her and Pietro off of their feet.

The others didn't hesitate to go after Loki, but Wanda and Pietro looked at each other uneasily.

"I don't want to," Pietro told her. "I don't want to fight, Loki."

Wanda looked uneasy, folding her arms and tucking her hands into the crocks of her elbows. "It's not... the same Loki..." She tried.

Pietro shook his head. "That's just an excuse."

"We could attack... one of the others?" Wanda suggested.

"What are you two doing?" Sam asked.

"We're not fighting him," Pietro said loudly.

"He's an enemy," Natasha told them.

"No, he's not!" Pietro yelled.

The Avengers paused to look at them, all but Thor and Iron man, but an attack my Eris and Amora quickly got their attention. "What is your problem?" Natasha asked them.

Wanda tried to physical fold into herself as she moved further away from the fighting. "He's not our mother," She whispered to Pietro. "He isn't even our Loki."

"He's all we have," Pietro replied.

"We have the Avengers," She tried.

"You know that's not the same."

"Get your head in the game, brats!" Clint yelled.

"No. I can't do it!" Wanda cried out, stopping the Avengers in their tracks. At first she thought it was just sock that stopped them, then she noticed the waves of red magic that flickered around them. Eris and Amora had stopped slowly as well, but not due to magical means. Loki just sighed. Slowly he walked over to the two of them, placing a hand on Pietro's head and Wanda's cheek.

"What is wrong, young one?" Loki asked. "Why do you stop your allies?"

"I don't want to fight you," Wanda said. She pulled into her self more, her eyes locked to the floor. "I can't..."

Loki sighed once more, pulling her into his arms. "There is no harm in this battle, my girl. My brother and I fight with one another all the time."

"But the Avengers said that you hate him," Pietro said.

Loki surprised at that. "I am surprised that they would tell you such. I have not professed hate for my brother in a long time and it was never a truth." Loki reached out and drew Pietro into his embrace beside his sister. "This is just a bit of fun. I di not intent for it to bother you so." When Pietro stayed silent and Wanda only hugged him tighter, Loki let out another sigh. He looked over his shoulder. "Perhaps we shall have to postpone our fun. I think something else may be in order."

Eris tossed her magic apple up and down, her attire changing to something sleek and modern. "Yeah, alright. You can show me around your new playground and I'll play with your friends some other time." She took a bit out of the golden apple.

Amora similarly changed her attire. "If we get restless, it's been a while since we visited Olympus."

Loki stroked the twin's hair, speaking softly to them. "Release your friends."

"I... I'm not sure how..." Wanda began.

"Remember what we spoke about?" Loki said. "You can do this."

Wanda closed her eyes in concentration a long moment before the red flash dissipated from her friends.

"The hell was that?" Iron man's voice was the first to speak.

"Very good," Loki told her, leaning down to kiss her forehead. He repeated the action with Pietro, whispering to him, "Look after your sister."

Pietro nodded, pulling Wanda close to him as Loki let them both go.

Loki nodded to his companions and the trio disappeared.

"Alright. We should probably talk about this," Iron man said.

"Alright, let me get this straight," Steve said. "Loki has been teaching you magic?" He asked Wanda. They were all sitting together in the living room of Tony's penthouse. None of them had wanted to intimidate the twins by going to a meeting room, so they chose to talk in an informal setting.

Wanda just nodded. "He just... showed up in my room one night and..." She shrugged. "And then he... well, she... kept coming back."

"She never did anything to hurt us!" Pietro spoke up. "Not even when she was mad about what Wanda did to her friend."

"And you decided not to tell anyone?" Sam asked.

Pietro shrugged. "I mean, we thought about it, but..."

"We just... wanted to have something to ourselves again," Wanda said. "And when she came to us after Magneto..." She bit her lip, unable to continue.

The twins reached out to hold each other's hand in tandem.

Clint sighed. "It figures this bastard would pull something like this."

Wanda looked up at him and Pietro gazed at him with confusion. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Getting close to you, making you like him," Clint said. "That's what he does! He manipulates people, get's into their head."

"He's not manipulating us!" Pietro said.

"You don't really know what's he's done," Natasha pointed out. "We glossed over the incident when we told yo about him, because-"

"He told us all about it!" Pietro interrupted. "He told us everything."

"He wouldn't," Thor said. "He still refusing to talk to me about such matters."

"That's because you're always against him!" Wanda yelled. "The first night I met him he told me what he did to you guys and then helped me with my magic. Loki is... complicated, but he's not... she's not..."

"Loki isn't bad," Pietro finished.

Tony sighed. "Should have seen this coming."

"Why would he speak to strangers, children, and not his brother?" Thor asked.

"Maybe if you listened better, you'd know," Pietro snapped.

"Alright, let's cut this before things get messy," Tony said. "Also, can we please stop pretending that Loki isn't talking to ever single one us, now?"

Natasha's gaze snapped to him. "What?"

"You heard me," Tony said. "I know that Loki goes to everyone of you. Jarvis watches every inch of this place, you think I wouldn't know?"

"You've been letting a dangerous criminal into our home for how long, Stark?" Natasha asked, glaring at him.

"Don't play high and mighty with me. You cuddle with him, too."

"Hold on!" Steve said, holding up his hands. "Has Loki... really been to see all of us?" He looked around at the others. Natasha still had her glare fixed on Tony, Bruce shuffled nervously in the corner, Sam blushed, and Thor looked challenging.

"I wondered how that bastard kept getting in here unnoticed," Clint grumbled.

"But I thought you hated Loki?" Steve asked.

"No, it's... complicated," Clint answered.

"How did this... start?" Steve wondered.

"I caught Loki one of the times he was slipping into Clint's bed," Tony said. "He gets lonely at night, has nightmares sometimes," Tony shrugged. "He said he felt better being close to Clint what with the mental connection and all, but Clint seemed really torn up about it. Probably felt guilty about keeping secrets and I didn't want him to crack. So I invited him to share y bed on occasion instead." Tony shrugged, looking at them all with nonchalance. "Turns out we hit it off." The rest of you know how you got here."

"Bastard," Clint repeated.

"If that's the case," Steve began. "Why don't we just make him an Avenger?"

"If he accepts," Tony said. "God of Mischief, and all that." Tony paused, thinking about his own comment. "Yeah, that puts this whole incident into perspective."

When Loki returned to Tony bed that night, he was much more relaxed that Tony had expected. "Nice night out with the girls?" He asked.

Loki hummed, but didn't answer with actual words. Pressing up against him, Tony noticed that Loki was actually in is female form, something he didn't get to see often. Tony smiled at him, stroking his head, wondering what sort of mischief his god had gotten up to with his friends. Tony pressed a kiss to Loki's forehead.

"Steve invited you to join the Avengers," Tony told him.

"That's nice," Loki whispered.

"Quiet," Pepper mumbled from Loki's other side, wrapping one arm around the god. "Sleep."

"You could have stayed in your own room," Tony told her softly.

Pepper made an unhappy, unintelligible noise. "Loki," She replied, hugging the god tighter.

"He steals my team, now he steals my ex," Tony grumbled.

Loki reached out sleepily to Tony's face, stroking his cheek before pulling him close enough to kiss. The brush of lips was soft and Loki had barely pulled away before he was asleep. Tony chuckled softly and kissed him again, holding tightly to his God of Mischief.

It was Bucky's first night at the Tower. It was... weird. Being in the Tower. He'd almost punched Steve when he came in without knocking to check on him, just on impulse. He was used to hiding, to hunting and being hunted, to watching out for Hydra. How the hell was he suppose to sleep in a fancy place like this?

He was considering just getting up and walking around. Or leaving altogether. Maybe it was better if he just continued hunting Hydra. Better than staring at the ceiling and pretending to sleep.

That was when he felt something around his waist.

"The hell is that!" He yelled, trying to jump away, but the thing had a good grip.

"Shh, sleep."

Bucky pulled the covers back to see that it was just Loki. Something about saying "just" and following it with "Loki" didn't seem right though. "The hell are you doing?"

"Sleeping," Loki answered.

"Not what I meant."

"You are not alone in this bed," Loki told him. "I will not let you be."

Bucky was silent, not knowing how to respond. Steve hadn't noticed how nervous he was, or at least, hadn't chosen to do anything about it. The fact that someone else...

Bucky wrapped his arms around Loki in turn. "Hug harder, dammit! Are you a god or a ghost?" The arms around him tightened exponentially. Until he couldn't even entertain the idea of being alone, until he felt like he could really breath, until he could pretend pain was the reason for the few tears that slipped out of his eyes.

"Nothing will take you away from here," Loki told him. "Not even you."

He wasn't immediate. It wasn't wasn't nightmares. But that night, Bucky was able to sleep.