Chapter Two: First Day of School

Waking up was the hardest part of the day. That was what Jane had thought when she was in high school the first time and that was what she thought this time around. Something loud and obnoxious was buzzing in her ear, but she didn't remember setting an alarm. Opening one eye, she surveyed the area, only to quickly screw it shut again. "Tony," she muttered. "Get. Out."

"Raise and shine," the eccentric man cheered, holding up a comically oversized alarm clock right next to her face.

"Tony, what are you doing?" she hissed, sitting up. "Why are you in my room?"

"Technically, they're all my rooms," he looked at her pointedly. "Secondly, if I'm going to be on babysitting duty, I'm having fun with it. Now get out of bed and throw on your clothes. It's your first day of school, sweetheart." The grin was over doing it, seeing it was obviously fake, but Tony was relentless. He meant every word. If he was playing guardian - he was going to be guardian. Starting by shoving her off to school right. Getting up on time.

"Hey," she exclaimed, glimpsing the clock. "It's five in the morning. Why are you getting me up now? School starts at 7:30."

"Yes, but your new school needs a new you."

"What are you talking about?"

Tony grinned, this time more genuinely. "Let's face it, Urkel. You are not going to school, looking like that."

Jane looked down at herself and then back at Tony. "What's wrong with this? This is what I looked like when I went to high school." She paused. "You know, for real."

"Yeah, and how did that go for you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you?"

Urkel. Oh, right. Like that show. Wait. She glared at him. "Are you saying I look like a nerd?"

He grimaced, raising a brow. "I'm not saying 'nerd,'" he looked away as if in thought. Then he looked back at her and shrugged. "Alright, I'm saying nerd. Oh, come on," he continued as she made an annoyed face at him. "Jane, you scream 'nerd,' and no godchild of mine is going to be a nerd."

"I'm not your godchild," Jane spat. "I'm not your anything. And this is stupid. I'm fine like this." Tony was wasting precious sleeping time. As if any of this was important.

"Really, Jane? So, your time in high school was fine? You had no problems?"

"No," she said quickly. Then she thought about it. "Well, kind of…"

"Kind of?"

"I guess," she started thinking about high school, combing through her memory, pushing deeper passed college, trying to recall those days. There wasn't much to remember. Mostly, she remembered studying and a few people she used to call 'friends.' But, she also remembered mean cliques and some rude girls who would tease her. It wasn't that bad though. Tony was over exaggerating. Like Tony does.

"Un-huh," Tony nodded. "Yeah. No. No godchild of mine is getting called 'nerd,' and no way am I letting you relive Mean Girls."

Jane smirked. "My high school life was not like Mean Girls."

"Not unless we get Clint and Nat in here to fix you up."

Jane eyed him quizzically. "What are they going to do?"

Now Tony smirked. "You obviously don't know much about them if you have to even ask." He started heading towards the door, calling over his shoulder, "I'm getting your wardrobe. Meet me downstairs when everything's done."

Before she could respond – or escape – Clint and Natasha swept into her room, carrying briefcases filled with who-knows-what, Jane couldn't guess, and started situating themselves in front of her vanity, which was pushed into the corner.

"You guys don't have to do this. I'm just going back to sleep," she started leaning back in her bed, pulling up the covers, but was soon dragged out of it by Natasha clutching one hand and Clint the other. "What are you doing?" she demanded, trying to pull free from their grasp.

"Do you want to go school looking like that?" Natasha asked after settling Jane in a chair in front of the vanity and gesturing towards her reflection.

Jane held back a cringe. Her hair puffed out in an unsightly frizz. Her eyes were hidden behind the glint of her extremely over-sized glasses, and braces flashed whenever she opened her mouth. An oversized, pink sweater and frumpy black skirt – some of the highlights of when she went to school – covered her body clumsily. They weren't wrong, but it was still rude. She sighed. "Fine. Whatever. Make-over me, but why doesn't Loki have to do this?" He was still pleasantly sleeping.

The redhead smirked as she picked up a comb from the array she had in one briefcase and said, "Have you not seen him?"

Jane knew this was said ironically because Natasha knew she saw him. She'd admit – not aloud – that Loki wasn't in dire need of help as much as she was. In fact, Jane wasn't sure if Asgardians ever needed help with that sort of thing. Surely, they never dealt with acne or fought tangles. At least not at the ferocity she has. Jane sighed, surrendering to the tortures of beauty care products and let Natasha and Clint get to work.

/

/

Jane decided she hated stairs. From one room to the other, she flew, trying to find Tony, so that she could ask him about obtaining information on the Cube, but the man was nowhere to be found. In her mad search, she had to check the first floor, then the second, then the third and lastly the fourth, but couldn't find him anywhere and had to backtrack and do it all over again. If having to talk to him was vexing, having to find him was worse. It was as if he vanished. She did run into Steve Rogers – apparently he arrived some time during the night. The man was seated at a table, eating some sort of grain with milk and he did a double take when he saw her. Mouth full of grain, he gawked at her for a second. Then he swallowed, blinked and politely apologized for having stared. Jane waved it off – who wouldn't stare if they suddenly saw a teenage version of someone they knew? – and asked for Tony. The name seemed to irk him and Jane thought she saw his face darken. Only for a moment. Then he smiled nicely and told her he saw him working in his work shop, which was somewhere on the first floor.

After flying down the halls, walking in on people – "I am so sorry, Dr. Banner!" – Jane finally found the man sitting on a stool, hunched over a desk full of miscellaneous parts with the breast plate of a suit in front of him and a screwdriver in one hand. Ducking under hanging wire and overstepping half-finished suits, she strode up to him.

"Tony," she called.

He turned around, saw it was her and placed the screwdriver on the desk, grinning. "Hey, someone looks much better."

Jane narrowed her eyes at him. There wasn't much difference; at least, she didn't think so. Natasha straightened her hair and Clint applied make-up. The two also gave her contacts – Tony apparently knew her prescription and had them made over night, which never ceased to creep her out. Now more or less, she looked like herself, only… much younger. "It really wasn't a big deal. I could've gone looking like I did. And anyway-" She tried to transition to her reason for being there, but Tony interrupted her.

"Yeah, and go in there to be eaten alive? I don't think so. I know teenagers, Jane. They're vultures." He started taking out pieces of clothes, clearly too small for him, and handed them to her. "Pepper picked these out, by the way."

Jane briefly looked them over, noting the purple t-shirt had a white star on it, and all of it - the shirt, the jeans, the shoes – were in her exact size. She suppressed a shiver. "Thanks, I appreciate some new clothes-" She was about to ask her question, when he cut her off.

"Pepper is arranging more outfits for you. She seems pretty excited to have a 'girl' to fuss over. You know, Nat's not into that sort of thing."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks, but, Tony, I need to talk to you about-"

"I tried to add some rocket boosters to the clothing, but Pepper said n-"

"Tony, what can you do to get me information on the Cube?" All of it rushed out of her mouth in a breath, but she needed to get to the point and not let Tony get all over the place. The man would never stop if she didn't intervene.

A startled look passed his face. Then he leaned forward, eyeing her. "What can I do?" He snorted a laugh. "What can I do? Sweetheart, what can't I do?" He leaned back against his desk, crossing his arms over his chest as he smirked at her. "Let me take a guess. You want me to give you full-access to the Cubes data so you can continue your research." He paused, nodding. "Or maybe you're going to figure out how to reverse this mess you're in?"

Jane shrugged, not at all surprised that he worked out her intention. He's Tony Stark. Anyone could've seen where she was going with this. "That's pretty much it. Would you want to just sit around in your teenage body, waiting for someone else to fix it?"

He stared at her. A visible shudder ran up his spine. "Point taken." Sliding off the stool, he started walking towards an empty space surrounded by carts of tools and machinery Jane didn't bother glancing at twice. Instead she focused on the holographic screen Tony pulled up. After flipping through a few things and typing in whatever, he turned to her and gestured her over. "Alright, come back here after school," he paused to hold back a laugh, succeeding in a twisted grin and a short breath of chuckles. "Come back here afterwards and I'll have everything you need right here."

Jane nodded. "Alright." She tilted her head towards him. "Now how are we getting to school?"

"We?" Tony glanced at her.

"Loki and me," she clarified.

Jane thought she saw him cringe, but that could've been the lighting.

"Right, Reindeer Games, okay. Taken care of. Go out front. There's a car waiting." Tony clapped his hands together, grinning at her. "Have a great day at school, sweetheart."

Rolling her eyes, she began walking out the room. "M'hmm. You, too."

"Oh, hey," Tony stepped over to her swiftly, pulling something from his pocket. "Before you go. Take this. Hold out your wrist." She shuffled the clothing and shoes to one arm and did so, and he strapped a watch on it. "No, it's not just a really cool watch. See this?" He pointed to a button on the side, one she wouldn't have noticed otherwise; it was so tiny. "If the Loco Train acts up," he raised his eyebrows. "You press this and we'll be there to slam the hammer down." He paused and then shrugged. "I guess that's more Thor's thing, but you get the idea."

Jane nodded, running a cursory glance over the face of the watch. Appearing ordinary enough, she had to give Tony credit on how easily it would blend it. Hopefully, a certain someone wouldn't catch on. But, with him, Jane didn't really know what to expect. "Alright. Got it. If anything comes up."

"Anything."

"Un-huh." Glancing at the watch, she startled back. "Sheesh, how is it that time already? I got to go."

Jane scraped together enough time to change into her outfit before making her way to Loki's door. The outfit was her exact size, which she ignored for now, trying not to wonder how Tony and Pepper knew that. There were more immediate issues. Like the door in front of her. Taking a deep breath, she knocked. No answer. She frowned. Maybe he wasn't going to show up. Why would he? A man with an eyepatch and disclosed personal secrets came to mind and she knew that he would show up. She knocked again, this time calling, "Loki? We're going to be late." Jane widened her eyes. Telling Loki – Loki – that they were going to be late for school had to be one of the top craziest things she has ever done. Scratch that. Going to school with Loki, that had to be number one. Now where was he? As she went to knock again, the door swung open. "Hey, Lok – oh!" She nearly jumped back when she realized what he was wearing.

Yesterday, when they both shrunk, their clothes adapted to what they used to wear as teenagers, and Loki had a similar outfit to the one he had been wearing as an adult, albeit lesser leather and metal. Now he wasn't wearing anything remotely Asgardian. Instead, he had a dark green dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, jeans and black shoes that Jane thought could be converse. "Whoa," she breathed, taken aback. She hadn't thought about what he would wear. "Where did you-?"

"Illusion."

Jane snapped her head back up, removing them from his shoes and focusing on his eyes. When he opened his mouth, the brisk, cold tone that slithered out reminded her that he may look like a teenager, but he definitely wasn't one. Then what he said registered. "Illusion? As in? As in these clothes aren't real? How did you-?" Jane seized up. Loki's hand was griped firmly around her wrist. She then realized that she had been reaching out to touch his 'shirt' without thinking about it. They stood without moving for a few breathless seconds.

"Don't touch me," he hissed, narrowing his eyes at her as he let go of her wrist.

She quickly brought her hand to her side, feeling a faint chill where his fingers were. "I won't," she told him, trying to keep calm. She was not going to let him intimidate her. That was all he was doing. In this younger body, and whatever Fury made for him had to lessen his power somehow. The pressure on her wrist wasn't as strong as to be expected of someone like him. She wasn't sure if that was his strength, or if he was holding back. The uncertainty didn't comfort her. "We have to get going. School starts."

They stood there, staring at each other. His jaw was set so tight Jane thought he would break his teeth. The stance he took implied he was not moving anytime soon. There was sure to be an argument. She was surprised when he started out of his room without a word. Quickening her step, she followed after him, trying to walk beside him, but he was faster than she anticipated and she ended up trailing a step or two behind.

What was his problem? Jane couldn't help fuming towards him. He wouldn't talk to her, and when he did, it was in short syllables. What was that about? He liked talking. He was known for talking. Silver tongue. Jane was sure she heard that nickname somewhere. Then why was he acting mute? Because he didn't deem her worthy to talk to? Of all the preposterous things, that had to be the most absurd. Who would belligerently not talk to someone because of a question of worth?

Jane jerked forward, placing her foot too far out in front of her. She almost tripped down the staircase, and had to catch herself on the railing. She glanced over embarrassedly. Loki gave her strange look, but didn't say anything. Jane frowned as he walked on. How could that not gain a comment? Was it an Asgardian mindset? Someone from Asgard might have the impression that people from Earth were beneath them. Her first encounter with Thor couldn't exactly be called 'pleasant'. But, he talked to her and he did appreciate her home world eventually. If Thor was here, he'd know how to handle this. Which brings up the question, where was he? Jane sighed. Everyone else had arrived, but he has yet to show up.

Jane would dwell on that later. There were bigger, more immediate problems to address. She glanced at Loki's back. "Did you sleep well?"

He didn't answer or turn around to acknowledge her.

Okay, Jane, she thought. You officially can't start conversations. She watched his back. Or he is the rudest person alive. She corrected herself. Rudest Asgardian alive.

Picking up her pace, she strolled next to him. "Tony says there would be a ride for us out front." She tried not to look like she was staring intensely at his face, waiting for a reaction, but it was hard and she probably looked very much like she was staring. She didn't care. She wanted to get him to respond. An eyebrow, a subtle lip movement, anything. Nothing. Sighing, she let the space between them fill up with silence as they walked out to their ride.

Again, Jane was surprised to be surprised when she saw the 'car' Tony arranged for them. The word 'car' didn't cover it. The 'car' was a limousine, black with tinted windows and silver rims. Jane suppressed a groan. This won't draw attention at all, she thought, stealing a glance at Loki, hoping seeing something this splendor that it was boarder-lining ridiculous to be used for transportation to school would goad a reaction from him. Nothing. He did raise his eyebrow, but other than that, he quietly got into the vehicle. Jane followed after him. The white leather made everything stand out. Loki's black hair. Loki's green shirt. Loki's slacks. Loki's shoes. Basically Loki. Jane couldn't ignore the fact that they would have to sit next to each other in what would be another uncomfortable silence as they rode to school. He sat on the other side, pressed against his door with his elbow propped against the armrest and his chin in his hand as he looked out the window.

They were alone – save for the driver – and the ride, from what the driver said, would take roughly twenty minutes. Now would be a good time for conversation. Jane cleared her throat. He didn't look over. She cleared it louder. He glanced. Then he went back to the window. She sighed, starting regardless of his attention. "So," she played it casual, hoping not to sound too desperate. "Asgard? What schooling did you have?"

There was a beat and then he answered, catching Jane off-guard. "The kind one learns to kill a man without getting blood on one's hands." He turned to her with what looked like a very pleased grin. Then it fell away and he turned back to the window.

Jane sat there, stunned. That was, to say the least, not what she expected. But, what did she expect? Hey, there, Loki. I know you tried killing me not too long ago, but how about we pretend that didn't happen and become buddies? Her neck burned as she remembered his fingers around it. She swallowed hard, resisting the urge to touch where the red marks already healed. To kill… without getting blood on one's hands. Suppressing a shudder, Jane twisted in her seat, facing his back. The smile on his face when he said that haunted her. "It's no joke to kill someone."

"It wasn't a joke." He didn't turn.

The rebuttal died on her tongue. She sat there, unsure of what to say. Asgard was as distant as the stars to her. How would she know what they taught there? Didn't Thor always mention warriors and battles? Teaching fighting skills wasn't so far-fetched. But, why did he say it like that? And no matter what, even if fighting was taught, it didn't make it okay to out and say something so disturbing. Especially after New York. Erik. A pang shot through her heart. He hadn't been the same since. He was skittish and more often than not, had memory lapses. Worst of it was when he would sit in his chair, staring aimlessly ahead of him and muttering over and over in monotone the name of the man who did this to him. Jane was sitting next to that man. The thought brought her blood to a boil.

"And New York? Was that something they taught in your school?" Jane thought it was in poor taste, but this needed to be said. Not to say, it needed to be said in this way, but it was important, nonetheless. Loki killed people, innocent people, in the onslaught of New York. If they were forced to go to school together, this was something Jane had to confront him about.

"There are no lessons about crushing ants."

Jane's mouth hung open, appalled. "Humans are not… we're not… how can you be so ignorant?"

He didn't respond this time. His stare hardened as he peered out the window and she knew she wasn't going to get another word out of him. She closed and opened her mouth several times, words roiling on her tongue, but she didn't say a single one. Talking with Loki was trouble enough. Throwing his mistakes in his face wasn't going to make it any easier. She didn't want to let it go, though. What happened then was important. It would have to come up. Until then, she resolved in steering away from 'touchy' subjects. But, right now she was worked up and any speaking would come across all wrong. She'd try again later. Jane wasn't counting this as a conversation.

The rest of the ride was spent in aggravated silence.

Soon the limo pulled up in front of what Jane assumed to be their new school. Outside, waiting on the steps with briefcase in hand was Agent Coulson. Jane got out first, and waited for Loki. He got out of her door and directly walked up to Coulson, leaving Jane to close it with a slam. She didn't exactly forget the way he brushed off the death and destruction he caused in the span of the few minutes it took to get there, and residual anger was seeping through her skin. She more or less stomped her way over and stood next to Loki. They looked at the agent expectantly.

He was quick to explain how things would commence. He was their paternal guardian and would need to lead them into the principal's office to get properly registered and to obtain the necessary school supplies. Speaking of school supplies – the briefcase contained some of the generic items they would potentially need, including pencils, pens, notebooks, folders, erasers, tissues, hand sanitizer, etc. Coulson was prepared. Scarily prepared.

Jane felt humiliated by all of it. Going back to school was humiliation enough – she has a master degree! – but going back to school, having Coulson as a 'paternal guardian', having to register her, Earth's Mightiest Heroes practically babysitting her, AND having to go to school with a man-turned-boy who basically told her on the ride there that he compared humans to ants went beyond humiliation and felt strictly like a punishment bent on making her life miserable. And that wasn't the worst of it. How could that not be the worst of it? But, of course, there was one more itty-bitty, tiny thing that was worse than all of it combined. She had to watch over Loki. The task never felt any less formidable, never any less foreboding. She had to keep him from doing whatever a Loki does when in an unfamiliar place, where he doesn't want to be, and with the unpredictability of a cootie catcher. Jane frowned. Where did that come from? That wasn't where she originally thought her mind was going with that sentence. A chill clutched her insides. Was her mind somehow reverting back into her teenage mindset, too? That thought decidedly was worse than everything previously mentioned combined times a thousand. Nothing productive could be achieved if her mind went back to those silly, girly teenage years. How would she be able to keep track of Loki if she couldn't think straight?

She pushed the thought to the far back of her mind. No time to worry now. It was nothing, but speculation. Her thoughts were clear. She remembered grad school and all she had learned, so that was a good sign. She ignored the fact that her high school memories were crisper than she has recalled in years. It was probably because she was standing in front of a school building. That was all.

Idly, she wondered what Loki thought on the situation, but saw that he was still closed off and showed no visible signs she could read. As she tuned back to listening, she caught the end of Coulson's sentence, something sounding like a near threat.

"- take necessary measures if we have to."

Jane realized he was talking to Loki, who responded with raised eyebrows and a cheeky grin.

Coulson kept his placid, little smile, not much reacting to the action and instead continued on. "Alright, time to get registered." He turned and without looking back, walked inside, the two 'students' close behind.

/

/

Nothing about this registration felt right. It was too rushed, and was happening too fast. There was no way real registrations were so casual. SHIELD had to have been responsible for something so quick and easy.

Jane stood next to Loki as Coulson talked with the principal about their admission. The woman looked between them suspiciously. Her makeup was a tad too heavy and made her look like a clown, which made it difficult to concentrate on the discussion. She shuffled through the papers Coulson presented to her, her lips never lifting from her firm frown.

"Okay, Mr..." She glanced back at the paperwork. "Mr. Coulson." Placing it down, she folded her hands over the desk. "Their paperwork checks out, but I am a bit skeptical about how sudden this was all arranged. All of it, even their birth certificates, was faxed to us over night. And it's the middle of the semester."

Birth certificates? Jane wondered what SHIELD put together for them. She glanced at the boy next to her. Staring straight ahead, not particularly paying attention to anything, his expression was unreadable. She frowned. How was she going to do anything to keep him from flying off the handle and terrorizing students? How could Fury think this was a good idea? She had to relax her jaw when she began to feel her teeth ache from gritting them. She took a steadying breath. All she had to do was make sure he didn't do anything illegal. What qualified as illegal could be an array of things. How was she going to do that if she couldn't get him to talk more than a few words at a time? The watch rested heavily on her wrist. That was a last resort. The absolute last thing she would use. An image of Tony decked out in his Iron Man suit and Thor wielding lightning as they ran through the school, chasing a snickering Loki shimmered to the front of her mind. She had to clutch her fists to keep from shivering. Definitely last resort.

Coulson nodded. "Our family had to leave our home in a rush. We didn't have time to wait. My children needed to get into a new school right away."

The woman's skeptical stare was firm. "You're their father?"

"No, ma'am. They're adopted. Different families. It should be in their files."

Jane noticed Loki tense up, but she wasn't sure why. Something Coulson said? What did he say that would make him on edge? She brushed it off. That would have to be figured out later. When she got him to talk.

After a few more questions, and some more vague answers, the woman handed Coulson their schedules for the semester and locker numbers, who thanked her before sweeping them out into the hall. Outside, he handed them the papers. Then he began fishing around his briefcase, gathering equal amount of supplies for both of them.

"Shouldn't we have backpacks?" Jane asked as the pens and notebooks became overwhelming.

Coulson pulled out two backpacks, one blue, the other green, smiling. "Already covered."

Jane picked out the blue, conscious of Loki's fascination with green and watched as he slowly lifted his arm to grab it. Then she unloaded her supplies into hers. Loki followed suit, she noticed, a beat after she did.

Coulson talked to them before leaving, explaining that if trouble stirred up – he glanced deliberately at Loki – they'd be there to put a stop to it. The threats and supplies taken care of, Coulson left, leaving the two alone in the empty hallway. Class started in a minute, the first bell having already ringed.

Jane brought her schedule closer to her face, looking over her classes. "Okay, so, my first class is Math. What is yo-?"

"I'm not going to class."

Startled, she looked at him. "What?" She couldn't have heard him right.

"SHIELD may have gotten me to enter the school, but there is nothing forcing me to attend Midgardian classes." His face was resolute. His decision was made.

Jane stared at him. They were there by themselves for ten seconds – ten seconds – and already things were out of her hands. "You have to go to class," she argued, weakly, though she had no support to her words. There was no real reason for him to go. Besides, of course, so she could watch him. But, that would not do well to say aloud.

"Who's going to make me?" he smirked.

As she tried to begin her rebuttal, the bell rang, throwing her attention away from him for a second. When she turned back, he was gone. Jane stood in the middle of the hall, filling with dread. She took a few steps and peered around the corner. No one. She went the other way and checked behind that corner. No one. Now what? She was alone. Loki was alone. In a high school.

Jane swallowed the bile rising in her throat, shuffled her papers, took a deep breath and marched to her first class, desperately shoving aside all the horrible images of what Loki could possibly be doing at that moment. Her wrist itched under the watch. Last resort, she reminded herself and found her classroom's door. Another deep breath and she turned the knob.