A/N: Alright, new chapter everyone. Not thaaaat much happens, but I said some stuff, and you guys get a hint at what's going on with Loki. The side parings for this story have been decided, and are listed below. Am I crazy?

Pairings that make sense: GerIta BlackHawk

Pairings that do not make sense: FrAus, RusRoma, Banner/Spain, Thor/Prussia, Rodgers/Belarus

... and potentially Ukra/Can if I feel like including those characters.

Jane does not exist in this universe, as I do not feel like dealing with her. Deal with it.

Mistakes are my fault, but do not blame me!~

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"England? Raise kids? Are you serious? The man couldn't raise a cat never mind a real person. I'd bet you twenty dollars that a grizzly bear could raise kids better than he could."

As much as Arthur tried to ignore Alfred's boisterous voice echoing around the informal meeting room, he found he just couldn't.

The preamble to this was simple enough.

Given that this meeting was more informal than others had been, Italy brought a curious issue to the table. He knew that the Nations couldn't have kids themselves, but was wondering if they could be allowed to adopt. This quickly moved from being a serious conversation, to a joking one hypothesizing what kind of parents the various Nations would be.

Arthur had been about to make a derogatory comment about France being a terrible parent because he was a pervert, when Alfred butted in. His comment, though said in a joking tone, managed to freeze the words in Arthur's mouth, accompanied with a sweeping wave of sadness and anger.

Arthur had made eye contact with a pained looking Ivan, and a surprisingly concerned France, before he stood, abandoning his briefcase, jacket, and phone in favour of leaving conference room.

"Artie? Where you goin'?" America called.

"Don't mind me," Arthur responded, his voice hoarse. "There's just something I forgot to do. Please continue without me."

"Smooth, Alfred," France commented sarcastically, once Arthur was out of earshot.

"What did I do?" Alfred responded?

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Arthur stormed from the conference room, blinking and trying to keep his vision clear. It wasn't even that what Alfred had said bothered him that much, he'd never really considered adopting kids at all it was just…

God the man was such an insensitive asshole sometimes.

Arthur tried to like him. He really really did. But with the pigheaded way he acted most times, how was Arthur not supposed to wish that he was a small little colony again who was so much easier to deal with.

And Arthur new the tension between them was a problem that could be solved, but Alfred was seemingly oblivious to the fact that anything he said could possibly hurt anyone's feelings because he was the "almighty hero".

His attitude had only gotten worse when the Avengers arrived.

Sometimes Arthur wished that he didn't even know him.

With a jolt, Arthur looked up and realised that he was standing around in some unfamiliar city, with no idea where he was.

Being lost was bad enough, but even worse, he was lost alone. Arthur let out a chocked sob at the thought of being stranded all alone in an unfamiliar city when he so desperately wanted…

Usually he would call Ivan in these kinds of situations, but the Russian was no doubt trapped in the meeting some way or another and Germany would not take lightly to the important talks being interrupted again, especially by the Englishman's shenanigans.

Was there anything else he could do?

Well, he could call Him….

Might as well. It wasn't as if this day could get any worse.

Arthur wandered off in search of a payphone.

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Tony approached from the river when Arthur caught sight of him, with the wind blowing through his hair, ripped jeans and a grease stained t-shirt.

He was fucking gorgeous.

Just for a moment Arthur somehow managed to forget how shitty his day was and what an utter ridiculous twat he was for calling a fucking billionaire to come from god knows where because he needed a hug.

In that moment, Tony almost seemed as self conscious as he was.

Then the moment was over and Arthur felt more ashamed than ever. He was such a stupid idiot. He turned his gaze to the ground and listened as Tony's slow footsteps approached. There was a moments of silence as Tony stopped, and then a rustle as the man knelt down in front of him.

"Hey," Tony's voice was soft, and Arthur had to stop a tremble from going through his body because that was the voice that had haunted his dreams, "Are you okay?" Tony's warm hands tentatively reached for one of Arthur's own, and the Englishman had to force himself to look at the man in front of him.

As soon as he did, he wished he hadn't.

Tony's chocolate brown eyes were swimming with emotion, and Arthur felt he couldn't look in them because of what he might see.

And then it occurred to him that Tony had asked him a question, and Arthur had been sitting silently for a minute like a complete idiot.

Was he okay?

"I…" Arthur tested his voice out. It was wavering, but strong enough. "I don't really know." It wasn't as if he could tell Tony the full story but…

But he wanted to.

Tony moved slowly, getting up off the grass to sit on the bench next to Arthur.

"I'm sorry," Arthur said quickly. He had to get this out. "I probably shouldn't have called you."

"It doesn't really matter," Tony commented. "It wasn't like I was going anything important at the time." Arthur twisted his head to look at Tony, but the man was gazing off into the distance, and seemed to be completely honest.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Tony asked quietly. Arthur let out a long breath.

"It was just something that someone who used to be my friend said." Arthur was silent for a moment, but when Tony said nothing he continued. "It wasn't even his fault really, he's just an oblivious idiot that doesn't realise some of the things he says might hurt the people around him."

That was the truth, but it sounded differently when Arthur said it like that. Great. Now Tony would think that he was some weak fool that broke down crying whenever anyone said something slightly mean to him.

"He used to be your friend?" Tony asked.

"He was…" How honest did Arthur want to be with this. Usually he would some up with some bullshit story, but he didn't want to lie to Tony. And at the same time, Alfred…

He didn't want to give Tony the wrong impression about what Alfred meant to him.

"He was like a brother to me. We had a falling out a while back. It wasn't the best time for me, and I may not have acted entirely the way I should of, but he wanted nothing to do with me, and started a huge fight just to prove it, and said some things he probably shouldn't of. I would be willing to forgive him but…"

"But?" Tony asked.

"Alfred refuses to acknowledge that even a part of the blame for our falling out falls to him. He won't apologise for anything because of his stupid overinflated ego, after all he's right one hundred percent of the time, and it happened so far back that I should just 'get over it' and he shouldn't have to do anything to regain my trust."

"Ouch," Tony muttered.

"I used to really like him. Now I look at him and wish I didn't know him."

Arthur felt Tony shift closer to him, and his arm slowly sneak around his waist, and Arthur realised that he was suddenly freezing. The autumn wind was sharper than he thought. Arthur leaned into the strong man beside him, and was suddenly immensely glad that it was Tony he was with, rather than Ivan. Sure he didn't know Tony very well but…

Actually the fact that he didn't know Tony very well almost made it easier.

Sure this may be one of the rare moments where he revealed a more vulnerable side of himself, but because he was doing so to an almost stranger, it didn't really matter. It wasn't like Tony was going to brag to the other countries that he'd found England's weak spot.

"I don't really see him that often," Arthur commented, "So it doesn't really bother me that much, but I've never really had that many friends…" Arthur trailed off awkwardly.

"Well," Tony hesitated, "Now you have me. And I don't just mean that as a friend, though that would be nice, but I'd also be cool with being more. Not that I want to impose anything on you or anything! But…"

Arthur laughed at how suddenly flustered Tony became, the sound freeing him from the dark mood that he'd been in for the last few weeks.

"It's okay." Arthur said. "I get it. I think its best if we let whatever this is grow naturally into whatever it's going to be. But no matter what, I will be your friend." Tony let out a long breath.

"Right. Okay. I can work with that."

Arthur had a soft smile on his face as he curled closer to Tony, feeling his arm slowly sneak around to a more intimate grip, as he finally felt satisfied with where they stood with each other.

This could be okay, Arthur reckoned.

This would be okay.

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Tony received a very strange look from Natasha when he wandered back in to the tower later that evening, but was extremely grateful when she returned to her book, rather than getting up to speak to him.

Though if she was giving him weird looks, Tony supposed that someone at some point would storm into whatever location he happened to be in and ask probing questions, though it was a tossup whether it would be Bruce or Pepper. Not that Bruce would ask probing questions but…

Resolving to entirely ignore the possibilities of being interrupted, Tony headed to the elevator, and then to his personal lab.

How soon was too soon to text someone anyways?

Did it even matter?

More importantly, did he even have anything mildly intelligent he wanted to say to Arthur? And if he waited until he had something really brilliant that he really wanted to say, and who knows how long it would take before he had the confidence to do that, would Arthur think he was blowing him off?

Maybe he should send Arthur a text anyways, just to let him know he was still there.

Was it acceptable to use a winkey face at this point in a relationship? Did normal, social people who worked nine to five jobs use emoticons, or was that just a teenager thing?

Tony groaned, and dropped his head in his hands.

Here he was, having flown halfway across a country just to hang out with a guy he'd met only once, and he was worrying about whether to use an emoticon in a text message.

What was he doing?

"Are you okay?" It was Bruce who had come to ask about what he'd done with his day. This was reasonably okay, because Tony wasn't sure exactly what he'd do if Pepper wandered into the rom.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine. What's up, big guy?"

"Steve said he saw you leaving in a rush earlier. Did something happen that the Avengers should know about?"

Oh. That was the question he was asking. Not some horrible probing into Tony's personal life, but actual concern that there might be some kind of situation.

"No. It wasn't anything like that."

"Good. Now I have no cause to be worried." It is meant to be reassurance, but Bruce's tone tells Tony that even if he believed there wasn't some huge world ending crisis, he'd still be worried. Tony isn't sure if he's touched, or annoyed.

"Yeah," Tony manages to croak out, "Everything's fine." And Bruce gives him a curious look that makes Tony feel like shit because he's lying to a guy who's been nothing but kind to him. And a lot more reasonable than anyone should be around him.

Being the reasonable man that his is, Bruce quickly changes the topic, but somehow that makes him feel worse.

How do people do it on a daily basis? Make connections with real people and have real discussions about problems or emotions.

Tony used to look down on people who let their emotions be exposed. It was always better if you could keep them buried away, where no one could see them and no one could hurt you. But Tony was really freaking out, and actually wanted to let someone in and ask for advice for once.

But he didn't know how.

That was a skill he'd never learned, and though logically it shouldn't be too hard, any words he might have said to Bruce died in his mouth.

God, he missed Pepper.

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Arthur, Ivan noted, was practically glowing when he returned to the hotel. It was just past dark when the Brit had stumbled back, and while Ivan had been panicking about the man being gone so long with no way to contact him, it was clear the time alone had done him some good.

Although the dreamy expression on his face would suggest that he wasn't quite alone…

Most of the countries had retired for the night, after Germany determined that there was no way to make the group of them stay focused after Arthur stormed out, so there were only a few who recognised Arthur as he strolled through the bar, but Ivan was worried that a wrong word from any one of them might send Arthur into a rage again.

But Arthur took Antonio's drunk call of "The mighty conquistador returns," in stride, so everything was fine. Ivan fell into step beside Arthur as they wandered towards the room they were sharing.

"So, how was Tony…" Ivan began the conversation once they were out of earshot of everyone they knew. Arthur sighed, heavily.

"I can never hide anything from you, can I."

"Nope." Ivan let the cheer from being right colour his voice. Arthur just glared at him.

"How did you know I was with him anyway?"

"Oh come on, did you see the look on your face. I know a love struck Arthur when I see one."

"What do you mean I was – I am not love struck!" Ivan had to laugh at his friends sudden outburst.

"Maybe, maybe not."

"I've liked other people before," Arthur grumbled.

"But only one of them lives in America." Arthur stopped for a moment.

"Huh. I guess you're right."

"I still want you to answer the first question though. How was Tony?"

"Tony was… good." Arthur's eyes clouded up with wistfulness, and Ivan felt a surge of gratefulness that Arthur had found a friend he trusted, as well as a feeling of panic, because he had absolutely no idea how trustworthy Tony Stark was. Still, if Arthur had managed to open up to him this much in the few times they'd met… maybe them hanging out was a good thing.

"Did you guys do anything interesting?"

"No. Well, we just sat around on a park bench and talked. It was actually really nice." Ivan mirrored Arthurs smile, and then turned to unlock the door to their room.

"Can I meet him?"

"Well, I- uh… there isn't that much time between now and when we're leaving and he's probably busy—"

"I don't mean now. Just at some point, can I meet him?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure."

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After everything that happened, the last thing Bruce wanted to be was worried about Tony.

The man had done everything in his power to make sure that Bruce felt like part of the group, regardless of the Other Guy, and Bruce really respected him. He wanted to trust that if Tony had a problem he would know how to deal with it, and if he wanted to talk to him, he would come and talk. And if he didn't want to talk, that was okay too.

But he almost couldn't help it.

Tony looked stressed. The man who wouldn't sleep for seventy two hours and could go an entire day on nothing but a ham and cheese sandwich usually looked fine, but today he was stressed.

Tony had said it wasn't something the Avengers had to worry about, and Bruce believed him. That didn't mean there wasn't a problem though.

It hadn't escaped his knowledge that Tony tended to be… self destructive.

If Tony had a problem, would he seek help from an outside source? Did he trust his teammates enough?

Bruce really wanted to believe the answer to those questions was yes, but he had the sneaking suspicion that it was no.

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Loki relaxed his arms and attempted to concentrate on his breathing.

In. Out. In. Out.

As long as he wasn't focused on the cuts on his arms, his broken ankle, or the invading force trying to bash its way into his mind, he would be fine.

In. Out. In. Out.

A twitch to the left and one of the cuts on his arm made contact with the freezing floor he'd been thrown on, and his entire body spammed with pain.

Loki's breath came out jagged, but he didn't dare make a sound. Even if it was agony, he didn't want to anger Thanos again.

In. Out. In. Out.

It was different this time.

Thanos was different this time.

Loki was sure numerous of the guys servants would argue if he ever dared to voice his opinion, but Thanos was in his mind.

Loki remembered the grip of Thanos' mind very distinctly.

This was not Thanos. Oh Thanos was deffinately present, but he was almost entirely controlled by something else. Someone else.

There was someone out there strong enough to make the lord of one of the seven lands of the dead their personal puppet.

That thought scared Loki.

He'd kept Thanos from over running his minds defences before, but he had no idea how long he'd last against this stronger opponent, especially if whoever it was had done such a quick and easy job of taking over Thanos' mind.

Already Loki was feeling pained and helpless.

A part of him wanted to believe that if he just gave in to Thanos' advances then the pain would go away. Maybe he could survive, despite someone forcibly taking over his body, and glean some information about whoever was controlling Thanos.

But he was so terrified.

Loki was a magician who worked in illusions, and a lie smith who worked with words. Beyond the basics, he had no idea how possession worked.

He didn't know what would happen to him if someone did truly take over his mind.

He might lose what little sense of self he had left. He'd have someone else's thoughts running through his head, and though he might be a person, he wouldn't be Loki anymore.

He was terrified.

It didn't matter how much pain he was in.

He would lower his shields for no man.

He would remain himself, or die trying.

In. Out. In. Out.

If not for himself, he would do it for Thor.

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A/N: All will be reviled in due time.

Please review. I'd like to know what people think of where you think the story is going (What's going on with Loki) and the various pairings I've planned.

Also, I can't be the only one fangirling over Agents of Sheild, can I?

~~RosemaryBagels