A/N: (I just want to say a quick thank you for all the lovely reviews and to all those people who faved and watched, it's very much appreciated. This is one of my favourite chapters, also so is the next one, and for anyone wondering how long it's going to run, I've not quite reached the half way point yet, but I'm closing in on it, as currently I'm writing chapter 27. I'm writing well ahead of what I'm publishing so I will always have an update buffer if my writing slips a couple of days.)

Chapter Four

"Wait, wait, wait," said Parker, grinning with pure glee, "I need to play it again, watch, watch, are you watching?"

Loki groaned and covered his forehead with his hand, "Must you? You've played it six times already."

"Yeah, I must, watch it, come on," said Parker, hitting the play button in the centre of the screen then cackling at the video as it played for the seventh time.

They were huddled in Parker's bedroom over his laptop, watching the video play on a website which was designed for members of the public to upload videos - Loki was proud he was getting the lingo - so other people could view them all over the Earth.

The video which had Parker so highly amused, had been captured from someone's hand phone, and featured 'Shadow' at the end of tackling a mugger and handing a woman back her hand bag, and then subsequently being chased by three screaming teenage girls who were trying to hug him, with Parker eventually swinging out of nowhere and lifting him up off the ground and swinging him up into the sky.

"See?" said Parker grinning at him, "come on, Puck, it's funny!"

"Yes, of course, hilarious," said Loki, "I am so glad I am here to amuse you. It makes me feel complete."

"You're so cute when you're grumpy," said Parker, putting his arm around Loki's shoulders and giving him a half-hug. "You worried about getting recognised? That it?"

"No," said Loki, "I'm worried that, let me see that number, oh fantastic, five million people have watched me make an absolute fool of myself, running away from a bunch of teenage girls."

"And straight into the arms of a teenage boy," said Parker, "if only they knew, they'd be drawing fan art about it. Wait, I bet they are drawing fan art about it!"

"What in the name of Od- all things, is fan art?" asked Loki.

"Old people," said Parker, rolling his eyes. Loki had soon found that if he wasn't sure what something was, Parker would often dismiss it as a generation gap thing. If only he knew how 'old' Loki really was.

"Parker…. What are you doing?" asked Loki.

"Just gimme a minute," said Parker, he typed in the words 'shadow', 'spider-man' and 'fan art' into a box and hit the key marked 'enter' and within seconds a host of images started appearing on the screen, the vast majority crude drawings of the two of them standing together, but after scrolling down the screen a little, Loki felt a little bile rise in his throat as some of the pictures had him depicted as kissing Parker on the mouth, Parkers mask drawn up, just so his lips were revealed.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" shouted Loki, pointing at the screen.

Parker burst into another fit of laughter, apparently he found all of this highly amusing "Fangirls, man," said Parker, shaking his head, "gotta love 'em. Oh my god, check this out!"

He now typed in the words, 'spider-man', 'shadow', 'AVENGERS', 'fan art' and hit the enter button once more.

As soon as the images began flashing up, and Loki saw a drawing of 'Shadow' and a distinctly blonde, figure carrying a hammer, he took the lid of Parker's laptop and slammed it shut.

"No," said Loki, shaking his head, "no, just…. no. No more. None of this, no. I don't want to see anymore, Parker."

Parker pouted at him, "Aw, Puck, it's only a bit of fun, dude, how many people can say they inspire this much fan art on the internet?"

"I don't care, just… no," said Loki.

"Ok," said Parker, pouting again.

"Are we going on patrol, or not?" asked Loki impatiently, "we were only supposed to come here so I can have a shower and now I've had one, thank you, can we stop watching these stupid videos and go do what we're good at?"

"Actually," said Parker, leaning back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head, still costumed aside from his mask, "I was kinda thinking we should skip tonight."

"A night off?" said Loki, this was unacceptable, he couldn't save Parker's life if Parker was sat in his bedroom doing his homework. "Why?"

"Well, tomorrow's Christmas Eve," said Parker.

Christmas, a big Midgardian celebration that back in the day had been called Yule and further back in the day had been called Mithras, now generally an excuse for Midgardians to exchanged presents and then bitch about said presents later if they weren't deemed good enough, he was familiar with the concept.

"So," Parker continued, "The Avengers are doing this big publicity thing in the city tonight, and if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not run into those guys."

Ah, yes, Loki had to agree with him on that one.

"Well, I'll just head for home then, shall I?" said Loki, turning towards the window, then Parker caught his wrist.

"No, wait," said Parker, "I think you should stay."

"I'm sure your aunt is a wonderful conversationalist," said Loki, "but how exactly are you going to explain to her that you know 'Shadow' when she does not know your true identity and before you say it, no I shall not be removing my mask."

"No, Puck, she's gone for the night," said Parker, "she's gone to visit my great Uncle Horace in his care home across state, she won't be home until tomorrow. I figured we could, I don't know, kick back for the night, watch some movies, eat a pizza, come on man, chill out with me, dude."

Loki groaned. While the prospect of going 'home' and then sitting in the dark for hours, alone, didn't seem all that appealing, having to sit and absorb Midgardian 'pop culture' wasn't exactly Loki's cup of tea either. Still, lesser of two evils and all that.

"Alright, Parker," said Loki, "we shall enjoy a night off."

x-x-x

Loki sat on Parker's couch, he'd taken off his body armour and hoodie, leaving him in his trousers, mask and with the undershirt, which was one of Parker's old ones, bearing the words, 'Papa Smurf' and a blue creature depicted upon in, - something which Loki would have taken an insult if he wasn't one thousand percent sure Parker had no idea who he was. Loki had made a bracer from a scrap of leather he'd accidentally torn from the jacket of a car thief, and put it over the rune bracelet which blocked his magic. Parker had seen the bracer and called it cool, but all Loki cared of was that Parker didn't see the bracelet.

Both his and Parker's feet were propped up on the coffee table in front of the couch, Parker had changed out of his Spider-man uniform and was simply wearing jeans and a t-shirt which bore the likeness of a person who Loki didn't know, but it mattered not.

Between them on the couch was a cardboard box, with pizza inside it which Parker had ordered to be delivered to his house and while at first Loki was sceptical of this incredibly foreign food, it was hot and had tasted good, and so far he and Parker had managed to eat at least half of it between them during the course of the second movie they'd been watching.

Parker had actually made Loki tea in a mug too, one of his aunt's things no doubt, and Loki was grateful for the effort. Loki hadn't seen a movie before, and the experience was quite interesting, when Parker had asked him which he'd prefer to watch from a collection of five or six boxes he'd laid on the table, Loki had had a moment of panic, then quickly selected the box whose covered he like the design best for.

So the first movie Loki had ever seen in his life was one titled, 'Jurassic Park' Loki told Parker that he hadn't seen this particular one before, - not telling him he'd never seen a movie before of course - and Parker had at first looked quite shocked, then gave a little smirk which Loki wasn't sure he liked, then opened the box, took out a disc and slotted it into a machine below the television.

At first the movie had seemed interesting, Midgardian scientists, recreating a long extinct creature, the joy and wonder on the faces of the characters was a sight to behold…. Then the thudding had started, and Loki had found his heart was pounding in his chest as the gigantic creature ripped and tore into the vehicles the Midgardian children were trapped inside.

He was just a say making it through the movie without making an absolute idiot of himself reacting to the people on the screen, and just as he was sitting forward about to scream 'YES' as the power came back on, when the raptor creature burst through pipes and Loki actually jumped clean off the couch with a yell and Parker had a hard time controlling his laughter at Loki's reaction.

He'd paused the movie and when Loki composed himself they continued and Loki found himself enthralled by every moment presented to him on the television. When the pizza had arrived the movie had just finished, so Parker selected the next one, a tale called 'Robin Hood, Prince of thieves' and Loki was enjoying it, though not quite as much as he had enjoyed the first one.

"There aren't any raptors in this one," Parker had said with a smirk, as he'd placed the new disc in the machine, and Loki had rolled his eyes at him.

"You knew that was going to happen," Loki had said accusingly.

"Well, duh," said Parker, "I thought everyone in the English speaking world and then some had seen that movie."

After the second movie had reached it's climax and they'd finished the pizza, Parker turned the television to the news, which was speaking of a suspected terrorist attack somewhere in the Middle East.

Parker looked at him, "So, what are you doing for Christmas?" he asked, "I'm assuming you're not going home."

"You assume correctly," said Loki, "I'll just be in my building I suppose. You must spend the day with your aunt, yes?"

"Yeah," said Parker, "but once the festivities are done and dusted, I'll come over, we'll go on patrol. Crime doesn't take a break, so nor should we."

"Yes, aren't we taking a break, now?" said Loki.

"Tonight doesn't count," said Parker, "the other guys are all out there, and normally they aren't around, so they can pick up the slack for one night."

"Well, I'm sure there's logic in that somewhere," said Loki. He stood up and stretched out, picking up his hoodie and body armour, "I should probably leave, it's getting late and we could both do with an early night."

"I thought you could stay here tonight if you wanted," said Parker, "I got a camping bed I could put up in my room. Be a lot warmer than that building."

"Well," said Loki "as tempting as the thought of listening to you snore all night is, Parker, I think I'd prefer to sleep in my own bed, as it were."

"Suit yourself," said Parker, standing up, "I'll show you to the window."

"Such a gentleman," said Loki as he pulled on his outer clothing.

Parker walked him to the window in his bedroom, and then Loki spotted something on his bookshelf. A batter and fairly worn copy of a book, bearing the title, 'Jurassic Park' without even thinking, Loki grabbed it and began inspecting the back cover.

"It was a book too?" he asked.

"Seriously?" said Parker, "Have you been living under a rock or something for the last twenty years, Puck?"

"Yes, Parker, I've been living under a rock," said Loki, his tone was sarcastic, but it might as well have been true really with his lack of knowledge of current Midgardian culture.

"Keep it," said Parker, pushing Loki towards the window with a hand on his back, "Merry Christmas."

Loki looked at Parker, "You're giving it to me?" he said, holding the book to himself.

"Sure," said Parker, "you liked the movie, you'll love the book." He shrugged his shoulders, "Besides I have like four copies."

"Why would you own four copies of the same book?" said Loki.

"It's a really good book," said Parker, "g'night, Puck."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," said Loki, ducking his head through the window, "thanks for tonight, Parker."

"Later, dude," said Parker.

x-x-x

When Loki got back to his building he sat crossed legged on the floorboards, turning the book over in his hands. Parker had given the book to him as a gift, a Christmas present, though Parker had already bought Loki new clothing and called it his 'Christmas and Birthday' presents.

Loki sighed, it would be extremely bad form of him not to get something for Parker in return, after all he had done for him, though he had the feeling that if he just went out and stole something Parker would be incredibly disappointed in him.

Damn this kid. When did he start caring about what Parker thought about him? Probably around the time Parker started referring to Loki as his brother. Though if he was being honest with himself, probably even before then. The kid had been too good to him, that was the problem.

Loki didn't have the magic to conjure anything, nor did know what he could conjure, even if he was able, but perhaps he had enough magic to be able to create something himself, if he could find the right materials.

He began digging through the things he'd found in his room, there was stationary a plenty, scraps of old paperwork, a few pieces of small office furniture, it wasn't until he came across a ball of thin twine that inspiration really struck him and he set to work. Weaving and threading until the light was too poor to continue working without using one of his lamps for emergencies, and he generally preferred to draw as little attention as possible to his home, even if he was several stories above the ground, so he packed up for the night to sleep, he would finish his work in the morning.

x-x-x

Christmas Day for Loki didn't really begin until the evening had drawn in. He'd spent most of the day pouring over the previous days newspapers, he'd been surprised that over the last couple of weeks there'd been less photographs of Tony Stark, falling out of bars, but then Loki supposed that the papers would tire of these antics eventually.

Though there had been a lot of coverage from his and Parker's night off, lots of colour photographs of the Avengers in all their splendour, waving to smiling crowds, the Iron Man performing some sort of reckless flying stunt. Loki was glad his brother had not appeared in the photographs, though he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed that he and Parker had taken the night off, and the Avengers had done nothing to help the city but smile and wave to the masses.

'Publicity whores', thought Loki.

After the papers he'd resumed reading his book, so far the book had been just as enjoyable as the movie, and Loki was pleased that there were so many differences, he had no idea what was about to happen as each new chapter began.

When Parker showed up, Loki put the book to one side, and Parker presented him with a plate, covered in silver foil, which Loki peeled back and consumed ravenously, while he had a little rant at Parker about the laziness of the Avengers, effectively forcing them both off the streets for a night, but doing nothing to contribute towards their efforts of making the streets of New York a safer place.

When he'd finished, Parker shoved a gaudily wrapped package into his hand, "Merry Christmas, Puck," he said.

"But…" said Loki, "you already gave me that book, and you bought these clothes, which was more than sufficient. Parker, you should not be wasting your money on frivolities."

"Just stop bitching and open the damn thing," said Parker, "you grinch."

Loki tore back the paper, and found a box, he lifted the lid and inside he found two pots of the black face makeup he used around his eyes, a new cowl, almost identical to the one he wore now, and a few tubes of something called, 'spirit gum,' and a small black mask.

"I don't understand," said Loki examining the contents.

"Well I thought you do with a spare mask," said Parker, lifting it out of the box,

"and the other one is for if you ever got caught short. I thought you could glue it on underneath your main one, then if it ever gets ripped off, you're face still has some partial covering."

"That's actually really good thinking," said Loki, pulling it out of the box, "think I should put it on now?"

"Well, I'm a pretty smart boy really," said Parker, and Loki could tell he was smirking beneath his mask. "Yeah, sure, put it on, put on your new cowl too, I'll take it home to wash tonight, don't worry I'll turn my back."

And Parker did. Of course he made a big show of it, covering the white eyes of his mask with his hands and turning his back completely on Loki. He chuckled and applied a thin layer of the spirit gum around the inside edge of the mask, pulling up his cowl he stuck it to his face and pressed until it held on it's own, and then quickly switched so he was wearing the new one.

"Ok done," said Loki, and Parker turned around, "can you tell I'm wearing a second mask beneath?"

"Nope," said Parker, "I hope there's never a time when you have to rely on it, but it's easier for me to escape than you, so I'm glad you have it at least."

Loki nodded his head, "Yes, I quite agree."

"Alright, ready to kick some Christmas butt?" asked Parker, rubbing his gloved hands together in glee.

"Wait," said Loki, "I have something for you too." He bent down to his small collection of belongings and fished up a small package wrapped in newspaper and held it out to Parker. "Happy Christmas."

"I'd ask if you stole it," said Parker, "but I think I know you better than that now, so, er, thanks, Puck. Unexpected, but appreciated."

Parker tore back the newspaper and then held up the gift, scratching his head, "Dude, did you make me a friendship bracelet?"

Loki rolled his eyes, "Hold out your wrist, let me put it on," he said, taking the twine bracelet from Parkers hand and pulled back the sleeve of the glove, fastening it to his wrist.

"Are you sure you're not gay for me?" asked Parker.

"Quiet, you nitwit," said Loki, as he tied it off and rolled up the left sleeve of his hoodie, showing Parker he was wearing an identical one. "Don't ever take it off, ok? This will tell me if you're ever in trouble."

"Because there's a time when you're more than 100 feet away from me?" said Parker, chuckling.

Loki gave him a slap on the back of his head, and Parker rubbed it, with a moan.

"I've woven a little magic into it," said Loki, "the string won't break, it can be unfastened, but it can't be just torn from your wrist. And if you're ever in danger, mine will grow warm, and I'll know to come find you immediately."

"Oh right," said Parker, suddenly sounding excited about the idea, "you've got that magicy, whammy doo daa stuff. Why don't you use more of it when we're out and about?"

Parker had seen Loki use a little magic now and then, the first time on the train, and in the weeks passing Loki had used a little on occasion, but only where sparingly, and where completely needed. He'd not really asked Loki about it until this point.

"It's limited," said Loki, "and I'd rather save it for when I really need it and most of the time, hitting guys on the head with my stick seems to do the job."

"That it does, my friend," said Parker, "that it does."

They both rolled their sleeves back down and Parker gave Loki a good natured slap on the back, "Now let's go have ourselves a holly, jolly Christmas."