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Warning: past abusive relationship, drug use

I do not own the Avengers or anyone therein.

Chapter 4
Natasha was about to leave when her phone rang and she seriously considered ignoring it. It had been a long day at the bakery, one of those everything that could go wrong had gone wrong sort of days, and at the moment she just wanted to go over to Pepper's, have a few shots of vodka, and curl up with her girlfriend for a nap. The sound of Tartini was making her feel a little guilty; she sighed and pulled the phone out anyway.

It was Loki's ring tone and he didn't usually call for without reason.

"Hello," she said, mentally bracing herself for the shattered mess she usually got when Loki would actually call instead of text.

"Nataaaashaaaaa, oh my god, you are a witch, aren't you, you knew, that's why, you really are a witch."

Natasha blinked. Loki sounded… bubbly? She wasn't sure she could reconcile this with what she knew of him.

"Loki?"

"I mean I always sort of knew because you're so mean and you like girls and only witches like girls, but you knew, how did you know, it was amazing and I've had the best afternoon ever and it's all going to break and you have to be the meanest nicest person I've ever known in my entire life, oh my goooood Natashaaaaaaa—"

Natasha pulled the phone away from her ear, Loki still bubbling and rambling without any input from her whatsoever. She stared at it, trying to decide if Loki was fucking with her.

This was more worrying than if he had called her and been a shattered mess.

"Loki," she interrupted as she put the phone back to her ear. He was stifling his giggles, trying to be quiet for her and she decided she was certainly not going to Pepper's after all.

"Yes?" he bubbled over the phone, a new burst of giggles erupting.

"Nothing. I'll be home soon. Try not to eat all the sweets. And keep your hands off my ice cream."

"Yes, Natasha." A pause. "We have ice cream, oh my god, we have ice cream!" and the phone went dead.

XXXXXX

"Yeah. I'll try and stop by later tonight. Sorry, Pepper. No, I don't—okay, okay, I'll call you if I need any help with him." Natasha hung up the phone and stared at her apartment door. She wasn't sure what to expect; she had never really dealt with Loki after his addiction started when he was happy like this. Hell, if she was honest, she had never dealt with Loki happy. She could faintly make out the sound of something on the other side.

She opened the door and was nearly deafened by the sounds of…. My Little Pony? The new cartoon. She hadn't even thought Loki knew what it was, he barely watched any television.

But he clearly had, because he was reciting word for word with Flutteryshy's lines, almost at the exact same time (Pepper liked the show, and she was a good defense so Natasha could keep her tough-girl cred). There were blankets all over the place, Loki in nothing but his favourite pajama pants, and he had devoured the last of the cookies and cream ice cream and was starting in on Natasha's rocky road. And had apparently eaten the last of the ice cream sandwiches.

He looked up as Natasha comes in, face utterly transformed from it's usually sly and reserved mask to something full-blown wild and happy, eyes sparkling and pupils expanded wide so she almost can't see the irises.

"The witch!" he cried, surging to his feet and embracing Natasha in a hug so tight she almost couldn't breath. And then he kissed her, full on the mouth, his hands cupping her face. Natasha jerked and slammed a hand into his chest, making him fall over the arm of the couch. And he just laid there on the couch, one hand rubbing where she'd hit him, and he laughed and laughed and laughed.

Natasha closed and locked the door because while Loki clearly wasn't interested in leaving but she'd still like to be safe. She started gathering up blankets over Loki's protests of her destroying his blanket fort ("Loki, they are laying on the ground, this is not a blanket fort" and Loki looked at her like he might burst into tears so she let him keep that one blanket he had grabbed) and peeked in the kitchen as she walked back towards the linen closet. There were bowls covered in chocolate and butter and several pans that had probably had something on or in them at one point, and there was a broken egg on the ground and flour and she just gritted her teeth and tried to appreciate the fact that he wasn't just sleeping and being aimless and miserable for once. The oven dinged and Loki shrieked like a kid on Christmas morning ("Brownies!"), vaulting over the couch, falling, and then darting into the kitchen.

"Hey Pepper. Yeah. That would be fantastic." Spotting the syringe on the coffee table, she grabbed it to toss it out.

XXXXXX

Between the two of them, Natasha and Pepper had managed to get the apartment back into some semblance of order. They both were considering him critically, though Pepper seemed a little more sympathetic. Loki was only half on the couch, head resting in Pepper's lap and he was drooling, phone clutched in one hand. They'd switched My Little Pony out for The Lakehouse and Natasha had her arm around Pepper's shoulders.

"Tony, huh?"

"That's what the calender said."

Natasha knows not to pry about Tony; even all this time later (and it's been nearly a decade, which blows her mind some days). They'd all been young and dumb and trying to sort things out then, and Pepper had really wanted Tony to be The One. Not that Natasha minded it didn't work out that way, because she's got Pepper now, vibrant and fiery and sensible, but Pepper still gets a bit melancholy about Tony, still cares about him and laments how he doesn't fight for anything.

So they just sit there, Pepper running her fingers through Loki's hair, Loki drooling, Natasha holding Pepper against herself.

"So why does he always call you a witch?" Pepper asks, and Natasha smiles a little because she knows what Pepper is really doing is asking to think of something else.

"It's a joke. We met at a coven meeting, when I was still into that sort of thing. I think he believes it when he's like this." She uses her other hand to gently brush Loki's hair, then twine her fingers in Pepper's hand.

"You think he's changed?" Pepper sounds wistful.

"If he hasn't, then I'll break him in half. I mean, have you ever seen Loki like this? He probably hasn't been since before…." Natasha trails off and swallows back the hint of anger that still likes to rise up when she thinks about a year ago, Loki weeping and crying and bleeding and bruised and begging her not to take him to the hospital, that he's fine, really, he just needs somewhere to rest. Pepper squeezes her hand, drawing her back, and Natasha lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Since before Clint," Pepper finishes for her.

They both nearly jump out of their skin when Loki's phone goes off, Loki stirring and blinking blearily, looking absolutely confused at the noise the phone is making in his hand. Natasha swears a bit and plucks it out of his hand—Anthony Stark, the screen reads, and Loki would program it in with Tony's full name—and thinks about not answering it. Pepper glances to see who it is and grabs it from her before she can kill the call.

"Hi, Tony."

Natasha just raises a brow at Pepper. Pepper ignores it. Loki perks up a bit (or about as much as he's capable without cold water and Natasha's foot in his back) when he hears the name, watching Pepper. Natasha can just see him slowly putting together that the thing Pepper has to her ear is a phone and that she's talking to someone else on the other end.

"No, he lives with Natasha, I was helping her clean up—ah!"

Loki snags the phone clumsily, and Natasha lets him, because Tony is calling for Loki anyway right? Besides, it's funny, watching how Pepper glares at Loki and he just lays his head on her lap again, utterly oblivious.

"Tony?" he slurs, sounding drowsy and sleepy, his eyes starting to drift closed again now that he's comfortable again. "Mmm, no, 's okay. Didn't? Mmm." There's a little bit of a smile playing over his lips, and Natasha swears right then that if Tony hurts Loki she's going to show him all the different ways a body can break. "You want me to pick? Aandaleeb. What d'you mean you've never been, it's amaaaaazing. Indian. You wanted me to pick, so there. Saturday? Mmm. Okay. Bye."

He tosses the phone in the floor without hanging it up and goes back to sleep, that smile still playing over his features.

"Did he just…?"

"Yes."

"He never picks."

"I know." Natasha can't stop grinning.

XXXXXX

Loki picks a lot that month. Tony insists.