A/N: It is amazing what a few reviews and some favs can do for your writer's block. I had no clue what to write for this chapter and then some of you really wonderful people gave me some ideas through reviews. I was always going to have them talk about books, but when I originally wrote their scene I had them competitively quoting the "Battle of Wits" from the Princess Bride... I'm so glad I deleted that... *blushes* Anyway, for your awesome support and help you all get your own set of marbles! (You should understand after reading the chapter.)
[Chapter 6]
Loki had been asleep when Natasha had entered. He was cute like that, she gently noticed as she calculatingly took in his peacefully features. In her mind she perfectly pictured the pain and terror from his first day of awareness with the Avengers.
Realizing that she was now staring at the tiny seven year old, she quietly stole a mystery novel from his stack of books and sat down in the armchair in the corner. She brought her legs up beside her, carefully observing her surroundings over the top of her book. Already, she knew the locations of everyone in the building, so she felt no problems about settling down with the book to read.
-[]-
When his eyes opened slowly, Loki immediately noticed the presence of the other person in the room. With such bright red hair and pretty brown eyes, it could be no one else but the single female Avenger. He watched her warily for a moment, until he took notice of the book she was reading.
"I like that one, too. How far in are you?" Loki questioned softly, still tired. His tiny, pale hands lifted to his face to gently rub the sleep away.
If Natasha were any lesser woman, she might have jumped. As it was, she just lowered her book to observe the seven year old. His hair was still slightly messy from sleeping, and his green eyes were filled with sleep. Adorable...
"It is a good book," she agreed before glancing at the page number. "I'm on page 46. The main five just met Danny."
"I bet you'll love what happens next!" Loki grinned mischievously. The redhead squealed slightly and covered her ears.
"Don't tell me!" She barked. "I want to read it myself!"
"I wasn't going to. I was just kidding," he was still smiling softly. "What's your favorite kind of book?"
"The good kind."
Loki pouted. "Come on!" He whined. "I'll tell you my favorite!" Natasha smirked slightly, feeling proud of herself for getting him back so quickly.
"I like mystery novels. The ones where you choose which path you get," she admitted. "What about you?"
"I prefer fantasy books. Stories that take you to far away places or let you meet strange animals," the dark haired child sighed wistfully and sat up against the pillows.
"Speaking of going somewhere new," Natasha bit her lip as she decided whether to continue or not. "Why are you still in the medical room? We've already set up another bed and dresser in Thor's room. And I heard about your legs. The wheelchair should have gotten here by now, right?"
Loki giggled quietly into his hands. "I would have the wheelchair already, but... Tony wanted to make a few, ah, adjustments..."
"Did he get Bruce to help him?" The brown eyed girl inquired with a knowing grin.
"Of course."
"You'll probably never see that wheelchair again..."
The duo laughed.
"You're nice," Loki stated quietly, almost so quietly that she didn't hear it. "C-can we be friends?"
"Sure," she shrugged. Mentally, she cheered. Finally she had another friend besides Clint! And Loki was just too cute!
"O-okay," the green eyed child smiled happily. He adjusted the sheets around him and fidgeted with his hands. "Are there any other kinds of books you like?"
Natasha blushed discretely and nodded almost imperceptibly.
"I'm eleven now," she boasted slightly, "So Fury let's me read... er, romance books." Loki's face bloomed an excellent shade of red.
"A-am I too young?" He whispered. The redhead blinked in surprise and stared at him for a moment.
"I guess he might let you read some," she managed. The tiny boy let out a short breath of relief.
"So!" Natasha quickly searched for a new subject. "What- what other kinds of things do you like?"
"I like to write, and I throw knives sometimes..." The green eyed child shrugged.
"Do you have anything with you that you've written?" The brown eyed eleven year old wondered. Loki grinned.
"I don't normally write with pens and paper."
"Do- Do you use magic then?" She asked.
"Yes," his face flushed and he smiled. He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed a marble from behind the stack of books.
"If you say that's your magic crystal ball-" Natasha warned teasingly. The dark haired boy laughed.
"No! It's more like a magical filing cabinet," he explained. He set it on the sheets in front of him and swiped upwards with his finger, bringing out a magical set of glowing files. Cautiously, Natasha got up from her chair to approach the bed.
Loki's eyes drifted over the folders before he picked one up with a grin. He swiped downwards to put the others away before opening the one he held. Instantly, several different stacks of paper floated up into view.
"Which do you like more, dragons or faeries?" He asked the awestruck girl beside him.
"Dragons," she breathed as she stared at the stories in front of her. "This is like a touch screen computer... Tony's probably made something like this."
"I made the system myself," Loki gave a proud little smirk. "Dragons, you said? Okay..." He reached up to a stack of papers floating to his left and handed it to Natasha on his right. He swiped downwards twice to put the other papers back into the file and return it to the marble.
"You wrote this?" The redheaded girl mumbled after reading a few paragraphs. "It's interesting. So the dragons are being attacked by the humans, because they don't know how else to get food."
"That's the general concept, yes," Loki beamed. She liked his story!
"May I keep this for a little bit so I can read it?" Natasha requested. The green eyed boy nodded, obviously pleased. The girl carefully slipped the pages under the cover of the book she had been reading and promised herself to get back to it later.
"Loki! We finished-!" Tony yelled as he burst into the room, pushing the door so hard it slammed into the wall, bounced back, and knocked him over.
"Tony!" Loki cried is shock. The brunette sat up with a sheepish grin while Bruce calmly entered through the open doorway. The shorter nine year old was pushing Loki's wheelchair.
"Hey, Nat!" Tony smirked and popped up from the floor. Now ignoring her, he practically pounced on the seven year old in the hospital bed. "We're all done now, Loki! We knew you needed it really quick, so we stayed up all night to work on it!"
"R-really?" The dark haired boy seemed surprised that they would go to such lengths for him. "Did say I could leave now?"
"This goofball was too excited to ask him," Bruce scoffed playfully. "Luckily, I was able to ask while I was bringing the wheelchair, which he also forgot."
"Anyway! Check it out!" Tony exclaimed and pushed the wheelchair closer to the bed. "There's storage space in these pouches on the back and underneath." He gestured to said pouches. "That way you don't have to carry all of those... books- (insert shudder) -around on your lap. We also spruced up the brakes, because they certainly were going to work if you were ever going I speeds you should!"
"Tony, I doubt he'll use his wheelchair to zoom like crazy all through the house..." Natasha admonished playfully.
"Be quiet, oh killer-of-joy," he retorted. "Anyway! You can get direct connection to JARVIS through here." Tony pointed to a miniature touch screen on the end of the right armrest. "That way, you can get connection to us or ask questions whenever and wherever you need to. It's kinda like wifi, but it works everywhere."
"Can I explain stuff now?" Bruce sighed. His brown eyed friend huffed but nodded anyway. "Thank you. Under the left armrest is a goldfish dispenser. Unfortunately, we haven't filled it yet. It also works with most cereals and small snacks."
"That's neat! Thanks," Loki grinned. Having 24/7 access to goldfish was like a gift from the snack gods!
Natasha giggled quietly into her hand. Boys and their goldfish. She like marshmallows and gummy bears more herself, but maybe that was just her...
"And, just in case you need to defend yourself... Now, I know you have magic, but we heard from Clint about the knives thing. So, just in case, if you turn around, you can pull this up to get a set of throwing knives," Bruce demonstrated by grabbing the bottom of the back of the seat. He grabbed the lower edge and pulled the padded flap up to reveal two rows of aforementioned knives. "We added padding so the knives won't poke you, and we tried to make them easily accessible. will tell you it's not okay to have weapons, but he doesn't really believe that. Each of us always has some kind of protection on at all times. Clint's got his bow and arrows. Nat's got her mini pistol and her stun gun. Tony's got his repulsers. Thor carries around his hammer, and Steve wears his shield. Heck, even and have weapons on them. The only reason I don't carry a weapon is... Well, I hope you never have to find out. But now you've got knives and your magic. Welcome to the Avengers, I guess."
Loki trembled ever so slightly.
"Is there really a chance I'm going to need those?" He gasped softly.
Tony shrugged sadly. "Who can say? There's lots of creeps out there. And we're kind of special cases. Plus, they also kind of work as security blankets. Makes everybody feels safe. Lord knows everyone around here needs it," he ended in a grumble.
"Come on, guys. Don't freak the poor kid out. None of us have ever really needed them," the redhead eleven year old declared. She ran her fingers through her hair and grabbed her book. "Thanks for the stories, Loki. Will I finally see you at dinner? I can't imagine you eating like your brother."
"No," Loki chuckled. "We eat very differently..."
"Alright. See you later then."
And then there were three.
"Do you know how to use the wheelchair, Loki?" Bruce asked after the brief moment of silence.
"N-no," the green eyed boy admitted.
"Oh, it's easy! You'll catch on quick as lightning," Tony nodded certainly. "I can teach you. My f-family got in an accident once and I refused to use the crutches while we were at the hospital." The brunette sat down in the chair and placed his hands on the wheels. "Okay, so you push forward to go forward, you push behind you to go backwards, push on the left wheel to turn right, and you push on the right wheel to turn left." He demonstrated each motion before stopping in front of the bed. "We can practice drifting later."
"Tony!" Bruce scolded. "Don't listen to him; he is being silly."
"Can I try now?" Loki stifled his giggles.
"Ooh! Ooh! Let's pick him up fireman style to put him in it!" Tony shrieked with glee. Bruce sent him a short glare before letting out a deep sigh.
"Alright. Is that okay with you, Loki?" He questioned. The younger boy nodded quickly and moved the blankets from his lower half. Tony suddenly gasped and covered his mouth with both hands.
"Y-your leg!" He stuttered. The three boys looked at the twisted and mangled limb. "Doesn't that hurt?!"
"S-sort of..." The dark haired boy admitted. He nervously held out his arms to be carried. Bruce nodded slowly, looking a little green.
"You alright, big guy?" Tony whispered to Bruce once they had Loki between them. "You're turning a little.. green."
"I'm fine," the other brunette gritted out as he and Tony pulled Loki's arms around their shoulders and slid their arms under his legs. "I just can't believe someone would do this to a seven year old..."
"I-I'm fine, really," Loki protested quietly as they set him in the wheelchair. "C-could you hand me the blue blanket? Yeah, the fuzzy one." He gently laid it over his legs and smoothed out the wrinkles. "Thank you. Now, let's put my books in."
"Why don't you just practice moving without the extra weight for now?" Tony suggested. He and Bruce quickly sat on the bed to give Loki room to practice. As the seven year old began to move, the boys shifted closer to whisper with each other.
"How could they have gotten his leg that messed up?" Tony wondered quietly as he watched the green eyed boy moving forwards and backwards slowly. "It looks like they twisted it in circles and then stuck his knee in a blender and then smashed his foot with a hammer and then hacked at the whole thing with a butcher knife!"
"I have no idea..." Bruce growled quietly, eyes flashing. "And his other ankle... It wasn't just twisted or sprained. It looked like someone tried to turn it a full 360 degrees before hitting it with a bat three or four times. It couldn't have just twisted to bruised like that without outside interference..."
"Why would that even do that to him? He's the sweetest kid I know, and he'd already been dumped by his dad from what we know," Tony pointed out.
"Didn't he say something about being a 'big kid?' They sounded like they were enemies of the Odinsons..." The shorter brunette remembered and almost leapt forward to help Loki when he pushed too hard on his wheels and almost made him go flying out of the chair.
"So they hurt him because they thought he was an Odinson, because they thought he had betrayed them for the Odinsons, or because they just didn't like him?" The darker eyed boy clarified. He paused for a moment to think. "He said something about some other kids, too."
"Yeah, he gave a whole spiel about being hurt when he was shouting at Thor in the park..." Bruce ran his fingers through the sides of his loose brown curls.
"No, dork, push left to go right, and push right to go left!" Tony called out before hunkering down with his best friend again. "I was worried about that... He was really nervous about using his magic until he knew we'd like it. And he seemed more frightened than angry. Can you imagine your brother abandoning you like that?"
"That's not fair, Tony. You know Thor thought his family had abandoned him first," the other nine year old sighed.
"I'm just trying to see things from Loki's perspective." The brunettes sighed together.
"Hey! I think I've got it!" Loki cried out happily. "Let's go show Thor!" He wheeled towards the door before grabbing the wheels tightly and forcing the chair to stop short. "Wait! Could one of you grab my marble and my books please?" Tony handed the seven year old the marble, and Bruce helped Loki arrange the books in the wheelchair. "Okay! Now we can go! THOR!" The brown eyes boys watched in satisfaction as Loki rolled down the hall and almost collided with the blonde ten year old.
"He's happy for now, though."
"Yeah, that's all that really matters."
A/N: Wow... I feel like I made Tony and Bruce seem really ancient and wise in this chapter... Are they too protective of Loki? And don't even get me started on Natasha's abrupt exit. I literally could not stand writing another second of her and had to make her leave. She wasn't contributing to the scene, and she just kept butting into their conversation...