I walk into Loki's cell the next morning and sit down. He's still asleep, with his green cape draped over him like a blanket.

I yank it off.

He blinks awake and groans. "Five more minutes," he says.

I roll my eyes. "Men. Even when they're from another planet, they still value sleep."

Loki sat up ad rubbed his eyes. "You're early," he complained.

"Really," I said with a smirk. "I couldn't tell."

I sat on the bench, and he joined me. I opened my laptop and checked my email, then opened one from my friend and roommate, Sarah Martin.

To: hennalove

From: sarahsmark ,

Where the hell are you?! You haven't come back to the apartment and it's been almost a month! I heard your boss got called in for his organization... did you, too? I'm going to assume that you did... if you're hurt, let me know!

I sigh.

"Sarah?" Loki asked, looking at me.

"Yeah." I type a response, saying I'm fine and I did get called in. "She's a tad paranoid. After all, she does live in a world where only the population of New York know the Avengers are real, and her best friend is part of them."

"Well, too bad." He says sarcastically.

I grin. "You sound like Sarah."

X- My linebreaker, Starfy!

I'm in the training room later that day when Stark joins me.

"Henna, lets have a talk," he said, sitting down on the bench and pats the seat next to him.

"No, Tony, I won't go out with you," I say, putting my hands on my hips.

He makes a face. "I want to talk about Sarah Martin."

"She won't go out with you either."

"She emailed me this morning. That girl's got a mouth on her." He scowled.

He showed me the email.

You retarded % #!?)% $! You just go and # !%$& kidnap my roommate?! Damn you, bitch!

-Sarah Martin

I laugh. "Ah, classic Sarah."

He points to the words symboled out (which, in the email, were actually written). "Classic Sarah?"

I nod.

He shakes his head. "Damn. Your friends are worse than you."

I shot a knife into a dummy.

"Okay... maybe not," Tony said, frowning as I repeatedly stabbed it.

X

The next day I was on serious edge.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow the Other and Thanos would attack, channeling the power of the Tesseract into deadly weapons.

And we had no freaking clue where.

I'm in the Cafeteria eating a Pop-Tart and orange juice for breakfast when Thor comes in. "Lady Levet," he says, sitting next to me. "Why did you take the side of my brother?"

I am so startled by this question that I nearly spit out the juice I just sipped. "Um... you know, my powers," I say hoarsly, shrugging.

He nods, like he isn't believing a thing I'm saying. "Then why did you assist him?"

"There's a reason for everything-" I begin.

He leans forward. "You and I both know you just made that up," he whispers.

The color rushes to my cheeks, and my mind instantly flashes to that kiss in Loki's cell. "So what is I did?" I say softly. "Would you guys have believed me if I didn't?"

"I would have," he said. "You know that I wish the best for my brother, that I try to steer him in the direction of good."

"But you aren't Fury. Or Clint. Or Stark."

He laughed. "Odin forbid I should be Stark!" He said.

I laughed too. "But still," I pressed. "Sure, you would have believed me, but everyone else would have thought I'd turned. Can you honestly tell me everyone would believe me?"

He was silent before answering, "no, Lady Levet, I can honestly say that I cannot."

I finish the rest of my juice and stand to leave, but Thor stops me.

"Lady Levet," he says, "do you have feelings for my brother?"

I drop the glass the the ground, where it shattered. "No," I snapped, taking another step forward.

He smiled slyly. "Henna, you may think I know nothing of love. But you would be wrong."

"Love is for children," I said, quoting Natasha.

"You are still a child, are you not?"

"Once you turn thirteen, no, you aren't." I shut my eyes, hoping he'd go away.

"Look, I know my brother-"

"Did you know he was planning an alien invasion?" I asked, turning on him.

"No, but I did know it wasn't him that planned it."

I folded my arms. "I don't love your brother."

"Good, because Loki's adopted. He is not my real brother." He laughed, knowing he had me trapped.

"I don't love Loki, either," I said, but inside I felt a little unsure.

X

That afternoon I brought lunch to Loki's cell. "Well, tomorrow's your chance," I say, walking in.

"I know," he says, smiling. "I can hardly wait."

I sit next to him. "But it's war," I say quietly.

"That part is not as exciting," Loki admits. "War is... a bloody thing. So many people and creatures, desperate to kill to prove they are right, or to seek revenge."

I look up at him, and our green eyes meet. "That... is probably the best description of war I've ever heard," I say with a small laugh.

"It helps to have fought in many yourself."

"I've fought in one," I admit.

"Oh?" He raises an eyebrow. "Explain."

"Last year."

His face falls when he realizes what I mean. "Ah," he says quietly, looking away.

I immediately feel crappy. "Er... I mean, I know it wasn't your-"

"No, I know," he whispers. He looks back at me and forces a smile on his face. "Tell me, what was your part in last year's... incident?"

"Oh... um, well... Fury was an idiot and the Avengers were trying to be all amazing by taking out the Chituari as soon as they entered the portal." I stop to take a breath. "But some Chituari escaped them and tried to make their way into the rest of the world. So I got together with Spider-Man, Tigra, and couple of X-Men and made up New York City's border patrol."

He nods. "That would deem to be important."

I close my eyes, feeling like the worst person in the world. Why had I brought up the events from last year? In front of the sorry person who caused them? "I'm sorry I brought it up," I say softly.

He puts his hand on mine- his touch delicate, as if he is slightly hesitant to see my reaction. "I am actually glad you did," he says, surprising me to the point of flushed cheeks and wide eyes. "I should not be embarrased for my actions. I should only be sorry for them."

We don't speak for several moments, his hand on mine and me unmoving. Then I turned my head so we were staring into each other's eyes...

I stood. "You should get ready," I say, looking away. "Tomorrow we're going to fight. You're going to need to be prepared."

Then I start to leave the room, but I stop at Loki's hand on my shoulder. "Henna," he says softly, and I turn, my cheeks reddening. "Tomorrow... be careful. The Other... and Thanos... they are not the Chituari. They are strong. And armed. And have skills beyond those of the Avengers. If you are hurt, fly away on your board. I do not care if you do not want to give up. I do not want you to die."

He sounds so sincere. So worried.

"I promise," I softly answer.

He nods. "Good." He looks around. "You may go now."

I do, and head to my room, the redness never leaving my face.

Natasha Romanoff had said love was for children.

What the Hell was I feeling, then?

X

I am in the lab, sending a strongly worded email to Asian Garden regarding jets, when Tony walks in.

"Henna," he nods, before going over to another screen.

I send my email and nod back at him. "Mr. Stark," I say sarcastically, mocking the way I used to do it before I got called in in this life-altering mission.

"You should be training," he said.

"I was training earlier today. What about you?"

Today, he had fruit snacks, and he popped some in his mouth before saying, "I really don't feel like blowing up the ship, Miss Levet."

I shrug and take some of his fruit snacks. "Then flutter around or something."

"I don't flutter. I fly."

"Well, so do I," I say, like I'm making a point. "Hey, guess what?"

"What?"

"Tomorrow? It's my birthday."

"Really?"

I nod. "April 8, yeah."

He looks a little awkward for a minute -a first for Tony Stark. "Oh. Sorry you might die on that day, then."

I make a face. "Yeah, that's the sucky part," I say.

A message pops up on my screen. I squint at it.

"Uh... Tony," I say. "Pepper sends her love."

He shoves me aside and glares."What did I say about reading my email?!" He demands.

"Um... did you say you loved it?" I asked, shrugging.

He glares.

I sigh. "You never said anything about it, buttbrain."

He blinks at me, like I just gave him an idea. "That's a good name, actually. I'll have to figure out some way to use it on Thor. Thank you, Henna, for making this a very productive day for me." He marches out of the room.

I sit down in a chair and let out a sigh. "At least one person's happy," I mutter.

X

I sit on a bench in the training room a little later, giving a dummy a death glare.

"Hey." Clint Barton mutters un-enthusiastically as he walks in.

I think I meant to say something, but all that came out was, "Meh."

He lets out a laugh. "'Meh'? Oh, now I feel appreciated!" He climbed up a rope and onto a platform. Then he began firing arrows into dummies below.

When one pierced the eye of the dummy I was glaring at, I bolted upright.

"You okay down there, Henna?" Clint calls.

"Fine." I blink again at the newly dead dummy. Had I really been so lost in thought that I hadn't noticed the arrow coming in?

What had I been thinking about that had occupied all of my attention so that I wasn't aware of my surroundings?

Oh, right.

The same thing that had occupied my attention all week.

Our war prisoner.

X

Later that evening I stand outside the room containing Loki's cell. My heart is thrudding in my chest. Why the Hell was I here, anyway?!

Oh right. I'm a complete idiot.

I opened the door to see him sitting in the corner of his cell, hugging his knees to his chest.

Oh God, what is it now?

He doesn't even notice me enter his cell and sit next to him. So he jumps when I say, "What's up?"

His eyes are wide. "Oh. Just you."

I laugh. "Yep, just me. You okay?"

Loki's eyes meet mine, and I see something I never thought I would. Fear. "Honestly? No." He sighs. "The Other will leave all of you alone. He will go after me. He could not care less about the Avengers, though Thanos wants him to dipose of all of us. But I will be the first."

He lets go of his knees and I look at the floor, which, considering we're sitting, isn't very far away. "He won't get you," I say quietly.

"And you know that how?"

"Because..." I swallow the lump in my throat. "You're... you're strong."

He blinks. "But what if I am not, tomorrow?"

I take a shaky breath. I can't deny it anymore, what I feel inside. I should let it out. Marcus never hid his feelings from Leo, right? He always let Leo know that he hated him. But this, what I felt, it wasn't hate. It was the opposite.

"I... listen to me, Loki. I won't let him hurt you." I close my eyes. "Trust me."

"What if you are not strong tomorrow, either?"

I open my eyes and lean closer to him. "Then we'll be strong together."

X

Don't question the universe, Henna. If you do it will bite you in the ass. Just let everything run it's course.

And don't be afraid to run yours.

X

When I pull back, my face must register complete shock, because Loki chuckles.

"It seems I am not the only one with feelings," he says softly, and presses his lips to mine again.