"Well?" Stark was beaming as he presented the dog to the room.

"You are aware I can't see him, hence why he is needed in the first place." You laughed. "What's his name?"

"Actually, it's a bitch."

"You were dying to say that, weren't you?" You laughed.

"You know me so well." Stark grinned, his teeth showing.

"So, what is her name?"

"Beauty."

You called her name and gave her the command to come that you had learnt from the trainer that had been at the Tower twice, once to teach you everything you needed to know, and a second time assess her living area and ready it for her arrival. The dog obeyed immediately and came to your outreaching hand, nuzzling it slightly to indicate she had done as commanded, with a verbal reward, you began to rub her gently, feeling her fur, her ears, assessing her features in your head, using what knowledge you had of the creatures from the research you had accumulated over the years, having always wanted a pet of your own; to help you guess the breed. "A German Sheppard." You smiled. "I always loved them, they are beautiful." You felt down her back to where her harness was fitted. It was soft, but solid, so to help guide you around. "Thank you."

"She will help you with corridors, doors, stairs, and general moving around as well as act as a guard dog and assist in making sure you don't lose any more clothes." Tony eyeballed Rogers.

"Yes, speaking of which, I was wondering, when are you replacing that jumper Stars and Stripes, the twenties and thirties were frugal times, I doubt it was acceptable then to steal girls jumpers, not to mention, it sounds creepy as hell?"

"I preferred 'Star Spangled Idiot' to be honest." Tony beamed, thinking back to your conversation.

Barton snorted coffee back into his mug at the name, and Romanov looked to the ground so nobody could see her smirk. "I can't help it, I am saving your details as that now." The archer coughed as he got out his phone.

"Well, considering…" Rogers began, shifted awkwardly

"No, considering nothing, that was mine, you had no right." You snapped. Immediately, Beauty turned to see where the potential threat to her new master was, standing with her ears perked, back straight and her body across you.

"That is an astute creature." Thor stated as he walked into the room from the elevator. "I take it this is the hound?"

You rubbed her head, as you gave the command to stand down. "She is perfect, thank you Tony."

"Any time Kiddo." He winked.

"You are aware she cannot see that." Loki pointed out, coming out from behind Thor.

"He winked." You stated factually, you could sense the room looking at you. "What? I knew him for nearly a decade before this happened, I know his weird cocky quirks, same as the rest of you do, he's sort of an open book."

"I always knew you adored me." Tony jested.

"Yeah, please refer back to the window thing."

"Hatred is a passionate emotion too." He grinned

"I want to throw something at you."

"Can't train the dog to do that." He laughed, heading out of the room. "Glad you like her."

"We'll get on well, won't we Beauty." You rubbed her head again before gripping the harness. "But to do that, I think we best get used to each other." You cautiously got to your feet and stood straight. Immediately the dog became stoic, awaiting her commands. Holding onto to harness, you took a step forward and you felt her move fluidly next to you. A bubble of excitement and happiness caused you to shudder and giggle slightly. You usually would have been highly embarrassed by such actions, but for once, you could not bring yourself to care, you were just so elated. You made your way to the elevator faster than you could ever had done without her, your hand seeking the wall out of habit, and not necessity. Knowing Loki was in the room made you want to leave all the more.

The Avengers watched silently, not saying anything as they watched you act so out of character, they were used to sarcasm and stoic behaviour in intermittent patterns, with occasional small smiles, not giggles and laughter. Loki on the other hand, found himself having to resist the urge to permit his lip to twitch up, having known and understood how much having the hound meant to you and your independence. Though since the day you had informed him of his access to a training area, he had spent his time between there and his rooms, having had Thor ask him on more than one occasion why of all the humans, you had been the one to interest him most. In truth, he was not sure why you interested him so greatly, but you had, and frankly, that concerned him, you were as inconsequential as the rest of them really.

It concerned him why had he been so concerned for you that day of the attack, he knew if anything had happened you, the others would not have taken long to blame him, but in truth, that was only a miniscule reason. When he had fought along side Thor and the Warriors in Asgard, he had been trained to aid the weak and less capable, and you were most certainly such, but that too was not the real reason. Your attitude and the manner, in which you saw him, though ironically, you could not see him, intrigued him. You deemed him as similar to the others, something he had not ever imagined being compared with, but since you had pointed out the similarities, he had not been able to cease thinking of them. He found himself thinking of you constantly, and the manner in which you had sought him for safety. When Thor had scared you, it was him that you had called for, not Stark, not any of the rest of them, him, why? It was one thing to seek refuge with him when the enemies were none you knew, but with Thor there, he was surely the one to have sought. Because of the conflict and intrigue his inner thoughts had caused, Loki had avoided you ardently since then.

In the elevator, you were relieved to be away from everyone again, but especially Loki. Since your speaking with one another where you had told him of the training room, you had not been around him, and you suspected it was due to his avoiding you. You were not sure what you had done, but as he would not even speak to you, you could not ask. It should not bother you as much as it did, but it did. Daily you had found yourself trying to recall a picture of him from the situation in New York and Berlin a few years previous, cursing yourself for being too interested in your studies to even pay attention to the news. Why did his appearance bother you so much? You were no where near as curious about what everyone else looked like. Leaning back against the wall of the metal box, you sighed deeply, your hand still on Beauty's harness as you did. It was not normal to near obsess over someone, well not obsess, but think of constantly or perhaps that was obsessing? Beauty nudged your hand to inform you the elevator had come to a halt and the doors had opened to let you out. Walking to your rooms, you were still preoccupied by the Mischief God, but you had not bumped into anything solely because the dog prevented it. When you arrived to your sitting area, she paused and waited for another command, so sitting on the sofa, you left go of the harness and let her investigate her surrounds, knowing her mat was next to the chair you were in so she could rest comfortably as you sat down.

X

Three days had passed since Beauty arrived, and when you were not allowing Loki's avoidance of you occupy your thoughts, you got used to having the dog help you with your life. You were no longer colliding with everything, and she made sure you did not forget anything; Beauty was the best thing to have happened since the accident.

Confidently, you stepped into the elevator and waited for it to bring you to the top floor, Beauty sitting by your side, her head next to your leg, allowing you to know she was there. When you went to leave it, you were met with a person directly in front of you; it did not take a moment to recognise the smell of spice and leather. "Hello."

"I see you are getting used to that hound." Loki replied, eyeing the dog.

"She is great." You smiled down at her. "How is the training room?"

"It is basic, but it will suffice I suppose." He shrugged. You scoffed a small laugh. "And what is so funny?"

"Your pretending nothing is to your high standards."

"Nothing on this realm is to my standards."

"Well, perhaps not, but you do act like you are not impressed very often, even when I can tell you are."

Loki frowned. "What makes you say that?"

"I can't tell you, then you'll make sure you won't do it and I won't be able to tell." You smiled.

"What is that thing doing?" Loki growled.

"If you are talking about Beauty, you'll have to describe it to me, I can't see; remember."

"She is pressing her muzzle on my hand."

"She wants you to rub her."

"Why?" He looked at the creature that was looking up at him expectantly.

"I dunno, maybe she likes you."

"Your hound is as defective as you are."

"She doesn't know what you did, I don't she would care anyway."

Scratching her ear, Loki looked at the dog again. "I suppose not."

"Well she is defective remember." You gave a small smile. "I better get something to eat, would you like some?" You walked to the kitchen and got out a bowl.

"There is no need."

"Suit yourself, I was just going to make some soup."

"Soup?"

"Broth?"

"That I have heard of." He looked at you for a moment. "I am not sure."

"Well it is here if you want some." You held up a filled bowl to him.

On smelling it, he shrugged. "Fine, I suppose it smells edible." You gave another smile. "Shut up." That caused you to laugh for a moment, before you ceased and a look of concern filled your features. "What?"

"Nothing." You shook your head as you spoke.

"Lies, I think you forget who I am." He stated, studying you carefully. "What is it that you are not saying."

"It's nothing of importance, I just thought of something." You dismissed again, hoping that that would placate him, it didn't however, and you knew it from the irritated glare you felt on you. "It's just, you are actually nice to be around, you don't try to act a certain way, and you sure as Hel don't care about dancing around my feelings. It's…refreshing."

"Well that is something I never thought my company would be accused of being." Loki's eyebrows raised significantly, he felt the urge to smile again, but forced it to remain at bay, even if you could not see, you seemed astutely aware of those around you and their actions. "I must commended you for your treatment of the Solider the other day."

"He deserved it for throwing out a perfectly good jumper." You growled, tucking into the soup.

"Perhaps he did, the names you gave him however, were amusing. What about that thing?"

"Beauty?" He made a noise of confirmation. "What about her?"

"Should it not eat?"

"She will, this evening, she was already fed today."

"What a miserable existence, they serve you mortals selflessly and have to watch you eat with little thanks."

"If she was really miserable, she would probably run off." Loki grunted. "You're jealous, don't deny it."

"It would be nice to have such options."

"Then you'd be leaving me here to deal with these idiots alone." You gave a pretend sad face for a moment before you cleared your throat and found yourself blushing. "I mean…nothing, forget I said that." You cursed yourself for seeming a fool. Loki however, said nothing, but looked at you with intrigue.