A.N. ThatGuyWithTheFace: Truth is, I probably do enjoy them too much. I know I love writing them. xP
Oh, and just for future reference, the only people that know about Loki 'sending' the text are Peggy, Steve, and Thor. (Well, Loki too.)
I'm sorry about the late update. I felt so blech earlier today, mainly because I spent all of yesterday riding amusement park rides in the middle of a very sunny day and I was awake from 8 AM to 11 PM or something like that. Kind of like a hangover or something, I don't know. Whatever.
Random rambling from the author aside, here's the next chapter.
P.S. There are almost 100 people with this story on their alerts, how amazing is? :D
Chapter Twelve
"Please don't freak out. I did not send that text." Loki whispered quickly.
"What text?" Natasha was confused and tired. Plus she was still cold.
"They didn't... tell you?" Loki was surprised.
"Who didn't tell me what?" Natasha demanded.
"Ah, they'll tell you if they want you to know." Loki responded.
"Fine, don't tell me. But why the heck did you *break* into my house in the middle of the night?" Natasha questioned, realizing how creepy that it really was.
"My parents said I need to stop trying to ruin my brother's and his friends' lives, after I supposedly sent that text about Steve. They want to send me back to England. To a boarding school." Loki looked at Natasha for her reaction.
"Oh. Well, you deserve it. You broke into the Starks' house and- Wait, wait, hold on. Did you say the text about *Steve*? You're the one who told the whole school he was gay?" Natasha was downright scary when she was angry.
"No, I swear to you I didn't send that text. Remember when I said that the reason I broke into the Starks' home was to get my phone back? Well, there you have it. Tony must've sent the text." Loki looked rather proud of his deductive reasoning.
"Yeah right, like you aren't making that up." She scoffed.
"I'm telling the truth," Loki said softly. "I would never do anything to hurt you or one of your friends."
Natasha knew that if Loki didn't send the text, it was because of the crush he had on her. He'd followed her around (almost like a little lost puppy) when they were in middle school together. He stopped that a few months later, probably due to his ever-growing pride. He liked her even before she and Thor were friends. Once they knew each other and she hung out at their house ever so often, Loki would always try to impress her. He was such a weird fourteen year old. Whether it was because of his weirdness/unusual mature-ish behavior, or his (Kind of sweet.) crush on her, she believed him.
"I believe you."
"I- You what?" Loki glanced at her.
"Yeah, I believe you. You don't deserve to get stuck in boarding school despite your other problems. Happy?" Natasha could practically feel joy (Or as joyful as Loki could get.) emanating from where he stood.
"Yes. Yes, that's wonderful." She wished that she could turn on the lights and get a better look at his face, she'd never seen him smile before, and she figured he was probably over the moon right now.
"Okay, exactly what does all of this have to do with me?" Natasha asked.
"Oh, right. You know, I don't have any friends." Loki said.
"Yeah, I wonder why."
"You're about the closest thing I have to a friend," Natasha wondered exactly what that was. "Next to Thor, and he pretty much hates me right now."
"And?" Natasha motioned for him to continue.
"I need someplace to stay. Until my parents get over the whole boarding school thing. I mean, this has happened before, but they're serious this time." Loki explained.
"Okay, you're running away, and you want me to let you stay here, in my house." Natasha repeated.
"Not really running away, I just can't really go home." Loki stated.
"What about school?" She asked.
"I'm still going to school. But if my parents catch me at home again, they'll chew me out and spit me out of our house for good. They're usually so forgiving, I suppose they think I crossed the line. Even though I didn't." He said.
Natasha debated for a minute. Let Loki stay, or throw him to the street and leave him to the cruel world at only fourteen. He *was* Thor's brother. Natasha decided that was the absolute only reason she was saying what she was about to say.
"Fine, as a favor to Thor." She muttered. "We have a spare room in the basement that nobody ever uses." She led him to it.
"Thank you, Natasha." Loki said to her as she flipped on the light.
"No problem, I suppose." She muttered back.
He put down his backpack and laid on the twin size bed.
"Good night." He replied.
"Oh, yeah, good night," Natasha turned to leave, but found herself speaking again. "Hey, Loki? You can call me Nat."
-/-/-/-/-/-/
Tony awoke the next day with a splitting headache. He felt awful, and then he remembered why.
Mother. Hospital. Surgery. Critical injuries.
He remembered coming to Steve's house and he had cried. Tony truly *hated* crying in front of others. It was rather embarrassing. He didn't feel that embarrassed by crying in front of Steve, which was weird. He felt weird and sad and angry and just crappy. What a great way to wake up.
"Oh, you're awake." Tony turned and saw Steve walking down the stairs.
"Yeah. Thanks for letting me stay over." He said quietly.
"No problem." Steve shrugged.
"Sorry about the crying."
"You're as human as anyone else, we all cry. Especially us hormonal teenagers." Steve brushed it aside.
"My dad." Tony mentally kicked himself.
"What about him?"
"He's going to be wondering where I am. Great. I gotta go." Tony groaned and put on his shoes.
"Alright then." Steve looked a bit disappointed that he was leaving.
"Sorry to run. Thanks again, Steve." Tony ran out.
Steve sat there, alone. He wondered what he and Tony were. Tony said that they were friends. Friends don't usually make out in movie theaters. Do friends act like he and Tony did when they were around each other? Steve didn't know. The whole thing was complicated. What about Peggy?
A confused and bored Steve went upstairs and flipped open his laptop. He went to Facebook. He opened up a new account and searched for his friends. Thor was there, so was everyone else. Plus Tony.
He sent friend requests to all his friends, including Tony. Then he went to his profile and changed his relationship status. "It's complicated."
That was the whole reason he made a Facebook again anyway. He didn't know what he was doing relationship wise, so he simply distracted himself. Besides, it really was quite complicated.
-/-/-/-/-/
"Where were you?" Tony heard his dad say the minute he walked into the house.
"I didn't know what time you were going to be home, so I spent the night at a friend's." He explained. When his dad stayed silent, he spoke up again.
"How's Mom?"
"Your mother is not doing well." Tony looked at his father's face. He'd been crying. Tony knew for a fact that Howard Stark *never* cried unless something horrible happened. That's what his mother said. To be completely honest, Tony had never seen his father cry. It was disconcerting, very much so.
"She'll be alright, Dad." Was all Tony said when he walked to his room, trying to convince himself more than his father.
As he checked his email, He realized Steve had made a Facebook. And sent him a friend request.
He clicked 'Accept' before changing his relationship status to 'It's complicated". That certainly was the truth.
-/-/-/-/-/-/
Pepper woke up with that gross taste of morning in her mouth. She brushed her teeth, changed her clothes, fixed her hair, put on her makeup, and went downstairs to eat breakfast. The whole point of her doing her entire morning routine on a Sunday was to prove to herself that the breakup with Tony was not going to affect her. Nope, not at all.
Her mother put a plate of pancakes in front of Pepper's face. "So, honey, when do you think we can invite Tony over again? He's such a lovely young man." Yeah, she did still need to tell her parents.
"Darling, did you hear what happened to his mother? Horrible tragedy. I do hope she'll recover." Pepper's father remarked.
"What tragedy?" Pepper questioned with wide eyes.
"His parents were in a car crash last night. Didn't he tell you?" Her mother said with mild confusion.
"He's not telling me much these days." Pepper said sadly.
-/-/-/-/-/
"Tony, I'm going to go visit your mother, don't kill yourself while I'm gone." Howard said to his son as he left the house.
"Sorry to disappoint." Tony muttered.
"Pepper's at the door." His father left but let Pepper in.
"Tony, I heard what happened." Pepper said quietly. "I am so sorry."
"Pepper, in case you don't remember, you dumped me." Tony remarked in a flat tone.
"Well, I know," She hesitated. "Hey, I'll do something to help you forget about it. Cheer you up a little. How's that sound?" She said, attempting to cheer him up.
"Sounds great." Tony said, not excited or amused.
"Just because we're not together doesn't mean I can't be your friend." Pepper said.
"Yeah."
"Ohmigosh, I'll throw you a party! And instead of presents, the guests can bring money to donate to the hospital. What do you think?" Pepper suggested hopefully.
Tony brightened up a little at the donation suggestion. "Actually, Pepper, I do like that idea. To ahead and plan it."
"Great." She practically bounded out the door. "We'll have such fun, and don't worry, I'm sure your mom will get all better."
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
Bruce was having a typical Sunday afternoon. He'd eaten lunch, texted Tony with condolences about his mother's current condition, and then walked to the library and sat down with a good book. Tony called him a nerd. Bruce preferred the term, 'studious and charming'. Tony invented the charming part, but Bruce let it stay because it sounded nice.
So naturally, he wasn't expecting anyone to come up and talk to him, especially not a *girl* from school.
"Aren't you Tony's best friend?" The girl with short, curly red hair and a black leather jacket remarked as she walked up to him.
"More like only, but whatever goes." He replied in his typical calm voice.
"I'm Natasha, a friend of Steve's." She sat down next to him.
"I don't suppose that you're aware of the current situation between those two?" Bruce asked, turning the page of his book.
"Oh, I didn't think anyone else knew about that." Natasha remarked.
"I know plenty about everyone in the school." Bruce muttered. "They're not exactly 'quiet' about their personal lives, and I spend most of my time listening anyways. Tony's a different story, but still."
"Do you ever feel like you're supposed to be the person there for everyone else, but when you actually need some comforting, no one's around for you?" Natasha asked suddenly.
"Yeah, quite often. Tony's a good friend but he's an awful listener." Bruce replied.
"Like this morning at like, twelve AM, I was greeted by Loki breaking into my house. He needed some place to stay, so I let him stay in my basement as long as he kept quiet. I was kind of weirded out and needed someone to talk to, but when I texted my friends, none of them could talk." She said before taking a breath.
"Yeah. A while ago, I had a crush on a... certain person, and though I'm always there for Tony when he needs me, it seems like he couldn't take five minutes from his day to listen to a friend and offer advice." Bruce said quietly.
"Well, guess we both know how each other feels." Natasha said.
"I guess we do." Bruce agreed.
"Wanna hang out and listen to each other's problems?"
"Sure, why not."
-/-/
A.N. Not as long as I wish it would've been, sorry about that. I've been in a really weird mood all day and I could really get into my writing. My sister kept reminding me and eventually this flowed along. Hope you enjoyed! Oh, and if any word really doesn't belong there, blame my iPod touch. I write all this on it and sometimes Autocorrect hates me. xP
And if you do leave a review, would you mind telling me who you'd like to see more of in my story? I'd really appreciate it, since I enjoy writing all of them. :)
