A/N: Hey! I still feel so bad about how short last chapter was! So I added like...200 words? to this one. :)

Also, I keep finding myself wanting to describe Loki's eyes, but I don't know what color you all prefer. Green was the color in the comics, but they kept Tom Hiddleston's blue in the movies. I personally, do not care. They're both gorgeous. Blue or green? I'm opening a poll where you can vote. PLEASE do! I'm pretty much begging you! Even if you're not following the story, just vote your preference. :)

Story time. I hope that you enjoy it!


Thor ran upstairs while still holding on to Loki's hand. He could hear their friends in Steve's bedroom and was hoping that Steve could maybe make Loki want to talk. They reached the room and Thor opened it without knocking, courtesies long forgotten. "We're here!" He called.

I wouldn't call what happened quite 'tackling', more like a movement which involved much pulling, tugging, and gentle pushes, which ended with all four boys tangled together on Steve's bed.

"How are you guys?"

"What happened?"

"Why are you here?"

"What's going one?"

"Are you guys okay?"

Tony and Steve had apparently decided to plan their questions before hand, because they seemed to have many. "Dad got really mad at us, then left. Mom brought us here. I think it's so she could talk to your moms."

The smiles fell off their friends faces and they pulled out of the tangled mess, but Steve stayed close to Loki, holding his hand. "Are you okay?"

Loki looked up under the fringe of his hair and offered a small smile. "I'm fine," he whispered.

Thor's face lit up at the sound of Loki's voice, but he kept quiet, trying to not make a big deal of it. "I think we're all mostly just scared."

"Your dad left?" Tony asked. "Did he like...leave? Or is he coming back?"

Loki's shoulders hunched and Thor began before hesitating. "I- I don't know. He'll have to come back," he decided. "He's got all his stuff there." Steve nodded at Thor's logic, but Tony frowned; he and his mom left their stuff when they went to live with Grandma.

"Loki, I wanted to tell you," Steve began. "When your dad comes back, I know how you can make him like you."

Loki felt his chest hurt for a second at the idea, but then he remembered how mad his dad had looked earlier, and he shook his head. "I don't think I can," he replied, a tear sliding down his bruising cheek.

"But I do. Mom said that it's because you don't smile. If you smile enough, your dad will too. Like mine does."

Loki shook his head again and more tears fell. "No. That's what I thought. But I tried and - and he got mad at me."

"He got mad because you smiled?" Tony asked.

Loki started to speak, but only a small squeak came out and he closed his mouth, frantically shaking his head. "It's okay, Loki," Thor said, rubbing his brother's back. "You don't have to talk. Think about what Mom said; it's fine if you don't want to, just tell us when you do." Loki gave a sharp nod in return and leaned into his brother's half embrace.

Thor sent a pleading look toward Tony, silently asking him to drop the subject, and his friend gave a solemn nod in return. "Do you want to play a game, Loki?" He asked instead. Loki froze for a while before looking at Thor, who nodded encouragingly, and nodded in approval. Tony hopped up from the bed and looked to where Steve kept his games. "Um...What's a game that doesn't need words?" He asked to himself. After thinking a few moments, he came up with something. "I know! Charades!" He turned to his friends with a brilliant smile.

"But Loki can't guess," Thor said, his right arm still wrapped around the smaller hiding form next to him.

Tony shrugged. "I'll get a dry-erase board. Be right back," he called, darting out of the room.

After he left there was just silence, but it didn't last for long. Steve (who was rather worried for his friend) crawled over and laid down in front of Loki, who had moved his on head to rest on Thor's folded leg. "Loki?" Now dry eyes flashed open and stared into his own. Why don't you want to talk anymore?"

Loki pondered on how to answer that question without speaking. It wasn't that he couldn't talk, it was just that he didn't want to. Every time he thought about it he started to feel sick and wanted to lie down. So he didn't. There was no way to answer the question except to shrug. So that's what he did.

Steve knew that he didn't mean "I don't know why," he meant, "I don't know how to tell you." So he turned onto his back and sighed. "Okay. Maybe you can tell me later, when you're feeling better."

Loki nodded and closed his eyes again, wondering if he could fall asleep before Tony got back.

-0-

Tony ran down the stairs (holding onto the railing, of course - he didn't want to fall) and made his way toward the kitchen. He was about to call out to his mom, but he squashed that idea when he saw the three women sitting at the table drinking coffee, and most importantly, Mrs. Bursen was crying. "...not to create another one," he heard her say.

"Not to create another one what?" Three heads shot up when they heard him.

"Tony! What are you doing down here? I thought I told you to stay upstairs!" His mom stood up and bustled over to him. Mrs. Bursen didn't seem to be capable of moving, and Mrs. Rogers just looked a little bit sick.

"I- I came down to get a dry-erase board for Loki, since he won't talk," Tony said, looking away from the others. "Do you know if there's one here?"

"I think I have one in the kitchen," Mrs. Rogers sniffed. "Wait here and I'll get you it." Tony waited patiently, and thanked Steve's mom when he got it. "I'll be upstairs. We're playing Charades." With that he ran up the steps, occasionally using a hand to pull himself up faster.

The mothers watched him go, holding their breaths, and for some reason, as soon as he disappeared from sight, they let them out. "I don't think he heard anything," Maria said.

"But he could have," Frigga stated, standing up. "I was stupid to start talking here, when the kids were just upstairs. I need to get going. I left glass on the floor at home and the boys need to be getting to bed."

"Wait, you stay here tonight. It'll give Odin more time to cool off and Steve'd love it. Joe wouldn't mind either."

Frigga hesitated. "The boys and I will need things..."

"I'll go back with you to get them," Maria volunteered. "In all honesty, I don't think you're in a state to drive."

Finally, Frigga nodded. "Alright. But we should leave in the morning. I don't want to be an inconvenience to you."

"You're not one at all. We've been friends since college, Frigga. You've been there for us through every step of our marriages, my adopting Steve, and Maria's Howard. The least I can do is let you stay at my house when Odin's being an asshole."

Frigga couldn't help it. She laughed. Sue, who was my far the quietest and most innocent of the three, had called her husband an asshole. And it was funny. Something was seriously wrong.

-0-

Tony entered the room again to see all three boys lying down, and probably sleeping, on Steve's bed. He stuck the board and marker under his arm and clapped loudly. "Come on, time to get up! Up and at 'em! Wake up, sleepy heads! It's time to get up! HELLO-"

"WE'RE AWAKE!" Thor threw a pillow at Tony's head while sitting up, but missed and got his stomach. He mentally shrugged. It was still a score in his book. "Do you have the dry-erase board?"

"Yeah, I got it." Tony tossed it to Loki, who just flinched into Thor and took it a few seconds after it his the bed. "Here you are. Who wants to start?"

"I will!" Steve half climbed, half fell off the bed. "What movie are we doing?"

Thor thought a bit, but purposefully blanked his mind when he saw that Loki was writing something real fast. In not-so-neat six-year-old hand writing was Princes. Tony squinted. "You wanna do 'Princes'? He looked at Thor. "I don't think I've seen that."

Loki turned the board around and scowled at it, taking out his marker again. He wrote a bit more and flipped the board. "Princess!" Thor yelled. "You wanna do Disney Princesses?" Loki nodded excitedly at Thor's catching on and smiled.

"Sounds good to me," Steve said. Tony frowned, but eventually agreed as well.


A/N: Sorry, guys! I have to go now. I was gonna write the game in this chapter, but I guess it'll just have to wait until next. Or should I not write it? I think I will, but tell me if and why you want it skipped. :)

Review, please! Even if you're just passing by, it's so appreciated!