Chapter 13:

Loki had his eyes closed when he woke in the morning, at a more reasonable hour. He didn't open his eyes when he noticed that his left arm was tingling and numb, nor when he realized that he was lying on a soft surface. But he did open his eyes when he noticed that his nostrils were full of the smell of sweet flowers, like jasmine, and when he heard a soft breathing coming from in front of him.

When his eyes were open, he saw that he was sleeping on Verity's bed, and that Verity herself was sleeping with her back pressed against his front. Her neck was on his left arm, the cause of the numbness, her own left hand in his hand hand. Loki smiled slightly as he realized that the sweet flower smell was coming form Verity's hair, which was practically under his cheek.

His right hand was resting of Verity's belly, which was held down by her hand. Loki lifted his head a little and saw that little rays of sun was shinning through the draw curtains, and that Verity was under the covers, while he was on top of them. His cheeks burned slightly as he realized that he was still wearing his boots.

Slowly, carefully, he moved his right hand out from under her hand. After his hand was free, Loki waited for a few seconds before trying to move his left arm. But as he moved his arm, Verity turned over her head and opened her eyes a crack.

"Hi." She whispered. Loki smiled at her, and before he could say anything, Verity lifted her head and he freed his arm. "I did not mean to wake you." He told her, shaking his arm a little to remove the numbness.

"That's alright." Verity sighed with her eyes closed. "Loki?" Loki, who had been about to sneak off of the bed, stopped and looked back at her, saying, "Yes?"

Verity sighed and sat up a little, before asking, " I wanted to ask you last night... what will happen if the Chitauri find you?"

Loki closed his eyes and sighed heavily, before answering, "They will... torture me... break every bone in my body... then they'll... slaughter me." He opened his eyes to see Verity's face riddled with fear, and horror.

"Is there a way, for you not to get captured?" She asked, stumbling a little. Loki nodded saying, "I only have two options. One: I open a portal for them to come here. Two... I hide myself so that they will not find me."

He watched as Verity bowed her head before asking, "Which one would you chose?"

Loki thought for a second before shrugging and saying in a loving voice, "I do not know. All I want to do is stay here... with you." Verity shook her head, but couldn't help smiling at him. She laid back down and said, "You might want to think about washing yourself, since you haven't had a shower for nearly two years."

Loki smiled, swept down to kiss her cheek, then stood up again and walked to the bathroom.

***Out in the dinning room***

Tony yawned hugely and muttered to no one in particular, "I still don't see why we have to get up at 7:00, in the morning."

"Because, growing teenagers need to wake up at the proper time, so that they can lead healthy lives!" Natasha said, smiling hugely and placing a plate of toast in front of him.

Steve glanced over at Clint, who was staring at Natasha as if he didn't know who she was, and asked, "I'm guessing that she's not normally like this?"

Clint shook his head, his mouth still wide open as he continued to stare at her as she placed a bowl of cereal in front of Bruce. Steve nodded slowly before flicking his newspaper and started to read it again.

Everyone else was just as shocked at by Natasha's new attitude. Tony was watching her with dislike, while Bruce and Clint just stared at her. Steve was reading an out of date newspaper, while Thor came stumbling in, his eyes wide with shock, fear, and horror.

"What's up with you?" Tony asked him as he sat down with a thump. Thor shook his head slightly, before telling them, "I walked pass Loki's room... and it was empty."

"WHAT?!" Tony shouted, jumping up and pulling at his hair. Thor nodded, before saying, "I'm sure he is just playing around."

But everybody was soon jumping up and following Tony into the lounge room. Thor sighed heavily before standing and moving behind them. But then he froze, he's mouth hanging wide open, when he saw a tall figure in the middle of the room.

"Who's that?" Steve asked as Thor moved pass him, his mouth still open, as he moved towards the figure. Tony frowned as he shrugged, trying to think where he had seen that face before.

"Well, well, well." The man said, a smile curling at his lips. Thor finally found his voice, saying, "Brother. What... how are you grown again?"

Loki chuckled slightly as he hissed, "Wouldn't you like to know." Everyone stared at Loki, who didn't look like the Loki that they had captured before. For starters, he was wearing golden armor, not the black and green garments he was wearing before. A green cape flowed down from his shoulders to the ground.

Tony couldn't give a small chuckle as he looked at his helmet, which made it look like he had horns coming of his head. But he also noticed that Loki's hair was cut short, so that it wasn't just touching his shoulders.

"Wait. You said that we wouldn't go back to our real forms for another month." Clint cried out, starting towards Loki, who just smiled even more so that it looked like his face was split in two.

"I lied." He hissed at Clint. "Why would I tell the truth to you pathetic Midgardians?"

Thor's face was outrageous as he stared up at his brother, who was about a head taller than he was. Tony looked around to see whether there was something for him to throw at Loki. But then he froze.

Verity was standing in the corner of the room, her eyes glittering as she stared at Loki. But then Tony noticed that the teenager Loki was standing next to her, his face filled with shock and rage.

Tony threw his head back and forth, looking from one Loki to the other, before yelling, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"

Everybody spun round to face Tony, and saw Verity and Loki in the corner. Verity jumped, and the adult Loki slowly vanished. Thor gave a cry and started towards the real Loki with open arms.

"Brother!" Thor cried. Loki gave a yelp and ducked under Thor's arm, backing away from him slowly. But Thor quickly grabbed Loki and drew him in for a tight hug.

Loki's face went pale as he patted Thor's shoulder and chocked, "Thor. You can let go now. Please." He gave a gasp and drew in air as Thor let him go.

Tony stared at him, then at Verity, who went pink in the face and said, "I was trying out some of my powers." Tony groaned and placed his fingers on his eyes, shaking his head.

Everyone walked back into the dinning room, where Natasha finished placing everyone's breakfast on the table. Then Tony remembered something, and turned to Loki and Verity, asking, "You two weren't sleeping with each other last night... were you?"

Verity went very still, and Loki frowned at him questioningly as he said, "Yes. Is that a problem?"

"I think what Tony is saying is... did you two, ah... make... love?" Natasha asked awkwardly. Everyone stared at them. Loki had a look of disgust on his face as he cried, "No!"

Thor gave a sigh of relief and smiled at his brother, saying, "I knew you were still sensible not to do that in your form, Brother."

Loki turned his head to look at him, his eyes narrowed as he asked, "What is that suppose to mean?" Thor shifted uncomfortably and stuffed some cereal into his mouth to prevent him from answering.

Everybody followed his actions, except Loki, who was still staring at Thor. Finally Thor looked at him and said, "I did not mean it to sound the way it did, Brother."

Verity sighed, and whispered in Loki, so that only he could hear, "He was saying that we are in too young of a form to make love, without it sounding wrong."

Loki glanced at her, gave her a small smile then turned back to face Thor, saying curtly, "You are forgiven."

Thor sighed in relief, but did not try to hug his brother again this time. For that, Loki was very grateful.

"So... what were you doing last night?" Clint asked, smiling mischievously at them. Loki looked down at the table and said, "I rather not say." Everyone glanced at each other, and Natasha gave a small whistle.

Tony tried to hold back a laugh as he said, "That makes you sound really guilty."

Verity glanced at him and shook her head slightly, before saying, "If Loki does not wish to say what happened, then he will not say. Neither will I." With that she stood up and left the table.

She walked back down the hall to her room, and Tony looked a little guilty as she disappeared into the dark room. Loki still did not look up as everyone moved around, which made Thor a little worried about his younger brother.

"What ails you?" He asked quietly as Natasha went around, picking up the plates and bowls. Loki glanced at him and said softly, "It is nothing. Do not worry. I am fine."

But Thor still watched after him worriedly as Loki stood up and headed towards the lounge room, where Tony, Clint and Bruce were continuing their game from the night before.

Loki sat down on the couch that sat next to the window and stared at it, expecting to see the Chitauri flying outside it. But there was nothing except for people that were going about their day.

He sighed, relaxing a little, but still keeping his guard up. Loki turned to watched the game that was happening on a flat screen, and wondered slightly at how it worked.

"No fair! That was mine!" Tony cried to Clint who was sitting next to him. Loki shook his head and watched as Steve and Thor came walking in, staring in fascination at the screen, while Natasha was washing the dishes and singing along to the radio playing next to her.

Loki closed his eyes, and lent his head back on to the glass behind him. Before he knew it, he was asleep once more.

***Three hours later***

"I'm bored." Tony said, and threw down his controller. He had been playing by himself for while. Clint and Bruce were sitting at the table drinking some juice, while Thor and Steve had been watching the game with interest. They sighed and went to sit next to the others at the table.

Tony looked over Natasha, who was drying the dishes now and still singing to the radio, but was now swinging her hips also. Tony's eye twitched, as he thought once again, as he had so many times before, that she wasn't herself.

He sighed, thinking that there was nothing interesting here, when he spotted Loki, asleep with his head on the window.

A smile curved at the edge of Tony's mouth as he formed a plan is his mind. He went into the office that was a floor lower than where he was and grabbed a pen.

Then he went back upstairs and crept towards the sleeping teenager. After drawing a curly mustache on his upper lip. Smothering a laugh, Tony backed away into the dinning room.

Then he laughed till it felt like his lungs would burst. Everyone stared at him in shock, and Loki woke with a sudden jerk.

"What are you laughing about, Stark?" He asked as he walked into the room. Everybody saw the pen mark on his upper lip. Clint and Tony were in a fit of laughter, Thor, Steve, and Bruce stared at them in disgust, while Natasha gave Loki a look of pity.

Steve cleared his throat and said to Loki, "You might want to look in the mirror."

Loki frowned, but gladly left their company. He walked down to the bathroom at the end of the hall, opened the door and gave a cry of shock and outrage.

Outside in the dinning room, he heard Tony and Clint laugh even more. Loki walked into the room, anger spilling out of him as he ran some water and rubbed at the mark.

A sound of a door opening came to his ears, and Verity appeared in the mirror. She gasped when she saw the smudged mark on his lip and said, "Tony doesn't know when to stop."

She walked into the and took a sponge. She made Loki sit on the edge of the bathtub, and gently whipped at the mark. Loki closed his eyes and his anger calmed.

"Why do you call him 'Tony'?" He asked, making Verity jump a little. She gave a breathy laugh before answering, "I've known Tony for nearly two years. We're friends, even if we don't see eye to eye."

Loki sighed and opened his eyes to look at Verity's face. She smiled at him, before placing the sponge down and saying, "There. Now you're back to your old self."

"Good." Loki said, standing up, "Now... I'm going to kill Stark."