"I can't believe he didn't come out to help with dinner." Darcy complained to everyone at the table.

"Oh Darc, it's his first day. Give him a break." Amanda scolded gently.

"Give him a break? Seriously? He totally insulted all your hard work on his room and now he's completely breaking the rules…If Tony or I didn't help, we wouldn't eat." Darcy continued to rant.

"And the Oscar goes to Darcy Anne Lew9s for her role in Teenage Girl Raves Like a Lunatic." Tony announced loudly causing Howard to choke on his meatloaf.

Darcy turned her death glare on him but then smiled sweetly. "I accept the award on behalf of my dead friend Anthony Stark who was hit by a speeding Honda on his way to school."

"Haha, are you even tall enough to reach the pedals yet?" Tony said seriously.

"Says the shortest person in his peer group," Darcy retorted.

"Why are you bitching anyway? At least you get to go to your own home and not share with a stranger." Tony sulked "And I still don't understand why we have to do this whole façade of preparing dinner together. Look at how much more time we could have together if we had the staff prepare our meal as normal."

"Tony, don't say bitching."Howard reprimanded. "And quit being a brat, you help with dinner once a week."

"And seriously Darcy, chill out." Amanda said attempting sternness"Leave that poor boy alone. He needs to adjust to his surroundings and take the situation in."

"Ok who are you? And what did you do with my mother?" Darcysulked "I'm just saying that if you don't enforce the rules at the beginning, then he won't follow any of the rules that you set for him."

"Since when are you the rules police?" Tony challenged..

"I'm not. Why are you defending him? You're supposed to be on my side." Darcyexplained "I just know the trouble he's been in before. What's taking him so long anyway? It's not like he had massive baggage to unpack."

"Well why don't you get up and go tell him it's dinner time."Tony challenged leaning back in his chair, lifting his eyebrow.

"Fine I will." She said as she pushed her chair back.

"Darcy, I don't think that's such a good idea..maybe you should just give him time.."Howard began but she was already out of the room.

This is crazy, she thought as she walked down the hallway. What am I doing? She paused for a second but decided she didn't want to back down to Tony's obvious challenge.

As she approached the door to his room, she lifted her hand to knock. She felt seriously stupid knocking on a door she'd normally be welcome to walk right through. Without really thinking it through, she turned the knob and opened the door.

"Excuse me!" came the yell and some scrambling

Darcy couldn't believe her eyes, she'd walked in on a shirtless Loki.

"OH MY GOD!" she cried but making no real effort to turn away."You can't walk around the house like that! Put some clothes on!"

"What are you talking about?" he replied angrily reaching for his shorts quickly "This is my room! What the hell are you doing in here?"

Darcy tried to think of a witty comeback but her eyes were drawn to his bare chest. His skin was smooth and milky, almost too perfect to belong to a guy. With his wet hair clinging closely to his head and his perfect physique, Darcy had the errant thought that he was the most beautiful boy she'd ever seen. Not that she'd seen many..she wasn't that kind of girl..

"I just…I just" she stammered finally looking away "Came to see if you were ok..and to see if you were going to come get dinner."

"Of course I'm coming. Damn, can you get out so I can finish dressing or are you going to stand there and stare the whole time?" he asked angrily.

"What? I'm not staring at you. You WISH I was staring at you. I've seen sooo much better," she protested.

"Is that right? " he asked with a scowl on his face "then why are you still standing there?"

She matched his scowl "Because I know it's pissing you off."

"You don't want to go there with me, little girl." He challenged taking a step closer to her..so close that she could see the undried drops of water glistening on his chest.

It took Darcy a few seconds before her brain would start working again. "You don't scare me." She said and her voice wavered.

He gave her a crooked sarcastic smile. "You say I don't, but everything your trembling voice says I do."

"Oh get over yourself..you aren't that scary..it's all an act." she told him keeping her voice even.

"Yeah that's right..you know me so well" he moved away gracefully "so can you leave now so I can get dressed or are you going to stand there and purposely annoy me for the rest of the evening?"

"Hmm tempting." She said turning her attention from the half dressed boy in front of her to his small collection of books on his dresser "Where are all your things?"

"My things?" he asked realizing she wasn't leaving anytime soon and pulled on his favourite worn green tee.

"Yeah, you know?" she continued "personal belongings? Pictures? Posters of big boobed women in provocative poses? Stolen street signs? Stuffed animals you're emotionally attached to? Do you or do you not possess these types of things?"

Loki bristled. He had the clothes that Odin had packed up for him, a few books he'd asked for..his toothbrush but he was never one for sentimental objects."Do you?"

"Sure I do," she replied.

"Well I don't." he said matter of factly "What you see is what you get."

Darcy wrinkled her nose for show "Well that's a depressing sight."

"Maybe you just need a better look," he responded sarcastically.

"Ugh..I think I've seen enough to last me a lifetime, thank you very much." She told him primly.

"Then why are you still bothering me?" he said frustrated.

She realized then she'd have to be careful. She knew her boundaries with Tony but she had no idea how far or if even she could or should try to push Loki around at all. "I came in here to call you for dinner and so I have. But it's probably all gone by now."

"Whatever," he responded angrily. "I wasn't hungry anyway."

Darcy laughed at his grumpiness.

"Get out," he growled as he walked to open the door for her.

"Gladly." she said dramatically as she moved through the doorway.

She jumped when he slammed the door with more force than was necessary.

She was glad he didn't respond to her last comment. There was no way she was going to give him the satisfaction of having the last word.