Opening the door, Loki peered down the hallway. It was empty, which he really should have expected. Quietly he trod towards the set of stairs which led to the entry way, taking his time to look at his surroundings. The building was clearly old, its building style somewhat like the cabins Loki had seen once or twice in the forests. Somehow, it pulled off feeling both big and small at the same time, in a good way too.

The walls were full of paintings and pictures all featuring people he didn't know. Cut logs with showing wood grains and rounded bottoms made up the stairs which were in a spiral form, and the floor was covered in rugs which had funny patterns on them. But if you looked up, the celling seemed to be miles away. It was nothing like what would normally be found in Asgard, with pretty but intimidating walls where everything was so tall it could make a crowded room feel empty. In short, Loki loved it.

Keeping up the same slow pace, the young trickster moved through the lodge. More than happy to spend his time doing nothing but exploring. It didn't take him very long to figure out with a burst of sheer delight, there were secret passageways in the house. None of them led very far and for the most part they just switched you into another room, but Loki still loved them. Asgard also had many hidden walkways and they had, at points, saved him from a nasty beating.

Not very many people knew about them, and it had always been a secret joy of his whenever he had managed to escape someone by way of knowing just which pattern to trace or how to ask a wall to move nicely. It was one of the ways he could prove to himself that sometimes being smart was just as important as muscles.

Loki remained lost in his thoughts for a few seconds more before the slam of a nearby door jolted him out of it. The door was not in his field of vision which he didn't like whatsoever, Tony hadn't said anything about anyone else coming but Coulson, and Loki didn't think that Coulson would ever slam a door. He was very nice to everyone and very calm.

Hurriedly, the young god made his way towards the front area where the noise had come from. What he found there was not what he had been expecting. Just inside the doorway stood three women, all somewhat bundled up.

One of them had wavy, pretty, red hair, she seemed to be leading the other two. The second one was wearing a knit hat and a thick coat, she had dark brown hair that was rather curly. They seemed to be having some sort of conversation, but the only word Loki could catch was 'Tasers' and he had no idea what those were. Standing a little ways behind the two of them was a lady with straighter, lighter, brown hair. She looked quite exasperated at her two companions.

Cautiously, Loki moved a little further into the room so that he could get a better view of them. This turned out to be a mistake when the movement caught the eye of the red-haired one. The conversation she had been having went dead as her attention was refocused on him. Her two companions also quieted themselves to take a look at him.

The sudden attention and lack of affirmation that they weren't a threat left Loki feeling rather shy. He inched backwards just a little bit, about ready to turn and run off, stopped only by the abrupt words from the one in the knit hat.

"So wait, is that Loki?"

This earned her a glare from the lighter haired girl. Said glare vanished when she turned her focus to Loki. In an overly gentle tone, much like that used for hurt animals, she spoke to Loki.

"Don't mind her, she's a bit obtuse. I'm Jane, and this is Natasha and Darcy. We came here with Coulson, he's currently out doing some agent stuff but he'll be here soon. You know Coulson, right?"

At the mention of Coulson's name, Loki visibly relaxed. Then tensed up again as he remembered the crazy pilot. With a fair bit of suspicion in his voice and a very serious tone he asked.

"You aren't secretly in love with him and going to stab me when I'm not looking, right?"

The one called Darcy burst out laughing. She was almost doubled over on the floor and Natasha also seemed to be having issues with keeping a straight face. Loki glared at them with a rather perturbed look. Running over his words again, he couldn't finding anything that would be worth laughing over and he was about to attempt to get them to tell him when Jane spoke to her friends.

"Knock it off you two."

Before she turned to Loki.

"No, I can promise you that none of us are secretly in love with Coulson, and none of us are planning on stabbing you."

It didn't really explain why they were laughing, but it did make Loki feel a little better. A sort of silence (Darcy was still laughing her head off) reined over the room. Jane opened her mouth to speak again, only to be cut off by the door creaking open.

This time, it was Coulson. The man was bundled up in a thick winter jacket, and a rather silly looking hat, but Loki was more than happy to see him all the same. Once he had made into the doorway, he suddenly found himself enveloped in a powerful hug. A single glance down told him that he currently had a chibi god attached to his waist. Not that he minded. Coulson was quick to return the hug, around the bag he was carrying and a smile made its way to his face.

The smile seemed to have contagious properties, because Natasha was unable to fight the one that was making its way onto her face. It had been awhile since she had seen Coulson in this good a mood, and she knew for a fact that children had always been a joy of his. Her smile only grew as she imagined the family Coulson might have when he finally left SHIELD.

Darcy was the first to speak up after a moment of silent hugging, in her usual tone.

"I get that you two are having a moment and all, but can we move to the kitchen or something? I want hot chocolate."

It was then that Loki remembered their presence and released Coulson, turning back to the three females standing in the hallway a little ways away from them. Cautiously, he glanced up to Coulson for approval, and seeing it there, he began to walk down the hallway, speaking as he went.

"The Kitchen's down this way, right behind the place with the creepy dead deer heads and the hearth."

Loki moved quite quickly, through the room with the deer heads, something Coulson took note of, and made his way into the hearth. It was only when he was almost to his destination that he realized something and turned around to face them with a confused look on his face.

"What's hot chocolate?"

A silence fell over the room. Coulson was the first to try and answer.

"Do you know what chocolate is?"

Shaking his head, Loki's look of confusion grew.

"Right, it's a sort of candy made from a Cacao bean, I guess they wouldn't have those in Asgard. Not the right growing conditions. Well, I can almost guarantee you'll like it. Basically everyone I know does. Even Nick. Don't tell him I said that."

Seemingly satisfied by that explanation, Loki finished his walk from the Hearth to the kitchen, before realizing he had no idea what to do here. Coulson noticed his confusion and quickly gestured to the table.

"Why don't you go sit down with the girls? I can handle making the Hot Chocolate. It's pretty easy."

With a reluctant mood to his steps, Loki moved over to the table and the three females followed. It wasn't hard to guess that Loki didn't like not being useful. Actually, Clint had been the same way when Coulson had first found him, he still was. It was a trait of abuse victims to always be trying to make themselves useful, because if they weren't they got hurt. It took a fair bit of will for Coulson not to flinch as he remembered Loki's past. It was easy to forget that the boy had suffered through so much with how happy he'd become.

Perhaps it was the mountain air or whatever Tony had said to him, but Loki seemed to have more life in him now than he had possessed during the entire time he had been in Midgard since Coulson had met him.

Lost in his thoughts, Coulson went about making the hot chocolate, only returning to himself as he sat down, placing the cups on the table. Everyone took one, and subtly, the adults watched as Loki took his first taste. He seemed to love it.

The five of them sat and chatted for almost a solid hour before the others finally came down. Apparently Thor was going to take a nap due to being quite weary and having been unable to sleep during their travels.

About another half an hour and an extra cup of hot chocolate for everyone but Loki, who was still on his first cup, Tony reappeared. When questioned as to where he'd been, he waved them off mumbling something about getting something ready. It took all of five minutes before both he and Loki were gone and ten for everyone to realized that they had no idea where the two of them were going.

Loki was a little unsure about this. Okay scratch that, Loki was a lot unsure of this. Currently, he and Tony were sitting at the top of a rather large hill, Tony wearing a coat and Loki wearing normal clothing plus a hat. Not that Loki minded that, he liked the view from the top of the hill and he loved the feeling of the cold on his skin. Rather what was bothering him was the fact the he was about to go sledding down said hill, on Steve's shield.

Tony seemed to be rather intent on not giving him time to back out though, and so before he knew it, he was speeding down the hill with the inventor only about a foot behind him.

It was awesome. From the blinding snow flurries to the blur that the world turned into, Loki loved every second of it. Up until the point where he saw Thor, running towards the bottom of the hill, looking a mix of furious and distraught.

The crash was inevitable. In order to stop himself from hitting Thor, Loki had been forced to send himself off the course and towards a border of trees. The fear rushing up within him was enough to overpower his mind and stop his magic. He forced his eyes close and waited.

Rather than crash. Loki felt himself slow down and then lifted up into the air gently. His eyes fluttered open and he took in his surrounds. All around him, was the same flowing blue light from his dream. Both he and the sled were now being gently carried toward the flat part of the hill where Thor and Tony were both watching, their faces reflecting the same stunned feel Loki was having.

Slowly, he was set down by the blue light and for a few moments nobody spoke. And then Thor exploded. Much to Loki's surprise, Thor wasn't angry at him, but rather he seem furious with Tony for letting Loki get into danger. Also he was yelling something about proper snow gear.

Loki really didn't want to interrupt them, but they were both yelling now and he was starting to get pretty scared. Suddenly, he wasn't on the mountain anymore, he was in Odin and Frigga's room again, trying to hide from the blows and failing. The words Tony and Thor had been shouting at one another were now being shouting at him, engulfing his mind. He was trying to hide him in the corner and failing.

And then he heard the voices stop, slowly his mind returned to the mountain. His body was shaking, and his eyes still wouldn't see who it was standing in front of him. Gradually the feeling returned to his body and he found himself enveloped in his brother's arms. Tony was standing just a little ways off looking awful and worried and Loki started to feel very guilty. He hadn't meant to make them worry.

Lastly, his hearing pulled itself away from the cruel words being echoed again and again, drilling a deep hole into his head. Instead he began to hear Thor's words, murmured apologizes and reassurance, also being echoed, but this echo was filling the hole, not drilling it deeper.

Finally he was back, the fighting had stopped and he jolted back to life. Loki couldn't meet Thor's eyes. How could have been so weak as to freak out over a little shouting?

That train of thought might have gone on, but for once, Thor saw through him.

"Loki, that was not your fault. I should have known better than to start a fight around you, I also should have thought before I moved into you're way. Are you alright?"

Tears were now fighting their way from Loki's eyes. It was the sort of tears you couldn't explain, tears that were obeying your hidden sadness and not you. For the first time in his life, Loki buried his face into his brother's shoulder and let them out.

About two hours later, after having calmed down Loki and explaining things to everyone else. All of them were seated in a small building that had a celling that retracted and would leave nothing between them and the northern lights but a sheet of glass that kept off the snow. They were in luck and the skies were clear. The Northern Lights were expected to be at their prime. Only five minutes of waiting took place before the spirits of the north began their dance across the sky. Tony was seated on one side of Loki, with Thor on the other. Keeping his eyes fixed on the lights, he asked.

"So, what do you think of them."

He waited a few seconds to no answer. Worried, he tore his eyes away from the lights and looked towards Loki, about to restate his question, when he noticed that Loki eyes had lost their green color and were instead glowing with the swirling purples, pinks and blues of the Northern Lights.

Damn it.

A/N:

Everything is conspiring against me writing.

My flipping cat died on the day I was planning on writing.

It was a bear attack. The bear never stood a chance.

Okay maybe it was a heart condition. But if anyone asks, I'm telling them it was a bear.

Thank you for reading and see you on Thursday.