Another entry up - yay! Thanks so much for all of your wonderful reviews. I enjoy each one of them. :)

This chapter is mainly Loki fluff... But I hope you'll enjoy it anyway! XD


Entry #28: Manhattan [In Which Loki Finds a Friend]

Steve was in the shower.

Tony and Bruce were doing who-knows-what to Clint's office.

Clint himself was snoring away in his bedroom, hugging his teddy bear, with Natasha's opera CD playing quietly in the background.

Thor was out in the garage, also doing who-knows-what.

And the so-called "invisible man" Jarvis had not yet made his presence known.

…In other words, Loki pretty muchly had the entire house to himself.

Smirking, he leaned back on the couch, aware that he was surrounded by at least twenty balloons of all shapes and sizes, on most of which were written messages of affirmation: something he hadn't gotten a lot of back in Asgard. Well, if he couldn't be King of the World, he supposed he could settle for being King of the Couch. At least for the moment. The only down-side was that his entire wardrobe was squeezed under the couch cushions, and made sitting on said couch a rather lumpy, bumpy business.

At the moment, his mental to-do list looked something like this:

1 – Work on Escape Plan.

2 – Hide Clint's trilby hat under My Couch for later use.

3 – Find all Dr. Pepper bottles and destroy them, as this perverted drink is vile and not worthy of being ingested.

4 – Learn how to use the Coffee Maker, as this drink is far superior the cursed Dr. Pepper.

5 – Replace Toilet Plunger with Skillet as "Weapon of Choice."

6 – Investigate possible creative applications of the strange hair-drying devices (located in Clint's bathroom on the top shelf of the left cupboard).

7 – Find out exactly where Agent Romanoff gets that Raspberry body-lotion and acquire some for my own personal use.

8 – Send Thor back to Asgard… somehow.

9 – Send that silly hammer with back with him.

10 – IMPORTANT: avoid Dr. Banner at all costs.

Well, his Escape Plan was not coming along very quickly, so he decided to focus on number two… Where WAS Clint's trilby hat anyway?

Loki was about to get up and go look when something snagged his hair. The demigod froze, slowly turning his head and rolling his eyes around as far as they would. In between two balloon-strings, perched on the spine of His Couch, sat…

…the cat.

Loki gritted his teeth. That mangy, miserable, mischievous little feline had a pawful of his long black locks in her claws, and was voraciously chewing on the ends of his hair. Leaning away, he growled, "Leave me be."

Fluffy ignored him.

Put out, Loki reached back and grasped the cat with both hands, trying to lift her off of His Couch – but he quickly discovered that she was, in fact, stuck to His Couch.

Disgusted, Loki leaned down and began to pluck each individual claw free of the material. As soon as Fluffy had one paw unhooked, she immediately put it to good use by scratching her benefactor on the nose.

With a sharp hiss, Loki jerked away, glaring at the cat.

The cat hissed back, and her already fluffy tail puffed up to an unbelievable size.

Although he was deeply offended, Loki resumed his ministrations after a momentary stare-down, this time keeping his face well clear of those sharp little claws. The instant Fluffy was detached from His Couch, she marched up Loki's arm and promptly sat down on his shoulder, curling her tail around his neck.

Loki brushed her off, annoyed.

Then she decided to take up residence on Loki's favorite cushion.

"Oh, no you don't," Loki mumbled, scooting her off His Couch and lying down on it himself. His long legs hung over the edge of the armrest, but he didn't care. That stupid cat would not steal his only Midgardian Possession.

He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the cat's little chirps and squeaks. However, he could no longer pretend she was not there when she jumped from the floor to the armrest and sauntered down his leg, traveling the length of his body until she eventually arrived at his chest. Then she began to biff at his face. Opening one eye, Loki glared up at Fluffy.

"Eeaaooww?" Fluffy asked, biffing him again.

"NO," Loki said firmly, picking her up again and returning her to the floor.

This happened three more times before Loki finally decided that something had to be done. The instant he sat up, Fluffy began to waltz toward the kitchen, trilling and purring and waving her tail around in the air.

For lack of anything better to do (besides steal Clint's trilby hat, which could be put on hold) Loki rose to his feet and slowly followed her into the kitchen.

Fluffy had stopped beside two little dishes that Loki had neglected to notice earlier. They were sitting out of the way, beside the back door.

Loki glanced around the kitchen, wondering what, exactly, the cat desired from him. A little bag was sitting a few feet away, and the front read: "FRISKIES Purina Cat Food, Indoor Delights."

Arching an eyebrow, Loki warily made a move toward the bag, suspecting that perhaps Clint had gone to bed before the little ingrate's customary mealtime.

She positively assaulted him, rubbing his legs and squeaking so loudly that Loki's ears ached. Cringing, he stooped and opened the bag, quickly shoveling a handful of kernels into the bowl. Fluffy immediately pounced on the meal.

With a sigh, Loki sat down at the table and slumped in the chair, feeling oddly defeated. The day was more than half over, and although causing Clint several heart attacks on the way to the grocery store had been fun, the whole salon experience would probably scar him for life.

Now he was at a loss for something to do.

Perhaps he should go out to the garage and check on Thor before he took a leg off with one of Clint's power tools…


I hope you liked Entry 28... Rest assured, Tony and Bruce WILL show up in the next chapter. ;)

Review for another update!

~Alassiel