"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Tony groaned as he passed by the glass doors looking out on the helicopter/Thor landing pad. Waving through the glass was Maisy Sichore, that Linnea kid, and Loki. Tony thought he'd seen the last of them for a while when they'd left after New Years, but here they were again, a week into February.
"Thor!" Tony bellowed, ignoring the people on his helicopter pad, "Thor, you've got some explaining to do!"
"Shall I let Mr. Odinson know that his brother is on our doorstep?" Jarvis asked.
"Yes, Jarvis, geesh, I'm not yelling at the top of my lungs for you not to do that."
"Might I suggest letting our guests in, Mr. Stark? It is rather cold outside."
"Ugh," Tony finally pushed the button to let them in and glared at them. It wasn't that he had anything much against Maisy and Linn, but they tended to come with trouble. Trouble with a capital L-O-K-I.
"Mr. Stark!" Maisy greeted, smiley as ever. Honestly, did this lady ever get tired of smiling? And holding Loki's hand for that matter? It seemed like they were super glued together.
"Oh my word," Tony got a look behind them and saw boxes of stuff on his helicopter pad, "What is all of this junk?!"
"So, have you still got my furniture and the rest of my stuff here?" Maisy asked, "Because I'm gonna need it back soon."
"Stark, what is it?" Thor's voice asked as he came out of the elevator, "I was in the middle of sparring with Steve."
"Thor, did you know we were getting a visit from Mr. and Mrs. Mayhem today and you didn't tell me?!"
"What?" Thor walked closer and then spotted the trio. His face lit up and he barreled over and swept them all into an enormous hug, "Brother! Maisy! Linn!"
"Thor!" Maisy and Linn giggled cheerfully.
"Brother," Loki grumbled, "Get off or I will stab you."
Thor released them.
"What brings you all here? It is so good to see you! How is Father? And the Warriors? And Sif?"
"All of them well - except Fandral, who is currently hiding from me," Loki said, "We are here because-"
"We have some news!" Maisy declared, intentionally interrupting Loki. Thor's eyes immediately traveled to her stomach and his grin widened to huge proportions.
"I am to be an uncle!"
"No, Thor."
"No?"
"That's not the news," Maisy's face was red and Loki was rubbing his forehead tiredly.
"Soon dough!" Linn whispered conspiratorially, "Wif how much they love each other a baby can't be too far off!"
"I don't care if Mischief Junior is in the works or not," Tony snapped, "I want to know why you and all of your boxed up crap have landed on my doorstep!"
"Right, so," Maisy rubbed her arm awkwardly, "We have decided to move to earth!"
"We didn't decide so much as it was our only option-"
"Because we love earth so gosh darn much," Maisy elbowed Loki fiercely and Tony narrowed his eyes.
"Oh yeah? Any reason behind the sudden move?"
"I miss earth so much that I've been weeping nonstop every night and Loki can't stand it anymore," Maisy replied, her smile stiff, "So he finally conceded and we packed up our crap and now we're here! Apartment hunting!"
"Nonsense!" Thor declared, "You will live here, at the Tower, obviously!"
"If Mr. Stark doesn't mind, we can stay here just until I get a job and we find an apartment," Maisy replied when Loki's expression got stormy.
"Odin was okay with him leaving?" Tony asked suspiciously, "Or maybe Loki got banished here? Like Thor got banished to New Mexico?"
"No," Loki was looking at Maisy with narrowed eyes, "No banishment. Maisy missed home and," he looked back at Tony, heaved a sigh, and gave an indulgent smile, "You know I can't refuse her."
"Right."
"And me dad was brutally murdered so I came too," Linn interjected and everyone turned and stared at her, "Just fought… you know… I'd toss dat out there."
"Um."
"Oh."
"But it's okay. I'm fine."
"Okay, so," Tony didn't stop staring at Linn, "On top of finding you guys a place to live I'm also going to make an appointment for Linn with a therapist. But living arrangements first."
"I know you probably want to keep an eye on Loki," Maisy said, "But we can't stay here for very long. I think we'll all go crazy."
"I one hundred percent agree with you, kid," Tony nodded and then looked at the ceiling, "J, what sort of properties do I have around here that would work for a family of three?"
"Aw, he called us a family!" Linn whispered loudly.
"Sir, I've sent a list to your phone."
Tony pulled out his phone and began scrolling through the list, but Maisy stopped him.
"Mr. Stark, I appreciate it, but…"
"What?"
"I can't mooch off of you for a place to live! And I certainly can't afford to pay you rent for any of the places you own!"
"Stark, I don't suppose you would accept Asgardian currency for rent money?" Loki piped up, "Even though my access to the treasury is limited, Thor is loaded."
"Brother!" Thor said irritably.
"What? Don't you love me enough?" Loki smiled winningly but Thor ignored him.
"Listen, Maisy," Tony put a hand on her shoulder, "I know you have your pride and you don't want to owe me and you don't feel right about letting me house you guys, but it's not only out of the goodness of my heart that I'm doing this."
"Because there is no goodness in his heart," Loki whispered to Linn.
"I'm doing it because the government will be breathing down my neck if I don't keep tabs on Loki," Tony crossed his arms, "And even if I saved the president from terrorists last year, I don't think he'd be too happy to know that Loki was back on earth and not living in a place that I can remotely lock down."
"Oh, so that's it!" Loki took a menacing step forward, "You simply want to put me somewhere that you can cage me if I upset your fragile nerves."
"Can't we talk with SHIELD or something?" Maisy asked, "Bargain with them? I assume they already know we're here somehow, but maybe they'd let us live on our own if they did monthly check ins or something!"
"SHIELD?" Tony laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Did we forget to tell you? SHIELD is caput. Fury is dead. Everyone else is either Hydra, working for the CIA, or working for me."
"Nick Fury is dead?!" Maisy yelped.
"As far as we know," Tony said, but he didn't look like he believed it.
"Steve knows more than any of us about it," Thor said, "And he is keeping quiet on anything that isn't public knowledge."
"Which really pisses me off," Tony crossed his arms, "But we're getting off topic. The government probably doesn't know you're here yet. I made sure a lot of SHIELD equipment for monitoring things like the Bifrost ended up in my hands and not the hands of the feds or CIA or whatever other goons might want it."
"So if they don't know," Loki grinned, "Let's not tell them, hmm?"
"Loki, shush, we're going to be law abiding people while we're here," Maisy flicked his arm and he rolled his eyes.
"No, no, he's right," Tony said and Loki gasped mockingly.
"Jarvis, I hope you recorded that!"
"Already archived it for you, Mr. Laufeyson."
"I knew I liked you."
"Anyway," Tony cut in, "I'm not telling the government until I have to, but when they do find out I'd like them to know that I kept you contained. So, you're staying at one of my places if you are staying anywhere on this planet. Got it?" Tony started walking away.
"Please, Mr. Stark, Loki won't get up to anything, I swear!" Maisy followed behind him quickly, "I know his word doesn't mean much, but I'm giving you mine."
"And for what it's worth, I'll give you my word as well," Loki said, not bothering to move an inch.
"I give my word too!" Linn said, "I'll keep him in line."
"Maisy," Thor said, stopping her from following Tony around like a dog by taking her hand, "Stark knows what he's doing. You would not want him to get in trouble for harboring my brother, would you?"
"You can't take his side, Thor! Come on!"
"I don't see the big issue," Tony glared at her, "You get free housing and my referral for any job you want at any fashion house in New York. All you give up in return is a little bit of freedom. What's the big deal?"
"It's just, we can't, I…" Maisy sighed and looked at Loki briefly, "I didn't want to tell you guys this because you'd probably going nuts trying to protect me or something-"
"You are in need of protection?" Thor asked, straightening up.
"No. But there is a reason we left Asgard," she tugged her hair back into a ponytail and looked Tony in the eye, "Someone is trying to kill me back on Asgard and Odin's not going to do anything about it. So, we moved here until we can sort out what to do about that. We don't think the guy can get here, but in case he can I don't want to be living in a high profile place owned by Tony Stark."
"Someone is trying to kill you?!" Thor bellowed and Mjolnir flew through a wall and into his hand, "Tell me who it is and I will bring them to justice immediately! I will go to Asgard, separate his head from his body, and display it on a pike!"
"And they say Asgard is supposed to be so much more sophisticated than earth," Tony commented.
"We're not telling you who it is," Maisy said firmly, "It'll only stir up trouble with Odin. We just need a place to lie low for a bit."
"Listen, Stark," Loki sidled up to him, "Let us live off record somewhere that only Thor knows the location of - given he'll tear this city apart trying to find it anyway - and I will come here whenever you wish to check in with you."
"Whenever, huh?"
"Don't feel the need to give warning ahead of time either," Loki said, "That way I won't be able to plan anything dastardly because I won't know when I might be summoned to check in."
"What I'm hearing is, you want me to pester you whenever I feel like it and you have to drag your ass all the way to my tower so I can make sure you aren't having any fun?" Tony grinned, "I like that. I like that idea a lot."
"You can annoy me to your heart's delight and all we ask in return is that you let us live on our own," Loki offered his hand to shake and Tony regarded it skeptically.
"I'll think about it. Once Maisy finds you guys an apartment and you get ready to move out of the Tower then I'll let you know if that's going to fly," Tony said, "And I'm going to have my lawyers draw up a contract."
"Whatever makes you feel better, Stark."
"Thor? Your thoughts?"
"I have many on the issue," Thor said and then pointed outside, "But let's get them settled and then you and I can discuss it at length."
They all went out and grabbed boxes to haul into the guest room on Thor's floor and once they had Maisy and Loki situated in one room and Linn in another, Tony called a meeting of the Avengers to see if there was any other clauses that should be brought into the contract.
A note from the author: We'll see if Stark Tower is still standing by the end of their stay there. We'll also see if Tony's sanity is still intact. The odds aren't looking good.
Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate that you take the time to read my story when there are tons of other amazing stories to read on this site. :D
Special thanks to my reviewers:
CheetahLover: I hope you liked Tony's reaction to Loki living in the Tower too! ;)
ferbette: Yeah, funerals aren't fun. :P I've only ever been to one but I felt sick through the whole thing, I can't imagine how the family must have felt. But on a more cheerful note, Linn is going to have a heyday in highschool! The next chapter is the start of her public school experience.
Lwolf: Thanks for the review!
Guest: He's just so charming. XD
Dragoncat: I hope you enjoy it when the chapter arises! :D
Ninja Squirrel: I love your mini one-shot things! They always make me laugh and they make me want to write more and post more chapters! So thank you a ton for writing them. "Why are you named after a spice?" XD
You guys are seriously the best! Thank you!