Somewhat inspired by a conversation with mimsicalwrites on Wattpad!

A/N: This was meant to be my birthday chapter; and instead of a long chapter, I had planned to post an animatic video on youtube to go with this one. But I can't seem to figure out how to get the video off of my ipad and onto my computer... And since a week has passed since my birthday and still no way to post it, I decided it would probably be best to get this chapter out. I'll post an update if I ever find out how to get the video up. In the meantime, enjoy this sappy and slightly OOC chapter!

Peter had to admit... ever since he was allowed to leave the house after he healed and Loki had revealed that he was his dad, his school life was going pretty well. It was good before - manageable, he always did his best to stay on the good side of his teachers; but now even Flash left him mostly alone - as alone as it could be with Flash... There were no more orphan jokes or doubts about the Stark Internship. Though they still didn't get along when it came to answers in the classroom or Decathlon meets.

He was under strict orders from Dr. Banner not to do any strenuous activities, especially when P.E. wanted to do another fitness challenge that week... While he could normally breeze through the Captain America Fitness Challenge, the burn from Amora would definitely prevent him from a life of ease. But with the school knowing that Loki was his dad, no one doubted that his personal doctor was a member of the Avengers and allowed him to sit it out without question.

But while the school was a lot easier for him now, the public was not as peaceful. There were still a lot of people that didn't forgive Loki for his attack on New York, some going as far as to say that the Avengers were under the control of him now to allow him to join the team. But once the news stations announced that Loki had a son... the same boy who was the personal intern to Tony Stark... It was a mad house. Now it was Peter they were blaming for putting the Avengers under mind control, that Peter had 'infiltrated' the Avengers with the sole purpose for destroying them in revenge for his father's imprisonment, that the father and son duo would be the ones to end the world that they all knew. And it only seemed to get worse.

Though Peter had his own suspicions about that...

"It's not right," Peter frowned as he shut the TV off, his fists clenched at the latest news story about him and Loki. "I think someone's talking bad about us to the news."

Loki glanced at the TV, then Peter, then back to his book. "Oh really? I never would have guessed."

"I'm serious!" Peter stood up, tossing the remote on the sofa. "There's someone out there spreading fake stories about us, where else are they getting all of this 'direct source' crap from? Why don't they think we 'corrupted' their direct source too?"

"Child, there are many people who do not like nor trust me. Unfortunately I brought you into it as well after that announcement at your school, but just because they are speaking their mind doesn't mean that an enhanced is behind it."

Peter's eyes lit up, his head whipping around to look at his dad. "So you think an enhanced is behind it?"

"I never said that."

"I never said 'enhanced'! So that means you have thought about this before! Any clue who it is? Maybe some old enemy from space?"

Loki chuckled as he shook his head, ignoring the onslaught of questions as he continued to read his book. Peter's mission to prove Loki's newfound 'goodness' was even more zealous than Thor's, and dealing with them both - especially paired with the hate from the media - Loki had learned how to perfectly ignore them.

It had almost become a routine now, some media would fire at Loki and moments after Thor and Peter would immediately come to his defense. They trusted Thor's word just slightly more, all things considered. Peter didn't mind though, anything to clear his dad's name. He knew that Loki was a good man, he just needed the rest of the world to know it too.

"If you're not going to do something about it, then I will!" Peter frowned, eyeing Loki's reaction.

"If you say so..." Loki turned a page in his book, not even looking up. Peter let out a frustrated sigh as he marched out of the room. Loki glanced up, watching his retreating form as a smirk played on his lips.

He'd been dealing with Peter's antics since the boy was well enough to be trusted back to his 'normal' life without risk of further injury to himself. Which was when he had gained access to the news and learned of what was being said about him. That was a fun visit... Loki had to stop Peter from going out to start a fight with various news reporters. There were times, when paired with Thor, Loki had to worry that the two really would start fights over such trivial matters. Stark had even confirmed this idea, saying that Peter once told off a reporter that started bad mouthing his mentor.

Though... It did cause a sense of pride in him that his family would go to such extents over him. He couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face at the thought that someone out there was fighting for him instead of with or against him. He could still hardly wrap his mind around the fact...

His son and brother, and even the Avengers as a whole, were willing to make the world see that he was no longer the villain he was introduced as. It was a nice change from his life on Asgard.

So that was why, when Peter had told him he couldn't make it to their meet up one day, that he had a 'lead in the case', Loki didn't think anything of it. Peter was smart, and he had said he was only looking for the one giving out information. Loki believed that all he wanted to do was find out who was causing the trouble and later report it to Thor. Loki had complete faith in him.

Which is why Stark's phone call had been all the more chilling.

Loki panted as he ran out of the stairwell and into the med-bay waiting room, ignoring the others there and looking solely at Banner. "Where is he?"

"Loki..." Banner's eyes were pained, slowly lowering a clipboard.

"Where is my son?"

"We just got out of surgery..."

"Is he alive?"

"Yes, but please understand..." Banner sighed, his head shaking slightly as he looked away, "Peter's lost a lot of blood, we have him on transfusions now but the infection is spreading through his blood cells far too quickly, even his healing ability can hardly keep up. He was fighting an enhanced - or rather... a mutant. Without a proper DNA sample from the host, I can't... I can't stop it."

Loki felt his blood start to boil, a new feeling compared to his normal coldness. "So that's it then? You're just going to give up on him? You're not even going to try?"

"We're doing everything we can-"

"If you were doing everything you could, then why is the entire team here?" Loki glanced around pointedly, "Why is no one out there looking for the mutant that infected him so that you can get your damn host sample?"

"Brother-"

"Don't." Loki stepped away from Thor's outstretched hand. He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself, "What room is he in?"

It was quiet for a second before Banner responded, "Bay One."

Without a word, Loki left them, going to his son's room. It was dark inside, multiple monitors beeping to let the world know that the boy was still alive. Loki stood over his bed, watching his peaceful face before letting out a sigh.

"Idiotic child... Why did you have to go fight by yourself...? Why couldn't you have called for help before trying to fight a fight that wasn't yours? I just got you back and yet here you are again, dying with no way for me to help you..."

"I didn't plan to fight..."

Loki sucked in a breath, looking to see Peter's eyes cracked open slightly. "You're awake..."

"He..." Peter ignored his statement, his eyes shifting to look at the ceiling. "I was just there to watch, but he knew... It was a trap. It was a really stupid trap I should have seen coming... I'm so sorry..."

"Hush, save your strength..."

Peter shook his head slightly, "I tried to run o-once I realized I couldn't take him, I did... But he was so fast... Like, s-super fast. Next thing I know, I'm laying down with Dr. Banner working on me."

Loki's brows furrowed at what that implied, gently placing his hand on Peter's head. "You woke up during surgery?"

Peter tried to laugh, but it only spurred a coughing fit from him, one that Loki didn't know how to quiet. Though when Peter did finally quiet himself, he settled for just a weak grin. "Yeah, don't you k-know that medicines don't work o-on me...? It's not the first time. Might be the last though..."

The last sentence was whispered, Loki knew he wasn't meant to hear it. But he did, and it struck him painfully. The memory of Peter laying motionless on the floor with a hole burned into his chest replaying in his mind. He hated it... His son was dying once again and he couldn't do anything.

"Where is he?" A feminine voice called from down the hall, both Peter and Loki flinching. The man drew a breath, preparing himself as he watched Peter try to sit up. Loki helped him, his hand on his back just as May charged into the room.

"Peter!" She called, tears already in her eyes and trailing down her cheeks as she rushed to his bed. "Peter, baby, oh my God...! Are you okay? Of course you're not okay, oh my God! What happened to you? Why did you try fighting an enhanced? Especially one that is bold enough to bad mouth Loki! Loki..."

As if noticing him for the first time, May turned her gaze onto him - all sorrowful emotions replaced with a rage that was well deserved. "Did you know about this, Loki? Did you encourage him to go fighting the creature that did this to him?"

"No, I told him-"

"So you had no idea he was hunting that monster?"

"I knew he was looking-"

"But you didn't do anything to stop him?"

"May, I-"

She turned away from him and back to Peter, "If you really cared about him as a son, you would be looking into a way to save him. Not just stand here doing nothing."

Loki took in a deep breath to calm himself, he knew that May was right in a way. But to be yelling at him in front of a seriously injured Peter? Could she not restrain herself a little better?

Looking down at the boy, Loki frowned at the pained grimace on his face. He placed a hand on Peter head - inwardly flinching at the heat of his skin - and leaned down slightly. "I will return soon; you are not allowed to give up while I am gone. Do you understand?"

Peter nodded slightly, his eyes unfocusing from the movement. Loki brushed his bangs back, willing the coolness of his hand to drastically bring his fever down. Whether his wish was answered or not, Loki didn't know. He sent a look to May, though she refused to look at him, and turned on his heel to leave.

He couldn't fault the woman for worrying about Peter, but it irked him that she would kick him out of his son's room like that... Though she had made a point. Instead of wallowing and giving up like all of them, he should be finding a cure.

He ignored the looks of the Avengers as he marched past them, striding to his room with a purpose. He would not be slowed, even by the worried gaze of his brother.

Once in the safety of his room, he pulled a book from a hidden dimension that he hadn't touched since his childhood. It was his mother's gift to him on his one-hundredth birthday, a spell book that he cherished to learn with her while Thor was busy pleasing their father.

There was only a certain amount of spells in it that she had allowed him to learn at his age, and by the time he would have been allowed to learn the rest, he and Amora had already started their practice together. Loki had not even thought about that book since he put it away, but it was a collection of all of his mother's personal spells. And somewhere in that depth, there was one he was certain would help.

Out of the two, Loki was definitely the more mild brother in their youth. He much preferred to stay indoors and read while Thor was constantly starring in some form of battle. But there was one time when he had gotten into trouble with a group of pirates... The wound he received had him bedridden and wracked with an increasing fever for two weeks before his mother intervened.

Loki was confident that the spell she used on him all those years ago would be in the book he was gifted.

Setting the thick book down on his desk, Loki took in the hundreds of hand-bound pages and let out a sigh. If only there was some sense of order to it...

LOKISON

Rushing down the numerous halls that led to the Med Bay, Loki silently thanked his father for forcing him to endure the torturous physical training that allowed him to push his body to reach his destination in less than a minute.

It had been five minutes since Friday had informed him that Peter's condition had worsened, but he had yet to find his mother's spell. He was pushing his and Peter's limits but he refused to return without some way to help.

And he found it...

He found the spell that would save Peter.

The full details of it caught Loki off guard, a new pang of hurt blooming in his chest from the knowledge of the extent his mother went to for him - and his last harsh words to her. But he pushed his emotions on that matter down, focusing instead on the more pressing matter.

He burst into Peter's room, undignified as could be and quickly shoving the group of Avengers plus May out.

"Please give me a moment," Loki said, barely giving any of them time to process the statement before locking the door behind them. Loki turned, ignoring May's angry yelling as he went to Peter's bed.

The boy's eyes were open a crack, his skin pale and sweaty as his chest rose and fell quickly with his labored breathing. "Dad...?"

Loki softly shushed him, leaning over Peter slightly so that he could look into his eyes clearly. "Do you trust me, Peter?"

"O-Of... course." There was no hesitance in Peter's hazed answer, spurring Loki on more.

Nodded to himself, Loki placed a hand on Peter's forehead and another gently over his wound. Closing his eyes, he whispered his mother's spell under his breath. It had been so long since he used actual magic and not just illusions, he didn't know if it worked or not, if he would need to repeat it with a different pronunciation. But nonetheless, he waited patiently for something to happen.

It was less than a minute later when a burning started in Loki's chest and began spreading throughout his body. A sudden weakness hit him harder than Mjölnir, his vision blurring and his legs going out. He felt like retching and a shudder through his body almost forced him to. But through the sudden illness, his ears still picked up on his goal.

"Loki...?" Peter's still slightly weak voice sounded, the use of his name meaning that the boy was more coherent than before. A good sign. "Loki!"

Warm hands caught him before his body completely gave out on him, easily pulling him onto a surprisingly soft bed. "Loki! Someone help! Dad!"

Peter's frightened voice calling to him was the last thing he heard before his mind slipped into complete darkness. The burning fire through his body was the only thing he could focus on now. This is what Peter had been going through... This unimaginable pain caused by a mutated infection.

But the spell had worked, Loki had taken the injury and infection away from Peter. He was sure that his full blooded Jotun immunity could handle whatever toxins had been attacking Peter, and even if he didn't, he would die knowing that Peter survived.

When had he gotten so soft...? It wasn't long ago that he would have ignored the pain of a single child. But Peter was different. Even before knowing of their relationship, Peter had been different. Parental bonds were powerful and terrifying things...

Loki wasn't sure how long his mind floated in the darkness, tormented by the internal fire. It felt like an eternity if he were being honest... But at the same time, it felt like a second later that he could hear the world around him again.

It was only bits and pieces of conversations, two familiar voices that he couldn't place were the ones talking most of the time. It annoyed him that he couldn't put names to the voices. It was like sometime in the middle of his eternity, all the people that he knew were wiped from his memory.

There was one voice though, one of the two most frequent, that stuck out to him. It was a young boy, most of the time talking about his day or going over school assignments. But something about the voice always sounded sad, and Loki knew that it was because of him.

It was on one of the quiet days when Loki was able to take in more of his surroundings. He could hear a faint beeping that he knew was a heart monitor, people talking a small distance away, and quiet breathing next to him.

The more he concentrated on the noises around him, the more he could feel his body and how heavy it was. Nothing wanted to obey him, but he pushed harder against the dark call of sleep. Finally, after more effort than he would admit, an eyelid cracked open before immediately closing again. The light of the room, though it may be dim, was far too bright for his unused eyes.

The breathing next to him hitched, a weight on the side of the bed shifting. "Dad...?"

That voice again... Forcing his eyes back open, Loki looked around the room, blinking to clear the fog. To his right, leaning close to him with his arms braced against the bed, was Peter.

"You're awake! Dr. Banner said you would be waking up soon but that was days ago! No one knew why you were still asleep for so long since the wound is healed and the infection gone! Even May was starting to get worried!"

Loki pushed himself up on the bed, a hand held up in an attempt to calm Peter down. "It's alright now, child. I'm fine."

"But you almost weren't! You almost died! It was supposed to be me laying here, not you!"

"Peter," Loki's eyes turned stern, causing the boy to go silent as he looked away. "Do not ever think that our roles should reverse like this again." Watching as Peter's shoulders sagged, Loki let out a sigh, "I will only say this once, so listen closely. You are far too important to me to let die. No matter the cause or circumstance, I will always find a way to save you; even at the cost of my own life. Understand?"

"I understand..."

"Good." He reached a hand out to brush some of Peter's messy hair out of his face with a chuckle, "Now go get some proper rest, sleeping at my bedside must be tiring."

"No...!" A flash of fear passed through Peter's eyes as the boy grabbed onto the bedding. "I'm not leaving, I'm good here."

"Peter, you need sleep."

"I don't want to leave." Peter's face angled downward, though he still held eye contact with Loki, "Please, dad..."

Loki let out a sigh, ignoring the slight shaking of his arms as he moved himself over in the bed. "Get in then, your spine has probably suffered enough sleeping over the edge like that."

Peter didn't hesitate to climb into the bed next to Loki, arm under his head. The bed, though a great deal more comfortable and spacious than a normal hospital bed, was not intended for one and a half grown adults. It was cramped and no matter where they moved, they were always touching. But Loki soon realized that it wasn't because the bed was so small, but rather the fact that Peter subtly kept moving closer to him.

In a way, he couldn't blame the boy. The fear Loki had felt after just a few hours of Peter being hurt was a type of torture he would never be used to; yet Peter felt that fear for days with no reassurance.

With a reluctant sigh, Loki settled and allowed for Peter to keep his hold on Loki's medical gown.

As they both drifted off to sleep, Loki found that he really didn't mind the contact between them.