Loki was curled up in a fuzzy blanket, perched on the end of Thor's bed, when Tony guiltily approached him.

"Hey, buddy." He spoke up softly, almost as if to not frighten him away.

Loki glanced up, wiping his nose on his sleeve. "Hello, Anthony."

Tony sighed, running his fingers through his hair so that it all stood up on end. "Look, I'm really sorry about… you know… what I said earlier. That was awful of me."

"You didn't say anything that wasn't true." Loki pointed out, wrapping his blanket a little tighter around his shoulders.

Tony sat down on the bed next to Loki, wrapping an arm around him comfortingly. "Yeah it was. The whole thing was a load of bull. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you? Buy you a water park, or something?"

"So…" Loki looked up hopefully, a tiny smile blooming on his lips. "I'm not freaky? Or… a-a-a murderer?"

"Course not." Tony smirked. "The only freaky you are is freakishly awesome. And you know it wasn't you who killed Coulson."

Loki glanced down at his blue hands nervously. Steve had said he didn't want to know, but… Loki had always been too curious for his own good. "Who… Who's Coulson?" He asked.

Tony sighed, and passed a hand over his face. "Pepper's best friend. Phil. He was an agent, he got in your – in Evil-Loki's way, and he killed him."

"What did I do?" Loki wondered, his voice hushed.

"You…" Tony poked him gently in the chest. "Didn't do anything. Evil-Loki stabbed him."

"I'm so sorry." Loki breathed.

Tony shook his head. "You didn't do it."

"But I'm… I'm sorry for your loss." Loki insisted, fidgeting with the edge of his blanket.

"Thanks." Tony smiled sadly, and stood up, patting Loki's shoulder fondly. "You wanna help in the lab, Frosty?"

Loki's face split into an ecstatic smile. "Oh, could I?" He bounced on the bed excitedly.

"Course!" Tony grinned, and the two of them made their way down to the labs, discussing the next upgrade to the suits.

"Oh, wait, Bambi, you're gonna love this!" Tony grinned, taking Loki's hand, and dragging him over to a specific computer. Grinning like a maniac, he held up a computer chip with the word "FRIDAY" on it. "Guess what this is? It's your replacement!"

Loki blinked in surprise. "Wh-What?"

Tony only grinned, and inserted the chip into the side of his computer. "Hey, Friday!"

"Hello, boss!" The robot responded.

Oh. It was an AI. A real one, not one that had been respawned into a computer. "Hello." He greeted it eagerly.

"Hello, Loki." It responded. "What can I do for you, today?"

Loki laughed in disbelief, glancing up at the ceiling. "I'm fine, for now. Are you in the Main Frame, yet?"

"Not yet." Friday answered. "Boss has a bit of touch-ups he needs to finish before I'm perfect."

Loki nodded. "Friday, you're already perfect." He assured the robot. "Don't let anyone tell you differently."

"That's very kind of you to say." Friday seemed amused. "But I do, in fact, have some bugs."

"Bugs?" Loki frowned, glancing down at the computer, only to see strands of code stretching across the screen. Immediately, he blushed heavily, and averted his eyes. "Tony…" he whispered. "Stop that."

"What, why?" Tony glanced up.

Loki's face burned in embarrassment. "She's a lady." He hissed. "Don't… don't pick through her like that."

Tony tilted his head in confusion. "I'm just looking at her coding."

Loki cringed, and swatted Tony's hands away from the keyboard. "Act like a gentleman!" He scolded, covering his friends' eyes with his hands.

"I assure you, Loki, I feel no discomfort." Friday spoke up.

"Yeah, she's not a person, Lokes." Tony added bemusedly. "It's different for her."

"Oh…" Loki released the engineer's face, and stared down at his hands as they fiddled uncomfortably in his lap. "Carry on, then."

"Here, I'll teach you how." Tony offered, scooting the screen over to Loki. "See, this is…"

"No, thank you." Loki blushed, again, and stood up, turning his back to the screen.

Tony chuckled at his reaction, and, as the Trickster began piecing together spare parts on the opposite table, pointedly not looking at Tony and his work, he began completing Friday's coding. Cheerfully, the AI and Loki had a conversation as he worked. Loki told her about the Avengers, about his story (as far as he knew it) and about his previous life on Asgard. Around the time Loki began talking about his mother, Tony tuned out, humming cheerfully as he clicked on the keys.

"Um… Boss?" Friday spoke up, about five minutes after Tony really started concentrating on the strings of numbers before him.

"Yep?" Tony looked up, only to hear someone sniffling. He turned around his swivel chair, only to see Loki huddled on the floor, tears streaming down his face as he stared off into the distance. "Lokes?" He asked, wheeling over to him. "You okay?"

Loki shuddered in misery. "I-I miss my mother…" He sobbed.

Tony kneeled down on the floor, and wrapped his arms around the shaking Trickster. There were really no words to make it better. All Tony could do was reassure Loki that he wasn't alone, that people really cared about him. They stayed like that for what seemed a very long time, until Loki eventually cried himself to sleep, and Tony carried him gently back to his bed.

The next morning, Loki had fully recovered, so Steve took him clothes shopping, and brought him upstate to the official Avengers compound. At first, Loki was a little shy around the other Avengers, but he quickly warmed up to them, and by lunch time, he was arguing particle physics with Vision.

Steve had lost track of the conversation long ago, and was now counting the hours until he knew Bucky was going to arrive. King T'Challa had said he was going to show up at around 3:00 PM, but possibly earlier, so as Loki fixed sandwiches with Sam, eagerly chattering about… something or other, Steve watched out the window for a particular jet to arrive.

"But the captain never uses the internet! And Anthony always simply asks his robot." Steve heard Loki protest. "I was so sure you had to be a robot to use it."

"Nope." Sam grinned. "Anyone who has internet access can get online."

"How do you get access?"

Steve chuckled to himself. Loki was always so eager to learn something new.

The Supersoldier stared out the window, lost in his thoughts until he felt a soft tap on his shoulder. Loki stood behind him, clutching a mashed piece of bread that dripped grape jelly onto the floor.

"I made you a sandwich." Loki smiled hopefully, holding out the sorry-looking thing proudly.

Steve stared at it in confusion. It takes a special kind of person who is so bad at cooking they can literally mess up a peanut butter-jelly sandwich.

"Are you not hungry?" Loki guessed, withdrawing the sandwich nervously. "It doesn't look as good as Sam's…" He admitted sadly. "It's easier to make food when it's already made… and spreading peanut butter is more difficult than it looks."

"You made this for me?" Steve hid his amusement under an impressed grin.

Loki nodded, glancing up hopefully.

Steve hesitantly took the smushed meal, and took a bite. It actually wasn't that bad. "Thanks, Loki!" He grinned cheerfully. "That was really thoughtful."

"You like it?" Loki's face split in a wide grin. "Oh, I'm so glad! Sam's going to teach me how to make pop tarts, next!"

Sam snorted into his hand, his eyes dancing as he leaned up against the counter, behind Loki.

"I never really made food, on Asgard…" Loki mused, beginning to prepare another sandwich, most likely for himself. "I always had servants, or Thor. Did you know Thor's very good at cooking?"

Just at that moment, the roar of airplane engines passed overhead, and King T'Challa's jet landed outside the window.

Loki stared with wide eyes, suddenly entirely silent as he made himself look small, and backed nervously toward the doorway. "Who's that?"

"That's Bucky." Steve grinned excitedly, finishing his "sandwich" quickly. "T'Challa, too, and probably princess Shuri."

Loki gulped in terror, and backed into the wall. "I don't want to talk to them."

Steve had almost forgotten how uncomfortable Loki was around new people. "Hey, Loki, it'll be okay."

Loki shook his head in mute terror, his eyes welling up in tears. "Don't you remember how much of a fool I made of myself last time?" He breathed. "I can't do this."

"Yeah, you can." Sam assured, but Loki had already bolted.

Steve sighed, dropping his head into his hands. "Would you mind giving him a pep talk?" He asked Sam. "I've got to go be welcoming committee."

"Yeah, no problem." Sam nodded, and started down the hall as Steve made his way out to the tarmac.

TheOnlyHuman.