It was a hushed murmur of voices that woke Loki up. That was good. That meant he wasn't back in the dungeon yet and he still had a chance…

"I can tell you're awake, you know," said Natasha cheerfully and Loki couldn't keep his eyes closed anymore.

His gaze dashed around as he tried to figure out where he was, but there was very little to go by. Still on Asgard, that much was clear from the interior design but he was at loss for more precise information.

"Thor thought you'd be more comfortable in the guest chambers and not in the royal suite," Natasha added and her smile widened. "Especially since it's still kind of ruined. But seeing you now I'm no longer convinced he wasn't full of shit when he said that."

Guest chambers. Not a cage, not a cell.

All the fuss with Thor and the coronation couldn't be true, could it?

His hand wandered up to his face, needlessly. He could feel it. The lightness, the delightful absence of pain, the breath passing unobstructed between his parted lips. And magic, singing its sweet song in his veins, thrumming in his mind, returning the lost details of the world around him.

"So, king of Asgard, huh?" Tony said with a grin. "Should I address you with 'your majesty' now? Or is it 'your highness'? Cause I think the 'almighty daddy on the sky throne' is already taken."

Loki found himself smiling back. He took a deep breath, preparing mentally. "Do as you wish, Stark."

It sounded quite well. Almost as if he didn't have to force it out.

"Then I think I'll continue with obscure references, Simba."

"Simba was a prince, Mufasa was the king," objected Clint. "Get your shit together. And how is that obscure? Everyone and their dead aunt have watched the movie."

"The name of the goddamned film is 'The Lion King', you popculturally-deficient dumbass. He becomes the king at the end, you'd know if you paid any attention."

The humans carried on with their bickering and Loki closed his eyes, reveling in the small sparks of magic that coursed through his mind as the All-Speak worked on the translation, as per usual stumbling on the terms unique to the human culture. It had been gone for so long he thought he would no longer remember the feeling, yet now it felt as natural as breathing, as if it has never left.

"Where's Thor?" he asked, cutting the conversation – that now turned to a fierce back-and-forth on whether someone named Burger was a royal or not – short.

"The Grand Maester Pycelle snatched him when we were out to find a place to eat breakfast," Tony said. "FYI, we didn't find any. Who else do I need to save from the dungeons to get fed around here?"

"Stark was meaning to say 'Njal has approached Thor requesting his presence at the council meeting and Thor agreed'," Natasha provided with a smirk. "There still seems to be some confusion as to what exactly happened this morning and Thor was the closest person to a decisive body they could find who wasn't out cold. Good thing that no one asked me, because, honestly, I have no clue."

Loki pulled himself up into a bit more dignified position. His body protested, but not as much as he expected it to. The magic flowing in him had already made progress at healing his injuries, both recent and old, without his conscious effort. "Defeating Odin was not enough to subvert his verdict on my fate," he explained. His voice was doing a lot better too, no longer just a wavering whisper, even if still a bit brittle. "Thor found a way to work around it. There's an old rule, a law created by king Frode. It is said he passed the law on his deathbed, just after finding his wife Ulfhild wasn't exactly faithful and his beloved firstborn might not be of his own blood. It had never been evoked since and those who have not spend time studying Asgard's laws may not even remember it's there, but it was never abolished, either. Thor used it to name me as his heir, which was within his right to do, for the law has no stipulations, like excluding other races, traitors or convicted criminals… Then he relinquished his right to the throne and passed it on to me, thus making me lawful ruler of Asgard. As such, I am exempt from the laws and Odin's claim on my life is void. And, before you jump to assumptions, no, I wasn't the one to talk Thor into it. I had no idea he was going to do that."

"Damn," Tony muttered. "It really must suck to be a lawyer in Asgard."

Natasha furrowed her brows. "So, you're saying that since we had been stopped you had been convinced you were going back to…"

Loki shrugged, then, seeing her horrified gaze, he amended, "It wouldn't have been as bad with Thor as king. And Odin won't live forever."

Natasha's fingers slid into his palm, dispelling the unstated worry that was brewing in his stomach.

"Okay, so now that we have that out of the way, can we get to the other issue? You're the grand chief of this jerkwater town now, can you finagle us some lunch? I don't mean to complain, but… Well, I kinda do mean to complain."

Loki rolled his eyes and flicked his wrist, pulling on the strings of energy floating in the air.

A few heartbeats later there was a knock and a young servant popped into the room. "How may I be of service, your majesty?" he asked with a sweeping curtsey.

Loki ignored Stark's comment ("so, it 'your majesty' then") and – after taking a moment to get used to the new address, he said, "My friends and I would like to share a meal."

Bruce made a valiant attempt to discuss dietary restrictions, protein intakes and nutrient contents with the servant, then gave up and followed her to the kitchens to oversee the preparations with his own eyes.

"What do you think you're doing?" Natasha scorned when he dragged himself out of bed.

"Are we really going to have this discussion again? I'm getting up to take a bath."

"I'd say that's a great call," said Clint from where he was half-sitting, half-lying on a settee, his boots up on a marble side table. "Not to be rude, but you stink."

Loki could do without that comment. "Yes, I'm aware. That's the whole point of baths. You might want to try it sometimes."

Clint scoffed and mouthed, "I told you so," to Natasha.

He was sitting at the edge of the bath, waiting for it to fill enough to serve its purpose, missing showers dearly. There was a reason – beyond elitism – why it was customary to order servants to draw it beforehand. The curtain parted and Natasha slunk in.

She regarded Loki for a moment with an unreadable expression. "I was wondering if you need assistance?" she said. "I would've knocked but…" she gestured at the fabric dividing the bath from the main area.

"I now have a whole legion of staff to tend to my needs," he reminded her with a smile. Not that he was going to use it to help him with cleaning himself up. Asgard has seen enough already, they didn't need the details.

"I know," she shrugged, "but still."

He smiled and nodded.

"Great. Let's start with taking this all off, shall we?" She tugged at the hem of his shirt.

"I'm fully capable of undressing myself," he pointed out but didn't protest when she pulled it up and leaned in so she could take it off over his head. "How are you feeling?"

"Drained, but it's getting better since I've broken the link. There's just so much… energy all around here. I can feel it all the time and it takes almost no effort to tap into it. Now I understand why you said that Asgard was an ideal place for practicing magic. I wonder why not everyone's doing so."

Loki shrugged. "It's frowned upon."

"Yeah, I know, but it's just so stupid!" she exclaimed as she fumbled with the knot on the rope holding his trousers up. "I mean, it's purposefully holding oneself back in the name of, what, prejudice? Tradition?"

"Fear," he said. "People fear what they can't understand. And it takes little to make that fear grow into hatred."

She sighed and brushed her fingers on his shoulder. "It's the same with Frost Giants, isn't it?"

He frowned.

"When Thor came to us, after Tony found him at Foster's, he was still full of that 'the Jötnar are mindless creatures' bullshit. He knew who you were and he still believed that. How deep had it to be ingrained into his brain to say things like that after knowing you for centuries?"

Loki raised an eyebrow. "I was wondering why his attitude was so… open-minded when we spoke in the gardens."

"We had a disagreement and I might have done and said a thing or two," she said carefully.

"That sounds so unlike you," he said with a grin. "Am I getting any details?"

"I punched him in the face and broke his nose." Her hand wandered up and followed the line of his jaw. "I like this new look, it suits you."

"Not muzzled?"

"Smiling and meaning it."

He chuckled. "That reminds me. There's something I want to try."

"There is?" she said and crooked her head.

"Odin said something to me… 'Even your own vile nature is a deception', to quote."

"Oh, come on, he was being an asshole, like usually. I thought you're past that."

"I am, but that's not it. He also said there's something I should've figured out and I hadn't. About myself."

"That's deep," she said, rolling her eyes.

"The Jötnar have a raw and powerful innate magic…"

"The ice powers, you told me that already."

"That too, but there's something I've only heard stories about. The kind that gets told at night, around the campfire. A much more primal, rarer magic. The ability to change shape."

Her eyes went wide. "You think you're a shapeshifter?! Is that even possible?"

"There are races who can do that, like the Skrulls, although it's less mystical and more biological in nature and has its limitations. And, considering how little the Æsir know about the Jötnar…"

"That's what you want to try?"

He nodded.

"You know how that should work?"

"I… I'm not sure," he admitted. There were parts of his mind he couldn't understand, parts he purposefully never had looked at, that had made him feel like a stranger in his own body and had haunted him with formless, murky nightmares since his childhood, like shadows that had always stayed just in the corner of his eye. "But I have a few guesses."

"Awesome!" she exclaimed, completely missing the point. This was a dark secret even Odin had been afraid of, this was something that could turn him into a true monster, if he wasn't one already.

He still had to know. There was no favor in straying away from the truth.

He closed his eyes and focused on this dark, uncharted place, on the wisp of power drifting at the edge of his consciousness. It slipped away, avoiding him, surprised with this new attention. He took a breath and tried again, latching onto it, pulling it into the light. The magic in him shone and changed, merging with it seamlessly, like it was the last piece of a cracked pot being fitted into place, finally making it whole again. Something he'd always been missing, without even knowing.

He probed at this new strand, new, young, still untrained.

It felt like something rippling and flowing underneath his skin. The air in the room grew almost unbearably hot.

"Woah," Natasha gasped. "That's… Wow."

He kept his eyes shut. This was one truth he wasn't ready to face. Now she could see him for what he truly was.

Something hot brushed his cheek and he jerked away in an instinct. His eyes snapped open.

Natasha pulled her hand back to her lap. "I'm sorry, I didn't… Hell, you weren't joking about the red either!"

He blinked and a smile bloomed on her face, a wide, honest one. He blinked again.

"It's even better with the dumbfounded look on your face," she judged. "I'm sorry for touching you, I should've asked. It must've felt hot, right?"

He looked down at her hand, looking for the signs of frost damage, but it looked… normal. "It didn't hurt you?"

"No," she said, presenting her hand for inspection. "You feel cold, but more like 'touching the inside of a fridge' cold, not 'putting your hand in supercooled antifreeze' cold. And believe me, I know the difference."

There was still a smile on her lips. The transformation must've not worked fully.

He raised his hand and the unmistakable sight of blue skin with raised marks and dark fingernails welcomed him. "But how…"

"Maybe the freezing touch is a defensive feature? Like the ice magic? Something you need to use deliberately?"

"Maybe," he said. His voice sounded normal, and it was almost startling.

She raised her hand again. "Can I touch you again? Just for a second, I promise."

He hesitated before he nodded. "Be careful," he warned, but leaned in closer.

Her fingers touched his forehead and trailed the raised lines there. "This is so cool. And I mean cool like awesome, not cool like, uhm, cool. Well, okay, that too. But mostly awesome."

There was still no scorn in her eyes, nor disgust. More like… admiration?

"Can you stop acting so surprised? I told you before and I'm telling you now: this doesn't change a thing. Besides, you look absolutely dope."

"I look like a monster."

"No, you look like yourself, only blue. And a nice shade of blue, may I add. Stop fussing over it, really."

He glared and she laughed at him. Their faces were thumbs away, her parted lips just next to his, it would take but a tilt of his head to…

"Oh, stop being such a child," she said and pulled him closer. Her fingers raked through his hair and rested on the nape of his neck.

A burst of heat splashed on his lips and spilled down into his chest.

He closed his eyes and let it take up permanent residence in his heart, even when, an eternity of small moments later, she pulled away.

She licked her lips. "That was…"

"Nice," he said and grinned at her.

She chuckled. "Oh, yes. Definitely."

And just like that, she made the impossible possible and – if only for a moment – Loki felt comfortable, sitting on the edge of a tub in Asgard, wearing his true skin.

"You don't have to change back, you know," she said, as if reading his thoughts. "People will get used to it, eventually."

"Asgard is not like Earth. The Æsir still remember the war with Jötunheimr and all the atrocities."

"Then maybe it's time to make some new memories for them to replace that?"

"I don't think they are ready," he said, then amended, "I don't think I am ready, yet." He pulled on the strings of power and the blue started fading from his skin, until it returned to its usual pallor, familiar like a pair of well-worn boots.

"Okay, that's not so bad either," she decided, bending over the edge of the tub and splashing a handful of water on Loki. "So, bath now?"

"I think it's time to have this conversation. You need a haircut, badly. Your hair is like this long," she said marking a line below his shoulder blades, then returned to combing.

He didn't see anything wrong with that but neither had he ever intended for it to get that long, it had just happened on its own, like it generally did.

"Fine," he said, "but only if you promise not to dye your hair again."

She chortled and made a humming sound of pretended consideration. "Okay. May I ask why though? Is something wrong with dying one's hair in your book? Some other Asgardian taboo I haven't heard about before?"

"No," Loki said with a shrug.

"That's not an answer," she said and tugged on a strand so hard that Loki was almost certain she did it on purpose.

"I just like how it looks," he admitted.

There was a moment of silence before she answered. "Thanks."

"There might be scissors in the cabinet," he supplied.

"You want me to do it now? Don't you have like a royal barber or something?"

"Yes, but I would rather have you do it."

"Why?"

Loki shrugged. It was always one moment he would get to spend with Natasha instead of being under the scrutiny of his subjects. The very thought that he would have to go out of the room eventually and face it all was enough to send his mind reeling again.

"Okay," she said without forcing a real answer out of him and went over to dig through the cabinet. "Look at that, you were right. I'm surprised that – with all the weirdness of Asgard – the scissors look exactly the same. Well, they are golden, but that is not going to surprise me here anymore."

"Just plated, but I see where you're coming from," he chuckled.

"Hey, it might be a weird question, but what language are you speaking now?"

"Is it important in some way?"

"No. It's just that I could feel the All-Tongue at work when I spoke with Thor, but there's nothing now and I'm wondering why. Can you just control it better?"

"No, it's because I'm speaking in English."

"Why?"

"And why not?"

She tugged at his hair again.

"It's simple and efficient, I like it, it's the language you speak right now, it riles up everyone in Asgard who can recognize languages underneath the All-Tongue and I got used to it. In no particular order."

"That's quite a list," she laughed.

She ran the comb through his hair again. "Okay, how short do you like me to cut it?"

"I'm relying on your expertise."

Loki studied himself in the mirror. It was a novel feeling, to be able to look at his own face without cringing. The legacy of the last few years was still etched deep into its too-sharp lines, but there was no metal on it, nor other physical marks.

Until he smiled. He would have to go to the infirmary to get that fixed or learn how to do it on his own. He might have seen a book on cosmetic magic somewhere in the library, ages ago.

"So, how do you like it?" she asked and fluffed his hair. She didn't cut much, just so it reached the line of his shoulders once it dried.

"It's fine," he said. It was a new look, but he would get used to it.

"I think it's great," said Clint, sticking his head through the curtain. "The food has arrived. We've been calling you for like ten minutes and I've been delegated to check if you didn't drown."

"A silencing charm," Loki explained, turning around. "It works both ways."

Clint regarded Loki through slanted eyes. "Cute. But do put some clothes on before you go out, okay?" he said and disappeared back behind the curtain before Loki could formulate an adequately cutting reply.

"Is it a common custom for humans to compliment others' nether regions causally?"

Natasha burst out laughing. "No, just Clint's. You get used to that."

They didn't have any clothes to change into, so Loki wrapped a bathing robe around himself and Natasha put on her old garments, the torn dress and all. All of his old wardrobe was gone – which wasn't that much of a loss, it wouldn't fit him now anyway – so he would need to order something made before he could show himself in public.

For now, they sat down to eat. There was a whole lot of it – fruits, cooked beans and grains in porridge, cheese, eggs, yeast-cakes and different kinds of boiled vegetables.

The table in the room wasn't meant to seat five people and there were not enough chairs, so Clint and Tony dragged a futon over and set up most of the food on a credenza. Loki felt the urge to apologize for the unsatisfactory conditions – he was a host now, after all – but then he remembered the meal in the old, abandoned building and decided it wasn't that bad.

"No coffee?" Tony asked, examining the contents of various pots and jugs.

"I asked, but they only looked at me weirdly," Bruce said. "There's something that might be tea, some milk from an animal I can't even repeat the name of, and juice."

"They have no coffee in Asgard?" Tony questioned, turning his head to Loki. "How can you not have coffee?"

"No," Loki said, "it's customary to drink mulled wine or mead with your meals. Tea and milk is something the commoners would have and the idea of boiling burned beans is exclusive to Earth, as far as I can tell."

"Yeah, I got some looks just for saying we don't want anything with alcohol in it," Bruce confirmed. "Good thing your liver can take that, unlike human ones."

"I resent that notion," Tony muttered and poured himself some juice. "So you haven't tried coffee before?"

Loki shook his head.

"Well, then you have to pop down to the tower the next time you're on Earth. I'll make good on that drink I promised you."

Loki inclined his head and smiled, but it was a sad smile. He yearned to go back to Midgard with them, right now.

But he couldn't. There were so many things that needed doing, as much as he didn't feel ready to face the repercussions of his new status. The axe that's been hanging over his head for so long was no longer there – that seemed too surreal to be true and he had to remind himself time after time that it was – but Thor's actions had invoked their own host of problems. There ought to be droves of important people who would not be happy with the way the events had unfolded. He needed to smooth things out with Njal and the rest of the Council. He needed to take stock of the treasury, for he had no idea how much the battle with the Dökkálfar and the subsequent rebuilding had taken out of it. There would be countless delegations to receive and convince that Asgard was not weakened under the new rule and that the treaties were still standing… And then there would be time for reforms.

Loki from the days of old would be buzzing with anticipation, scheming and making grand plans for the future with fervor. And there might be still a small part of him that did so, but he mostly… He wanted to go where Natasha would be.

"Something's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he said. "Now, aren't we going to eat? I thought you're hungry?"

"Oh, you don't have to tell me twice," Clint said and shoveled baked tubers onto his plate, only to butcher it with a spoonful of porridge on top. Loki didn't question it. Æsir fare was different from what humans ate. Mixing and matching different ingredients wasn't as common here, nor was the use of spices, besides some very basic ones.

It turned out that Stark's grumbling was but a veiled attempt to get Loki himself to eat something. He let that deception slide, that one time. The prospect of a meal was a welcome one and even more so for the company Loki would be sharing the meal with.

"How about a tour of the city? A proper one, not sneaking around in the shadows?" Tony asked, leaning over the banister on the balcony looking over the rooftops of Asgard. They were on an alien planetoid, and they were sitting cooped up in one room. It hadn't crossed his mind when Loki had still been out, sleeping off the excitement, but now that they knew he was all right, Tony couldn't stay in one place.

"I can't show myself like that to people," Loki said, gesturing at the robe he was wearing – long enough to drag on the floor, sewn out of pale blue silk, with silver embroidery on the shoulders and around the collar and with a wide sash around the waist.

Tony had no idea what was wrong with it. "It's absolutely fabulous."

"It's a bathing robe, Stark."

"So? You're a king now, you could order everyone to walk around naked and they would have to listen to you."

Loki's lips curled up in a mischievous smile as he was considering the idea. He then did that wrist flick and, within five seconds, the chambermaid-guy's head popped up in the door. Had he been standing there the whole time, waiting for an order?

"Yes, your majesty?"

"Send for the royal seamstresses. Tell them to bring an assortment of fabrics and their tools. I'll require quite a few garments to be made."

"Certainly, my king," the guy said and disappeared with a bow.

If he had any issues with having Loki as his new absolute ruler, he hid it expertly. Then again, if Odin treated his room service in any way similar to the way he treated his children, this must have been quite an upgrade.

"That seems complicated," Tony judged. "I get it when it comes to suits and dresses and like all the regal shit, but don't you just have a shop where you can go buy some regular clothes?"

"No."

"That's the fourth idea to add to the list of things I could make a fortune of selling in Asgard."

"Another fortune, you mean?" Clint snarked.

"It's not about the money, Clint," Tony said. "It's about progress."

"I would be honored," Loki said, "to have you as a trading partner."

Tony narrowed his eyes at him, surprised.

"There're many things people of Asgard need to learn about other cultures still and I'm sure both realms would benefit greatly not from indifference, but from cooperation," Loki carried on. "And trade is one of the best ways to accomplish that."

Tony's brain was already ticking. Once they had a working bridge on their own there was no reason to stick to Earth to find potential business partners. He could bring his own tech, trade it for Asgardian knowledge, work with some local craftsmen to see how things were made here…

Loki grinned knowingly at him and wasn't even trying to hide it.

An entire legion of tailoresses arrived shortly after, carrying rolls of fabric and baskets with various utensils Tony could barely guess the function of. They took Loki's measurements, and then, on Loki's demand, theirs as well.

"My friends won't be seen walking around in rags if I can help it," he said and the women obliged. Those too seemed to be rather undisturbed by the change on the throne, and one of them, young and chattery, kept on smiling and gaping at Loki when she thought he wasn't looking and Tony started to suspect that it might be just the upper echelons who had something against Loki.

The more advanced garments would take time, but Loki negotiated a set of simple clothes for each of them to be made before the evening.

There was some consternation when Natasha demanded a shirt and a pair of pants, not a dress, but one handwave from Loki settled the issue in no time. Damn, it must be nice to have people just listen to you without complaining.

Just as the women were picking up their supplies to leave, Thor finally showed up and Tony allowed Natasha to drag him, along with Clint and Bruce, out of the room for a fascinating walk around the corridors.

Thor eyed Loki where he was lounging on a daybed and opened his mouth to speak.

"If you're about to give me grief for getting out of the bed, you can spare yourself the effort, Natasha already played that part expertly," Loki said, before Thor got even a sound out, then quickly backed off. Loki would be back in the dungeons if it had not been for Thor, that ought to earn his brother some dispensation from Loki's jibes. "You look weary."

"I'm good, brother," Thor laughed. "It was a difficult talk."

"May I know the outcome?"

Thor sat down on the edge of the daybed. "The Elders are not too happy with what I did, but won't contest my decision."

Loki expected that, the Council was but a bunch of old cowards, but a burden still lifted from his heart upon hearing Thor's words. "What did you tell them?"

"What they already should know. That once they find it in themselves to look past their prejudice, they will see you're far better suited to be king than I could ever be."

"Thor…"

"Don't argue. You know it's true. You know about politics and laws and diplomacy, you know how to talk with people like Njal without wanting to smack them on the head with something heavy. You've been doing that for ages in my stead. You care about our people and about the fate of the Nine. You're going to be a great king, I know it."

"I appreciate the ode to my virtues, but I just wanted to thank you," Loki said with a smile and Thor's eyes snapped up to his. "You gave up your birthright to save my life and I'll forever be indebted to you for that. It must've been a hard decision to make. Thank you, brother."

"Hard? Not at all. After all the times you saved me that I didn't even thank you for, after all the bad calls I made, this finally felt like the right one to make," Thor said, thoughtful. "And my birthright was as good as yours since Odin cast me out. Even worse, the Elders say, as you were not officially disowned. Odin just decided to not mention you again."

"How does he fare?"

"They didn't tell you? Right, you haven't yet spoken with anyone. Odin is sleeping."

"The Odin-sleep?"

"Yes. He succumbed to it once the scepter's influence was removed. His excursion to Midgard expended him and he never fully recovered after the battle with the Dark Elves. The healers say he might not wake up at all this time."

"That sounds plausible."

Thor nodded and got up, marched to the balcony and leaned against the banister. Loki dragged himself up and followed, stopping a step away from Thor.

"I'm sorry," Loki said quietly. He might not have any warm feelings towards the man, but Thor still saw him as his father.

"I think I'd rather remember the good things than face how he is now," Thor said. "Heimdall warned me that this could happen."

Loki stared. "Heimdall? How could he know? I was supposed to…"

"He suspected you would find another way. This is what you always do. When presented with two roads, you find a third. That's why he told me about the law. You didn't think I figured it out on my own, did you?"

"I did wonder where you learned about it," Loki said, "because I distinctly remember you falling asleep during that period in our history lessons. And so many others."

Thor laughed. "I thought I didn't need it. I thought I would always have you at my side to advise me."

Loki blinked.

"I missed you, Loki," Thor said and there was a sorrowful thrum in his voice and Loki's eyes began to prickle. "I missed you every day."

"I missed you too, Thor," Loki whispered and looked down at his hands. And then Thor's arms were around his shoulders.

"I'm still a Jötunn," Loki whispered.

"I care nothing about that," Thor said, pulling away. "They can't all be bad if you're one. Lady Natasha can be very convincing with her arguments and this one I've been blind to for too long already."

"Oh yes, she definitely can be," Loki laughed.

Thor got back to leaning on the banister, looking over the streets of Asgard absently. "I'm going to miss this too," he said.

Loki sighed.

"I know you have to uphold my banishment."

"We still have some time before the Elders would start insisting on that," Loki said carefully. "They need you here."

"For now. But I'd rather go on my own terms before that happens, if that's fine with you."

Loki nodded. "You're going to go back to Jane?"

"Aye, brother," Thor grinned.

They gathered attention when they walked the city streets, dressed in their fancy Asgardian clothes and Natasha liked to imagine it was for their presence too, and not because Loki and Thor were with them.

Back in the palace, Tony pointed out what she had already noticed – the staff was surprisingly unperturbed with the recent power shift. Natasha would pose a theory that they seemed relieved even. Living under a rule of a mad king must be a nerve-wracking experience and with someone else at the steering wheel things could only look up. The few nobles they met on their way out were a tad more reserved, but still perfectly civil and once they left the castle behind and found themselves among the common citizens, they were met with a warm welcome. People would stop and come over to offer a few words as a confirmation of loyalty to the new king and Loki bowed back gracefully and smiled each time and she could say it was an honest reaction.

Loki would make a great king, that much was certain, even if Loki himself didn't believe that yet.

They visited the merchants' market and Tony spent minutes grilling Loki on the purpose of various items on sale, then made Loki buy him something that looked like an advanced tool set. The tradesman offered it for free, which Loki politely refused and made Thor pay. He had no money on his own yet.

After that Clint found a finely crafted recurve bow and a set of arrows with silvery tips and Tony told Loki to step aside and let him haggle with the merchant, which he did until he got half off the price. That, too, had to be paid by Thor.

It was almost sundown when Thor started complaining and Loki agreed that they could go to a tavern. They went with Thor's choice, as he was apparently an expert. It was a lot more upscale than the one in the slums and full of people, all of which stood up and came over to greet them.

Before they sat down, Loki dragged Natasha over to the side and out of the rear door, into a small, enclosed garden. Three sides were created by adjacent buildings' façades and the fourth by a tall wall dividing the yard from the street. There was ivy growing on the walls, a small fountain in the middle, and some benches to sit on.

"So, what do you think?" Loki asked, sitting down and patting the wooden boards for her to join him.

"It's a bit much, to be honest," she laughed, "but I'm glad it all turned out fine. You're safe, and that's what matters."

"Thanks to you. And Thor and Tony and Bruce and Clint. Once again, I just sat and waited for others to come and rescue me," he said, fiddling with the hem of his tunic.

"Well, you must've done something right to have all those people willing to help and I bet you can figure out what it was once you think about it hard enough."

Loki laughed. Oh, gods, how she loved that sound. Those dimples on his cheeks when he smiled, too.

The smile faded, gradually. "You're going back to Midgard, are you not?"

They hadn't talked about it yet, save for a few throwaway comments from Tony about how many new things he could make now, but it had to happen. They might be welcome here for now, but it was obvious it was because Loki was with them. As much as it broke her heart, she knew Asgard was not a place for humans.

"Yes," she said quietly. "I wish you could come with me but I understand why you can't."

Loki nodded and sighed, then turned to look her in the eyes. "Stay."

She wanted to say yes, so much. Damn it all, damn Earth, damn her job and her life. Wear a fancy dress, sit in the chambers, learn to crochet or some shit, wait for Loki to come back from whatever the king did every day, just to be able to hear him laugh every night.

"You're a king now and I'm just a mortal. I always will be. You said it yourself, a few decades and I'm gone. Well, might be a bit longer with me, but still."

"There's magic I can teach you…"

She opened her mouth to speak.

"Please," he said.

She hesitated. There were unshed tears shining in his eyes.

"I can't. I'm sorry. I want to stay and I know you want me to stay, but there's still so much I have to do. I can't just leave the others with it. Thanos is still coming and we need to be prepared."

Loki nodded and lowered his head. "Thor saved my life, but he bound me here with it. Being king is like being a beast on a chain, just like the one Odin put on me."

She brushed his cheek. "Hey, you're smart, you will figure it out. This is not a goodbye," her voice broke and she cleared her throat. "You can come down for a visit anytime you want to. And once Earth is saved and there's nothing more for me to do… We can have this conversation again and if you still want me here, old and bitter…"

"I will," he said.

They stayed on Asgard for a couple more days. Tony spent them mostly talking with the chief of the blacksmiths' guild, arranging rare metal shipments and design exchanges and he was over the moon with the whole deal. Bruce had found the library and spent his days taking photos of various pages until the phone he borrowed from Natasha ran out of memory. He got some sideways glares for it, but no one was brave enough to question the will of the king's companions, mortal or not. Clint accompanied Thor to the training yard to play with his new bow. He didn't say it, but he absolutely loved it.

On day three, Loki took Natasha to the Council meeting. She didn't want to go, knowing how Njal reacted to her presence before, but Loki was insistent and she yielded. She promised she wouldn't interject and she would just sit back and listen to what was being discussed. And she managed, for a whole fifteen minutes. After she was done yelling at some old fool named Udger, Loki clapped his hands slowly and only remarked, "what she said" with a nudge of his head. Change was a hard thing to sell in Asgard and Loki was treading carefully, but there were limits.

It was an amazing experience, really, but it had to end. Tony kept on bringing up Pepper and how she had no idea of what had happened to them since there was no way to send a message to Earth. Yet, according to Tony's ramblings.

So, on the morning of day four, they said their thanks and headed for the Bifrost. They were offered horses, as was the custom for esteemed guests, but she preferred to walk and so did Bruce and in the end, they all walked.

The horses that they used, Loki explained, were the descendants of a bunch of animals the Asgardians had captured on Earth a couple of thousand years ago.

Loki didn't let go of her hand the whole way, even when the people of Asgard were watching.

They stopped just in front of the dome of the observatory.

"It was fun," Tony said and – when Loki reached to shake Tony's hand – he pulled him into a hug instead, then clapped a hand on his back and added, "You didn't think you could avoid that, did you?"

"Come by to visit sometimes," Clint said, and, just like Tony, went for a hug.

"I'll consider that," Loki said with a sly smile. "Bruce?"

"Remember the list I gave you. If you have any adverse…"

"I certainly will, thank you." Bruce hesitated, so it was Loki who initiated the embrace this time.

The others went to exchange goodbyes with Thor and Loki turned back to Natasha.

"My offer still stands," he said.

"I know."

He sighed and flicked his wrist, conjuring an item he then held in his folded hand. "I want you to have this." His fingers unfurled. On his palm, there was a small pendant on a delicate, silver chain. It was green and seemed to glow faintly, but it might have been just the sun reflecting off the polished stone.

"What is this?"

"A necklace?"

She laughed. It was nice and the color of the stone was the exact match of Loki's eye color and she was certain that had not been a coincidence, but that didn't explain why he wanted her to have it. She never wore jewelry unless it was part of a disguise and Loki knew that.

"I enchanted it myself," he added.

"What does it do?"

"It's a link. To me. To my mind. Like the one my death destroyed, but given a form. With this, you'll be able to reach me no matter where you are. No matter where I am, either."

She blinked. "You're giving me a free pass to your brain?"

He rolled his shoulders and smiled. "I know you'll use it responsibly," he said and reached to clasp it around her neck.

She flinched. "What the hell? Your hands are warm. Are you ill?"

He smiled. "No, I changed my body temperature to match that of an Aesir. Or a human. I thought you'd appreciate it."

"I kind of liked the old thing better," she said, "but thanks."

The pendant was warm too and it tingled with magic and responded to her fingers when she brushed her hand over where it rested on her cleavage.

She pulled him closer and pressed her cheek to his chest, "Do not dare to forget me," she whispered.

"I won't," Loki said and cupped her face in his hands.

His body temperature was back to normal when his fingers trailed down her cheeks and along her jaw. Gently tilting her head back, he leaned closer. Cool breath tickled her face.

His lips touched hers, shy and unsure at first, but quickly finding their way. She closed her eyes and the world around them stopped existing. As if in the whole universe there was nothing but the taste of his lips and the flutter of her heart.

A trickle of power flickered along her skin, radiating from his fingers, expanding and thriving Her body drank it in eagerly, his own life energy flowing through her, soaking into her bones, thrumming in her veins and swirling around in her mind.

It was new, but still achingly familiar.

Her core responded, almost in instinct, buzzing with power, ebbing and flowing, merging their energies together, as two lives poured into one soul, until she couldn't tell where her own mind started and where his began. No words were needed. All her unspoken fondness and devotion was now clear for him to see and his feelings - so transparent now and so full of life - shone inside her like a sun, bright and glorious.

Conscious thought was impossible, she could only bask in the radiance.

The sensation stayed with her when he pulled away. It settled in her mind, a bright swirl of energy among the stars of her returning thoughts.

And, when she looked up into his eyes again – rimmed with red and glistening – she could see the same light reflecting in them. Her breath caught in her throat and his eyelashes fluttered. Her hands were trembling when she reached up to wipe his cheeks.

The tears were still drying on her face and on her fingertips when the Bifrost slammed down and carried her back to Earth.