The immediate result of the visit to Svartalfheim and the ensuing realisations was…absolutely nothing.

What could they do from Earth? Thor and Loki could fret as much as they liked, but at the end of the day there was no-one to fight, no-one to spy on and no-one they could negotiate with. They were pretty much stuck, and would have been in the same position were they on Asgard, Earth or any other place in the Nine Realms.

For the other Avengers it was difficult to put the situation into context. Their only experience of Svartalfhiem had been their resident Gods' disdain for the realm. Yes, it was worrying what had happened, but it didn't really impact their day-to-day lives, much like Alfhiem hadn't.

It's always the same; a tragedy can strike anywhere and anytime but the rest of life moves on and sometimes that's a shock to accept. Loki especially seemed to struggle with separating everyday life and his concerns about the threat of invasion – either on Earth or on Asgard. To begin with he was merely surly, but within a week of returning the trickster had withdrawn entirely into sullen silence, like a physical black cloud in the tower.

Christmas was on it's way – the first they had together as a full family, although with everything that had happened since, the incident with the Chitauri seemed a million years ago. That didn't stop the decorations going up, of course. With little to celebrate over the past years, Evie was going all out on this one.

There had always been two trees – giant forty-footers – in the Tower's main entrance to impress visitors, but the personal living space of the Avengers had been a bit sparse since Evie had stopped enjoying Christmas so much. Now, however, there was cause to deck the halls with everything even vaguely festive. If it wasn't for the arc reactor the electricity bill would have been obscene. Even Jarvis was trotting around the place with a string of lights wrapped around his frame.

"I brought you some mince-pies."

Tony looked up from the Falcon's wing-pack to grin at his husband. He'd been trying to integrate a new protective layer in between the wing membranes and had been at it for some time.

"Hey Scrooge, thanks for the food!"

Loki dumped the plate on the work top and slumped down onto one of the spare stools. "Scrooge?"

"Well, you've been particularly Bah-Humbug recently. Have you developed an allergy to Christmas or something?"

"No."

"Could have fooled me." Tony glanced up from what he was doing with his screwdriver. "You know this is a big deal to Evie, right? She's refused to properly celebrate Christmas since we lost you so wants this one to be huge – it'd be nice if you got on board with that plan."

"I am on board."

"You're a physical black cloud right now. I mean, I'm game to play the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future but you've got to tell me what's wrong first."

Loki shrugged. "What makes you think something's wrong?"

"Seriously?" Tony laughed lightly. "I'm only calling you Scrooge because I'm saving Grinch up for later. You're hardly a joy to be around right now." He picked up one of the mince pies and bit into it, then continued with a full mouth. "I don't think I've seen you eat a proper meal in days. You just sort of pick at food when the rest of us are eating."

"I'm an adult, Stark, please don't monitor my eating habits."

The inventor finished off his snack, before nodding. "Okay. Fine. I'm not going to fight with you over this, but I want you to know that I know something's wrong – really wrong – and when you want to talk about I'm here, okay?"

"Tony-"

"No, it's fine. Really it's fine. I get that sometimes things get to you, and I guess that because you aren't telling me what's up immediately it's worrying me. But that's fine." He smiled slightly, leaning forward to touch Loki's knee. "Just remember we're a team, yeah?"

"I know." The Trickster returned the smile, even if it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I…there's a lot on my mind right now, I'm sorry."

"If you don't feel able to talk to me, why not have a word with Bruce? He bangs on about not being that kind of doctor, but he's an excellent listener and can really help when you're feeling overwhelmed." Tony pushed the plate of mince pies over. "And seriously, eat something, I'm worried you're trying to diet!"

Loki laughed quietly, picking up one of the pastries. "Diets are a strange human idea – you do know no other species limits their food supply just to look good, right?"

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Whilst Loki's bad mood was still very noticeable he started to make an effort to get more involved in the festivities. He animated some of the ornaments to move so that the tree was full of waving snowmen, and the angel at the top cat-called anyone who walked past. But regardless of the intent to improve his attitude he remained sulky and snappish.

Evie hunted him down in the library a few days before Christmas.

"What you doing?"

"What do you think I am doing?" Loki had found an old copy of Dickens' Christmas Carol and had curled up on one of the squashy leather armchairs by a panoramic window. It was snowing outside, which set the scene rather wonderfully for the story, or at least would have done if he hadn't been interrupted. "Was there something you wanted?"

"Yeah! C'mon, grumpy! Let's go do something!"

"I am doing something. I am reading."

Evie leant over the back of the armchair. "Yeah, but it's snowing."

Loki glanced up, very briefly, at the window. "Yes, and?" He couldn't see his daughter's grin.

"Do you want to build a snowman…?"

"Oh Evelyn, please don't sing that-"

"Come on let's go and play…"

"I have multiple spells that can shut you up."

"I never see you any more…" The girl rounded the chair to dump herself on Loki's lap, singing as obnoxiously as possible. "Come out the door, it's like you've gone awaaaaayyyyy!"

Loki's sigh was one heard across the multiverse and usually known as 'beleaguered parent' as he moved his book out of the way so that the pages wouldn't be creased. "What part of 'I'm reading and trying to get some peace and quiet' didn't you get?"

"The part where no-one's really seen you since Svartlwhatsitheim and I actually want a family Christmas this year."

"I helped put the lights up in the foyer."

"Oh you hero." Evie sounded scathing. "Look, we all know something's up – even Uncle Thor has realised you want to kill everyone in a one hundred mile radius – but you aren't telling anyone what's wrong and to be honest it's got to the point where I'm just fed up now. We all get that shit is going down in the Nine Realms and that's eating at you, but you won't talk to anyone so I'm giving up and now I want to make a snowman because it's Christmas!"

"Are you done?"

"No. I'll be done when we're outside in the snow. Until then I'll be sitting right here, singing the greatest hits of Frozen over and over and over and over and-"

"Okay! Okay. Fine, I'll come outside with you."

Evie grinned brightly. "The power of Disney songs!"

"Do you act like a three year old with your father too?"

"Only when I don't get my own way."

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

The balcony was nearly two feet deep in snow; the Ironman landing pad buried underneath it all. Technically Tony could have turned on the underfloor heating to melt it all, but it was its own natural decoration so the Avengers had decided to leave it be.

Evie waded out with a gleeful grin, stamping patterns into the crisp snow like a toddler. She knew she was being rather childish, but given seven Christmas's without Loki, and for the Trickster to be in a monumental sulk now that they had him home she knew she could choose between sulking in return or behaving like a kid. With one Grinch already in the tower they really didn't need to add a teenage one to the mix so she went with the childish act instead.

"So; snowman!" She spread her arms as she spun to face her mother. "Come on, this is your natural habitat!"

Loki had to smile at that. "What are you expecting? Just to warn you; if I start creating snow creatures they're more likely to eat you than demand warm hugs."

"That would have given the film a new twist." Evie dropped down to start piling snow into a small mound. "Right, are you going to help?"

"It's more fun to watch you struggle."

The trickster didn't let his refusal to help last long though. Evie's gloves had quite obviously soaked through and by the time she was trying to put a head on her creation she was shivering.

"Stand back." Loki hadn't put a coat on, so simply rolled up the sleeves of his jumper. Starting at his fingers his skin flushed deep blue, spreading all the way up to his hairline and causing his eyes to bleed red on the way.

The snow was still falling around them and he raised his arms so that it swirled with more purpose, spiralling down in tight circles.

"How do you do that?"

"I'm not completely sure. It just…works."

"Does your eyesight change at all? It looks like it should."

Bright red eyes fixed on the girl for a moment in amusement. "A little. It's sharper and my night vision is better." Loki directed the swirl of snow at Evie's unfinished snowman, completing the little figure. "Don't expect any Disney crap though; I'm not bringing this to life. When I animate things they tend to destroy stuff."

"You and Dad are so similar." Evie clapped her hands together in glee. "So, what else can you do?! Have you ever actually gone all out with the frost giant thing?"

"I don't know if that is such a-"

"Come on! A snowman's nothing! What do they do on Jötunnheim? Uncle Thor said there were ice palaces and stuff!"

Loki stared at his daughter with an exasperated sigh. "Really? I don't even know how I do this and you're expecting high scale engineering?"

"Yeah. Remember the whole 'we're trying to have fun' thing we're doing here?" Evie rolled her eyes.

She had a point. Of the two of them Loki was the one with the teenager-like attitude going on. "Alright. I'll see what I can do." He said grudgingly.

"Well don't feel like you have to or anything. Hey it's only Christmas." The girl turned to go with a huff, stamping back through the snow towards the balcony doors. It was only when she caught hold of the handle that she saw the reflection behind her in the glass.

Ice was growing up around Loki's feet, following his flowing hand movements to arch up and branch. His face was a mask of concentration as he tried to work out how to manipulate the element as he went, building on what he already knew and then trying to take it one step further. The snow was being incorporated in, the snowman ripping apart to become a piece of the larger structure. In the rapidly darkening twilight the ice glistened, backlit from the Christmas lights strung along the balcony.

"Trees…" Evie let go of the door, turning back to the growing forest. Snow dripped from the branches like blossom, twigs of ice still curling up and out of the huge oaks that had formed. They spread out across the whole balcony, a glowing, twisting woodland of ice and snow. "How did you…?"

"I don't know."

"Wow." Tendrils of ivy were beginning to creep up the windows of the tower and curl along the railings. "Is this what Jötunnheim is like?"

"Far from it."

It did beg the question why not. If Loki was capable of this much without much practice the Jötun's should have been able to create marvels. Maybe he really was a throwback to an older race.

"Will this last? Do you have to keep it stable or is it self-sustaining?"

"I believe it will last as long as the weather is cold enough, it should…should-"

Loki blanched, the blue leaching away from his skin as he suddenly swayed, grabbing hold of the nearest icy trunk for support. The spell abruptly stopped, leaving branches half-formed in the air.

"Möðhy!" It was so sudden it took Evie a moment to realise what was happening. She ran the few steps to cover the distance between them, reaching out to help support him.

"I'm alright…" He most certainly wasn't; his voice strained and face so pale as to rival the snow. "Just a dizzy spell…"

"Why? What happened?"

"Just over-reached myself, I'm fine." Loki shook his head a few times, then smiled shakily at his worried daughter. "Sorry."

"You don't look fine…"

"Seriously, Evelyn, I am fine." He straightened up, and looked up at the forest of ice that now stood around them. "Worth it though, don't you think?"

"No. That's not normal; you never usually have problem with little tricks like this."

Loki pinched the bridge of his nose, either in frustration or a headache Evie couldn't tell. "Please, Evelyn, can we drop the subject?" He gestured towards the door. "Come on, let's go inside and get something warm to drink."

The girl looked less than convinced, but didn't want to argue given how short tempered Loki had been recently. And it had been her idea to go outside and play in the snow – so if something had gone wrong logic dictated it was kind of her fault.

Loki stopped dead, sudden enough to have his daughter walk straight into him. "One thing though…"

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell your Dad, he's fluttering around like a moth as it is."

Evie couldn't really do anything else but agree to keep quiet.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Loki should have known better.

He was the God of finding loopholes in what people said. Literally the God, not just figuratively, and he should have known better than to so loosely phrase a binding promise. Maybe it was because he wasn't at his best or perhaps he just trusted is daughter a little too much, but he hadn't been careful about what he'd made her agree to.

Don't tell your Dad.

"Uncle Thor, can I talk to you?"

Evie waited all of two hours before hunting her uncle down in the games room. He had taken a particular liking to Assassins Creed and had been playing his way through the series of late. However, he paused it when his niece asked the question.

"Sure, what is wrong?"

The girl pulled up a beanbag and plopped down onto it. Arthur had followed her in and promptly climbed onto her lap and curled up like a cat.

"I'm worried about Möðhy."

"Is there ever going to be a time when someone isn't worried about him?"

Evie smiled, but only slightly. "Did you see the art work on the balcony?"

"Yes." Thor's tone was slightly guarded – he was never going to be completely comfortable with a Jötunn flinging ice around, even if said Jötunn was just his brother. "It was very beautiful."

"He almost fainted making it! He claimed there was nothing wrong, but it was obvious he was dizzy. And he won't tell me what's wrong!"

Thor sighed. "He's not going to. You don't need to worry so much; he's fine."

"Do you know what's wrong with him then?" The girl looked angry and betrayed at that news.

"Yes."

"…and?!"

The thunder God rolled his eyes, turning his game back on. "Do you not think I've had this exact same conversation with your father? Loki is running a very high-maintenance piece of spell-work. At a guess I would say he's Scrying."

"He's been Scrying for ages and it hasn't affected him like this!"

"This is a much bigger spell. He's trying to look far beyond the reaches of the known universe to find the perpetrator behind these attacks, and it's draining him."

On Evie's lap Arthur snuffled experimentally at the beanbag, trying to hoover up some of the loose polystyrene balls. "Do you know this, or are you guessing?"

"Call it an informed guess; I have seen this happen before when he runs himself dry with a spell. It's nothing to worry about – just like a human over-tiring themselves."

"But he's not eating properly and –"

"Evie, he's fine. He's said it, I've said it, what more do you want?"

The girl scowled. "I'm allowed to be worried you know."

"Of course you are, but you can't just throw us off when we try to reassure you."

"…I wish he wasn't so grumpy."

"Don't we all? And this is nothing; I had to survive his mood swings during puberty. He used to blow things up."

Evie winced.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWWMW

Loki did make an extra special effort at pretending to be a functioning member of the human race for Christmas. It didn't help that he was at the disadvantage of not being a member of the human race, but he really did try.

The group settled down for their traditional Love Actually showing, which despite Clint's best efforts was still the go to Christmas film for them. On a whole they didn't really watch it any more, per se, but tended to shout out favourite lines and in-jokes over the top. This was a bit tough on Loki, who hadn't seen it before and wasn't really all that bothered about something so saccharine anyway.

About halfway through Evie noticed that her mother was about two bad puns away from incinerating the television and pulled at his sleeve. No-one noticed the two of them slip out of the room.

"Where are we going, Evelyn? Not that I was enjoying that film or anything, but we're abandoning everyone."

"Yeah, they're expecting us to run off, don't worry. Come on!" The girl had a good hold on his sleeve so was dragging him bodily along the corridor towards the lifts.

"If you told me where we were going I could get us there quicker."

"The roof! I need to grab my winter gear first, but we're going up to the top of the tower."

Loki rolled his eyes and a thick cloak materialised around his daughter's shoulders. "There. Shall we go on up?"

"Is this wool? Nice! Thanks, this'll work! Lets go!" Evie evidently wasn't going to let Loki's dour mood spoil what she was up to, as she enthused about everything. "Come on, make with the magic! To the roof!"

It had stopped snowing for the time being, but the rooftop was thick with a white, unmarked blanket, which Evie promptly stomped through.

"Come on!" She made her way right up to the edge, leaning over to look out across New York.

"This is a beautiful view, Evelyn, but why are we up here?"

It was a beautiful view. New York, Christmas Eve and the whole city was lit up in the snow. Lights danced and sparkled as far as the eye could see, calling out the celebrations far and wide. Evie, however, paid it very little mind as she leaned over even further and waved down at something.

"Now, Jarvis!"

Loki took an involuntary step back, hands twitching as defensive spells flowed automatically to his fingers. The balcony directly beneath them had lit up as if on fire, but he quickly realised what he was seeing as the bright glow lifted up to their level and revealed itself to be comprised of hundreds of lit Chinese lanterns. They were the same design the Stark's had used since Tony invented the little tradition – still squat orange cylinders with golden runes printed along the rims. Loki caught hold of one long enough to read the three names; his own, Tony's and Evie's.

"What is this?" He sounded breathless as he let the lantern go and it gently lifted away to join the multitude of others. The sight was quite something; hundreds of bright lights dancing in the cold night air as they drifted away from the tower and across New York.

"We do this every year. Dad started it, and then I took over after his heart attack." Evie was watching the lanterns with a sad smile.

"Why?"

The teen shrugged slightly, possibly embarrassed. "For you. Me and Dad-"

"Dad and I."

"Dad and I aren't religious – I'd have some serious complexes if we were – I'm, what? A demi Goddess or something? – so we don't pray. But we needed to do something after you were taken by the Chitauri. You were supposed to be here that Christmas, and we knew you couldn't be, so Dad set this up. It's, like, a visual prayer." She pointed up at the dancing lights. "Each one is a hug, or a kiss, or a Merry Christmas, and it made us feel like we were still celebrating with you, even though you weren't here."

Loki looked from his daughter to the lights again. "Oh…"

"And we did it every year afterwards, because it wasn't Christmas if we weren't all together as a family. But-" She grinned. "This time you actually get to see them."

The wind was strong and the lanterns were pin-pricks of light like stars across the cloudy sky.

"I think I forget sometimes how difficult it must have been for you."

"Eh, I'm a big girl, and someone needed to be around to look after Dad. Besides; it was worse for you."

"I had the comfort of knowing that you were safe. You certainly didn't have that."

"You promised we'd all be together one day. I was holding you to that."

Loki stepped up to his daughter and pulled her into a tight hug, his chin on the top of her head.

"I don't deserve you." His words were ripped away by the wind but Evie got the sentiment behind them. She didn't quite know what to say to that, so simply hugged him back.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Christmas came and went in a blur of music, laughter, food – so much food – alcohol and fun. There were presents too, of course, but for once it was the whole atmosphere that was the best part. Everyone had something to be happy about for once. Even Loki brightened up enough that the apparently-permanent black cloud lifted for the day. The alcohol may have helped there of course; it was the first Christmas where Tony was able to drink freely again and he made sure everyone was going to benefit.

This meant that once again his teenager was allowed to drink far more than she should have been allowed. To Tony this still wasn't a huge deal since when he had been her age he had already had his stomach pumped once. Getting rather giggly on stupidly expensive champagne wasn't going to do Evie any harm.

The Asgardian mead Thor brought out on the other hand... No one wanted to know what percentage proof that was, but even Steve managed an impressive level of drunkenness on that stuff.

No one really went to bed so the day after Christmas didn't exactly happen whilst everyone in the tower slept it all off.

Had a supervillain known the habits of the Avengers it would have been a superb day to cause chaos. However, since Loki was the only supervillain in the vicinity, and a sleepy one at that, they were reasonably safe.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Christmas gave way to New Years Eve and Loki went back to being a down-and-out sulk. Natasha and Sam had gone off somewhere to ring in the new year together and Pepper had gone off to meet up with some old girlfriends she hadn't seen in forever. It meant that the group felt quite depleted – even with only three people gone it was enough to make a dent.

Evie wanted to go to Times Square for the big count down – she'd never been allowed before – but Tony put his foot down again stating that it was too media heavy and the last thing they wanted was a photo of the teen splashed across all the tabloids when Hydra were still after her. The reasoning made sense, but that didn't mean she had to like it, and in a true teenage strop had refused to clean up after Arthur for the rest of that day – meaning piles of uneaten food and droppings had been left abandoned around the place.

So New Years Eve was pretty much the same as it had always been for them, just with the inclusion of Loki and the fact that once again Tony could drink.

Loki received an email early in the evening – but corresponding with midnight in the UK – from Merlin wishing them all a curt 'happy new year'. It was formal, brusque and stand-offish but at least he had even bothered to send it (he'd ignored Christmas entirely, like Loki had said he would). It was a small thing, but slowly mother and son were mending bridges. Loki sent a quick reply, and after a bit of deliberation finally attached a photo of Evie to the email. It was the first time he had built a link between his daughter and her half-brother, but he'd been putting it off for far too long. He didn't ask for a return photo, but rather hoped Merlin would include one; after all he himself didn't know what his son looked like these days.

As New Years went, it was pretty tame, but given that life had been so hectic recently maybe that was a good thing. New Years day itself got off to a sedentary start, with most of the tower's occupants keeping to themselves.

Those who could be bothered to get up ended up gravitating to the main living space. A game was put up on the large TV, someone ordered out pizza and Bruce and Tony squirreled themselves away in a corner to work on something. Lazy Sunday Afternoon and all that.

Even if it wasn't Sunday.

Arthur had very much made himself at home in the Avengers tower. Despite only being with them for a few months, the Avengers had pretty much forgotten that the little animal was in all honesty a completely alien creature. He acted so much like a dopy puppy that it was very easy to imagine that that was all he was.

"Push off, fluff-ball." Tony brushed an inquisitive trunk away from his soldering iron that was set up on the portable workbench. "Go bug someone else."

"I think the articulation still isn't quite where you would want it." Bruce – always the peacekeeper – petted the Münchrat's head as Tony pushed the animal aside, still keeping his focus on the mock-up in front of them. "That plating is going to hold the shoulder very tightly if we leave it like that. See? The arm will have very limited mobility."

They had a small model of Jarvis' droid body on the workbench – about the size of a Barbie doll – but with some subtle modifications to the existing design. It wasn't hooked up to anything, just a simple model to check for joint errors and obvious design flaws. The job could have very easily been accomplished on a computer, but they were trying out a new alloy and it was always better to see how something reacted in reality in that case.

"I can slip the plating back a bit, but I don't want to lose the protection it offers the central wiring." Tony began to lever the joint in question with a craft knife to remove and reposition the plate. "What do you think about changing the shape slightly? I think if there's more – Ah! Jesus! Arthur!"

The Münchrat had been resisting the men's half-hearted attempts to get him to leave them alone, and getting annoyed with the lack of attention he butted Tony hard in the knees. This was not the best thing that could have happened whilst Stark was trying to manipulate a very sharp craft knife and the blade went straight into his palm.

"Damnit!"

Evie grabbed Arthur as the poor animal backed away in surprise and pulled him out of the way as Bruce hurried around the workbench to check the damage.

"It's fine, it's fine. Jesus, Evie, teach the damn thing that go away means go away!" Tony was holding his hand tight at the wrist, but there was already blood dripping over the workbench.

"It's not 'fine'; it might need stiches." Bruce sighed, pushing Tony's uninjured hand out of the way to see what he was dealing with. All things considered it could have been worse – craft knife wounds could be very nasty – but the gash was certainly deep enough, and it was possible it had hit a ligament in his finger.

"Move." Loki didn't go for politeness, but at least didn't just shove Bruce out of the way. "I will sort it."

"It's fine-"

"It's obviously not, Stark."

Tony rolled his eyes but sat down heavily in the nearest arm-chair, holding his injured hand out like a petulant child. To be honest; he was much happier with Loki sorting it out than having to have stitches, and it hurt like a bitch.

Arthur seemed to realise that he had done something wrong because he had run off and was hiding under the bar at the other end of the room, whimpering quietly. Evie was down on her hands and knees trying to coax him out but the Münchrat was being extremely stubborn.

"Come on you idiot – it's not like you meant to do it."

There was a bowl of fruit in its usual place on the bar top, so the girl grabbed a pomegranate (Pepper insisted they always had some to hand. Anti-oxidants or something) and knelt back down to wave it at the pair of eyes she could just see in the darkness under the bar. A trunk snaked out and tried to grab the fruit, missed and then a reluctant head followed, food winning out over shame. Evie let him have the pomegranate, and he stayed where he was, still half tucked under the bar.

From the quiet bickering across the room it sounded like her parents had sorted Tony's hand out. Loki may not have been particularly talented at healing spells – a fact he reminded them of every time he needed to use one – but he was proficient enough. This was proved when Tony appeared at Evie's side a moment later, wiping the blood off his newly-fixed hand. Arthur disappeared back under the bar.

"There we go; no harm done. Is Fluffy sulking?"

"That's not his name, and he thinks you're mad at him."

"Well, I'm not happy. You really need to teach him to leave people alone when they tell him to go away."

"He just wanted to see what you were up to."

A trunk snaked out from under the unit again and grabbed up the remains of the pomegranate that had been dropped. Tony smiled.

"Well, he should have been more patient. I don't know what you were expecting when you were told he was house-trained but …"

"That means he won't pee on the carpet – not that he will behave." Loki sounded disdainful. "Much in the same way that we could call Clint house-trained."

"Well, no harm done. My hand's as good as new, and he seems rather contrite." Stark leant down to try and see under the unit, but Arthur had shuffled along a little and he stood back up with a shrug. "Eh, he'll come out if you put food out I'm sure. Loki? How do you stop a fluff ball from sulking?"

"Ignore him. He'll come out for attention soon enough."

"Huh, yet another thing he has in common with Clint, then."

Evie reluctantly stood up, leaving her pet to wallow in self-pity for a few moments. If he was still under there in five minutes or so she'd go back and try to coax him out again.

"How bad did you hurt yourself?"

Tony shrugged, turning his hand this way and that. "It would have needed stitches, but I've had way worse."

"You are far too blasé when you say that." Loki said. "It would be nice for once if…if you…"

"Loki?"

The trickster leant against the edge of the bar, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, dizzy spell. It'll…it'll pass…"

"Are you sure? You've gone a horrible colour." Tony reached out to grab his husband's arm.

"I'm…I…"

Evidently it wasn't going to pass. Loki was a sickly grey colour, stumbling over his words as he tried to reply.

"Okay, chair, now."

Or bar-stool, whatever was closest really. Tony managed to push the trickster down onto the nearest seat, one hand on his husband's shoulder. Loki was shivering but felt warm to the touch, radiating heat through his thin shirt. He leant forwards, gulping in air as he tried to re-orientate himself.

"Any better?"

"No…"

They had drawn attention by now, the other Avengers looking over in concern and Bruce leaving the project to come and help. Evie had taken a step back, worried but knowing not to get in the way.

"This is becoming all too familiar an occurrence, you know." Tony said quietly.

"This is a regular thing?" Were it anyone else in this situation Bruce would have attempted taking a pulse to get a read on blood pressure, but that was difficult when the patient in question was an alien. "Why has no-one mentioned this has been happening?!"

"It's nothing." Loki tried to snarl, but with the ground tipping this way and that he was concentrating too hard on staying upright to sound threatening. It also wasn't exactly going to be believed either given that he still felt and therefore looked like he was about to faint at any moment.

"It's not nothing, it's becoming a real problem! Whatever spell this is you're running, the side effects when you try to use any other magic are crippling you!"

Bruce looked between Tony and Loki aghast. "Seriously? This is an ongoing problem?"

"It's not a problem, it's just an unfortunate side effect – it's not going to last much longer." The trickster answered. Bruce raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"How much longer?"

"I don't know. A week, maybe two."

Tony thumped his fist down on the counter-top with an infuriated sound. "God-damnit Loki! Why don't you at least tell us what you're doing! If you're Scrying or Searching then just tell us. If it's something else, tell us."

"It's not important; I will tell you when it's over."

"What if something happens before that fictional time-point?" Evie asked quietly. "What if Hydra attack again, or the aliens come here next? You're going to be useless in a fight like this. You can't even heal a cut finger without knocking yourself out."

"Evelyn…"

"You saved me from Hydra last time by teleporting into the living room like a badass motherfucker and smiting everything in sight. You wouldn't even be able to do that now, would you?"

"Don't swear."

"Would you?"

Loki looked to his husband for parental backup on the swearing thing only for Tony to fold his arms and set his face into the exact same stubborn expression as their daughter. That was the problem; Evie had a real point, he was about as useful as Arthur in a fight at the moment.

"Look, I'm –"

"Don't say you're fine. For God's sake don't say you're fine." Stark snapped . "It's obvious you're the antithesis of fine, so that shit aint gonna fly."

Bruce, as always, was the quiet voice of reason, trying to calm what could quickly become a volatile argument. "Loki, I think what your family is trying to say is that they're worried and they want to help, but they can't do that if they don't know how to help. Just tell us what's happening and let us do something. I may know nothing about spell-work but as someone with a working medical knowledge I know burn-out when I see it. I can't do anything about what the spell itself is doing to you – whatever it is – but I can help you with the symptoms."

Loki finally sat up straight again, looking somewhat more like his usual colour and less like a ghost. He glanced between his husband and daughter, who were both nodding to what Bruce had said.

"Capricorn, please, don't go through this on your own." Tony said quietly. "We've been dancing around this long enough; let us help."

The trickster looked between his family again, his daughter's worried expression, his husband's stubborn frown and even Arthur poking his head out from under the unit to see what was going on.

"I suppose seeing what human medicine can do won't do any harm." He admitted quietly.

"Might even do some good."

He nodded slightly at Bruce's input. "It might."

"I've got time now?" Bruce phrased it quietly, a gentle question designed not to spook or irritate. "We could go down to my work-shop, have a chat, I run some tests…We can take as much or as little time as you want."

Loki looked down at the floor again, defeated. "Yes. Thank you, now would be fine."

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