Every morning after his jog, Steve read the newspaper. Tony could tease Steve all he wanted about being antiquated, how reading online or getting JARVIS to summarize the news was so much more convenient, Steve still got a paper copy.
He handed one page to Loki, stopped Loki from putting it in his mouth.
Steve flipped a few pages to see a photo of Loki in the paper itself. Photos of Loki had been cropping up online. Phones had cameras, nowadays, and could share those pictures globally. Steve knew there was much speculation of who Loki was, but it hardly seemed newsworthy.
The newspaper photo showed Loki sprawled in a crosswalk to pick, picking at the asphalt and yelling while Thor bent to lift his brother back up. Perhaps Loki had wanted to stay in Central Park with the leaves. Loki had always made it clear when he didn't want to move, but the intersection of 5th Avenue and East 49th Street was hardly the place to put up that protest.
They'd tried buckling Loki in his chair, for his own safety, but somehow he wriggled free every time. If he wanted to get out of his chair, he got out.
Steve wasn't a fan of the photo in the newspaper. The article made it sound like Thor was more of a hero for helping Loki than for saving the world.
The press treated Loki as some sort of sideshow attraction, an oddity. That wasn't uncommon, of course, but was Loki really newsworthy? Did the papers have to spread Loki's most frustrated moments for all the world to see? Someone had taken a video of Loki eating leaves and posted it online, which garnered some nasty comments.
Talk about a lack of privacy, Steve thought with a frown. It was worse than being paraded around for a USO tour.
Tony wasn't surprised at the trolls. They posted stuff about how even Asgard isn't immune to producing imbeciles, how Loki's power must be stupidity, or drooling. Someone wrote that a car should have run him over in the intersection so Thor wouldn't be burdened.
When Thor saw the comments, a thunderstorm raged over Manhattan, and the tower's windows rattled.
"They are wrong, brother." Thor boomed. Loki smacked the rattling windows, unperturbed by the storm.
At a press conference, Thor shared anecdotes of his brother. He told of Loki's tricks, his love of books and music, the time he pulled down a visiting noble's trousers in Asgard. Thor beamed through the whole interview, his love for his brother clear.
"Loki was adopted, but it matters not." Thor replied when a reporter commented they looked nothing alike. He warned the press that he was most displeased about how they wrote of his brother.
Loki got upset, Thor said, like anyone else, but his ways of showing it involved more physical methods. They were still working on ways for him too communicate what was upsetting him, but there was so much he communicated without words.
After the press conference, several people online commented with their own stories of loved ones, or their own personal experiences with disabilities. A few commenters shared that they'd adopted children with disabilities, just as Frigga had.
Thor read the nicer comments aloud to Loki, and Tony had them printed in a leather-bound book. They printed the troll comments too, simply for Thor to strike them with lightning on the roof of the tower.
Thor wished to introduce Loki to Midgardian customs, and a holiday was approaching. Halloween. A holiday of disguises and pumpkins, candy and trickery.
Tony made a pumpkin-shaped button that said 'trick-or-treat' in a British accent.
"We all know which Loki will pick," Tony joked. Sure enough, he mashed it. "Trick-or-trick-trick-tri-trick-tr-trick-or-treat!"
It was almost worse than his music mixes.
Clint and especially Natasha were in charge of carving pumpkins. Loki was delighted- not by the pumpkins, but by the knives. He almost yanked one out of Clint's grasp with his powers. Natasha sighed and stowed her knives on another floor, using a pumpkin carving knife instead.
The Avengers would all be dressing as themselves at a PR event, but Loki needed a costume. Thor declared that Loki would be a hero alongside them. Tony argued he should be a viking.
Natasha tagged along when Thor took Loki shopping for a costume- Thor insisted on going in person rather than having JARVIS order something. Loki snatched at the masks, delighted when Natasha popped out from behind shelves with new, scary faces, but refused to wear one of his own.
Natasha didn't bother trying to change Loki into the costumes to check their size. She held them up, judging their fit while Loki chewed on the fabric. He shook a jester hat to ring the bells, but they wound up picking a dark blue, silky robe with stars and a pointed hat.
"You will look like a Midgardian sorcerer," Thor said with pride.
The magic wand went straight into Loki's mouth, and she passed on that.
Clint and Natasha were gone on a mission on Halloween, leaving the most recognized Avengers to attend an event.
Jack-o-Lanterns lined the doorway to the care home. Inside, one resident danced to the Monster Mash. A few watched a Halloween movie, either on the couch or in wheelchairs. Thor settled Loki onto the couch, but Loki soon crawled around the floor, reaching to swipe at one caretaker's eyepatch.
Steve joined the group coloring pictures. He struck up a quick friendship with Dave, a veteran who had been paralyzed. Dave was dressed in his real fatigues rather than a costume.
A portly woman sat in the corner, wearing an Iron Man costume and holding an Iron Man action figure. Every time she pressed the toy's arc reactor, the reactor, eyes and repulsors lit up as the toy talked.
She mashed the button, just like Loki, until the toy said "I am Iron Man."
When she saw Tony- in the real Iron Man armor- come through the door, it was clear her face lit up, even behind her own Iron Man mask. "I am Iron Man!" she shouted as she made a beeline for him, pressing his much larger arc reactor. Tony caught on, quoting himself every time she pressed her hand over the reactor.
When Tony retracted his faceplate to grab an orange cupcake, the woman tried to shove the armor's mask back down.
Loki wasn't enjoying himself nearly as much as the others. He shrieked near the front door, tugging his hair. Thor checked on his needs, then tried to work out if he wanted a change in music, if he was impatient for trick-or-treating or wanted to go home, if he was jealous of the attention the residents were getting. He might have been worried Thor would ditch him at the care home. He was playing with Thor's red cape even more than usual.
"I will never leave you, brother." Thor promised, before trying to placate the staff for insinuating that the other residents were discarded or uncared for.
The staff tried to thank Tony for his generous donations that let them buy another wheelchair accessible van and afford to take the residents bowling, or to baseball games more frequently. Tony tried to wave their thanks aside, but the Iron Woman- Roberta- was clutching his hand.
"Guess you're my plus one for tonight," Tony held out his elbow for Roberta to wrap her arm through.
They headed into the neighborhood. Steve, in full Captain America gear, said it was an honor to push Dave's wheelchair. Dave only joined the group as to not spoil the other residents' fun.
Several residents got a lot more into trick-or-treating than Dave or Loki. Roberta rattled her bucket (which resembled Iron Man's helmet, of course) at every door while announcing she was Iron Man and having her toy and Tony say the same.
Several other residents shouted "Trick-or-Treat!" but Loki refused to use his button at half the houses. He sat, regally, as treats were dropped into his cauldron, as if he were a king accepting offers from peasants.
Loki tried eating the candy with the wrapper still on, and his cauldron soon filled with his own spit as well.
Of course, Loki still preferred tricks. Roberta's Iron Man figure suddenly decided to fly and crash into a pumpkin, though the real Iron Man managed to calm Roberta down and the toy was unharmed. At one house, the candy bowl was mysteriously knocked from the homeowner's hands, spilling candy into the doorway. A fake child skeleton dressed in a dress began to move, even though Tony knew it wasn't animatronic.
When the residents were back home (and Roberta had posed for several pictures with Iron Man) the Avengers were ready to take Loki back to the tower.
Thor asked "Did you enjoy your night of trickery, brother?"
Loki was on the ground, refusing to move. Of course. He'd wanted to leave the whole night, right up until they were ready to go.