No one actually minded Loki's presence in Stark Tower. It was easy enough to see that the stranger who had swooped in, invaded their land, and massacred their people was an entirely different individual than the quiet, timid, socially awkward teenager who typically locked himself in his room with a book. Thor was really the only one who went out of his way to talk to him, and they all suspected that was the way Loki liked it.

The thing with a lot of introverts, though, is they often get curious as to what People and their ilk are like. So although the first two weeks of Loki's semi-house-arrest passed with very little sighting of the Trickster himself, he would sometimes sneak down to the main floor and quietly sit in on their discussions. Never saying a word, or even looking interested – he typically kept his nose stuck in a book – he would silently hang out within arm's reach of Thor for a few minutes, then creep back to his room.

At first, there was a little hostility, mainly from Clint's direction, and more than a couple times, Loki had suffered the fall for Clint's ill will, but he'd responded with civility and politeness, almost a resigned acceptance, that Clint felt bad insisting he was a bad person, especially since he was very aware he'd been mind-controlled just as much as Clint, himself.

This was why no one expected Loki, the quiet, timid, socially awkward teenager, to be the partying type. In all honesty, he wasn't, he'd simply gotten bored in his room, asked Jarvis what the Avengers were up to, and decided an enormous Stark-style party was better than nothing at all.

The lights were far too bright and flashy for his liking. The people and music were too loud; he couldn't hear himself think over the riot. He decided he'd simply locate Thor and then go back to the silent tranquility of his fortress of solitude.

That was when he saw it.

A thing of legends, of fantasy, of little children's dreams, fashioned to create the illusion that the world was a brighter, happier place than it truly was.

He'd thought them a piece of fiction, but truly, if anyone could have found a way to create such a glorious thing, it would have been Anthony Edward Stark.

There it sat, on a table in the middle of the room, bubbling over it's endless succulent deliciousness, surrounded by cheerful party-goers, laughing gaily, while sticking strawberries on skewers, marshmallows, (another fabulous Midgardian invention) and other assorted pieces of candy into it as if it was nothing. As if what they stood beside wasn't a miracle in of itself.

A chocolate fountain.

"They're real!" Loki breathed, unable to truly believe it.

In his youth, he'd been told stories of such glorious fantasies, and he'd been heartbroken when he'd learned they had never really been. Chocolate was extremely rare on Asgard, yet it was the very joy of Loki's existence.

He couldn't resist.

There it was for all to see and enjoy and devour, and there was nothing keeping him away.

Nothing but the hordes.

No amount of people, however, were going to keep Loki from living out this storybook scene. He was going to drink of the chocolate fountain if it killed him. (Knowing how energetic and hyperactive sugar made him, it probably would.)

With all the stealth trained into him from years of hunting on Asgard, he slipped through the masses over to the table, his eyes wide in delight as he peeked up over the edge. Still, he was unable to truly believe his eyes.

"What dark magic is this?" He whispered in awe. Never-ending chocolate! He was asleep. There was no other way. But the sharp pinch he gave to his arm hurt, and he nearly whooped in glee. There was no danger of the chocolate disappearing or melting away the moment it was about to reach his tongue.

His hand shaking, he reached out a single finger towards the smooth, beautiful flow of sweet, delightful Valhalla on Earth. Immediately, the flow was diverted, it dropped down his hand, stained his sleeve – his whole hand was covered in molten, dripping chocolate! It was too good to be true! Oh, happy day!

"Loki?"

It was the Widow's voice who suddenly spoke out of the rabble behind him. With a guilty start, he whirled around, eyes wide, his chocolate-coated hand tucked discreetly behind him.

"What are you doing?"

"Ah. I'm…" He gestured to the miracle Midgardian technology beside him. "I was simply admiring this chocolate fountain. It's very… chocolate...y?"

"You can't just stick your fingers in that." Natasha gave him an unimpressed look, as if his wonder and admiration were misplaced. "That's disgusting."

"Oh." Loki glanced down at the sweet liquid still staining his fingertips. "Duly noted." Midgardian etiquette was strange, yet very important.

There was a stack of paper cups nearby, so Loki picked one up, and positioned it into the flow until the cup was filled to the brim with chocolate. With a devilish grin over the brim of his cup, he sipped from the sweet, succulent nectar of warm chocolate goo.

Natasha, for some reason, rolled her eyes and moved on.

More for him, he supposed. When was the last time he'd had chocolate? It was far too long, obviously. Perhaps three weeks.

Just as he was finishing off his first cup, ready for more, who in the nine would barge in, all bounce and enthusiasm, but Thor himself.

"Brother! Look! A chocolate fountain!" He enthused, nearly tackling Loki with a surprise hug from behind. "Midgardians have created such fantastic things, have they not?"

"Yes, Thor, I did notice." Loki calmly responded, filling up his paper cup with great patience.

"And you love chocolate!" Thor said, betraying his unsung power of stating the blatantly obvious. To Loki's horror, Thor then proceeded to stick his whole face in the chocolate fountain, as if it was simply a common-or-garden fountain of water, and slurp to his heart's content.

"Thor!" The Trickster whisper-shrieked. And here he'd thought the reason Thor had more Midgardian friends was because he understood their customs better. "What are you doing?"

Without waiting for an explanation, he snatched Thor's collar and towed him backwards, away from the table of miracles.

Thor had the audacity to look confused, maybe even a little betrayed. His whole beard was full of chocolate. "It is a fountain, Loki. The idea is to drink from it."

Wordlessly, Loki held out his own paper cup, a pointed look in his eyes.

"Oh." Said Thor.

"Yes, oh." Loki agreed. "This fountain is sacred, and you must treat it with due respect. Not just slurping from it like some sort of chocolate-coated pig."

"I see." Thor nodded dutifully, and snatched a cup of his own.

Tonight seemed to be a night of wonders, as no one had appeared to notice Thor's antics. Either that, or they were quite used to him.

"Why did you not tell me Midgard has such things?" Loki asked, his voice hushed as he watched the ever-ceaseless cascade of brown sugar pour down as if Thor had never disturbed it in the first place.

"I did." Thor reminded him. "You didn't believe me."

Loki hummed in acknowledgement, eyeing his cup of chocolate with a thoughtful air. "I shall never doubt you again."

"Really?!"

"Of course I will, you ninny. You're extremely doubt-able." He was pretty sure the word he was looking for was actually "dubious", not "doubt-able", but the chocolate had begun to go to his head, and not much straight-thinking was going to be happening for the rest of the evening.

Thor looked so heartbroken with his poor face covered in chocolate, though, that Loki felt he had to make some sort of amends.

"You were right about the chocolate fountain, though." He offered. "So maybe not as doubt-able as I'd thought."

With that, Thor threw an arm around Loki's shoulders with a delighted smile, and mussed up his hair with the hand that wasn't holding his cup of chocolate. "Thank you, brother."

"You were faking your sad-face, again, weren't you?" Loki sighed, and scrambled to regain his dignity and immaculate hair. He really needed to stop falling for Thor's poor pitiful puppy eyes.

"Naturally." Thor replied. Just as quickly, his countenance fell a bit, and he looked at Loki with a most curious gaze. "You… you're going back to your room, now, I assume?"

Loki wasn't sure if Thor was using his sad-face again, or if he actually did like Loki around, but either way, being around soany people truly was exhausting. "Yes." He decided.

"I understand." The thunderer nodded with surprising willingness. "If you need me, I'm always here for you."

TheOnlyHuman.