Loki took his time wandering from exhibit to exhibit in the art gallery they were visiting, keeping Steve's hand in his own the whole time. There was a story behind each piece of art, a tale waiting to be read by someone who could truly understand it. It was a pastime Loki treasured, one of the few instances where he himself felt understood too. The art in Midgard differed greatly from the selection found in the great halls of the Asgardian palace he had been raised in, but Loki found he preferred the mortals' work.

Steve had already visited this exhibition and thought Loki would enjoy it, he was right. They both loved art, of all types. Steve focused on drawing but Loki seemed to have a talent for words, writing, sculpturing, sketching and music. A hidden trove of talents. It was truly a blessing to behold.

The entire day was spent in the gallery. Loki rarely had an opportunity to leave Stark Tower, the unofficial prisoner that he was. He didn't know how Steve had managed to get the Avengers to be laxer with their guard as of late, didn't know what it had cost the Captain but he was eternally grateful for it. It didn't come without his stipulations though, Loki wasn't supposed to leave Steve's supervision for even a moment, and he had to wear some supposed 'magic-dampening' bracelet. The bracelet did nought to actually cut off his powers, but Loki wasn't going to reveal that any time soon. If the idiotic Midgardians thought his magic would be that easy to control they were very, very wrong.

"Where to now?" Loki asked as they walked hand in hand down the sidewalk, the early summer breeze providing a refreshing coolness. Loki hoped they weren't returning home just yet.

"Dinner," Steve replied simply. It turned out that by dinner Steve had meant going round to a little cafe tucked between two larger buildings, nearly hidden from view.

As they walked in Loki was greeted with the aroma of freshly baked cakes, a wide selection of them sitting prettily on the display counter. It was small, only enough room for a handful of tables, but it was cosy, homey. Some light jazz was being played as background music, the sound of a saxophone could be heard playing a solo. He could see why Steve would gravitate towards a place like this. Loki enjoyed these quieter places too, back in Asgard he would take refuge in any hidden places he could find, eventually turning to Yggdrasil as a way to escape into pocket dimensions when he would seek to be away from Thor and his overbearing friends. It didn't seem to be very different now, they were effectively hiding from Thor and his Midgardian friends, hiding their relationship from the Avengers, Steve did notify them - or an illusion of them, thanks to Loki, not that Steve knew that particular fact - that they were going. Said 'he needed fresh air, being locked up wouldn't do Loki good' or something like that.

They were just ordering their food when they heard an almighty thud outside, Loki sighed.

"Thor's here." He said with mock cheer, no doubt everyone else was here too. Swiftly, Loki walked outside to find where his brother had touched down with Mjolnir and two agents grasping onto him for dear life.

"Brother, what are you doing out here on your own!" Thor shouted, pointing Mjolnir at him in an accusatory manner.

"How many times need I tell you I am not your brother!" Loki hissed before continuing, "And if you know I am here you also know who I am here with." Loki briefly registered Barton and Romanov walking into the cafe, presumably to 'save' Steve from whatever hostage position he was believed to be in. His very nature was to be the untrustworthy one, how incomprehensible it must seem that Steve had joined Loki willingly. But that did not matter, they would find Steve and he would reassure them that nothing went amiss and then they would leave to allow the two men to enjoy a nice meal together, and possibly more if Loki could coax anything out of the Captain, it was high time to chip away at the shell of innocence that surrounded him.

"What are you doing to the Captain of America! I know your games Loki, I have seen them often enough, Steve is good you cannot harm him." Thor bellowed in a threatening tone. Loki's rage fired up again.

"Do not think that by using Heimdall to spy upon me that you can talk to me like that. Though you have seen me do not ever claim that you can see into my mind, for I promise you it is not a sight you wish to see!" Why was he fighting against himself? He didn't want to tell Thor of the turmoil and battles that raged inside of his head, the pain, the loneliness, the madness, creeping around the edges of his mind just waiting for the opportunity to reveal itself, the magic that threatened to control him, that horribly dark magic.

Ever since falling into the void, it was as if the entire universe had tried to stuff itself inside his head, everything that had ever been and was to ever be was now part of him, it was as if every citizen of the nine realms were screaming at him, it drowned out his own thoughts sometimes. That was why it was so important to keep his own madness away from those voices, for if he put the two together there would be no redemption for him, he would become a true monster. Or perhaps he was already? It wasn't as if he could see himself through the eyes of others to be able to confirm his fears... But it had only been a couple of weeks since the tesseract had messed him up again, he was sure that he would recover soon.

He couldn't even truly control his magic at the moment. It had a will and agenda of its own, it wanted to use Loki as a conduit, and it took all of Loki's strength to prevent that. With magic, it was always a push and pull battle, a thin line to tread, and Loki's fall into the void had utterly unbalanced him. He had only been at odds with his magic like this once before when a curse had been placed upon him a few centuries ago - which was a long story - and it had not been a pretty sight. Thankfully, Loki was older now, and more experienced, but when Thor came barging in like this, presuming to know so much when he was such an ignorant buffoon, it threatened to break the tenuous control Loki had built.

Loki could see that Thor was startled by the anger that coursed through Loki, his magic was at his fingertips and only now could he see he was tinted slightly green, his magic ready to strike out at the slightest provocation. But Thor was Thor, he was too blind to realise how dumb a move it was to then try and grab Loki. Before he even registered what was happening Thor was flung back as far as the eye could see. He could feel the raw power radiating off of himself. Sighing, he took a step forwards, no doubt his dear brother would see this as an act of attack, which it wasn't, and a certain all-powerful hammer would be flying through the air within seconds.

"Thor always thought with his fists." Loki tutted quietly, when, as predicted Mjolnir raced past him, missing his stomach by mere millimetres. Seconds later Thor followed, hand stretched forward as he was pulled towards the hammer.

Meanwhile, Steve looked up in confusion as Natasha and Clint rushed in, asking if he was okay in their no-nonsense work voices.

"Guys, what's all this about? I'm fine." Steve said, not quite sure what had caused this sudden paranoia by the team. Now Steve was met with confused looks, well a confused look sported by Natasha and a don't-be-dumb look from Clint.

"You just leave with a high-level threat, go about the city and decide not to tell anyone? Please don't forget all of your common sense in future." Clint replied sarcastically. Before the conversation could continue an almighty blast sounded, causing the windows of the cafe to crack. The sound echoed like a bell in their ears. The three Avengers glanced at each other before simultaneously starting to run outside to see what on earth was going on.

You could say Steve was fairly surprised when he was yanked to the side and kissed on his lips passionately by Loki, eyes widening in shock. It took him a few seconds to realise he wasn't pulling away, though he knew he should have. Instead, he wrapped his arms around Loki's hips, pulling him as close as he could and returned the kiss.

"Okay brother, you have proved your point. Could you, urgh, please put the Captain down now?" Thor said, his anger dissipating, leaving only awkwardness at the current situation, and annoyance that he had let his temper get the better of him. Clint and Natasha had gone to survey the scene as soon as they had got outside, checking there were no casualties, it had only taken a few minutes but when they got back to Thor's side the two men were still kissing, oblivious to the growing crowd of people stopping to stare, first out of curiosity for the fight, then to get a closer look at the Avengers that were here and then finally to gawk at Steve and Loki practically making out against the wall.

Seconds later Iron man turned up, no doubt after stopping at some doughnut shop on the way.

"Fill me in, why are we all staring at a wall? Why is everyone staring at a-" Tony stood gaping - a real achievement, he was finally speechless - at the scene in front of him. He'd arrived expecting some big fight to go down but if this was what people considered a fight nowadays he was sure planning to get into a lot of them.

"Well, that's not what I expected..." Tony trailed off, and just like the people of New York (and the few paparazzi that had been close enough to get here by now, and the helicopter, no doubt a media one, circling overhead, possibly broadcasting on live news) couldn't take their eyes of Steve and Loki. It wasn't disgust that kept them watching, it wasn't interest, it wasn't even awe, it was pure, intense, mind-numbing shock. Shock as to how Captain America one of the 'world's mightiest heroes', no, the leader of the world's mightiest heroes, was making out with Loki. Loki, who tried to conquer earth only a few months ago. Loki, who was responsible for his PTSD, who... His brain just wasn't functioning properly. And neither was anyone else's, except, perhaps Thor, who seemed slightly more aware than everyone else.

It wasn't until they both disappeared, literally disappeared that everyone started coming back to themselves, unfortunately, it was too late to snap pictures or ask questions.

"Sir, I have been told to inform you to pass on a message to Thor that 'he does what he wants. Also, to inform you that Steve Rogers will be engaged for the rest of the evening but will be back tomorrow morning ready for work as usual." Jarvis, Tony's AI, told Tony through the suit. Tony passed on the relevant message to Thor before deciding he needed a whole lot of doughnuts before he could think.


Steve and Loki blinked back to existence somewhere completely different. At first, Steve was confused but then he remembered that Loki could teleport. Unfortunately, the surprise had jolted him out of his mood, making him painfully aware of the scrutiny he'd be under by everyone else now, and the disapproving glances, actually no, screw that, it would be worse than that. He'd just made out with the enemy! Oddly enough, he found he didn't regret his actions but was caught unaware by them, it shocked him but he accepted it. He'd been denying the attraction between the two men for as long as he could, but he wanted to be around Loki, and because of the time they spent together the attraction had only become more and more intense. He was glad for the kiss because now some of that tension had ebbed away.

He wasn't sure where they had arrived at, but Steve wanted to guess Paris. Once he had overcome his shock, they had the meal they had planned on eating before they were interrupted. When their fingers met over the table as they ate, Steve couldn't help the flutter of his heart. It was a beautiful meal, and the brief kiss when they finished seemed to linger on the Captain's lips for hours.

Steve blinked, and when he next opened his eyes he found himself back at Stark Tower in the lounge on his floor. He felt he could still smell the hint of cinnamon that had inundated the air in the restaurant.