Peter looked over the city, his home, and watched the sun rise, painting the sky and the buildings with vivid splashes of color, stretching out over everything, a blanket of light. It was an incredible sight, and he couldn't even keep his gaze focused on it, because sitting beside him on the edge of the helicopter pad at the top of the Avengers Tower, was Loki, a Prince (a literal Prince, for crying out loud) of Asgard.
Peter could barely sit still, his hands moving from a fidget in his lap, to running through his hair, pulling his legs beneath him and then crossing them and uncrossing them. He could tell he was a ball of energy, despite having done so much throughout the night, Loki just seemed to dig up undiscovered depths of nerves and liveliness from him.
They sat there in silence, watching the sun inch higher, and as lovely as the whole scene was, Peter was starting to feel like the silence was choking him. There was too much pent up worry and unanswered questions crawling under his skin. He couldn't sit still, and he could feel the silence sitting on his chest with the pressure of a car, until it finally forced words out of his mouth, and breath out of his lungs., "Well?" He let out a light laugh, getting used to his voice after so much quiet. " What did I tell you, the sunrise from up here is unbeatable."
Loki gave Peter a side glance that he felt in his bones, "I suppose Earth has its moments."
Peter let out a real laugh at that, and gave a slight push to Loki's shoulder, "You are never going to give in easily, are you?"
Loki flashed him a sharp smile, a glint of humor in his eyes, "Not likely, no."
Peter gave a mock sigh of irritation, never once losing his smile. Getting to his feet, he held his hand out for Loki, which Loki ignored as he stood up by himself. "Alright, we should head back inside now before Tony starts looking for one of us."
"You're the boss." Loki said sardonically.
Peter couldn't help the nervous chuckle, but still managed to give Loki an eye roll, "Alright alright, how are you getting back in, anyway?"
"Ah well, maybe I'll just saunter back in and see what happens."
Peter gave a small laugh at that, but when Loki gave no response, Peter's eyes quickly snapped back up at him and felt the rising spark of anxiety when he realized he had no clue if Loki was joking or being serious.
"Please tell me you're kidding." Peter said, suddenly frozen to his spot as he watched Loki casually lean over the side of the building and look around.
Loki glanced up at the tone of Peter's voice, but he didn't seem nearly as concerned as he should, in fact, he seemed to be finding Peter's reaction amusing.
"What's the matter Parker? Worried I'll get you in trouble?" Loki looked him over with a sharp smile, his voice sounding deep and vaguely threatening.
"No…" Peter dragged the word out, his thoughts moving too fast to land on a good answer. What was he afraid of? Tony finding out? He definitely wouldn't be happy, but it's not as if he could even ground Peter at this point. Still, he knows how pissed Tony would be, and more importantly, how hurt he'll be, worried, disappointed. Peter has caused enough of that for a lifetime.
But more than that, Peter didn't want Loki in trouble either. Tony was just looking for an excuse to kick him out, and he was clearly there for a reason, for his safety or because of something that was happening to him. Peter didn't want Loki out there, in danger and alone with whatever it was he was dealing with.
And, Peter may have been being a little selfish in that he didn't want to lose the chance to get to know Loki, to hang out with him. If they got caught, either one, Tony was going to latch down on the security and they'd never see each other again.
Peter took in a deep breath, realizing he had been quiet for a bit longer than what's considered a reasonable amount of time. "I just don't want to give Tony another reason to act like an asshole."
Loki chuckled at that, "Does he ever need a reason?"
Peter rubbed at the back of his neck with a small smile, feeling a bit proud at being able to make Loki laugh, even if it didn't seem like his smiles ever reached all the way to his eyes, it's something. "So, you maybe wanna revisit that plan of yours?"
Loki rolled his eyes lightly, "I hadn't given much thought to the getting back in bit"
"Well getting back in is going to be a lot more complicated, it's more of a fortress, than a prison, after all."
"For you maybe." Loki spoke the words softly, but they still had an edge to them.
Peter winced and soldiered on,"My point is, it's much easier sneaking out then it is to sneak in, it's warded and protected and literally full of heroes."
"Believe it or not, I've faced worse than your boy band of superheroes." Loki looked at Peter, dragging his gaze away from the building underneath them, and had a curious light in his eyes, "And how is it you get back in, anyhow? Just swing yourself into the front door?"
"Oh- um no, I go through my bedroom window."
Loki raised a single brow at him, "You just slip through the window of some impenetrable fortress?" He definitely said the last bit with a healthy dose of sarcasm.
"I-, no that's not exactly, I mean my suit has an AI like FRIDAY, I call her Karen, and they're programmed together so my suit has access and can open my window from the outside. So yeah, it's still an impenetrable fortress, which you still don't have access too. " Peter began pacing some time during his ramble and he stopped abruptly running a hand through his hair as he stared at Loki and tried to keep his heart in his chest, where it belonged.
Loki looked at him with that smile Peter was beginning to think of as a bad omen, "Well, Peter, aren't you going to invite me to your room?" Loki tilted his head slightly, that smile shining in the morning light like a beacon, and Peter had a vague thought about moths, but it was gone just as quickly as it had come.
Loki wasn't sure why he was here. From the moment Thor had swooped in, throwing his hammer about, to the second that he left him on the Avengers doorstep, Loki had wanted nothing to do with it. He hadn't wanted to leave, he wanted to stay and fight through every single person who stood in his way, he wanted blood and vengeance. He wanted justice. Instead, he was being babysat, treated like a burden and a villian.
And then he wasn't any of those things. He was playing air hockey, he was racing across a city, and he was watching a sunrise in comfortable silence.
And somehow this all led to the moment he flew across the city air as a hummingbird, landing across a window seal of the Avengers Tower, following a younger man who seemed to be one of the very few who looked at Loki's magic with awe instead of fear or distaste.
Loki flew into the room and transformed back to his regular form in a fluid motion, coming to stand in the middle of the expansive space.
He glanced around easily, taking in everything, from the exit points and any makeshift weapons, to the dirty clothes tossed about and the textbooks. Peter stood by the window, his mask in his hands now as he raked a wide eyed gaze over Loki, a glint of wonder in his brown eyes.
The God had always taken a perverse sense of enjoyment from making people uncomfortable, especially with his magic. He loved making a show with it, large flourishes of power that weren't always necessary, just to see the way it set people on edge.
Once Loki realized he could never gain the trust or admiration of his people on Asgard, not like Thor had, he'd stopped trying. He would always be cast as a villain in their eyes, no matter what he did with his magic, he was always too much, too different. So he also stopped playing it safe, he'd stopped doing party tricks with his magic, he stopped fighting the image they cast for him, and the lines between who he was, and the role they casted him in, began to blur.
He'd stopped being ashamed of how people looked at him, how they shrunk away in fear at his displays of magic, how they turned in disgust, or looked at him with malice. Soon he realized the power in this, how he could take control of it, force a reaction from everyone with a simple turn of magic, a small display and he could feel the tensions rise, and manipulate the situation. If they wanted to fear and despise him, he'd rise to the challenge.
But Peter, he was different. Loki hadn't run into many people who could surprise him, but somehow, Peter of all people had caught him off guard. Every bit of magic he used seemed to utterly delight the boy. He wasn't afraid, he wasn't even concerned, he was mesmerized. He was curious, and not in a primal way, but in an innocent fascinated way. It terrified Loki. He felt out of control, he felt lost in a world he didn't know. Of course, these days Loki felt lost more often than not.
Peter was moving now, scrambling about the room and throwing things around, cleaning up the desk, tossing the loose clothes into a basket, webbing up random things as he moved about the room, putting them away, and Loki finally focused on his chatter, "I don't really get a lot of time for cleaning between all the Avengers things, plus I don't really get much company here anyway. I mean, there's Ned, Ned comes over a good bit, but it's just Ned, not to mention if you took one look at Ned's room you'd probably get stuck and be lost to the world, and um yeah…" He trailed off awkwardly and seemed to draw himself to a stop by his desk, looking Loki over and trying to nonchalantly sit on his desk, resulting in almost falling off of said desk.
Loki watched the whole spectacle with nothing more than a look of silent impatience, and when the boy seemed to truly stop, Loki started to peruse the charming little room.
Most of it was what you'd expect from a college student, between some really weird posters of things Loki had never heard of hanging on the walls, to the mess littering the place, a computer desk piled with papers and a laptop, a bookshelf with a lot of books, including some thick looking textbooks which caused Loki to raise an eyebrow at, especially considering the rows of comic books they were placed beside. His dresser was scattered with random little objects and Loki let his hand play over them, some strange figurines, some weird spinning looking object that looked kind of like fan blades, 3 circles that spun around a center while you held it. Then Loki noticed the bulletin board behind the desks, pinned with some photos.
Loki leaned in to investigate them farther, a picture with an older woman, she looked like maybe a mother? She had her arms around Peter and a big smile on her face, while Peter had a large gown on and a cap, holding a square of paper with words Loki couldn't quiet read.
"Ah, that was my high school graduation. Oh and that's my Aunt May." Peter's voice suddenly came from just off to the side of Loki, having moved around his desk to stand by him.
"Why are you wearing a robe?" Loki asked dryly.
"Oh uh." Peter let out a small laugh, more like a puff of air, which Loki could feel against his neck, "That's a graduation gown, it's an Earth thing I guess." Peter pointed to the other photo, leaning close enough so that his chest was brushing against Loki's back. "And this is when Tony gave me the internship, May insisted on taking a picture." Loki ignored the feel of Peter so close to him and instead, focused on the picture. It was of Peter and Tony shaking hands in a small looking apartment, Tony putting his other hand on Peters shoulder, Peter's smile looking genuine, but also very nervous, "Little did she know the 'Internship', was actually me going to Germany and helping fight Captain America and a whole slew of other superheroes." Peter said it in kind of an exasperated tone, but Loki saw nothing but joy in his face as he seemed to relive the memory.
Loki looked to the next photo, Peter smiling over a birthday cake that read 18, with May hugging him from behind, Tony, a small smile on his face as he stood a bit farther away, hands in the pockets of his dress pants, trying to look nonchalant, but Loki could see the way he looked at Peter, it gave away everything. And there was everyone, Steve, Natasha, Clint, even Thor was there, a goofy smile as he towered over most everyone.
Loki hated the stab of jealousy that went through him, how this kid had more family then he knew what to do with, one member of which was Loki's actual family. Loki had never known this level of closeness, not with his own brother, or any of his own people. Loki wanted it, and at the same time, he loathed it.
Loki could feel Peter's gaze burning into the side of his face, so he dragged his own gaze away from the image and locked eyes with the younger kid, wearing his usual cold mask as he did so. Peter didn't flinch, didn't shy away, just kept staring back at him.
"I hope I helped get you out of your head for a little while." Peter spoke quietly and started fidgeting again, "I know I uh had fun."
Loki's eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed, once again caught off guard by Peter's seemingly genuine demeanor, confused and still a bit untrusting of it. As much as he tried finding a new way through life, Loki couldn't seem to claw past the suspicious, untrusting nature that's buried so deep within. He looks back to the wall of pictures, the glow on this kids face, the family he let in, probably without a second thought. Loki could feel Peter's fidgeting beside him, his growing anxiety practically palpable. "Do you ever stop moving?" Loki asked dryly.
"Oh well uh, yeah you know, sometimes… When I'm sleeping, mostly." Peter tried to casually put his hands on his hips, seemed to decide better of it and crossed his arms in front of his chest, twitching slightly before settling into the position with a slight wince.
Loki let out a tired sigh as he wondered for probably the hundredth time that night, what am I doing?
He moved away from the wall, pointedly not looking at the other boys face as he makes his way towards the bedroom door, "Well, I suppose I should probably get back to my cell before they notice my absence and send for a manhunt."
"Oh, oh yeah, you're probably right." Loki could feel the disappointment coming from behind him, and he ignores the feeling under his ribs, like a splinter lodging somewhere deep. After so many years, one would think he'd get used to disappointing people.
Before Loki could reach the door, Peter made a sudden noise, and he flung himself across the room. Loki raised an eyebrow at him as he practically trips over himself in order to make it to the door and open it for Loki, all traces of the disappointment gone, replaced by an easy smile.
"Do you know your way back to your room? I know this place is pretty big and you've never really been inside, well not since it was Stark Tower, and-"
Loki ignored his rambling, walking past him to head out the door, but as soon as he crossed the threshold and looked to his left, he caught sight of a figure just as they turned the corner, looking up as he walked right towards them, and Loki locked eyes with Tony Stark.