Hey guys, sorry it's been ages again. I've been super busy, but busy with good things for a change :)
On the plus side, this WILL be getting regular (hopefully weekly) updates again. I'm using the summer holidays and my time off uni to focus on becoming a published author, and a part of that will be working on this, because this has obviously been developing my skills as an author.

So, what has happened so far?
- Everyone's living in Malibu together
- Sleipnir (and the other kids) have started school. Sleipnir freaks out because of the abuse he suffered from Odin
- Tony, Loki etc. are building an Einstein-Rosen Bridge. Secretary Pierce, the World Security Council and Fury want its plans. Tony is uncooperative
- Tony and Loki find Captain America
- Steve wakes up in the 21st century, he comes downstairs to find a) a room full of people (some of which are blue) b) that most of his friends are dead. Fun times! :|
- Steve and Tony have an argument because Steve wants to visit his friends' graves and Tony is worried about SHIELD finding him
- They make up and Tony decides to befriend Steve to spite Howard
- Sleipnir kind of makes friends? Well, the 'bad influence' type kids. Honestly, they are all dumbass 13-14 year olds.
- The Winter Soldier is woken up

Thank you all for continuing to support this fic and not giving up on it due to my crappy update schedule, it means a lot!

28/07/19

Chapter Eight - The Completion of the E-R Bridge

A couple of weeks later found Sleipnir with Jamie and Sam in the middle of a maths lesson, laughing about something stupid Sam's little brother had done.

"I know exactly what you mean!" Sleipnir grinned, rolling his eyes. "Just yesterday-"

"Okay class, could I have quiet please?" Mr Allen called. Sleipnir ignored him determinedly, the others didn't always shut up when he asked them to. Besides, he had a story to tell. He was gonna be like Jamie, he wasn't gonna be scared of teachers, he wasn't gonna do what he was told, he wasn't gonna let Odin ruin his life.

"-Jormungandr decided he was gonna make a cake all by himself."

"If everyone's quite finished..."

"I swear to the N... to God that my dad nearly had a heart-"

"Sleipnir, you can have your own conversations at lunch, right now we're meant to be focusing on Math."

Sleipnir immediately shut up, biting his lip and staring back at Mr Allen, who was undeniably irritated. Oh no. No. He could not do this, disappointing an Authority Figure brought back too many memories. He nodded and dug his fingernails into his leg to try to steady his breathing.

"Why d'you have to pick on him for?" Jamie demanded beside him. Sleipnir felt his face drain of colour. Jamie was always so angry, always raring for a fight with anybody, Sleipnir wished that he would shut up. "Everyone else was talking, that's not fair. I-"

"Jamie, I don't think this calls for your input."

"I think-" Jamie said, before cutting off abruptly when Sleipnir elbowed him. To his surprise, Jamie glanced at him and shut up.

The last fifteen minutes of the lesson passed in a haze of anxiety, Sleipnir wasn't even sure what they were learning about or what the basic sums he was doing were.

At the end of the lesson Mr Allen called Sleipnir back.

Almost certain that he would faint or at the very least fall over, Sleipnir waited for everyone to leave, doing his best to channel Jamie's energy and stay in control.

-Q-

Mr Allen sighed as the last student left the classroom and the door shut behind them.

What was he even meant to say?

"Sleipnir, you're not here because I want to tell you off." That wasn't a bad start, he supposed, but the kid was looking at him incredulously, sitting tense behind his desk, clutching his math book in front of him like a shield.

He grimaced and hoisted himself up onto one of the nearby desks. "I'm just, concerned about you, I suppose. You're a good kid Sleipnir. And you know, in the grand scheme of things talking over me in class isn't a big thing, don't tell anyone I said this but it's good to see you being more confident, behaving like a normal kid."

Sleipnir didn't look any less tense than when the conversation had started.

"It's just, it's very clear that you're uncomfortable starting a new school and you have some very big anxiety issues. And I think that that makes you... very vulnerable to the manipulations of... certain people."

Sleipnir's eyes narrowed and God knew that Mr Allen had rarely felt more uncomfortable.

"I just think that maybe Jamie and some of the others could be having a bad influence on you."

Sleipnir's eyes blazed and he opened his mouth, obviously to refute that statement, before shutting it again, drawing into himself even more. Mr Allen cursed himself, of course Sleipnir wouldn't see them as a damaging influence, not with how lonely he'd been.

"It's clear you disagree with me, but-"

"No!" Sleipnir nearly yelled and Mr Allen startled. "I mean... I..." he spluttered.

Mr Allen attempted a comforting smile. "It's okay, you're allowed to disagree with me-" Sleipnir looked like he had just told him that the Earth was flat- "I am just asking you to be careful, if you feel like they're being mean, or manipulating you, or making you upset or uncomfortable, I want you to feel like you can find some new friends or speak to a member of staff. I'm worried about you."

"They're the only people who have been a bit kind to me, the only ones who don't make fun of me that much, the only ones that make this all make a bit of sense!" Sleipnir blurted out, defiance and terror painted clearly across his face.

Mr Allen sighed. Of course Sleipnir felt that way. He just hoped that the kid would be able to get away from them before Jamie and his friends messed the kid up too badly.

-Q-

Sleipnir practically fled the classroom as soon as he was allowed to. Mr Allen seemed to be trying to be nice, but he was telling him to be wary of his friends, so what was he meant to make of that? Was he meant to stop being friends with them? Well. He wasn't going to. These were the first friends he'd had in half a millennium (excluding people like Tony, because they were more like family anyway) and nothing was going to change that.

"Hey," Sam called from about halfway down the corridor. "You okay?"

"He said..." Sleipnir started, then froze up. Could he let Sam know what had happened? Would Sam be angry with him? Would he be upset?

"Yeah, I know what he said," Sam said, patting him lightly on the shoulder, Sleipnir managed to only flinch slightly. "Jamie heard what he said too and he punched the wall and stormed off in a rage. I think he might have left the grounds."

"What!?"

"Honestly, I dunno what he was so pissed off about, he does his best to be a 'bad influence' or whatever and we all know he has issues."

"Is he going to be mad at me?" Sleipnir asked quietly.

"No, he's pissed at Mr Allen, that's all," Sam replied. "'Sides, if he does get mad at you I'll show him."

"Really?" Sleipnir almost laughed, his eyebrows raised as far as they could go.

"Well... probably not. You don't want to get into a fight with Jamie, he is lethal, man. He's scary. Look, cheer up. Let's go to the cafeteria, we can try out some of the awesome games your phone has again."

Sleipnir gave a half smile and followed him to the cafeteria, his heart still pounding in his chest.

-Q-

Loki grinned as he looked around at Erik, Jane and Bruce.

"We've done it! We've actually done it!"

"I know!" Bruce breathed. "And to think I thought you were all mad when Tony contacted me."

"Those assholes at college can stick it!" Jane all but shrieked. "Because look what we have here, a working Einstein-Rosen bridge, that just sent a bagel to and from Asgard without opening up a black hole! Suck it bitches!"

"I still think we should have done more tests," Erik muttered, but Loki could see him beaming ecstatically so he just rolled his eyes fondly. "And we couldn't have done it without you and your magic, son." Erik added, and Loki found himself suddenly engulfed in a hug.

He felt like almost crying with happiness. Look how far he'd come, look how far they'd all come. Less than a year ago Erik had all but hated him, and now look at them. And here he had people who cared about him, who knew him, even the parts of him he'd thought (and sometimes still did think) monstrous. Sometimes he found this hard to believe, sometimes he thought that the Norns were just playing an elaborate joke on him and the rug was about to be pulled out from under him and he'd fall into an abyss where he was (rightfully) hated again. But now, now he could believe it. Because he was laughing, and his friends were laughing, and they'd just accomplished the impossible.

He grinned at Bruce, who actually seemed to be crying he was so delighted with their success and knew how he felt. Only half a year ago Bruce had been hiding in Calcutta, afraid of himself, afraid of everything he could do, and people had been hunting him down with such hatred. People had thought he was a monster too. But now, here he was, he was with people who accepted him (even, in the case of Tony, tried to get him to let the 'Other Guy' loose), and he was a part of the first team on Earth to crack deep space travel. They had both found a family here.

-Q-

"So," Fury said seriously. "I've been told that your trial run was a success."

"Yes it was!" Jane gushed. "We didn't even cause a small inter-dimensional rupture!"

"That we know of," Loki added, being unable to resist seeing Fury's reaction. The other three glared at him. Once people being mock-angry about him would have terrified him. But it didn't now, at least, it didn't where these three were involved.

"Right," Fury said drily. "Where's Stark, I'd have thought his ego wouldn't resist being here for such a monumentous event."

"He's ill," Loki said quickly. Fury could not know that Tony was obsessing over teaching Steve everything important that had happened over the last seventy years just to stick it to Howard, and also, Loki knew, because Tony actually liked Steve.

"Right," Fury said, who'd clearly heard about the time Tony had come into work with pneumonia and had managed to crack the problem that had been bugging them for three weeks before passing out in a haze of delirium and forcibly-administered medication. "If I find out he's caused a diplomatic incident doing whatever the hell he's doing today, it's your asses on the line."

The four of them looked at each other and shrugged.

-Q-

Secretary Pierce ended his video call with Fury and smiled.

So, SHIELD's new lapdogs had finally cracked the secret to a working E-R Bridge.

It seemed that Hydra needed to put their plans into action.

So, I hope you guys enjoyed that chapter :)

Next up: Steve goes to visit Peggy with some help from Tony and Loki.

Loki goes to visit Laufey, partly to learn to control his frost giant powers, and they end up having a pretty angsty and deep conversation. Laufey is a Good Dad :)

It would be great if you guys could leave a review, just to let me know you're still interested and reading this, because I do worry that loads of people will have given up on this because I've left it so long.