First off, a HUGE thanks to everyone who's reviewed this story so far. It really makes me so happy to hear what you're thinking!

Second, I only have two days of finals (ew) left before break, so hopefully I can get a lot more writing done then.

Tuesday morning I got up and made breakfast. The meal passed by smoothly, with Loki being a little more pleasant than usual and me... not being a morning person. After we finished eating I decided it was time.

"Loki, are you ready for a crash course in Earth's music?"

He looked up at me and trepidation flashed across his face before he quickly concealed it with a mask of calmness. "Of course. Shall we begin?"

I smiled. Hopefully he stayed this cooperative. "Yeah, you can just do... whatever you usually do," What did he usually do during the day? "I'm just going to play a bunch of different music and see how it goes."

Loki nodded and disappeared into his room. A few moments later he emerged with a large book. I raised an eyebrow at it, wondering where he'd gotten it. It wasn't one of mine.

"I requested some classic Midgardian literature from Fury. I believe this one is from France," he explained, as if he had read my mind. He turned the book so I could see the cover. Les Miserables. I had a song or two from the musical on my iPod.

"You know, they made that book into a musical."

"A what?" He looked puzzled.

"Like a play but parts of the story are told through songs," I explained. I couldn't believe he attacked New York City and didn't know what a musical was. "Les Miserables is a very famous musical. I actually have a couple songs from the show if you'd like to hear them."

"I think that would be quite interesting." Loki sat in the armchair and opened his book to about the middle, carefully removing a slip of paper marking the page.

I sat on the couch and pulled my feet up next to me. I found the Les Mis album and looked at the titles: I Dreamed a Dream, Red and Black, and One Day More. One Day More would probably be confusing because Loki hadn't seen it performed and a song about fighting against the government seemed like a bad idea given his past, so I pressed I Dreamed a Dream.

The soft intro began to play and I picked up a mostly empty sketchbook. I hadn't drawn anything since I joined SHIELD a few years before, so I knew my art skills were going to be a little more than rusty. However, I didn't have much else to do, so I thought I might as well try it again.

Fantine's heartbroken voice filled the apartment as I started to doodle. In the middle of the first verse I looked up and noticed Loki listening intently with a sorrowful expression. I reached to pause the song but he glanced at me and shook his head. I leaned back and watched him for the rest of the song.

After the last notes I grabbed my iPod and hit pause. I waited for Loki to say something, deciding that he probably needed to be the one to speak up first. Finally he did.

"I understand her," he said quietly. "I know how it feels to have the life you expected suddenly ripped away and your whole world torn upside down."

I sat in silence for about a minute before speaking. "I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about it?"

Loki looked at me and sighed, "No. Maybe I will eventually, but not now."

There was still so much I didn't know about him. "I understand... Would you like me to play another song? I'll pick a happier one this time."

He nodded and returned to reading. I scrolled through the song list before picking a recent hit. The bouncy intro began to play and I nearly missed hearing my phone start ringing in my bedroom. Fury's ringtone.

I jumped up and ran to my room, picking up the phone and answering as I sat on my bed.

"Hello, this is Agent Megan Coltey."

"Yes, Agent Coltey, I need you to come to a meeting this afternoon."

"Of course, sir, what time?"

"As soon as Loki's left for communications. We believe it's time to move on to Phase 2 of your assignment."

"Phase 2? What's Phase 2?"

"Everything will be explained this afternoon." The phone clicked.

Well that was a cliffhanger if I ever saw one.

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