Yay! Another new chapter for my wonderful readers! This one's got a bit of mischief ;)

Also, you should know I do a silly little happy dance every time I get an email that someone followed or favorited this story or that there's a new review. I'm a huge dork.

The first week in our new house went pretty smoothly. Loki and I started organizing our belongings and adjusting to the new space. Our routine was pretty much the same as it had been on the helicarrier. We'd eat meals together and watch TV occasionally, but most of the time Loki disappeared into the new communication room as soon as he finished eating. He did cook a few times. I seriously regretted not discovering his culinary talent earlier. I called Fury a few times to update him on how we were doing and read a few books that I had been meaning to read for a while. However, one can only read so many books in a row, and I was needing a change of pace. Maybe I'd ask Fury if I could leave Loki alone for a day and go into town. I just needed to be around people.

Saturday afternoon I was putting away some of my clean clothes (doing laundry does not count as a change of pace). Loki was in the communication room again, staying quiet and, I assumed, out of trouble. I was almost finished when I heard the doorbell ring. "I'll get it!" I yelled, throwing the last of my tank tops into a drawer and leaving the basket outside the laundry room at the end of the hall.

I walked downstairs, thinking that it was odd that we would be getting a delivery without being notified of it. I was completely unprepared for what it actually was.

Loki was holding the front door open, welcoming in an elderly couple.

This could not go well.

I tried to keep my face neutral as I descended the last few stairs. Before I could say anything, Loki turned around and said, "Ah, Elise darling, there you are! These are our new neighbors." At least he remembered my cover name. I still wished we had spent more time going over our identities.

Wait. Darling?

I stepped forward and shook hands with the couple.

"I'm Lucille Clark, and this is my husband Will," the woman began, "It's so nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," I answered, hoping Loki hadn't revealed anything.

"We were so excited when this house sold. It had been empty for a few years after the Edwards went into a nursing home. You're our closest neighbors so we thought we'd stop by and introduce ourselves." I smiled and nodded. Lucille and Will weren't acting strange, except Will kept glancing at Loki like he was trying to remember something. "Oh! I almost forgot!" Lucille handed me a basket with a dishtowel covering its contents. "I made you some blueberry muffins."

"Thank you, that's so thoughtful," I said, lifting the towel. The muffins looked and smelled delicious.

"Oh, it's nothing, I just figured with the stress of moving it might be nice to have some homemade treats that you didn't have to bake yourself."

"Absolutely. They look delicious, by the way." As nervous as I was about unexpectedly having civilians around Loki, it was rather nice to have the company, and Lucille was very sweet.

Loki took the basket from my hands and said, "I'll take these to the kitchen. Would either of you like something to drink?" Lucille asked for tea, if we had it, and Will spoke for the first time, requesting coffee. Loki turned to me, asking, "How about you, dear?"

Dear? Wait, he was talking to me. "Oh, uh... I'll have tea, please." I invited the Clarks to sit in the living room while we waited. Maybe I could do some damage control.

Lucille and I sat on the couch and Will isolated himself in an armchair. I was pretty sure he had been dragged here against his will. Lucille told me a few more stories about the area before Loki peeked out of the kitchen.

"I put on a kettle, but it will still be a few minutes before it's ready." He disappeared again and I could faintly hear cabinets opening and dishes clanking.

Our smalltalk continued until Loki emerged carrying a tray of beverages. He handed Will a cup of coffee and poured steaming water into three cups. I let my tea steep before adding a little sugar from the bowl on the tray. Suddenly I felt an arm around my shoulders and realized that Loki was sitting very close to me. I took a deep breath and sipped my tea.

Loki and Lucille talked for a while and I sat silently, hoping that Will just thought Loki's hair was weird or something. As long as he didn't recognize the god. Loki said he was from London and worked for a phone company or something. I didn't pay too much attention until I heard Lucille ask, "So, Luke, Elise, how long have the two of you been together?"

What.

I nearly spit out my tea like a cartoon character.

That would explain the "darling" and "dear."

Loki started speaking again, but I only caught bits and pieces. Something about "six years" and "met at university" and "wedding." WEDDING? This was definitely not in our cover identities.

I barely spoke the rest of the time the Clarks were over, quietly planning what I was going to say, well probably yell, to Loki after they left. He was not going to get away with going so off-script.

A few minutes before the couple left, Will spoke up again. "You know, you look awfully familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"

I tensed up. He had caught on to Loki. The god rubbed my arm as he shook his head and replied, "I don't believe so."

"Hmm..." Will's eyes narrowed. "I could've sworn I'd seen you somewhere before."

"I've been trying to get him to cut his hair for ages," I said, shooting Loki a glare, "People say it makes him look like an 80's hair band member."

Lucille laughed, "I suppose it does. That must be it, right, Will?"

Will nodded slowly, still unsure. Loki's hair had to go.
_

I waited until the Clarks' pickup reached the end of our driveway, then I turned around to face Loki. "What was all that?" I demanded.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, just telling them we were MARRIED! Why on earth would you say that? We have cover stories for a reason! Now we'll have to change everything!"

"I thought since our visitors were older, they would probably be more traditional, so I told them you were my wife."

I understood his reasoning, but he had still altered our covers without my knowledge. Fury might be, well, furious. "You did not have the right to do that. I'll have to let Fury know later." Loki rolled his eyes. "Also, Will came way too close to recognizing you tonight."

"And?" Loki questioned.

"Clearly dressing you in normal clothes isn't enough. I'm cutting your hair."

Loki's eyes widened. "No."

"Yes. Now. I'm not risking anyone else stopping by and figuring out who you are." I grabbed Loki's arm and dragged him into the kitchen. "Sit," I ordered.

"You're not doing this," Loki argued as I searched through the drawers for a pair of scissors.

"I am," I said, forcing him into a chair with all my weight. "And the more you fight, the worse I'll make your hair look."

Loki glared at me, "Do you know how to cut hair?"

"Well, I cut my own bangs a few times. It'll be fine." He was clearly not satisfied with that answer, but he sat still as I ran my fingers through his hair, trying to untangle it a bit before I started. "Are you ready?"

"No," he spat out.

"Too bad." I grabbed a strand from the top of his head and held it out, snipping of the majority of the length and dropping it to the floor. Loki glanced down and winced. "If you sit still I'll be done sooner."

When I finally got his hair all to the same length, I stopped to look at it from the front. I definitely wasn't done.

"What?" Loki asked anxiously, "Are you finished?"

"Not quite." I started trimming more hair from the sides, hoping it would start to look like a normal haircut soon. The top looked fine a little longer so I left it.

At last he was as close to presentable as I could make him with a pair of kitchen shears. I brushed fallen hairs from his shoulders and walked around to face him. His hair was shorted on the sides, and the top stuck up slightly. His hair was almost curly when it was short.

"It's not perfect, but it'll do for now," I said.

Loki looked up at me with uncertainty and slowly reached up to touch his hair, his face paling when he realized just how short it was. He ran his fingers through his locks before dropping his hands and staring at me again.

He looked good with short hair.

Wait. What?

A little bit fluffy(: I started writing part of a chapter that's still a while from now and, well, it's pretty angsty. Oops.

I don't own Marvel. I promise.

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