Author's Note: Okay. So. Basically take Tom Hiddleston and his amazing, awesome everyday wardrobe, and give him Loki hair. Those are Loki's new clothes.

You're welcome, fangirls.

Changed

Chapter Four: The New Routine

As promised, Dylan dutifully rounded up Michelle and Loki and ushered them out of the theatre as soon as the rehearsal ended. With the three of them now crammed in the back of a taxi, Michelle in the middle because she was the smallest, they were heading off to 5th Avenue for shopping. She wasn't exactly sure how it would go, and to be honest, she was nervous; Dylan and Loki, shopping together. For some reason, that bode ill to her. She just hoped it went smoothly.

"Are you sure you're qualified for this?" she asked Dylan.

"For shopping? Why wouldn't I be?" He asked.

"Sometimes your taste in fashion is… questionable…."

"Excuse you," Dylan feigned insult. "I happen to have an amazing sense of fashion."

"You've worn green skinny jeans with an orange t-shirt," Michelle deadpanned, trying to make a point.

"Those jeans were amazing, okay? Don't even."

Loki was mildly amused by their antics. They acted like an old married couple, bickering and carrying on. He, Thor and the Warrior's Three would do the same, all the time. Purely in jest, of course. For a brief moment, he wondered idly what they were all doing at that moment. Then he remember the look of contempt Sif had given him when he first returned to Asgard, and he steeled himself, forcing the memory and the thoughts of his friends and brother out of his mind. Pulling himself from his thoughts, he went back to listening to Dylan and Michelle, who were still bickering.

"Trust me, when I'm done, he'll look amazing," Dylan was saying.

"Who's paying for this, anyway?" Michelle suddenly asked.

Dylan raised a brow and gave her a knowing smirk. "I made some phone calls. Broadway's an expensive past time, love; especially during times like these. Give the store clerks cheap show tickets, and in return, I get their employee discount."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"Nah, it's called being thrifty." Dylan said. Then he tapped on the glass separating them from the driver and said, "Here's good!"

Loki and Michelle slipped out of the car as Dylan paid the driver, and as soon as he was out of the car, he grabbed them both by the arm and steered them into a rather expensive looking store that sold men's clothing, such as blazers, dress pants, suits and a few designer items. Michelle paled slightly.

"Wait, wait… here?" She asked.

"Why not?" Dylan replied. Then he turned to Loki. "Unless you'd rather go somewhere else."

"No, I like this," Loki said with a smile, heading into the store. Michelle sighed as Dylan dragged her inside.

"Come on," He coaxed. "The more you cooperate with me, the easier you'll make this on yourself."

"I hate shopping," Michelle huffed.

"We're not even shopping for you and already you're losing your mind," Dylan sighed with a shake of his head.

Inside, Loki was already inspecting things, searching through the racks, running his fingers over the material of the jackets. Dylan marched right over to him, and she stood back and watched as they discussed things and Dylan pulled articles of clothing from their hangers and holding them up to Loki's body. One of the girls who worked there, who Dylan was obviously friends with, came over and started pulling out suggestions, as well. She looked like a model, tall and slender with ashy blonde hair styled in loose curls. Soon enough, they had a whole collection of clothes for Loki to try, and both the store clerk (named Victoria) and Dylan ushered him to the dressing rooms. Michelle followed along behind, and sat with them as they waited for him to try things on.

She had to admit, the clothes that Loki came out wearing suited him very well. He first tried on a more casual outfit, consisting of a pair of fitted dark wash jeans, and a simple gray t-shirt with a simple leather jacket on top. Though he seemed unsure at first, the unanimous agreement caused him to stand a little straighter. He tried on lighter jeans and a series of casual t-shirts that he'd be able to dress up a little with the leather jacket (that seemed to grow on him more and more, Michelle noticed) as well as some button-up shirts, all of varying colors. He liked neutral colors, blacks, grays, dark blues, navy, and whites, but any color he did go for always seemed to be green. Michelle liked him in green; it brought out the color of his eyes, which were undoubtedly beautiful. When she mentioned this, Dylan and Victoria were very quick to agree but they still convinced him to go for some dark red shirts, as well.

The shopping trip was certainly interesting. Not because it was going awry in any way, but because of how much fun Loki seemed to be having. He was smiling and laughing in a way Michelle had never seen before. He'd been so serious in the beginning, dark and cold, and even when it was just the two of them, Loki was rather distant with her. She hadn't realized how much he'd changed during the past month; he seemed more alive now, relaxed. Perhaps doing this odd job for the theatre would be good for him, she thought. He clearly needed to interact with people, to get outside and live. At least this way he was learning he wasn't above anybody.

His last outfit of their shopping excursion was a suit with a longer trench jacket, something he seemed adamant about. Michelle thought back to the leather and metal costume he wore when she first found him, and she supposed that made sense; he'd been wearing a trench coat then, too. Dylan did manage to convince him to try on a shorter jacket, however, and he agreed.

"Though I don't think it will look as good," he said.

"I think you'd look good in anything," Victoria answered as she tied his tie for him, giving him a sultry smile. He gave a small chuckle in reply, but it was in a much more innocent way. Dylan, meanwhile, was scrutinizing Loki's outfit, sizing him up.

"There's something missing here," he said, gesturing to all of Loki. "This just seems too plain."

"I think it's fine," Victoria said, tightening his lie and smoothing out the collar of the white dress shirt. She helped him put on the longer jacket, and stood back to look at him. "Very handsome."

Loki glanced away from his 'stylists' to see what Michelle thought of this, but she wasn't looking at him. He wondered subtly why he sought her opinion; she clearly wasn't very interested in this shopping business. She glanced around the store looking for something, and she clearly saw just the thing and got up to go get it. As Dylan and Victoria debated back and fourth about what was wrong, Michelle hurried back with a green scarf in her hands. She approached Loki and draped it around his neck, adjusting it so that it was sitting symmetrically. Loki watched her as she worked, wondering why she chose the scarf; this was reminiscent of the suit he wore when he had infiltrated that art museum with Barton and tried to subjugate the citizens there. He frowned slightly.

There it was. That strange, small feeling of guilt again.

He pushed it out of his mind as Michelle stood close to him, still adjusting the scarf, and he forced himself to stay focused on the present.

"How's this?" Michelle asked Dylan and Victoria, stepping away from Loki so they could see.

The pair simply stared for nearly a full minute before Dylan grinned and said, "Yeah, that'll work. What do you think, Loki?"

"I think it's very suitable," he answered. He suddenly just wanted to go home.

Victoria grinned and gently squeezed Dylan's arm before entering Loki's dressing room. "I'll help you take your things to the counter."

"Don't forget the clothes you came in," Michelle reminded Loki. "I need to give those back to my scatterbrained brother."

Loki chuckled as he waited for Dylan and Victoria to clear out with their arms full of clothes. "Of course."

As they left Loki and Michelle alone, taking the clothes to the counter, he plucked at the green scarf around his neck, the silky emerald threads almost like water under his fingers. He finally looked at Michelle, who was busy checking her cell phone, and asked, "Why green?"

"Hmm?" She looked to see what he meant. He tugged gently on the scarf for emphasis. Michelle gave him a small smile and said simply, "Green suits you."

Then she gestured to the change room. "Now get in there; we need to go home and organize your closet."

Loki was back to wearing her brother's clothes, and she only noticed now how big they hung on him after seeing him in clothes that fit. She hated to admit it, but Dylan was right; shopping had definitely been necessary. The total cost was way less than Michelle had anticipated, for which she was grateful. Victoria had given them her employee discount, as Dylan had said she would, and had also found some loopholes on sales and promotions that lowered the cost even more. Dylan ended up paying for half, and Michelle was about to protest, but he'd already swiped his card before she could stop him.

"This was my idea, I'm taking responsibility for some of the damage," he said.

With their arms loaded with bags, Michelle and Loki thanked the pair as they left the store, and she managed to flag down a cab to take them home.

It was a struggle getting all of the bags out of the cab, but with enough pulling and perseverance, they managed to carry everything, and the odd couple made their way into the building and to the elevator. Michelle managed to bump the elevator button with her elbow, adjusting the bags in her hands as she did so, and she sighed gratefully when the doors opened. That same old woman was in the elevator again, and she gave Michelle a smile before glancing at Loki who was busy adjusting the grip on his own bags.

"Could you push number five for us, please?" Michelle asked the old lady.

"Of course, dear," she said kindly, reaching over to push the button. Then she observed their bags. "You've had quite the shopping spree."

"Oh, yeah," Michelle said with a hollow laugh as the doors closed and the elevator started its ascent. "It's definitely been a big day."

The old woman then leaned in closer to Michelle and muttered not all that quietly, "Glad to see your cousin isn't wearing that funny costume of his anymore."

Michelle was confused for a moment, but then remembered the story she'd told her when she first brought Loki home. She just smiled and nodded, thought slightly embarrassed that Loki had heard. She glanced at him, but he just stood straight, staring ahead, all quiet and brooding. She frowned at him slightly. He was certainly a whole plethora of emotions.

The doors finally opened, and Michelle bid the old woman goodbye as she and Loki stepped out of the elevator. Making their way down the hall, she gratefully dropped a handful of bags on the ground as she sifted through her purse for her keys.

"I take it you know that woman?" Loki asked as she put the key in the lock.

"Nope," Michelle answered, the lock opening with a satisfying click. "She saw me carrying you into the building when I found you."

"You mean when I saved you from your attackers," he corrected.

"You fell out of the sky and just happened to land on one of them," she shot back, opening the door. "I could have handled myself."

"From what I recall, they had you pinned against the wall."

"How do you know? You were barely conscious."

"Semantics," Loki said, holding the door open for her as she hauled his bags inside. She didn't even bother to kick off her shoes just yet as she dragged them down the hall, tossing them into his room. He took his own time in removing the borrowed sneakers from his feet as Michelle disappeared further into his bedroom and opened up the closet. As he approached, he heard her curse under her breath. She'd been doing that a lot today, he observed with a smirk.

"Christ," she hissed, beginning to pull things out of the closet. "He left so much crap in here."

"Your brother?" Loki clarified, setting his bags next to the pile she's brought in.

"Yes," she answered, pulling a few sweaters from their hook hangers and tossing them onto the bed. "This is his, this is his, that's his, these are his… oh… this is Dad's… but Mark's the one who brought it…"

"Where is your brother?" he asked as she pulled a few shirts and a pair of jeans out of the closet, dumping them unceremoniously on the floor.

"Probably at home with Mom and Dad," Michelle answered, pulling more things from the closet.

"And where are they?"

"I told you, Sydney."

"Where exactly is Sydney?"

"Sydney," she started, grunting with effort as she wrapped her arms around everything else in the closet and hauled them out "Is in Canada, the country north of this one. Along the east coat, there's a province called Nova Scotia, and off the north coast of that is an island called Cape Breton; that's where my family lives, in a city called Sydney, and that's what I'm from."

She stood up straight, slightly out of breath from hauling the bags upstairs and now pulling everything from the closet. She put her hands on her hips, shaking her head at the pile of clothes her brother had left for her before she kicked when she's dumped on the floor out of the way.

"Here, bring those bags over," she said, gesturing for Loki to come near. "We'll start putting your things away."

"Why did you leave Sydney?" Loki asked as he brought her some bags.

"A change of pace?" Michelle answered, pulling things out of the bags to put on hangers. "I don't know; I just… needed something different. I always go back and visit, though. Why the sudden interest in my origins?"

Loki looked surprised for a moment, unaware that he'd actually been asking her about her life. He quickly changed his expression to a blank face, though, and shrugged. "I was merely curious."

"It's fine if you ask questions, you know," she said as she bent down to fish another dress shirt out of the bag. "It's just strange; you never seemed interested before."

"I may as well know who I'm staying with, shouldn't I?" Loki answered. "Isn't that the proper human thing to do?"

Michelle wasn't sure if she should be offended or not. Was Loki only asking because he thought it was expected? To be fair, she didn't really see why he would care very much, but she'd hoped he'd kind of settled down a bit and wanted to get to know her. She shrugged it off, though, and hung up another shirt.

"You seem very close to that Dylan," Loki continued.

"Yeah," Michelle chuckled softly. "He's my closest friend; the first person I met when I moved here."

"He seems to like 'shopping',"

"You did, too," she pointed out with a raised brow.

Loki shrugged again. "I was humoring him. It ended up becoming very entertaining, especially with how you were behaving."

Michelle dropped the jacket she was putting on the hanger, suddenly looked furious. "What does that mean? You didn't want to go shopping?"

"Not at first," he answered. Then he smirked. "Until Dylan said you didn't like it, then I was curious to see how you'd react. It was very interesting, actually; I was under the impression that most human women enjoyed the frivolous act of shopping."

"Ugh," she scoffed, dropping his clothes and bringing a hand up to her eyes. Loki frowned.

"Have I done something to upset you?" he asked.

"Yes, you have," she answered, lifting her head to give him a dirty look. "I'm not an experiment, Loki; you can't just… see how I'd react."

"Why not?"

"Because we're people," she replied. "We're not lab rats; we're all diverse and different, no two of us the same. Just because most women enjoy shopping doesn't mean every single woman in the world enjoys it."

"It was just a bit of fun," Loki replied, slightly confused by her reaction. "I didn't intend to cause offence at all. In the end, it turned out to be rather enjoyable, and I got everything I needed to start work."

"Oh god," Michelle said, rubbing her temples. "I almost forgot… you're working now. This is going to take some getting used to…"

She bent down and set to work hanging up clothes again. "I'll have to give you a rundown on what to do…"

They finally finished putting all of Loki's new clothes away (she eventually got him to help her) and Michelle was now putting leftovers in the microwave to heat up. While Michelle was heating up stir fry, she was quizzing Loki on the process of getting coffee for the cast and crew, much to his annoyance. When she initially started, he gave her a bored look and said, "I'm actually considered quite intelligent, you know; I think I can do something simple like fetch coffee."

"Humor me," Michelle shot back before she dropped the container of leftover stir fry in the sink. "Besides, some people can get picky. Now, where do we get the coffee?"

"Joe's, across the street from the theatre," Loki answered dully.

"How do we get the coffee?"

"Say it's for Derek Davenport's cast and crew,"

"Good. What do we do when we get the coffee?"

"They'll bring it in cups with everything else people will need, I'm in charge of setting it out for the cast and crew and they come and make their own,"

"Except for…?"

"Juliana, the lead actress and Derek," Loki replied.

"And sometimes Eileen, when she's there," Michelle reminded, setting his warmed up plate of stir fry in front of him. "How does Juliana like her coffee?"

"She requires skim milk with artificial sweetener," he answered, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "Ugh, just saying it sounds unappetizing…"

"And Derek?" she pressed, wanting to stay on track.

"Black," Loki said. Then he added, mimicking Michelle's earlier words, "Like his soul."

"Exactly," Michelle answered with a smile, taking a seat at the table with him and leaning back in her chair. "Now I feel better about this."

"I'm not incompetent, I hope you realize," he told her, clearly annoyed. "I've mastered books beyond books of complex and intricate magical spells, and I've fought more battles than your entire race has seen throughout your entire existence. I think I can understand the basic concept of getting coffee for actors."

"I know," she sighed, feeling bad that she was being so anal about it. "But… I dunno, the theatre is a funny place… things have a very specific process, especially Derek, and the last thing any of us need is hell at work because his coffee wasn't right. It may not seem like it, but you really have the most important job; coffee makes people happy, and happy people tend to work better."

"Why do humans feel the need to drink copious amounts of coffee?" Loki asked suddenly. "I've tried some, and personally, I think it's less than satisfying."

"Oh, I know," Michelle answered with a sigh, finally digging into her food. "I'm not a fan of it, either, but people love it…"

"What do you like, then, if not coffee?" he questioned. "Yesterday while you worked, I saw you drinking something that looked similar."

"Oh, that was tea." She said simply.

"Tea?"

"Yeah, it's not quite as strong as coffee, and much sweeter. At least, I think so; some people find tea to be bitter, but I love it."

"Who gets the tea for you if everyone else is drinking coffee?"

"If Dylan has a free moment, he'll get us tea," Michelle explained, taking a bite of her food. "He doesn't drink coffee, either. You don't have to worry about getting it for us, though; just focus on everyone else."

"Very well," Loki said.

"Oh, and one more thing," she added. "Don't… try not to talk back to anyone. As far any anyone is concerned, you're just a regular guy; no talk of gods or Asgard or magic or anything, okay? And if anyone asks where you're from, just say London, they'll believe you."

"So you want me to lie to them," Loki stated.

"Well… yes," she answered.

"It's a good thing I'm a talented liar, then," he answered simply, scooping a forkful of rice into his mouth. Michelle was watching him warily, suddenly starting to feel nervous again.

"Why do I feel like this is going to go horribly wrong?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"You worry too much," he told her simply, but his eyes sparkled with mirth in a way that made Michelle feel very uneasy.

To say that Michelle was stressed the next few days was an understatement. Her nerves were fried and she was constantly worried that Loki would try something, to pull the whole god act again, or seriously disrupt the rehearsals. Derek had already snapped at Michelle about Loki's looks, for a lot of the female (and some of the male) cast were very distracted whenever he was in the room, which caused rehearsals to slow. If her boss was going to get angry with her for something as tiny as that, she was terrified to see what he'd yell at her for if Loki severely screwed up. Fortunately, though, that hadn't happened. Yet. Loki was surprisingly good at his job; he learned quickly, which she was thankful for, and he was civil if not polite to everyone, but that still didn't lessen her anxiety. If she was being perfectly frank, Michelle didn't trust Loki one bit, and whenever she saw him, he'd always give her a friendly smile that made her think he was up to something. Needless to say, she was usually fairly cranky whenever their day at the theatre would end.

Despite Michelle's foul mood at home, however, Loki seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. He liked being out of the house, talking with people, being stimulated; this whole experience was a learning curve for him, and if there was one thing Loki loved, it was learning. He quite liked his job, too; there was enough free time between coffee runs that allowed him to sit and just observe, which he was very content to do. Not only because it was interesting, but because Michelle seemed to be increasingly distracted and worried, which he found very entertaining. Whenever she'd make eye contact with him, he'd simply give her a friendly smile, and he could visibly see her tense even more as she wondered just what on earth he was up to. That was the amusing part was, Loki wasn't up to anything; he knew that causing trouble would be less than wise, but allowing Michelle to think that he was up to no good was just a bit of fun.

One rehearsal had her behaving particularly sour. She purposely avoided him all day the minute they arrived at the theatre, which he found very amusing, and the few times that she glanced his way, he just gave her that same smile. Eventually, around lunch, she cornered him on his way back from the bathroom, her arms crossed over her chest and her blue eyes fierce.

"What are you up to?" she demanded.

Loki feigned innocence. "I'm going to have lunch."

"You're planning something."

"What ever do you mean?"

"Stop with the bullshit," Michelle snapped, pointing a finger at him. "You've done nothing for the past week except give me sly little smiles that just scream, 'guess what, Michelle, I'm about the screw shit up!' I want it to stop."

"I'm not planning anything," Loki said, placing a hand on his chest honestly. "I swear it."

The corner of his mouth twitched as he tried not to smirk, and she bristled, squaring her shoulders. "You'd better tell me what it is you've got planned right now, or so help me god, I will-"

She stopped talking as it dawned on her. Loki was still smiling that shit-eating grin of his and Michelle's face began to go red with anger and embarrassment as she realized what just happened. She closed her mouth and gave him the direst look she could muster. Loki just started to laugh.

"You're just screwing with me, aren't you?"

"If you mean that I tricked you into believing I had something planned, then yes," Loki said, his eyes sparkling with mischief. Then he chuckled again and added, "It was very amusing to see you get so upset."

"Why would you do that?" Michelle snapped, clearly not finding this very funny at all.

"Just a bit of fun," he grinned. "No harm done, right?"

"You mean aside from the permanent damage you've done to my nerves?" she huffed before putting a hand to her head. "Just… go eat, lunch will be over soon."

"Very well," Loki answered, walking confidently back towards the theatre.

"Loki, I swear, if you do this again…" Michelle suddenly called to him. He turned to look at her and gave her an innocent smile and shrugged.

"How will you know?" he asked before he disappeared into the theatre. "I'm a very good liar; you believed me quite easily, didn't you?"

Michelle was mildly cranky for the remainder of the next week. She didn't believe herself to be an uptight person, but she did believe that there was a time and place for things, and work was neither the time nor the place. Loki didn't think he'd done anything wrong – just a bit of harmless fun – and the look on her face when she realized what he'd done was priceless. He didn't realize just how angry she was until they got home that evening, however, and she refused to heat his dinner up for him. He was left staring at the microwave for a few moments, trying to understand such a strange human contraption before he was forced to go out into the living room (where she was sitting angrily on the couch watching a rather violent television show that depicted people getting their heads chopped off) and apologize. He figured that angering the person who basically took care of him was not the best plan and decided not to continue doing it, even if he was disappointed by how dull it was. At least in Asgard, Odin had eventually forgiven him for his pranks. After his apology, the two fell back into their old, uneasy truce again, though Michelle certainly trusted him much less than she had initially. She knew now that Loki wasn't as helpless as he originally seemed and constantly kept on her toes for the following week just in case he decided to pull some kind of silly prank at home.

God help him if he did. She also taught him how to use the kitchen utensils, such as the microwave and stove; if he were going to be living with her, he'd be sharing cooking duty.

Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to get out. No excuses, I just didn't write everyday like I normally do. That's all! I do, however, have the next few chapters (up to 8, I believe) mapped, for the most part. Some bits are even fully written; they just wait editing from my lovely BETA.

Also, I know coffee isn't fetched this way. I'm doing this funny thing called creative license to serve the story. And I just really needed an excuse for Loki to be at the theatre on a daily basis to get in Michelle's hair.