A/N: *hisses quietly* Natasha! Where's your camera?! Don't tell me you lost your ONLY prop!
At Tony's request, JARVIS let the kid sleep in (for Avenger's standards), but woke him in time to get ready for breakfast. Although, someone probably should have explained this to Loki...
" , it is time to wake up."
Loki emitted a sound strangely between a whine and a grunt. He rolled over and pulled his pillow over his head. "Nooooooooo~!" He mumbled.
JARVIS gave the AI equivalent of a sigh.
"It is almost time for breakfast, sir. Should you not wake? I doubt you want to go hungry..."
That got Loki up quickly. Tussled black haired immediately appeared as the seven year old bolted upright. "I-If I do not go now, they w-will not feed me?" He gasped. Thin arms wrapped around his abdomen. "I-I..."
"Sir, if I may-"
Loki was on the verge of tears as he hurriedly got up and rushed to get dressed. He pulled something green over his head, and there were some black things on his legs, and then he was quickly running a brush through his hair, and oh! What if he didn't make it in time?!
" , please calm down. What is currently the problem?"
The green eyed boy just crumpled to the ground in defeat. "I-I'm not going to make it in time..." His breaths grew shaky, and his heart pounded in his chest. A small, hopeless sound escaped him, somewhere in between a sob and a whimper. This only seemed to confused JARVIS more, for he was completely unprepared for dealing with unknown children...
"Sir, are you not going down to breakfast?"
The boy just cried in response before he crawled into the wardrobe and curled in a ball, closing the doors behind him and covering his head with his arms. If they weren't going to feed him because he didn't get up on time, whose to say they wouldn't beat him if he didn't get down there on time?
"Oh dear..."
-{[(•)]}-
"Ah, -" JARVIS called faintly into the kitchen. " ." Thor looked up to the ceiling, still unable to grasp the concept that there wasn't someone there.
"What is it JARVIS? Where's the Lokster, by the way?" Tony automatically replied without even looking away from where he was watching Steve make waffles while Natasha cut up an assortment of fruits.
"That's what this is about, Sir. It seems I have woken him incorrectly. His breathing and heart-rate have accelerated, and he has retreated to the confines of the wardrobe."
Tony muttered a curse and hurriedly brought Thor to Loki's room.
"I do not understand, Man of Iron. What is the matter?" The blonde questioned as they jogged. Tony took a second to stop gasping for air (Wow, he really needed to start working out-) before he gave an answer.
"JARVIS said he scared Loki, and the kid's hiding in the closet." The brunette ran a hand through his hair and opened the door.
Both men were greeted with hushed sobs coming from the tall, wooden Narnia reference. They shared a glance before Tony silently approached the doors. He hesitated for a second, then he knocked quietly. The sobs subsided for a second.
"W-who's t-there?" Loki requested in a wavering voice.
"Hey, Rudolph. It's Tony. Man in Iron and all that jazz..." The brown eyed man trailed off when the boy's breath hitched. "Loki? Do you wanna tell me what's wrong? I'm sure we can do something about it-"
"NO!" The seven year old shouted, sounding frightened. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" He was panicking, hyperventilating, sobbing himself into a mess.
"Hey, Lokster, I'm going to open the door, okay? We'll go from there," Tony tried to assure. "Thor's here with me, if that makes you feel better."
"N-no! G-go away-" Loki's miserable pleas were ignored and the doors swung outward, greeting the two men with a terrified boy curled up on the bottom of the wooden shelter. Tony knelt down to his level. He held his hands up, making sure they were always in Loki's view which would assure him that Tony wasn't attempting anything.
"What's going on? Why are you freaking out?" The brunette asked and tried to make his voice sound gentle. Maybe he should have sent Pepper in his place... She could probably do this a lot better, and she's already spent a day with the kid...
"I-I'm sorry... I-I-I did not k-know, b-but I d-did not m-muh-mean to," Loki paused to sniffle and shift closer to Tony, wary of him but still desperate for his warmth and care. "I-I w-would not have b-been l-luh-late if I had k-known-"
"Known what? I don't understand. What are you late for?" Tony's brows furrowed in confusion.
"Ah, Sir, I believe I finally understand," JARVIS interrupted smoothly. "When I first awakened , I implied that he might miss breakfast if he was not there in time. I did not mean for him to gather that food would be with-held from him." Green eyes widened.
"O-oh," he whispered and shrunk back. Not only was he late, he caused a whole mess of a disturbance and cried in front of warriors because he made a silly mistake. Why should he ever think these people would ever be like his father? Just because Odin sometimes kept him from eating, didn't mean they would. "I-I'm sorry," Loki managed.
Tony shook his head, "It's alright, Reindeer Games. No harm, no foul. I'm just glad we got this cleared up. Now come on, breakfast'll get cold." He offered his hand, and the petite boy gingerly accepted.
The trio walked back to the dining room together. Natasha left the kid alone and pretended nothing had happened. Bruce ignored him altogether and started to make a kettle of tea. Steve gave Loki a warm, polite, American smile and offered him some breakfast.
"What are these waffles you speak of?" He asked.
"They are delicious, brother! You must have them!" Thor boomed (as was usual for him). "Waffles are a kind of sweet bread that you eat with syrup, fruit, or finely whipped cream! Here." He grabbed a plate, put two waffles on it, lightly drizzled them with chocolate sauce, added equal amounts of strawberries and blueberries, and sprayed the top with whipped cream.
"Careful, Thor. I don't want him running around on a sugar hype," Natasha warned. Thor just laughed.
Loki took a hesitant bite of waffle, unknowingly getting puffs of whipped cream on the corners of his mouth. His eyes widened and lit up.
"Good!" He managed before he began to delicately (read: hurriedly) eat the rest of his breakfast. He beamed in satisfaction and gulped down three glasses of orange juice.
Natasha was right about the sugar rush, of course, and the miniature god of mischief came down from his high around two in the afternoon.
Clint had retreated to his room at the beginning of Loki's sugar rush. Bruce had eventually snuck away to his lab just in case things got bad. Steve had been chased from the room in a flurry of glitter and pink paint around noon, and now Tony and Thor were passed out on the couch. Loki slept peacefully between them, a blue blanket wrapped around him tiny form and the corner of his pillow in his mouth.
The only female Avenger sat at the kitchen counter, reviewing the videos she had taken from the safety of her hiding spot behind the entertainment center. It was in the footage from around nine that morning that she noticed Pepper starting to walk into the room (files and coffee in hand) before abruptly stopping, taking a sip of her coffee, and smoothly walking backwards out the door again.
The redhead laughed wickedly, trying to imagine the thoughts that must have been going through the poor strawberry blonde's head...
"Mm..." Loki shifted in his sleep. He stretched elegantly like a cat and left his feet on Thor's lap. Unconsciously, one of his hands reached for Thor's, and the other wrapped around Tony's left. Natasha giggled slightly at the sight and took a picture.
Finally, the female assassin decided it was time to clean up and bring the rest of the boys up for a late lunch. They had, after all, escaped so quickly and not returned for food.
A/N: I want those videos. Anyone else? *holds out copies of videos* Haha... I wish... :(