"Here's one of Barton's outfits; you can wear that until we find you some regular clothes that aren't covered in blood," Natasha muttered, dropping a pile of clothes onto Tony's-but it seemed that Loki had quite literally moved into the room-bed, frowning with distaste at just being in the same area as the former god, and Loki raised an eyebrow.

"You have Barton's clothes?"

It was rhetorical, and the red head looked up to give him a withering glare, not caring to give him an answer, and she sighed heavily, shaking her head, and leaned down close to where Loki sat, legs crisscrossed atop the sheets, her face inches from his.

"I know you're still a bastard, no matter what Thor thinks; we all know it. If you so much as lay a finger on any of my team, I can promise that you'll pay for it." She backed away, crossing her arms, her jacket pulled taut about her shoulders, and glared threateningly at him.

"Are we clear?"

Knowing he could kill her at that very moment, Loki smirked, glancing down at the outfit before him, and he imagined wrapping his fingers around her throat, watching as the life left her eyes, feeling her pulse flutter helplessly beneath his deadly touch. The thought made him laugh humorlessly, and when he at last looked back up, he could see the glint of panic in her eyes, the cold calculations already running through her mind, the thought out process of how she could both avoid the situation and gain the upper hand in a fight with Loki. His grin widened as he leaned forward menacingly.

"I can assure you, my only aim is to gain back my magic. The only person I'll be laying a finger on, Agent Romanov, is this mystery woman."

Unconvinced, the spy seemed eager to leave, and he watched her retreat, imagining the gasp for breath she'd make as she suffocated. Mortals, he thought disgustingly, and he reluctantly scooped up the clothes.

...

Steve noticed that Natasha looked anxious, that she paced about the room and flattened her hand against her pocket, that she went over to pull one of her many guns from a cabinet and set it on the coffee table like she'd need it. He watched her for a long time, blue eyes stalking her every movement, and he stood, careful to avoid intruding on Tony and Pepper's private conversation in the kitchen, which connected to the living room, where Thor was murmuring lowly to Jane, and by the sound of their voices, an argument seemed inevitable. Across from them, the spy stood by the window, finally still after so much movement, and the Captain crept over, smiling charmingly.

She looked like she needed a distraction.

"So, why did you have Barton's clothes?"

She turned, looking for a moment at least a little surprised, and he let himself feel triumphant for catching the Black Widow unaware.

"You heard?" Natasha asked quietly, and Steve, thinking of the conversation he'd caught, nodded.

"I hope you don't mind me eavesdropping. I just heard you- couldn't really not hear you, actually." She blinked at him, gazing back at the view from the penthouse level, and tilted her head.

"I'd be embarrassed that you heard me threatening him, but I know you'd do the same. He's too much of a risk to not take seriously."

In total agreement, Steve turned around to sneak a glance at Thor. Bright, hopeful Thor. He was so sure that Loki had changed.

How often had he been just as sure? How often had that belief proved costly?

Steve only knew what he'd seen recently, and he could just imagine how Loki had been before Manhattan. The deception seemed bone-deep inside him, something unable to be altered, something unnaturally natural. He'd never learn, and Steve only hoped that whatever happened next would open his eyes before his next mistake ended up costing him his life.

Beside him, Natasha shifted on the balls of her feet, smirking.

"Barton stays at my place sometimes. He usually leaves a spare set of clothes in case he needs them. Since he's away, I figured he wouldn't be needing them anytime soon."

She turned and walked across the living room, making sure to grab her gun, past the kitchen, and through a connected hallway, disappearing out of sight to a guest room, seeking solitude, and Steve was left wondering, blushing and immensely curious, why Barton ever stayed at her place to begin with.

...

"Hey, Pep," Tony said seriously, gently grasping at Pepper's elbow as she turned to leave after an ill-timed joke he'd made, and she swiveled back around, frowning, her eyes wide and scared from Loki's lasting presence.

"It'll be ok. We'll go in a guest room, since I doubt he's going to give up my awesome bed, and you'll be far away from him. He won't hurt you; I won't let him." Pepper leaned into his touch, taking rattling, nervous breaths, and she looked over at him, their heights made even by the heels still on her feet.

"It's Loki, Tony. He threw you out a window, and you think you can go up against him?" The billionaire rolled his eyes.

"He's mortal, now. He can't do anything that I can't do." Pepper placed her palm against the spot on his chest where his arc reactor once glowed, and she swallowed thickly, shaking her head.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Tony." He pulled her in for a hug, pressing his chin at the top of her shoulder and burying his face in her strawberry hair, breathing in her scent and closing his eyes, basking in her body heat.

"I always do."

...

"It's confusing. One moment, he seems so…human, and the next, he's a maniac. You saw how he was when he was pretending to betray you; it was like he really was enjoying himself." Thor, his palms laid flat in Jane's, frowned, running his fingertip over the sensitive skin of her wrist, and she shivered.

"He was acting, Jane. That's what he was supposed to do."

Sitting on couch, Jane could imagine that there was no one else in the room but Thor, his eyes only for her, but she couldn't forget the reality, and she shook her head sadly, uneager to make Thor realize the truth of the situation.

"Sometimes, I feel for him, I really do. I know you love him, and deep down he probably loves you, too, but he's gone. He's gone, Thor. He's not coming back."

She put two fingers under his chin and gently lifted his head, staring at him pointedly.

"Whatever Loki you knew, he's not in that room. It's a danger to everyone to keep him here, a danger to all of the people out there, and the people in here." Jane brushed the back of her hand against his cheek, smiling apologetically, and Thor squeezed her other hand comfortingly.

"I know he's changed."

Sighing, she pulled from his grasp, tired of trying to coax a harsher Thor out of the clearly soft-hearted one, and crossed her arms.

"He killed your father, Thor." Instantly, she regretted saying it, because his flinch of pain made her heart cry out to him, and she exhaled softly, heartbeat rapid.

"He killed him, and you're ready to believe he's changed, after doing something like that?"

"I have faith," Thor murmured, leaning toward her and whispering in that voice of his, his eyes warm, "and perhaps you could use some, as well. Besides, keeping Loki here is the best thing for everyone."

Jane was about to protest, or rebuke his statement with questions, but he stopped her with a hand to her mouth, gentle fingers pressed to her lips, and he smiled. She'd never seen such a glorious, mischievous smile, and her brown eyes widened at the sight.

"If Loki stays here, if he stays mortal, then I stay mortal, and we can be together for all our lives."

Jane had never changed her opinion so quickly as in that moment.

...

Ignoring the team in the other room, Loki had tried to sleep, and when that had failed he'd tried to yet again conjure his magic. The disappointment was heavy, and it weighed him down, and he'd closed his eyes to ward off the light and the reality and the truth.

He'd been alone when he'd fallen asleep, uncomfortably lying down in Barton's jeans and white t-shirt, the door closed.

So, when he at last opened his eyes, Loki was ultimately surprised to see Jane standing in front of the door, her back resting against it, the room itself dark with the shadows seeping through the glass of the windows. His mind went through the process of calculating what time of day it was, and the silence of the house told him that everyone had retired to their rooms for the night, but he doubted that anyone was asleep. He guessed how quickly he could evade Jane, or how fast he could reach her without her screaming for Thor, how fast he could kill her if she tried anything.

But Jane just stood there with her hands limply resting at her sides, watching him, her face cast in shadows. The situation was awkward, even for Loki, and he cautiously sat up and scooted back across the bed, eyeing her warily, but there was no malice in her steady gaze, only curiosity, so he beckoned to her, patting the spot at the edge of the bed.

"Are you going to stand there all night, or are you going to sit?"

She seemed surprised by his question, but she came nonetheless, walking across the room to sit carefully upon the covers, her expression blank. Loki drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, the act making him feel more secure. He was brought back to nights as a child, when he would do the same thing to ward off his nightmares, and he'd wake up with his back aching and his legs incredibly stiff, but it was always a graciously dreamless sleep.

"Are you here to threaten me? The pastime has become popular," he whispered in the darkness, and he noticed for the first time that his light was off, guessing that she or Thor one flipped the switch while he was asleep. She shook her head, and life was brought to her features as she grinned, laughing silently.

"You saved my life once; why would I threaten you?" Loki stared, quiet, and she blinked at him, observing his new clothes. "Do you remember that?"

Of course he did. He remembered the very moment that he chose to shove her out of the way. He could recall the distinct fear he'd felt, the near-tangible horror that had gripped him when he'd been sucked up into the air, the dawning realization that he'd just traded his life for hers. But he told her none of this, and she kept looking at him, finally deciding to change the subject.

"There's a part of me that hates you, you and all of the awful things you did," she murmured bitterly, and he could just make out the glistening of her eyes, "Now, whether that part of me is the one that feels connected to every other human out there, I don't know. But the other half of me wants to believe what Thor believes. It wants to have faith in you, to see what he sees."

She looked to her hands, and he watched the movement, watched the nervousness lurking in every one of her actions.

"For the first time in my life, I don't know what to think. I always have an idea, or a plan, or something. All I know is that we should make a deal." Loki's eyes rounded at the offer, and he leaned his head into the space between them, staring at her unblinkingly as she looked up and smiled.

"I know it's not the smartest thing I could do, dealing with the God of Mischief, but I figure it's the only way to make sure we both understand something."

He leaned in further, overwhelmed with curiosity.

"And what is that?" Loki breathed.

"You terrify me, and the idea of you hurting anyone I care about terrifies me, and I annoy you, and everyone around here annoys you." He raised a brow, expectant.

"Your point being?" She grinned sheepishly, but he caught the gleam of pride in her eyes, of a slow, odd triumph.

"Don't hurt us, be civil, even be willing to talk to us, and I'll vouch for you. I'll get everyone to come around, to warm up to you." Loki didn't ask her how she'd accomplish it, for it was in her eyes, as plain as day, and he narrowed his own.

"Aren't you tired of being threatened?"

It was true, he indeed was sick of being bombarded with threats. Steve had glared at him, and it was the most menacing glare, when Natasha had left his room, eyeing him through the open doorway. Tony and Pepper had just about done the same, though Pepper had seemed skittish and had quickly averted her gaze. Loki, sighing and still aching from the fight, stuck his hand out, wiggling his fingers mockingly, and Jane steeled herself, taking a deep breath. She took his hand and shook it, preparing to be unnerved by the touch of a killer, the touch that so many others had felt just before death.

The expected reaction didn't come, and instead Jane found herself plunged into the memory of her first contact with Thor, the first time she'd touched his skin, that spark of something deep within her, the pulsing, distant sensation that something would come of such a touch, that something, bad or good, something life-changing, was about to happen.

The same feeling arose within her, but it wasn't coupled with an immediate infatuation, like with Thor, but a soft, faint thought that, for once, there was a kindred spirit before her, and Loki's eyes were as a wide as saucers when he stared at her, his palm against hers. Hurriedly, Jane pulled out of his hold, nodding to seal their deal, and she backed away to quietly open the door and slip out, undetected by any of the Tower's other occupants.

Loki could feel the ghost of her touch, and he looked to his palm, puzzled. He had a memory of his own playing vividly in his mind, and he, too, felt overcome with the oddest sensation. Never in a million years would he be interested in Thor's mortal-at least, not like how Thor was interested in her, Loki thought to himself. But there was a connection he'd never felt before, presented to him on a silver platter, and Loki, for the first time since his earliest memory of playing with Thor as a toddler, thought, for the tiniest moment, that he'd found a friend.

And watching her go, he didn't once think of how she'd look, dying and gasping for air, desperate to escape his choking hold as he smothered the life from her.

Alright. So, this is shorter than the rest for a reason-I've come to a crossroads of sort and I need everyone's opinion before I dive headlong into the idea I've been having ever since Chapter 1.

Obviously, there's not going to be a romance between Jane and Loki, but I have plans for each of his relationships with each character; they're all going to be different, and don't assume that this chapter means Jane and Loki will be best buds from now on, because they definitely won't. ;)

But here's my dilemma: Do you think a relationship is unneeded, since there's Pepper/Tony and Jane/Thor already? Or do you want to see a certain relationship involving a certain patriotic good-doer that I have planned? xD Give me your input, please! EDIT: NOT STEVExLOKI! I could never do that with a serious face. xD Two completely different pairings; one with Loki, and one with Steve.

And I may or may not be planning one more pairing that I've begun to ship more and more over the past few months...*nudges playfully*

Please R&R! Feedback of any kind is always appreciated! ;)