The first weeks of college were better than Loki had expected, and a far cry from the tortures of boarding school. He found his classes would be easy and he was able to get all the ones he required for his major. He had already made a few friends and managed to form a study group for his poetry class. Thank the gods most of them had never heard of Thor Odinson. Except for James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes, a second year student Loki befriended in his art history class. But, then again, Bucky knew anyone and everyone on campus.

Upon his arrival, Loki discovered that Odin kept his word to Frigga and secured him a room without Thor—though his roommate, Clint Barton, it turned out, was a passing acquaintance of the blond man's. However, and he was sure Frigga didn't know about this, Odin had also made sure that Thor was still close by…across-the-hall close by.

Loki tried to avoid him but there was no dodging the big old lout. They had no classes together—Thor was following in Odin's footsteps, studying Political Science; Loki planned to put his talent with words to good use studying English and Creative Writing—but living in such close proximity, and Thor possessing a strong inability to whisper, Loki had to suffer through simply hearing his voice every day. For his part, Thor was only mildly disappointed he and his adored brother wouldn't be sharing a dorm, but said he understood Loki's need to be independent.

Damn Thor and his good-natured personality.

Now, it was Friday night, classes were done for another week, and everyone was getting ready to attend the Student Mixer, an event sponsored by the school to let all the students meet and socialize after getting past the awkward settling in and adjustment periods. Of course, there were warnings that there wasn't to be any overly loud music or alcohol…but who listened to the rules anyway?

Certainly not one Anthony Edward Stark.

As students trickled in to the gym-turned-dance-hall, the dark-haired, chocolate-eyed man of twenty-one with an electric personality, jumped onto the makeshift stage and grabbed hold of the DJ's microphone, calling for everyone's attention. Loki strolled in, dressed in dark jeans and a dark leather jacket with a scarf of gold, green and gray hanging around his neck, and caught the tail end of Tony Stark's speech, amplified through the speakers.

"Party on, bitches!"

Charming, Loki thought derisively. He squinted when the house lights were cut and strobe lights blinked and glared in every which direction. He thought he heard his name and glanced around catching sight of Bucky waving him down by a line of tables filled with food and drinks. Bucky lingered around the drink table.

"Bucky," he said in greeting with soft smile and a nod.

"Want some punch? I think it's spiked!" He offered a plastic cup to Loki but he politely declined. He noticed that Bucky's ice blue eyes were already quite dilated. Loki, already comfortable with the hyperactive young man, having met him on his very first day of classes and hit it off right away, wrapped his fingers around Bucky's wrist. He was a little surprised to find Bucky's skin was burning hot and his pulse racing.

"Bucky…" he waited for hooded eyes to turn to his, "how much of that beverage have you consumed?" He lowered the cup from Bucky's mouth, keeping his wrist in his hand. With his free hand he plucked away the cup and sniffed at its contents. He grimaced. It wasn't spiked; it was pure alcohol.

"I dunno; it tastes pretty good so probably a few cups." He chuckled, his pink tongue peeking out between his teeth as he did. He focused his fuzzy gaze on Loki when a cold palm rested against his flushed cheek.

"I would ask you to slow down, my friend. The night is still young."

Bucky sent him a sweet smile and nodded. "You're right. I'll stick with Coke for awhile. Want one?"

"No, I'm fine." Loki removed both of his hands from Bucky and caught site of blue jeans, a red tee and blond hair heading his way. "Damn," he muttered.

"What?"

Loki sighed miserably. "Thor." Bucky turned his body to follow the direction of Loki's pained gaze, a hand automatically wrapping around Loki's forearm, and saw the behemoth trampling through the crowd toward them.

"Whoa…" he breathed.

"Brother!" Thor exclaimed loud enough to be heard over the blaring dance music. Really, how could people stand this noise? He clamped a hand onto a slender shoulder ignoring the pained wince that followed. "Come! I would like you to meet my companions."

Loki struggled to shake off Thor's heavy hand, pulling away from Bucky's grasp in the process. "No, thank you, I'm visiting with my own friend. In case you hadn't noticed," he murmured sourly.

"Bring your friend with you. I would have us all share this wonderful night!" Thor turned to Bucky, who had moved behind Loki. In his drunken state, Thor was entirely too loud and entirely too big. "Bucky!" The aforementioned man chuckled uneasily and gripped Loki's jacket, pulling the thin man's body closer to his chest, like a shield.

"Hey…Thor…" he said quietly. "What's up?" Loki fought not to outright laugh. Reaching behind him, he took Bucky's hands from his coat. He kept one in his and turned, grinning at Bucky.

"He's harmless, Bucky." Loki watched Bucky's eyes fly up to Thor's face then back to Loki's. "He's here for me, not you. Go. Enjoy yourself." He tugged on Bucky's hand, bringing him close to speak into his ear. "Be careful and call me if you need help getting home." Bucky jumped at the chance to escape. He nodded, squeezed Loki's hand once and fled. Loki watched him go and wished he could do the same. Adjusting his coat, he faced Thor again. "What do you want?"

As usual Thor ignored, or didn't take notice of the venom in Loki's voice. He smiled and aimed a thumb behind him. "Come! We have a table behind the stage where it is much easier to hear each other speak." Thor took Loki's arm and pushed him forward through the crowd, leading him behind the stage where the DJ was spinning records. He stopped in front of a table full of people that included Loki's own roommate. "My friends!"

If they hadn't turned their heads already, all eyes were on the odd couple before them now.

"May I present my brother Loki?" Thor removed himself from beside Loki and walked behind each person as he introduced them. Darcy Lewis, a tiny girl with long, dark curls; a woman named Jane Foster, that Thor introduced as his lady fair; another female, redheaded with freckles sprinkled across her nose called Pepper Potts; Clint Barton, the young man who shared Loki's dorm; and a clean-cut young man named Steve Rogers, but whom Loki was invited to call Cap, as everyone else did, who stood and offered Loki a polite nod and quick shake.

"You didn't tell me Thor was your brother!" Clint exclaimed after the introductions were done.

"You never asked," was Loki's cool, somewhat delayed, reply. What he had really wanted to scream was, "He is not my brother!" He winced as once again Thor laid his heavy palm to his shoulder. He really needed to stop doing that; at this point, Loki was sure his pale skin was bruised. His green eyes landed on Jane. The Lady Foster was much smaller and frailer than Loki and he wondered idly if Thor was as careless with her as he was with everyone else.

"My brother does like to keep his cards close to his chest, but take care what you say to him. When he does unleash his words they can carry a mighty sting. Is that not true, Silvertongue?" Thor missed the quiet hiss that accompanied the emerald glare aimed his way.

"Silvertongue? Now there's a nickname if I ever heard one." A voice laced with innuendo said from behind Pepper. Tony whistled and motioned to Clint to vacate the seat next to her and the dusty blond-haired man obeyed and got to his feet. Loki realized it was the obnoxious shouter that was on the stage earlier and pinched his lips together. He looked away in disgust when Tony wrapped an arm around Pepper's thin neck and wrenched her face around with his palm to lay a noisy, wet kiss on her lips.

"Son of Howard!" Thor boomed as he left Loki's side.

Tony scoffed loudly as he pulled away from Pepper. "I told you to stop calling me that, Shakespeare in the Park. It's Tony. Toe. Knee. You'd think after two years of being graced with my presence he'd know this already," he muttered to the group at large before knocking back a half cup of "punch."

"My apologies, friend, I will remember from now on. This is my brother, Loki."

Tony looked up at the dark-haired man standing before the table, taking in the business casual outfit with the fancy scarf. At least someone has good fashion sense in this family. He smirked at his unvoiced opinion. Not like Lumberjack Thor over here. Tony got to his feet and skirted around the table, holding out his hand to Loki. "Hey, there, big fella."

Loki waved to someone far off then turned his green eyes on Tony. Unimpressed, he glanced down at Tony's hand before slipping his into it, shaking it once, and dropping it.

"Loki, this is Tony Stark, my cohabitant."

"'Roommate' works, you know," Tony tossed over his shoulder. "'Cohabitant' sounds like we live in a duplex with a couple of cats and a palimony agreement." He laughed at his own joke and companionably smacked the back of his hand against Loki's stomach. His handsome face wrinkled into an incredulous frown at Loki's impassive expression.

Giving off an almost imperious air, Loki faced the table and gave a short bow. "Nice to meet you all, but if you'll excuse me…" He spared Tony a contemptuous glance and walked away.

Tony puffed out a breath between his teeth and headed back to his seat. "That's a real charmer you got there, Thor. You sure you're related?" Thor's grin never faltered. "Do your parents sound like they're reading Shakespeare, too?" He reached down for Pepper's hand and pulled her to her feet without taking his eyes off of Thor.

"Loki has always been quiet and let me be the lively one. Mother says he's shy; I think he's more…a watcher." Tony rolled his eyes. "And Odin and Frigga have never read Shakespeare aloud, so I'm not sure I understand your question."

"Forget it. Come on, losers, we're going dancing!"