Gwen lifted the clothes he had left for her curiously with her toe. They were fashionable- at least, she thought so- and not as bad as they could have been, she supposed. It was the morning after she had met the god- did he count as a god?- and she reluctantly pulled them on and tucked Algernon into the pocket of the cardigan. Ugh, she couldn't believe she was wearing one of those.
She took his wallet and, somewhat nervously, walked through the hotel and out of the lobby. Thankfully, her newly polished appearance meant she wasn't accosted, and if she was she at least had the key to his rooms. She followed her nose to the nearest Apple store and tapped a guy on the shoulder.
"Can I buy a laptop?" she asked him, "one of the fancy ones."
"What's your price range?" he asked, and she opened up the wallet and showed it to him. His eyes widened. "Well, ma'am, I suggest you follow me."
An hour later, she was back in the hotel room wrapped in a fluffy dressing gown with the shiny new laptop on her, well, on her lap. She knew the Avengers lived in the big tower uptown, she knew that, because of their celebrity status much of what they had done since the fall of SHIELD would be publicly known, and she also knew that Google would not be a line of investigation Loki would have thought to pursue.
Before, Gwen had only known of the Avengers what was printed on the front pages of newspapers she couldn't afford. As such, she had far fewer opinions of them than the rest of the world (who both loved and hated them); while they were out there saving innocent people, she was too busy trying to keep herself alive. Perhaps this, combined with her own lack of morals, was the reason she had very little problem with helping their arch enemy. Besides, it wasn't like he was trying to do anything malicious.
"What d'you think of him, Algernon?" she asked her mouse, who was scurrying around on the coffee table through a little maze she had made for him from objects scattered around the suite. "Bit of an arse, I thought, but at least he pays good." She yawned, closed the laptop and stretched, then decided to have a look round the room to see if he had left anything behind.
After two hours of tearing it apart, and having to explain to quite a concerned maid that everything was alright and she shouldn't be worried about the crashing noises, Gwen had to admit defeat in that the suite was utterly devoid of personal possessions aside from her own.
There was a knock on the door and she jumped, then reminded herself she was hardly going to get attacked here. Upon answering it, she saw it was James the valet.
"Is Mr Warwickson in?" he asked, peering through the crack in the door at her.
"Nah. Um, he said I could stay here, I dunno if…"
"He's still paying for the room, so that should be fine, miss."
"I'm not his… his mistress or anything," she said defensively, and James blinked.
"I never said you were, miss. I've brought up some dinner, but if you don't want it I can take it away."
"No, I want it." She opened the door wider to allow him to come in. "There's a mouse on the table, but he's with me."
"I'll try not to squash him, miss. How're you finding the rooms, miss?"
Miss, miss, miss, she thought, I could get used to this. "Very bourgeois," she told him, and he chuckled.
"You got the nicest suite we have, miss, so I suggest you make the most of it. You been over from England long?"
Loki was the last person she'd talked to and he hadn't brought up her accent, so this question came as a bit of a surprise. "Few years," she said, "what about you?"
"Moved here from Newcastle six months ago, miss."
"Never been." She was born and raised in East London. "Is it nice?"
"Very much so, miss. Would you like me to find you a cage for your pet mouse, miss?"
Algernon had never been in a cage before, like she had never been in a hotel before. "Yes please," she said, "one of the big ones, with tunnels and ladders and swings and stuff."
"I'll get right on that, miss. Enjoy your meal," he said, and vanished back out of the door only slightly less magically than when Loki had disappeared.
"Looks like we're both moving up in the world, Algernon," she said reflectively, pulling a tureen of soup towards her. "Look, this has got leaves and stuff on top of it. That's how posh it is. Cor." She tore off a hunk of bread, dipped it in the soup and moaned as she put it in her mouth. "I'm gonna have to work for more evil villains, because this stuff is too good to pass up."
When she had finished gorging herself, she wiped her fingers on the tablecloth and leant back, closing her eyes. With Algernon curled up on his usual spot in the nook between her collarbones, with the traffic noises drifting in through the window working like a lullaby, she could feel herself drifting off…
"Wake up."
She opened one eye to glower at him. "What d'you want?" she asked grumpily.
"To know about my brother, as I told you- or had your stunted Midgardian brain forgotten?" he added nastily.
"No need to be rude," she said, "him and the other Avengers've become a private sub-company of Stark Industries, managed by Maria Hill. They liaise with various international governments on matters of security and are also…" she screwed her face up as she remembered what the website said. "Working to eliminate the last vestiges of HYDRA and their illegal scientific experiments. That last bit not many people know about, but lots of people reckon they're looking for something."
"What?"
"Dunno, but I don't think it's originally HYDRA. Oh, they're like SHIELD's evil tapeworm, by the way, and SHIELD are the people who helped blow you up last time you were here."
"The man in the black leather coat?" Loki asked, leaning against the wall with his arms folded. He was wearing his proper face and Asgard clothes this time, all green and black leather that fitted tightly to his form.
"That sounds like Fury, he's the director. Also dead, apparently."
Loki nodded. "I won't pretend to be upset by that."
"You are such a dick," she told him lightly.
"I endeavour to please. I hope you are proud of yourself for pickpocketing me again, sneak-thief."
She chuckled. "Very much so. Where did you get the money, anyway? I can't imagine there being an exchange centre in Asgard."
"I conjured it," he told her, and she sighed heavily.
"Do you have any idea how bad that is for inflation? Have you learned nothing from the Weimar Republic?"
"Gwen," he said levelly, "I have precisely no interest in Midgardian history."
"You should do, because then you might pick up a thing or two," she told him.
"And how would a pauper like you know?"
"Actually," she said coolly, "I have a degree in history. Not a particularly good one, but a degree nonetheless."
"Which means…?"
"I spent a lot of my life learning about it."
"You went to school?" he asked, surprise in his voice.
"Amazingly, yeah. The degree I got from OU, but I actually made it all the way to the first week of sixth form before… before dropping out."
"You tell me this like you think I care," Loki smirked.
"I don't give a damn if you do or not, it's just nice to talk to someone who doesn't have a tail. Is this the honeymoon suite?"
"Yes," said Loki, "are you hoping that someone might think you are my mistress?"
"Don't," she said sharply, voice rising. "Don't joke about that, it's not funny."
Loki cocked his head to one side. "It appears I've hit a nerve," he purred, and she looked down as her cheeks flushed.
"You're adopted," she mumbled, which only made him laugh. Still staring at her hands, she listened to his footsteps as he walked past her.
"You haven't slept in the bed?" he asked.
"Don't like 'em."
"Every time you open your mouth you become more of an enigma, mouse girl."
"My name," she said, "is Gwen. And a guy who's supposed to be dead isn't really in a position to talk about enigmas. Is there anything else you wanted, posh boy?"
"Oh, there are so many things," he murmured, and she looked up to raise an eyebrow at him. "But none of them concern you. I trust you are comfortable?"
"I thought you didn't care about me?" she asked, relaxing again as conversation moved into safer territories.
"I care that you get the job done."
"Y'know," she said, "you don't strike me as the evil mastermind you're supposed to be. A humongous pillock, yes, but not evil. I can't imagine you taking over New York."
"It was never the original plan," he admitted, "and I've achieved what I wanted to anyway."
"What happened to you on Asgard, after they took you back? What made you stop wanting to kill everything on sight?"
"That, my darling Gwen," he said, "is a story for another time. After all, if you are to keep your history secret then I should be able to do the same for mine."
"If you say so," she said, "though yours is probably a lot more interesting."
"I don't doubt it," he said, "I shall return in a week to-"
"See what I found out, yeah. I didn't think you'd be making social visits."
"So glad you understand," Loki smiled. "Good night, mouse."
"You too, posh boy."
A/N bonus chapter because this got so much interest so quickly. Thank you- yes you, specifically, not the other ones- for your support!