Loki infinitely preferred this to their previous arrangement.

Gwen was sat in the dressing robe that was far too short (she must have stolen it from the hotel) and nothing else, with her legs splayed in such a way that any Asgardian woman would have had a fit to look at her. The brilliant dawn sky outside matched her hair perfectly, and in its light he could see her eyes weren't black, as he had originally thought, but a dark brown- the same colour as earth after rain. He lay on the floor and kissed her ankle, then slowly worked his way up the inside of her leg as she threw back her head and laughed.

When he pressed his lips to her neck, she moaned in the same way she had when imagining the power of a king. And when she slept, she curled up like a mouse with her head tucked up against his side. While she slumbered he would count the marks on her skin; freckles and birth marks and scars, including puncture marks up the inside of her arms and an ugly one under her ribcage he recognised as a stab wound. A puckered, fading line ran across the base of her stomach- when he ran a finger across it she screwed up her face and pulled away, all without waking up.

She was as far from perfect as one person could be, and he loved her all the more for it. If only my family could see me now, he thought idly, well, perhaps not at this precise moment…

Gwen opened one eye. "Stop looking at me like that," she mumbled, voice cracked with sleep.

"I will not be told what to do by a mere human," he said, and kissed the tip of her nose. "But for you, I could be pressed to make an exception."

"You're going to have to go back to Asgard at some point," she reminded him, "and I need to feed Algernon."

"Not to mention your network of spies."

"They can look after themselves," she whispered, "too bad Asgard can't. Guess that says a lot about which is the superior species…" she yawned.

"Don't push it, mouse. Just because you're in my bed, doesn't mean you can stay there."

"It's my bed, actually."

"Don't be so literal," he told her, pulling the woman on top of him and pushing her hair back from her face. "When did you get so beautiful?"

"When your biased arse started paying attention," she said.

"About ten seconds ago, then."

"Hilarious." She kissed him lightly. "Would you rather I ruled by your side, your supreme magnificence? As your loyal and devoted queen at the head of a morally dubious feudal system?"

"By the light of Yggdrasil, never," he replied, "you'd be abominable as a monarch. Why, would you rather I stayed here in a city of sin with you?"

"You'd never stop interfering." He loved the way she smiled; it was almost like a warning sign, a precursor to trouble and wickedness. "Seriously, we should get up."

"We should do a lot of things," he replied, "whether we will or not is another matter entirely." He knocked the ring through her nose with his finger. "Why do you wear these?"

"Why did you wear a helmet with dirty great big antlers on it?" she retorted.

He laughed. "Excellent point."

"I'm full of them. Ask me another question."

"Where did the scar on your stomach come from?"

She laid down back at his side again. "They had to cut Lucy out of me, or I wouldn't have survived the birth. I would give you the whole story, but you'd probably throw up. I did, several times."

"Thank you for sharing that with me."

"You're very welcome," she smirked, and someone hammered on the door.

"If you're quite finished," a female voice yelled, "there's an Avenger here to see you."

The two of them sat up in unison. "Which one?" Gwen called back, exchanging a worried glance with Loki.

"Hot, red hair, threatening expression."

"Black Widow," said Gwen, "she was barely ever in the Tower when I worked there, so she won't recognise me." She rolled out of bed and started pulling on clothes at top speed. "Put on a glamour and listen if you want, I know she's one of your favourite people."

Ten minutes later, Gwen was sat comfortably in her desk chair and Loki, wearing the form of a burly and heavily-tattooed Midgardian, was stood behind her.

"Miss Romanoff," Gwen said brightly, chewing her gum, "what can I do for you today?"

The Widow's face remained impassive. "My colleagues don't know I'm here," she said, "they would rather pursue this case via more legitimate pathways. I, however, am not afraid to get my hands dirty."

Loki snorted, and the two women turned to glare at him.

"Is there a problem?" Gwen asked, "because if there is, you can always leave."

"No."

"No what?"

He gritted his teeth. "No… ma'am."

"That's better. Breaking in a new recruit," she said, turning back to the Avenger, "they can get ideas a little above their station sometimes."

Romanoff said nothing, and instead just threw a file onto the desk. As Gwen opened it, her eyes widened in recognition.

"This Winter Soldier is a popular guy," she said, "you're not the first to ask about him."

"HYDRA?" Romanoff asked, and Gwen nodded.

"Lucky for you, we don't make a habit of serving Nazis. You do realise the Rats don't have a reach outside of New York, right?"

"Before he was the Winter Soldier, this man lived in Brooklyn," she explained, "we have reason to believe he may have returned here."

"He did," said Gwen, "but he's not here anymore."

"How do you know?" Romanoff asked, and Gwen popped her bubblegum in lieu of an answer. "Fair enough. Find out what you can about his movements while he was here, when he left, and I'll pay you handsomely. Tell us if he comes back and I'll double it."

Black Widow's expression was the exact same one she had when she tricked Loki into revealing his plans; one devoid of emotion. Loki took this as a good sign, since he suspected the woman only showed her feelings when she was lying or manipulating people. At current, she was just giving Gwen the facts.

"Nice offer," said Gwen, and closed the file. "Can I keep this?" Romanoff inclined her head. "It's a pleasure doing business with you, then. You can pick up the weapons my boys took off you on the way out."

"I hope I'll see you again," Romanoff said with a slight curl to her lips, and left the office. Gwen waited until the sound of the front door slamming drifted up to them before spinning round to look at Loki, who dropped the ugly glamour at the first opportunity.

"Not the first time someone's asked me about this guy," Gwen said exasperatedly, waving the file in the air. "HYDRA, some weird chick who kept talking to herself, and now miss spider lady. You are causing a hell of a lot of trouble, Bucky Barnes," she murmured, eyes unfocused as they lay on the file. "Some very important people care a lot about you. Not to mention that poor girl… she looked sick to death of worry."

"I thought you didn't do personal," Loki said.

"I don't, so despite the fact she looked about as dangerous as a wet flannel I turned her away." She tilted her head back to look at him. "You look really good in leather, by the way."

"That's why I wear it." He bent down to kiss her forehead. "Have fun with your empire, mouse. I have my own throne to get back to."

"Mine's totally better, though."

"So long as you're happy in your delusions."

A/N writing dialogue between Gwen and Loki is so much fun because I've never before had to deal with two complete narcissists at once.