Third person POV

At the same time the next night, Eris snuck out of her house to meet Loki in the park. She sat patiently on the same bench she had before with a smile on her face while she waited. Though Loki had convinced himself that he did not care to see the little girl again, he couldn't push down the twisting his stomach; an odd sensation of guilt weighing on him. With an irritated sigh, he got up from his chair and looked at the clock.

'Why am I doing this?'

He thought to himself. He couldn't understand what was pulling him back to that park. It wasn't the girl-no, it couldn't be, she was just a lowly mortal. She was of no use to him, however, he found her more tolerable than most of the humans he had encountered. Ever since he landed in this forsaken rock, he tried, with great success, to blend in with the inhabitants. It wasn't Asgard, but since the Bifrost was still destroyed, (thank you, Thor) he could not return. Not to mention that the last thing he'd done to his 'family' was betray them. He most definitely would not be welcomed home any time soon. So he journeyed on to the park where he'd met the young Midgardian. As he came up to the path he'd followed before, he could already see Eris was waiting on the same bench he'd found her sitting on before. He sauntered over casually and Eris smiled when she spotted him coming her way. She jumped up from her place and ran up to meet him. For a reason Loki could not understand, he smiled back down at the girl.

"I didn't think you'd come!"

She said happily. The god looked up at the sky for a moment as he shrugged awkwardly.

"I didn't think I would either."

He mumbled under his breath. They walked together back over to the bench and took a seat. Loki clasped his hands in his lap as he stared vacantly at the frozen over lake in front of him-he was still trying to figure out why he had come to see the child again. Eris broke the awkward silence that had fallen between the two.

"I was thinking...about what you said last night. I think you should be a king."

Her words made the man stiffen but he turned to her with an inquisitive look.

"Is that so? Why do you believe such a thing?"

He inquired, trying to sound as uninterested as possible. In reality he was curious to know why she thought so highly of him. Could she not comprehend that he was not able to achieve that greatness? No, of course she can't, she is but a child, he thought. She smiled up at Loki with those impossibly green eyes, they even rivaled his own.

"Well, you have powers and a king should always have a power like no one else! You would be a great king!"

She replied enthusiastically. A very shallow point you have made, he said to himself.

"And who would I rule, who would my loyal subjects be?"

He pressed, raising a brow. The girl continued to beam at him.

"I would!"

She offered, scooting closer to him.

"You would? I do not believe you understand what promising your loyalty is. You would have to follow without question, without doubt and kneel before your king, looking upon him with admiration."

He explained, not sure that she would understand any of what he said.

"I know, but I trust you. You came to see me even when you didn't have to. You are loyal to me as a friend, and I will be loyal to you too, as your subject."

She told him. Loki could not believe how intelligent and well spoken this child was. She couldn't have been anymore than five years old. No smarter than he was at her age, but that was to be expected of an Asgardian child. The unlikely friends fell into another lapse of silence which, again, Eris broke.

"Do they play hide and seek on Asgard?"

She asked hopefully. He chuckled and thought back to his childhood. Before he had to start training with his brother Thor and the others, he would play a game that seemed to fit what Eris was talking about.

"I believe so."

He said thoughtfully. The girl jumped from her seat again and took hold of Loki's hand, tugging him towards her. He stood, slightly confused as to what was happening.

"Can we play hide and seek?"

She begged, bouncing up and down. His brow furrowed in annoyance.

"I'm too old for these games, my dear."

He said, trying to deflate her bubbly mood. But the way he tried to ease her pout with a charming smile confused him. Why was he trying to be nice to this creature? Why couldn't he just tell her to bugger off like he so wanted to? He could no longer stand the pleading look in her eyes and snapped.

"Ugh fine, but I swear, I'm fairly good at hiding."

He finally said with a wink. She giggled.

"You have thirty seconds."

She told him as she covered her eyes and turned away from him. Loki hung back for a split second, just watching as the girl counted. If he wished, he could simply walk away while she wasn't looking and end this childish evening. But instead, he started to look around for a place to hide. He found a tree that was a good hundred feet away from where he had started. He hid behind it with a small smirk as an idea came to him. He would use his magic to make a few duplicates of himself and hide them behind trees closer to the girl. Sure, it was cheating. But Loki often cheated at games like these, he found joy in creating a bit of chaos when he had the chance. Though this was as close to 'mischief' as he would get for a while since he didn't want to bring attention to himself while he was stuck in this realm. He could still hear Eris counting out loud.

"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty! Ready or not, here I come!"

She called, turning to the spacious park. The fact that her friend wasn't still stuck out in the open meant that this would be much trickier than she had thought. Maybe he's behind one of the trees, she thought, taking a few steps forward. She quietly approached the tree closest to her and pounced onto the other side, expecting to see Loki there. When she didn't, she felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment but she continued her hunt. She continued this a few more times, not finding Loki a single time so she started to go the the other side of the park instead. She slowly peaked around another tree and she caught sight of green and black. She had found her friend finally and smiled to herself. She backed up a bit and wound herself up to pounce on him. She launched herself at him with a lioness roar-maybe more like a lion cub-but instead of grabbing him, she fell to the ground with a loud 'oof'. She pulled her face out of the freezing snow to glance up at her friend. The image began to distort and shimmered a gold color before disappearing completely. She gasped but turned her attention to another tree when she heard snickers coming from it. Loki stood, propped up against a tree with an evil grin on his face. Eris struggled to get to her knees as the god walked over to her, still laughing.

"Hey! That's cheating, meanie!"

She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest as crocodile tears began to form in her eyes. This simply made Loki laugh more but he didn't want to see her this way for the rest of the night. So without warning, he picked her up into his arms and held her against his chest. This act caught Eris completely off guard but she didn't refuse, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Ah, yes. I am a cruel king, aren't I?"

He murmured, a hint of amusement in his velvety tone. His voice calmed Eris and made the crocodile tears cease as she rested her head in the crook of Loki's neck.

"Mean, mean, mean."

Was all she whispered, closing her eyes. The Aesir carried her as he went back to sit on the bench.

"Does that mean you don't like me anymore?"

Loki asked. A part of him hoped she would say yes, however, this was the first being to accept him-even if she didn't know what she was accepting. Maybe that was why he didn't want to hurt her, he didn't want to lose the closest thing he'd ever had to a friend. On Asgard, he was an outcast, he wasn't a very skilled warrior and the one thing he did excel in (magic and spells) was frowned upon and considered evil. No matter what he did, it was never good enough for anyone's approval or praise. But here she was, a mere Midgardian child, accepting him unbiasedly. Maybe she wasn't so terrible after all.

"You're evil but I still like you."

She said sleepily, placing a small peck on his cheek before nuzzling back into her place against his chest. Though the show of affection made no sense to Loki, he smiled. After some time of silence, he looked down to see Eris had fallen asleep in his arms. This posed a problem for him, he couldn't just stay there in the park all night until she woke up and he couldn't leave her alone, she might freeze or worse. He tried tapping into his memory to remember the address she'd given him.

'472 Randolph street.'

He stood and looked at the closest street sign. He suppressed a chuckle as it read, 'Randolph St.'. She lived so close and he thanked the Allfather for that. He walked down said road and searched the apartment numbers for hers. He found it not to long after starting his search and walked up to the front step. He teleported Eris and himself inside to find the home completely dark. He quietly walked around the apartment, trying to find the girls room. After three rooms, he stumbled upon a room clad in pink and walked inside. He gently lay the girl down on her bed and with a sigh, he teleported back to his own apartment. He plopped back down into his leather chair and groaned to himself, the same question spinning around his head for the remainder of the night.

'Why her?'