AN: Wow this story ended up being much bigger than I thought it would be when I started. It is also growing past the original summary. So I've decided to make this a series. Part one ending here. You've hit the final chapter!
I know my long writing hiatus probably drove away most of my followers but for those few who put up with me from the start, I thank you. I hope that you'll all follow me over into part two.
And now the final chapter of Sheep in Wolf's clothing.
This wasn't real. It couldn't be. But it was. It had to be. After all, Clint had said it himself. They were friends.
Fenrir collapsed onto his bed and felt like he was going to cry and, for once, it wasn't going to be out of fear or shame. Clint truly wanted them to be friends. He had even insisted, after their talk in the library, that they resume their movie day. Fenrir had followed him but he couldn't have said what it was that they'd ended up watching. He'd been feeling so overwhelmed by what had happened that he was amazed that he'd even had the focus to make it back to his room at the end of the day.
He'd thought that he'd understood the way things stood for him. He'd been thrilled on the day that his father had been invited to dine at the Tower; but that didn't mean that he hadn't noticed that Clint was absent. He'd been even more convinced that Clint was through with him when he still didn't see him for days after. It hadn't been a surprise. Clint had never been shy about what he thought of Loki. Even so, with all the time that they had been spending together, Fenrir had hoped that Clint may have changed his mind. But he hadn't, so Fenrir had tried to accept it. He had even made his father promise to leave Clint alone when he was visiting.
Acceptance had been more difficult when he'd run into Clint and Bruce in the kitchen. Seeing Clint beaten and still favoring one side for the other, that had upset him more than he'd thought it would. Just looking at him hurt. For some time he wasn't even able to hear what was being said around him. He just saw Clint glance his way and then pull out his phone for an excuse to turn away.
It hadn't just been that Clint had been injured. Living with warriors the way that he did it wasn't uncommon to see someone return to the Tower with battle wounds. In truth it wasn't even the most serious injury that he'd seen since his arrival. What had been so jarring about seeing Clint hurt was that he had had no idea that there had even been an attack. Anytime that Thor was in a battle and would be coming back with so much as a scratch Jarvis would warn him. But clearly no one had felt the need to tell him about this. And why would they?
He had tried more firmly after that to accept that they were done. His father had called Clint faithless for his behavior, but once again he had understood. It was still hard to accept, especially when movie day came. It was a silly, childish ritual. Eating more food than he needed and watching entertainments was not essential to his life. If he wanted to badly enough he could always watch a movie by himself.
After spending far too much of his morning thinking about things better forgotten he had gathered up some of the comics that he'd bought during his outing with Bruce and went down to the library to distract himself. It had even worked a bit. Stories had always helped him to get through hard times. Comic books had proven to be especially comforting. Especially the ones with Captain America. Reading stories about Captain America bravely risking everything to rescue people always helped him feel a little bit better.
Naturally that had been when Clint had come looking for him. He had been so sure when he'd seen Clint's face that things were about to go badly. Clint had looked so mad. And then… Clint hated Loki but was willing to overlook that. He didn't care who Fenrir's father was. He was even willing to continue their movies. The idea still had him speechless.
Fenrir shifted from where he'd been lying on his bed and leaned against the wall to look around. The room Tony had given him had seemed so empty and unfamiliar when he'd first arrived. Now it was covered in signs of its new owner. In many ways, it felt more comfortable than even his old chambers back in Asgard had been. Somehow despite everything that he had done and all that he'd been through, he had managed to find his true home.
Once he let himself believe that he truly found a home it only took a few moments for another realization to dawn. Clint wasn't his only friend, and that had been true for some time.
Thor's love was hardly capable of question; even though Fenrir still felt that he was unworthy of such fierce loyalty. Yet if he were ever to doubt Thor's devotion then his room held the proof in dents and signs of damage from the times they had spent time together. Of course, he had known that Bruce and he were also considered friends, but for so long he had been sure that Bruce's behavior stemmed from pity. A desire to care for others that seemed to belong to all healers. Now looking at the piles of books that Bruce had helped him collect, he could see that there was more to their time together. As for Tony and Pepper, their generosity was so commonly accepted that it had seemed almost natural that they would be willing to extend it to him. But the painting that was hanging on his wall said more.
He had friends. He had a home where he was welcome. He had his father back! He had everything that he could possibly ask for. He let his head roll to the side and saw his running shoes sticking out of his closet. He smiled at another happy change that had come into his life.
When Steve had first asked him to go running in the mornings he had thought that it was out of obligation. Maybe it even had been; but whatever their motive may have been, the runs in the morning had become the highlights of his day.
S.H.I.E.L.D. wanting Captain America for a quest had meant that their time together had stopped. Thor had tried taking him out one day when he'd noticed that Fenrir was missing it, but it hadn't been the same. Besides the fact that Thor wasn't much of a runner, without Steve the outing didn't have the sense of calm joy that it usually did. Being able to run would always be wonderful but without him it just wasn't the same. Besides which, going running with someone else only served to remind him that Steve was gone. Performing dangerous feats without the rest of his team to keep him safe. And he… he didn't like thinking about that. A team should stay together so that they can be there to help each other. Otherwise what was even the point? Fenrir sighed and took another look at his running shoes. He just hoped that his friend would come back soon.
A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A
The mission had taken almost a week longer than S.H.I.E.L.D. had predicted and their extraction point had been compromised, meaning that the STRIKE team had had to trek through about thirty miles of jungle before they could be picked up. Other than that, Steve thought that the mission had actually gone pretty well. They had achieved their objective and managed to do so without any team or civilian casualties. In his book that would always be a win, even if it did include a mild jungle cat attack.
The one thing that still rubbed Steve the wrong way about the mission was the fact that, technically, S.H.I.E.L.D. had no right to be there. The mission had been to intercept an arms dealer while he was delayed in Wakanda. It should have only taken a few days. The problem was that the king of Wakanda didn't like interference from outside nations. Because of this, their mission had to be done at the highest levels of covert or else risk an international incident. Steve wasn't sure how he felt about going into a country that made it clear that they wanted to be left alone. A part of him still didn't understand why they couldn't have just contacted King T'Chaka and let his people deal with the threat. But the answer to that was steeped in the kind of modern politics that made him miss the simplicity of the 40's.
At least he could say that the STRIKE team had been a success. Ward had been replaced by an agent named Brock Rumlow at the last minute. The guy was pretty typical of a level 7 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but at least he had a good personality. Not to mention that the guy was an incredible shot. They had worked well together. Truthfully, the whole team had worked well together. Unlike other groups that S.H.I.E.L.D had tried sending him out with before, most of the members of STRIKE seemed to have worked together before. If Fury was serious about this becoming his regular team for S.H.I.E.L.D missions than he could do a lot worse.
Whether or not S.H.I.E.L.D had any intention of putting together a regular team for him was still unclear. When he had first signed on with S.H.I.E.L.D. Steve had wished that they would assign him to something like this. A chance to lead a team of soldiers, like the Howling Comandos, again. It was what he'd wanted and he'd impatiently waited for them to find him a team. But things were different now. Now he had the Avengers. Even aside from missions, keeping the team in check took up most of his time. Lord only knew what Tony would get up to without anyone to keep him from inventing completely unchecked. Knowing him he'd probably inadvertently set an army of killer robots loose on the world.
While he was imagining what his team may have gotten up to while he'd been gone his elevator had arrived at the common floor. He had only gone a few steps down the hall when he heard Thor sobbing. Steve felt cold all over. Thor was not an emotional person. Thor did not sob! This was bad.
Steve ran down the hall and snapped around a doorway only to see Thor sitting on a sofa, with Loki and Fenrir trapped in a crushing hug. The sight was enough to stop Steve in sheer confusion and, for a second, he didn't even think about the fact that Loki was in the Tower again.
When he'd had the chance to accept the picture in front of him he began looking for an explanation. Looking around the room he saw that they were watching some Disney movie with orange and white fish. Apparently, that was what had Thor in near hysterics. As one of the fish swam in circles across the screen Thor let out another sob Steve couldn't help but wince as Thor gripped Loki and Fenrir even tighter.
"They're just fish, Thor," Loki said, clearly not as impressed with the movie as his brother.
"You must watch until the end. Only then can you truly understand the tragedy," Thor said.
Steve knew that he should be more bothered by the evil supervillain on the couch; but the moment was such a strange mix of funny and touching that he couldn't do more than smile at it. At least for the moment no one was trying to kill anyone else. They were just making up for some missed family time. So as much as his sense of self-preservation screams at leaving Loki in the Tower, he can't bring himself to interrupt the scene. So he quietly backed out of the room before anyone could notice him.
As he walked down the hall Steve wondered if there was any way that he could make it to his rooms for a shower before everyone found out that he was home. He had meant to take a shower when the team had landed back at headquarters, but he had been too worried about being cornered by one of the endless line of women that Natasha was trying to set him up with. Even the women who had given him his post mission evaluation in medical had seemed to be paying far too much attention to him.
Naturally, like any time that he didn't want to be seen, there was Tony.
"Hey 'G.I. Joe, a real American hero' you're back," Tony sang as he approached.
"What was the song? Is that a new ringtone?" Steve asked.
"No one's shown you G.I. Joe yet? I've clearly failed you in your integration to modern America," Tony said, hanging his head in mock shame. "You'd love the cartoons. They have morals and lessons at the end. I'll have Jarvis pull up some episodes for you."
"That sounds like fun, but could we hold off on the cartoon marathons until tomorrow? I really need a shower."
"Don't they have showers at S.H.I.E.L.D? No, wait, that would explain a lot about Barton's. Well basically it would just explain Barton."
Steve hoped that Tony would get caught in his criticisms of Clint and forget about him, but no such luck.
"Fine, fine you can go. But I need you to stop by the workshop tomorrow," Tony said.
"Why, did you change my uniform again?" He asked.
"Not yet, but I do have a few designs that I think you might like," Tony said, smiling. "We just need to get started on plans for the big day. June's almost over. We only have a few weeks until-"
"Did I see Loki watching a kids movie with Thor?" Steve interrupted.
"Are they doing that now? Jarvis was supposed to tell me when that started. He'd better be filming this. I thought that you smashing your cell phone with your shield was going to be the highlight of this years' Christmas party; but it looks like we may have to have a collection of movies. Maybe a marathon. Or a countdown of the years greatest moments," Tony continued on and Steve let himself relax. The chance to mock his teammates always worked when you wanted to get Tony onto another topic.
"Have they gotten to Up yet?" Tony asked. "I can't wait to see Thor's reaction to that. The three of them have been watching one a day and Thor practically smashed a wall he was so upset when he watched the Lion King. It's been a hell of a week."
"Has Loki been coming here that often since I left?" Steve asked.
"Often is a subjective word. I prefer to work in concretes. The sky is blue, Iron Man is awesome, Loki's been coming by every day, burgers are delicious. The kind of facts that a person can understand."
"He's been here every day?" Steve asked. He couldn't believe this! They had agreed that letting Loki come to see Fenrir was a necessary evil. That Fenrir deserved a chance even if Loki didn't, but there was a limit.
"I know what you're thinking," Tony said. "But you don't need to worry. Loki may be spending all of his free time here, but he definitely hasn't moved in."
Steve just stared at Tony. That was not what he'd been thinking! Since when had Loki staying here even been an option? And why was Tony not more bothered by this? Even if Loki was on his best behavior for his son, he was still a super villain. When Steve had left for his mission the rest of the team had known that. So what the heck had happened while he'd been gone?!
"At least he's not officially moved in yet. Bruce is convinced that he's squatting on one of the empty floors, but I haven't seen a suitcase yet so I'm still putting him on unwanted guest status," Tony continued; thankfully looking a little more serious now.
"Is he at least not causing trouble?" Steve asked, feeling more tired from 15 minutes in the Tower then he had during two weeks in Wakanda.
"Nope, E.T. has been on his best behavior. At least when Fenrir's around," Tony said.
"And when he's not?" Steve asked.
"Well, he's not attacking us," Tony said.
"Oh, God. What did he do?" Steve said, putting out a hand to steady himself against a wall.
"A few days ago there was an incident. Nothing crazy, just some crazy guy scientist who gave himself robot octopus arms. The police were handling it. We probably wouldn't have even been called in. We're watching it all on the news and then suddenly Mr. Robot is gone. He reappears a few minutes later in front of a police station, tied up with his own arms."
"Wait; what does any of that have to do with Loki?" Steve asked.
"It turns out that Pepper had this plan to take Fenrir to see some symphony. He was looking forward to it and Daddy Dearest didn't want him to miss out." Steve just looked at Tony as he continued talking. "Personally I would have released the criminal from jail to avoid the symphony, but-"
"Tony!" Steve interrupted, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. "Are you telling me that Loki is actively stopping crime now?"
"Admittedly, only when it's an inconvenience to his son, but I like to think that it's a step in the right direction," Tony replied.
"This is…" Steve couldn't even figure out how to finish his sentence and just ended up rubbing his face with his hand while he laughed. "Anything else happen while I was gone?" He half expected for Tony to tell him that Dr. Doom had also given up villainy. Given everything else that was going on he didn't think that anything would surprise him.
"Well you missed Thor going into an hour long sulk when he found out he wasn't as good as you," Tony said, once again looked like he was holding in laughter.
"What?"
"I think the way that he put it was that 'he tried to fill the void left by your absence and was found to be wanting'. I might have left out a few thous and verrilys but that's the basic gist."
"Tony," Steve said. He was tired and if Tony was just going to be Tony then he was ready to go get his shower and go to sleep.
"What I think Fenrir actually said was that going running with Thor was frustrating because Thor kept stopping to pose for pictures with tourists," Tony smirked, like he didn't have stacks of pre-autographed headshots, and continued. "Then again, Clint tried to take him out too and Fenrir didn't seem any more impressed. So, I guess you've set the bar pretty high for running around the park in circles."
"I'm going to bed, Tony." Steve turned and began heading down the hall. He made a point to keep walking even when he heard Tony start talking again.
"Hope you weren't planning on sleeping in tomorrow. If someone doesn't take that kid for a run soon then he might start acting out. The last thing we need is for him to start digging holes in the Tower or howling at the moon."
"I told you to stop with the dog jokes. They're not funny," Steve insisted.
"Sure they are, but enough stalling. Like I said before, July is almost here and we need to get planning. Now Pepper already made up a guest list but there are a few dozen people that I was thinking we could add. The only question is whether or not we need to-". Tony continued talking but Steve stopped hearing him somewhere around the word guest list. He'd known that it was too much to hope that everyone was just going to forget but he'd hoped that he'd have a little bit more time before he had to deal with this again.
This was too much for one night. All Steve wanted was a shower and sleep. So without saying a word, he left Tony to his rambling and walked away.
Epilogue
Sometime In The Future
Thor was becoming more and more concerned as he walked down the hallway. He had been sure that Fenrir would be in the library. There were only so many places in the Tower that his nephew went. But the library had been empty and he was at a loss for where to go next.
The night before Thor had called Jane for advice and she had advised him to allow Fenrir some time to himself. To let him have a night's rest before he sought him out. Thor had followed her advice exactly and had gone to Fenrir's room as soon as the sun had come up. He had knocked and waited and eventually let himself in. But Fenrir was not sleeping as he should have been. He was gone.
At first Thor hadn't been worried. Fenrir was not usually such an early riser, but perhaps he could not sleep the night before. It didn't look as though his bed had been slept in. Perhaps he and Barton had been watching one of their movies and he had fallen asleep on the couch. So Thor had gone to the places where Fenrir normally spent his time, but he was still nowhere to be found.
The more Thor searched through the Tower the more concerned he became. Fenrir had been so upset when Thor had last seen him. Something had clearly happened, but he wouldn't tell Thor what it was. He had refused to talk. He had just gone to his room and closed the door. Now, as he ran through the halls, looking into every room hoping to spot a clue, he wished that he had followed Fenrir into his room and pushed for an answer.
Things had been going so well for Fenrir. Things had been going so well lately that Thor had almost forgotten how Fenrir looked when he'd first brought him back from Svartalfheim. That look of confusion and uncertainty that had seemed to be permanently etched onto his nephew's face. Thor had seen that look again when Fenrir had returned to the Tower the day before. Once again Thor cursed himself for not making Fenrir talk to him as soon as he had seen his expression. He was not going to make that mistake again.
Thor briefly considered trying to contact Loki, but quickly tossed the idea away. Loki knew better than to take Fenrir away from the Tower. He knew what the consequences would be and even he would not test Odin's tolerance on such a matter. And if Fenrir was not with Loki then alerting him to Fenrir's possible disappearance would only cause trouble for the inhabitants of the Tower. Not to mention all of Midgard if Fenrir was not found quickly. Better to just leave Loki out of it.
After a few more circuits of Fenrir's most likely locations, Thor found himself outside the door leading to Roger's set of rooms. He didn't remember deciding to go here but is glad that the decision was made. Steve Rogers is a wise strategist and will be able to come up with a plan for finding Fenrir. Thor slammed his fist against the door until it opened.
When Rogers arrived at the door he was wearing some sort of short pants and was shirtless. Seemingly still asleep. As if anyone could be expected to sleep in such a crisis!
"Is something wrong?" Steve asked, only opening the door half way and leaning against the frame.
"Fenrir has gone missing," Thor told him.
"He isn't mi- I'm sure he's fine," Steve said.
"You do not understand. When I last saw him he was greatly distressed. Now he cannot be found. I am worried what may have happened to him," Thor said.
"Did you, um, did you ask Jarvis where he was?" Steve asked looking up at the ceiling for a second before standing up straighter.
"I tried," Thor explained. "He refuses to tell me. He said that Fenrir told him that he wishes to keep his whereabouts private. I told him that it was urgent, but he claims that he will not reveal Fenrir's location unless Fenrir is in distress."
"Thor, I'm sure Fenrir just wanted some time to himself."
"You don't understand, something is wrong. I am sure of it."
Steve glanced back into his room before turning to answer Thor. "How about I help you look for him? Go wait for me in the library and I'll get dressed and meet you in a few minutes."
Thor was relieved that he wouldn't have to face the crisis by himself and took a breath. "Thank you. I truly can-" Thor stopped mid-sentence when he heard something slam behind his teammate.
Steve's eyes went wide and he quickly tried to close the door. Thor was faster and reached out a hand and forced his way inside. Pushing Steve aside Thor had a clear view directly into the man's bedroom. Fenrir was standing just beyond the doorway. Thor's nephew was standing in the bedroom quickly trying to get dressed.
Thor spun around to glare at Steve who immediately held up his hands and began backing away form Thor. "Thor, I can explain," He said.
Thor continued to glare at the man he had thought was his friend. He didn't want explanations. He did not want excuses. All that he wanted was to make this man, who would dare to betray his trust and take advantage of his nephew, suffer. Before Steve could defend against him Thor had grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against a wall.
AN:Well, I had to do something to motivate you to read part two. ;)
Part two will also begin to incorporate more of the official Marvel timeline: as affected by the changes that have begun here. If there are any big events from the movies or shows that you would like to see, leave me a note and I'll see what I can do. Also let me know what you think of the chapter and the story as a whole. As always I live for your reviews.
Thanks again for sticking with me through all of my inconsistent posting.