After arriving in Chicago and collecting his bags, Loki made his way through to the arrivals area, not too sure about who would be picking him up. It could be Odin, god help him if it was, or Frigga, or it could be a taxi, if both were busy. His eyes scanned the busy crowd, attempting to find a familiar face, when he finally caught sight of a woman with golden hair tied up in a bun waving and grinning at him.

Grinning back at her, he sped up his pace until he reached her, before dropping his bags just in time for his mother to hug him.

"Loki!" She whispered tearfully, squeezing him tightly. It had been four months since she'd seen him properly, the only exception being the time that she visited him when he was recovering at Baldr's (Loki's elder brother) house, on the other side of the city.

"Hello, mother." Loki replied, gently patting her on the back.

She frowned slightly as she pulled away. "You're too skinny, my dear. Have you be eating properly?" She asked with genuine concern in her eyes.

"Mother, I am fine. You needn't worry." Loki rolled his eyes, picking up his bags as his mother started to walk in the direction of the exit.

"But I worry about you at that school. Do they push you too hard? Is there a lot of pressure on you to do well? Do you have many friends?"

Loki sighed. "College is fine." he reassured her. "Honestly." He added, seeing doubt in her eyes. "And I have plenty of friends."

"Hm, if you say so. Who were you rooming with this year? Anyone I know?"

Loki laughed. "The only people at college that you know are Thor, Natasha, and myself. But I was rooming with this guy called Clint, who's a good friend of Tasha's." Frigga had met Natasha the previous year, when she picked the two brothers up from school for the holidays.

"You mentioned them last time I saw you. Are they together yet?" She asked, as Loki stacked his bags into the boot and slid into the car.

"Let's just say that I wouldn't be surprised if they were together by the end of the holidays." He replied. "They've gone on holiday together to Florida."

"What about you? Are you seeing anyone right now?" Frigga questioned,

"Can we leave the 20 questions until later? It's been a long day, and I'd quite like something to eat." Loki replied, purposely avoiding the question.

"Well, it's almost time for dinner, so what would you like, Loki?" She said, changing the subject. It was obvious that Loki didn't want to talk about his love-life, so she would respect that.

He shrugged. "I don't mind. What does Odin want?" He replied, his tone turning bitter as he spoke Odin's name.

Frigga noticed this, but decided to ignore it, having grown used to Loki's contempt over the years and accepting that nothing she said would change his attitude. "He's not here right now. He's overseas, on a business trip. It's just you and I for the next three or four days, and then Thor and Jane will be joining us on the 21st. It's what, the ninth today?"

Loki sat up straighter in his seat. "Odin's… away?" He didn't bother to hide his smile.

Frigga tried to frown, but failed. "Yes, Loki, he is. And could you at least try not to look so happy about it?" She answered, but a smile crept onto her face anyway.

"Sorry." Loki grinned, unapologetically. "So how's work?" Frigga was a nurse, and worked full-time, only taking a month off work a year, which was the main reason why Loki wasn't able to stay with her whilst he was recovering.

"Very busy, now that we're entering the holiday season. In fact, the other day, we had someone who had…" She started, and Loki knew she could go on about her job forever. He was content to listen though, he had the rest of the week to spend with her until Odin came home, and he was going to cherish that time. He was very close to his mother as a child, she was the one who took him to the library every Friday afternoon, and enrolled him in Karate lessons, even though Odin scoffed at Loki ever having the guts to seriously injure someone. Though their relationship throughout Loki's teenage years was strained, she was always there for him, even when he didn't want her to be.

Frigga took the rest of the week off work, in order to spend some quality time with her youngest son. They mainly spent their time indoors, seeing as the temperature outside ranged from 0-6C, and occasionally went out for coffee at a nearby café. They talked about SHIELD, but only to a certain degree, Loki was under a confidentiality agreement, and discussed Psychology, something Loki wasn't able to do with most of his friends.

So yeah, being home wasn't too bad.

Until Odin came home.

He arrived on Saturday at midday, and was completely unaware of Loki's presence until the evening, where Loki emerged from his room for dinner, and braced himself for a lecture about why he should've said hello instead of moping around in his room.

Instead, he got an astonished look. "What are you doing here?" Odin asked, his eyes wide.

Loki frowned. "I live here, remember?" He replied, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"But you go to college in New York!" Odin exclaimed, thoroughly confused about the situation.

"I am aware of that, however, it's the Christmas holidays right now, and I have been sent home to spend it with my family." Loki reminded him.

Frigga sighed in the background, placing the salad bowl in the centre of the table. "I told you he was coming, Odin. I also said to mark it in your diary, which you clearly you did not do."

"You told me Thor and that Jane girl were coming over a few days before Christmas. I don't remember you mentioning him." Odin huffed, pointing his fork in the direction of Loki.

This was not a good start to the rest of the holidays. Going home would be bad enough if Odin was expecting him, but seeing as he clearly didn't, he would undoubtedly come up with some far-fetched accusations about Loki only coming for the inheritance, or how he was purposely being a burden by forcing his presence onto them.

It was going to be a long four weeks.

At least the holidays were going well for Thor. He'd spent the first week and a half with Jane in New Mexico, meeting her guardian, Erik Selvig, for the first time. Although they got off to a shaky start, Thor was sure that he'd proved to Erik how dedicated to Jane he was.

And now it was time for Jane to meet Thor's family. Thor was more worried about Odin meeting Jane then he was about himself meeting Erik. Odin didn't care too much about personality or looks, but he looked for reputation and wealth, to see if the family that Jane came from could possibly assist him in his political career. Seeing as Jane's biological family was no longer around, and her current guardian wasn't particularly wealthy, it wasn't going to be easy to convince Odin of their love. Frigga was the opposite, she would instantly accept Jane as part of the family, as long as she made Thor happy and was polite.

Thor had called Loki up several days before him and Jane were supposed to arrive, in order to ask if he could be so kind as to talk highly of Jane in front of their parents. Loki scoffed, but agreed anyway, so long as Thor and Jane didn't mention Tony.

So now, three days after Jane and Thor had arrived, the Odinson household was preparing for Christmas day. Loki, Jane and Frigga were cooking in the kitchen, Thor was attempting to move the Christmas tree so that there would be more room in the living room to set up an inflatable mattress for their uncle, Tyr, and Odin was up in his study working on another campaign, and occasionally coming downstairs to yell at Loki for doing on thing or another.

Just as the trio in the kitchen were tidying up after making jelly, Loki's phone rang.

Without bothering to check the caller ID, Loki answered. "Hello?'

"Hey gorgeous. What are you wearing?" Tony asked huskily on the other end.

Loki laughed, and Frigga turned her attention towards him. It wasn't often that someone could make him crack a smile, let alone laugh. "I'll have to answer that later, in private. How have you been? Haven't heard from you in a while." Loki said, trying not to sound to clingy.

Tony let out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, sorry about that. Without Pepper around I kinda forget to eat or sleep. Or emerge from my workshop."

Loki sighed at the other end. "You can't do that to yourself, Stark. Don't you have people working for you?"

"They prefer to leave me alone, unless it's to clean my room or cook me food."

Loki glanced around, and saw Frigga watching him out of the corner of his eye. Knowing she was eavesdropping, he excused himself from the kitchen and made his way up to his room, hoping no one would bother him. "If you come back to school exhausted and skinnier than before, I will be forced to take matters into my own hands."

"Ooh, I love it when you get all feisty, babe." Tony said cockily.

"Mm, I know you do."

"Ugh, it's so dull at home. I need you here to make things more interesting." Tony complained.

Loki smiled. "Is that so? And what would you do if I was there?"

"I'd have you entertain me." Tony said simply.

"How so?"

"You never answered my question from earlier. What are you wearing?"

Loki frowned at the subject change. "A long-sleeved grey shirt with black jeans."

Tony breathed in deeply, imagining what Loki looked like. "Well, if you were here, I'd start by pulling your shirt off, to reveal your flawless, pale torso."

"Go on…" Loki encouraged.

"I'd rest my hands on your waist, and mark your neck with my teeth, gently biting that spot I know you love."

There was a sharp intake of breath on Loki's end, causing Tony to smirk.

"My hands would roam your body, and my lips would follow suit, my tongue tracing your abs and licking your nipples, only stopping when I reached your belt loop. I'd undo your belt and unzip your jeans, until you were in just your underwear, and lying flat on the bed, panting and begging for me." Tony continued.

Loki closed his eyes and let out a quiet moan, sliding one of his hands down his pants.

"You jerking yourself off yet, babe?" Tony asked, smiling slightly.

Loki's voice was low as he replied. "Oh yes. Are you?"

"Yup." Tony replied breathlessly. "But I wish it was your hand instead of mine."

"Oh, I promise you, next time I see you, it will be. What else would you do I if we were together now?"

"I'd hook my fingers into the elastic band, and slowly pull them down, until-"Tony was cut off by a noise on the other end of the phone.

"Loki! Get yourself down here this instant! There is family arriving, and the least you could do is be here to welcome them!" Odin shouted from the bottom of the staircase.

Loki reluctantly zipped his jeans back up and apologized to Tony. "I think I have to go." There was a noise of disagreement on the other end. "I'm sorry. Believe me, I would rather stay and talk to you."

"Yeah, I get it. Don't want you to get in trouble with your family because of me."

"Thank you."

"Guess I'm off to have a warm shower then." Tony teased.

"Think of me when you're in there, okay?" Loki responded.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to think of anything else." Tony admitted.

"You better not." Loki threatened lightly. "I promised myself I wouldn't say this, but I miss you."

Tony grinned. "I know. I promised myself I wouldn't say it either, but I miss you too."

Loki laughed. "We've only been together for a month, and we've turned into sentimental idiots."

"Well, I suppose a month feels longer when you're practically living together." Tony reasoned.

"Good point. But I have a feeling that if I delay going downstairs any longer, Odin will come up here and drag me down by the ear. So until next time, Anthony."

"Good bye, Shakespeare."

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