Loki had ended up in the common room at the end of his search for Morgan. He glanced around and saw that she had built herself a nest of blankets, a book, her phone charger, etc at what he assumed was her usual place on the couch. In fact, her setup looked like she hadn't left that spot on the couch for days except to make sure he ate.

She'd been waiting all alone for word from the team, he realized.

And had been sleeping on the couch while she waited.

And that just made him feel worse for how he'd been treating her.

He'd rectify that. Just as soon as he tanned her hide for scaring him with her disappearing act.

"Miss Stark had errands to run. That is all she would tell me, besides not to inform her father that she left the tower," Jarvis finally replied. He didn't sound pleased either, but Morgan hadn't forbade him from giving Loki information.

Loki groaned, preparing to argue with the stupid computer. He really hated the primitive computer system. And Jarvis didn't much care for him either. "Of course she did not say," he growled. "Does she have anything by which she can be tracked? It is not safe out there for her alone," he reminded the stupid computer. The girl was blind and without protection. She was living with the Avengers and related to Tony Stark. There was no doubt she was a target for any wrongdoer in the city who heard she was out without protection.

Jarvis paused. "She has her phone," he told Loki. Jarvis could track her phone anywhere, especially since it had Jarvis tech in it. But that wasn't what was having the AI pause. It was Loki's interest. "You... wish to track her?" Jarvis sounded disbelieving, or as disbelieving as an AI could sound. Loki didn't care about anyone except Wanda and Thor. Occasionally Bucky. And he only cared about Thor because Thor was his brother and he was required to love him, not like him.

And he'd only spoken with Morgan a couple of times.

Loki sighed and glared at the ceiling. "With the team gone, Lady Stark is technically in my care. I will not let anything befall her because she decided to run errands on her own without protection," Loki told Jarvis firmly. "Now tell me where she is," he growled.

Jarvis could write a book about how headstrong the young Miss Stark was. And how of course she went off without protection when given half a chance. And of course she hadn't bothered Loki to ask him to go with her. They'd only spoken a couple of times and she didn't think they were friends yet.

But Loki knew all that already.

So Jarvis gave him the location of the shop Morgan was currently in. Loki nodded and glanced at his outfit. He hadn't seen anyone in days and hadn't paid attention to what he was wearing. An Asgardian style tunic and soft black pants wouldn't do for appearing among the Midgardians. So Loki used magic to change his clothes into jeans and a black button down shirt. He was more presentable, though of course it wasn't enough to disguise his sapphire skin, crimson eyes, or the horns. He growled again that he had to leave the tower like this, but there were no better options.

So he headed to the elevator to track down the pesky little blind Midgardian.

Who knew that one little Midgardian could be so much trouble?

She had only wandered off a few blocks, so he walked it. The Midgardians stared. They always did. Loki tried not to let it bother him. It bothered him greatly, but he couldn't exactly blame the Midgardians for staring at the monster he was.

Everyone stared at him.

Except the one little blind Midgardian he found in a little farmer's market a few blocks from the tower. She was oblivious to the fact that he was there and looking for her as she was feeling and smelling tomatoes to choose from for them. She already had bags of shopping on one arm, full of groceries. Loki watched her for a moment. She seemed so lovely in this quiet moment of domesticity. And she seemed happy in what was probably her first real moment of self -sufficiency since her accident.

Loki didn't want to ruin her happiness.

But he also needed her to understand how much danger she'd put herself in, especially when she could have just asked for him to accompany her.

He had to do better by her.

He had to.

But first, he had to impress upon her that he'd been worried and she had acted rashly. He strode over to her, gliding soundlessly as he approached. He put his disapproval into his tone when he addressed her. "You left the tower alone, Lady Stark," he told him firmly. His accented voice couldn't be mistaken for anyone else's.

Morgan whirled to face him, looking as startled and surprised as she felt. She appeared to nearly drop her bags, but Loki noticed that her hand gripped her cane and she'd twisted the grip, starting to draw the blade hidden inside until she'd recognized his voice. He felt pride that her first instinct was to defend herself. Maybe she wasn't as helpless as he'd thought.

"Loki? What are you doing here?!?" she demanded as she hid her blade back in her cane where it belonged. She didn't want to draw attention to the fact that she was armed unless she had to.

"I came to find you," Loki told her. "It is not safe to be out of the tower on your own," he reminded her. She was old enough that she should know that. Plus she lived with superheroes.

She looked up at him and he could see her confusion. Why was she confused? Annoying, troublesome chit. They were getting too much attention too. Loki was beginning to see why Thor was so fond of throwing people over his shoulder to put them where he though they should be. He wanted to do the same with this troublesome little Midgardian. "We're three blocks from the tower and I'm not a child. We needed food, so I came out to get it. And the book I ordered from the bookstore," she told him, as if that was at all safe.

Loki sighed. Of course she just wanted independence. "It still is not safe, lady. Especially with the team off on a mission. There are many threats against your father." Surely, she knew that.

She did. Loki could see in her expression that she'd been told for years that she needed extra security only because she was related to Tony Stark.

"Oh..." she said softly. She hadn't thought he would notice of care that she'd left. She assumed he would stay in his room as he had for days and not even notice while she got them more food. Loki saw it in her expression and he felt awful for it. She wore her heart on her sleeve. She assumed next that her dad had told Loki to keep an eye on her. Or at least to come yell at her if she left the safety of the tower. "J-just... let me pay for this and we can go home," she told him quickly. She knew she'd made him go out of his way to come look for her. "I... didn't realize he had you babysitting." She was used to babysitters and guards, though they were discreet about it while she was at school.

Loki shook his head quickly. He didn't want her thinking that. It was wrong and painted him in a bad light. "He did not. I came to look for you on my own volition. I was concerned for you," Loki told her. It seemed important that she know he was concerned over her. That he really did care. Though he didn't understand how or why he cared so much about this girl he'd just met.

"But why come looking for me?" she asked, assuming he was going to lie something unconvincing about not babysitting her. Like he would actually come of his own volition. She was pretty sure he had no interest in her now that he had found out why she was blind. She kept trying to bribe him with food anyway, she was used to bribing people to be her friend, even before she knew Tony was her dad, but it didn't seem to be doing any good yet. Nor did the cookies. She needed more time and bribes. She'd never been good at making friends, too smart for her own good and blowing through school she was always surrounded by older kids who had no interest in her besides copying her homework. "It looks like it'll just be us for a couple more days," she told him softly as she made her way to the cashier to pay. Loki stayed by her side and took the rest of the grocery bags from her, gentleman that he was. "Dad keeps apologizing for leaving me alone right after I got out of the hospital. I keep telling him that I'm fine and not alone." Loki realized that she'd been lying for him, to protect him. She'd been telling the others that he was keeping her company.

She'd been protecting him, painting him in a positive light.

And he'd done nothing to deserve the kindness.

Loki carried all of the groceries and she gripped her cane. She would reach for the arm of anyone else on the team for them to guide her, but she didn't know Loki at all besides that he didn't like people and preferred being alone. She doubted he'd appreciate being touched.

If only she knew how touch starved the prince was.

So she stuck to using her cane. "Let's go home," she told him softly. "I can call us a ride if you'd prefer?"

Loki shook his head, cursing himself again for forgetting she couldn't see his actions. "No need. We are not far from the tower," he reassured her. She nodded and started for the tower, remembering how to get home. Her cane swept the ground in front of her and Loki stayed by her side the entire way back, glaring at anyone who got too close and making sure the blind girl made it home safely.

She carefully put the groceries away before she settled back in her next of blankets on her couch in the common room. Loki took a seat on the couch across from her, silently, observing the strange, interesting, troublesome little Midgardian.

She sighed heavily, seemingly waiting for the inevitable lecture. So he obliged her. "Being out in the city alone is dangerous. You live with the Avengers now. Which means that you have become a target. You are also a Stark which just puts you in even more danger," Loki's voice sounded concerned and worried. She could hear that he actually cared and was surprised by that knowledge.

She sighed again and looked down at her lap, or at least appeared to. "I get it," she said softly. "I've been hearing the same things since I found out Tony's my dad... I just didn't want to bother anyone just to get a few groceries..." it had been just a simple errand.

Loki nodded and decided he'd drilled the point in enough. He just had one more to make. "The next time you decide to go out, please let me know. I will gladly accompany you," he reassured her. He wouldn't cage her to the tower. A cage, no matter how golden, was still a cage. A sentiment he knew well.

"I didn't think anyone would notice if I went out for an hour..." she commented, mostly to herself.

"You didn't bring lunch to my door," is the only answer he had for that. It was the wrong thing to say.

She smirked at him. "I'll be sure to bring you lunch first," she teased and he noted that she hadn't agreed to let him know if she was leaving. Annoying little chit. He never would have found out she was gone if she had brought him lunch first. That wasn't going to be a mistake he'd make again.

He was bound and determined to get to know her now.

Loki gave her a pointed look, though he knew she couldn't see it. "Please be careful. I would like to know if you decide to go out so I can go with you,"

She sighed again. "You don't have to. I can take one of the security guys... but we should have enough food to survive until the team gets home, so it shouldn't be an issue..." she'd only interacted with Loki a couple of times in all of the days she'd been home. She thought he wasn't interested in her.

Oh how very wrong she was.

"I was not assigned to watch over you, Morgan,," Loki told her gently, trying to let her hear that he really did care. "But seeing as I am the only one here, you are under my protection,"

She held up her hands in surrender. "Alright, alright. I'll let you know if I have to go out again," she conceded.

He smiled and sighed in relief. "Thank you," he told her warmly.

She nodded and pulled out the book she'd picked up from the store. She expected that he was going to return to his isolation now that he'd tracked down his charge and had gotten his scolding out of his system. She wasn't going to force him to do something he was uncomfortable with and there had to be a reason that he wanted to be alone all the time.

However, the book she held wasn't in Braille. So she spun a ring on her finger, which formed a piece of Jarvis tech up her finger. Jarvis began to read aloud as her finger ran over the page: " 'GET OUT,' said Freya. 'What kind of woman do you think I am? Marry a GIANT?!?' 'But. My hammer,' said Thor. 'Shut up, Thor,' said Loki. Thor shut up." Read Jarvis.

Loki laughed from where he'd been observing her on his couch. "I remember that," he commented.

Morgan looked over at him, surprised that he was still there. She'd expected him to leave. She was even more surprised he was talking to her. "This story's real?" she asked with bright interest.

Loki inclined his head. "It is. Would you like to hear the real story?" he offered.

She lit up in absolute delight and nodded enthusiastically. She twisted the tech on her finger and it turned back into a ring so she could give him her undivided attention. "I'd love to hear the real story!" she agreed. She really was interested in the story, and even more, she'd been so lonely these last days.

Loki smiled at her enthusiasm and told the tale of himself and Thor going to the giants to get Mjolnir back. He told her how Thor had decided to wear a wedding dress instead of letting Loki use magic to change his shape to a woman. And how Loki had shifted to his female form and pretended to be Thor's handmaiden. He told of the stupid giants who put Mjolnir on Thor's lap and how the oaf had nearly given them away by eating the entire wedding feast and drinking all the wine. She giggled and listened with rapt attention to his story and Loki found that he enjoyed the company of the little Midgardian who he could sit and have a conversation with, without her judging his appearance.

"I don't have any fun stories like that," she said when he finished his story. "But you should've seen the look on dad's face when he found out he had a 14 year old daughter," she offered that as a potential interesting story.

Loki smirked, always interested in anything that embarrassed Tony. "I would have loved to have seen the absolute shock on Starks face,"

She grinned and nodded. "It was great. Mom didn't tell him, or ask for support of any kind from him. It was just a one-night stand back in his playboy days. She only told him when I was 14 to ask him for one tiny favor. She was having trouble getting me into a good college," she paused her story. "Tertiary education for adults, and at 14, I was a child," she added, figuring that he wouldn't know about college or how to judge Midgardian ages well. "Anyway, I was just a kid at the time and though I had the grades for it the schools were being... difficult. Dad paved the way with next to no effort on his part,"

Loki pondered that and what he did know of Midgardian culture from his own studies. "You must be very intelligent to move to such an advanced school at such a young age,"

Morgan shrugged modestly. She was. She was Tony Stark's daughter. It was to be expected, but she didn't like to brag. "So I ended up attending one of the best schools in the country and dad found out he had a daughter. Mom died in a plane crash a year after I started school, so dad took over proper guardianship and I've lived with him every summer and school break since. The last few summers that's been here in the tower," she explained as if all of that was nothing.

"I sounds like you have had quite the eventful life so far, little one," Loki commented. It really was eventful for someone who had only known 21 namedays.

She smirked and Loki loved seeing that look and that hint of mischief on her face. "Not fighting giants or bilgesnipe eventful," she replied.

He chuckled and it felt so good to laugh. "True. But eventful in its own way,"

She nodded and tried to think of something else to talk about. She didn't know what to ask him, what to discuss. She didn't want to pry, not when he seemed so reserved. She wanted to know him better, though, so she pressed on. "Did you have a chance to look at the books I left you?" she asked softly, gently. She wasn't pressing him for an answer or even to say he was interested in them.

"I did. They were... Intriguing,"

"Oh..." she said softly. That didn't sound like he was interested. She cursed herself silently and tried to come up with another topic.

"I'm not saying they weren't good!" he corrected quickly. "I have just never read anything like them,"

"I just thought you'd be interested in stories about magic," she said softly, unsure. She wasn't doing well at getting to know him. She she tried another tactic. Doomed to fail as it was. "Do you like living here? Working with the team?"

Loki shrugged and she could practically feel him getting defensive. "I am here to serve penance for what happened in New York a few years ago," he replied a bit stiffly.

Morgan sighed and nodded, cursing herself again. She then tried one last tactic before she decided he was completely uninterested in her for more than providing him food and something he needed to babysit. "Did Thor tell you about the time he almost got arrested in the mall two summers ago?" she asked tentatively.

Loki laughed. "My brother almost got arrested?" he finally sounded interested and Morgan breathed a sigh of relief.

"We were out shopping and one of the stores was having a promotion. That particular store had a monster as it's mascot. So they had a poor teenager dress up in the mascot costume. Your idiot brother thought it was a real monster and attacked the poor kid," she told him, smiling fondly at the memory of that summer.

Loki burst into helpless laughter. "My brother is such an idiot!" he exclaimed as he tried to catch his breath.

Morgan couldn't help laughing too. "So he threw a poor midgardian through three walls. The police were called, but no one quite knew how to arrest Thor. Dad paid for the damages and the store made Thor work there for a month as community service as his punishment. He looked so ridiculous in the store uniform,"

Loki was half-falling off his couch he was laughing so hard. "Please tell me you have a picture," he begged.

She nodded and reached onto her end table for the Jarvis screen. A few words to Jarvis and she held the screen out to Loki in offering. He took the device and nearly dropped it, he was laughing so hard at Thor in the horrible uniform. "Slide your finger from right to left across the screen," Morgan told him. Loki obeyed and saw the next picture was of Thor holding the store's sign out in the parking lot, looking miserable and even more ridiculous.

Loki couldn't stop laughing.

"They made him stand in the sun for hours. He couldn't work the register, so they made him stock shelves and sweep and hold the sign. For a month. He absolutely hated it,"

With the ice broken, Morgan and Loki traded stories of stupid things Thor had done, chatting companionably together.

It was the start of a wonderful friendship.

And if Loki got his way, something more.

Little did he know, his troublesome little blind Midgardian was hoping for the same thing, now that she was finally getting to know Loki.