"Loki, I'll play with you all day on Saturday," you reminded the bored Trickster God. Again. Life as a high school student living in the Avenger's tower was hard enough. It was harder when you were living there because Tony had adopted you. It was even more difficult when the Trickster God thought you were the least boring thing around, despite that you were an 18 year old Midgardian girl.

"But Y/N!" he protested. Again.

You sighed heavily and dug in your bag. You'd bought him a present, knowing he'd be difficult today. "Loki. I have to study. I have two AP exams tomorrow. Which I need for college next year. I need to pass them. We've been over this. You promised to behave until Saturday and I promised to spend the entire day with you."

"But you have been studying all day!" he complained. Again. For a thousand year old god, he could be as annoying and whiny as a teenager.

You should have studied in your room instead of in the common room, but your room was lonely and there was always company down here. Company came in the form of a Loki most of the time, but he was pleasant company if he liked someone, and he had decided he liked you.

"Yes, I have, and will continue studying for the rest of the day. I knew you'd be trouble though," you teased. You pulled his present out of your bag and handed it to him. "That should keep you entertained for awhile." You would also never tell Tony that you'd bought it. He still hated Loki, even though he'd been living on Earth for almost a year. The only thing Tony seemed to like about Loki was that Loki liked you well enough to make sure you were safe. You even put up with Loki walking you to school, though you'd never put up with Happy or the other guards.

Natasha had taught you a few tricks to convince them they were better off not trying to guard you if you caught them at it. Thor had somehow convinced Tony to let Loki walk you to school one day, and was your permanent escort when he not only survived the experience, but his company was welcomed.

Loki looked at the wrapped box excitedly. "What is it?" he asked like an overly excited puppy. No one else ever saw this side of him. He was usually quiet and reserved around the others. You would take quiet when you needed to study.

"You'll have to open the box and find out," you teased him. You watched amused as he opened the paper, almost hesitantly as if he were afraid of a nasty trick in the box. He pulled the items out of the box, but still looked confused. You laughed. "It's a game," you explained and showed him how to turn on the handheld game system and inset the games. "Try this one. You're a hero named Mario who has to go save a princess," you told him. He curled up contentedly on his end of the couch with the game and let you get back to your studying.

*

"Loki! Give me my book back!" You yelled at him what you realized was hours later. The book had vanished from your hands in a shimmer of green magic.

"After dinner," he replied pleasantly. You looked around. No one was here, which was strange. Usually Tony, Pepper, or Steve would've come around by now to make sure everyone ate.

You sighed. "Let me guess, you're hungry and still refuse to learn how to make anything for yourself," you teased. The last time he had attempted to cook he somehow had managed to burn an egg on the outside and have it still be raw in the middle. No one trusted him with anything more complicated than boiling water for his tea since then. He wouldn't dignify your comment with an answer. "Jarvis, where is everyone?" you asked as you got up off of the couch to go see what you could make for dinner.

"They had to go out on a mission, Miss Stark," Jarvis replied. "Mr. Stark did not want you to worry while you were studying." His voice sounded sheepish. He wasn't supposed to tell you apparently. But Jarvis liked you and would do things he wasn't supposed to if you asked nicely.

"Looks like it's just us tonight, then," you told Loki. "Chinese?" He shrugged in reply, being unhelpful as usual when it came to food. "Jarvis, can you place the order?" You got an affirmative and went back to the couch. "Remember how this works?" you asked Loki, pulling a twenty from the cash jar on your way back to the couch. He got cranky if you tried to answer the door for the delivery men, but hadn't wanted to learn how to do it himself.

He rolled his eyes extra dramatically. "Yes, Y/N. It is a simple task," he grumbled at your teasing.

"Can I have my book back now?" you asked, handing him the twenty and settling on the couch. He huffed, but your book reappeared in your hands. "Thank you." You placed your cold toes on him while you reviewed. It never bothered him when you did, though you were always amused at the blue spots on his skin from where your ice cold toes hit. Jarvis announced the deliveryman a short while later. "Remember, you can't stab the delivery guy. If you stab him, he won't bring me food anymore and I'll be grumpy,"

Loki was laughing as he went to get the food. "I do not wish for you to be grumpy," he replied. He paid the deliveryman and brought the food back. Your textbook vanished again when he returned to the room. You huffed at him, but helped him dish out the Chinese.

"How do you like the game?" you asked him while you ate. He gushed about how much fun it was to stomp on the monsters and how frustrated he was that the princess wasn't in any of the castles he visited.

At least he gave you your book back after dinner like he'd promised.

*

"Loki, seriously, stop stealing my books!" you yelled at him much later. You looked at the clock. It was nearly midnight. Oops, you hadn't meant to stay up this late with your exams in the morning.

"If these exams are as important as you say, surely you will be needing sleep," he commented casually. He stood from the couch and offered you a hand. You rolled your eyes but took it and allowed him to haul you to your feet.

"You don't have to walk me to my room," you told him. Again. You had this conversation almost every night. He had stopped coming up with excuses a long time ago.

"I do not have to. I wish to," he replied, his usual response. So you let him walk you to your room. You placed your hand on his arm, letting him escort you like a lady. Some nights you walked side-by-side companionable silence, some nights arm in arm, some nights holding his hand, some nights when you were being particularly stubborn about going to bed thrown over his shoulder, and once cradled in his arms after you'd fallen asleep on the couch. It was a wonderfully comfortable friendship you'd formed with him.

Tonight, after he'd checked your room for intruders...or monsters... or whatever he thought might be lurking in there, he bowed over your hand and kissed your knuckles. You offered him an impudent curtsy in reply.

"Night, Trickster,"

"Goodnight, Y/N," his voice and eyes both held a warm smile, even as you closed the door between you.

*

"Y/N, please stop trying to read and walk at the same time," Loki urged you the next morning as he was walking you to school. He dragged you away from walking into a pole. Again. You had your nose buried in your textbook. "You are going to walk into something, or into traffic,"

"But I forgot to review this section!" you told him frantically. He sighed heavily and offered you an arm.

"Very well, but at least let me escort you so you do not hurt yourself," his tone was exasperated, but amused. You laughed and placed your hand on his arm so he could guide you and you could continue staring at your notes as you walked. It still took effort on his part to make sure you didn't walk into traffic, or other pedestrians. "Time to pay attention for yourself," he told you with laughter in his voice some time later. "We have arrived,"

You looked up and blinked, not realizing you were already at the steps to the school. "Thanks, Loki." You stood up on your toes to kiss his cheek, a friendly, familiar gesture. You knew he was putting up with a lot from you this week. "I'm sorry, I know I'm going to be awful company this afternoon. These exams are hell and I wouldn't be surprised if my brains are dribbling out of my ears at the end of the day." He gave you a questioning look. "Figuratively, of course," you added quickly and laughed at the look of relief on his face. "You can send Happy to pick me up," you offered. "I won't be offended, or kill him. Like I said, I know I won't be pleasant company,"

"I will see you after school," he replied instead of even considering that Happy could come pick you up. You waved and darted up the steps into the school to go face your hell exams.

*

Two AP exams in one day was hell. Hell was not a strong enough word. There were no words strong enough for the feeling of trying to pull every single fact you'd learned about a subject out of your brain for hours straight was awful. Doing it twice with only a short lunch in between was just torture. Whoever designed this system should be shot. Repeatedly. After you let Natasha beat them up. Or Loki, he was pretty creative when it came to killing people, or so you'd heard. You thought you might feel better if your brains were dribbling out of your ears. It might hurt less and you might be able to think more clearly.

You left the school that afternoon via the same door you'd entered that morning. Loki was standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for you. You barely recognized that fact in your exhausted haze. You stumbled down the stairs to him and wrapped your arms around him, holding him too tightly as you fwumped your head against his chest, making a small pitiful whining noise.

He chuckled. "Poor darling. Were the exams that awful?" he asked, wrapping an arm around your shoulders to steer you towards home. You nodded, but even that made your head hurt.

"They were so bad," you whined.

"Your brain appears to not be leaking out of your ears at least," he teased.

"It might as well be," you grumbled, managing to lay your head on his shoulder with your eyes closed as you walked, trusting him to get you home safely. You were too brain dead to manage it on your own. You didn't notice or care that he had vanished your schoolbag and all of your heavy books. You just wanted to keep your eyes closed and relax.

He sighed in that mix of put-upon and fake-exasperation that you knew too well led to nothing but mischief. You opened your eyes to see what he was up to, but before you could register more than the mischievous glint in his eyes, he had swept you up into his strong arms as though you weighed nothing. "Loki!" you protested as he continued striding toward the tower. You were drawing a lot of attention, though he had already drawn plenty by picking you up and carrying you. "I can walk!"

"Sure you can," he replied dryly. "You nearly tripped over the sidewalk twice already and you are too brain dead to have even noticed,"

"There's still a mile walk before we get home!" you protested. That was way too far for him to carry you.

"You best get comfortable then, darling," he replied pleasantly. You huffed and rolled your eyes at his stubbornness, but wrapped your arms around his neck and closed your eyes. Despite the people pointing on the street and making comments and taking pictures. You were both pretty famous, you for being Tony's adopted daughter, and Loki for being...Loki.

He would probably give up long before you got back to the tower regardless.

You were wrong.

So very wrong.

He didn't put you down again until you were outside of your bedroom's door.

"Thank you," you told him sheepishly, embarrassed that you'd needed his help to get home. You were feeling less brain dead from getting to zone out and relax on the way home.

"Anytime, love," he replied with his warm smile. He shocked you again that day by leaning down to kiss you. An actual kiss, not a kiss on the cheek, or hand, but an actual kiss on the lips. You kissed him back, enjoying the experience, and still too dazed and brain dead to quite consider the consequences. "I have been waiting a very long time to do that," he said softly when the light kiss had ended.

"That was wonderful," you told him equally softly. You then somehow flushed and paled at the same time as your heart sank. "Tony is going to kill us," you reminded him in horror. Jarvis had probably already told Tony.

"Let him try," Loki replied with a grin. "I have left a surprise for you in your room," he added mischievously.

"What is it?" you asked dumbly.

"If you open the door, you will find out," he said overly pleasantly. You opened the door and found your room filled with roses. Every single flat surface had vases and vases of roses. You just gasped in shock and awe at the sight. "I thought you would like it," his voice was pleased. "There is also a hot bubble bath waiting for you. I thought you would need to relax after all of the stress of the exams." You didn't have any words strong enough to thank him with, so you turned and kissed him again. He chuckled when the kiss broke. "You're welcome, darling,"