You cursed the next morning when your alarm went off. You slammed it off again, but relaxed quickly when you found yourself in a pillow pile with the other ladies of the Avengers. You had all fallen asleep in the livingroom. You slipped out of the pile of pillows and rushed upstairs to get ready for school. A quick wardrobe change into a clean pair of jeans and t-shirt and you were back downstairs. You slipped past the sleeping women, much more quietly than the boys had done at 3am.

You hesitated at the elevator. Loki was still asleep. You weren't supposed to leave without a guard. Too many people were stupid about the idea of capturing 'Tony's little princess' for ransom money or weapons or something stupid like that. But you could protect yourself and didn't want to wake Loki, who was sleeping so peacefully, so you slipped into the elevator and headed off to school alone.

It was strange not to have Loki with you. He was your usual companion nearly all of the time. You walked quickly to school, ready for the next few days to be over. AP exams were always the week before classes ended. The last few days of school were mandatory, though, or you would've just skipped them.

-Where are you?- came Loki's worried text right before your first class of the day was supposed to start.

-School. Class is starting.- you put your phone away before the teacher could yell at you for it. You didn't know why she cared today. This was one of your AP classes and literally the only thing you were doing in this class this week was watching movies.

All anyone wanted to talk to you about all day was your relationship with Loki. It was to be expected since you had broadcasted it on social media, but it was a little annoying. You sat with Peter at lunch that day to talk about his suit, or really anything besides your boyfriend. He was glad to oblige. He told you about his superheroing and you told him about the bangle-gauntlets you'd created. You even showed him how they transformed while the teachers weren't looking. He was properly impressed.

*

You weren't surprised to see Loki when you left school that day. You weren't really surprised to see how pissed he was either. You were surprised when he didn't greet you. Instead he glanced you over to make sure you weren't harmed, then threw you over his shoulder, vanishing your bag and books as he did.

"Loki!" You shrieked indignantly.

"Do you know how worried I was?" he asked, fear softening his anger some. But only some. He was so pissed.

"I didn't want to wake you, not when I can walk a mile or so by myself," you told him, trying to ignore the comments from your classmates at the sight of you being carried by your boyfriend over his shoulder.

"It's my job to protect you," he protested, settling you more securely over his shoulder. "You should have woken me,"

You rolled your eyes and huffed at him. "I can protect myself. I've been telling Dad for years that I don't need a guard or babysitter," you grumbled at him.

"You have let me guard you for a year," Loki replied sourly.

"I've let my friend spend time with me. Just because my friend, now my boyfriend, happens to have super human strength and magic was irrelevant," you retorted grumpily. "You were asleep," you reminded him again. "If you are actually asleep, then you needed the sleep," he seemed to sleep so seldomly that you never wanted to wake him if you caught him at it. "I was being considerate and letting you sleep,"

He huffed and held your legs more securely to his chest. "If I apologize will you put me down?" you asked when it seemed like he was going to carry you all the way home over his shoulder. Overprotective gods could be annoying at times. This was one of them.

"Maybe," he replied, softening a little.

"I'm very sorry I worried you and I promise next time I'll wake you," you told him quickly.

He chuckled and set you gently back on your feet. He still wrapped his arms too tightly around you. "I was so worried," he told you softly and kissed the top of your head.

"I'm fine, Loki," you told him gently. You leaned up to give him a kiss. "I'm fine, perfectly safe. It was just a walk to school," you reminded him.

"Stark had to have put a guard on you for a reason," Loki replied logically as you finally got him to continue the walk back home. You rolled your eyes.

"Dad thinks there will be kidnapping attempts because of who he is," you replied grumpily.

"I feel better knowing you are safe regardless," Loki said and kissed the top of your head again as you walked.

"So now you're going to teach me self-defense and Asgardian?" you asked with a laugh.

"That, my darling, is an excellent idea," he replied with a grin.

*

Somehow Loki convinced you to spend that afternoon with him learning more hand-to-hand combat in one of the training rooms. You weren't quite sure how that happened. You did greatly appreciate that he was shirtless during this activity. You knew some tricks from working with Nat, but Loki was a proficient fighter too and a great teacher.

You were delighted when he let you move on from bare handed combat to working with daggers. They were his weapon of choice, but he said they'd be a good fit for you based on your body type and fighting style.

"What are you doing?" Tony demanded angrily from the doorway. You both had to scramble in a couple awkward movements to keep you from getting sliced open when you looked at Tony instead of Loki who was currently attacking you.

"Stark! Don't you know not to interrupt weapons training without warning? Especially when your daughter is training with someone with the strength and speed of a god?" Loki cursed while he helped you back to your feet. You had fallen on your ass instead of getting sliced open by a dagger. You gripped his arm and let him haul you back to your feet. "Are you ok, Y/N?" Loki asked, looking you over for injuries before he turned his attention back to Tony.

"I'm fine," you told him gently.

"What is going on?" Tony demanded again.

"Loki offered to teach me self-defense," you explained. "Nat taught me a bunch of stuff already, so we were working on weapons instead of bare hand,"

"I don't want you learning to fight," Tony grumbled. You rolled your eyes in reply.

"Dad, you're always worried about my safety. Don't you think it's better if I know how to protect myself, at least until one of the superheros can arrive?" you asked overly logically. You handed the dagger to Loki and went to Tony.

"Just be careful, and don't get any ideas about becoming an Avenger. I don't want this life for you," Tony finally replied, softening. You kissed his cheek.

"I'll be careful, Dad," you replied with a grin. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Sure you will... Make sure she's careful, Reindeer Games," Tony told Loki instead.

He offered an elegant bow in reply. "Always," Loki replied.

*

"Miss, Peter is calling for you," Karen's voice came from your phone, while you were brushing Loki's hair out that evening. You were sitting on the couch watching TV and he was sitting on the floor in front of you, purring contentedly while you worked.

"Hey, Pete," you answered the phone. Loki made a pouty whiny noise at you when you momentarily stopped brushing his hair. You rolled your eyes at him, but cradled the phone between your ear and shoulder and got back to work on his hair.

"Hey, Y/N. Aunt May's having that casserole you like for dinner tomorrow if you and Loki want to come over," Peter offered.

"Great! Dinner's at 6, right?" you asked, though you already knew the answer.

"Yep,"

"Karen's not giving you any more trouble, is she?" you asked.

"No, not since you fixed her."

"Great! I'll see you tomorrow, then," you told him and hung up. "We're having dinner with Peter and his Aunt May tomorrow. You were invited too," you told Loki. He looked up, shock on his face.

"I was invited?" he asked softly, not believing that anyone would want him around. You nodded.

"Pete invited you specifically," you told him kindly. He grinned. "That means that you can't stab him, or Aunt May. You have to be nice to them. And polite to Aunt May,"

"I know how to be polite," he replied grumpily, pouting like a petulant two year old.

"You can't say you don't like the food," you reminded him anyway. "Aunt May also doesn't know that Peter is Spiderman. She thinks he's doing an internship for Dad,"

"I will be polite to Aunt May and not give the spider's secret away," Loki said, still pouting. "Don't fret, darling. I can behave among the humans,"

"Good," you leaned down and kissed him before getting back to work brushing, then braiding, his hair. He didn't mind at all that you braided it, and was just a purring happy Loki while you paid attention to him.