You found yourself surrounded by flames and the laughter of the villains who surrounded your house. You could smell the smoke, feel the heat. Your bedroom was on the third floor of the mansion and you were going to die up here. No, you wouldn't, couldn't, die, afraid in your own room. You had to get out of here. Now.

You left your bedroom and instantly gagged from the smoke, coughing and choking as you tried to breathe. You fell to your knees, your subconscious remembering that the smoke rose so clean air was at the floor. You tried desperately to find the stairs so you could escape the house. You'd grown up in this house. It shouldn't be that difficult, even with the smoke, even crawling, even coughing from the smoke.

You didn't realize you were cut off until it was too late to get back to your room, to get back to any of the windows. The only way out was to get downstairs. You felt the heat increasing, felt the flames licking at your skin.

You had to go through them.

There was no other way.

You somehow made it to the first floor, somehow made it to the collapsing entryway, only to find your parents tied to chairs in your entry hall. They were already dead, both were shot in the head. You screamed for them, momentarily forgetting your need to escape from the fire around you. "No!!!" you screamed again. One of the beams collapsed, trapping you beneath its burning weight.

"Love, wake up. It is a nightmare. Kat, please wake up!" You were startled from the nightmare by cold hand shaking you, cool arms pulling you to an equally cool body. The coolness of the person was in such contrast to the memories of the fire that you stopped struggling and screaming when you were shaken from the nightmare. You opened your eyes and looked up at Loki, whose lap you found yourself in. He held you while you clutched on to him, sobbing from the memories of that night. "Shh, love, it was just a nightmare, darling." After a few minutes of him holding you, rocking you, soothing you, your sobs finally eased. You sniffled and he handed you a handkerchief, though you didn't see where he'd gotten it.

"Always the gentleman," you commented softly, your voice still hoarse from screaming and crying. You dried your eyes with his handkerchief.

"Will you tell me what the dream was about?" he asked you softly, gently, though he wasn't pressuring you to answer.

You nodded, but had to ask: "Can we go make some tea first?" You wanted to get out of this room, and tea was soothing. Loki stood, with you still in his arms. You made a surprised noise before he teleported you downstairs to where the kitchen was. You watched from the safety of his arms as the kettle flew to the sink to get water, then to the stove to heat.

You were amazed that he was using magic to make your tea so he didn't have to put you down. You didn't even protest. You knew somehow that he wouldn't think less of you for still having nightmares, unlike the other supers around you.

Soon the tea was ready. The tea poured itself into two mugs and followed you to the common room. Loki sat in one of the reclining chairs, holding you safely in his lap. Your tea floated into your hands and you sat in silence, sipping on your tea grateful that he wasn't pressing you for answers.

"It was the same nightmare I always have," you finally started to tell him, not looking up from your cup of tea. You hadn't told anyone that you still dreamt of that night, and it was hard for you to tell him now. So you spoke to the cup of tea. "It's the night my parents' died. Villains wanted to steal their money. They refused and the villains shot and killed them. I was upstairs asleep. I didn't even hear the gunshots. Then they set our house on fire. The entire house was in flames before I woke. The smoke detectors didn't work properly or malfunctioned, or something. I nearly died that night trying to get out of the house. I found my parents dead on the first floor of the house while I was making my escape. It was a miracle that Uncle Tony got to the house when he did and heard my screams. I was unconscious and badly burned when he finally got to me. I spent months in the hospital and with super healers afterwards. There's no proof at the damage, except for one scar they couldn't heal," you stopped rambling and looked up at him to see his reaction to your past.

"I am so sorry, love," was his only reply. You saw honest sadness in his eyes, not pity, not snubbing you for being a weak human. None of that. "And I am more sorry that you have to relive that experience in nightmares,"

"You don't think less of me for it?" you asked in a small, scared voice. You didn't want to lose Loki just because he found out you had a nightmare, that you still had nightmares of the fire.

"Never, darling. I have my share of nightmares too," he whispered, admitting his own secrets. He held you for awhile longer and let you finish your tea. "Are you ready to go back to bed?" he asked gently. You nodded and moved to stand, but he was standing with you in his arms before you could climb off of his lap.

"I'm perfectly capable of walking. I'm not weak just for having a nightmare," you told him firmly. You wouldn't have him treating you like some frail incapable creature just for having a nightmare.

"I am aware you are capable. I do not see you as weak, darling, but you possess a strength far above any I have ever known for reliving that horror night after night. I cannot save you in a nightmare. That is outside of my powers, I'm afraid, but I can take care of you after, and remind you that you are safe." You realized then how helpless he'd felt, listening to your screaming until he could get you to wake. Taking care of you now was just as much for his sake as it was for yours. You laid your head on his shoulder and let him teleport you back upstairs. He set you on your bed and tucked you back in. He crawled on the bed, staying on top of the covers and opened his arms to you. You laid your head on his cool chest, listening to his heartbeat, and to his honeyed voice as he recited tales to you until you eventually fell back asleep. His presence kept the nightmares at bay the rest of the night, despite his words that it was outside of his powers.

You don't know how you made it through classes the next day; you were so exhausted from your lack of sleep. The previous night's nightmare had been worse than most and you were dead on your feet because of it. It was lucky that Loki was guarding you, since you wouldn't have been able to protect yourself. You did notice that the girls were being more openly flirty with him. Even a couple of the gay guys tested their luck.

"You just had to tell them I was gay," Loki whispered in your ear at lunch with magic just like the previous day. That earned him a small laugh.

You passed your math test with a perfect score, which you thanked Loki for after class, though he insisted you would have gotten that score without his interference. Loki took Tony's car keys from you when you left the school and insisted that he was driving you home. Tony had let you borrow his car that morning. You didn't protest. You should have protested when he let you out of combat training or when you found that all of your homework was miraculously done so you could take a nap, but you didn't protest on either of those things either. You needed the rest that day.

You were feeling better after your nap. You woke Loki up for dinner after you'd woken. He had passed out while you napped together. Even supers needed some sleep. "It's dinnertime, sleepyhead," you told him with a smile. He smiled back at you, seeming relieved.

"I am glad you are feeling better, love. I was beginning to worry after your melancholy today," he said as he got out of bed.

"I am. Thank you, for everything." You stood up on your toes to kiss him gently. You took his hand and you went downstairs for dinner together.

"Kat! We're watching Superhero Musical after dinner. You two should join us," one of a group of younger supers called from the common room.

"We will!" you replied. You got your dinner from Helene and Loki followed behind you.

"What, pray tell, is Superhero Musical?" he asked dryly, wanting to know what you had just signed him up to participate in. You laughed in reply.

"It's just our favorite movie. It's a musical about superheroes,"

"So I gathered by the name..." he commented, his voice still dry and sarcastic.

"You'll understand when we watch it," you reassured him. He sighed, looking put-upon. You knew it was a ruse.

You went to the other TV in the common room where the younger supers were all gathered. There were a couple of pillows on the floor next to the couch saved for you. You curled up there with Loki at your back. "This part is not bad," his whispered in your ear as he got to legitimately hold you close to him. Once everyone was there, the last person to the room started the movie. Within five minutes, you were all singing along. You looked at Loki to see him shocked and confused. "How did I end up in one of your Disney movies?" he asked, loudly enough for you to hear him, but not for the others to. "How does everyone know this song?" he asked later, making you laugh. He was even more shocked at the duet song when the guys took the male protagonist's part and the girls took the female's without error and without any prompting.

"I told you this was our favorite movie," you reminded him afterwards, while he was still reeling and laughing at the group for knowing every line of dialogue and every line and note of the songs.

"I still think I was transported into one of your Disney movies," he protested. You stayed with the group that night, talking until it was time for everyone to go to bed, and Loki didn't even seem to mind. He actually seemed much more comfortable with them than with the older supers. You remembered that he had said that by lifecycle equivalencies, even though he was over a thousand years old, it was only the equivalent of around 18 Midgardian years.

No wonder he got along so much better with the younger group.