You woke curled around Loki's book when your alarm went off the next morning for school. You contemplated being lazy for another day. You certainly could have gotten away with it, but you also couldn't just sit in the tower all day with the supers feeling sorry for you.

So you climbed stiffly out of bed and shrugged into your uniform, grateful for once about not having to choose an outfit to wear. It took longer than usual to get dressed with how sore you were and by the time you made it downstairs, Helene already had breakfast ready for you. You didn't see any of the supers around except for Loki, who was reading on your usual couch. Apparently, he had decided to claim the other half of the couch for himself. You didn't mind. "Morning, Loki!" you called and waved as you passed the common room on your way to the kitchen and your breakfast

You ate your breakfast as fast as you could. You knew you'd need the extra time to get to class if you had to walk it. And today you definitely weren't waking Tony to drive you. You contemplated taking his car and driving yourself to school. You had your license after all. And Tony deserved it, but that didn't change the fact that he'd kill you for it that afternoon.

You slung your bag over your shoulder as soon as you dropped your dishes off with Helene with a thanks. You waved to Loki again as you headed toward the exit. "I'll see you after school," you promised. You practically saw his hackles rise as he jolted to his feet and rushed over to you, concern etched in his expression.

"You are returning to school today?" he asked. You could hear the worry in his tone.

"It's kind of an every Monday through Friday thing," you replied dryly with a perfectly perfected eye roll. You were a 17 year old girl after all. You had the eyeroll down to a science.

"You are still injured," he argued. He looked ready to toss you over his shoulder and carry you back to bed.

You grumbled at his overprotectiveness. He really was just like all the other supers. "I can't just sit around here having all of the supers pitying me because I don't have super fast healing like all of them and I'm not as sturdy and unbreakable as they all are," you replied hotly, your sentence running on as you tried to convince him. "If I'm not here, they can't pity me." That part seemed perfectly logical to you.

Even Loki seemed to agree that that part at least was logical. You practically saw the gears turn in his mind while he looked for another argument. "Your uncle is not escorting you?" he tried that angle.

"He's still asleep and I'm not waking him. I can walk to school by myself," you protested. You were 17. You could walk.

"Is there not anyone who can escort you?" he tried again, worried and overprotective. You sighed heavily. You were wasting time arguing with him. Why couldn't they understand that you could walk to school by myself? It wasn't that far. Loki lifted his hands to indicate the shackles. "I cannot escort you, but I dislike you going out without some form of protection."

You smiled at that; that you had an argument for. You reached into your bag and pulled out your can of mace and the taser Tony insisted you needed to carry. "I have human protections," you explained to him, knowing that he might not know what either item was. He nodded, accepting your words and explanation. You tucked the mace in your pocket for easy access with a promise that you would use it if you were threatened.

Loki walked you to the main entrance to the compound. He stopped you again at the door and reached a hand toward your injured cheek. "Allow me to do this for you at least?" he asked gently. You didn't know what he planned, but he was asking you to trust him, which you did. You nodded, knowing he wouldn't hurt you. He placed his cool glowing hand against your skin for a moment. "There, the mortals will not see the bruise. There is no reason to draw their attention to your vulnerability," he pause, letting that information sink in. "Do not forget that illusions cannot be touched," he reminded you.

"Thank you," you replied with a smile bright smile. "I really do need to get going or I'll be late for class." He still looked worried, so you added: "Will it make you feel better if I text you when I arrive safely?" you saw his look of open relief that you had come up with a solution.

"Very much so,"

"Then I will," you told him warmly. "I'll see you this afternoon," you promised and turned to leave. He let you go and you rushed off to school. You were running later than you'd like, but you still had plenty of time to make it to class, provided your sore body could keep up a pace that was better than hobbling little old lady. It was then you realized that your soreness seemed to have dissipated with the illusion over the bruise. You had a feeling you should 'blame' Loki for that, but you definitely weren't complaining.

You made it to school in plenty of time to spare. The first thing you did was send Loki, and then Tony because you were feeling generous, text to let them know you had arrived safely. After that, you stopped by the office with the note the doctor had given you yesterday when you left the infirmary. Your absence was excused, of course. There was no doubt with the Avenger's own healer writing the excuse note for you. And when Tony Stark himself had called you out sick the day before.

You put your phone on vibrate so it wouldn't ding during class. Right before you entered the classroom, you got two texts back to back.

-I am relieved. Have a good day.- from Loki.

-WHAT? Why are you out of bed? Who took you to school?- from Tony. You shouldn't have been generous that morning after all. You sighed at your annoyingly overprotective uncle.

-I walked to school myself. I'm fine. I'm not sitting around the compound all day. Class is starting. Save your yelling for later- You texted Tony back and shoved the phone back in your pocket. That afternoon wasn't going to be fun, but you could ignore it until then.

The rest of the day was dull, except that you got twice the amount of homework as usual, since you had to make up for the day you had missed. Really, it was shaping up to be a pretty awful day. You left school that afternoon to find Tony's car waiting for you outside. You weren't surprised at all. Of course he would make sure you were picked up from school. You were a little surprised that he was the one in the car. Usually, he was on patrol by then. You got in the car and were met with his glare.

The glare softened a moment when he remembered something. "What happened to your bruise?" he asked gently.

"Makeup," you lied quickly. You didn't want to get Loki in trouble for doing illusions he wasn't supposed to be able to do while he was shackled. Tony nodded, accepting the lie. He had no idea how makeup worked, so he wouldn't notice that it was a lie. You weren't actually sure you owned any makeup, but Tony didn't need to know that.

"Why didn't you get someone to take you to school?" he asked, trying to sound calm. You heard the effort in his tone to stay calm.

"The only ones up this morning were Loki and Helene," you replied logically. Helene didn't leave the compound while she was on the clock and Loki wasn't allowed to leave. They had put him on house arrest until they could trust him.

"You should have woken me, or someone," he growled the reply.

"I should have taken your car," you snarked back at him. "I'm not going to wake the supers who were up all night on patrol, not when I'm perfectly capable of going to school by myself. It's perfectly safe to walk a few blocks in the middle of a weekday. I know you're concerned because I'm only human and the villains know who I am. Help is always within shouting range of the school. I know you have patrols going by at least every half hour and every super will come running if they hear me scream for help."

He nodded, then, but reluctantly. Your words were completely accurate. "I'd still feel better if you had someone walk with you. Even Loki once he gets off of house arrest. It should be soon. Fury seems impressed with him so far. Or wants him to make himself useful. One of the two. It's hard to tell,"

"Why is Fury impressed?" you asked, truly interested now. That didn't seem like Director Fury at all.

"He's been having Loki come demonstrate his abilities and get some training in. We're working on engineering a better device to limit his abilities. Once that's done, he'll be allowed off of house arrest, though it will probably still be awhile longer before he's allowed on patrol or missions." Tony explained. At least he kept the tech talk simple that day. You nodded and couldn't help being glad that Loki would be unshackled soon. It wasn't fair when he wasn't doing anything wrong.

You arrived back at the compound quickly. "I can't stay, I have to get to work. Will you be ok?" Tony asked you.

You nodded. "I'm fine, Uncle Tony," you replied. He nodded and you waved as you split up. You went to your room while Tony went to the 'official' wing of the compound to do whatever work he needed. You waved to Loki on the couch on your way to the stairs and quickly headed to your room. You changed into your pajamas when you made it there. You didn't feel like dealing with propriety tonight, and you trusted Loki, even if the rest didn't yet.

"How was school?" Loki asked when you returned and took your spot on the couch.

"Fine. Except I have double the amount of homework, since I missed yesterday," you whined. "Thank you for the illusion," you added quietly enough to not be overheard by the other supers in the room who were obviously snubbing Loki. "It really helped with the humans." You noticed the illusion had vanished after you had changed clothes. You figured you must've accidentally touched it while you were changing. You didn't mind too much; the illusion had done its job and kept the cops from being called.

One of the teen supers came over after they had noticed the bruise on your cheek that was only slightly healed at this point. Her name was Wanda and she usually tried to make you feel welcome, even though you were only human and she had so much power, thanks to Loki's scepter. "Is he bothering you, Kat?" she asked you gently, with a small glare at Loki. You shook your head, confused and dense as to what had drawn her over to your couch. She didn't usually come see you. None of them did. Not really, though you tried to be friendly.

"Not at all. We were just discussing the books I lent him and he was going to help me with my math homework here in a few minutes," you told her with a smile. She looked at you with open disbelief on her face. You were missing something important here.

"Lady Kathryn, I believe your friend is trying to ask you if I am the reason behind the bruise on your face," Loki said, trying to sound disinterested.

You shook your head firmly. "This isn't his fault," you told Wanda, speaking loudly enough that the supers on the other side of the room in front of one of the other TVs would be able to hear. "Uncle Tony hit me. It was an accident,"

"Tony?" she asked, clearly disbelieving.

You nodded. "Tony. He threw me across the room and into the wall. Loki healed me afterwards or I'd still be in the infirmary fighting for my life," you explained succinctly and clearly so there could be no confusion. She made a few more comments of chitchat, and tried to get more information, but she was finally appeased and went back to the others. You slumped back among the cushions on the couch. That conversation had been exhausting.

"Are you alright?" Loki asked with concern. You gave him a tired smile. You didn't want to talk about how exhausting that conversation was. You didn't want him to think you were some weak little human like everyone else seemed to.

"I'm fine. Hey, you want to watch some of the movies about the team once I get my homework finished?" you asked him with a grin of your own. He was in a couple of them.

"That sounds enjoyable. Would you like help with your homework?" he asked, since you had lied and said he was going to help you.

"That would definitely get us to movies sooner," you replied with a mischievous smile of your own. He replied with his own cheshire cat grin and the pair of you got to work. You did most of the work yourself, but got his help with the math, which really wasn't your strong suit. You needed to get better at it, but didn't think that would be hard with all the help you had between Tony and now Loki.

You were beyond grateful when you could finally put your classwork away, done for the day.

"What do you plan to do once you have completed your schooling?" Loki asked you before you could get up to go get the movie. You looked over at him, shocked by the question. No one ever asked about your future plans. They all assumed that you would become a super at some point and join the team.

"If I don't get superpowers, then I'm going to become a doctor and work here fixing up everyone's wounds after missions," you told him, admitting your plans, and admitting that you had a contingency plan if you never developed powers. Not everyone did, but more and more supers kept appearing since magic had burst through the world.

Loki thought that over for a moment. "Very ambitious plans," he finally commented.

You smiled warmly, glad someone approved. "It'll be hard work, but all things that are worth doing are." You left him contemplating that while you got up and went to the movie shelf to grab the first of the movies featuring Loki. You set the movie up to play on the TV by your couch and hobbled your way back to your spot.

Loki watched me with worry. I tried to give him a smile, but I knew he didn't believe it. "Your pain has returned?" he asked softly, displeased. You nodded. You really didn't feel like lying to him when he could obviously see that you were in pain. You sat down on the couch and pulled your legs up, curling up like a kitten. He touched your bare foot with his cold hand, pretending like it was an accident. You felt the healing magic flow from him. You recognize what it was now that you'd felt it a couple of times. You knew he was trying to hide that he was using magic he wasn't supposed to have access to. You smiled over at him, but didn't say anything. You weren't going to draw attention to his secret when he wasn't hurting anyone. Hell, he was helping you. You definitely weren't going to turn him in for that. Once your pain had eased, he pulled his hand back to himself.

Loki spent the movie making comments about the characters and the plot, grumbling about how he wasn't evil and Thor's character was stupid. You laughed at his comments and explained human things he had questions about. You tried to ignore the looks you were getting from the supers, but it was hard, so you focused on having fun watching the movie with Loki instead.

Helene called to you from the kitchen just as the first movie ended. "Kat, dinner's ready,"

"Thanks, Helene," you replied. You stood and headed to get your plate from her. You looked to Loki who hadn't moved from the couch. "Aren't you coming?"

"In a minute," he replied, yet again. You shrugged and got your dinner from Helene. You took your normal table and weren't surprised when Loki came to join you a few minutes later. You'd give him another couple nights of the weird behavior before you asked why he was acting that way.

It wasn't long before the rest of the supers came to have dinner too. "There are more of these movies?" Loki asked, drawing your attention from the staring eyes of the others.

"There's two more with you in them on DVD. There are plenty of other superhero movies featuring some of the other team members. There's also a third movie with you in theaters right now. If you like the rest of the movies, we can go see it...once you're off house arrest of course," you added, so he didn't feel bad about turning you down right then.

"That sounds enjoyable," he replied warmly. He really did sound interested and you saw in his expression that he meant it and wasn't just saying the words to spare your feelings.

You found yourself yawning halfway through dinner. "Is this you?" you asked, feeling more tired than you should. He shook his head, but you didn't quite believe him.

"You do still need to rest. You are still healing, lady," he said gently.

"You're right, of course. Or maybe you're just tired of my company," you complained sleepily as more of the honeyed warm feeling flowed over you. It was definitely Loki influencing you.

"Never. As I told your uncle, you are the only one here who has been pleasant to me since I arrived. Now, please go upstairs and rest. We shall watch more movies tomorrow," you nodded and moved to take your plate back to Helene. Loki stopped you. "I will do that," he protested. That once, you didn't argue and gathered your things and went up to your blanket nest in your room to get some more rest.