It had been three months since Tony had asked you to become an Avenger, and you could honestly say that it had been the best three months of your life. You'd learnt more about your power with the help of Wanda and Loki and could now move objects of any shape or size, and create a shield with your magic. You'd been through training and even been on your first mission last week, just you and Peter Parker (with whom you had fast become firm friends with) which had been interesting to say the least. It wasn't even really a mission, more of a test for the two of you as you were the newest Avengers, and Tony had been watching you both closely with back-up on stand-by.

Hm. Upon reflection, it hadn't really been a mission at all. Oh well, you were still going to count it.

You had completed the 'mission' and passed the test, that was the important thing, despite a few minor... inconveniences, as Peter had called them. Honestly though, it hadn't been your fault that Peter had chased your target straight off the edge of a very tall building; you'd had to catch the falling man from more than a hundred feet in the air and get him down to the ground safely. It was the hardest you'd ever had to work in your life, but you'd managed to get him down safely and just about not pass out. Peter had then landed beside him and trapped him in a cocoon of web before he could get away, adamant that that would make up for nearly killing the man.

Luckily Tony had seen the funny side of the situation ("We were just trying to scare him a little Mr. Stark!"), and you'd both been officially recruited as Avengers. There had been a 'recruitment' party that night, curtesy of Tony (of course) which had been a lot of fun, except for one thing.

Loki had been there. Usually this wouldn't have been a problem, you wanted to spend as much time around Loki as possible, but that night he had been wearing That shirt and Those jeans... it was safe to say you'd been slightly distracted. Not that you'd made it obvious to anyone, no one could catch you looking, especially not Loki. Because the truth was your stupid crush on Loki had recently turned into a full-blown heartache situation.

Spending so much time around him had made you realize just how much you liked him, no, loved him. The time for 'liking' him was long gone; this was something entirely different and much bigger. Whenever the others would make fun of him or Tony called him 'reindeer games' (which was often) he would roll his eyes and go along with it, but you felt a weird protectiveness over him, and felt that unfamiliar tight feeling in your chest.

It was typical, you'd gone and fallen for the person who rarely showed his emotions and was never going to return your feelings. Brilliant, good job Y/N.

Exactly a week after your first 'mission' (you and Peter refused to call it a test), you were eating breakfast with Wanda and Thor at the breakfast bar listening to Tony talking to someone on the phone, trying to work out who was on the other end and what they were discussing. A few seconds later Loki walked in accompanied by Nat, and you felt your heart perform a familiar backflip, and then felt a twinge of jealously when you caught Nat smiling at something he had said. Your gaze dropped back down to your toast and you tried not to think anything of it. That was hard work.

Your thoughts were interrupted by Tony dropping the phone back into its holder and turning to address you all.

"Listen up you lot, we have a new mission."

You nearly cricked your neck you looked up so quickly. An actual mission! Where you could actually use your powers for good! Paying close attention to Tony's words you didn't think about Loki for at least three minutes, surely a personal best.

Unfortunately, that was more than could be said for Loki, who hardly listened to what Tony was saying. He was concentrating on how your hair was about three different colours in the sunlight coming through the wide windows, subtle differences between the shades, and when you moved your head ever so slightly the colours would ripple across your head like... damn. He'd done it again. He was meant to not be looking at or thinking of you to try and get rid of that odd feeling he got whenever he was around you.

Who was he kidding, 'odd feeling'? He knew exactly what that odd feeling was, and he didn't like it one bit. Perhaps it would have been okay if you'd have shown the slightest bit of interest in him, but he knew it was hopeless, why would anyone show an interest in him? His attention was captured again by Tony saying his name, followed by "with Y/N." Oh. That didn't sound good.

Back over at the breakfast bar you were silently cursing the universe. Of course your first mission was going to be with Loki, that was just typical. How were you meant to focus on saving the world when that gorgeous man was within fifty meters of you? This was going to be a challenge.

You turned to Loki and flashed him a smile, determined for things not to be awkward between the two of you. He smiled back and you turned around to face Tony again, inwardly congratulating yourself on not falling off of your stool.

It would be fine. Just two friends on a mission together. No big deal.

The next few hours of preparation and planning flew by, and before you knew it you were in the Quinjet flying towards your first mission as an Avenger. Loki was there obviously, along with Tony, Steve, Clint and Natasha. Peter had been devastated that he hadn't been 'invited' along, and Tony had had to explain to him that this wasn't an invitational thing, more a tactical decision. You expected it had something to do with Peter chasing a man off the edge of a building too, but you kept that thought to yourself.

It didn't occur to you however, what the 'tactical decision' may actually be. You were talking to Nat when Tony turned around to address you all from the cockpit.

"So, as you know our targets have chosen to meet where the scene of their last little escapade occurred: Disneyland." as he said this he threw you a smile. How ironic that the place you had discovered your powers would be the setting of your first mission.

"The plan is simple; Steve and I will go to the meeting place and distract the leaders while Clint and Nat sneak around the back to recover whatever it is they're trying to blackmail us with, Y/N and Loki you're back-up, just in case everything goes horribly wrong, which it probably won't."

"How reassuring." you answered, with a nervous smile.

"Relax Y/N, we won't let our newest recruit get in harms way." Clint teased you, ruffling your hair, and you swatted him away with a grin.

Soon enough you were coming into an invisible landing about a mile away from the entrance to Disneyland, wanting to remain as inconspicuous as possible after the last time you'd been here. The articles that had followed had told of how the Avengers had 'a complete disregard for public safety' and 'kidnapped a poor innocent teenager'. Your family and friends all knew that you were okay, and most of the public did too. You'd been advised by all the Avengers not to read what anyone wrote about them or you in the papers, so you didn't.

After an hours walk and wait in a boiling hot queue full of loud and excited tourists you were ready to bail on your first mission before it had even begun. When you finally entered the loud, vibrant park you huddled with the others briefly and relayed the plan before going your separate ways.

And then you were alone with Loki. You'd never seen him look so uncomfortable, but you guessed this wasn't his idea of fun.

"This is chaotic, how are we meant to know if something goes wrong with the others?" you asked worriedly, watching the others' backs disappear into the mass of people.

"I have a feeling we'll be able to tell." Loki replied, looking over the top of your head.

"Don't look now, but there are two shady looking guys behind you, and I don't think they're here for the rides."

"Are they looking at us?" you asked, trying not to let your facial expressions convey your emotions.

"Yes, but I don't see how they could know..."

"We're Avengers Loki! Casual clothing and a pair of sunglasses doesn't mean our faces aren't famous... what are you doing?" you asked abruptly as Loki grabbed your hand and led you away through the crowds.

"Blending in." Loki replied. "Don't look back."

You ploughed through the crowds together until Loki was satisfied you'd lost your pursuers, and you stopped to sit on a bench to catch your breath. It was a couple of seconds before you realized that your hands were still intertwined.

"Uh, Loki?"

Loki looked at your face, then down at your hands, and quickly snatched his hand back into his lap.

"Sorry, blending in..."

He looked back to your face again, and your eyes met for a fraction of a second too long for it to be natural. The only reason Loki looked away was because he caught sight of your two friends who had managed to track you down again in the crowd.

"The shady dudes are back again." he told you, scowling.

He had a really hot scowl, you thought to yourself. In fact, screw this. Life had presented you a golden opportunity on a silver platter, and you'd be damned if you weren't going to make the most if it. In a moment of reckless abandon, stupidity, or fear of dying later today, call it what you will, you leaned in and kissed Loki, surprising yourself as much as it must have surprised him.

Loki was too shocked to do anything other than freeze, which you took as a bad sign. You pulled away swiftly. Well, that was awkward.

"What- what was that?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

You shrugged, embarrassed, looking to see if your shadows were still around.

"Blending i-" you said, unable to finish your sentence because Loki grabbed your face in his hands and kissed you back.

Flipping heck. The man could kiss. Your brain went into meltdown as your lips moved against his and his hands cupped your face gently – this was everything you'd imagined and more. Not that you'd ever imagined kissing Loki... well, maybe once or twice.

Your kiss was rudely interrupted by a loud screeching sound and then screams and yells from tourists just behind you. You pulled away again, this time with a wide smile on your face. Loki looked dazed for a second, a look you had never seen on his face before, and then he returned your smile.

"I think that's the sound of everything going horribly wrong." you said, gesturing behind you.

Loki opened his mouth to reply, but then leapt up and sent a cold blast of magic over your head; you spun around to see a sizeable chunk of metal flying away from your head.

"Now we're even." Loki said, holding a hand out to you with that smirk of his which you'd grown to love so much. You took his hand and he pulled you to your feet.

"Stay with me." he told you, keeping hold of your hand for a moment and squeezing it.

"How could I resist?" you teased, convinced you could feel your heart expanding as you looked at him. He shot you another one of those smirks, his eyes gleaming, and you felt yourself go weak at the knees. Not ideal, considering your situation, but you weren't going to complain.

You charged towards the carnage with Loki at your side, feeling as though you could take on an anything, even another hoard of angry monsters.

Which, for the record, you did.