Author's note: Sorry for the late update, I've only just got back from a fourteen hour rehearsal and show combo (it's twenty past eleven pm) and I am about to fall straight asleep :)) Comment if you enjoy, blah de blah, all the usual <3

The day after you had made the ground-breaking discovery that Loki could laugh, you finally felt well enough to come out of your room, a decision which seemed to make everyone rather happy, much to your surprise and delight. Whoever would have thought that your presence would be wanted by the Avengers? That had been yesterday, and you'd decided not to bring up the fact that Thor had told you about the argument everyone had had about you and using your magic in public purely because everyone had seemed to be in such a good mood. And besides, your throat was too sore for an argument which might involve yelling.

Today, however, was a different story. You were sat around in the living area eating breakfast, and everyone was present (even Clint, who was making a speedy recovery), so you decided to bring it up.

"So, is anyone going to tell me about the argument that went on when I was in my room?" you asked innocently, biting into your toast.

"For crying out loud Thor." Steve muttered, running a hand through his hair.

Thor remained silent, watching you from across the room as you chewed your toast, looking at each person in the room one by one, none of whom seemed to want to make eye contact with you, apart from Loki. He returned your gaze with a look that so clearly said 'be careful' it was almost as though he'd said it to you out loud.

"Did Thor tell you everything?" Nat asked, finally addressing you. You glanced at Thor, who subtly shook his head.

"Some of it. But I'd like to hear it from you guys if that's okay? Something about me being a weak link..."

The moment these words left your lips there was an outburst of protest: Thor yelling that he hadn't said anything like that, half the room telling Thor off and the other half protesting about what you had said. Loki closed his eyes momentarily at the explosion of noise and you saw his eyes move under his eyelids as he rolled his eyes and exhaled. You didn't want to be careful, you wanted to call people out.

"All we said was that it's not a great look for us, or you, if you're out in the field not knowing what you're doing."

Wow, leave it to Nat to give it to you straight.

"It's for your safety Y/N, first and foremost." Steve told you.

"Yeah, I get that. It just would have been nice for someone to tell me about all this to my face." you replied, and again you were met with silence.

"There is an easy way to solve this."

Of all the voices in the room, you had not been expecting to hear Loki's. Everyone looked up in surprise, but no one said anything, so Loki interpreted this as an invitation to continue.

"She needs training." he said; you nodded in agreement, but before you could open your mouth to back him up, Tony spoke.

"No, absolutely not." he said, as he walked over to stand by where you were sat on your stool almost protectively.

"Tony, why not? It's a logical- "

"Yes, you need to be trained, but not by Reindeer Games."

Out of the corner of your eye you saw Loki sit up a fraction straighter, clenching his jaw. Thor shifted in his position stood by the wall, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Why is that?" you asked, unamused.

"Because I've arranged training for you already."

"And what if I don't- " you started saying, trailing off as JARVIS interrupted your sentence.

"Sir, there has been an incident."

Immediately after, Tony's phone started ringing, and his face dropped when he saw who was calling.

"Gear up." he said to the room, before leaving the room swiftly to answer his phone. Everyone jumped to their feet apart from Loki and Clint, abandoning their food to go and get geared up. Thor stopped you however as you made your way towards the door.

"Lady Y/N, you are still recovering, I believe it is unwise for you to accompany us on this mission." he told you, kindly enough, but with a stern undertone.

"Thor, I'm fine, honestly! It will do me good to get some fresh air..."

"Go, brother." Loki said from behind you, suddenly becoming part of the conversation, and Thor nodded gratefully and left.

"Loki, what are you doing? I want to- "

"I know, but you should stay behind regardless with this argument going on. It will only create tension. Also, you really don't know what you're doing."

"I've been training with Nat! I do know what I'm doing."

"Not with your magic you don't. Hand to hand combat can only get you so far, you need your magic. Besides, it's dangerous for your emotions to run so high when you can't use your magic, you don't know what you're capable of."

"I just- I..."

"Miss Y/N, Tony has instructed you to stay behind on this occasion." JARVIS' voice told you suddenly.

"Kid, you know you're fighting a losing battle when Rudolph and Tony are on the same side." Clint piped up from the sofa.

"Great, thanks Clint." you snapped, turning on your heel to leave the room.

"Wait... where are you going?" Loki asked, following you from the room.

"My room, is that alright with you?"

"You can't leave me with him!" he hissed, catching hold of your arm and tugging you backwards.

You stared at Loki's hand in surprise, and he dropped your arm quickly.

"Sorry." he said.

"Kid! Keep an eye on these boys will you? I don't know how long we'll be gone for, this is serious." Tony told you, heading for the elevator.

"Sure. Have a great time." you replied sourly.

"Hey..." Tony jogged over to where you were stood and took hold of your shoulders.

"We'll talk when I get back okay? I know you're pissed... don't be." he said.

You looked up at him and were surprised to see how worried he looked, suddenly realising why he was trying to make amends with you. In case he didn't come back. And then you weren't mad anymore, feeling worry blossom in your chest instead.

"I... be careful." you said, going to squeeze his hand but then realising that he was unlikely to feel it through his iron suit.

"We will kid, don't worry. See you later."

"Love you too Tony! Don't worry about saying bye to me, I'm just chilling." Clint declared from the sofa, making you laugh.

You followed Loki back into the living room, and watched as the Quinjet took off about two minutes later.

"They'll be fine Y/N, quit worrying. Chuck me the remote would you?" Clint said from where he was splayed on the sofa. You wished you could be as relaxed as him, but you were unable to get Tony's worried expression out of your mind. And all you had for distraction was Loki and Clint. This was going to be a long day.

In order to distract yourself, you kept busy all day. First you tidied up from breakfast; everyone's discarded plates were lying around the room and you couldn't stand mess. Then you decided to clean the kitchen, acutely aware of Loki watching you while you worked. Again. This time though you didn't receive a headache.

When you were done you left the room to get your gear on, despite Loki's obvious silent pleas for you to stay (which mostly involved him glaring at you), and then went down to the training rooms to take out some of your pent-up frustration on a punch bag. You stayed down there for about an hour, and afterwards you knew you would be aching profusely tomorrow, but didn't care. You'd needed to let out some of your anger. Afterwards, slumped against the wall, you remembered what Loki had said about you being potentially dangerous when your emotions were running high. Holding your hand out in front of you, you concentrated hard on it, imagining your magic rising to the surface. It wasn't difficult; a second later your hand had a purple glow about it. Immediately, you felt your eyes burn... but it wasn't a burn. More of a tingle. You didn't feel scared, watching the purple glow around your hand grow stronger until there was a ball of purple mist sat in your outstretched palm. Smiling slightly, you tossed it up in the air and caught it, laughing in disbelief when you were able to hold it there.

Suddenly, there was a noise from out in the corridor, and the mist vanished instantly as you looked up in surprise. A bit disappointed, you collected your things and headed back upstairs to shower and get changed, making a note to tell Loki what you'd discovered when you weren't covered in sweat.

After you'd showered, you returned to the living room to find Clint exactly where you'd left him, asleep, but no Loki. Still determined to keep your mind off of the team, you grabbed a book from the bookshelf and started to read. Luckily, it was a good book, which managed to keep you occupied until your stomach alerted you to the fact that it was time for lunch. You threw a pillow at Clint to wake him up and ask him what he wanted to eat, and then made lunch for the two of you. Loki still didn't show up.

You cleared up, and then watched a film with Clint which took you up to about four o'clock. Still no Loki. Still no word from the team.

"Y/N, I could hardly hear the film over your worrying. You have to stop. They're all fine, okay?" Clint said to you sternly, sitting up with a wince, holding his shoulder.

"You don't know that." you replied.

Clint chose to ignore this.

"Where's Reindeer Games got to? I haven't seen him since this morning."

"He's probably just in his room... or something." you told him, without much confidence.

"You realise that Tony will kill us both if he's made a run for it."

"He hasn't made a run for it. And Tony would kill you, not me." you corrected, earning an impressive eye roll from Clint.

"We should go look for him, just in case."

"It's fine, he's fine. If he still hasn't turned up in an hour then 'we', meaning I, will go and look for him." you said, and Clint nodded in acceptance.

"Deal. Now, what do you wanna watch?"

"Really? You've been watching TV all day, don't you want to stretch your legs?"

"No. I'm injured, I need to rest."

"Bullshit, you're fine. You've just got chronic laziness." you smirked, ducking as he lobbed a pillow at you.

"I didn't see you getting injured in the line of duty Y/N, pipe down."

"Yeah, because I wasn't stupid enough to get myself shot." you countered, laughing as he performed yet another eye roll.

"Alright smart arse, pass me the remote."

An hour passed, and Loki still remained absent, so Clint shooed you away to go and hunt him down. He wasn't in his room as you'd suspected, nor was he in the training rooms, or the labs, or the penthouse, so you decided to check the roof as a last resort. You found him sat crossed legged on one of the benches on the roof next to the helipad, looking the most like a normal human you'd ever seen him. His chin was rested in the palm of his hand, elbow rested on his knee, and he was staring out across New York with a glazed look on his face.

You approached tentatively, but that didn't stop him from sitting bolt upright the minute he heard you behind him, swinging his legs back down to the ground and spinning around.

"Oh." he said as he saw you, visibly relaxing.

"Hey, can I sit?" you asked.

He nodded, and you sat down next to him, crossing your legs as he had done.

"You haven't been up here all day have you? Clint said you disappeared after breakfast." you said.

"Well, it's not much fun being left alone in a room with someone who strongly dislikes you when you can read their mind." he replied, tugging the ends of his jacket sleeves down so that they covered his hands.

"Shit, I forgot. Sorry. I needed to go punch some things." you explained, trying not to stare at the obvious act of insecurity he had just displayed.

"I know. It must be frustrating for you, not being able to use your magic. I can't imagine how that feels."

A slow smile spread across your face as you looked at him. He was pleased with himself.

"Sarcasm? I'm impressed." you commented, laughing as he shrugged and pulled a 'what can I say?' face.

"Seriously though, you've been up here all day?" you continued.

"No, I was in the penthouse. Barton's thoughts are loud, and yours are unusually quiet. I've just been reading, and then came out here when it got too warm." he told you, making brief eye contact. He'd been doing that more recently; you wished you could have longer to look at his face. Now that he wasn't being held prisoner, he had stopped looking like one, and started to look more like how you imagined he had as an Asgardian prince. More elegant and, dare you say it, handsome. He didn't look gaunt anymore, his hair had a shine to it and the dark shadows had disappeared from under his eyes. He looked healthy.

"What?"

You snapped out of your trance, realising you'd been staring.

"Sorry, zoned out there for a second."

He frowned at you in suspicion, and turned back to face the view, the fading sunlight illuminating his face. His eyes looked amazing in this light, they were so blue. Stop it Y/N. Stop staring. You turned away, thanking god that he couldn't read your mind. You cleared your throat.

"So, anyway, when I was done punching stuff, I tried to use my magic..."

"That was stupid. You could have hurt yourself."

Bit harsh.

"Well, it was only this." you said, holding out your hand and concentrating. Nothing happened.

"I don't understand. It worked earlier." you said, feeling frustration rise in your stomach that you couldn't summon your magic by will. And then your hand was enshrouded in purple.

"Oh."

Loki examined your hand, nodding.

"That's good, it's the first step to training: being able to do small things."

"I think I have to be feeling some form of strong emotion to summon it, like I can't just do it whenever."

"That comes with practice. For now you should try not to use it." he told you, and you dropped your hand, feeling the magic leave.

Seconds later, a familiar sound reached your ears, growing louder and louder. The Quinjet.

"They're back!"

"I should go, they won't like us being up here alone together." Loki said, standing up swiftly and turning away.

"Tell Clint you haven't run away will you?" you asked, half joking, half not.

"Did you think I'd left?" he asked, turning back to you.

"He did." you replied, grabbing at your hair as the jet landed behind you, causing it to fly everywhere.

Loki simply nodded, his face unreadable and turned back towards the door.

You ran to the door of the Quinjet, which opened to reveal everyone inside, seemingly uninjured.

"You okay kid? Did something happen?" Tony was with you instantly, worry etched on his face.

"No, I just came to see that you were all okay." you replied, confused as to why he'd been so worried.

"Come on, let's get inside. We're all fine." Tony said, leading you towards the doors into the tower.

Why was he so worried? Something had definitely happened on that mission. You had a feeling you were about to find out what.