Author's note: Hi there, guess who's updating instead of revising for their first exam which is in four days? Me, it's me, I am very stressed but instead of revising more I'm just posting more fanfic, which is not the best tactic. Wish me luck :) Hope you enjoy; comment if you do! x

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It had been a week, and you hadn't made a lot of progress with Loki.

He had said a total of twelve words to you in seven days (six 'hello's, three 'sorry's, a 'yes' and then yesterday, 'you're welcome') (not that you were counting), and earlier had acknowledged you with a nod when you entered the room, which he only did otherwise for Thor, so at least that was something.

In all fairness though, you only really saw him when you were all together with the others to eat. All you seemed to do at the moment was train, eat and sleep, which was starting to get quite tedious, but your desire to be able to accompany the others on a mission overruled any sour feelings you had towards your current schedule. It meant that you looked forward to the evenings, when usually everyone could kick back and relax for a few hours before bed; it was the time of day you looked forward to the most.

It was that time right now; you'd all just finished eating and you were clearing up the dishes with Buck and Steve while the others had a heated debate about some politician. 'The others' didn't include Loki, who probably didn't know who the current politicians were, and whose eyes were fixed on the TV, watching but not seeing, you could tell.

After a good five minutes of arguing, Tony leapt to his feet.

"Jeez Tony, chill out, it's just-"

"No, there's been an attack. We need to leave, now." Tony explained, staring at his phone as he ran from the room, calling JARVIS.

Your heart leapt into your throat, this was it, you were finally going to go on a mission!

"Y/N, you'll have to stay here with Loki... are you gonna be okay?" Steve asked, with a pointed look at Loki, who hadn't moved.

"Wh- I'm not coming with you?" you asked, your heart sinking.

"Too risky Y/N, you're not trained up yet." Natasha told you as she followed Tony speedily from the room.

"Are you gonna be alright?" Steve repeated, concern written all over his face.

"Yeah, sure." you replied flatly, turning to back to finish the dishes.

"If you need us, just call, okay?"

"Thanks." you said, trying to sound enthusiastic about staying back with Loki while the others all went off on a mission together.

Steve left, and the room was empty save for you and Loki. Neither of you spoke, him still staring intently at the TV and you doing the dishes as slowly as possible. A minute later Tony came sprinting back in in his Iron Man suit, which was quite an impressive sight; even Loki averted his gaze from the TV for a moment to look at him.

"Kid... you gonna be okay?"  Tony panted breathlessly.

"Yes, go, I can look after myself." you said pointedly.

"Just – keep an eye on him, alright?" he called over his shoulder as he ran from the room again.

Another minute later there was a roar from the roof as the Quinjet took off, and you watched miserably out of the windows as the team flew off into the darkness.

Great. This is exactly how you'd wanted your evening to go.

You suddenly became aware of Loki watching you, watching the team disappear out of the window, and that searing pain shot through your neck and skull again. You gasped in pain, grabbing at the back of your head and dropping the plate you'd been holding, which smashed on the floor.

"Would you quit doing that!" you snapped at Loki, spinning around to glare at him angrily.

He just looked at you with that same annoyed expression.

You sighed in exasperation, the pain fading now, and started picking up the broken bits of plate to throw away. Five minutes later, after prolonging the process considerably, the kitchen was spotless, and you reluctantly sat yourself down on the sofa opposite Loki, who was staring at the TV again.

Looking closely at him for the first time since he'd arrived, you could see that the dark shadows under his eyes were fading, and his eyes weren't as hooded anymore, but he still looked somewhat... tired.

"Yes?" he finally said, turning to look at you with a raised eyebrow. Thirteen words and counting! Now you had his attention.

"Why do you keep doing that thing? It makes my head hurt... I thought you weren't meant to have your magic. Can you still use it?" you blurted out, instantly regretting your onslaught of questions, not wanting him to find you annoying.

"You ask too many questions." he replied coolly, turning back to the TV.

You just stared at him. Eventually, he sighed.

"I'm trying to read your mind. I can read every Midgardian's mind, but not yours. You're blocking me somehow. I still have my magic, it's not something that can be taken away from someone, apart from under extreme circumstances, I just can't use it. Which answers your last question." he said.

Okay, you hadn't actually expected him to talk to you, let alone answer your questions. So, why couldn't he read your mind? Also, he could read minds?!

"I'm not intentionally trying to block you, I didn't even know that's what you were doing." you told him, trying to get him to focus on you rather than the TV.

"Mm, I guessed as much, which leads me to believe that you have some form of powerful magic." he mused, still not looking at you.

"Yeah, I do. I can't use it yet though, I don't know how." you told him. If he had magic too, surely he would be able to help you. It was just a matter of getting him to help, or at least tell you something.

"But you managed to survive when Thor threw a bus at you, the clumsy oaf..."

"Hey! He's not an oaf." you retorted quickly. Loki raised an eyebrow again, apparently amused.

"And yes, the purple mist... that's what I call it, it protects me when I'm in danger." you explained. And then something occurred to you.

"Do you think... it's blocking you from reading my mind? Does it think you're a threat?" you asked.

"Apparently so. It is incredibly powerful for a Midgardian girl who doesn't know how to use her powers." he said, putting heavy emphasis on the word 'Midgardian'.

"Why did you say it like that? Do you think I might not be entirely..." How to finish that sentence? Human?

"I can't tell for sure until I see the magic. It could be a number of different things."

You wanted to know. You needed to know about the purple mist.

"I need to be in danger for you to see it." you said, standing up and thinking hard. How should you do it?

"What are you doing?"

"Here, throw this knife at me."

That got him looking up from the TV.

"I will not throw a knife at you." he said, watching in astonishment as you offered him the biggest knife from the knife rack.

"The mist will protect me, don't worry."

"I'm not worried about you, I'm worried about me when Stark and the others get back to find out that I've stabbed you."

You should've known. Oh well. You offered him the handle of the knife and he took it slowly.

"Is this a test? Did Stark ask you to do this?" he asked.

"No. And there's probably CCTV in here anyway, so you can tell them truth if I die. Which I won't."

"CCTV?"

"Oh, yeah, that's basically – ah!"

The knife stopped a centimetre in front of your face, quivering where the purple mist had caught it. You didn't breathe, trying to hold it there for as long as possible, before finally it clattered to the ground loudly.

"Did you have to throw it at my face?!"

"Asgardian." Loki said instantly, having not moved from the sofa.

"W-what? How?" you asked, shaken up, picking the knife up off of the floor.

"I don't know, but that magic is Asgardian. I'm surprised Thor didn't see it straight away."

"I've never even been to Asgard, I didn't even know it was a real place until I met Thor a week ago!"

Loki looked at you thoughtfully.

"How much of your childhood do you remember? Who are your parents?" he asked.

"Who's asking all the questions now?" you teased, and he turned away, clenching his jaw.

"No... I'm sorry. I can't really remember much of when I was younger, it's all a blur of different foster homes and carers. I don't know who my real parents are." you told him.

His face remained impassive.

"Do you think they could be Asgardian? Maybe?"

No response.

You sighed heavily, resigning yourself to the fact that you'd gotten all you were going to get out of him already today. Were you really part Asgardian? And if you were, why had you been bought up on Midgard? Nothing made sense, you would have to talk to Thor when the others got back. Until then, you guessed you would just sit here chewing your lip anxiously pretending to watch TV with Loki.

About twenty minutes of silence between you and Loki later, your phone rang (Tony had given you a brand-new phone when you'd come to live at the tower, naturally), and you answered it hastily. It was Tony.

"Hey kid, everything alright?"

No.

"Yeah, is everyone okay?" you asked, catching sight of Loki rolling his eyes.

"Yep, it was an easy take down so we're on our way back. Are things all okay with...?"

"Yeah, don't worry. See you in a bit." you said quickly, and Tony said goodbye and hung up.

You and Loki both turned to watch as the Quinjet reappeared and flew towards the roof of the tower about five minutes later.

"Thor would be better suited to help you with your problems. I don't know why you've come to me for help." Loki told you, suddenly and unexpectedly.

"You have magic. I think we're similar." you said.

Loki stared at you incredulously.

"Take your qualms to my brother, I cannot help." he told you firmly.

Shrugging, you got up to take the knife he had thrown at you off of the kitchen surface and put it back into the knife holder.

"We'll see."

Your point was proven ten minutes later when Thor came in after everyone else, yawning, announced he was off to bed, and then left again. Unnoticed by anyone else, you raised an eyebrow at Loki, who without looking at you shook his head almost inconceivably, face devoid of emotion.

The team didn't have much of a story to tell, and you ended up thinking that you were glad you hadn't gone; you wanted your first mission to be a good one. Slowly, everyone drifted off to bed, until eventually it was just you and Loki again. Tony was the last one to leave before the two of you, and you couldn't help but think that that hadn't been a coincidence, especially when he threw you an odd look over his shoulder as he left.

This time the TV wasn't on; everything was dark and quiet in the room.

"I still stand my ground, Thor is better suited to help you." Loki said, before you could even open your mouth. You tried to conceal a smile in the darkness.

Thor hadn't lied, he was stubborn.

"I'm going to bed. See you in the morning." you said, standing up and stretching, wanting to leave things on a good note.

"I will too." Loki replied, following your lead.

You walked together down the corridor in silence, and stopped in front of your respective doors.

They were right opposite each other.

"Night." you said, giving him a small wave before you disappeared into your room.

"Goodnight."

Progress.