Author's note: Hey guys, so after today I will ONLY be posting here on a Wednesday and that's a promise, to myself more than anything XD I've now caught up with posting on AO3 so there are no extra chapters over there anymore, I'll be posting there on a Monday and here on a Wednesday! Hope you enjoy this chapter (also I'm sorry about last chapter hehe) (also is this gif the best thing ever or is it the best thing ever?) <3

...

Eventually, you slept well in the massive four poster bed, despite not being able to fall asleep long after you lay down. It was no mystery to you why that was. You woke up early, or you assumed you did, because the sun had only just come up when you got out of bed. It had taken you a second to realise that what had happened last night hadn't been a dream, and when you did you couldn't supress the massive grin which spread across your face.

Remembering the promise you'd made to your parents about visiting them again before you returned home, you got dressed and made your way through the palace (assuming you were allowed to leave), eventually managing to find your way out after several wrong turns. There was hardly anyone about as you made your way to your parents' home and you found yourself once again struck by the sheer beauty of Asgard. You loved it here, and much as you missed your friends and the tower, you weren't ready to leave yet.

Luckily, Ivor was up and answered the door when you knocked, inviting you in for breakfast. You spent the best part of the morning there, until there was a knock at the door a few hours later.

Thor did not look good. He didn't suit being hungover.

"Lady Y/N, it is almost time for us to depart. I'm to escort you back to the palace." he told you, nodding his head as your parents bowed and curtsied.

"Sure, can we have a minute?" you asked, and he nodded and stepped away from the door; your father pushed it shut. Your mother cried again saying goodbye, but you wouldn't, adamant that you'd visit regularly.

"Be careful around Loki, won't you." your father asked, right as you were about to leave.

"I- yes. Of course." you replied, feeling only slightly guilty.

You had to leave quickly before you got emotional, and Thor didn't say a word to you as you walked back up to the palace, sensing that you weren't in a talking mood. And he probably had a splitting headache. You wondered how much the literal god of thunder had to drink before he got drunk enough to have a hangover the next day. A lot.

The throne room was less daunting without Odin sat on the throne; Frigga was talking to Loki at the bottom of the steps leading up to the huge golden seat. When you reached them you received a brief glance of acknowledgment from Loki, nothing more. Which was more than could be said for Thor, you supposed. You could sense the anger Loki felt towards Thor just from standing near to him; you struggled not to feel happy about it. He was angry because Thor had interrupted the two of you last night, when...

"Y/N, I'm so sorry this visit was tainted with bad news. I hope you can forgive Odin and I for what we had to do, and know that you are always welcome here on Asgard." Frigga was saying, and you snapped out of your daydream to listen to what she was saying.

"Thank you." you said simply, neither confirming nor denying that you would forgive them. It wasn't as though Odin was overly bothered, having not even showed up at say goodbye. You wouldn't forgive them, but you weren't about to say that to her face, especially when she was looking at you with such kindness and concern. You expected she already knew.

"And before you go, I'm aware there has been some... speculation, about the fact that Odin may be your father."

At this Thor turned to look at Frigga incredulously, but she held up a hand.

"I want to assure you that this is not the case. Your parents are your biological parents, as I'm sure they reassured you." she told you.

"Thank you." you said, unsure of how else to reply. Frigga smiled sadly at you and turned to say goodbye to her two sons, and then you followed Thor back the way you had come, taking one last look back at the magnificent throne room but glad to be escaping outside. Loki caught your gaze as you turned and half smiled at you, not looking directly at you. Nervous.

Have you ever seen him this hungover?

You slowed down: an invitation. He accepted, coming to walk beside you.

Yes, it's not pretty is it.

Not exactly.

As you exited the palace and walked back the way you had come only yesterday you found yourself thinking that yesterday felt like a lifetime ago. So much had happened in the last day.

"Lady Y/N, wait!"

You turned at the sound of your name being called to see Fandral rushing towards you, flanked by Volstagg and Hogun. Loki groaned exaggeratedly and you tried not to smile.

"You weren't going to leave without saying goodbye, were you?" he asked when he reached you, looking concerned.

"No, of course not." you lied through your teeth.

Liar.

You're one to talk.

Thor approached to say goodbye to his friends, and Fandral drew you to one side, away from the others.

"It has been a pleasure Lady Y/N, I hate to see you leave so soon..."

"I know, but my place is on Midgard, not here." you told him, not breaking eye contact and hoping that he would understand.

"I understand. Very well, safe travels." he said looking vaguely disappointed, kissing your hand yet again.

"Thank you, and I'm sorry..."

"No, no, that's all water under the bridge now." he said firmly waving his hand, as if it had happened longer ago than ten seconds.

You returned to the group, determinedly ignoring Loki's pointed looks and said goodbye to Volstagg and Hogun, asking that they say goodbye to Sif for you. No one said goodbye to Loki.

This time there were only two horses waiting for you, instead of three. The same thought flashed through both your and Loki's heads at exactly the same time, and you couldn't help but laugh, causing Thor to turn and frown in confusion.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Loki was smiling.

"Do you want to...?" he asked you, gesturing at the horse he had ridden when you arrived.

"I think that would probably be a good idea." you grinned, looking at Thor who was stood contemplating his horse unenthusiastically.

Loki swung himself up on to the horse, and then turned to offer you a hand to help you up behind him. You grabbed his arm and managed to seat yourself behind him on your first try without making too much of a fool of yourself, which you tried not to feel too smug about. Then you realised you didn't know where to put your hands.

Thor was slowly making his way to the top of his horse, and when he got there he had to have a rest, looking rather out of breath. Loki shook his head, turning the horse around to face the Bifrost and doing something with his feet to make it go forward. Trying and failing not to laugh at Thor, who did not look like a god of thunder in this moment, you were surprised by the movement and grabbed on to the thing nearest to you, which just so happened to be Loki.

"You've really never ridden a horse before?" he asked; you could hear the smile in his voice.

"What do you think?"

Eventually the sound of hooves behind you confirmed that Thor had managed to make his horse move at least. You twisted around to look at him and then immediately wished that you hadn't when he raised his eyebrows and pulled a face, nodding towards Loki. You retaliated by mouthing something you probably shouldn't have at him, and then ignored his outraged response with an innocent smile, directing your gaze instead back at the palace and Asgard, which was slowly getting smaller. You would miss it here.

Heimdall was waiting for you at the end of the Bifrost, his expression deadpan as usual as he watched you approach and dismount your horses. Loki helped you down from the horse; the feel of his strong hands on your forearms distracted you so much that you even forgot to laugh at Thor as he half fell off of his horse. You walked to the spot where you had arrived, and Heimdall followed you to take his place at the top of the golden podium-like structure in the centre of the huge sphere-shaped room.

"Farewell Heimdall." Thor said, saluting him.

"I have a feeling we will see each other again soon. Sooner than you might think." Heimdall responded; Thor looked up at him, confusion flashing across his features.

Having been momentarily distracted by this odd exchange, you suddenly remembered that when you arrived you'd been holding on to Thor, who currently seemed to have completely forgotten about you. Before you could say anything however, Heimdall was opening the Bifrost, and the whole room started moving and spinning. Would you be alright on your own? Wouldn't you fall off or something? You needn't have worried however, because Loki's arm was around you an in instant, and you grabbed on to him in relief slightly faster than was necessary.

He chuckled, and you scowled up at him only to have the breath knocked out of you when you found yourself at such close quarters with him. Like last night...

"Keep your eyes open this time." he told you, right as you felt your feet left the ground and you squeezed your eyes tight shut, instinctively tightening your hold on Loki. The falling sensation in your stomach and the sudden loud roaring in your ears confirmed that you were hurtling back to Earth, through space, which gave you no inclination whatsoever to open your eyes.

I've got you. Look.

Retaining your death grip on Loki, curiosity got the better of you and you peeked your eyes open.

It was amazing.

The sensation was still horrible, but the sight of space, infinite space and stars and planets was almost enough to make up for it. You, Loki, and Thor were encased in a literal rainbow; if you looked up you could see it stretching as far as you could see, the colours glittering and merging as you were transported away to a different realm. Looking down you could see Thor, and then suddenly there was Earth, getting closer and closer until you were approaching it at such speed that you had to close your eyes again...

Your feet hit the ground and you stumbled, letting go of Loki from the impact. You were back on the roof of the Avengers Tower, and it was bright and cold. Thor was bent double a few feet away, looking vaguely green, eyes shut. You sat down on the floor and put your head between your knees, concentrating on breathing, and more importantly not throwing up.

"Look at you two. It's as if you're not used to hurtling between realms at unholy speeds." Loki smirked. You lifted your head and scowled at him again, and Thor just made a noncommittal sound, unmoving.

"Come on, it's cold." Loki said to you, holding out a hand. You took it and let him pull you to your feet, and at that moment there was a loud bang from the doorway which led to the stairwell. Tony stumbled out on to the roof, looking first relieved and then extremely confused as he clocked you and Loki hand in hand and Thor looking like he'd just recently stepped out of a washing machine.

You swiftly dropped Loki's hand and smiled a bit too innocently at Tony.

"Hey!" you said cheerfully, making your way towards him. Steve and Bucky appeared behind him, closely followed by the rest of the team, all of whom looked overly happy to see you after only a day.

"Where have you been?!" Tony yelled, and you stopped walking in confusion as he rushed towards you and trapped you in an aggressive embrace.

"Uh... Asgard. Like we said." you replied, returning the hug in confusion. What was going on?

"You said you'd only be gone for a day or two!" he said accusingly, glaring over your shoulder at Loki as if this was somehow all his fault.

"We were... weren't we?" you asked, a sudden sinking feeling appearing in your chest as you realised what was happening.

"No... what? You've been gone for over a week Y/N. It's Christmas Eve." Tony told you, holding you away from him by the shoulders and scanning your face as if he were looking for signs of damage. He'd been worried about you. They all had. The thought of them all being worried about you made your chest swell with a feeling which wasn't entirely unpleasant. Quite the opposite in fact.

"Time moves unpredictably between realms. Odd for it to have moved so quickly though." Loki commented from behind you, and you turned to see him leading Thor towards the stairwell.

"He needs to get inside, quickly."

"What did you do to him?" Steve asked in trepidation as Thor walked mutely past everyone, nodding in way of greeting as if he was afraid to open his mouth.

"He's hungover." you explained quickly, seeing Loki practically bristle in indignation and wanting to avoid a confrontation. Everyone 'ahh'ed in realisation as Loki threw you a look, and unnoticed by anyone else you threw him one right back.

In the elevator Nat squeezed your hand quickly and discreetly, with a look which told you she was glad you were alright. You squeezed back and smiled gratefully. When you reached the living room you discovered that exactly ten days had passed on Earth for the one day you had been on Asgard for, and according to Loki it was unusual for that much time to have passed, but also that time is unpredictable, and you never know when it might change between realms. Thor retired to his room and didn't appear again until that evening. You also discovered that it was half past eleven in the morning on the 24th of December, and that travelling between realms made you very hungry.

You sat in the living room eating from a massive plate of toast Bucky had made for you while you talked, and watched the others steal slices from it as you told them everything. Well, almost everything. Occasionally a slice of toast would disappear from the plate on the coffee table, and you'd look over to see Loki sat on the kitchen counter, chewing inconspicuously.

Eventually you got bored with answering questions about Asgard and asked about what had happened while you'd been away. It didn't sound like you had missed an awful lot: there had been no missions and Nat said that she had been bored without anyone 'capable' to train with, earning her glares from both Clint and Steve.

"Well, I hope none of you have bought me Christmas presents, because if I was unorganised before I'm definitely unorganised now." you grinned around the room, and luckily everyone assured you that they hadn't got you anything either.

"Your present to me can be training a bit later on." Nat told you, and you eagerly agreed.

Amazing and beautiful as Asgard had been, you were glad to be home.