Author's note: Hey guys, this chapter is kinda a short one sorry - I guess because it's mostly dialogue. This gif really makes me laugh, but in the context of Loki getting annoyed at you... sheesh 😍 Getting distracted by gifs of Loki is literally a skill of mine. Anyways, hope you enjoy, leave a comment/vote if you do! :)

...

Once you were inside, the team all piled into the living room (much to Clint's annoyance) and you were sat down by Tony, who in short told you that it was safe to say there was a group of people out to get you.

You were being targeted, you were in danger.

He then explained how they had found this out on the mission they had just been on, but you weren't paying attention anymore, trying to work out how to feel. Scared? Angry? Calm?

"Kid? You okay?" Tony asked; apparently he had finished talking now.

You nodded mutely and pointed towards your bedroom, standing up and leaving the room.

The minute you were inside your room with the door locked, you sat on your bed in shock. That was how you felt: shocked. And not safe. An unhelpful combination, which meant that you didn't sleep very much at all that night.

...

The next morning you were the first one up (if you could call it 'up' when you hadn't slept all night), Or so you thought.

"Good morning Y/N." Loki's voice came suddenly from one of the sofas, making you jump.

"Hey, sorry, didn't see you there." you exhaled, placing a hand on your chest.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"No, it's fine. Why are you up so early?" you asked, heading for the kettle.

"I have told you already, I don't need to sleep. Everyone was worrying about you extremely audibly in their thoughts all night, especially Stark." he replied, causing a pang of guilt to shoot through you.

"Do you know what they found that made them so worried?" you asked, trying to sound casual.

Loki opened his mouth, and then closed it again.

You stared at him. If he found it disconcerting, then you were definitely in big trouble.

"It's my fault." he finally said.

There was a good few seconds of silence as you tried to process what had just been said.

"What do you mean it's your fault? What have you done?" you replied, half in disbelief, half in fear.

"At the party. When I was arguing with Thor about not attending, I said some things I shouldn't have when there were guests nearby. About you."

You were becoming more and more confused by the second.

"I don't understand... why were you talking about me when you were arguing with Thor-"

"He said that I seemed to enjoy your company and it might do me good to spend some time with you, and I told him that the only reason you were being remotely kind to me was because we share the same magic and you wanted to learn how to use it." he told you, his voice louder than usual and without its usual self-important air.

Shocked, you stood very still, not knowing how to deal with this unexpected situation.

"Someone must have heard, and... I don't know, told the wrong people. It's my fault." he concluded matter of factly, determinedly not looking in your direction.

Your brain was going a hundred miles an hour trying to wrap your head around it all. Was this why these people were after you, because they knew you had the same magic as Loki and had seen what he had done in the New York attack? And they thought that you were going to do the same, and cause more damage. Loki seemed to think so; that would make sense, and they were targeting you because you still didn't know how to use your magic properly; you were weak.

But you would think about that later, there was a bigger problem to deal with first. You walked around the kitchen island and sat on the sofa opposite Loki.

"Surely you know that that's not true." you said, after a pause.

"How else do you explain how these people know about our magic being similar? I doubt the others have been talking about it in public..." he said bitterly.

"No, Loki. I mean the bit about me only talking to you because I want to learn how to use my magic."

Nothing. No giveaways, not even a blink. He really knew how to hide how he felt.

"Because it's not true." you continued, tilting your head to try and get him to look at you.

He stood up suddenly and walked away five steps, only to stop suddenly and swing around to face you, pointing at you almost threateningly.

"You... are infuriating." he told you, sounding immensely annoyed.

"...what? Why?" you asked, frowning in confusion at his sudden outburst.

"I can't understand you! Why do you insist upon being so nice to me? Everyone else here can't stand me; they'd rather I wasn't here, but you... you talk to me. You don't make up crude nicknames or fall silent when I enter a room. But I can't read your mind, I don't know what goes on in your head. I can't..." here he trailed off, shaking his head while staring at you.

You leaned back against the sofa, once again lost for words. Loki walked back over and sat heavily back down, continuing to make eye contact with you. You looked right back at him.

"You are odd." he eventually said.

For some reason this caused your lips to twist into a smile.

"Thanks. So are you." you replied, and he nodded, finally breaking eye contact to look back down at his hands.

"Can you forgive me?" he eventually asked.

"Don't be stupid, it's not your fault. You couldn't have known what would happen." you retorted, brushing away his apology.

"You could be in serious danger. You are, according to Stark and the others."

You shrugged.

"I'm joining the Avengers, I think that's going to be a given from now on." you replied, trying to smile.

Loki opened his mouth to say something else, but at that exact moment Tony entered the room. He stopped short when he saw the two of you sat opposite each other on the sofas and raised his eyebrows.

"Am I interrupting something?" he asked.

"No, no. You're not. No." you said quickly.

"The very fact that you just told me no three times in a row would suggest that I am in fact interrupting." he replied, with a hint of a smile.

"You're not." you confirmed, forcing a smile. You seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"Well good, because I want to talk to you. Mainly about how these people who are after you know that your magic is the same as Rei- Loki's."

Loki stiffened, almost imperceptibly, but you saw it. Tony would go mental if he found out what had happened.

"We were actually just talking about that." you said, thinking fast, feeling your chest tighten as Loki looked up at you sharply, a plea in his eyes. Did he really think you would sell him out just like that?

"It must have been someone at the party. Everyone was so drunk Tony, they could have let anything slip." you told him.

"Yes, that's what I thought at first, but see... the others didn't find out about that until after the party. So the only people who would have known about it during the party were you pair. Nat had already said she was concerned about you talking to people Y/N, and I don't think you would have mentioned your magic to anyone. Which just leaves..." Tony trailed off to look at Loki.

"What is it exactly that you're trying to suggest, Stark?" Loki asked, standing up as Tony walked over to face him. You stood up too, determined to keep the peace, momentarily distracted by how much taller Loki was than Tony.

"Okay, guys, let's not get carried away..." you said, moving to stand between the two men.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me Reindeer Games?" Tony spoke over the top of you, apparently unfazed by the height difference.

Loki glowered at Tony, clenching his jaw.

"Tony, back off..." you told him.

"Y/N, get out the way." Tony said to you.

"Yes, move Y/N, let's see what Stark will do." Loki told you, a challenge in his voice.

You didn't move.

Tony was glaring at Loki with true hatred in his eyes, and held out an arm for the sleeve of his Iron Man suit.

Tony, don't..." you begged, putting a hand on his arm.

"Y/N, move!" Loki half shouted from behind you.

"Don't yell at her, I swear to-"

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not one of your minions Stark, you can't order me around."

"I can send you back to Asgard, that's what I can... do."

Tony trailed off as he looked at you. You and your purple eyes. You turned around to look at Loki too, who immediately backed off.

"Sit down." you instructed them both, trying not to feel pleased when they both did so instantly. As they did so, you turned your eyes back to their usual colour. You could control it. Fighting down the elation you were feeling, you focused on the matter at hand.

"Tony, this isn't Loki's fault, okay?" you told him.

"We don't know that-"

"He told me and I believe him. It was probably me, I don't remember half of the night, I could have been talking to anyone. Also, what was it you said to Nat about having 'triple checked' the guest list?" you asked, raising an eyebrow as Loki smirked. It was a low blow, but you were pissed that he'd jumped at a chance to accuse Loki of something.

Tony didn't have an answer for that one.

"And besides, how do we even know that that's why they're targeting me? It might be for a different reason..." you stopped talking when you saw the look on Tony's face.

"We saw the plans Y/N, it wasn't hard to understand why they were doing what they're doing."

You tried not to think about it. Loki didn't look so smug anymore.

"I hope this doesn't mean you're going to try and stop me from coming on missions?" you asked.

"Until you've learnt how to control your magic, I don't think it's a good idea." Tony returned.

"Loki can teach me."

"Are we still arguing about this? Tony, just let him teach the kid. It'll be a help." Clint's voice emanated from the doorway.

You looked triumphantly at Loki, and then Tony.

"We'll talk about it with the others later." Tony replied, sounding disgruntled.

...

Later, with the others, Tony was largely outnumbered. By everyone.

"Thor can sit in on her training, just to be safe." Nat said, trying to console Tony after his massive defeat in the discussion.

"Can I now?" Thor asked.

"Yes, that would be good Thor. And you can be responsible for that band as well – saves me having to worry about it." Tony said, gesturing towards the cuff on Loki's wrist and sounding immensely displeased about the fact that it was going to be removed. You'd talk to him later. Meanwhile, Thor looked positively thrilled at the prospect of sitting in on your training.

You were buzzing. You were finally going to learn how to use your magic properly, and Loki was going to be able to use his magic again too. You hoped he was pleased, you couldn't explicitly tell from his face, but you thought his jaw might be slightly more relaxed than usual.

You'd take that as a good sign.