"Did...did they just get married?" Tony demanded. You and Loki both glared over at him. He visibly gulped. You were both still in your armor. With a shimmer of magic you changed back to your comfortable tunic and leggings. You smirked when you realized Loki had done the same, returning to his casual Asgardian clothes too.

"No," you replied simply as you took Loki's hand and flipped it over to make sure he had healed the cut properly.

"Darling, trust my healing skills for a simple cut," he scolded you lightly.

"I have to check," you reminded him firmly, especially when he flipped your wrist over to make sure the sigil was back in place properly. You huffed at him and rolled your eyes as he used magic to heal the cut on your palm now that the ceremony was over.

"I have to check too," he replied just as firmly. You both laughed. It was just like old times.

"Are we sure that's really Loki and Y/N?" Stark asked. "They're really different now,"

"Can I stab him?" you pouted at Loki, annoyed at Stark for the third time this morning.

He smirked, took a step back from you and made an elegant gesture toward Tony. "Be my guest, Lady Valkyrie," you drew a dagger from thin air and took a step towards Tony. Thor's hand clapped on your shoulder, halting you before you could stab Tony.

"Why don't you and Loki go play somewhere quieter? I will entertain my friends," Thor 'suggested'. He had made that exact same suggestion many, many times over the years.

"Fine," you grumbled and vanished the blade. You kissed Thor's cheek grumpily and took Loki's hand. "Breakfast?" you asked him warmly.

"That sounds like an excellent suggestion," he replied and kissed your temple. You stepped out of the room while the others just stared at how adorable you were. You changed back to Midgardian clothes outside of the fake Asgard Loki had made.

"Seriously, are you sure those aren't imposters? Loki and Y/N are sullen grumpy things. Who are those puke-inducingly adorable people?" Tony demanded. You paused by the door to the lab to eavesdrop.

You heard sounds of impact. "Stark, you ass. Those are the real Loki and Y/N, the ones who are accepted and loved, not shunned," Nat's voice another smack and a yelp from Tony. "I've seen that happy side of Y/N before and we've caught glimpses of it from Loki,"

"I have not seen Loki this happy in all the years they were separated, though we did not remember the reason for his change in demeanor and sorrow,"

"Why are none of you remembering that he tried to take over the world?" Tony demanded. "He's here on house arrest for us to babysit." You reached up and touched Loki's cheek, reassuringly. He gave you a small smile.

"It was mind control, Stark. We've been over this," Clint replied, surprisingly standing up for Loki. "All the shit we've been through, you have to learn to move on. He hasn't done anything since he's been here except try to reestablish a relationship with Y/N,"

You took Loki's hand more firmly and led him from the lab. That was enough eavesdropping. "Stupid Stark barging into our room," you grumbled, all of this was ultimately his fault.

He laughed. "It wasn't really our room, Kyrie-love. He was just letting me borrow it for the day," he reminded you.

"It was ours for the duration of the borrowing," you grumbled insistently. He laughed harder as you rode the elevator back up to the main floor. You sounded like him occasionally, especially when you said things like that.

"I think he learned to at least knock," Loki laughed.

"Oops..." you really hadn't meant to almost stab an ally, when he wasn't actively being an ass anyway.

"My idiot brother should be explaining the Valkyrie to his idiot friends so that mistake does not happen again. He is perfectly capable of making the explanations so you do not have to feel embarrassed trying to do it yourself." You stuck your tongue out at Loki for knowing you so well to know that you would have been embarrassed if you'd had to explain your station to the others. They seemed to understand that you were a trained warrior, mage, usually had to obey the orders of the royal family (as long as they were reasonable), and were assigned as a bodyguard to Loki. They seemed to understand, but you weren't sure they really got it.

Loki kissed your forehead. "No one will fault you for doing your duty, I least of all," he reminded you softly.

"You're just saying that because my duty is to protect my charge and my charge happens to be you, your highness," you teased his title and he laughed.

"Of course, Lady Valkyrie," he replied with a small elegant bow. You were both laughing again as you stepped off the elevator.

You stopped in the livingroom to kiss him lightly. Then with a wicked glint in your eye as his only warning. "I almost forgot," you commented innocently.

"Forgot what, darling?" he asked, wary at the glint in your eye. You smirked and with a well-practiced movement, swept one of his legs out from under him. He fell hard to one knee with an 'oof', not expecting to be thrown. His chin was in your hand as you bent down over him and tilted his head up to look at you. "You have my attention," he told you dryly, but didn't try to move. Smart man.

"I forgot to remind you that this relationship only works if we are equals in it. I know your little 'kneel before me' was a joke, and I know that duty and your rank skews the balance at times, but at the core of our relationship itself, we have to be equals or it will never work," you reminded him firmly. You'd had a very similar conversation after the last time you went through the Valkyrie-binding ceremony. Granted, you hadn't been quite so...insistent... that he was listening before delivering your speech last time.

"Darling, I have never viewed you as anything other than my equal, my best and closest friend. That will never change, especially not because of this," he took your wrist to kiss the sigil there. "Now may I rise to kiss your properly?" he asked with a smirk. You laughed and nodded, reassured. He rose and you wrapped your arms around his neck to kiss him. You broke it only when both of your stomachs started growling.

You were laughing as you led Loki to the kitchen and began making breakfast. He watched, fascinated as you worked. He got in the way more than helped, but he was adorable about it, so you didn't complain.

"Hey, kid, what's for breakfast?" Clint asked, coming over to peer at the pan you were working at. His hand reached up automatically to clap your bare arm, a friendly gesture, a casual touch. He had forgotten that you couldn't be touched. It was easy to forget when Thor and Loki could and did. You jerked away from him, horrified and embarrassed. Loki was between you and Clint in an instant and had grabbed Clint's wrist, stopping him before he could touch your bare skin.

"I would not do that, Hawk," Loki told Clint, not unkindly, just...firmly. He kept hold of Clint's wrist with one hand and summoned a zippered hoodie in the other. He held the hoodie out to you behind him without turning from Clint.

"Shit. Y/N, I'm sorry, I forgot," Clint apologized quickly when he realized what he'd almost done. You took the hoodie from Loki and slipped it on quickly, impressed that he knew exactly what you needed to feel safe. You realized at once that it was one of Loki's. It smelled like him and was too big, especially the sleeves which went down to your fingertips.

"It's ok, Clint, no harm done. Lohk, you can let him go, it was an accident," you added, since Loki still hadn't let Clint go. Loki slowly let Clint's wrist go and you got back to your pan before the breakfast burned. "I'm making French Toast," you answered Clint's original question. Loki kissed your cheek, reassuringly. He knew you were embarrassed that you couldn't be touched by the humans.

Breakfast was ready soon and the team sat around the table. You watched Loki's grin of delight after you'd dumped extra cinnamon sugar and powdered sugar on his French Toast, and syrup. He had looked at you doubtfully for doctoring his plate, but had allowed you to do it, trusting your judgment on Midgardian food. He was greatly pleased by the results.

"Y/N, we're going through the drills this morning, right?" Nat asked. You nodded.

"Wanna join us?" you asked Loki. "I've been teaching Nat the warmup drills," you added before he could ask.

He inclined his head. "I will join you, if you don't mind the company." Nat agreed quickly that he was welcome. Clint did the dishes today, so you, Loki, and Nat headed down to the training room. There were two small locker rooms across the hall from the training rooms. Nat ducked into one for a quick costume change. You and Loki just used magic. Fourth outfit for the day and counting, yoga pants, a t-shirt and elbow-length gloves. You were still feeling off from Clint's mistake earlier and weren't taking chances with Nat's safety.

You walked through the first of the warmup drills with her and Loki graciously partnered her for it so you could focus on correcting her form. After she walked through the first drill, she went to the other half of the large room to pretend to work on something else so you and Loki could get your workout in properly. You smirked as you stripped off your gloves. You didn't need them to spar with Loki. You moved closer to the center of the room, making sure you had space. "Shall we dance?" you asked Loki, who smirked in reply and bowed to you elegantly.

"My lady's wish is my command," he replied dramatically as he rose. You made the first move of the drills. He made the first counter and the dance began. It was way better working through the drills with him this time. He'd been so angry and hurt the last time you'd gone through them. This time, you could go full out...ok, nearly full out. You knew his strength and skill, knew his speed and saw the joy in his eyes that he had a proper partner to practice with as well. Your drilled ended with a kiss.

There were shocked applause and gasps from the others who had filtered in while you were working.

"Thank you for the wonderful dance," you told Loki warmly. "It was nice to have such a skilled partner again,"

"The honor was mine," he replied with a grin. "Now, I get a break, little Valkyries do not," he teased. You rolled your eyes. You had to work harder to keep up your skills. You were a Valkyrie after all and only kept up your ability through practice. At least you didn't have to work out all the time.

"I hate you sometimes," you grumbled at him while he summoned a book. You knew where this was going and Loki was the only one you'd trust for it.

"I love you too," he replied warmly. "It is only to help you, my darling," he added, still teasing.

"Not because you want to show me off in front of Thor's friends," you grumbled embarrassed, but took the push-up position. You heard Thor's laugh while the others were going 'no, she can't be...'

"Added benefit," Loki told you brightly as he settled cross-legged on your back. You rolled your eyes and huffed at him.

"Fine, silly Trickster. What page are you on?" you asked as you started the first pushup.

"125," he replied calmly, as if he had nothing better to do than sit and read his book.

"You know the drill," you told him as you worked. He murmured an agreement. He sat reading for a few minutes while you worked. It was a silly, but peaceful activity.

"How is she-?" came the whispered questions of the group.

"150," he announced as he flipped a page.

"Hold on," his hand touched the nape of your neck, steadying himself as you switched to using your right arm only, your left curled up on your back. He held your left hand and read with one hand for awhile.

"No-" came the whispers of the group.

"175," Loki announced who knew how long later. He dropped your hand and placed his back on the nape of your neck. You pushed off hard from the ground and switched hands before you hit the ground again. Loki chuckled that you could still pull that trick off. He took your right hand and returned to his book. "200," he finally announced and climbed off of your back. He offered you a hand and helped you back to your feet. You turned to the others who were just staring in awe.

"You guys knew I was strong," you reminded them, embarrassed.

"I don't think any of us realized how strong," Cap finally said.

You shrugged and gestured to Thor. "Strong enough to carry his drunk ass to bed more than once. Odin's beard, one night I had to carry both of their drunk asses to bed. Granted, they were a lot smaller back then." The boys both flushed at that reminder.

"There is no way in hell you can carry Thor," Tony told you, incredulous.

"Dude, you just saw me do how many pushups with Loki on my back? I can carry Thor," you replied defensively. You didn't bother counting the number of pushups. You went by how many pages Loki read.

"Prove it!" Clint teased. You huffed and stomped over to Thor.

"May I? To shut up your idiot friends?" you asked. He nodded, grinning. You swept him up into your arms bridal style. "Happy?" you asked his friends while they just stared. You took a few steps, showing it was no strain. It was just awkward because Thor was so big. You set Thor back on his feet.

"Our Valkyrie are among our fiercest warriors, friends," Thor told the others.

"I think we're beginning to see that," Cap said, impressed. Loki came over and draped his arm over your shoulders.

"You three are scary, remind me to stay on your good side," Clint joked. You smiled a little at his joking, his gentle teasing, his acceptance.

You kissed Loki's cheek. "I think that's enough of the Valkyrie terrifying the mortals for this morning. I'm going to grab a shower. See you guys later," you waved to the others, ducked out from under Loki's arm and left the training room. After a quick shower, you returned to outfit number three of the day and took your laptop and a book down to the living room. You curled up on one of the sofas and opened your laptop to check social media. You hadn't dealt too much with it before moving in to the tower, but life with the Avengers changed a lot of things and you were popular now as the media tried to get to know the newest Avenger. At least the newest that they knew of. They didn't know that Loki was part of the team now.

Except that Jarvis had decided your warmup drills with Loki were awesome and had posted the video of the entire drills on YouTube under the title 'Asgardian Dancing'. You linked the video to your Facebook page and the Avengers social media pages. It was up on YouTube regardless, might as well give the populace a healthy sample of your actual abilities.

"What are you up to, darling?" Loki asked, peering over your shoulder to look at your laptop screen.

"Jarvis decided to post the video of our warmup drills on the internet," you explained. You then had to explain the internet, social media, YouTube, and Facebook. He was interested and enjoyed watching the video of the drills. You also showed him how to use his Stark tech phone. He hadn't bothered learning yet. Soon he had a Facebook page and after some prodding had sent friend requests to the team. You took silly pictures, including quite a few of you kissing. The pictures all got posted, the relationship was claimed, purely so fangirls wouldn't throw themselves at your Loki... purely, your profile picture was changed to an adorable one of Loki kissing your cheek. And the comments rolled in.

You taught Loki how to play Mario Kart and Smash Bros and you spent the afternoon playing video games with him and various teammates when they came wandering through.

"Why are you two children trending on social media?" Tony asked when he wandered through, looking at one of the Jarvis screens in his hand.

"We're not children!" you and Loki both protested at the same time.

"We're a thousand years older than you," you reminded him grumpily as you proceeded to very maturely kick Loki's ass at Smash Bros while playing as Pikachu... such mature.

"So say the children playing video games," Tony commented dryly. "So why are you thousand year-old aliens trending on social media?"

"It's Jarvis' fault," you told him, focused on the game. "He posted the video he took of our warmup drills," you added.

You all turned when the elevator doors opened. Everyone was already up here. Director Fury was stepping off of the elevator and looked pissed. You set down your controller and edged closer to Loki on the couch, dagger already at your side where Fury wouldn't see it. He wasn't exactly your favorite person after how he'd treated you. You didn't trust him with your Loki.

"What is he doing here?" Fury demanded, gesturing angrily at Loki. You jumped to your feet to stand defensively in front of Loki, dagger in one hand, your dragonfang blade in the other. Loki had gotten to his feet, standing behind you, letting you deal with this problem, trusting you. It would cause trouble all around if he attacked Fury.

"Stand down, Valkyrie. Fury won't hurt Loki," Cap said as he walked over to diffuse the situation. You hesitated. "Stand down," Cap repeated, firmly, but kindly. He seemed to understand your dilemma. You vanished your blades, but didn't move from your defensive stance in front of Loki. "Thor brought Loki back with him from Asgard. He's joining the team," Cap told Fury firmly.

"No way. There is no way you're letting him stay here. You can't keep adding troubled Asgardians to the team. He's dangerous!" Fury protested.

"Kyrie," Thor's voice. "Take Loki upstairs. We'll deal with this," Thor told you gently.

"Thor-" you protested. You had to stay here and make sure this ended up going your way. You had to defend Loki from SHIELD, from Fury, from whatever they wanted to do to him.

"Go, Kyrie. I won't let anything happen to you or my brother. We will deal with SHIELD and Fury. Get your charge out of here," Thor ordered more firmly. He wanted Loki out of Fury's sight, safely away where Fury wouldn't send him away or worse.

"No," Fury started.

You took Loki's hand. "C'mon, love," you bid him. You teleported the two of you upstairs. You opened Loki's bedroom door, scanned the room automatically and led him inside. You sat on his bed and opened your laptop again. After some furious typing, you had the security footage pulled up. Loki sat on the bed behind you watching the scene downstairs.

"They are going to be upset when the realize we can spy on them," Loki told you.

You shrugged. "Then they shouldn't keep kicking us from the room," you replied. "Though this time Thor is trying to protect you, so I can't complain too much,"

You watched the team rally around you and Loki, watched them vow that you weren't trouble, that you were good for Loki. Thor explained the situation, explained the lost memories, Loki's mind control from New York.

"How long has he been here?" Fury demanded.

"A little over a month," Cap replied.

"This is a stupid-ass decision, but since you're all so sure and taking responsibility, I'll keep the council off your backs if you keep him under control. If he causes any trouble, both of their asses are ending up on The Raft or worse, and there won't be a damn thing I can do about it,"

"Director, you saw the video of what those two can do when they're happily warming up. You want them fighting on our side. Don't do anything to them to change that. Plus, she's been on Earth for 900 years and didn't cause any trouble until a couple months ago," Nat warned.

"And that 'trouble' was saving our asses during a fight," Clint added dryly.

"That is why I'm letting them stay. Stage a press conference, announce his presence, Tony, Cap, you know how to spin it. Don't make me regret this,"

"You shall not," Thor told him firmly.

You slammed your laptop shut and vanished it back to your room when Thor headed to the elevator to come talk to you. You had left Loki's bedroom door open so Thor would know where to find you.

By the time Thor made it upstairs, you were in Loki's arms, happily kissing him and looking for all the world that you had been that way the entire time you'd been up here. You didn't want to advertise that you'd been spying.

It wasn't at all that you enjoyed kissing your Loki...