Fanfiction Test? (Genderfluid Loki & The Avengers)

Ch2

Bruce woke up, and immediately fell out of the lab chair he'd been sprawled in. Tony's pristine white lab coat (which he'd never worn) drifted down on top of his head.

Bruce groaned, from both the fall from his chair and from all the sore muscles he'd acquired from last night's odd sleeping position. Sitting up and rubbing his head, he groped around for his glasses and thought about getting something to eat.

Now in the Tower's largest kitchen, the Avengers staying there (who were awake) were sleepily getting breakfast. Natasha had made a quinoa bowl, and Thor was gobbling down pop tarts. He was the only energetic one in the room, out of the nine or so people there. It was good to know he was here today, though. With him and Brünhilde trying to sort out the whole Asgard situation, he wasn't always here. Brün still wasn't present though, he noted. That, or she was asleep somewhere in the tower.

He leaned against the counter near the entryway, and surveyed the room while sipping his tea, waiting for the caffeine to do its thing. Steve was making pancakes and cheerily talking to Bucky, who looked three quarters dead and ready to kill someone. Peter watched in absolute awe as Thor inhaled pop tarts, entire body shaking in excitement. He also had some orange juice (with a bendy straw), and some of Steve's pancakes. Wanda and Nat were talking quietly, and Sam was grumbling about Pietro's speed and how "no kid should be able to run that fast" and how "he at least doesn't have to shove it in my face like that".

Bruce chuckled, and with the caffeine starting to do its job, began to mentally keep working on he and Tony's latest project. However, before he could really go down the wormhole of early morning equations and hypothesis, Tony walked in awkwardly, looking thoroughly confused and even a bit freaked out. Bruce didn't think much of it, though, until Tony made his way over to him with a cup of coffee, sipping anxiously.

Tony leaned on the counter next to Bruce.

"Do you know anything... strange about Loki?" He asked.

"....what?" Bruce was taken off guard by the question. Why would he know anything about Loki, and why was Tony asking about Loki at all?

"Well, you worked with him when you did the whole 'Revenger' thing, and... did he... were they ever... did they ever look like a... girl?"

Bruce just stared in confusion. "...what?"

Tony sighed in annoyance, trying to think of some other way of putting it.

"Here. Just... come here. Follow me." Tony led Bruce away from the kitchen, and Bruce confusedly followed.

After a few minutes, they rounded the corner and stopped at the Tower's modern library room. This room had a glass wall, some of it frosted and some of it not, so you could see inside if you were in the hallway. Tucked in the corner, squeezed in between a bookshelf and the far back wall, Loki sat, reading through a book.

"Tony, I really don't-" Bruce stopped as Loki got up, and walked to a bookshelf, exchanging the current book for something new. Loki then sat back down in the small corner, starting the new book. The entire time, though, they looked... feminine. And in... physicality. It wasn't just some matter of wearing makeup or dressing differently. "...huh."

"Last night when I finally hit the hay, I saw them in the kitchen- and it's not just how they look, either. They had the voice, too." Tony said, kind of hushed, but not quite. "So, you don't know anything about this from the whole teaming up thing? Like, I swear just a few days ago Loki looked normal, and there's no way a surgery could do THAT in such a short amount of time... plus... why?? Point Break never mentioned anything about something like this."

"Well, I mean, I do know Loki can shapeshift- Thor told us a story of 'em turning into a snake- but I don't know why Loki would change sexes to be... that?" Bruce said. "Neither Loki nor Thor said anything about that... but, speaking of which, why didn't you just ask Thor when you saw him this morning? Or even Loki last night?"

"Well I didn't want to be insensitive or offensive or whatever." Tony retorted, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to one leg.

"Since when did Tony Stark become so worried about stuff like that? I mean you're not insensitive, trust me, you have a heart of gold- but you aren't exactly the one to take extra steps to be nice. I mean, your kinda known for your sarcasm and creative name calling-"

"Hey!"

"I'm just saying..." Bruce sort of threw up his hands and gave a slight chuckle.

"Well, gender and stuff like that are sort of an extra sensitive spot, at least here on Earth. And seeing as how Thor can summon lightning and Reindeer Games has proven to be able to throw me out of a window, there's no need getting on their bad sides, just in case." Tony defended himself, although went a bit overboard on the last sentence trying to prove his point.

"Okay, okay..." Bruce relented. "Still, though, I don't know what to tell you. Asking is probably the best thing to do? In the few days that I spent with Thor, Loki, and Brün, I just sorta got the feeling that Asgard isn't as... I don't know the word. Prejudiced, I guess? against those sorta things?"

Tony sighed. Maybe he'd ask Thor about it later- he wasn't exactly comfortable talking to Loki. Whatever the case, though, he needed more coffee- he had emptied his entire Star Wars mug (it was a gift from Peter, okay? Of course he was using it).

"Welp, see you later then, Banner. I'll ask about it later. I need more caffeine, anyways."

"And please eat some real food, too, maybe?" Bruce offered as Tony strode away and back to the kitchen.

Tony sorta snorted. "Fine, fine... Pepper will probably get on me about it too, anyways."

Bruce sort of stood there for another few seconds, not sure what to do. He looked back to where Loki was sitting, and then decided not to bother them. Instead, he made his way back to the lab, eager to continue working.

-o0o-

Loki pretended not to notice Tony and Bruce outside of the library. They were staring at her and talking, Tony even pointed. They were not very discreet about any of it.

Loki tried not to be offended, Tony was probably just trying to figure out why she all of a sudden had a different body and voice. Still, though, it was annoying, and if she'd grown up here on Earth, she would have found it extremely rude and invalidating.

Loki sighed. None of the book's in the Avengers Tower's library were doing a sufficient job entertaining or distracting her. She'd found a little bit of interest in some Shakespeare and space books she'd found, but really she just wasn't in the mood for reading right now. Or anything, really. She felt restless, but none of her usual pastimes seemed to satisfy her. Nothing new seemed good, either.

Loki sat there for a few minutes, staring into space, and then got up to make herself some tea. She hoped the kitchen wasn't too populated.

Once Loki made it there, only Peter and Natasha were present. She hesitated before walking in, she really didn't want them staring too. This was never a problem on Asgard... Still, she hadn't drunk anything since last night, and she was thirsty.

She walked over to a cabinet, but in such a fashion that you couldn't see her face nor chest very well. She was really too tired to answer any questions or deal with confused stares. Especially with the spider-boy here. Peter had a knack for asking way too many questions at way too quick speeds.

Waiting for her water to boil, she could feel Natasha watching her- she'd noticed. Obviously, Loki thought. It's not like I did much to hide it. But Natasha didn't say anything, and hid any expression from her face. Loki supposed that was one way they were similar- being able to mask emotions like that.

Once the water was done boiling, Loki took a black tea teabag and a cup, and made her way back to the hallway. She didn't bother doing her usual sweep of the room, because she'd already been seen in it, although she wished she hadn't. She really should get back onto her usual stealth habits. This was twice in the last 24 hours that she'd been seen... or maybe that was a good thing? If she wasn't seen at all that would be suspicious... she groaned.

Loki was tired, she wanted sleep. Good sleep. All this worrying over what reputation to build with the Avengers, whether it should be real or fake, and what tabs to keep on who and what places to be... it was just further exhausting her. Maybe she could just do a heavy-level blackout spell on herself. It wouldn't regenerate any energy, but at least she wouldn't have to think for a few hours...