Monsters and Magic

Chapter 9

"You are not stupid for being tricked, naive perhaps, but not stupid. Especially considering your academic achievements," Loki told you kindly. You gave him a small smile.

"I know, but I still go through the what-ifs,"

"Which is only natural,"

You nodded and looked for something to change the subject. "Can you get the dishes? I need to get something from one of the twelve-thousand tool boxes spread around this place," Loki nodded, obviously wondering what you were up to, but didn't question your change of topic. You'd talked enough about how you'd died for one day. "Great! Meet you in the living room." You grabbed the good toolbox from under the sink and settled on your spot on the couch. Loki joined you a moment later.

"What are you up to, sweetheart?" he asked. You silently took the arm that had the Stark tech device on it and flipped the device over, examining it. "Y/N..." his voice was a warning.

"Trust me," you told him and reached into the toolbox absently. You held his hand in your lap with one hand while you reached for the tools you needed.

"Darling..." he tried again.

"Hush," you scolded lightly and got to work on the tricky piece of tech. He huffed and sighed, but realized that you weren't going to give up from whatever you were up to. You pulled out a small Jarvis screen from your pocket and scanned the device on Loki's wrist. It shocked you when you set the screwdriver in place. "Stop that," you scolded it. It sparked again while you were working and you glared at it. "I said stop it," you glared at it and Loki chuckled at you. A few screws, some shocks, and a well-placed shock to the device and it finally released from Loki's wrist. "Ta-da!" you announced as you removed it.

"Weren't you specifically told not to do that?" he asked, worried for you.

"That's the other surprise. We're officially off of house arrest according to Stark," you told him with a grin. "I thought I'd do the honors," you indicated the restraint device.

"That is excellent news indeed." You could see that his mind was already whirling with ideas and plans and you wondered what he was up to.

"Are we doing magic lessons this morning?" you asked, distracting him from whatever he was up to, especially since you were sure you'd end up on whatever mischief he was planning. "I'm not pressing for lessons, I just want to get to bed at a reasonable hour so I'm actually awake for the press conference this evening," you added quickly. You didn't want to seem like you were using him for his abilities.

"You're actually being reasonable for once?" he teased and laughed. You stuck your tongue out at him. "And don't be so shy, little one, I am the one who offered to teach you, and I appreciate that you not only wish to learn, but wish to actually go to bed at a reasonable hour," he reminded you and so the lesson of the day began, which looked boring to the team when they walked through to get breakfast and saw you sitting and staring at each other with power shimmering around you as the only warning that you were playing with magic. But telepathy was boring to watch, though useful to master.

Loki broke off the connection. "Well done, darling," he told you warmly and kissed you lightly. You smiled at the praise.

"Hey, Tinkerbell, any idea how I ended up in my room last night, last thing I remember were were in the lab?" Tony asked when the power stopped shimmering in the living room.

"I carried you to bed. Pepper let me in," you replied and hid a yawn behind your hand. "Speaking of bed, I should go find mine," you told them a bit apologetically. You hated being on the opposite schedule as the rest of the team. Usually you stayed up later and only napped for a couple of hours when the sun was brightest, but you needed real sleep occasionally, and the press conference seemed important. You stood and started to lean down to kiss Loki, but he was standing as well.