Gifted

Chapter 10

After dinner with your actor friends, you went back to the tower where you curled up on your usual couch in the common room to watch TV, read, and wait for your super friends to join you later in the evening. You couldn't help laughing when the pictures from the evening started coming through social media. They also ended up all over the news. The pictures the cast tagged you in and sent to you were better than the ones the news outlets had found, but that was to be expected.

You made the pictures of the cast all bowing down to you on your throne surrounded by props your new profile picture for all of your social media.

You had given Loki a couple books to catch up on, since he had missed some new releases over the last year. You had stubbornly set them aside for him specifically so he could catch back up when he got back. There were books piled on your coffee table waiting for Loki. You were really determined that he was coming back. No matter how many times Tony told you to put your books away.

Your thoughts were interrupted by a tiny black cat mewing next to your couch while you were reading. You looked down at her and couldn't help smiling. "Hey, Aunt Pepper. Tony had to go talk to Fury about something. You can hang out with us until he gets back if you want." you offered. The cat hopped up in your lap and you petted her while she purred. Pepper Potts was Tony's fiancé, CEO of Stark Industries, and practically your Aunt, even though she and Tony weren't married yet. She had also recently acquired the power to shapeshift into animals. She didn't get powers in the initial wave of magic that had swept the world, just like you hadn't. She'd only gotten them recently, so she was spending more time in the tower while she learned to control them.

Which meant you occasionally had a cat to curl up and read with you. You didn't mind, you liked Pepper for all that you had barely seen her before she got her powers.

"Do I need to turn into a cat so you will pet me like that?" Loki purred in your ear.

You looked up at him and giggled at his silly antics and his whispered teasing. "You can do that?" you asked instead of answering his question properly. You weren't dignifying his seductive purring with an answer. Despite the blush that rose on your cheeks.

"When you are feeling better, I will teach you how as well. It is not a skill I use often, but it is one of my abilities, and so it is also one of yours," Loki told you warmly. You'd gotten all of his magical abilities through the soulbond. As well as all of his years of study.

Tony arrived soon and you caught him scanning the ground as if looking for a missing cat. You waved at him from your spot on the couch. He waved back, but looked distracted, and worried. "Uncle Tony, if you're looking for Aunt Pepper, she's here," you called innocently. You saw Tony turn red, but he nodded and came to join you. He sat on your couch with you, as far from Loki as he could get, and next to your feet. You promptly put your cold toes on his warm leg, which made him yelp and glare at you. You giggled at the look on his face.

Pepper abandoned your lap and went to go curl herself on Tony's lap instead. Tony tried to act nonchalant about allowing it, but you knew him better than that. Even after all these years, he had issues showing how much he cared for Pepper or for you, though he tried his best. You grinned at the pair and settled yourself more comfortably in Loki's arms. Tony glowered suspiciously at you and you gave him an innocent smile in return, which just made him glower more deeply, which should not have been physically possible.

Pepper shifted back to human form. Thankfully she had clothes when she did it this time. That wasn't always the case and it had taken her a lot of work to learn how to shift back and forth with clothes. Everyone in the tower was grateful when she managed it, so Tony wouldn't have to kill you all for seeing more of Pepper than you should have.