The party unofficially ended an hour or so ago, and now all of the Avengers are just lounging around, probably just about ready to go to bed, though no one wants to be the first one to do it.
Loki and Steve are sharing the couch, and she's curled up with her head on his shoulder so she can see his phone. They've been watching cat videos for at least half an hour, and she's been enjoying it far more than she expected. Apparently not all cats are like Snowflake, and that's not a bad thing at all (though she is pleased to see that Snowflake seems to be on the smarter end of the cat spectrum).
Loki finds that she has to yawn, and though she could easily hide it with a simple illusion, she decides there's no point in keeping it to herself.
"Me too, Sylvie," Natasha says, yawning as well.
"Mm, no, stop that," Tony says. "You're gonna make me yawn, too."
Steve puts his phone down in his lap and looks down at Loki. "It's getting late. I don't know if you want to stay here for the night, or...?"
"Not with Loki living here," she says darkly, because she is nothing if not unreasonably dramatic. "I could never sleep knowing that he is nearby. I do not trust him for a moment."
"He's not that bad," Steve assures her. "You don't have to worry about him. He's pretty content just doing his own thing."
Loki really hopes he's only saying that to keep the peace, because she does not like how he phrased that. She's not that bad? So she's a little bad? Ouch.
"I agree with... Sylvie," Thor says, making a face as he says the name. "I think you would do best to return home."
"Mm, yes, probably," Loki agrees. She readjusts her position, resting her head on Steve's chest. "In a few minutes."
Thor shoots him a glare. "You should go now, before people begin asking questions."
Loki sighs. He's probably right; she's just a guest, and all the other guests have already left, Rhodey excluded. It's probably about time for her to head out, too.
Loki pushes herself to her feet, and the entire right side of her body feels cold now that she's not propped up against Steve. She hadn't realized humans were so warm until today. It's kind of nice. It reminded her of home — of Asgard. Frigga always made a nice heater, too.
"You're off?" Steve asks, standing up as well.
"It appears so," Loki says. She holds her arms out, and Steve gives her a gentle hug. "Tonight has been a lot of fun. Thank you for introducing me to the internet. I hope we can watch more cat videos at the next party."
"We absolutely can," Steve assures her.
They pull apart, and Loki scans the room, looking for the next person she's like to say goodbye to. She's thinking either Natasha or Rhodey, not she's not sure which...
Natasha answers the question for her when she says, "You know, Sylvie, you can come by whenever you want. You don't have to wait for us to throw another party."
Loki raises her brows. "Oh, really?" She can just show up whenever she wants? If she's bored in her room, she can just change forms and let "Sylvie" pay them a visit? She might have to take them up on that.
"Yeah, we're always up for company," Natasha says from her seat at the bar. "You have no idea how boring these people are."
Clint gives her a playful shove. "Oh, come on. You love us."
"Mm, do I, though?" Natasha asks teasingly.
Loki laughs just because she's not sure what else to do. She approaches the assassin next, stopping just short of the stool she sits on. "Lady Natasha, it was lovely to see you again." She leans in for a kiss, leaving a peck on her cheek. (It's a bit disappointing that none of her lipstick came off. The mere idea of branding the Black Widow with a kiss is unendingly hilarious.)
"Come back soon, okay?" Natasha says, a playful smirk on her lips. "I didn't get my dance this time."
Loki cracks a smile. "We will certainly remedy that the next time," she says. She looks around at everyone else. "Goodnight, everyone. James." She waggles her fingers at Rhodey in a flirtatious wave. "And, of course, happy birthday, Mr. Stark."
Tony just gives her a half-wave.
"I'll walk you out," Thor says.
Loki wants to complain – she'd just planned on stepping into the elevator and teleporting to her room – but she's not sure how to do that without anyone asking questions, so she forces a smile. "Thank you."
Thor puts a hand on her back, gently but pointedly walking her toward the elevator. Just before they're out of sight, Loki looks back over her shoulder and winks at Natasha, and though she doesn't get to see the reaction, she'd like to think the assassin at least noticed it.
They walk in silence until they reach the elevator, much to her relief. Thor may not be very supportive of her bullshit, but it's nice that he doesn't try to blow it wide open, either. He probably should. She wouldn't blame him for it in the slightest. But it's nice that he doesn't. It's one of her favorite sources of entertainment, as rare as it is. She doesn't want to lose it — or deal with the fallout of the Avengers realizing who she is.
Once the elevator doors close behind them, though, it's fair game, and Thor doesn't hesitate to tell her, "I don't like this."
Loki feigns surprise. "No? Your constant glaring and disapproving looks made me think you did."
Thor is completely unamused. "Somebody is going to be hurt."
Loki rolls her eyes. "I am not going to hurt anybody."
"Yes, you are," Thor insists. "You'll hurt Rogers or Rhodes or—"
"If you plan to finish this list with the Widow, you truly cannot convince me you believe it," Loki interrupts. Like she could possibly hurt the feelings of Natasha Romanoff. Ridiculous. "Nobody will be hurt. It's just some harmless fun." She flashes her brother a smile.
"It will not be fun if Rogers—"
"What, falls in love with me?" Loki asks mockingly. "He won't. I've made it very clear that I am here to enjoy myself and that is all."
Thor clenches his jaw, narrowing his eyes slightly in annoyance.
Loki sighs. "I do not want to hurt Rogers," she says. "He is perhaps the person in this building I would want to hurt the least. If I think this has gotten out of hand, I will tell him, but I truly do not think it will be an issue."
"I will hold you to that," Thor says. "Because if you do not, I will. I try to let you have your fun, but I do draw the line at hurting our friends."
Loki shakes her head to herself. "Alright, fine. But you do not tell anybody without consulting me first. I would much prefer to do it myself if the situation calls for it."
"Of course," Thor says. "It will be your mess. I would prefer you clean it up yourself."
"I will, if the situation calls for it," Loki says. "But right now, it does not, and I do not expect that to change. The Avengers see me as a friend in this form; nothing more."
"Good," Thor says. "Do not let that change."
After assuring her brother that her goal is not, in fact, to play with Avengers' hearts, Loki teleports back to her room, plopping down on her bed with a satisfying bounce. Sometimes she forgets how much lighter she is in this form. There's nothing like a good ol' bed bounce to remind her of the fact.
Snowflake is already curled up on her bed – or, more accurately, on her pillow, so she'll definitely have to flip that around when she goes to sleep tonight if she doesn't want a face full of cat hair – but she perks up at the sight of her owner. How Snowflake recognizes her regardless of her appearance, she does not understand, but she cannot complain about it.
Snowflake stretches her front paws, claws digging into the pillow as she arches her back, and then she stands up, trotting over to Loki and sitting down by her side. She just stares at her for a few moments, and Loki stares back, unblinking. She views it as a game, though Snowflake undoubtedly doesn't realize it. After a minute or so, Snowflake lifts her paw off the mattress and hesitantly taps her on the leg once, twice, three times, then puts her paw back on the mattress.
Loki chuckles and scratches the top of her head. Snowflake purrs, leaning into her touch, and Loki's fingers move beneath her ears, hitting that sweet spot she knows the cat loves. Snowflake leans into her hand so hard that she falls over, though she seems content to do it, just lying on the bed while Loki pets her stomach.
"You know, darling," Loki murmurs, "I always love to see you, but I'd actually planned on doing a bit of snooping tonight."
Needless to say, Snowflake doesn't respond.
"But if you stay here, I will still pet you," she adds. "Just do not move or I'll lose you."
Again, Snowflake is oblivious.
Loki closes her eyes, and, when she's content with the knowledge that Snowflake won't disappear on her, she projects her consciousness downstairs, hidden from view but able to watch everything that happens.
Unfortunately, that "everything" is essentially nothing.
Natasha has taken her place on the couch, though she's less snugly as she and Steve watch something on his phone. Clint seems perfectly content on his own phone, paying no mind to the friend who just abandoned him entirely. Nobody else has moved, and it's almost as though she'd never even left.
It's a minute or so later when Thor finally returns. Loki can't help but smirk at that. The poor guy had to ride the elevator all the way back up, while all Loki had to do was blink. Oh, the life of a magicless god must be so boring. (Well, okay, he can control lightning so he's not completely magicless, but he doesn't have any actual useful magic.)
Thor's entrance earns no reaction beyond some brief glances in his direction, which is about all Loki needs to see to know that this is not worth her time. She'd been hoping for some sort of drama. This is just boring. She'd be far more entertained just watching her cat roll around on the bed.
But then Tony surprises her.
"Should we tell Loki the party's over?"
Loki's brows shoot up. Did she hear that right?"
Clint doesn't even look up from his phone. "No."
"Why?" Natasha asks, then clarifies, "Why would we tell him, not why shouldn't we. I know why you don't like him."
"Damn right, you do," Clint says.
"I'm with her, by the way," Rhodey says. "I mean, it's your birthday party and you can ruin it however you want, but why would you want to invite Loki? That is what you're saying, right?"
"Yeah, y'know, he's good about staying out of the way when we tell him to," Tony says with a shrug. "Figure he deserves the chance to stretch his legs."
"Tony, it's four in the morning," Steve deadpans. "He's probably asleep."
Tony rolls his eyes. "Loki never sleeps."
"Loki's always sleeping," Natasha protests. "Why do you think we never see him before noon?"
Tony scoffs. "Are you kidding? I've found the guy making coffee at all hours of the night – literally. Every hour of the night, I have found him making coffee at least once."
"Bet you regret teaching him how to use the coffee maker now," Rhodey quips.
Tony shrugs. "As long as he keeps telling me when we're running low on coffee so I can get more, I really don't care. He needs it more than I do."
Loki furrows her brows. What the hell is he talking about? (Not the drinking coffee at all hours of the night because that part is definitely true; she's just confused about that last part.)
Evidently, she's not alone, because Rhodey asks, "Why does he need coffee? Isn't energizing the batshit insane demigod in the building a bad idea?"
Loki can't even complain about that. Odin and Frigga used to say the same thing (excluding the "batshit insane" part). She's been known to overdo it with the caffeine.
"Because he never sleeps," Tony says as though it's obvious. When it becomes clear that nobody else thinks it's obvious, he looks around incredulously. "Nobody else has noticed that? I mean, it's not like the guy tries to hide it. He's got nightmares. He likes to avoid them."
Loki stares at him.
But...
She does try to hide it?
She tries very hard to hide her nightmares when she can. It doesn't always work, but more often than not, nobody finds out about them. Steve might be an exception; he comes by her room a lot, and Loki's not always in the best place. But everybody else? Tony? Beyond the one or two that he's seen, how does he know?
Bruce cocks his head to the side. "What are you talking about?"
Tony looks around in disbelief. "God, am I the only person who pays any attention to this guy?"
"Pretty much," Clint says, his gaze still on his phone.
"I only pay attention to him when he's amusing," Natasha admits. "Are you just talking about that 'throwing you through a wall' thing? 'Cause that was just the once."
"No, I'm talking about—" Tony cuts himself off with a shake of his head. "Okay, whatever. Forget I said anything. Are we telling Loki the party's over or not?"
"No," Steve says. "If there's a chance he's going to get some sleep because he doesn't think he can leave his room, I want to let him sleep."
Rhodey raises an eyebrow. "So when you guys say you're babysitting Loki, you really mean you're babysitting Loki. Like, you're treating him like he's five."
"I know, it's ridiculous," Clint mutters.
"No, we're treating him like the multifaceted traumatized terrorist that he is," Tony says. "Which can mean very different things depending on which facet we're focusing on."
"For example," Clint says, "like a normal person, I focus on the part where he tried to take over the world."
"Exactly!" Tony says. "And Steve focuses on the fact that he thinks Loki is a big ol' teddy bear."
Steve rolls his eyes. "Alright, I think that's my cue to go to bed."
Natasha scoffs. "Aw, come on!" she whines. "What about our YouTube marathon?"
"We can finish it later," Steve assures her. "When I'm not about to fall asleep on you."
Natasha groans dramatically. "Fine." She sits up so that Steve can get up. "Well, if you're going to bed, I'm going to bed."
"Oh, good, someone with common sense," Steve says with a teasing smile.
Loki rolls her eyes. And now they're being boring again.
She returns to her room, not that she expects to be any more entertained here. Snowflake still lays by her side, baring her stomach for Loki's absentminded pets. She picks the cat up and places her in her lap, and Snowflake doesn't seem at all bothered by that, just curling up with her and resting her head on her leg. She gently strokes the top of her head with her thumb, and Snowflake sighs, content.
Loki's a bit less content.
Today has been very eye-opening, to say the least. She's learned that both Tony and Natasha like him more than they let on. Natasha actually enjoys this arrangement, which is the last thing she would have expected. It's nice to hear, especially knowing that they didn't want her to.
But at the same time, she now knows that Tony can see right through her, and that's terrifying. He knows about her nightmares, her trauma, the constant fear in her mind that she's learned to ignore the best she can.
There truly is no worse feeling than being seen.