It was late when you finally went back to bed. You should have gone earlier, but you'd spent literally all day in bed, and convinced Loki to go to the library with you instead of heading straight back to bed. You told him he didn't actually have to come with you, but he reminded you that Cap had given him the job of keeping an eye on you while you were sick. You rolled your eyes at his lame excuse, but searched the library with him until you found something that sounded interesting.
"Now, will you return to bed, witchling? I would hate to see your fever spike again," he was legitimately worried.
"I'm fine, Loki," you promised him. He gave you a look, you knew that disbelieving look. It was used quite a lot around here.
"You have had a fever all day and could barely move this morning,"
"I may be human, but I do get over being sick quickly," you explained. He didn't look entirely convinced, but didn't argue. "But I should get to bed soon. I do have school tomorrow. Tony's still trying to convince me to go to college, despite that it's too late to get in through normal methods," you whined as the two of you walked back to your floor.
"What is college and why does he want you to go there?"
"It's more schooling. You need the additional schooling to get a decent job. I think he wants to make sure I'm not reliant on Shield to always have a job. He said he could get me in to the local university, so I don't even have to move out of the tower... but that's at least four more years of school, and I don't even know what I'd major in, what I would study," you added before he could ask about what a major was.
"It sounds like a good opportunity to have options for your future," Loki commented nonchalantly. You sighed.
"You're right. That's what I've been thinking too. I'd never really thought about going to college, there was no way I'd be able to afford it, or hope to get a full-ride somewhere. I shouldn't take the handout from Tony, though..."
"Why not? He is the one making the offer. Even I have known him long enough to know that he would not make the offer if he didn't mean it, or did not want you to take it,"
"You're mighty persuasive," you teased him on the elevator ride back to your floor. He just laughed. "Yes, I know you're known for having a silver tongue. Fine, I'll talk to Tony and see what I need to do,"
"I am sure you will succeed in whatever you decide to study," he grinned at you. You just rolled your eyes and the silly Trickster. "If you would like, I can teach you more Asgardian magic," he suggested, sounding almost hesitant, as if he were afraid of rejection.
"Really?" you asked, bouncing in excitement. "I'd love to learn more magic!" He chuckled.
"Yes, really. You obviously have the talent for it, but not tonight, witchling, stubborn as you are, even you require sleep, especially as you have been ill all day." He checked your forehead for signs of a fever yet again when you had reached the door to your room. "You really do recover quickly from being ill. A normal human would have been down for days with that cold," he commented.
"Good thing I'm not normal," you replied with a smile. He just laughed.
"Goodnight, witchling," he bid you.
"Night, Loki," you replied.
You turned and opened your bedroom door. "Y/N!" Loki yelled as your room exploded. All you could do was stare in shock. Loki grabbed you around the waist before you had even registered the explosion. He swung you away from the door, turning both of you so he was shielding you with his body from the explosion. He rushed you both to the other side of the hall. "Y/N, are you ok?" he asked. You looked up at him, still shocked. "Are you injured?" he asked. You shook your head. He sighed in relief. "Don't move," he told you firmly. You just nodded still in disbelieving shock as you stared at the rubble that had once been your room. Loki carefully opened his room's door. There was no explosion. You heard running footsteps and shouts from the others as they ran to find out what had happened. You took one step toward your room, then another, not quite believing until you saw the room closer. Loki grabbed your arm and pulled you into a hug. "I told you not to move. It's dangerous," he growled, starting to steer you to his room.
"Shit! Y/N!" Tony yelled as he and the others finally arrived on the scene.
"Are we under attack?" Loki demanded, still holding you safely in his embrace.
Tony shook his head. "I'm so sorry. It was an accident, I swear. Y/N, are you ok?" He demanded again, since you still hadn't answered. "Kid, c'mon answer me. Were you in there?" You shook your head.
"No. We were just coming back from the library," you managed to explain, still staring at the smoldering ruin of your room and the life you had managed to build.
"The room exploded when she opened the door," Loki added. "I think she is in shock."
"Stark, how is this your fault?" Cap asked. None of them had missed that he had apologized and said it was an accident.
"Dum-e was supposed to help me clear out the furniture in you room tomorrow when we got your new stuff. He decided blowing up everything in the room at midnight was the same thing," Tony explained, speaking to you directly, even though you still weren't thinking clearly.
Your idiotic brain focused on one stupid thing and you tried to fight your way out of Loki's grip. "Y/N, what is it?" he asked, not hurting you, but not letting you go, wisely understanding that you would run straight into that burning room to rescue something.
"My books! I have to rescue them!" you insisted.
"I'll buy you new books, kid," Tony replied, gently for him.
"No, you don't understand!" you told him with tears in your eyes. Loki did, though. Loki knew that those old ragged written in books were the only possessions you had that were actually yours, besides the necklace you always wore that you never showed to everyone, including Loki yet. Everything else you had was handmedowns, borrowed things, or articles of clothing stolen from the other Avengers. Those had been your only constants through your life of jumping foster families.
Loki snapped his fingers in front of your face, drawing your attention back to him. "I have your books," he said gently. "Remember? I borrowed them again. I wanted to reread them. They are safe in my room." You finally relaxed, relieved when you remembered that he had asked to borrow them again.
"I'm sorry," you told your worried teammates.
"It's ok, kid. I think everyone here was shocked by their first explosion." Tony was actually gentle for once. One of his first explosions had led to the shrapnel in his chest that the arc reactor was saving him from. Everyone agreed that shock, and you reaction, were a perfectly natural response to having one's entire life blow up by one of Tony's lab projects gone wrong. Tony was going to be in a lot of trouble from the whole team for upsetting you and making this mess. "I've already got contractors coming up to fix this tomorrow," Jarvis had somehow gotten the fire was under control.
"Your Black Sabbath shirt was in there," you gestured toward you room. Everyone laughed. Tony had been trying to get that shirt back for months.
"Yes, I don't think any of us are getting our stolen clothes back. You'll have to make a list of what you stole so I can buy replacements for everyone,"
"Don't forget to include a bunch of extra stuff for us on the list," Clint ordered you, earning him a small laugh.
"Make me a list," you told him with a small smile. Tony owed all of you for this incident.
"Are you ok taking a couch in the livingroom tonight?" Tony asked. While there were fifty bedrooms in this place, only the ones that were occupied were actually inhabitable.
"Take my bed," Loki told you gently before you had to agree to sleep in the livingroom. All of the men growled. "I will stay with Thor tonight," he continued before they all killed him.
"Are you sure?" you asked him softly.
"Yes, witchling. Thor will not mind, right, Brother?" he asked, looking pointedly at Thor, who agreed quickly. Loki usually didn't call Thor 'brother', except it seemed when he was trying to convince Thor to agree with him.
"Of course not. Excellent idea, Brother,"
"Tony, you'd better make this up to Y/N tomorrow," Cap ordered. It was weird to see Cap actually upset.
"I know. It was an accident!" Tony protested. The two of them would argue for awhile longer yet.
"Tony, do you have a extra phone lying around?" you asked a bit shyly. You really hated asking for things. "Mine was in there." You needed to have a phone. It was vital, plus your alarm for school in the morning.
"Yeah, Bruce is down in the lab. The extras are there. He'll give you one," Tony replied absently before he got back to his argument with Cap over the incident that caused your room to explode.
"You can go on up to bed," you told Loki. Thor's room was a couple floors up from yours.
"I will escort you," Loki replied firmly. You didn't argue with him, but walked down to the lab quickly to get one of the extra phones.
Bruce was in the lab, looking concerned and nearly panicky, also a little green around the edges. "Hey Bruce. Tony said you'd give me one of the extra phones," you greeted him. He nodded and went to grab one from one of the supply cabinets.
"Jarvis, set this up to Y/N's specs," he ordered as he turned the phone on. "Any word on what's going on upstairs? Is it a Code Green?"
"It's not a Code Green. Tony accidentally blew up my room and all my stuff, ergo the new phone,"
"The phone is complete," Jarvis announced.
"Thanks, Jarvis!" You took the phone and a new charger from Bruce. "Tony and Cap are still arguing upstairs. I'd skip my floor if I were you,"
"I'll take that under advisement. You are ok, right?" he asked. You nodded.
"I wasn't in the room when it blew up,"
He hesitated and you saw how hard it was, but he added "If you need somewhere to stay, you can take my room. I can crash in the lab tonight. I'm working late down here anyway,"
"Thanks for the offer, but Loki's giving up his room and bunking with Thor." He nodded and you and Loki left him so he could get back to his work. Loki walked you back up to his room. Tony and Cap were still arguing outside with Thor as referee. Clint had apparently decided to go to bed. Or watch from the ceiling tiles with popcorn. It could go either way with him.
Loki stepped into his room first, checking for threats before he would let you follow. It was an odd quirk of both his and Thor's. You didn't argue with either of them over it. It wasn't worth the waste of breath.
"Shit, my homework was in there too," you groaned, when you finally remembered. "Jarvis? Can you have Tony write a note to my teachers telling them that he blew up my homework?" you asked. You thought you heard amusement in Jarvis' tone when he replied that he would.
You'd been in Loki's room before, barging in to bother your friend when he was being too anti-social, or sullen, or sulky. It always seemed so safe in here. You finally found out why when he told you "The room is shielded, witchling. I will teach you how to do it at a later date. Threats would be hard pressed indeed to get through my protections. You will be safe here,"
"That's why you insisted I take your room tonight?" you asked him.
"That and I knew you would be uncomfortable sleeping in the open in the livingroom. Thor and I have shared a bed before. It is no big deal." You gave him a disbelieving look at that. "Alright, he snores, loudly, and is annoying, but we are brothers. It was the best solution." You couldn't help going to his nightstand and picking up the first book of the series he had rescued. You opened the cover carefully to make sure it really was yours. You sighed in relief when it was. You were the one who had written these notes in this book over the years. "Will tell me what those notes are, witchling? I admit I am curious." He was curious, but wouldn't pry.
You gave him a smile. "It's the list of all the foster families I've lived with and how long I lived there," you explained and showed him the list again. "I think there's a couple missing from the beginning, but this is most of them." At the very bottom of the list was 'The Avengers' and the date you had moved in to the tower.
"That is why you were so concerned over the books," he surmised. You nodded.
"Everything else wasn't really mine. Just these." You laid the book carefully back with its friends.
"I am glad they are safe," he told you kindly. He went to his dresser and got himself a pair of pajamas out and some clothes for the next day. "Feel free to steal something less...burned to wear," he gestured to the dresser. You looked down at your pajamas and realized they had gotten burned sometime during the evening's activities. You weren't sure how, or how your clothes had been injured but not you. "Are you sure you are alright?" he asked again.
"I'm fine. I was just scared. Thanks for letting me stay here,"
"You are welcome, witchling. Now get some rest. You have a big day of getting back at Tony tomorrow,"
"That I do," you replied with a mischievous grin. Tony definitely owed you for this. "Goodnight, Loki," you bid him as you walked him to the door.
"Goodnight, witchling," he replied fondly and left to go break up the argument and get some sleep himself.