Over the evening, Kat practiced various things with her magic. During a scan of her friends and family, she found Tony still awake. Due to the nature of her scan, she also knew that he wasn't well.
She made her way over to him, slipping into the lab where he was hunkered over another partial Iron Man suit. "Dad?" She inquired, making her presence known as gently as she could.
His head snapped up. "Oh, Kat, hey. What're you doing up?"
"I don't sleep. But you do. Or you should." Kat said, sitting down on a stool next to him.
Tony sighed, and rubbed a hand over his face. "I've got... Tests. I need to run."
"And they can't wait until after you've slept?" Kat raised an eyebrow.
Tony looked at her, then down at the parts in front of him. He mumbled under his breath, but it was undecipherable.
"Dad?" Kat asked again, and set a hand on his shoulder.
He was silent for a while, and her hand stayed where it was. It was a test of Kat's patience, but she prevailed. "I just have nightmares, that's all."
"Well, that's one of the few things I have very little experience with. Congratulations, I can't help you." Kat said, "But, maybe Percy can."
"He's pretty busy now a days..." Tony trailed off.
"We both know exactly where he'll be tomorrow." Kat replied.
Tony sighed.
"Which is another reason why you should get some sleep tonight." Kat said. "I even have a spell for a very boring sleep."
Tony chuckled lightly under his breath. "I think I'll take you up on that offer."
~~~~~~
In the morning, Kat decided to take a shower, because the water felt nice, and was refreshing. But then she caught a glimpse of her hair, and her eyes widened. Her hair was red. She may or may not have briefly shrieked.
She then spent the morning glaring at Loki whenever she saw him as she worked on undoing the magic. Tainting her conditioner, of all things to do. To red. Pink would have been ridiculous, but no, red.
Maybe the other residents of the tower got a kick out of her being agitated like that after the Mayo Incident.
~~~~~~
Pepper's birthday party wasn't a huge event, but for Tony, it was Pepper's birthday. The guests consisted of some friends of Pepper's, a few close coworkers, Tony, Rhodey, Happy, Natasha, Clint, Steve, Percy, Annabeth, Kat, and Loki. They had also gotten Bucky suited up for the occasion, and the amputee kept close to Steve.
Another two guests had secretly been invited by Tony. Sally and Paul felt a little out of place among all the social elites, but the surprise was worth it on their kids' faces.
"I didn't know you guys were coming!" Percy grinned, even though he had seen them both earlier that morning.
Kat grinned just the same as her twin, and gave both of them a hug. "It's good to see you again."
People were introduced to each other, as these things happen at parties. Annabeth was a growing architect, and Percy's fiancee. Sally was a published author Pepper and Tony had met, and Paul was her good husband. Bucky was a friend of Steve's, left simply at that because you didn't question Captain America. Loki just introduced himself as 'Loki' in his accent, and that was enough for the other guests.
Percy had followed Annabeth over to Pepper, and tried to keep track of the conversation as best as he could. He was pretty sure Annabeth was making friends and possible business opportunities, but he also wouldn't put it past the very smart looking women to be speaking in code about something else.
While that was happening, Sally stood next to Kat. "We didn't get to talk much last time."
Paul shifted awkwardly next to her. Kat recalled what Paul did for a living, and her eyes widened. She whipped her head around, and looked for Loki. {Hey!} She called out to him telepathically.
He turned from who he had been talking to and met Kat's gaze. {What is it?}
{Come talk to Paul!} She replied, jabbing a thumb towards Paul, who looked confused.
{Why should I?} Loki asked, quirking an eyebrow.
{'Cause he's my stepdad,} Kat replied, {And he's a scholar. Might be an interesting conversation.}
{What kind of scholar?}
{Talk to him and find out.} Kat replied, then watched as Loki excused himself and made his way over to them. Paul was confused at Loki's approach, but Sally seemed to put it together pretty quickly.
"Hello, I am Loki." He introduced himself. Before speaking to Paul, he addressed Sally. "You are Sally, Katha's mother?"
"I am. And you're the god who's been taking care of her?" Sally replied. Paul's jaw slacked.
"Indeed." Loki said, but before he could say anything more, Kat jumped in.
"Loki, this is Paul-"
"I know, you did that thumb thing when you said his name."
"Ahuh. Paul, Loki is really smart and likes the Shakespeare kinda stuff." Kat said.
Paul's eyebrows rose, and he turned to Loki. "You like Shakespeare?"
Kat left them to talk and led Sally over to the non-alcoholic drinks. "So. I have no idea what to say."
"You won't get a headache here?" Sally asked.
"Nope. If it gets hard, Loki's here to help manage the spell." Kat said. "I'm trying to figure out how I can do it myself so that I don't have to bother him so much. Kind of feels like I'm using him."
Sally smiled. "Well, it doesn't sound like you are."
"That's good. How have you been?" Kat asked.
"Good. It's been hard with Percy..." Sally trailed off.
"Yeah, the god thing has been tough for him to chew." Kat replied.
Sally looked at her. "You know?"
"You didn't?" Kat blinked.
"True Sight. But he only told me he was immortal and trying to reverse it the first time. After you left we had another conversation. I had to buy new tissues afterwards." Sally said.
"Oh." Kat said, and looked away, not knowing what else to say. Her gaze lingered on Loki talking to Paul, and the two seemed to be deep in conversation. Kat absently fidgeted with her bracelet.
Eventually, she saw Bucky and Steve. Sally had been following her gaze. "Captain America and...?" She trailed off, unsure of who was standing next to Steve.
Kat grinned, and then called out in Russian, "[Bucky! Stop flirting with your boyfriend and come here!]"
She saw Bucky blush, and he called back, "[He's not my boyfriend, that's-]"
"[Legal these days! Come here.]" Kat interrupted.
"[Alright Twinkle-Toes, I'm coming.]" Bucky said, and began making his way over, trying to will away the blush.
Kat and Bucky didn't see Natasha stifling a grin. Steve looked confused, until he noticed Sally next to Kat, and made an 'Oh' shape with his mouth before returning to his conversation with Rhodey.
"What language is that?" Sally asked.
"Russian," Kat and Bucky said at the same time, as Bucky was close enough.
Sally blinked. "I.. I'm not going to question it. And what might your name be?" She asked Bucky.
"Bucky Barnes, ma'am."
"Where do I know that name from?" Sally asked herself quietly.
"'Cause he supposedly died seventy years ago. Dude's in a museum with Steve." Kat replied.
Sally's eyebrows shot up. "You're from the forties?"
"Yes ma'am." Bucky said, not knowing what else to say.
"Bucky, this is my mom." Kat said.
Bucky's eyes widened.
"Mom, Bucky here is a son of Poseidon." Kat added.
Sally's eyes widened. She had thought he was a demigod, just hadn't recognized whose. "So that makes you siblings?"
"Yeah. Which is weird for the two of you." Kat grinned.
Bucky opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind. "Your hair's red again."
"What?" Kat exclaimed, and pulled her hair in front so she could see. She glared at Loki, and tried to pour a companionable rage down the telepathy link. She watched as Loki stiffened, and turned in her direction. Upon seeing her hair, he smirked, and returned to his conversation with Paul.
Her victory at his tensing vanished with the smirk. "That jerk. This was payback for the mayo donuts. You better watch your shampoo in case you get hit." Kat warned Bucky.
"Why would I 'get hit'?" Bucky asked. "It wasn't my prank."
"But you were an accomplice." Kat replied.
"That's fair." Bucky agreed.
The three of them got to talking, and eventually Rhodey caught her attention, as he was giving funny looks at Loki. Kat excused herself for a moment, and snuck up behind him. "Whatcha doin?"
Rhodey jumped. "What?"
"You're glaring." Kat informed him.
"No, I'm not." Rhodey said.
"You were." Happy disagreed.
"You were glaring too." Kat retorted.
"But I'm not denying it." Happy countered.
Kat grinned. "I like you. You seem cool."
"What, and I don't?" Rhodey said.
"You pointed a gun at me the first time you saw me, Rhodey-roo." Kat pointed out.
"Rhodey-roo?" Happy grinned, before he gained a scolding expression. "Why'd you point a gun at Tony's kid?"
"I didn't know she was Tony's! JARVIS had told us there was a break in, then that it was a false alarm. Can you blame me?" Rhodey defended. "And at the time, I was unaware he had such relations."
"Okay, I guess I can't blame you for that." Happy acquiesced, before turning to Kat. "So you're Tony's kid."
"One of them." Kat grinned. "I didn't catch your name?"
"Happy. Happy Hogan." He replied.
"Happy?" Kat grinned wider, "Your name is Happy?"
"Got a problem with it?"
"Nope, it's awesome." Kat replied.
It was about that moment that Tony arrived, having been lured over by the name 'Rhodey-roo'. "What's going on here, Rhodey-roo?"
"Not you too." Rhodey said, exasperated.
Tony smirked, and for one startling moment, Tony and Kat's expressions looked eerily similar.
"Wow." Happy said. "I thought they looked nothing alike, but I was very wrong."
"Well, I don't know about you, but we're about to turn on the dancing music." Tony said, and glanced at Kat just in time to see her fist pump the air and dart off. Looking for his other semi-charge, he found Percy still with Annabeth and Pepper, though it looked like he was able to join in on this bit of the conversation.
Kat rejoined Bucky and Sally. "Dancing soon." She shared.
"What kind of dancing?" Bucky asked nervously, while Sally said, "Oh?"
"I actually don't know. He didn't say. But considering Dad probably wants to dance with Pepper, I'd say something less modern." Kat thought.
"Oh. Who would I dance with?" Bucky asked himself.
"Steve, duh." Kat said.
"I can't dance with Steve-" Bucky protested.
"Yes you can. Do it."
"No-"
"Do it."
Bucky's lips made a collection of shapes. "[If I dance with Steve, you have to dance with Loki.]"
"[If you think that would embarrass me you're dead wrong, old-timer.]" Kat returned.
"[Really? You might want to take a look.]" Bucky said.
Kat followed his line of sight, and saw Loki. Or who she assumed to be Loki. Because this person looked like Loki, except female. Kat gaped.
"[Still want to dance with Loki?]" Bucky smirked, thinking he had found victory.
Kat continued to gape. "That's not fair."
"What's not fair?" Sally asked, not understanding the Russian.
"He's still hot as a she." Kat said in quiet awe. "How- what."
Bucky jerked back like someone had just wafted a stinking fish under his nose. "What?"
Sally clamped a hand over her mouth in an attempt to stifle laughter.
A woman Loki had been speaking to looked thoroughly miffed, and a fair bit insulted, as well as surprised. Loki was looking as royal as ever, still in a suit, hair done just the same though it was a few inches longer, and height hadn't changed.
"I'll dance with Loki if you dance with Steve." Kat said, closing her mouth.
"But you said you wanted to dance with Loki," Bucky countered.
"Like you don't want to dance with Steve?" Kat said, giving her half-brother a look.
Bucky blushed again and walked off for another drink.
"Okay, new plan." Kat said, and walked over to Percy and Annabeth.
"Hey," Percy grinned. "Save me, they're talking about big words I don't know."
"I can kinda help with that." Kat said, "I need your help. Annabeth's, specifically."
"What are we doing?" Annabeth asked, interested.
"Operation Stucky." Kat answered.
"What? I don't get to help?" Percy complained.
"Unless you want to dance with Steve or Bucky, no." Kat replied.
"No." Percy said, confused.
Annabeth's eyes widened. "You want to switcheroo." She said to Kat.
"Bingo." Kat smirked.
"I'll take Bucky." Annabeth said.
"Why him?" Percy asked.
"I wanna meet my fiance's brother. We haven't gotten to talk yet." Annabeth said.
~~~~~~
It went pretty smoothly. Kat managed to save Steve from an awkward dance, and Annabeth didn't have any trouble talking to Bucky. So the two ladies strategically position themselves, and a little bump here, a little spin, and oop! New partner!
As Annabeth and Kat became partners, they smirked at Bucky and Steve, and then pretended nothing had happened. The two super-soldiers had to go with the flow, but were secretively appreciative.
"You like Loki, don't you?" Annabeth said quietly after a while.
Kat's gaze flicked to her bracelet, and she didn't answer.
~~~~~~
Sally and Percy made their way over to Loki and Paul. Percy stepped a little ways away, and began talking with Paul, recognizing a look in Sally's eyes that said 'Mom speech incoming'.
Loki looked at the mortal woman semi-nervously.
Sally looked up at the god. "You like my daughter."
Loki blinked. "She is good company." She said, hoping to avoid what the woman was speaking of.
"Don't you dare hurt her." Sally warned. "Because my kids- all of them- can take care of themselves. You don't need to fear me, because you'll have to go through them," Sally gestured at the sea-children, "And then through them," She gestured to the Avengers, "before you ever get to me. And trust me, you won't get that far. Not even close."
"I believe you." Loki said, her voice sincere, and quiet.
"Good." Sally said, and walked over to Paul.
Taking the opportunity, Percy stepped beside Loki. "Seriously. You hurt her and you'd wish you were dead."
Loki looked Percy in the eyes, and gave a single nod.
"We are taking our girls back for the next dance, right?" Percy asked.
"I'd imagine so." Loki replied.
"Why red?" Percy blurted. "I mean why?"
"I thought it would agitate her." Loki said, and then, a bit daringly, "And it makes her eyes brighter."
"Dude, then do purple. Green and purple do that." Percy said. "Oh no, did I just repeat Piper's advice?"
A/N
I am so, so sorry. That took forever.
Anyone else stressed out with online school? Or like, suddenly realize that you miss people and kind of panic?
Also, I turn sixteen tomorrow, or today, depending on when you read this. My birthday present to myself was joining an online d&d party.
New chapter soon, I swear it.