You woke the next morning to find that you were using Loki's lap as a pillow. That was strange and not how you remembered falling asleep. You remembered that Loki had covered you with a blanket during on of the movies you'd watched the night before. You must've fallen asleep during it. Oops. You sat up, wrapping the blanket around your shoulders. You were fully dressed and in your living room, so clearly nothing had happened. "Good morning," he greeted you with a warm smile.

"Morning," you replied sheepishly. You were sure you were blushing all sorts of shades of red. "You could've woken me. I'm sure sleeping sitting up on the couch wasn't comfortable." You were babbling, which you tended to do when you were uncomfortable.

"Nonsense," Loki chuckled. "Besides, I was not sleeping,"

"You stayed up all night?" you demanded incredulously. That wasn't good for anyone, even a god.

He shrugged in reply. "I have mentioned before that I need less sleep than you do," he replied, his tone teasing. "I am also on twenty-four hour guard duty in case you have forgotten," he added with a smirk.

"They really don't expect you to sleep for days?" you demanded. That didn't seem logical. Even supers needed sleep. And you weren't that vulnerable while you were grounded.

He shrugged. "Perhaps I will be able to take a nap later, if you can promise to keep out of trouble after your combat training this morning," he told you with a smirk.

That got your back up. "Combat training?!" you demanded. You thought he had killed you quite enough yesterday.

"One day of training is not enough for you to be able to protect yourself," he reminded you far too logically. He was enjoying your distress. "But we will work more gently today. It will not help to wear your body down."

You didn't have an argument for that. "Also, point of fact, I am capable of keeping out of trouble," you grumbled at him. Seriously, you weren't a troublemaker. You were a teenager with no powers in a tower of superheros. There was only so much trouble you could get into.

"Sure you can, darling," he laughed as you spluttered at him, puffing up grumpily. "Your uncle is here, if you would like to have breakfast with him," he told you, changing the subject. "He was not pleased to find you sleeping on me last night, but I also reminded him that I am on twenty-four hour guard duty. He made the mistake of asking how I would guard you while you were using me as a pillow. I kindly demonstrated for him." He had his Cheshire Cat grin so you knew he was up to something.

"Oh no, what'd you do?" you asked, concerned that he might have hurt Tony. The two notoriously didn't like each other.

"I threw a dagger at him. Do not fear. He is unharmed, though I am surprised his yelling did not wake you. He did concede the point that I was capable of guarding you," he gave you his mischievous grin again, making you smile in return. At least Tony wasn't hurt. And had somehow let Loki stay in your room all night. The 24 hour guard duty had probably made Tony behave.

"I should go have breakfast with him," you told Loki, who nodded and stood. You had to reassure Tony that you were alive and well. Loki offered you a hand and helped you to your feet. You stretched, desperately needing it from sleeping on the couch all night and then took Loki's hand so you could walk down to breakfast together. You took your plate from Helene and sat down with Tony.

"Morning," you greeted your sleepy uncle.

"Morning," he grumbled. "Where's your guard?" he growled. You gestured to the doorway where Loki was entering with his breakfast. He sat at a nearby table, not disturbing you. "I better not find out he's shirking," he growled, intent on hating Loki.

"I don't think that'll be a problem," you replied dryly. Tony looked up at you questioningly, but you shook your head. You weren't going to be explaining that if he hadn't figured it out by now. He'd figure out you were dating Loki soon enough.

"I'm going to be gone until late. Anything you need before I head out?" he asked. You shook your head, used to him coming and going at all hours.

"Is there any luck with The Harlequin?" You asked. Besides that she was a huge threat, you were grounded until she was dealt with.

Tony shook his head with a heavy sigh. "Her minions were out in full force last night, though. I'll be glad if I never see another clown again," he groaned.

You shuddered. You hated clowns in the first place. Evil clowns were just worse. "I don't blame you,"

"Just stay safe, Kat. I don't want to have to worry about you while I'm out there fighting bad guys," Tony told you, overprotective as always.

You rolled your eyes. "Don't forget that I'm grounded. I can't leave the compound," you reminded him. You were perfectly safe in the tower's walls.

"For which I'm grateful right now. The Harlequin is dangerous, and so are her clowns, for all that they're just minions."

He had to leave shortly afterwards to go finish paperwork or stuff in his lab or something for Pepper before heading out on patrol.

"Ready for lessons?" Loki purred in your ear after you had finished eating. You hadn't even seen him move. You smiled up at him, unphased by his sudden appearance at your side.

"I'm not exactly dressed for it," you reminded him as if that were going to get you out of the training.

"I can take care of that," he whispered, his tone was firm. You weren't going to be able to stall or hedge your way out of this. Stubborn god.

You sighed realizing you might as well get it over with since he wasn't going to relent on you learning to protect yourself. You weren't going to be able to stall or hedge or squirm your way out of this one. You nodded and got to your feet with a heavy sigh and walked with him to the training room you had stolen the previous day.

Loki was much more careful with training that day and kept a better watch on your stamina. He wanted to help you, not kill you. You worked on dagger and staff work today. His logic was that there were plenty of everyday objects that could be a staff and it was useful to have some range against an opponent with powers. You still worked up a sweat and you were still exhausted well before the end, but not nearly as brain numbed or battle fevered as you had gotten the day before.

Loki walked you back upstairs after you had finished for the day. "Can you stay out of trouble for a couple of hours?" he asked. You could see that he was more tired than he had wanted to admit. "I would like to take that nap we discussed."

You rolled your eyes. Tony kept saying that if you kept doing that they were going to fall out of your head. You pointed out that his hadn't fallen out of his head yet and he shut up on the subject. "I'm going to get a shower and then do homework at that desk," you pointed to the one in you sittingroom. "If it would make you feel better, you can take your nap on the couch."

He nodded. "I will take you up on that. Try not to die while I take a shower," he teased.

"I think I can manage that," you replied with a grin. He leaned down and kissed you lightly. Kisses were new, but definitely something you could get used to.

"Good, I would hate to have to find a new girlfriend. No one would compare." He purred warmly, though he didn't press further than simple kisses. You shooed him back to his own room, laughing, and hurriedly got a shower and changed into jeans and the hoodie that smelled like him. You sat at your desk on your comfy desk chair and worked on homework. Loki came back shortly and had sandwiches with you for lunch.

"Ooh, you trusted me not to die long enough to get us lunch," You grinned at him, teasing. He handed you your sandwich with a laugh and sat on your couch while you both ate.

"Are you sure you will be alright?" Loki asked when his sandwich was gone. His tone was all gentleness and concern. He didn't want to leave you unguarded.

You smiled at him, trying to be reassuring. "Take your nap, Loki. I'm not leaving this room. I'll wake you if something happens," you promised him, in all seriousness. "I really do have homework to finish." You turned back to your homework while he laid down on your couch. You couldn't help sneaking glances over at him occasionally to make sure he was actually getting some rest.

The rest of the night went without issue. You got your homework done, survived while Loki took his nap, and he started to teach you how to play chess before it got too late and you needed to get to bed. He searched your bedroom for threats before he let you enter and he still insisted on sitting in the recliner next to your bed. You tried to insist that you were perfectly safe in your room with him guarding the only entrance.

"Twenty-four hour guard duty, love. You are stuck with my company." He insisted. You sighed, but could tell that there was no arguing with him. Not when your safety, his honor, and duty were on the line.

"Will you at least read me a story then?" you asked him. If he was going to stay in your room, he might as well make himself useful. He smiled warmly and summoned a small ball of light above him. He opened the book of fairy tales on your nightstand and began to read. You fell asleep listening to his warm honeyed accented voice reading to you, soothing you to sleep with his words.