Clint couldn't understand it.  He couldn't wrap his mind around how you could have developed feelings for someone like Loki.  The man had obliterated a fair chunk of New York City, betrayed his brother more times than countable on both hands, and had what he would call the biggest god complex he had seen if the man wasn't already one.  Of course, his experience with Loki wasn't exactly the best, and he was still harboring some pretty significant hard feelings for the man even though years had passed.  It was something that you couldn't understand on your own, nor could anyone else, unless they had been controlled in the same way that he was. 

He also couldn't understand how you were still alive; you had been at the tower for nearly a week when he noticed that the food supply was barely changing outside of what he had used.  As he stood in the center of the kitchen to compile a grocery list for FRIDAY, he wasn't sure of what he was seeing and began to worry.

"Hey, (Y/N)," he called out to you in the next room, "you're eating, right?"

"Sure," you called back inattentively.  "I eat all the time.  Can't stop, actually.  Yep, food and I are best friends."

Clint turned and stepped into the doorway, leaning against it with a lift of his eyebrow in skeptical consideration; you didn't look any worse for wear, but he hadn't really had to pay close attention before, either.  "Okay, I can't tell if you're being serious or sarcastic."

"Hmm, I suppose that means my level of sarcastic mastery has hit its peak."

"Shit, you were a master when I met you," he shrugged, turning back to his work, "but you work for Stark, so I shoulda known it would only get worse.  So, anyway...you eat, right?"

"Yes, Barton, I eat.  Now stop babysitting."  Knowing that this conversation would only get worse, and that you were likely to lose anyway, you thought it might be best to let it lie and make a run for it.  You stood up from the couch, leaving the TV on to throw Clint off, and turned to make a run for the elevators on the far side of the room and furthest away from the archer.  Clint wasn't technically your babysitter, per se, but he sure was acting like one.  He woke you up in the morning, made most of the meals, and made sure that you got to bed at a reasonable hour of his choosing each night.  It was a little suffocating, but it wouldn't be enough for Tony to pull you back to the compound where you belonged.

"Woah, hold up.  Where do you think you're going?"

"To my room...Dad."

"Don't give me that crap, (Y/N)," he pointed at you sharply, "I'm not your damn babysitter, okay?  I'm just worried, that's all."

"Not your job, but I appreciate the effort.  I'm just going upstairs to do some work.  I still have a job...well, actually two jobs to do, and I'm falling behind because I don't have my office down here, and because Stark won't let me go to HQ until this is all over.  I can't just keep sitting here when work is piling up."

"M'kay, but hold on," he stopped you, a hand up to keep you there and a quick turn towards the refrigerator.  When he turned back, he had a few different fruits and a cup of yogurt for you to take with you.  "Here, at least eat this.  It's been a week and the only things missing are what I ate.   If I let you starve to death, that's not gonna play out well for me."

"Fine," you huffed, hurrying across the room to take them from his waiting hands, "but only because this is about you."

"No arguments here.  It's always about me."

~~~

Back at the compound, business was moving forward as usual, with the team doing their best to not get into trouble while you were away; as their publicist, you had to clean up any public messes, so they had agreed to be on their best behavior for your sake.  Not that they were careless with you around, but they sure weren't rule followers that you had left behind to fend for themselves.

In the same way that Clint was your prison warden, Thor had been tasked to keep a watchful eye on Loki.  It had been increasingly difficult to keep him in line and to keep him from sneaking away to the tower, but so far, the first week had been relatively uneventful.  It gave Loki hope that since he had behaved so well, he might be given an opportunity to bend the rules ever so slightly. 

"Brother," Loki whispered, looking around to see if anyone else was listening, "perhaps today I can quickly see-"

"No."

"Just for a few moments, to say hello-"

"No."

"You can join-"

"No."

"Dammit," Loki hissed, his jaw firmly set, "this is intolerable.  It's not as though I'm asking to stay there with her.  I understand the risk, and I would never willingly place her into harm's way, but I find myself missing her more than was expected and I simply want the opportunity to ask how she's doing there."

Thor set down the book he had been reading, resting it gently over his lap.  He looked up from the living room couch with a gentle but mildly playful smile, and Loki knew immediately that the answer he was about to get wasn't the one he wanted. "FRIDAY, report on (Y/N)."

Loki grumbled quietly under his breath with a roll of his eyes, but he still stood steady and listened, because he actually really wanted to know the answer no matter who gave it to him.

"Miss (Y/N) has confined herself to her quarters, sir."

"Confined?" Loki asked, growing slightly panicked. "Why would she confine herself away? Has something happened?"

There was an unexpectedly long pause from the A.I., almost as if she were choosing her next words very carefully for his sake.  It didn't escape Thor's notice, so he stood at his brother's side, preparing himself for what was to come next.  "Mr. Barton is imparting is authority too heavily and she appears to be increasingly frustrated with him."

Loki took a single step forward with the intent to leave and to intervene, but Thor's grip stopped him.  "Loki, wait.  FRIDAY, do you know what he's trying to get her to do?"

"Yes, sir.  She's eaten less than one meal each day since their arrival at the tower, and he is concerned for her well-being."

"I'm going," Loki answered immediately, "and no one will stop me, I guarantee you that.  I knew that being separated was a terrible idea.  Tell Stark where he can find me should he wish to argue my decision."

~~~

As it would turn out, Tony wouldn't need to be notified of Loki's whereabouts at all; Clint had called him in to visit the tower, and he had arrived before Loki would have had a chance to leave the compound. After listening to his teammate fill him in on every single detail of the past week, necessary or not, Tony stopped by his old office to grab a few things, took a quick pass through the kitchen for a snack, then worked in his lab for a couple of minutes, all to be sure that you weren't figuring out that the only reason he was there was for you. He was sure that FRIDAY would've announced him to you, so he wanted to make sure that you didn't find a reason to run and hide.

The knock on your door wasn't unexpected by any means, but it didn't make it any more welcome.  Maybe it was the lack of real nutrition, or maybe it was the lack of Loki, but even the sound of his knuckles hitting the surface annoyed you.

"Come in," you answered flatly, "it's your building."

The door opened hesitantly, and he poked his head inside just enough to see.  "Hey, kiddo, I can come back later if you want.  I'm only gonna stay a few minutes though, promise."

"It's fine."  You pushed yourself up from your bed and pushed your laptop aside, finding that you weren't being very productive anyway.  "I can't focus so I'm pretty much pretending to work at this point. What's up?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

"Seriously?" you huffed.  "Did Barton call you in?  Is FRIDAY a snitch?"

"Or...now hear me out...maybe they're genuinely concerned about you?"

"Tony, I'm fine.  Yes, I haven't eaten much since we've been here, but I'm just not interested. I've got a ton of work to do without my real office, I've got Barton breathing down my neck every time I turn around, and I miss...I miss him."

"Honey, it's only been a week."

"But it's already been a week.  What you call only a week feels like an eternity to me because this was chosen for me."

Tony paused before answering again, feeling safe enough to cross the room to be next to you, taking a seat on the edge of your bed with a supportive hand on your knee as he spoke.  He wasn't happy with what he was about to say, but this wasn't about him. It wasn't about any of them, and they hadn't realized that yet; the guilt began to set in, and he would be sure that the rest of the team followed his lead from this moment on.  They would protect you both and learn that if Loki made you happy, then they would be happy for you, like any family would. "So, tell me.  Have you guys used the L word yet?"

"Yeah," you nodded, but the stress of the week was beginning to creep up on you.  You tried to swallow away the lump of emotions that were trying to choke you, but the sting in your throat only brought the tears faster, leaving you a heap of a whimpering mess in Tony's ready arms.  "I thought that I agreed with you...that...that being separated would be safer...but it just sucks."

"I'm sorry, (Y/N), I didn't think it would be this tough for you.  I just wanted to keep you safe, you know that."

"I do."

"So, we can do whatever you want, okay?  Do you want to come home, or should we bring him here? Give you kids some alone time that I don't want to hear a single detail about?"

"I don't know...I suppose I'll have to ask him-"

"(Y/N)!" Loki burst through your door, in a clear panic with his expression frantic and his eyes darting round the room to find you. When he saw you in Tony's arms, he thought the worst and rushed to kneel in front of you, taking your hands in his and looking into your eyes with such intensity that he seemed to be searching your soul for his answers.  "Darling, what is it?  Please, tell me what's happening.  I'll do anything you require of me to make it right, I swear it."

"Okay, so it looks like you've got this," Tony smiled, interrupting quietly, "I'm just gonna head back home.  I'll catch up on everything later."  He gave Loki a firm slap to his shoulder as he stood, looking down at him with a new appreciation that he swore he would never have found himself having for the guy in a million years.  When he really took the time to see how you looked at Loki, Tony finally decided to just give in to it all. 

"Alright, Reindeer Games, you win.  Maybe you're not so bad anymore."