"It's no powers day", Tony says while walking into the kitchen, slamming black braces on Loki's and Thor's wrists.

"Watsch that?", Thor mumbles while also trying to swallow a big spoon full of cornflakes with milk.

Loki examines the white droplets on his black suit, looking disappointed at his brother opposite of him. "Yeah, what's that?"

"That is", Tony says while filling coffee into his cup, "a day where you have to live without your magic powers. I designed these pretty little bracelets last night which will keep you from using your powers. As an Avenger you have to be able to live without them."

Loki looks not pleased at all, then he smirks. "I guess that means you won't use your technical stuff either? It would only be fair."

Tony looks like he wants to say 'absolutely not', but Natasha stops him by walking by and putting her hand on his shoulder. "I think this is an excellent idea."

"It's fair", says Steve and grins. I nod, and now everybody except Thor and Tony is looking amused.

"Come on Thor", Loki says and openly grins across the table. "You said you are a better man now! You can be a responsible king, you can be humble, you don't even need your powers the whole day, right?"

Thor glances grumpily at him. "You are an idiot, brother."

But a sexy one, I think.

Loki shrugs and leans back, still grinning.

I smirk. "So you will manage the whole day without magic?"

My belly flutters as Loki's eyes meet mine. "Of course. Do you want to say I, the mighty god of mischief, can't?"

"Well, if you need help to, I don't know, dress yourself, just call."

Loki frowns and looks down at the leather parts of his armour. They overlap in artistic but absolutely impractical ways. I always wondered how he got in there until I remembered he used his 'mighty' magic mainly to change clothes. "I think I am perfectly capable of changing", he lies. "But if you want to help undress me, you are always welcome."

I roll my eyes and return to smear butter on my toast, hoping my blush isn't too bad.

"And that is the point where I head off to training", Natasha sighs. "Bruce, Steve, are you coming? Oh, and ..." She grins. "Tony, do you want to join us today? Since you can't use your technical stuff ..."

Tony angrily sips the last bit of his coffee but joins them. "Alright. Does that mean I can't even wear an armour?"

I hear the discussion slowly fade out as they make their way out of the kitchen to the gym. I continue to make my toast while Thor shovels down his cornflakes, and Loki eyes me from the side. I pretend to not notice, but his glances make me nervous and I feel tingles on my body.

"What, are you thinking to ask me for help with your armour?", I say.

"Not exactly", Loki answers, a slight smirk on his face.

I raise an eyebrow.

"He just loves mortals so much that he can't help to admire you", Thor throws in.

Loki looks down at the milk droplets on his suit again. "Seriously, even without your powers, you should be able to eat properly. And no, I despise mortals."

I pout. "All of them?"

Loki smiles warmly at me. "Especially you." He pokes my arm playfully with one finger. Then he gets up and drinks the rest of his orange juice. "I am joining the others. I can't miss an opportunity to train with Tony without his suit." And he walks out.

The day rolls by without any major incidents (to my surprise). Tony hasn't trained so intensily in a while, and Loki seems eager to show his physical fighting skills. Thor also doesn't suffer too much, he is just sad that he has to wait for his new Ipad to charge instead of doing that with his powers in the fraction of a second.

Half an hour before dinner, we spread through the Tower on our way to use some of our free time. When I look out of the window, I see that it has become night, and not a single star is visible. I look down on the sidewalk. There are no people hurrying across the streets like in the day, they are probably in bars and nightclubs or home with their families. I smile and turn around to go to my room. Half the way there, a click resounds and I stand in absolute darkness.

I stand there, frozen, and blink a few times. There is not a single light source, I can't even see my own hands. When I turn around to look out the window, I (don't) see that there is also no light coming from outside. Great, a power outage in New York.

I sigh and feel a bit stupid, then I move closer to the wall to have some orientation. Isn't there a box with candles in the kitchen? Or maybe Tony can get to his suit or a flashlight soon. But I am not going to wait here.

I go slowly down the hallway, my fingers gliding over the wall. I only hear my own breath, my eyes open without anything to see. I start to feel a bit uneasy.

After a minute (or two?), I bump into something big and firm. I flinch and suppress the urge to scream.

"It's me", I hear Loki's voice.

I exhale the air I forgot I was holding in. I put my hand on Loki's elbow for some orientation and catch my breath. "You scared me."

"Why?", he asks amused. Then I feel him moving. "Do I make you nervous?", he whispers with his lips almost touching my neck.

I realize he is standing behind me and I am almost freaking out a second time. My heart pounds quickly and I am glad he doesn't see my face in the dark.

"Mm-no", I say.

He chuckles. "We should find the others ...", he says quietly, but makes no attempt to move. He just stands there, lightly resting his hands at my lower arms.

"Yes, we should", I press out. It makes me nervous and freaks me out, but ... I want him. Loki is hot and scary in just the right way, without really scaring me of course. I know I am safe with him, but just the thought of what he might do with me ... could do with me ...

"Are you moving?", he breaths in a mischievous tone on my neck.

"Y-yeah", I say and finally move on. To not lose him, I hold on to his lower arm again, I don't dare to take his hand.

We silently make our way down to the kitchen. The carpet silences our steps, only my clothing makes sound. I guess his armour is made for sneaking up, that is something that doesn't surprise me.

We meet one additional Avenger after the other, and when we arrive at the kitchen, we find Tony already there. He is searching for the box of candles, but I don't let go of Loki. I just ... let me hold him a little bit more.

"Can't you power anything here with the energy in your suit?", I hear Natasha asking Tony.

"Very funny", Tony snaps, hitting his head on the edge of a high shelve. "Ouch! Jarvis reminded me that I don't have access to it the whole day, all the way to the evening. Sometimes I think that for an AI, he contains a lot of spite."

Natasha laughs loudly, and Clint and Steve do too.

"I can't even see what I am doing", Tony curses.

"Mmh, no one can see what we could be doing", Loki humms into my ear, I flinch and know that only I heard him.

I turn my head in the direction of his voice, realizing what he is implying. Just to test if he is really saying that, I let my hand wander into his hair and pull him a little closer.

Loki chuckles darkly, just loud enough for me to hear, and I suddenly feel his lips on mine. The kiss takes my breath away, I feel his hands holding me and pulling me against him, I lean back and now all my weight is in his hands. I don't know if that really was my plan, but now I am stuck at Loki's mercy and I won't complain. The kiss only gets better, he slightly smiles at my situation, kissing more patiently without making a sound. His hair falls in my direction and tickles my neck, my heart pounds faster and butterflies fill my belly. The others just talk about the dark or the candles or something, without noticing what is happening right next to them.

As Loki lifts his hand to caress my cheek, Tony says: "Got the candles."

We pull away rashly, sucking in breath, and suddenly the lights on the ceiling turn back on.

"Come on", says Tony angrily, standing there with candles and a match. "I just found them!"

The others laugh again, orienting themselves in the now lit kitchen. I still try to catch my breath, hoping nobody sees my scarlet red cheeks. Loki stands there like the most innocent god on earth, only smirking slightly at the sight of me.

"(Y/n), is everything okay?", Natasha asks. "You seem a bit upset."

"Yes", I say quickly. "Yeah, I am ... I am okay. It was just ..." I take a deep breath. "I am just a bit scared of the dark."

"Oh, I hope it's getting better now", Natasha replies while I see Loki's smirk almost growing into a grin from the corner of my eye.

I try to inconspicuously kick him, but he elegantly dodges me. "Great that the light is back on", he says. "Now, (y/n), I was just on my way to ask you for your help with the new book shelve you gave me. Would you come in - sorry - to my room?"

My stomach plummets about half a meter. "Y-yes", I stutter. Oh my god. "Of course", I say with a more steady voice.

"Fantastic", he replies and we walk out the kitchen to his room.

"Loki, you little - you - that was all your idea", I say quietly on the way, so the others can't hear us.

He gives me his most mischievous grin. "But it was a good one, wasn't it?"

I suppress a giggle and cover my face with my hands to hide the blush. "You are unbelievable."

"Oh yes, of course."

We walk into his room. Loki closes the door, grabs me by the waist and pulls me onto the bed.

"Hey", I laugh. "Don't you think this is going a little fast?"

Loki chuckles and crawls on me. "You are free to set the pace."

I smile and look into his green eyes, then I pull him down to me into a kiss.