Loki glared out over the barely waking city he had failed to conquer so long ago, wishing he could be anywhere but there in Stark Tower. Unfortunately, he had few options; long before tensions with Midgard, he had made many enemies across the nine realms. Even being here wasn't exactly a great idea, all things considered. But it was better than being in Thanos' clutches.

    "Despite what Tony will tell you, there are much better views on this planet," a quiet voice stated. The god turned his head and watched as Layla moved around the kitchen. She looked to be making some kind of beverage judging by the mugs she was sitting out and the water she was putting inside a kettle. "Would you like some tea?"

    "I doubt Midgard has much to interest me," Loki sneered.

    Layla stared at him wholly unimpressed as she shrugged, making the trickster stare at her in confusion. "Whatever, had to have been something. What's the point of conquering a place if you don't want it?" she muttered, turning away to pull wooden boxes out of a cupboard. Loki watched as she measured out dried leaves and put them into a metal box with holes, completely mystified.

    "Are you making herbal remedies?" Loki questioned, ignoring her scathing remarks. She obviously didn't know the truth completely behind what happened during the invasion, even despite the fact that Stark's AI had explained the mind control. He watched as the blonde looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

    "Herbal remedies? It's tea. I guess long ago they considered it a remedy, but these days it's just a soothing drink," Layla retorted. "Guess you missed me asking if you wanted tea while you were brooding."

    She turned to grab the kettle just as steam rose from it in a whistle, and Loki found himself moving closer. He watched as she poured the steaming water over the metal box in the mug, eyes widening as the fragrant smells of herbs wafted up. Sure, he had tea before, but had never actually watched it get made. They had maidens for that back on Asgard; one small perk of being in the royal family, adopted or not.

    "What kind? It smells delightful," he questioned, moving so that he was directly against the counter opposite her.

    "Well, this one in particular is chamomile and lavender," Layla explained, looking at him patiently. "There are other types. For example, Bruce prefers green or jasmine. Anja likes Earl Grey, which is a black tea flavored with bergamot."

    "Fascinating," he murmured, looking intensely at the steaming mug. Layla huffed a small laugh and grabbed another mug, this one light green as opposed to the dark purple one she was using. She prepared the mug the same way as before, and then sat it in front of him.

    "Enjoy. Maybe you'll relax that stick in your ass a little," she huffed, making his head shoot up and lip snarl. He drew up short when he saw her smirking playfully, her hands wrapped around her mug.

    "You are awfully brave, mortal, to attempt to outwit me," Loki growled, but it came out surprisingly unthreatening.

    Layla shrugged and sipped from her mug, blue eyes bright with amusement. "Outwit you? I doubt that is something I could do."

    "Layla is much too nice to try and do something like that," a dry remark came from the hallway, making both turn and watch as Tony shuffled into the room.

    "Nice? We both know that I'm the furthest thing from nice," Layla laughed, nodding her head towards a filled coffee pot. Loki tilted his head as he took in the blonde and pondered if what she said was true. From what he had already gathered, Layla was the definition of nice.

    "Careful, I can see your brain cooking over there," Stark huffed, smirking. "Layla is nice. But she's also... not nice."

    "Big boy words, right there, Tony. 'Not nice,' he says," the girl sarcastically mocked, making Stark throw a spoon at her. "What this idiot is trying to say is that I do what I need to do so that those that I love are safe and happy."

    Loki raised an eyebrow at the remark. "I am under the impression that most of us would do what is needed to protect those we love."

    "Psh, like you love anyone but yourself," Tony snorted.

    Loki resented that remark entirely, and it was hard to not let it show as he took a sip from the mug in his hands. There were many people he cared about other than himself, granted most of them were dead. Sure, his actions may not have always shown that he cared, but he certainly wasn't as selfish as this foolish man was insinuating. A lot had happened that Stark was completely unaware of- and likely would never know due to his own ignorance. The threat he was forming died when Stark spoke up again.

    "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you we're going to the mall here shortly," he continued. "Most of us have some Christmas shopping to finish. Just waiting on the party bus to get here."

    "Party bus?" Layla inquired. "Don't you have a limo? Why can't we just take that?"

    Tony shrugged. "I do but I'm not risking my stuff getting damaged by a bunch of lunatics. If it was just you girls it would be a much different story. Besides, it's the holidays; we should have a little more fun."

    Loki couldn't resist rolling his eyes. "None of us are going to destroy your property, Stark," he hissed. "We're not savages, contrary to what you may think."

    Tony opened his mouth to say something snarky in response, but was interrupted by Anja walking into the room. The girl had been sitting in the living area with the rest of the group, but must've grown weary of Thor's often thunderous voice. She leaned against the counter next to Loki, giving Tony a slightly irritated look.

    "Seriously, Tony, get a grip," she started, sounding much snappier than Loki had heard from her to this point. "Everyone here needs to make an effort to get along with each other or this is going to be a ridiculously long space trip, and I can't promise I won't murder anyone." The young woman glanced over at Loki, noticing the cup in his hands. "Is that tea?"

    Loki didn't have time to answer her before she took the cup from his hands and took a long sip from it. He blinked a few times, unsure of how to handle the sheer audacity of this girl. Was this normal Midgardian custom to just take someone's beverage without asking? And even so, why was he not that upset about it?

    "Anja! That was so rude," Layla scolded, using a tone of voice Loki had only ever heard from his adoptive mother, Frigga. "If you wanted tea you could've just asked and I would've poured you some. Give the man back his drink, dammit."

    Anja frowned slightly and gingerly handed Loki the mug. "Sorry... I guess I'm just used to being able to take a drink from anyone's glass around here. Usually it's just us girls, Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey around and we're all essentially family so..."

    "It's... it's fine," he decided quietly, taking another sip. "I don't mind, really."

    "Oh would you look at that; there's at least one person here he doesn't want to kill," Tony continued, earning himself a hard smack on the arm from Anja. She was seemingly not dealing with the sass today.

    "Knock it off," she growled, "before I kill you."

    Layla sighed, seemingly used to having to referee. "How about you both knock it off? What was that about us all needing to get along?"

    Neither Anja nor Tony said anything for several moments until Tony barely nodded and said, "I'm going to go check on the bus situation." Without another word, the man left the room, leaving Loki standing there with the two women.

    "I love him, but God, he pisses me off sometimes," Anja grumbled, resting her elbows on the counter, rubbing her forehead out of frustration. "Like how difficult is it to just shut up and be nice to someone for two damn seconds?"

    Layla frowned. "Well, I mean, he has been through a lot these past few years, Anja. He's probably finding it difficult to let other people in."

    "Haven't we all been through a lot these past few years?" Anja countered, raising her voice a bit. "I mean, you, Spencer, and I were just as much a part of that whole Civil War nonsense as he was. We suffered our own losses with that, not even factoring in what happened to him and Rhodey. I mean, you know how much Bucky means to Spencer, and she lost him again. And don't even get me started on what happened to Loki, Thor, Bruce, and Brunnhilde. Tony isn't the only damaged one here, and the sooner he realizes that, the better for all of us." She paused, shaking her head. "We can do without the constant jabs he keeps making. I know he's naturally snarky, but this is a new extreme."

    Loki glanced between the two women, wondering if either of them even realized he was still standing right there. If anything, this was showing him exactly how the group here on Midgard functioned before their arrival, and exactly what was wrong with their dynamics. It would prove interesting to see where he and the rest of the Revengers fit into this. If there was already this much tension, what would adding more do to the group? He took a long drink from his tea; only time would tell.

    A few moments passed before Layla sighed. "Look, Anja... you and I both know that. Tony has to come to realize that himself. The sass is his coping mechanism. All we can do is try to be supportive and help him when we can. Yes, we suffered too, but not nearly like he did... or probably like any of our new friends have for that matter."

    Anja closed her eyes, slowly lowering her head to her crossed arms on the counter, seemingly taking a few deep breaths.  "Yes, whatever was I thinking?" she muttered quietly.

    "Oh don't even start pouting," Layla sighed, clearly exasperated.

    Alright, time to defuse the tension, he thought.

    Loki kept one hand on his cup as he rested it on the counter before taking his free hand and gently grasping Anja's chin, lifting her head off the counter and making her eyes meet his. Her brown eyes widened once she realized who she was staring at, and he couldn't resist smirking back at her.

    "Keep your head up, princess," he said slyly. "I assure you, everything is going to be fine. We certainly don't need that tiara of yours slipping."

    He watched as Anja's face flushed bright pink from his words. She swallowed hard, closing her eyes and barely nodding. "I'm... I'm going to go see if the bus is here."

    The girl slowly pulled away from his grasp, and immediately about-faced, leaving the room in a rush. Loki and Layla both watched her for a moment before Layla said anything, interrupting his lingering stare.

    "Well you certainly have a way with Anja," she mused, a smirk of her own forming as she hardly hid a laugh. "About time someone knows how to handle her other than Spencer and me."

    Loki raised an eyebrow. "Whatever do you mean?"

    Layla took a long sip out of her own mug. "Oh I am sure in time you will see exactly what I mean, Loki," she retorted. "And I do not envy you for it." She set her now empty mug in the sink. "C'mon. We should probably go wait with the others too."

    She said nothing else as she too left the room, leaving him standing at the counter alone. He wondered silently for a moment what she meant as he finished off his tea. Loki dismissed it for the time being, and set his empty cup in the sink before he too left the counter to join the others.

    Surely if those conversations were any indicator on how the trip to this mall place was going to be, it was bound to be very interesting, and Loki was more than ready for it.

*****
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great week! Nothing really new to report here. It was another relatively normal week. Only exciting bit was the Halloween holiday here in the States. It was my daughter's first Halloween, and while she was far too young to go out and trick or-treat, she did still dress up (we matched!) while I passed out candy. She also turned two months old this past week, and that just seems super crazy to me.

Anyways, enough about that! I hope you enjoyed this, and I can't wait for the next few chapters to be up and for the fun to truly begin!

~arty_writes