"Is that-?"

"Yes, yes it is."

"What was her name again?"

"Miss One-Night-Stand. Jodie Williams. I can't believe you've forgotten her."

"It was a long time ago!"

"I remembered your one-night-stand!"

"And then slept with him!"

Loki shrugged.

"I've done worse. So have you."

Tony accepted this without question.

"Should we talk to her?" Tony questioned worriedly. "I don't like not knowing what to do in a social situation."

"You always know what to do in every situation, Tony, don't pretend," Loki drawled. "It would be nice if you spoke to her."

"It would be nice?" Tony exclaimed. "It was a one night stand! Nothing needs to be said!"

"Tony, she worked at the World Trade Centre," Loki reminded him. "You know, the whole reason we're here?"

Loki gestured round the hall. Tony's mouth made an O shape.

"Oh."

"She probably has many reasons to speak to us," Loki continued.

"No-one died that day," Tony pointed out.

"No. Thanks to you, her saviour," Loki replied.

"Well, mainly you," Tony pointed out.

"I'm not here, remember?"

And, with that, Loki seamlessly transformed into a waiter and strode off into the crowd. Tony stood there, seething.

"I thought I saw Alden Walker- sorry, Loki, here too," Loki heard Jodie say to Tony.

"No, you must have been mistaken," Tony replied through gritted teeth.

"It's been awhile."

"It has. I hope no children popped up in the meantime. From me, I mean. You might well be married now."

"Fortunately, there were no children," Jodie laughed, "although I would have got in touch if they did. Loki seemed like a good guy; I thought he would persuade you to take responsibility."

"Probably," Tony laughed as well. "So, married?"

"Yes. Two children."

"Nice."

"And of course you married Pepper Potts and have that charming daughter. Morgan, isn't it?"

"Yes."

Tony sounded very proud.

"You saved my life, you know," said Jodie suddenly, seriously. "You, Loki, the Avengers. My husband praises your names every single day. We never would have met otherwise. I wouldn't even be here."

Loki knew Tony wasn't very good at receiving thanks so he instantly transformed back and walked to stand next to Tony.

"It was our pleasure and our obligation, Miss Williams," he said smoothly.

She laughed.

"Still the charmer, I see. I thought the nice guy might all be a façade."

"No, fortunately for you," Loki smiled. "I hope you are doing well."

"I am, thank you. You two are just going from strength to strength. Stark Industries is all anyone can talk about."

"That's what happens when a genius god falls to earth," Tony laughed.

"Some credit goes to Tony too," Loki patted him on the shoulder. "About twelve percent of the credit."

"Hey!" Tony exclaimed. "It's our baby!"

Jodie laughed.

"If anything, I think you two have both got more chaotic since the first time we met," she wondered aloud.

Loki shrugged.

"I am the God of Chaos."

"And I'm just chaotic," Tony added.

"I think I'll leave you two to it," Jodie giggled. "It was nice to see you again, Tony, Loki."

With that, she walked back towards a smiling man who was presumably her husband.

"That went well," Tony commented.

"Amazingly," Loki said. "You need to get better at being handed things, Tony. Notably, being given thanks."

"Haha, very funny. I'm great at receiving thanks!"

"Hmm, Mr Conceited is great at receiving thanks... definitely!"

"Shut up, Loki."

"Noted."

"In fact, I'm going to go and find Pepper because of this perceived hurt," Tony sniffed, faking tears before walking away towards the bar.

Loki looked around. He saw Natasha keeping Steve company in the distance, and Rhodey was trying to chat up a woman at the bar. Clint was probably scouting out the roof and all the other exits, while presumably communicating with Natasha through an earpiece. Perhaps Thor should have been there as well, since he technically helped. He saved Loki from falling. Would Loki have wanted Thor here? Who knew?

Loki noticed that Bruce wasn't with any of the others, but rather standing on his own, staring at Rhodey. Instead of spending precious minutes wondering why, Loki went up and asked him.

"Why the long face, Bruce? And why at Rhodey? What's he done to you?"

Bruce sighed. He didn't often look happy. Loki liked the scientist's sarcastic, cynical humour. It reminded him of his own.

"He reminded me of a different time. Before... all this."

He gestured down at his body.

"I assume you mean pre-Hulk rather than pre-existence," Loki commented wittily.

"Ha, ha," Bruce replied. "Yes, pre-Hulk. When I was normal."

"The Hulk is just as normal as having an anger management issue," Loki pointed out. "Sometimes you get angry, or he gets angry, and he starts destroying things."

"You're not really helping, Loki."

"Sorry. You were saying?"

"Well, before this... complication... I was able to have relationships," explained Bruce. "However fractured, however meaningless, however ingenuine. I'm not exactly a people pleaser, as you might have guessed, but I did have a girlfriend at one stage. That was all lost when I created the Hulk."

"What's her name?" Loki asked idly, already planning in his head.

He'd already tried his hand at assisting Steve in his pursuit of Bucky; why not help Bruce find his long lost girlfriend? Unfortunately for him, Bruce recognised the tone.

"Loki, I'm ordering you: don't do it. What if she has a family now?"

"It's only been, what, four years? Give or take. There's still a chance. Maybe she's been pining after you."

Bruce groaned, pinching his nose.

"Don't make me feel worse! I didn't want to leave her! I just... had to."

"You didn't have to," Loki said quietly, but Bruce didn't hear him.

Bruce looked reluctant, but then he caved in.

"Betty Ross," he muttered.

"Ross?" Loki's jaw dropped open. "The Ross?"

Bruce nodded.

"Unfortunately."

"One Betty Ross coming right up!"

"Loki!"

But he was too late. Loki had already teleported, leaving Bruce alone to his thoughts and his long-suppressed memories.

*****

A.N. Betty Ross will make an appearance! I haven't actually watched The Incredible Hulk, so please forgive me for any discrepancies. I try to keep everything mostly canon, aside from the obvious AU.

Thank you for reading and please comment!