Fandom Funny how you think you're such a mystery [private]

[captaindanger]

Katie wasn't much of one for meting new people, but with the Avengers being her family, it was becoming more and more normal that everyday she were surrounded by multiple faces. Had she had it her way, she would've just gone cross country living in her old RV, but because they were technically always working these days, she had no choice but to stay in the new compound with the rest of the group. It didn't make it easier knowing they were her sort of friends, and that she was only there for business, but she was determined to not go out of her way to run into anyone. It was a large compound, you'd think it be easy. And you'd be wrong.

It had only been a week since the snap that took away millions of people, and that meant a lot of chaos everywhere. The government struggled to come up with answers for what had happened or policies about how to move forward, because, what do you do in that sort of situation? Do you clean out the now abandoned houses and let others buy them? Do you wait for those people to come back, or do you help the ones still on Earth and deal with the consequences later? What would those consequences be? What other horrible things could happen now that the Avengers had failed? Some even went so far as to question the legitimacy of SHIELD and the Avengers themselves, beginning awful conspiracy theories about how Tony was probably working alongside Thanos and was using the rest of the Avengers as his minions. That one, specifically, was the joke repeated often around the halls of what Katie thought was an absurdly large building. And to her amusement, it pissed off the wealthy Stark to no ends.

"I mean, how does that even work?"

the brunette retorted, pausing from his work at his workbench, looking up at Katie with what was nothing short of a sleep deprived and delirious man. Ever since the snap, Tony had been quick to anger and awake at all hours. Katie and the rest of the Avengers knew that it had to do with a certain web slinging boy having gone in the wind with the rest of the currently missing humans, but it was evident in not just his appearance, but his words too. Somehow, the around the clock annoyance had a new level of stressed that had never been reached before, and through his fast irritation it was plain as day to hear the panic and regret in his voice. It was noticed by all, but also mentioned by nobody. It was a bear nobody felt like poking.

"Do they think that I bought out Steve and the others to listen to me? There are people that think us arguing years ago was a front for this whole mess!"

Katie couldn't be bothered to pretend to flinch as Tony suddenly stood up and slammed his hands down on his table in frustration. Though she'd only met him recently, she found herself liking him the most out of everyone else. Steve was too polite, Thor was always in and out, and Carol hadn't been spotted since the snap happened. As her luck would have it, when Katie had been wandering the halls trying to find the kitchen, she'd hit the wrong button on the elevator and found her way into Tony and Bruce's labs. They were both on the same floor underground, and she'd had the fortunate timing to have run into Tony instead of the occasional green giant. They got along well, for two people who had been labeled as 'doesn't play nice with others'. While the playboy was more inclined to be social even just for the sake of being the center of attention, Katie much preferred to be both out of sight and mind of those she didn't know well. Hell, even to those she did know. If her family were still around she probably wouldn't talk to them much either. She liked her space.

The redhead shook her head in response to Tony's words and straightened up. She had been leaned over on his work table, watching him work and study on the glove that Thanos had made with the Infinity Stones. He had gone onto a tangent about his research and what he was trying to accomplish, which she thought she had done a good job of tuning out, until she tuned back in and suddenly Tony was complaining about the rumors about him again.

"It's stupid, I don't even care."

he scoffed, turning around from his table and walking to his desk.

"I just wish that if people were going to waste their breath talking about me, they'd say something more interesting."

As if he could hear Katie roll her eyes, Tony whipped back around and pointed a finger at the girl.

"You think I'm being ridiculous."

Katie stared back with a blank expression and crossed her arms, straightening up to meet his gaze.

"I think you need to sleep. And maybe take a shower, you're starting to smell like whatever Natasha made last night."

Whatever the girl had made, Katie thought it smelled horrible. She wasn't even sure what it was supposed to be when it was done - fish, beef, chicken - it could've been anything and she wouldn't have cared at all. The scent of it hung over the entire building like the weight of those lost in the snap. It was atrocious. Katie had woken up from a nap thinking the house was burning down because of all the smoke, and then she watched Natasha and Steve running around in the kitchen, throwing things off the balcony and then jumping over the balcony to 'properly dispose' of...whatever had been made. As to what that meant, Katie had no idea.

In unison, both people in the room wrinkled their nose in disapproval.

"That's not a nice thing to say to me."

Tony said, with his eyes narrowing. Katie knew he was joking, though the pain in his eyes was very real. She had no doubt in her mind that he'd wished the teasing was coming from someone who was instead a high school aged boy.

"I could make you homeless, you know."

"But who would tell you when you look like shit?"

"Everyone. Whereas, who would you freeload off of if I weren't here?"

"Natasha would kill you."

Tony fixed a hard stare in Katie's direction, though she ignored it completely.

"She can get in line. Apparently everyone wants to kill me."

This, Katie cracked a small smile at.

"You're just so popular."

She drummed her hands on his desk quietly before straightening back up and began walking slowly around the room. Behind her, she heard the turning of wheels, and knew that Tony had sat back down on his barstool to continue working. Rather than care to ask why he was still continuing on instead of taking a nap or swiping some deodorant on, she chose to instead look around.

Katie had never been down here before, but she'd also only been there four or five days. She wasn't one for socializing, and save for when Natasha would invite her to dinner or for them to go running and spar together, the beautiful redhead had decided it best if she stayed in her room. Though now, she was realizing that Tony wasn't so bad. She could see why he would get under other people's skin, but that personality trait made him good company for her. She wasn't much of a fan favorite either. Partially by choice, partially because she had the socialization skills of a fork. Tony didn't force her to talk, and was fine with the complete silence that would sometimes fall over them. Whether it was because he didn't care to talk or because he knew she didn't want to, Katie had no clue, but was thankful for it either way.

the fighter

katie

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[pearjuice]

Loki Laufeyson and Stephen Strange

In the room, a large circular portal opened up. Coming out of it first was Loki, donning his all black Asgardian armor, with his hands bound together by chains. Behind him, holding the rest of the chain was Stephen, wearing his regular blue and red cloak. While Loki looked highly amused and wore a pleasant smile on his face, the latter's expression spoke of great annoyance and displeasure at having been left in charge of the God of Mischief.

Loki's eyes immediately went to the two people in the room, Katie and Tony. Immediately when he saw him Loki's face soured and his laughter died. Though he wasn't much of a fan of Tony, he had grown to accept that so long as Thor was in his life, that Tony and the rest of their little group was a packaged deal. Ever since he had almost died saving Thor, his brother had welcomed him back with open arms. The other Avengers were still convinced that Loki was playing some sort of long game, but after a stern scolding from the God of Thunder, Loki begrudgingly promised to be on his best behavior. He couldn't really go home, and he was enjoying patching things up with Thor, and so it was looking like he was stuck here for the time being, especially because they all had one goal: take Thanos down. The Avengers were determined to take down the purple alien, and Loki was too, but that didn’t mean he was having a great time with them. He hated being there already. Nobody trusted him or liked him besides Thor, who was gone a lot to help deal with the other planets. Loki had just finished healing that day, which is why he and Stephen used the portals to go visit Thor real quick. Today was Loki’s first time out of the hospital wing, and he was already dreading all the glares and jabs that were sure to come his way. He had hoped that he would get kicked out without Thor there to ‘babysit’, but that seemed to be far from the case.

Stephen stepped around Loki and with a snap of his fingers, the chains that had been around Loki's wrists were gone, though his intense stare gave a promise of a severe beatdown should Loki try to do anything to leave the compounds. There had been a lot of rules for Loki, starting with that he couldn't use some of his magic. The magical being had placed runes all around the property to ensure Loki couldn't escape, and nearly every single Avenger had begged him not to start trouble. Although he could tell that some of the Avengers were breaking down, the worst of the scrutiny was coming from the least tolerable ones around. While Steve and Sam were growing to be tolerable, Tony and Tony With Magic were only growing to be more of an aggravation.

Loki ignored Stephen and looked down at his now free hands, rubbing his wrists before looking back up around the room, his eyes settling on Kate. Judging by the quiet in the room when he and the stupid wizard showed up in, the girl and Tony weren’t all that close either. Though things didn’t look awkwardly when he had arrived, they weren’t speaking which pointed to the girl feeling out of place. Tony was too arrogant to feel out of place anywhere. But this girl, she wasn’t bad to look at, either. Loki let his blue eyes trail slowly over her figure before meeting her green ones. He gave her a wink and let his smile stay in place, never having been one to look away when he was checking out a girl.

Though he often tried to sleep through or ignore what the other Avengers said, Thor liked to have rather loud conversations outside of the room he'd been staying in, and so from word of mouth he'd heard about Katie's arrival here and that she was friends with Natasha. Not much else was discovered, as by then he'd either succeeded in his attempts to sleep or the conversation would move out of earshot. He'd heard Stephen say something about her being a smoke show, but disrespectfully, that wasn't giving her enough credit. Loki would've believed her if she'd said she was a model. Her muscles told him enough about her physical discipline to know that she regularly worked out, but the softness in all the right places was still tempting enough that he was going to make this very fun for himself, even if she continuously shot him down.

"How are things down here?" Stephen asked, walking over to the work bench that Tony had been at minutes before they'd arrived. By the looks of it they were trying to figure out how to reverse what had already been done. Loki had told them probably a million times in the infirmary that it wasn't possible, but he couldn't blame them that much for not believing anything that came out of his mouth. Besides, he wouldn't say it aloud, but if anyone was going to come up with some technology or way to bring back the people that got blipped, it would be these assholes. Stephen turned his attention from Tony to Katie, and gave her a small nod of his head and smiled. Loki watched this with great interest, as Stephen had been a rather large annoyance and he would jump at the opportunity to embarrass him in front of a girl that he liked. "I'm surprised to see you out and about. Did he drag you down here?" he asked, with a tilt in his voice. Had Loki not been imprisoned to the compound he would've teased Stephen for his sorry excuse of a line, but he wisely chose to instead keep his mouth shut.

coded by archangel_

 

[captaindanger]

Katie's eyes bore into the photos around Tony's room, stopping at each one to study them. Though she could feel his eyes wander over to her each time she stopped at one, she didn't dare make conversation, and thankfully he didn't appear to want to talk about the subjects of each photos either. There were a lot, she noticed, of a young teenaged boy. Almost more than there was of his wife. Though her expression didn't show it, she felt a small pang in her heart at the idea that maybe this boy was lost to Thanos. The comfortability in showing physical affection between him and Tony looked to be a lot, as in most of the photos they were hugging and posing together. Everyone had things they didn't want to talk about, and everyone had things that motivated them. Perhaps this boy was both things to Tony.

She had stopped of a photo of Tony from what had to have been years ago, and had lifted a hand to point to it and ask about it when she heard a whiz of magic behind her. Both her and Tony looked over to see the portal take shape and for both figures to walk through. Immediately the back of Katie's neck felt cold. As if he could sense it, Tony shot Katie an exasperated expression. Not that she knew what it meant though. She supposed she would in time, but judging by the already irritated Stephen, it was safe to assume that maybe the two of them didn't get along. The new face, however, the one that was laughing and smiling as he stepped through the circular entrance, was what should've raised Katie's attention first. It was hard to not recognize the person behind the destruction that had happened in 2012, but it was harder to think that he'd changed so much that he nearly died to save his own brother. Thor may have been fooled, but Natasha and Katie were on the same side of thinking that Loki saving his blood didn't mean that he was going to save all of humanity. After all what had the Battle of New York been for? Just because he changed when it affected his family didn't mean that he was truly a different person. 2012 was ages ago but he'd supposedly been up to nothing but good since then. As nice as Thor was, Katie wasn't going to just take his word for it.

"Oh, hey Stephen. Loki."

Tony's voice called out, this time sitting at his computer desk and occupying all three of his monitors. Katie gave a curt nod to Stephen before she felt Loki's eyes on her. Meeting his, she could only shoot him daggers through her green eyes as Loki moved at a snail's pace to bring his eyes to hers. When he gave her a wink, she folded her arms and rolled her eyes, now ignoring him entirely. He wasn't even allowed to leave the compound, and here he was flirting with her? Men were disgusting. Natasha had told her that the men in the Avengers were respectful, but naturally nobody had planned for the God of Mischief to crash their plans. At least when Katie showed up everyone had been made aware. Thor pretty much came running in with his brother, begging for the resources to save Loki's life. And what a great thanks they were getting, in the form of him undressing her with his eyes.

Stephen, at least, was polite. He had enough common sense to be more tactful in the way he approached her, though he did like to push the occasional button here and there. Katie wouldn't give any of the men a chance to mess with her, it was bad enough she was surrounded by testosterone. The only other girl there was Natasha, aside from when Pepper would come to visit. But that was a given, considering that she was nearly nine months pregnant and ready to pop at any minute. It was like their second honeymoon for how much Tony was fawning over his wife. It was nice to see, that despite all the bad going on out there, some good was still coming. Another crack in her heart reminded her that if they couldn't find a way to undo what Thanos had done, this unborn baby would probably be the closest he got to seeing that teenaged boy again. Not that any lives could be replaced, but the love in those photos were undeniable. The kid, looking up at Tony with stars in his eyes, and the photos of Pepper with that boy, with Tony in the background looking so proud and in awe.

"I would do no such thing."

Tony finally rolled around in his chair. Katie watched as he stood up and walked over to join the group. Katie leaned on the wall next to her, watching this scene unfold but not caring enough to step closer to join it.

"She got lost and stayed down here. Probably because I'm such good company."

While Katie stood a good amount away from the rest of the group, she thought back to how her arrival had gone. Natasha had gotten word about Katie's dad being one of the many that were taken away, and knowing that she didn't have any other family, asked if she'd had any work that she had been doing. Working for SHIELD but having nothing to fight, especially when she had taken time off to take a break wasn't proving to be anything special. And so, with a lot of convincing, Nat had brought Katie to the compound to be with 'family'. Tony, Katie had met multiple times but arguably just then was the longest time they'd spent together intentionally. Katie had known Nat for years, as the two of them have gone on many missions together. Through her, Katie had met Clint, who was nowhere to be seen or heard from as of late. Stephen Katie had met once; though he was more of a dick at their first meeting years ago versus as of late. She supposed it had something to do with him being stressed, as their first meeting was him actually helping her with an injury, but he was trying to help multiple people. Katie didn't hold it past him, though he didn't seem to be much different now. At least he pretended to care. If he did, he was bad at showing it. Or Katie just didn't know how to read people. The latter was far more likely.

Everyone else, she hadn't met until her time here. Steve was the nicest by far, but Katie couldn't handle how much he hated silence. He always had to fill the void with talking, and she hated small talk. A few nights ago she had put on a movie in the living room in an attempt to get him to go away, but he sat there on the couch with her and tried to talk to her during it. She didn't even want to watch the movie, her plan had been to turn it off and go to her room as soon as he left. She wondered if he thought the friendship was transactional in the sense that by proxy, he and Katie were friends because they were both friends with Natasha. Or maybe he was truly that bored. Katie thought it was probably that he had a need to be liked by everyone he worked with, but he seemed genuinely nice. It was so bothersome. Had Katie known that the Stephen standing in the same room from her was secretly stolen from a different timeline to fight Kang, she probably would've been more inclined to do more than hope that everyone would hurry up and wrap it up so she could go back upstairs. As cocky as he was, Katie would've sucked up a bit to hear all about the multiverse.

the fighter

katie

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[pearjuice]

Loki Laufeyson and Stephen Strange

Loki ignored the two men next to him talking in favor of watching Katie stare him down. He felt giddy like a little kid at the prospect of her not wavering under his eyes, and even as she crossed her arms and looked away, the God felt himself unable to rip his own eyes away.

This is going to be fun.

A lot of the girls he messed with were shy or very upfront and flirty. And there wasn't a single girl that didn't eventually cave to his bad boy charm and his ability to seduce anyone. He liked knowing that he'd never been turned down before, truly turned down. He didn't get many that were seemingly unaffected by him, and they were the most fun to toy with. Katie was by far the most beautiful one out of those few, and then and there he made it his mission to win her over. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.

After a minute, he finally looked over to Tony and Stephen, who were both talking. It was nice, and a little selfishly so, to see that for once Tony didn't look like he'd just stepped out of a photo shoot. Though his cologne was excruciatingly strong and his clothes didn't look cheap, the heavy bags under his eyes and the expressed stress lines told the story of a man who was lost and in pain. He wasn't the only one, but he was a dick, and that was enough for the god to convince himself that Tony deserved it. It was only going to get worse once his daughter was born. As of right now, Tony looked like he never slept. That was going to take on a new meaning when he had a kid. Sure Pepper would help but Tony would have to do his fair share too.

That made Loki think of his own mother and Odin, which always left a bittersweet taste in his mouth. He had a good relationship with his mother, but Thor's father was a different story entirely. There was a lot of good and bad in his childhood with Thor, but a lot of the bad definitely had to do with how harshly different his joke of a father had treated him. Loki never wanted to have kids in fear of favoring one over the other like that. It was by far one of the worst feelings he'd always go through. Continuously wondering if he would be good enough for anyone, if he would ever be seen. It was part of why he liked to bag a bunch of women. He never failed in that aspect and they were more than happy to give him attention if he was just some hot guy feeding them compliments all night long.

Stephen's voice snapped him back to the conversation. "Good company?" The doctor scoffed with a smile, glancing over at Katie before looking back at Tony. Loki would've scoffed if he didn't think he'd get more privileges revoked for doing it. "She's got bad taste. Have you even eaten today?" The mentioning of food made Loki realize that he was hungry. He had been given permission to raid the kitchen, but the last time he tried to wait until nobody was there to avoid being accused of poisoning anything and avoiding the intense glares and arguments that would likely ensue just from his existence. There hadn’t been time to eat when he and Stephen went to see Thor, and he would have much preferred to eat food that wasn't from Earth. It tasted fine, but he was convinced that nothing was ever fully cooked. It surely wasn't as good as the food from Asgard, proper chefs preparing the food or not. "Have you offered her any food?"

From the look on the once doctor's face, and the dialogue Loki was listening to, it was easy to tell that Katie wasn't much of a conversationalist. From what he'd heard and seen, she tried to avoid everyone just as much as Loki was going to. Even now, leaning on the wall just listening, she didn't seem to care to step in. He was sure that if she had, it would be to leave. Thor had told his younger brother that he'd made it a personal challenge for him to try and get her to laugh or relax more around the others, but that in the past five days she'd been here, nobody really succeeded. Not once had Loki seen her upstairs, even in passing, but to be fair it was his first day not being bed ridden. And the two times he had been in the kitchen she was nowhere to be seen. It didn't pass his notice that Natasha had made two plates that night, and he was positive it was for Katie. He'd later heard Stephen joke about how she'd be back eventually to get more food, and something about the Black Widow having purposefully putting some food on there she knew her friend didn't like.

His eyes flickered back to Katie for just a moment. She looked well fed. Whatever she was doing was working.

coded by archangel_

 

[captaindanger]

Tony dramatically rolled his eyes at Stephen's jab while Katie watched on with great boredom.

"What, I'm expected to cook for her?"

he snipped, appalled by the suggestion.

"If I don't cook for myself, why would I do it for someone else?"

Tony put his hands on his hips, and rotated his body, which resulted in a couple of loud pops. He continued stretching various parts of his body and continued on.

"Besides, I'm sure she'd rather be with me than the others. She's not trapped here like Reindeer is. She can go get food and talk to anyone else if she wanted to."

The Stark, appearing to be all stretched out, crossed his arms again and looked at Loki and Stephen crossly.

While the men spoke, Katie let her eyes wander around the room. She had been looking at the photos while Tony tinkered with his holograph of the Infinity Stones, but with everyone distracted it might be a good chance for her to look around some more, and hopefully sneak out while they talked. The room was large, just a touch bigger than Banner's lab next door. Part of the room had clear walls, probably so that he and Bruce could see each other. Part of the hallway was visible, though thankfully nobody else was wandering about. Katie wasn't sure she could stay in the room a minute longer with Tony and Stephen, but if Steve joined she was for sure going to have to leave. As nice as he was, he talked too damn much. She knew it wasn't fair to dislike his company for that, and she was more than aware of the fact that it was probably the polite thing to do in his period, to make long and drawn out conversation with women, but it still annoyed her to no end. What ever happened to eating in silence and ignoring people you don't know? If he wanted to get to know her couldn't he just come out and ask his questions instead of talking about the weather of all things?

Tony's lab was a mess, and she was sure that when Pepper would arrive later in the day to have lunch with her husband that he would be chastised for letting it get so bad. Empty coffee cups and various fast food bags were littered among nearly every table, the only sign of life to prove that he wasn't full on starving himself. She wouldn't have been surprised if she found a mug full of piss somewhere for how deep into his work he appeared to be when she first walked in. Even though he appeared to be deep in whatever he had been working on, he was fast to hop off. Katie wasn't sure if he had pretended to need a break because she had walked in there, or if he needed to make sure his vocal chords were still working. Either way, he hadn't tried to push much of a conversation with her and she was thankful for it. Even with his big ego, he appeared to know when to cool it.

Or he was scared of her. Natasha said that this was highly possible, because when she'd asked for permission to bring Katie there, she said there wasn't pushback; no, what everyone had been worried about, was if she had a similar temper to the Black Widow they knew and loved. It had amused Katie, that the Avengers could be scared of anyone Natasha knew, but both redheads knew it was more about their backgrounds than it was their character. Katie was well aware of Natasha's history with the Red Room and though Katie had a little bit of a different story, she was more than happy to let the Avengers think that that was where the two met. Thankfully Natasha didn't care to tell the story for her friend. Either way, Natasha had said that Tony wouldn't act scared or uncomfortable around anyone but that he'd asked a lot of questions about her before Katie arrived.

She didn't particularly care. She'd have a ton of questions too. Like right now, she was wondering where Nat was. She knew that she and Steve were close, and wondered if maybe they went out for a run or something. One uncomfortable dinner told Katie that these people liked to work out all the time, and that oftentimes they'd pair up and do it together. Katie liked to work out alone, but she'd be lying if she hadn't looked up from her plate in interest to Bucky when he and Steve were joking about sparring. Katie would love the chance to fight an Avenger. She wondered if she could take down the Winter Soldier. Apparently Sam and Steve liked to work out together, and Steve and Bucky were both friends from back in the day so they did nearly everything else together, with Natasha stepping in when Bucky was gone. As for Tony and Stephen, Katie didn't have a clue if or what kind of working out either of them did. Tony wore a suit, and he did technically fight in close combat, but with the raggedy appearance he had then it was hard to make out a figure under his loosely fitting clothes. Stephen looked like he'd worked out before but not recently, however she knew that everyone was taking a bit of a breather ever since the war with Thanos. She'd heard the rumors about the kind of training he did, and were he not so arrogant Katie might have even asked to watch his men train.

Loki looked like he never stopped working out. Katie was aware that as an enemy with the title God of Mischief he probably never stopped getting into trouble, but it was hard to ignore the way that his muscles rippled under his armor and the confidence that he constantly reeked of. Natasha had mentioned that when they captured Loki, he had been a tough opponent. Ultimately she ended up taking him down, but that it was one of the tougher fights she'd had at that point in time. He probably fought dirty, but it was still impressive. Thor was probably an even better fighter with how beefy he was, and the prince had even mentioned something about Loki being a better wizard but Thor being the better fighter between the two. Katie didn't need to spar with him to know that Thor would kick her ass, even in a fake fight. She just didn't have the strength to compare.

the fighter

katie

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[pearjuice]

Loki Laufeyson and Stephen Strange

Loki narrowed his eyes at Tony's mocking of his old headpiece he had adorned so long ago. "It's so hard to wonder why you're always in here alone." He wondered aloud sarcastically. Not surprised in the slightest at how he and Stephen ignored him, he took the chance to look at the holograph Tony had pulled up. It appeared that he was looking into some sort of time traveling device, which Loki nearly laughed out loud at. He knew the Avengers were capable of a lot, and that time travel was technically possible, but how were they planning on doing it without a single one of the Infinity Stones? Perhaps that pesky Stark did need some rest after all, his sleep deprived delusions were finally catching up with the jerk.

Unlike Tony Snark (a nickname that Thor and Loki used when he was being a rather large pain in the ass), Stephen looked more put together. Though it was easy to tell that he was stressed too, much like everyone else on the whole planet was, it was clear that he'd showered recently and that his clothes were clean. Where Tony appeared to have a more disheveled appearance, Stephen didn't take a break from keeping up with his personal hygiene just because he was busy. And thankfully, his cologne wasn't too strong by itself. But standing next to Tony, Loki did feel like he was going to grow to obtain a headache if he didn't get out of their way soon.

Loki himself knew that he probably looked normal as well. Though he was still injured, he was almost all the way healed and had been given the chance to clean up before going to see Thor. Had it been a day or two ago though and it would've been a different story. He had been thankful for getting permission to shower and change into regular clothes, as the hospital gown he'd been in was growing to be rather uncomfortable and itchy. Gods weren't prepared to wear paper dresses, it just wasn't fit for them.

"Did you ever think about asking her if she's lost?" Stephen asked flippantly, gesturing to Tony and Katie. "She's been here five days and I've seen her three times. Maybe she can't find the kitchen or Natasha."

While Loki hadn't been around that long due to being in the hospital wing, it apparently hadn't gone unnoticed by Stephen that the gorgeous redhead probably needed help getting around the place. She had been given a tour, but he and Steve only covered partial ground before Natasha had whisked away Steve to go to another state that needed help with rioting. It was something that was happening a lot as of late. People were starting to not trust the government and pretty much every Avenger had sympathy for the people. But it didn't help that they had no advice or words of encouragement to give. Steve had probably done two dozen speeches by now and it didn't do much to slow down the protests coming from scared civilians. Stephen had tried to show Katie around a little bit more, but he himself was still trying to figure out where everything was. He had the essentials down but not much else.

Loki, on the other hand, had used his magic to always know where to go. He had been able to use his abilities to pull out blueprints for the building, and to the great annoyance of both Steve and Tony, he already had most of the building memorized. At first it had been to plan his escape, but now that he was starting to understand that he would be stuck here a while, it was rather amusing to be able to sneak up on the others when they were least expecting it. Using his abilities to become invisible, he'd heard a rather heated argument between Bruce and Natasha that he was positive that they wouldn't want anyone else to have heard, and he'd watched Steve and Bucky wrestle in the indoor gym. Their friendship reflected what Thor and Loki once had, so he didn't stay for long in worry that his mood would turn sour with envy.

But his favorite scheme with being invisible by far had been at dinner, when he'd sat at the table with the other Avengers and for about fifteen minutes they had been carrying on, laughing and eating. Loki had gone unnoticed and sat at the far end of the table, and enchanted all of his food and dishes and silverware to be invisible too. Thor had joined dinner late, and for a second Loki was worried his brother would rat him out, as he always knew when Loki was in the room, but Thor had played along in not noticing his younger brother being in attendance. When Sam had reached over the table to grab the last roll out of the bowl on the table, Loki made himself known by becoming visible again and chastising the man for not offering the last piece of food to everyone at the table. Needless to say, he was very surprised as were the rest of the Avengers. Loki and Thor had laughed a lot when it happened, but just about everyone else had looked uncomfortable at the idea that Loki had been there the entire time. Loki knew it had nothing to do with them sharing sensitive information, they just didn't like or trust him. He was used to feeling like an outsider, but it still hurt even when he was expecting it. So he made some joke about how he needed to get in his laughter of the day before retreating to his designated room, where he'd stayed until everyone else left the table to go their separate ways.

Loki figured that he was going to have to start roaming the halls and rooms of the building, though, because he was dying to see more of Katie. Would she laugh at his antics? She didn't back down from his flirting, what would break her? Would she dare to blush if he did anything forward or would she ignore it? He had to know. Girls like that were the most fun to wear down. And with Stephen being competition, that made the stakes all the higher. Loki had noticed the way Stephen had instinctively straightened his back and pulled his shoulder backs when he saw that Tony wasn't alone in the room, and the way Stephen had teased her without any aggression suggested that maybe he was making a real effort with her. How interesting this was going to be.

coded by archangel_

 

[captaindanger]

Tony couldn't help the dramatic offensive expression he made in response to Loki's choice of words. Though he really couldn't stand that smug bastard, he was never one to shy down from the opportunity act rather pronounced. His flair was a big part of his personality, and he always had quips he'd say offhandedly to enemies or friends alike. Nobody was spared from that, especially a guy who was so easy to make fun of. And when he was about to dig into him, Stephen's voice reminded Tony that he'd actually been talking to his ally, who was just as punchable unfortunately.

"She doesn't need Natasha to-"

Katie's voice cut through their conversation. She kicked herself off the wall and made a few steps towards the men before stopping.

"She can speak for herself."

Once she had tuned in and realized they were still talking about her, it was hard to ignore them. Not only was it awkward, she also didn't know or like any of those three enough to just sit there and go along with whatever was said.

"Oh? And what does she say?"

Tony asked, turning to face her, with a raised eyebrow. Katie could tell that he was surprised she had spoken up, and was almost hoping for a challenge to come. Or maybe he was so full of himself that any push back was a threat. She wasn't sure and she didn't care.

She hadn't thought much about what she could provide to the conversation though, especially with the fact that she hadn't been listening to much of what they'd said. She was too proud to admit that she was lost, but maybe something she said could convince him on his own to go to the kitchen?

"That you need to leave and eat something that isn't..."

She let her voice trail off, and leaned a little to the side to look at a table behind Tony. He, in turn, turned to look at the various assortments of food on his table, then back to Katie with an exasperated look.

"...Wendys. Your cologne doesn't cover everything you think it does. Take a shower or something."

Tony's jaw opened and shut in surprise, a few times before he finally threw his hands up in frustration.

"What? I- you're in my house!"

He grumbled, looking at Stephen with an 'are you seeing this right now?' expression that suggested he truly couldn't fathom what she'd said to be true. Katie had been saying it before Stephen and Loki arrived, so she could only imagine that this show of emotions was to evoke a reaction from the other two. She, however, did not waver to his theatrics and continued to stand in place, starring him down with her arms still crossed.

"I swear, they tell you to pick up strays but they never tell you how ungrateful they can be.."

he continued, now turning around and beginning to pick up the trash. She wondered if he was embarrassed that he had been called out, but if he was she couldn't tell because he was this dramatic all the time. Picking up a trash can under one of the many tables in the room, he began going around to each spot and tossing the trash, making the occasional sour face at something that smelled bad or got old. If he thought he was appearing fine, reality came down swiftly on his self perspective and at the very least, Katie was thankful that the next time she found herself accidentally in his work area, it wouldn't smell like old fries and abandoned ketchup packets.

the fighter

katie

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♡coded by uxie♡

 

[pearjuice]

Loki Laufeyson and Stephen Strange

Katie's voice cutting through their conversation seemed to strike Stephen and Loki as a surprise, for her words caused them both to either jump or blink and turn with Tony to face her. Stephen tried his best to bite back a smirk, but Loki made no effort to hide the wide and approving grin on his face. This was going to be fun indeed. Both men watched as the two conversed, until finally with a resounding grumble about Katie being ungrateful, Tony started to tidy up his desks. Stephen's expression was one of impression, as it couldn't be an easy feat to get Tony to do anything that wasn't his idea. He was confident that Katie had been down there long enough and had already said something to him before they'd arrived, but it probably helped that Pepper was supposed to come by today to see him and say hi to everyone. The more pregnant she was, the more quick to anger she was, and especially with being at the end of her third trimester nobody was in a rush to stress her out. She definitely would if she'd seen the state Tony had been in the past couple of days. He was working himself like a dog, and probably pushing himself even harder to get ahead of any research when his daughter was born.

Morgan's eventual birth was part of the reason that Stephen was hanging around for the next few weeks. There was no need for him to stay at the compound, and he very well could come and go as he pleased through his portals, but Tony had insisted that Pepper give birth and recover in the hospital suite surrounded by Avengers. Loki definitely stressed out the couple, but Thor promised to take full responsibility and then some should his brother act out. Stephen wasn't very convinced, and it was only his first day being allowed out and about, but he was strong and had once been a surgeon so if anyone was going to offer to stick around, it was him. OB wasn't his specialty but he was well aware of how to deliver a baby and of all the things that could go wrong. Stephen thought it was sweet that Tony wanted her to be somewhere safe and locked down, but he wouldn't dare vocalize that thought. Even with Loki there Pepper was still in agreement. The Sorcerer Supreme wondered if it was just to get Tony to stop asking or if it was a surefire way to make sure that he knew when she would be in labor instead of getting distracted by his work. Most likely a combination of both.

Loki's eyes watched with fascination as Katie refused to back down or falter at any of Tony's words. Either she didn't care or she was good at hiding it, though he was more inclined to believe the former to be the reason for her unwavering stance. Even Natasha or Steve would've called him out for being ridiculous or joked around with him again, but the curvy red haired fighter did nothing of the sorts. She didn't even care enough to indulge in his nonsense. It was impressive, and a major turn on for Loki. It added to the appeal of breaking her down. "If I may," Loki started. "Perhaps we should all go eat? Tony did just say that he is incapable of cooking." Though he knew that that wasn't what Tony had said at all, he couldn't miss the opportunity to ruffle his feathers just a little bit further. Besides, he had to see where Katie would try to sneak off to. She couldn't have been very invested in whatever Tony had been working on because when he and Stephen arrived, she was walking around while he was busy. The hovering indicated that she was lost and too prideful to admit it. Or she was taking a break, but it didn't seem likely that Tony would allow anyone to work alongside him, let alone someone he didn't know all that well.

Stephen appeared to be in agreement and shook his head, waving a hand in front of his nose. "It smells bad in here, let's go eat something that wasn't made by a seventeen year old." He walked past the group and Katie towards the door. Somewhere along the way, his cloak had flown off of him and was now holding one of the doors open. But instead of walking through it, he waited before it to allow the others to go through first. The others being Katie, Loki noticed. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep a retort from coming out, and instead turned to Katie. His lips curled into a smile and he held his arm out to gesture towards the door. "Ladies first."

He snuck a glance up at Stephen from around Katie and noticed with much satisfaction that his actions caused the once surgeon to scowl in disapproval. This just made Loki smirk a little behind his facade, and he turned back his attention towards the redhead before him. He was always a gentleman, but pissing off Stephen was a bonus. He'd just had Loki in cuffs, and Katie was hot. Did he really expect Loki to not throw his hat in the ring? He was going to find a way, one way or another. He couldn't imagine Stephen being with anyone who liked him anyways. He didn't make a lot of jokes and seemed serious all of the time. Loki almost wished that he and Bucky had been snapped away instead of that Spider boy. It probably would've put Tony in a better mood, and thus alleviating the heavy cloud that hung over the Avengers.

coded by archangel_

 

[captaindanger]

Katie dared to allow her eyes to return to the shape of Loki when he spoke, and in turn she watched Stephen's response to it. Well, all of that was more than fine with her. Getting out of this room and getting away from the others was a great idea. She didn't like the way that Loki had been eyeing her, and Natasha had warned her about his inkling towards pretty women. She wasn't trying ready to fall victim to any of his tricks. Not that she could see herself falling into them, but she wasn't sure what to expect either. She was going to have to tread carefully, and the best way to do that would be to never interact with him unless she had to, like right now.

Her eyes widened a touch in surprise, her eyebrows shooting up for just a moment before her expression returned to what it had been all along as she watched Stephen's cape shoot off of his body and zoom to open the door far across the room. She'd heard of his clothes being able to do that, but seeing it in person was jarring. She hadn't been expecting him to use it for something so simple. She supposed she would too, if she had any sort of abilities like that. Katie didn't have powers like that though sometimes she wished she did. As to what, she had not a clue. Tony and Loki seemed unaffected by this, and the former was quick to abandon his task of cleaning up and broke into a jog towards the door.

"I can cook, and just for saying that I'm ordering a pizza instead of having the chefs cook something."

Tony snapped, continuing in his stride to and through the door but still making sure to glare at Loki on his way out.

Katie, however, glowered at Loki's attempt to accompany her through the door. Not breaking eye contact, she walked a little behind him to grab her notebook before finally turning back around and walked to the door. She shook her head in a quiet thanks at Stephen, as it would be the closest thing he ever got to a verbal 'thank you' due to her preference to be quiet, and stood next to the door, waiting for someone to move. She wasn't going to go out of her way to admit that she had no idea where she was in this overly large maze of a compound, but she wasn't going to flat out ask for someone to lead the way either.

"Nothing with mushrooms."

Katie pipped in.

Tony gave her a curious look.

"You don't eat mushrooms? What do you put on your pizza?"

he asked. Katie could feel the suspicion radiating off of him.

"Pepperoni, sometimes with sausage."

There was a pause, as Tony was now giving her a rather judgmental look.

"What? I like my food to be edible. I hate mushrooms."

Another pause.

"They taste bad and smell weird."

There was another pause, this one longer as Katie didn't have any other excuses to make. Tony's lack of words spoke to a challenge that he wanted her to explain further, but she wouldn't take the chance. Instead she held his eye contact and continued to not speak.

"Did Natasha bring me a Skrull in disguise as a child? There's no way you're an adult."

Katie made a face.

"Are you? Did you remember to get a toy with your Happy Meal earlier?"

This, thankfully, caused Tony to break his exasperated expression and he cracked a smile instead of doubling down.

"You're wrong, because grown ups eat mushrooms, but I see why Natasha likes you."

He turned to motion for the others to follow him before he began walking.

the fighter

katie

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♡coded by uxie♡

 

[pearjuice]

Loki Laufeyson and Stephen Strange

Loki's smile only widened at Katie's hostility towards him, watching with great interest as she grabbed something off of the table and walked in front of him. He followed her out, and leaned against the door as it swung shut, Stephen's cape returning to his person. "If you get mushrooms, I'm sitting the furthest from you at the table." Stephen agreed, allowing the two to continue to talk. He was on Katie's side on this, as he liked how mushrooms tasted but he could never stand the smell of it. And knowing Tony, he'd probably ask for extra toppings because that's just how he was.

Stephen walked alongside Tony, his pace falling into line with his partners, and turned to look at the man. It was still weird to think that he was working with the Avengers when not too long ago he was a surgeon. He had the confidence and the arrogance to know his place was rightfully working alongside them, but if he had been asked where he thought he'd be in the next three years he certainly wouldn't have guessed this. He often wondered where he'd be if he never got into that car crash, but it always lead to a rather confusing train of thought. Thinking about what could've been always brought him to one person, that person being a girl named Christine Palmer. There wasn't a single universe where they were meant to be together, Stephen knew this, but he was never one for moving on. His heart stayed right where he'd last left her, outside the surgery room in the hospital they both had worked at for years. And the thoughts related to her just made him upset, so he didn't like to think any further on it. Besides, now he was the Sorcerer Supreme. That was a little cooler, if you asked him. He still got to save lives, it just wasn't the way he was expecting it to be.

Loki watched as the other two men fell into matched strides and began walking, which left him trailing behind Katie. Knowing that he wouldn't be included or taken seriously in conversation with the Avengers, he opted to look around the hallways and the outside instead. It was probably a wise idea to not mess with the people who were about to be touching his food. He didn't have much of a death wish after he so narrowly escaped the clutches of death at Thanos' hands.

Though they were underground, the part they were leaving was well lit, most likely because Tony and Bruce needed very bright lights in their labs. Thankfully the further they got from their labs the less intense the harsh lights were, eventually descending into a softer glow that didn't make his eyes burn. The hallways, floors, and ceilings were a pure white, save for the grey and black accents on the trims and other minor detailing. Up ahead Loki knew there was a garage that probably had a bunch of tech junk, but he knew that he would have to find another time to sneak off and snoop in there. He was curious to see what the great and significant Tony Stark would consider garbage. He was something of a genius, and anything he threw away was probably significant and just not up to his impossibly high standards. Loki had a feeling that the hero was especially hard on himself, so there was no doubt in the god's mind that there would be some powerful tech in there.

Something else he was curious about, too, was Katie's journal. Using his magic, he mentally skimmed through her journal to find that the only thing she'd jotted down in it was instructions on how to get to the room she was assigned. With a smirk, and as carefully as he could without jostling the journal around in her hands, he corrected one of her lines that she'd gotten wrong before going back to focus on the present.

coded by archangel_