Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 5

By the time he'd blinked in surprise enough times to clear his head, Morgan was gone. He was still shocked she would have done that.

Why did she do that?

She never would have if she knew the monster he was.

Yet, Loki hoped that that behavior would continue. He found he liked it very much indeed.

Even without leaving his room while she was gone, he found that the tower was even lonlier without the bright little Stark in it. He found he really wanted her home.

He lit up in delight, a couple hours later when there was a familiar soft knock on his bedroom door. He rushed over eagerly to open it and found Morgan outside, holding a brown paper takeout bag. He had a bright smile when he saw her. He wasn't going for a bright smile. Just a small one.

Where did that come from?

He blamed the intriging little Midgardian.

And found he didn't mind in the least. This feeling was happy and he'd missed happy desperately. He just hadn't quite realized how much in his misery and self-hatred.

"How was lunch, little one?" Loki asked her in greeting.

Her smile was bright enough to warm him. "Not bad. The food was good at least," she replied a little vaguely. "I brought you something," she added, much happier about that prospect and held up the paper takeout bag.

As soon as she raised the paper bag, Loki could smell the slice of chocolate cake inside and his eyes lit up in aboslute delight. His love of sweets had not escaped her notice and it warmed his heart that she had cared enough to bring him back something. He took the bag from her eagerly and she laughed as the bag was practially ripped from her hand. "I think sweets are my one weakness. Especially my mother's chocolate cake," Loki replied to her laughter.

She gave him a warm smile. "Then I hope you enjoy," she told him.

"Thank you, little one." She nodded in reply and turned to leave him be. She was still shy about barging in on his solitude. Loki didn't want her to leave. At all. "Would you like to keep me company?" he asked her softly, afraid she would say no.

Instead, she paused and turned back to him. "Only if you want company," she replied carefully. She realy didn't want to intrude.

"I would enjoy your company. I'd like to hear about your lunch with Lady Potts," he added. He really did want to hear how the lunch went. She'd been worried about it. And Loki found that he cared.

She nodded and followed him into his room, resuming her spot on his couch and wrapping herself in the blanket he'd left there for her. He kept his room cold and he knew she chilled easily since she was still recovering from her time in the hospital. She told him about her lunch while he devoured his cake happily. He noticed, though that she kept all of her comments positive and spoke mostly about the food she ate and not about Pepper. "You are avoiding the topic, darling," he accused when she'd failed to mention anything about Pepper.

She sighed heavily, though she noticed that her term of endearment had been upgraded to 'darling'. That had to be a good sign. "She's doing the same thing everyone but you has," Morgan grumbled, opening up to Loki. Loki realized that this conversation wasn't something she would dare tell anyone else, as it might get back to Pepper, who she wouldn't risk offending. Loki was pleased to be her confidant.

He wanted to be more.

"And no one ever means it," Morgan added in a whine and her whine dragged Loki from his thoughts.