Handcuffs

Chapter 2

Loki was practically bouncing with excitement at the mischief and fun he had found for the evening. He was much more relaxed and happy now that the pair of you were alone in the tower. You'd noticed he tended to get grumpy and stabby when there were too many people around. Especially if they were people he didn't really like or trust. He was still learning to get along with the team after the battle of New York. Especially Stark who hated him for the defenestration incident. It was hard for him to get along with them when he was kept on house arrest and babysitting except for missions. Trust went both ways.

You offered Loki that trust and friendship. He was here to help and the battle of New York had been mind control anyway, so it wasn't his fault. You kept telling the team that they needed to give him a proper chance. Some of them had come around, especially Nat, who seemed to understand him and Clint who had decided having Loki on his side was better than not having Loki on his side. He often bribed Loki with pancakes to make the god like him better. Loki wasn't above accepting bribes, especially bribes of sweets.

It had been particularly hard for Clint to accept Loki living among you, because he'd been mind controlled by Loki's actions. But he was also one of the first to accept that the mind stone had controlled Loki just as much as it had controlled Clint. Once he had accepted that, the bribes had begun.

But right now, Loki was bouncing and excited and apparently in desperate need of some mischief. He was trying to be on his best behavior in the tower in order to get off of having to have a constant babysitter. So he'd been playing only the most innocent of pranks and trying to keep the mischief to a minimum.

You knew it was driving him crazy, especially being cooped up as he was. He was the god of mischief and chaos and needed both in his life to remain happy and healthy. And sane.

Still, he was adorable as he bounced on his toes. He grabbed your hand to drag you to the lab with him. You were surprised at the contact. Loki was touch-starved, but his upbringing kept him from reaching out. He was raised to be the perfect polite prince, unlike his idiot brother. While Thor hugged everyone and thought it normal, Loki was more quiet and distanced. You could tell he usually craved more, but he also wasn't one to usually initiate contact.

Now, he had taken your hand. It was a simple contact, his hand cold and soft around yours. Though not completely soft. His fingers were callused from his work with weapons.

He grinned at you like a little boy, so excited and childish about this bit of mischief. Really, breaking into Tony's lab wasn't too terrible of trouble. Provided you didn't break anything. And you couldn't say no to that grin of Loki's. You laughed and followed him, half-running to keep up with his longer stride.

Loki dragged you into the elevator and headed down to the R&D level where Tony kept his private lab. "How exactly are you planning on getting into the lab?" You asked him as you rode the elevator. You could get onto the floor just fine, but getting into the lab itself was a problem. It was locked to Tony and very very few others. You and Loki definitely weren't on the invite list. "It's not like Jarvis is going to let us in," you reminded him. Jarvis was in fact not going to let you in. And likely tell on you the second you did break in.

"I will not let you in to Mr. Stark's lab," Jarvis confirmed from the control panel of the elevator. He was always spying except in the bedrooms. He sounded testy, so he probably didn't like that Loki was planning on breaking into Stark's lab.

Loki smirked. "I have it handled, love," he reassured you. You couldn't help your heart skipping a beat at being called 'love', despite that it was just how Loki spoke.

"And you're going to keep Jarvis from telling on us?" You asked as the elevator doors opened.

"Trust me, love," Loki replied unhelpfully. You huffed. Of course the god of lies was asking for trust.

"Alright, Lokes," you replied and let him drag you to the lab. And then straight through the lab door as if it didn't exist. You hadn't known that Loki could just walk through solid objects, but you shouldn't have been surprised.

He grinned at the shocked look on your face and you saw a shimmer of green magic as he did... something... to keep Jarvis from tattling. "Come, we don't have a lot of time," he said, to break you out of your surprise and led you to the corner of the lab where Tony's secret project was under a cover out of sight.

Loki lifted the sheet off of the table and revealed... a pair of handcuffs.

"That's pretty anticlimactic," you said dryly as you both bent closer to look over the handcuffs. "Why are these an R&D project?"

Loki bent closer, his hair falling forward. "There is something off about them," he said, his brows furrowed in concentration as he probed the handcuffs with his magic. "Like my magic bounces right off..."

"There's runes etched in them," you noted. That sounded like magic. Why was Tony messing with magic? He barely believed in magic and only did because of Loki being in his life. It was hard not to believe in magic when Loki was magic.

Loki nodded "Asgardian runes," he agreed. "Why is Stark messing with runes and magic?" He asked and reached out to touch the cuffs, his finger glowing green as he did. You figured he was trying to probe it for more information, to investigate the magic.

Unfortunately, the runes started to glow instead and the cuffs moved on their own. You shrieked, but couldn't move fast enough and before you knew how or why, one manacle was around your wrist, the other around Loki's of your still joined hands.

"Well... that was unexpected," Loki said dryly.