Thankfully it was a short drive to the school. You and Peter had to share the backseat of the car and if he shot you one more adoring puppy-dog look you were going to kick his ass before Loki had the chance. Just because you'd saved his life didn't mean he needed to be an adoring puppy about it. You might have been a bit defensive without your powers. Just a bit...

When Happy pulled up to the school, Loki was out of the car first and almost instantly at your car door to open it for you. You had expected nothing less, so you hadn't even bothered to try to open it for yourself. He held the door open and offered you a hand. You took it and let him help you from the car. You grabbed your bag and books and walked into the school, a little nervous at the attention Loki was getting. Loki pretended not to notice. He was walking with you, one step behind, acting for all the world like a perfect bodyguard.

"Isn't that Loki, the guy who tried to take over the world?"

"Nah, it must just be someone who looks like him,"

Your first stop was to the office. Jarvis had sent you a message that Loki had to sign in as your guard. It was already set up with the staff, but they still had to make everything official. It only took a minute and some very shocked expressions on the receptionists' faces when Loki signed in as 'Loki Laufeyson'. They didn't quite believe it was him until he produced an illusion rose for each of them.

"Flatterer," you laughed at him as you walked from the office. He chuckled and followed you to your locker. You spent a few minutes there, carefully taping up the new pictures to add to your collection. You had pictures of the Avengers taped all over you locker, collected over the past few years. Some were serious, most were silly. Some had been stolen when your teammates weren't paying attention. The one of you and Loki got a place of honor right where you'd see it every time you'd open your locker. It went right next to the one of Loki kissing your hand on your first date, that Pepper had taken. Loki took a minute to look over the pictures and laughed at some of them, especially the one of Thor with the post-it note on his forehead.

"Hey, Y/N," Peter's voice called from down the hall. He was approaching, only a couple lockers away now. Great, just what you needed.

"Hey Peter," you greeted him with a smile, trying to be pleasant to him. Under normal circumstances you would have been. Poor kid didn't know you were a bitch without your powers. Loki put a hand on the small of your back, a reassuring gesture. You gave him a small smile. You were ok. The bell rang the warning that it was time to go to class, saving you from having an awkward strained conversation with Peter. "Sorry! I'll see you later! I can't be late to first period again or Magister Wilger will give me detention." You called, slamming your locker door shut and hefting your morning books more securely in your arms. "This way, Loki," you rushed into the now-crowded hallway. Loki followed close behind and his presence kept the students from crowding you. You didn't know how he did it, but you were grateful for it. "You're going to be bored out of your mind today," you warned him.

"I surely hope so, witchling. I would rather you be safe than I be entertained,"

"I'll be so glad to get my powers back," you sighed heavily. "Or at least be allowed to be armed again,"

"Darling, trust me. You are safe with me," Loki bid you gently.

"I know and I do trust you, but I hate having to rely on someone else for my safety,"

Loki laughed. "You have had fighting lessons from Lady Natasha. You can take care of yourself even without your powers," he reminded you. You finally relaxed when the crowd thinned out some. You opened the door to your classroom and stepped inside, Loki following directly behind you.

"Magister Wilger, this is the guard Captain Rogers assigned me after last night's incident. Thank you for letting him sit in on class with me," you greeted your teacher extra politely. After that was taken care of, you picked a seat in the back corner of the room where Loki could stand nearby without being in the way. You pulled out your homework and the text you were currently translating.

A line of handwriting appeared in your notebook shortly into class. It wasn't your writing, but Loki's. At least he used a blank piece of paper, instead of one with your notes on translations on it. Why are you studying Latin?

It was mandatory to take a foreign language and Latin was the only one that would fit in my schedule. You ripped that piece of paper out of your notebook and set it aside, taking notes on other pages so you could keep talking to Loki on that page.

Why did they pick this boring text to read?

Because they hate us and want us to suffer.

"Miss Y/N, please translate the next line," Magister Wilger prompted. You looked over the text. You'd only been half paying attention while you were talking with Loki, but you translated the line anyway.

Class continued without issue until toward the very end. "Does your guard for the day know any Latin?" Magister Wilger asked with a hint of scorn in his voice. It seemed that he had recognized Loki and wasn't pleased with his presence. You had expected the students to be trouble, not the teachers, not with Cap's backing.

Loki inclined his head regally. "I do," he replied pleasantly, but you could see the dangerous glint in his eye, even if the stupid teacher couldn't. Magister Wilger stepped away from his podium, offering it to Loki.

"Would you regale us with a recitation? I'm sure the students would love to hear a voice besides mine speaking the language,"

"That is Loki," some of the students started whispering. Loki looked at you. You shrugged. It was up to him. You were in the back corner of the room, perfectly safe here. If he wanted to embarrass the teacher with his silver tongue, that was perfectly up to him.

He stepped up to the front of the room gracefully. You grinned at his expression. The teacher was doomed. He never should have called Loki out. Loki took the place behind the podium with a small regal bow to the teacher. Magister Wilger seemed to finally realize he had made a terrible mistake by calling Loki out. It was too late to do anything about it, though.

Loki spoke then, his words warm honey and his inflection perfect. You could sense that every single person in the room was affected by his recitation, but even though he scanned the room as he spoke, his eyes locked on yours for one single moment and you knew the words were really spoken for you:

Ama me fideliter,

fidem meam nota,

de corde totaliter

et ex mente tota,

sum presentialiter

alens in remota

You had been studying Latin for four years and this was an AP level class. Everyone in the room could, and did translate the words as he spoke them, since he spoke them slowly and clearly enough for the room to keep up:

Love me faithfully,

Know my loyalty,

With all your heart,

With all your mind.

I am closest to you

Even when I am far away

There were gasps from the room when the students had finished translating in their heads. You just smiled at him, inclining you head to let him know that you had gotten that the message was for you.

It took every ounce of your self control not to laugh aloud at his next stunt. He gave you a mischievous grin. He knew exactly what he was doing when he recited Catullus' Carmen 16, and he enjoyed every second of the horror on Magister Wilger's face, and the shocked delight on the students'. It was never taught in public high school as it was the dirtiest, filthiest poem you had ever heard of.

Do not worry. The administration will not hear of this Loki's writing appeared on the page you had been writing notes to each other on during class. You saw the glimmer of green magic and nodded. You'd be safe from fallout from this little piece of mischief. Thankfully, the bell rang the second Loki's recitation was over. You shoved you things haphazardly in your bag, collected your mischief-loving boyfriend, and left the room before Magister Wilger could try to kill Loki for that stunt.

You couldn't help erupting into a fit of giggles when you were safely out of the room. That stunt had been perfect, especially as Loki had used magic to make sure it was a safe trick that you both couldn't get in trouble for.

The rest of the morning passed pretty uneventfully. You and Loki wrote notes through your classes and you were both way less bored because of it. None of the other teachers called him out or tried to embarrass him, which was good for their sake.

At lunch you stopped by your locker to swap out your morning books for the afternoon ones and Loki took the opportunity to look over your collection of pictures again. You led him through the lunch line and tried to tell him to get a lunch, but he protested that he was on duty. You rolled your eyes at him, but saw the look in his eyes that arguing was futile.

"Y/N!" one of your friends called, waving you over to their table. You sat down with them and chatted for awhile. Peter joined your table, as unobtrusively as possible. You were friendly to him, but not any more so than you were to the others. Loki was standing nearby.

"Your guard is totally hot. Is he taken?" one of the girls asked.

"Sorry, he's got a girlfriend," you replied innocently. You weren't supposed to advertise that he was dating you, but you could at least protect him from a bunch of teenage girls throwing themselves at him. You didn't realize you were playing with the bracelet he had given you for your birthday.

"Damn! Is it serious?"

You couldn't help laughing. "I wouldn't try to break them up," you replied instead.

"Is he really Loki?" You nodded and they squealed in delight.

"Yes, Loki's working with the Avengers now," you shrugged. "But he's the rookie on the team and got stuck with guarding me today." It was a plausible reason, even if it was a lie.

"Why you?" one of them demanded.

"You guys know I live there..." you hedged. You didn't go advertising your abilities, even to these friends.

One of them knew, though. You'd healed her once. Before she could open your mouth to save you, one of the boys spoke up. "Who would be stupid enough to date Loki?" he grumbled. You laughed right along with the girls. You knew that Loki was eavesdropping on the entire conversation. Thankfully the girls gave up after that and started talking about the attack on Queens last night.

When everyone was getting up to go to their next classes, you handed a wrapped sandwich to Loki. He hadn't noticed you grab the extra sandwich when you went through the line. He must have been so used to living with warriors that he hadn't even thought it was weird. "You didn't eat lunch," you told him when he raised an eyebrow in question.

"I am on duty," he repeated, trying to hand the sandwich back to you. You rolled your eyes. You had planned this too.

"I'm going in there," you indicated the bathroom that was right off of the cafeteria. "Where you can't follow. I've seen you eat. While you're not as bad as Thor, I know you can have that devoured by the time I get back." He didn't argue with that logic. He looked shocked and impressed that you had thought enough of him to make sure he was taken care of too.

"Thank you," was all he said in reply, but you heard the sincerity, vulnerability, and ... hope in his voice.

You turned to walk to the bathroom, but stopped short when you heard the terrifying sound of a gun being cocked.