You barely saw Loki over the next few weeks. Since your powers and abilities were nearly identical, you were getting split up on missions where the team was split on separate missions. Which was happening more and more often it seemed.

School started and you somehow added a full class load to your other responsibilities. Your 19th birthday came and went with a party with your friends.

Loki had to go on a mission with most of the team while you were without your powers that month. You stayed behind at the tower. He was beyond livid when he found out you'd been left alone in the tower those three days with no protections, because the rest of the team had gotten called out to a separate mission. He yelled at Cap for a day straight for letting you be in danger, and wouldn't listen that you were perfectly fine and safe. Loki vowed he was never allowing that to happen again.

*

Somehow you both got a Saturday off together. Neither of you were sure how that happened, but you weren't questioning it either. You intended to sleep in that morning, but stirred when you realized that Loki wasn't in the bed with you. That wasn't right.

So you climbed out of bed to go find your wayward Loki.

It took some hunting, but you finally found him in the kitchen cooking. You smiled and stepped up behind where he was working at the stove, wrapping your arms around his waist from behind and kissing the nape of his neck, in the spot he loved having kissed, but was usually hidden by hair. He'd tied his hair back while he cooked. "Morning witchling," he greeted you warmly. "You were supposed to wait in bed until I brought you breakfast," he told you with a small pout.

You laughed in reply at how adorable he was with his plans thwarted. "You weren't in bed, so I had to come find you," you informed him. His smile lit up his eyes and he kissed you, touched that you would come find him just because he wasn't in the bed. "You're being awfully romantic this morning," you teased as he steered you to a little two-person table and chairs that had appeared in the kitchen. The table had a little vase with a single rose in it at the middle of the table. Loki kissed your cheek when he had seated you.

"Do I need a reason to dote upon my darling?" he asked warmly.

You gave him a wary look. "No, but you often do when you're going to these extremes. What mischief are you up to, Trickster?" you asked him firmly. He laughed and went to finish making breakfast.

"I have done nothing. There is something I wished to ask you, though," he admitted carefully, obviously watching his words. Silver tongued trickster...

"So bribery?" you asked with a grin as he set a plate of pancakes in front of you before he took the other seat at the table.

"Nothing so sinister," he reassured you. He wasn't lying, so you dug into your pancakes.

"How are these so good?" you moaned softly, savoring the pancakes. He was such a good cook.

He chuckled. You always loved his cooking on the rare occasions you actually got him to cook. "I am glad my lady is pleased," he preened under your praise. You ate your breakfast in companionable conversation over light things, mostly caching up on recent missions.

Right when it seemed that Loki had plucked up the courage to ask you whatever his question was, Thor stomped half-asleep into the room and made his way directly to the pot of coffee. You didn't see how, but somehow when Thor was turning to get his mug, he dropped the entire pot down Loki's back. The pot was fresh and nearly boiling hot. Loki howled in pain and you jumped to your feet, summoning a towel at the same time.

"Thor you blasted blundering oaf!" Loki yelled, writhing in pain as you got him to lean forward. You wiped as much of the coffee off of him as you could and removed his shirt with magic so you could see the burn damage. It was awful. Loki was already susceptible to heat because of his frost giant heritage, any kind of burn damage to him was always so much worse than on a human.

"Oh gods, Brother, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Thor was saying while Loki whimpered in pain, resting his head on his folded arms on the table so you could work unimpeded on his back.

"Shh, love, it'll be ok," you soothed as you placed your glowing hands gently on his back to begin to heal the damage. He hissed when your hands touched him. "I'm sorry, love, I'm sorry," you told him gently as you worked. "Sorry, love, burns are hard. I know, I know, just a minute," you said softly, trying to sooth the awful pained sounds he was making as you work. "Thor, I am going to stab you for this," you growled while Loki whimpered so pathetically you were tempted to just stab Thor right now. "Thor, get me ice from the freezer," you ordered firmly. Loki protested in a whimper. "I know, darling, I know. I need to make sure your other form heals too, if it weren't a burn I'd trust the healing," you told him. "And I know you won't voluntarily change forms," you added grumpily, hating forcing him to do it "so I'm sorry for this," you finished softly as Thor handed you all of the ice he could get from the freezer. You began carefully placing it on Loki's back, starting at the nape of his neck. At least he didn't move or protest anymore. He shivered as his Jotun form took over, affected by the cold. You were right to check, as his back still needed more work before it was completely healed. "There now, all fixed," you told him softly.

"Take care of him, I'll clean up here," Thor ordered.

You nodded and wrapped one of Loki's arms over your shoulders, one of your arms around his waist and hauled him to his feet. "Come on, love. You reek of coffee," you told him gently and steered him from the room, glad he was recovered enough to at least walk, even if you had to support him.

You realized when you saw the shocked expressions on the others' faces as they were slowly making their way to the kitchen for breakfast that they had never seen Loki's Jotun form before. It wasn't something he willingly showed everyone, even you had only seen it a couple of times. "What happened?" Nat asked, rushing over to offer to help. She seemed the least phased by Loki's appearance.

"Accident in the kitchen. Don't touch him. His skin will frost-burn humans," you warned. Loki was still shirtless and you didn't want Nat to get hurt. Asgardians were less susceptible, unless the frost giant was actively trying to hurt them. Loki was groggy, thank all the gods, or he would have been so embarrassed to be seen like this. Burns were draining, especially for him, even after being healed. "Stark, if you say one word, or if I hear the word 'smurf' come out of your mouth, I am going to throw you bodily through that window," you pointed at one to emphasize your threat. Loki made a soft noise. You had to get him out of here before he became more aware of his surroundings. "C'mon love," you bid him gently and steered him to the elevator.

You had him naked in the ice cold shower before he finally came back to himself. Loki stiffened when he realized what was going on. "You shouldn't-" he started, embarrassed. "I appreciate, but-" he was flustered.

You rolled your eyes and took pity on him, sighing dramatically. "Love, firstly, I'm a healer, I knew what the male body looked like long before I saw yours. Secondly, I have seen the show. From every angle. Sometimes multiple times a night. Why are you suddenly shy?"

"You've never seen me like this!" he protested, gesturing toward his body.

"Naked? Sure I have. Plenty of times. Including just last night," you replied innocently, ignoring what he was actually getting at.

He glared at your purposeful ignorance of his actual point. "Jotun" he clarified, gesturing again to his very blue body.

You shrugged. "How many times do I have to tell you that I don't care what form you have? You're still gorgeous in any of them, and still my Loki," he finally relaxed then, hearing the open honesty in your voice. He kissed you while you shivered under the ice cold shower. "What was it you were going to ask?" you asked him through chattering teeth.

He smiled and kissed your forehead. "Later, dearest. This shower is helping me, but it is much too cold for little witchlings. Go warm up while I get rid of the rest of this coffee stench," you kissed him again lightly before you got out of the shower to go hide under the fluffy blankets on your bed until you could stop shivering.

*

"Darling, come on, we have to practice. Stark is having the ball tomorrow," Loki told you once he was out of the shower, dressed, and back to normal form.

"Loki, we know the moves, we don't need to practice," you protested, finally warm again.

His lips were against your ear, sending a pleasant shiver down your spine when he spoke again. "Witchling, we will look quite ridiculous if we cannot do the Asgardian dances properly," he whispered.

"Fine," you relented and climbed out of the bed with its nice fluffy blankets. A shimmer of magic and you were wearing a floor length ball gown. You headed down to the ballroom with Loki to practice. He was, of course, in a suit. "Weren't you going to ask me something?" you reminded him when you had reached the middle of the ballroom floor.

"Dance with me first?" he asked, holding his hand out to you palm up.

You smiled at your silly trickster and placed your hand in his. "Of course. That is why we're down here after all," you laughed. He chuckled and shifted position for the beginning of For the Dancing and the Dreaming. You shifted to mirror his pose. The music started and so the dance and the singing. You were right that you didn't need to practice. You both knew the dance so well it was unthinking grace and joy in the fun of the movements of the dance together.

You were on the very last line of the song when Tony burst into the room. "Good! You're here!" he announced loudly while Loki growled in anger and frustration. Thor, Pepper, and Nat joined him and you had to spend the next couple of hours helping Tony and Pepper finish polishing the dance for the ball tomorrow. Loki was an upset frustrated mess the entire time, which just amused them.

Nat dragged you away afterwards to show off some new weapon while your friends laughed at Loki's growing frustration and rage. They were having too much fun teasing him.

*

Something was going on, since the team kept passing you from teammate to teammate on some urgent repair or healing or piece of magic they needed, all the while Loki's temper frayed and frayed. Whatever game they were playing was dangerous indeed.

Loki finally stole you back that evening when you got finished healing a cut Clint had gotten fixing something in the air vents. Loki was wearing his perfectly tailored all black suit when he found you. You smiled when you saw him. "Put on something nice, witchling. I'm taking you out for dinner. And none of our friends will be interrupting," he bid you with a smile. You used magic to don a black and green dress, heels, and do your hair and makeup. Magic was damn useful.

"Nice enough?" you asked. He smiled warmly, took your hand, and lifted it to his lips to kiss your knuckles.

"You look wonderful darling," he replied. He moved your hand to his arm and led you from the tower.

He drove you to a familiar fancy restaurant. It was the one where you'd had your first date. This time he didn't have to tell you to stand tall and not be afraid of entering such a fancy place. You'd lived in a palace for over a month during the summer and were very nearly a princess. You could handle something as simple as eating at a fancy restaurant, even when paparazzi showed up and took pictures of the two of you. It was a common occurrence and happened to all of the Avengers when they left the tower.

The meal was delicious and it was nice to spend a nice quiet evening out with Loki. It was a rarity these days.

It would have been perfect had you not received an emergency call right as they were bringing dessert out to you. Loki growled as the call came over the comms that the team needed you. They were fighting hydra agents and Clint, Nat, and Thor were all wounded. You sighed and folded your napkin. Loki growled in frustration, patted the pocked of his jacket, and then folded his own napkin to stand before you. You apologized to the wait staff for having to miss dessert, dropped way more cash on the table than you bill would actually cost, used magic to don your battle armor to the cheers of the restaurant, and teleported with Loki to the location Cap had given.

The battle was brutal. Loki covered you while you healed your fallen teammates. Once that was done, you got to the battle proper.

"Loki~ they're being so mean," you whined, automatically starting up your playful banter with Loki.

"I know, dearest, we were having such a nice evening too,"

You smacked one hard with Mjolnir. "You. Interrupted. My. Date." You told the men surrounding you as you smacked them with Mjolnir. You tossed the hammer back to Thor when he reached for it.

Daggers drawn, you whirled and fought, wondering why these morons even bothered. They had to know they were going to lose. "Shall I kill them for you, darling?" Loki asked.

"Well, they are trying to kill us. It's quite rude. Plus they ruined my date,"

"As my lady wishes," Loki replied with an elegant bow and jumped right back into the battle. "I still have not had the opportunity to ask you that question from this morning," he whined as he worked.

You laughed. "So you're going to ask now?"

"I was going to ask at breakfast this morning, and then at the end of the dance, and then during dessert," he whined. You were laughing when you turned to him.

"And what was so important to ask me?" you asked with a grin.

He dropped to one knee, holding out a ring box.

The entire battle froze, staring in disbelief that Loki would propose in the middle of battle. You thought it was perfect.

Someone broke the silence, firing off a shot at Loki and missed. "Excuse you, I am trying to propose here. Rude..." Loki commented and casually threw a dagger at the shooter. The guy fell to the ground an instant later. "Now, where was I?" he turned his attention back to you, but his casual killing of the shooter had unfrozen the battle and it raged on more vicious than ever.

You offered him a hand when he had to stand again, growling at getting interrupted again. But he couldn't continue what he was doing when you were both being actively shot at. Neither of you were bullet proof and a lot of attention and care went to keeping you alive during "Shall we?" you asked. He took your hand and with more power than truly necessary, your magic burst across the battle, taking out everyone and nearly everything that wasn't a teammate or civilian.

"Seriously, why don't you two start with that spell?" Tony demanded. You went to Loki and laid your head on his chest tiredly. You'd had to use quite a bit of power today. Your response to Tony was to flip him off.

"It's fucking exhausting to use that spell," you growled, power drain and exhaustion sharpening your temper.

Suddenly your back was to Loki, one of his arms around your waist in a way that pinned your arms to your sides and pinned you against him. He casually reached a hand up to your ear and gently removed the comm device, throwing it to the ground at Cap's feet, since he was the closest. His own comm landed at Cap's feet a moment later. His hand sneaked into the pocket of your costume and he pulled out your phone, tossing it with his on the pile with the comm devices. Loki's hand clamped over your mouth before you could protest. "I am kidnapping the healer," he snarled at the others, a malicious growl in his tone. You made a soft noise behind his hand. "Hush," he told you gently. The others were looking on with a mix of tentative laughter and tentative fear. They weren't entirely convinced he was joking.

"Brother," Thor's voice was a warning. He wasn't convinced Loki was joking either. Loki's grip tightened on you and he glared at the others.

"Like I said, I am kidnapping the healer, hiding her away where you will never find her. I will return her in time for the ball tomorrow evening, provided you do not come looking for her," Loki told them, a hint of a smirk in his voice since they weren't fighting to get you back. They were wary, but nearly trusted that this was a joke, a trick. Besides, Loki wouldn't actually hurt you.

"Have fun," Thor teased, he saw the glint of mischief in Loki's eyes. The game of interrupting Loki's proposal was over. Loki inclined his head and the next moment the two of you were gone.

You reappeared in a hidden nook of a rose garden, the full moon and stars above you the only light. It looked so similar to Loki's favorite alcove in the palace gardens of Asgard. "Finally, some quiet," he purred as he finally let you go. You turned to face him with a smile.

"So you're kidnapping me?" you asked with a grin.

"Verily, it was the only way that I would be able to do this without my idiot brother and his stupid friends interrupting," he dropped gracefully back to one knee, holding out the ring in its box. "I know we are already betrothed on Asgard, but that was not our decision, nor Midgardian tradition. So I wanted to ask, my darling witchling, if you will do me the honor of being my wife?"

"Yes!" you agreed automatically, touched that he had thought about the traditions you grew up with and actively realizing for the first time that this wedding you were going to go through on Asgard wasn't really just to appease his people.

You truly loved Loki and absolutely wanted to spend the rest of your very long lives together.

He slid the ring carefully on your finger as he stood and an instant later his lips were on yours.