You Have Heart

Chapter 14

"I think you broke her," Clint said when you couldn't do more than stare in shock at Tony's offer.

"I did no such thing!" Tony protested. "All I did was offer her a job! I didn't even do anything!" He whined. The group laughed. Clearly, they were used to Tony whining. It seemed like a common occurrence around the tower.

"Y-you're changing my entire life, in the best possible way," you managed to say, snapping out of your haze. "This is an amazing opportunity-"

Tony waved your thanks off before you could even get started. "Nothing against you kid, but I'm not just offering you a job to help you out," he started to explain. You raised an eyebrow in what you would come to realize was a very Loki-like expression. "Steve, you wanna take over? You're better at this sort of thing."

"We would feel more comfortable if you were working at an organization that we know, such as Stark Industries. You're affiliated with the Avengers now, you'll be living here with us, Loki is your soulmate. That will make you a target on more than one front. Most of us either only work as Avengers, or work for the government or Stark Industries. We know the security at Stark's company is top notch," Steve explained easily in his good ol' boy charming way. The way he was explaining things gave you the impression that he was leaving something out. You just hadn't figured out exactly what it was yet.

"So you're doing this to protect me?" You asked. Steve nodded and you saw a hint of relief in his expression. He didn't seem like one who could hide his feelings well, not like Nat or Clint, the spies.

That couldn't be the entire reason. Not with what Tony had said. Then you thought about it some more. Tony wasn't just offering you a job to help you out. That's what he'd said. Why else would he be offering you a job? Then something Steve said caught your attention. Loki was your soulmate.

"That's not the only reason, is it?" You asked suspiciously. Loki looked over at you and you could see that he was impressed that you'd figured it out.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked, feigning innocence.

You rolled your eyes. "I may be new here, but I'm not dumb. I heard what you said. You're not offering me a job just to help me out, which means you have an ulterior motive. All of the reasons Steve gave were reasons that would be to help me out: protecting me. Except for one thing he said: that I'm Loki's soulmate," you explained to them. "There's two reasons why that matters. One, it puts a target on my back like you said, but two it makes me someone you want to... we'll say keep an eye on. We all know the Battle of New York wasn't Loki's fault," the team all nodded, their agreement when you paused to make sure they all knew that. "But if even a tenth of the stories in Norse mythology about you are true, then you're a morally grey hero who would sacrifice everyone and everything to save his soulmate," you addressed that part to Loki. You noted that Loki didn't deny your assessment of him. "And I'm a complete unknown.

So you're offering me a job so you can determine if the girl who the universe deemed worthy of being Loki's soulmate can be trusted,"