Giftless

Chapter 13

You groaned when your alarm started blaring the next morning. As you were fumbling for it to turn it off, you heard a chuckle coming from the chair beside your bed. You shot up in surprise at hearing another voice in your room, drawing the emergency repulsor that lived under your pillow automatically. It took a moment to relax, to realize that it was Loki, your boyfriend, guard, and babysitter. Loki chuckled as you deactivated the repulsor. You were just glad you hadn't blasted him first and asked questions later. That's what Tony would have had you do. You glared at him for laughing as you shut off your alarm.

"I wasn't expecting you to still be here," you explained sheepishly as you stashed the repulsor back under your pillow where it belonged.

"Twenty-four hour guard, darling," Loki reminded you with a chuckle as you sat up properly, your blanket pooling in your lap. "Let's try this again," he continued with a smirk. "Good morning, darling," he greeted you overly pleasantly, a smirk on his face at the contrast of being greeted with a repulsor aimed at his face. "I surmise by the early hour that we are heading to your school today? It will be interesting to see a human school," he mused.

"You're coming to school with me?" you asked him incredulously as you climbed out of bed and stretched. You never had guards at school and you couldn't imagine Loki actually coming there with you.

Loki chuckled again. "Must I define 'twenty-four hour guard' for you again, my dear?" he teased.

"I didn't think that extended to inside the actual school," you admitted. "No one has ever followed me into the school building, just dropped me off at the door." You wondered why security was upped so much for this threat. There had been threats before, what made this one so special?

You turned to Loki again. He had risen from the chair he had spent the night in, probably to see what you were doing. "Twenty-four hour surveillance does not include watching me get dressed," you informed him firmly. You weren't negotiating on that one. You shoved him bodily out of your bedroom, into your sitting-room and shut the door firmly behind him.

He mock-protested at the treatment, but he was laughing the entire time, so you knew he didn't mean it. "How am I to guard you, if I cannot see you?" he complained from the other side of the door in a mock-whine.

You heard his laughter and couldn't help laughing too. This was a great way to start your Monday morning. "You'll find a way," you informed him through your giggles. You managed to brush your teeth, do your hair, and get dressed in record time. You didn't want to see what the bored trickster would come up with to 'guard' you. You checked your tie in the mirror to make sure you had managed to tie the stupid thing correctly, double checked your hair to make sure it was pretending to behave for five minutes, and finally opened the door to the sitting-room to see Loki standing right on the other side, dressed in his battle armor. "See, I can survive ten minutes without you," you informed him dryly.

"So it seems," he replied warmly and offered you his hand. "Shall we?"

"I just need my-" you were going to say 'school bag', but you noticed that Loki was carrying it already. You reached for it, but he refused to hand it over. "Loki, I need that," you protested, trying to reach past him to get it.

"Of course, darlin, that is why I am carrying it," he replied, quite logically. You sighed and took his hand.

"You are a creature made entirely of silliness," you informed him as you walked from your suite hand-in-hand.

He laughed, a big booming laugh usually more fit to his brother. "Mischief and chaos, love, not silliness," he corrected.

"I'm not seeing much difference," you replied and stuck your tongue out at him.