"You're back?"

Passing through the compound's living room, Natasha and Clint were in front of the television, deep in a video game.

Hearing footsteps, Natasha called out without turning around, fingers never stopping, and the on-screen avatar knocked Clint's flat with one clean, decisive hit.

"Oh man." Clint waved a hand in defeat and set down the controller. "Looks like I need to go take some serious lessons from Cooper before I even think about playing you again."

Cooper was Clint's eldest, right at that age where video games were basically a religion.

Natasha only raised an eyebrow. Casually, Natasha beckoned the newly returned Yang Luoluo and the others to sit down, calling over with a teasing lilt, "Anytime, Mr. Barton Who Has Never Once Beaten Me."

"How was it? Did you have fun today?" Before Clint could get a word in, Natasha turned to look at them, tone warm and easy, every inch the group parent.

"It was awesome!" Peter answered, practically vibrating. "We even made a new friend today!"

Yang Luoluo nodded along.

"Kate is seriously incredible! She does archery, fencing, taekwondo, jiu-jitsu, boxing — all of it!" Peter's eyes went wide, lit up from the inside. This had all come out over dinner. Apparently Kate had been competing since she was little, and the trophies and medals at her house had filled an entire room.

Peter had always had a deep and genuine admiration for that kind of overachiever.

The moment Clint heard "archery," both ears pricked straight up.

"Kate?" Natasha's expression shifted, a flash of genuine surprise.

Yang Luoluo caught it immediately. "Natasha, do you know Kate?"

That didn't make sense. Could this be another ripple effect from her own presence here?

Natasha nodded, then shook her head. Seeing their confused faces, Natasha laughed before explaining.

"You could say I know of her — one-sidedly. Do you remember Yelena?"

Yang Luoluo nodded.

Yelena Belova was Natasha's sister. No blood between them, but the two had been close as children in ways that counted. Some time ago, Yang Luoluo had resurrected Yelena. Nobody knew what Natasha and Yelena had talked about in that room afterward. What everyone did know was that Yelena had left the compound alone, and aside from Natasha, no one knew where Yelena had gone.

"From what I understand, Yelena is staying at Kate's place right now. They seem to get along pretty well."

"They even adopted a stray dog together. Called something like... Pizza Dog?" Natasha shrugged. The confusion on Natasha's face made it clear: Natasha had no idea how Yelena had met Kate, or how two people like that had somehow clicked so completely.

Yang Luoluo's mouth fell open.

"So... does every Black Widow have to be friends with a Hawkeye? Is that some kind of unwritten rule?"

Clint, suddenly finding the spotlight turned directly on himself:!

"So that kid could be the next Hawkeye." Natasha's interest switched on. One moment slumped lazily against the sofa, the next sitting fully upright, looking at Clint with barely concealed amusement. "I remember the girl's archery being genuinely impressive. Not quite your level yet, but far beyond what you'd call ordinary."

Natasha nodded with certainty.

Out of concern for Yelena, Natasha had quietly looked into Kate at some point. But Bishop Security was already a well-known firm, and with Kate being the sole heir of the Bishop family, most of the relevant information was right there online without any deep digging required. Natasha had been briefly blinded by the sheer length of Kate's tournament accolade list.

Under Natasha's thoroughly amused stare, Clint drifted back an inch without appearing to notice.

"Come on. I have zero plans to train a successor right now. Never mind that she's just decent at archery — even if she were a genuine prodigy, I'd still have zero such plans."

Clint's voice came out helpless. Clint didn't feel anywhere near retirement age, and the one real threat to a career like this, the hearing loss from years of accumulated injuries, was already recovering, slowly but surely, under the care of the doctor Tony had arranged.

Natasha saw right through it. "Who said you have to wait until retirement to take on an apprentice? She could just be your partner. Two sharpshooters working in sync, I think the results would be pretty interesting."

Before Clint could answer, Peter jumped in.

"That's such a shame." Peter pouted, visibly deflated. "I was kind of hoping Kate and I could be colleagues someday. She said she wanted to become a superhero just as amazing as her idol Hawkeye." A long, suffering sigh. "Guess there's no chance of that now. Alas..."

Her idol was him?

Clint zeroed in on that detail.

As the only ordinary human in the Avengers, no superpowers, no physical enhancements, nothing, Hawkeye's name recognition and presence were, compared to everyone else on the team, pretty dismal. And now here was a young girl who'd named him as her idol?

Clint cleared his throat. Twice. Gaze drifting just slightly, voice carefully casual.

"Then again. Since it's rare to come across a kid with genuine archery talent, taking her under my wing wouldn't exactly be off the table."

"Really?! Kate is going to be absolutely thrilled, her favorite, coolest idol Hawkeye is actually willing to train her personally!"

"Ha, did she really say that? I have to say, that kid has excellent taste..."

Natasha and Yang Luoluo looked at each other. Both of them swallowed the laughter that was threatening to spill out.

Whether this seemingly simple, wide-eyed Peter had done that on purpose or not, well, it looked like they'd be meeting a new teammate very soon.

...

How thrilled Kate was when she got Peter's message, Yang Luoluo had no idea. What she did know was that she needed to get out of this room right now.

"Ahem."

The living room had been warm and easy, laughter bouncing around, and then a single quiet clearing of a throat cut through all of it.

Yang Luoluo looked toward the sound.

Loki stood in the doorway, watching them without expression.

"I believe we need to talk."

The words landed cool and precise. Behind her, Natasha, ever enthusiastic about a good show, was already giving her a pointed nudge forward. Thoroughly backstabbed, Yang Luoluo felt like crying, but had no choice but to drag her feet in Loki's direction.

It's over. There's no avoiding this.

Natasha settled back and watched them go, chin propped on one hand, a faint smile on Natasha's lips. Yang Luoluo felt that gaze like needles between her shoulder blades.

Everyone else saw only the cold expression on Loki's face. Natasha saw more than that. Beneath the impassive surface, the emotions in Loki's eyes were running fast and turbulent, and the hand hanging naturally at his side was quietly pressing into the fabric of his clothes.

He was nervous.

Yang Luoluo and Loki disappeared around the corner.

Clint stared at Natasha in disbelief. Natasha had been holding Clint down with both hands just seconds ago. "You're just letting Luoluo walk off with that guy? You wouldn't even let me stop her!"

"We're done for, we're done for. Loki is bad news, that evil god, did you see that expression? It looked like Luoluo owed him a million dollars!"

"No way! I have to go check on them. What if Luoluo gets hurt?!"

Clint paced in anxious circles, clapped both hands together, and the moment one foot lifted off the ground, Natasha hauled Clint straight back down.

"Your bias against Loki is really something else, you know that?" Natasha was draped lazily against the sofa, showing not even a trace of urgency. Looking at Clint with something close to bafflement: "You're literally the only person on this team with a spouse and kids. How are you not seeing something this obvious?"

Clint paused. Then drew in a sharp breath. "You mean..."

"Mm-hmm." Natasha nodded and threw in a mildly withering look for good measure. "Honestly didn't expect you to miss it entirely."

Clint curled his lip at that, but gave up on following them. Couldn't fully put his mind at ease, though.

"Such a perfectly good kid. How did she end up with such terrible taste..." To fall for that evil god, of all people.

Clint had always considered being mind-controlled by Loki one of his most humiliating memories. Shaking his head, genuinely baffled.

"Okay, okay, stop worrying about those two. How about I fill you in on the Kate kid instead?"

"...Fine."

Yang Luoluo had now been backstabbed twice by the spy duo.

➤ Next: Laying It All Out

Chapter 98 - Laying It All Out

Yang Luoluo and Loki walked down the corridor in silence. The surroundings were utterly still, nothing to fill the quiet except the slow, unhurried sound of their footsteps.

Loki had considerately slowed his pace so they could walk side by side.

Every so often he would glance at the girl beside him, but Yang Luoluo kept her head down and pressed forward, giving him nothing but a fuzzy crown of hair to look at. He couldn't read her expression at all, let alone guess what was going through her mind.

That uncertainty was starting to make him restless.

His original plan had been the slow-boil approach, let Yang Luoluo gradually grow used to his presence through the ordinary rhythms of daily life, day after day, until it felt natural. And she was already his fan to begin with, of that Loki was quite certain, so a mutual understanding was only ever a matter of time.

But who could have predicted that his idiot brother, that great sieve, would blurt the whole thing out the moment he had a drink? And not only blurt it out, but somehow let Yang Luoluo overhear it?

There was nothing to be done. Loki had no choice but to seize the opportunity and use it to his own ends.

Now it all came down to what Yang Luoluo thought.

Yang Luoluo had no idea what was running through Loki's mind, nor did she know where he was taking her. She just kept her eyes cast downward the whole way and followed along beside him, her thoughts in complete disarray, her mind so tangled she couldn't focus on a single thing.

What did Loki want to talk about?

Did he already know?

Was he... going to spell things out and tell her to stop getting any unrealistic ideas?

She licked her dry lips. Her heart hammered like a drum, and her chest felt like something heavy was sitting on it.

Whatever he was going to say, please, just let it be quick. She was genuinely terrified...

"Luoluo."

"Ah?" Yang Luoluo looked up at the sound, and only then realized that without noticing it at all, they had already walked to the stretch of corridor near their rooms.

Loki opened his mouth. He looked far less composed than he was letting on. In the end he simply opened his bedroom door in silence. "...Come in first."

Yang Luoluo followed him inside without a word.

Once in the room, she glanced around and chose to sit at the desk. Loki paused for a moment, then pulled over a chair and sat directly across from her.

The two of them were unusually quiet today. They sat face to face, and neither one spoke.

Yang Luoluo held both hands in fists on her knees, staring without blinking at the pattern on her clothes, as though something had suddenly seized her attention there, not letting her gaze drift to Loki across from her even for a second.

Loki was at a loss too, by this point. He had imagined countless possible reactions Yang Luoluo might have upon learning how he felt: she might be happy, she might be flustered. But he had never once imagined she would quietly try to put distance between them.

If it weren't for the fact that his mind-reading that morning had clearly upset her, Loki would absolutely have read her thoughts right then and there to find out exactly what she was thinking.

"Loki, I—"

"Luoluo, you—"

After the awkward silence, they both spoke at once.

She had barely summoned the nerve to attempt an escape when it collided head-on with Loki suddenly opening his mouth, and the resolve she had just barely pulled together dissolved into nothing. Yang Luoluo felt like bursting into tears.

"You go first..." She decisively let Loki speak.

Since that was the case, Loki had no intention of deferring. If he let this opportunity slip by, there was no telling when he'd get another chance to corner Yang Luoluo for a proper conversation.

He leaned forward slightly, his voice low and unhurried,

"Since you already heard what Thor said... what do you think about it?"

Loki blinked. A faint, nearly imperceptible note of anticipation threaded through his voice.

By Odin! He could even feel the dampness in his own palms, his heart pounding thump, thump, thump without stop.

Yang Luoluo's lashes trembled slightly. She finally raised her head, listened quietly as Loki finished, her deep-brown eyes fixed on him without wavering, and only after a long moment did she slowly speak.

"It's fine — I think it's fine... After all, you're over a thousand years old. It'd be strange if there wasn't someone you liked, right?"

She gave a sudden little smile and even reversed her earlier avoidance entirely, reaching out to give Loki a pat on the shoulder.

Only toward the end, Yang Luoluo abruptly tilted her eyes upward and blinked rapidly, and Loki would swear on his divine sight that he saw her eye rims go red in an instant.

Loki:...?

That was not how this was supposed to go.

Based on everything he'd observed about Midgardian women over this period of time, wasn't she supposed to show a little shy happiness at a moment like this?

Refusing to give up, he pressed on, his voice urgent. "Don't you want to know who she is?"

I don't care who she is!

Yang Luoluo's nose stung. No matter how hard she tried to hold back that bitter swell of feeling, it wouldn't stay down, like it might burst out of her the very next second.

She sniffled, working hard to look unbothered as she spoke, but her trembling voice gave her away no matter how she tried to hide it. "How would I know... Maybe it's a goddess from Asgard, or perhaps a deity from some other pantheon... Just a guess."

Having said all that, Yang Luoluo felt so wrecked she wanted to vanish on the spot, even she could hear that her voice had come out wrong, which meant Loki had definitely heard it too.

Loki frowned, his expression one of pure disbelief.

He finally understood where the problem lay.

"So... you've been assuming this whole time that I was in love with someone else?!"

He could barely believe his own ears. He took a deep breath, and the look he turned on Yang Luoluo grew increasingly helpless.

Had he been too subtle? This person had noticed absolutely nothing?

Yang Luoluo's body was already angling toward the door, her weight on the balls of her feet, every inch of her broadcasting that she was about to bolt. Loki reached out without a word and pressed his hand firmly down on the back of her neck.

"Don't even think about running. Get this said first."

Pinned in place, Yang Luoluo abandoned her escape plan and sank back into her seat with a dejected look.

Wait, hadn't Loki just said something?

[You've been assuming this whole time that I was in love with someone else?]

...What did that mean?

A conjecture that sent her heartbeat soaring surfaced in Yang Luoluo's mind. She looked up in surprise, her moist eyes widening instinctively, and met Loki's helpless gaze head-on.

"Still want to run?"

"..." Yang Luoluo shook her head honestly. She pressed her lips together and asked with hesitation, "What you just said... what did you mean by that?"

Was it the meaning she was thinking of?

Her heartbeat lifted into something light and quick, every beat brimming with joy, as though the whole world had brightened around her.

Loki was in no rush to answer. He simply reached out and gently wiped away the moisture at the corner of her eye, then cleared his throat, and just as Yang Luoluo began to look forward to whatever he was about to say, Loki clicked his tongue and launched straight into mockery without a second's pause,

"I really never expected Midgardians to be this slow on the uptake."

"Only just figuring it out now."

"..." Those two sentences had already confirmed Yang Luoluo's suspicion from the side, but that did nothing to stop her from fixing Loki with the flattest deadpan stare she could manage.

This insufferable tsundere! Was it physically impossible for him to just say things like a normal person?!

Seeing her utterly speechless expression, Loki laughed in high spirits and, while he was at it, reached up to pinch her cheek.

Yang Luoluo kept a straight face and swatted his hand away.

"Now that we've got it all out in the open..." Loki tilted his head and leaned in close to her ear, his voice low and husky, the trailing edge of his words carrying a smile, like a feather brushing lightly across the tip of her heart.

"What exactly are we to each other now?"

The great knot in her chest had finally come undone. Even with Loki's teasing leaving the tips of her ears tingling and hot, the deeply vengeful Yang Luoluo leaned back against the chair, crossed her legs, and lifted her chin to look at him.

The flush spreading across her face completely undermined the whole unbothered effect she was going for.

"What are we? Friends, obviously!"

She even put deliberate emphasis on the word "friends."

Now that she knew how Loki felt... playing a little hard to get should be perfectly fine, right?

Loki was unhurried. He simply raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "Friends?"

"Hmph!" Arms crossed, Yang Luoluo turned her head away and made her displeasure loudly known, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "What else? I seem to recall that a certain someone openly read through my memories this very morning — and was just now mocking me for being a Midgardian!"

And there it was. The reckoning had begun.

Loki pressed a hand to his forehead and smiled ruefully. As for whether he actually regretted the mind-reading that morning, absolutely not.

If it hadn't been for that, there was no telling how much longer this misunderstanding would have dragged on.

Thank goodness for the mind-reading technique Frigga had taught him.

The current situation was a bit tricky to navigate, though. The two of them had clearly laid everything on the table, one could even say they had arrived at a mutual understanding, and yet here he was, tripped up by his own earlier actions.

"All right, I was wrong." The adaptable God of Mischief apologized without hesitation, leaning toward her with a smile in his eyes. "Can you forgive me now?"

His handsome face was suddenly right there in front of her. Yang Luoluo was instantly struck speechless, the room going quiet around them.

Pale green eyes met deep brown, and a subtle, strange atmosphere drifted through the air between them, like two souls grazing and colliding, filling the entire space with a peculiar charge.

The distance between them grew smaller still.