Hawk Watching - Ch 5

"Has anyone seen Loki around?" Clint asked as he looked around the room again. Dinner had just ended and the food had been good, but the archer had noticed a suspicious lack of a green clad God of Mischeif.

"He often misses meals," Frigga replied softly as she looked down, face mournful for her adpotive son. "I think he feels he should no longer be welcome, but that is not the case."

Thor laughed away her fears. "Mother! Do you not know? He often loses himself in his studies and magic. I am certain he is merely in his rooms alseep because he spent all night with his nose in some ancient book again. It happened several times while you and father were away. And far more than that when we were children."

Frigga looked up and saw the sincerity in Thor's face and heard it in his voice before giving a small smile to her eldest son. "Thank you. I think I shall retire for the night, wish him well if you see him?"

"We will!" Tony promised as he held his glass up to her. "And thanks for the chow. It's great!" He gave her the patented Stark smile and a wink.

Frigga shook her head at the playboy's antics but merely rolled her eyes as she moved to leave.

"Am I terribly late?" Loki asked as he rushed into the Hall. He looked a little frazzled and out of breath but fairly well rested. "I apologize for my lateness. It would seem I fell asleep during my studies and did not hear the summons for dinner."

Frigga's face lit with a beautiful smile as she greeted her youngest son with a hug. She pulled back and held his face between her hands for a few moments before kissing him on the cheek. "It is good to have you here for a meal once in a while," she chided in the gentle way only a mother can. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You need to eat more, you're going to waste away working yourself like this."

"Don't worry, we'll make sure he eats," Tony offered with an almost evil grin on his face. He was looking forward to getting to mess witth the got of Mischief for a bit. Especially after being thrown out of his own tower. Literally.

Loki rolled his eyes at the grinning man and sat down next to Clint. "How do you manage to handle him?"

"I leave that to Bruce and Steve. They keep him in line. Most of the time. Pepper and Tasha do the rest. I try to stay away from him when he gets into one of his... moods." Clint replied with a laugh.

"Whatever you say, Cupid," Tony prodded as he launched a roll at the dark blonde haired archer.

Clint caught the roll without looking. "Don't make me sick Pepper on you," he wanred as he set the roll down and cut it. "You really should eat something," he added conversationally to Loki as he added some meat to the roll while hunting down cheese.

"I'm not overly hungry, but I shall endevor to eat something," Loki replied as he noted the way his mother was watching him. He truly loved the woman and didn't want to see her any more upset than she already was at his actions.

Clint winked at Frigga. "I can think of ways to make him eat. Don't worry."

Loki gave the archer a worried look even as he tried to give his mother a reassuring smile of his own. "I am certain of that."

Clint smirked and offered a roll with some greens and a little bit of meat. "Come on, Loki. Eat. Don't make me feed you like a momma bird."

Loki gave his human a withering look but dutifully took the offered sandwhich. "I will. If you promise to refrain from 'feeding me like a momma bird.'"

"You sure? I might even manage to make it fun for you," Clint replied with a mildly evil chuckle. "But if you eat on your own it might make life a little easier for me."

Loki glared as he took a bite. "I will eat on my own. Thank you, Clinton," he said coldly, but the smile that broke over his face and ruined it.

Clint noted the expression but pretended that he didn't see it. "If you're sure," he replied demurely as he hung his head before bursting out with laughter as his eyes met Loki's over the table.

Frigga looked up at the laughter and she smiled. Happy to see her son in such a good mood after the way he'd been behaving since he'd returned. He'd seemed distant and tired all the time. But luckily the connection with the Chitauri was nearly destroyed and then their family would only have to worry about them in battle. And that was something they were well equipped to deal with.

"Look, your mom's smiling," Clint pointed out, voice low and hushed so it didn't carry farther than the green eyed man's ears.

"She only wants to see her children happy. It is not too much to ask, but it was too much to ask her to keep the secrets that ... father had her keeping. And I'm afraid I didn't respond well to the discovery of my parentage..."

"Flew off the handle?"

"More like I blew it off, and then shouted unkind things at it until it melted..."

"Ouch. But I can understand. My old man..." Clint paused and shook himself. "But that's not something for happy table conversation. Maybe later... probably never though. I don't really like talking about people that aren't important to me any more."

Loki understood the feeling from the other man. "I've seen into your mind, my Hawk," he murmured softly as he looked over the blond before him. "I have seen that which no other has seen of your past. And I understand you far better than anyone ever will. I think."

"And you'd be right. I've never shared that with anybody," Clint replied as he thought back to the time of the Tesseract and the control neither of them had over their actions. But he'd chosen to share the memory with Loki after he'd seen the God slip up with his own mind. It had seemed only fair and the fact that it had happened seemed to have brought them closer together. He sighed as he watched the dark haired male. "I don't intend to share that with anyone ever again. I've never even told Tasha or Coulson. Pretty sure that Phil knows... but I never willingly shared with him."

"But you willingly shared ... with me," Loki replied with a mildly confused expression. "Am I special then?"

"In more ways than you can imagine," Clint replied with a lecherous grin. "Or maybe in a a few that you can."

Loki couldn't help the laugh that escaped him.

"I want to see the stars from here," Clint said suddenly. "I've seen them from all over my world, but I've never seen them from yours."

"I would be glad to show you such a sight." He stood and held a hand out to the archer. A hand that was readily taken and followed.

TBC . . .