Of Numbers and Strange Friendships

Chapter 11

Tony's mask vanished from his face with a slide of metal. He gave Loki an apologetic look. "I was wrong." Loki could hear the apology under the words, even if Stark was too proud to say them.

Loki nodded. "I would never harm the spider-child,"

Tony gave him a reluctant nod of agreement. "I know. For better or worse, the kid is your friend,"

"I told you, Mr. Stark," Peter said with a huff

*

Loki spent the next few times Peter visited making sure he was comfortable and proficient fighting and moving in his new body. Though ver little had changed, Loki wasn't taking chances with his friend's safety. Peter was grateful for it too. Loki had a thousand years of combat experience and was a surprisingly good teacher, so Peter got a few new tricks out of it, especially since both he and Loki tended to fight with speed and agility instead of brute force.

Unlike a certain oafish Thor.

*

Peter went out on another mission with the team, which wasn't that strange. There were monsters attacking civilians again and Peter was an asset for those cases. He was good at webbing up the monsters and staying out of the way so he wouldn't be hurt. Though really, the kid could take care of himself.

The kid was also bouncing around the jet annoying everyone on the trip there. Until a very stressed out Loki threatened to spell him to sleep until they got there. Peter took one look at Loki's anxious expression and sat quietly for awhile. Loki did not like flying, mostly because he couldn't fly himself and teleporting while falling was neigh impossible. As Strange had proven on him once already. Peter smirked and played with his spider webs for a minute before he held out a loop of string in Loki's direction. "Do you know how to play cat's cradle?" He asked to distract the anxious god.

"I cannot say that I do," Loki replied. Peter grinned and spent the rest of the trip teaching Loki to play, and then playing the silly children's game with him. It kept Loki calm on the flight, which pleased everyone.

There were monsters everywhere when they landed and the group rushed in to fight them and save the civilians. Loki stayed close to Peter. They made a good team and worked well together. Plus, both of them were fast enough to bounce between different groups who needed help.

So Loki stuck with Peter throwing bolts of magic and fighting with daggers, his usual approach to battle while Peter tied up the monsters with webs and darted back out of the way to let Loki finish them off. They really did work well together.

Until.

They both whirled at the monster that roared across the battlefield. A huge beast on four legs that looked like a hellhound. And breathed fire. "Of course. It had to be a fire monster," Loki growled, summoning fresh daggers. His had landed in one of the other monsters and hadn't been retrieved yet. He'd collect them all after the battle. "Come along, arachnid,"

"Loki!" Peter's voice sounded afraid. Loki turned to the kid, expecting to have to give him a pep talk, a reassurance that everything would be alright and they would defeat the monster together.

Instead, Loki could practically see Peter's terror, even beneath the mask. "I'm sorry, Loki," he told his friend.

Before Loki could ask what for, the kid shot web, but not at one of the monsters. He shot webs at Loki. At Loki! "Arachnid! What are you-?" Web covered his mouth so he couldn't call for help or stop the kid. Especially when Lokis hands were webbed to the car they had been regrouping behind.

"I'm sorry, Loki. I'm sorry, but I can't let you face another fire monster. I can't!" Peter told him frantically and turned to head into the fray alone, leaving Loki away from the battle in safety. Peter couldn't stand the thought of Loki being hurt by fire that he was so weak against. He couldn't. Just couldn't.

Loki made a muffled noise of protest while he fought against the damn kid's webs.

He tugged on the webs, but they wouldn't give. Tried using magic against them to no avail. Whatever chemical compound it was made of wasn't easily affected by his magic. Loki growled and struggled and watched helplessly as Peter rushed into battle without him to face down the fire breathing monster.

Loki was going to kill him when he got out of this

Or hug him

He hadn't decided yet.

Maybe both so the kid would learn to never pull a stunt like this ever again.

He finally got his dagger position to cut through the webs and got the damn things off of his hands and face and teleported across the battlefield to help finish off the fire breathing hellhound.

It was the last monster on the field and Loki stormed straight over to Peter the second it was dead, anger rolling off of him in waves, and magic sparking around him. Peter wasn't afraid, he realized as everyone else backed away from the angry god. Peter stood there and waited for Loki to smite him down.

"I'm not sorry," the teen told him, sticking his chin out defiantly. "You're one of my best friends and I-I couldn't risk you to the fire. It was the right call," he tried to insist, tried to sound older than his years. He tried to put the conviction in his tone.

Loki pulled the kid into a bone-crushing hug, his anger fizzling away, though the kid needed a hard truth. "No, arachnid," he wouldn't call Peter by name when he was in costume where someone could hear. "That was not the right call. We should have fought that monster together. Trust in your teammates. Trust in me," that was rich coming from the Trickster god, and yet Loki was begging for his friend to trust him. They were friends after all and Peter was arguably Loki's best friend. There should be trust between them. "I am a capable warrior and we could have and should have handled it together with the team instead of rushing into danger alone. I know how to be careful during battle and we would have been safer together," Loki's words were firm, but his words gentle enough not to truly upset the teen. But he needed Peter to know that his choice was incorrect.

"But-" Peter's voice sounded small as he tried to protest that he'd just wanted to protect his friend.

"I appreciate that you were concerned about me. But don't do it again. If you try I will turn you into something small and furry." That was the threat because Loki wasn't allowed to stab the child.

Peter laughed. "You wouldn't really turn me into something-"

"A rabbit," Loki decided. "Or maybe a puppy. Depends on my mood. But I will turn you into something if you ever try to pull that stunt again,"

"Yes, Loki," the kid replied obediently, but with a touch of impishness to his tone that meant the lord of lies couldn't trust a word that came out of the annoying kid's mouth.

It seemed Loki had rubbed off on him.

That may or may not have been a good thing.