"I'm sorry." The moment the words are out of his lips he wishes he could take them back, his eyes growing wide in a split second as he realizes what's been done. He never apologizes for anything. Ever. Especially not for laughing at someone else's misfortune-especially not if it's misfortune that Loki has caused! He has standards, and apologizing for what he's done is not one of his standards!

Natasha to the left of him stifles a surprised laugh, her own eyes wide and glittering with mirth as she watches the emotions play over Loki's delicate features. Stark, the victim of Loki's normal apology-free mischief, just stands there, covered in glitter and feathers with the coffee mug that they'd come from still in hand. He'd gone to drink his coffee and when he'd tipped the white mug back it had split and spread the sparkling pollen around, coating the genuis' finest suit.

And it wouldn't come off for a fortnight.

He'd been so damn proud of himself for managing to get Stark to trust him into accepting the coffee, not that it couldn't have been done with any cup but Loki had wanted to earn the genius' trust and then shatter it.

The effect was ruined with the two words that had just fallen from his lips. Damn it, damn it, damn it all.

His face flushes pink with his own embarrassment as he turns away from the pair of them, excusing himself. He has words to exchange with his brother and the good Captain. No. Steve. He's not a good captain-Loki shouldn't even be considering him his captain!

Damn it all.

He finds the pair sparring in the training room, the pair of them sweaty and fighting harder and harder than Loki had seen them train in some time. Perhaps something is on their mind? He tries not to dwell on it, standing over to the side as he waits for them to finish their fight.

Wait. Why is he waiting on them? He curses inwardly as he clears his throat and calls out to Thor, determined to get what he came for. He's never been one for waiting politely before, not when it's something that's this . . . well, not crucial but it matters to him!

Thor's moment of relapsed concentration allows Steve (not Captain) to land a suckerpunch to the god's torso, though judging by Steve's face it hurts his hand more than it hurts Thor. The pair turn their near identical blue eyes to Loki, who suddenly gulps.

"I need to talk to the pair of you," he says, tipping his head upwards to try and make himself sound more important than he is. It makes Steve smile, which was not the point! Not at all.

"Alright. Shoot." The man is walking closer to him and Loki does his best to keep his eyes focused upwards on the Captain's-damn it.-eyes, not the way his muscles gleam as he moves through the room, or the musk of his body as he steps closer-.

No.

"I'm spending far too much time around the pair of you; you are both terrible influences." He says, turning his attention instead to Thor, who just laughs.

"What makes you say that my brother?" Thor asks as he picks up his shirt and pulls it back on slowly. Sometimes Loki wonders if his fascination with Steve-interest; fascination is far too . . . intense of a word-is because of his brother. It doesn't help him, that is certain, that the two are near identical in build, hair and eye color. He swallows hard. Damn it.

"I'm too nice." He says the last word as if it's an insult, slinging it into the mud hard enough to make Steve frown, the crease in his brow garnering Loki's attention for the quickest of moments as he wonders what it would be like to press his lips to it and make it disappear. Shortly after he resolves to cleanse his brain of such ridiculous flights of fancy. He truly had been spending far too much time around them. "It needs to stop. I apologized."

"I don't really see how that's a bad thing," Steve admits, tipping his head to the side as he surveys the black haired man. Loki swallows hard, trying not to concentrate on how innocent and, well, cute it makes him look.

To hell with it.

"I'm a bad guy!" He states, and the way it falls from his mouth one might have think that he is protesting changing his clothing because of his comfort. "I cannot be saying sorry for all of the mischief I cause! You two are far too nice and I cannot weather it for much longer. I regret to say that this will likely be the end of our time spent together."

And it was for the better if Loki considered it. Obviously he'd been spending far too much time getting comfortable around them, comfortable enough to consider either of the two attractive, desirable, and certainly far too much time noticing how he'd like to sink his neck into Steve's teeth and-.
His thoughts are, mercifully, cut off by Steve's laugh, though it makes Loki's anxiety triple in the quickest of moments. "What?" He grits out, eyes narrowing.

"You're the bad guy?" Steve can't sound more incredulous. Once more Loki feels the heat rising in his cheeks and he turns away to see his brother barely containing the laugh as well. Loki's eyes narrow further. How dare they laugh at him? The bastards. He flicks his wrist and in a moment neither of them can make a sound, though Steve does try. His lips move but when his ears don't pick up a sound he instead turns to stare at Loki rebukefully.

Loki lasts a whole minute and five seconds under that gaze before he retracts the spell, swallowing the apology finding its way to the tip of his tongue.

Until Thor calls for it, his own gaze searing Loki's conscience that he's done his best to keep hidden away. Oh for the love of the norns.

"I'm sorry." The words taste of vinegar in his mouth and he tries to spit them out with as much distaste. Steve just claps him on the shoulder. It's all Loki can do to keep his heart from leaping into his throat.

"It's fine. Now come on; let's go get some breakfast and we'll talk about this whole bad guy thing?" He offers with an easy half-smile, the one that only makes things worse when Loki's eyes peek back down at his still bare chest. Oh, fine. He follows the super soldier out, thankful at least that he is well versed enough in keeping his face clear of his emotions. Well, he thinks he is. The way that Steve shoots him a quick glance every so often, the way that the soldier's blue eyes move from Loki's lips back up to meet his gaze makes him not so sure.

He really should stop spending so much time with him, but perhaps he'll try harder tomorrow.

A/N: The title comes from the song of the same name by Snow Patrol, and as ever the characters belong to Marvel! Enjoy!