"But he hit me first!" Loki protested, struggling against his father's grip as Odin dragged him down the hall to his bedroom. Loki twisted and dug his heels into the marble floor, but none of it had any effect.

"You know the rules," Odin said, his voice as unmovable as his body. "No magic when you're fighting with your brother."

"But he used his hammer," Loki said, his shoulder still throbbing from Mjolnir's impact.

His father didn't respond; instead, he tossed Loki into his room and shut the door, the deadbolt locking into place. It would be easy to use magic to unlock the door, but Loki knew he'd be in even bigger trouble if he did that.

He waited until his father's footsteps began to recede before transporting himself to Midgard. No one would come in to check on him for at least an hour so he had time to work off a little steam. Thor often instigated fights that he knew Loki couldn't win, pushing his younger brother until Loki snapped and used magic, and Loki never failed to get into trouble for it. He hated the smug look on Thor's face as Odin carried him away to be punished, but he hated the disappointment in their father's face even more.

"Well, look what we have here."

Loki turned around to find himself in an alley, a fence at his back and two buildings at his sides. Blocking his escape were two thugs, their hair cut short, their arm muscles straining the fabric of their shirts.

Perfect, Loki thought, trying to turn his smile into a look of fear. Mindless brutes who thought physical strength was everything. He allowed himself to get backed up to the wall and dropped his eyes to the ground so they wouldn't be able to see the excitement shining in his eyes.

"Don't you know better than to run around by yourself?" one of them asked, grabbing Loki's chin and forcing his eyes up to look at them. The one who was holding him had a small x shaped scar on his eyebrow, and Loki wondered if he had gotten it from a more evenly matched fight.

"Look at him," the other sneered. "He's a momma's boy. I bet your momma is right around the corner."

"Well, is she?" Brow Scar demanded when Loki didn't respond. "What do you say we go find her and have some fun after we're through with him?"

Loki wished they'd stop talking and just started hitting him. They only needed to get a few hits in before he could blast them out of the alley. It was laughable that they thought they could force his mother to do anything against her will. She was a Norse goddess. She could crush them between her fingers.

"What, are you dumb are something?" Brow Scar asked, twisted Loki's head, making his neck turn at a painful angle. When Loki still didn't speak he raised his hand and slapped Loki across the face. "You answer when I ask you a question. Understand?"

Loki's body jerked to the side, but he didn't fall as the second boy caught him. He turned to look at Brow Scar, his cheek warm and stinging from the blow, and raised a single eyebrow.

"You asked for it," Brow Scar said, closing his hand into a fist.

Steve was kicking stones down the street, on his way home from a movie when he heard the tell-tale signs of a scuffle. He took off running, skidding to a halt at the entrance of an alleyway where two big guys were taking turns hitting and kicking a boy who had curled up into a ball on the ground.

Steve wasn't very big himself, but he didn't like bullies, and he didn't like uneven odds.

"Hey!" he called, picking up a rock and lobbing it at the guys. It bounced harmlessly off the broad shoulders of one of the brutes, but it got their attention.

They slowly turned around, surprised at being interrupted, then laughed when they saw Steve facing them with his arms crossed over his chest, his body dwarfed by the buildings rising up around him.

"Looks like it's our lucky day," Brow Scar said.

They left Loki alone and advanced on Steve, and Loki frowned as he slowly unfurled himself. He had been counting blows, waiting for number twenty seven, his favorite number, before he was going to teach those guys not to beat up on kids smaller than them. He had been at twenty six when the voice at the other end of the alley distracted his attackers.

Speaking of, his rescuer was even smaller than Loki, and he wasn't faring much better than Loki had, only Loki had had the advantage of knowing that he when he wanted to stop the abuse, he could make it stop. The kid was getting the shit beat out of him without that guarantee. Fascinating, Loki thought, rising, albeit a bit stiffly, to his feet.

"Enough," Loki said as a well-placed punch to Steve's stomach had the boy doubling over, making his face an easy target for Brow Scar's boot.

Steve clenched his jaw to keep any sound from escaping his lips as pain blossomed in his eye. His mother was going to be disappointed when he came back with another shiner. She hated it when he got into fights, but she didn't understand. If there were people in trouble, he was going to do his best to help them.

"I said, enough," Loki repeated, putting some of the power of the gods into his voice. The alleyway fell silent save for Steve's ragged breathing, and the bullies paused, their hands raised in the air.

Steve shook his head and tried to wave the boy away. Steve had distracted the guys so the other could escape, not call attention back to himself. Loki smiled at the concern in the boy's eyes and dismissed it.

"In case you hadn't noticed, we're the ones in charge here," Brow Scar said.

"I fear you are mistaken," Loki said, raising a delicate hand.

The two assailants found their bodies moving of their own accord, and Steve barely had time to duck before the two guys started swinging at each other. Fists collided with faces at the same time and both men grunted before falling to their knees.

"Very, very mistaken," Loki said, his voice deadly quiet. He waved his arm, and the thugs flew into the wall, their shoulders crunching as they hit unforgiving brick and slid to the ground.

Steve looked up at Loki, afraid now. "What did you just do?"

Loki smiled and reached out a hand to caress the bruise forming on Steve's face. "I fought back. You are brave. You came to my rescue when you knew you could not win."

Steve frowned as the cool touch made the throbbing in his face stop. "This was a test?"

"You could say that. You have earned the respect of a god, young Steven Rogers. Your reward is a kiss and a favor."

Steve was extremely confused now. He had walked in on some guy getting beat up so he rushed in to help him, got beat up himself, and then without even touching the guys the kid had sent them flying into the building. Now he was talking about gods?

In the next moment, the hand on his face dropped to his neck, and a pair of cold lips touched his. Steve brought his hands up to push the boy away, because they were in public and boys didn't kiss other boys, only to find himself pushing at empty air. He spun around, but there was no one in alley except for him and two guys at the bottom of the building, groaning.

Loki followed Steve Rogers' development with interest, waiting for the moment when he could repay his debt. He technically hadn't owed the boy anything, because he hadn't actually saved Loki, how could you save someone that didn't need saving, but Loki had been feeling generous, and the boy had put up a valiant if unsuccessful effort.

Loki began to grow concerned, especially after the serum injection that turned the scrawny little boy into a hulking mass of muscle, that Steve, or Captain America as he was now known as, wouldn't need Loki's favor, and Loki would forever be in his debt.

Loki didn't like the idea of owing a mortal anything, and he was considering arranging a catastrophe to rescue Steve from when the ship Steve was in started to go down. He was going to crash into a block of ice and die.

Finally, Loki thought. He softened the impact of the crash so it wouldn't kill the Captain and encased him in Jotun stasis ice before letting Earth ice claim the ship. The Captain would sleep until the ice melted or someone freed him.

Loki wiped his hands, proud of his work, and returned his consciousness to his room. He was in time-out again for having used a clone to duel with Thor. Loki didn't see it as a cowardly act, he saw it as self-preservation, but as usual, no one ever saw his side so he was being punished.

He sighed and wondered if there were still bullies on Midgard.