"Mr. Loki, I have a question," Peter said, his fingers tapping a quick rhythm on his leg as he came into the room.

On the couch, Loki winced. That name wouldn't have bothered him yesterday, or the day before that, or the week before that, but today it felt wrong. It fit him wrong, the way the lines of his clothing and the shape of his face did.

"I was wondering if you would take me shopping for a suit?" Peter asked, his fingers still tapping even as his feet stopped.

Loki frowned, tugging his illusion a little closer. "Why?" he asked. Even if he was living with the heroes now, most of them didn't go out of their way to interact with him. In a way, he wasn't bothered by it. It was how he had led most of his life, after all.

Peter took a deep breath and blew it out before he began talking. "Well, you see, grad is next month and I want to go shopping for a suit but Aunt May can't take me – she has to work – and Mr. Stark is really busy – but he said I could use his card – and I kind of want someone that will understand, so, that's why I decided to ask you."

Loki wondered vaguely if he was being insulted, tightening the spell again with a quick twist of his fingers. "And if I do go with you?" he asked, careful not to answer the question.

Peter shrugged, twisting his fingers together. "You don't have to," he said, not answering Loki's non-answer. "I can find someone else. It's no big deal."

It was a lie. No one – except, perhaps Thor – grew up on Asgard unable to read people and Loki was better at it than most. Despite the child's flippant words, he very much wanted to spend time with Loki.

"Listen," Peter said, apparently taking Loki's silence as an answer, "I'm sorry. You don't have to come with me, I just thought it would be a good idea, maybe we could have talked – "

"About what?" Loki cut off the rambling sentence. Good ideas and intentions were something he was very familiar with, and he'd had enough of them growing up. "About wearing a suit?" he snapped. It was petty, he knew, and the child wouldn't understand his frustration, but the small outburst felt nice.

In front of him, Peter seemed to shrink in on himself, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Well, yeah," he muttered, staring at where he was digging his toes into the carpet. "I thought you'd understand it."

"Understand what?" Loki bit off, frustrated by the directions the conversation was taking. Normally, he could follow the twists and turns of any discussion, but apparently Midgard had sapped his eloquence.

"I don't know."

Another lie. The illusions itched where they rubbed at all the wrong seams under Loki's arms. He loosened them slightly – not enough, but it would have to do – and sighed. "Very well."

Peter looked up. "Really?"

Loki rolled his eyes and stood. "Yes," he said, ignoring where his shirt was too flat. "Let's go."

Loki nearly managed to forget about his discomfort while they were at the shop. True to his word, Stark had given Peter a credit card to use, and there was probably enough money on it to buy out the entire inventory of the store.

"What about this one?" Peter asked, coming out of the fitting room.

It was the fourteenth suit he'd tried, and Loki gave it a critical once-over. It fit excellently, but there was something off about the shirt. Standing up, Loki approached Peter. "What is that?" he asked, gesturing to the boy's chest.

Peter bit his lip, looking around anxiously before dropping his gaze to the floor. "It's my binder," he muttered, almost too quiet to hear. He glanced up at Loki before staring at his shoes again. "I'm trans," he nearly whispered.

Loki sucked in a breath, the wrongness of his glamour coming back as the conversation that morning suddenly made sense. The request for someone that understood, the awkwardness when Loki had snapped about wearing a suit, it all slotted into place.

"Not here," Peter said a little louder, looking up at him. "Please." There was a desperate look on his face as he crossed his arms again.

Loki shook his head, leading him behind a rack of suits where no one was looking. Closing his eyes, he exchanged one glamour for another, the new illusion slotting into place like it had always belonged. The wrong, itchy feeling disappeared and all that was left was a sense of rightness.

Peter gasped, the sound happy. "You're – "

"A girl," Loki finished the sentence as she opened her eyes. "Yes. Sometimes."

Peter chewed on his lip for a moment. "So, you aren't mad?" he asked finally, uncrossing his arms as he spoke.

Loki resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Of course not," she said. "The suit, however…" she let her sentence trail off.

"Oh," Peter looked down at it. "Is it that bad?"

"Not really," Loki answered. "May I try something?"

Noticing her pointed stare at his chest, Peter blushed. "What?" he asked.

"It has occurred to me that you may feel more comfortable in a suit that fits properly," Loki said, actually rolling her eyes this time, "and I do happen to specialize in glamour spells."

Peter's grin was instantaneous, and Loki wondered again why she was doing this. Dropping the illusion was bad enough, but offering to help Peter for no reason? It was enough to make anyone who knew her drop dead of a heart attack. With that thought in mind, she began to craft a spell, grinning somewhat vindictively as she did so.

When she was done, Peter looked down at himself and laughed again. "Oh-my-gosh-thank-you," he said, all in one breath. The suit fit as if it had been tailored and there were no signs of his binder or breasts anywhere. "Thank you so much," he said somewhat slower.

Loki smiled crookedly at him. "I can teach you that spell," she offered. "It's easy to learn, even for a Midgardian."

If it were possible, Peter's smile grew even larger. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," he said. "I can find shirts that fit, I won't have to spend money on binders, this is fantastic!" His words were so fast, Loki could barely understand them, and he started walking in tight circles as he talked.

After a minute or two, he stopped abruptly and looked at Loki. "Do you have any dresses?" he asked.

"No," Loki answered honestly, the sudden switch of topic surprising her.

"Do you want any?" Peter asked. He smiled lopsidedly at her. "That is something I know about."

Feeling strangely unburdened, Loki shrugged. "Very well," she said, the thought of an emerald-green, silk gown appealing. "Show me the way."