Tony shrugged. "I dunno. She's a mutant. Maybe she feels some kind of kinship towards him because they're both oddballs?"

"Who knows," Clint grumbled, perching on a work bench and pouting.

Tony turned the screen off, but only for five minutes or so. He didn't trust Loki enough to not keep an eye on them, so he ended up torturing himself again.

Elsewhere, Avery was enjoying the magic lesson. It felt almost like being on Alfheimr again, and learning the new magic was fascinating. She'd never played around with illusions much before.

Loki was enjoying teaching her. She was a quick study, and it helped to alleviate the boredom, teaching her magic and teaching Kerry old Norse. He found he was quite enjoying himself.

Avery found herself practicing with illusions whenever she was out of the tower. She still respected Tony's rule about no magic use in the tower, and spent the lessons learning theory. She practiced whenever she had a spare moment, whether at her apartment, or just out and about. She had to admit, it was fun.

After a little while of watching the lessons and seeing that Avery, at least, respected his rules, Tony felt the urge to give her a bit more leeway. So he found her in the kitchen one afternoon and made himself some coffee.

"Looks like you have fun with the psycho during your lessons or whatever they are."

"I always forget how much I enjoy learning magic," Avery replied, watching him carefully. She knew how dangerous a subject magic could be. "I hadn't realized how much I got used to ignoring it." She was quiet for a moment. "Why? I'm making sure not to practice in the tower. Theory only."

"Yeah, I know, I've seen. Eyes everywhere. Jarvis, remember?" Tony shook his head. "I figured that you've been good, you can use magic in the tower. Still not in my lab, and no using it on anyone or that's on your head. But little things are okay."

As he spoke, the look on Avery's face became more and more suspicious.

"What brought this on?" she asked, watching him. "You're usually so anti-magic you claim it makes you break out in hives."

"Yes, and? It's proven to be somewhat useful," Tony pointed out. "Besides, you won't abuse it and do things willy-nilly just because I suddenly said you can use magic. Honestly, just trying to be a nice guy here, why does everyone suspect me when I do that?"

"I'm just curious what made you decide it's suddenly okay," Avery said, not quite ready to accept it yet. Everyone knew how against magic Tony was. So why was he suddenly saying it was alright?

"Jarvis kept bugging me," Tony said, which was true, in part. "Kept pointing out how things would be easier for you with magic and wouldn't interfere with the tower, plus it's a great learning opportunity, blah blah blah."

Avery suspected that wasn't all there was to it, but she cautiously nodded regardless.

"Well, thanks, then," she said. "I'll try not to bother you with it."

"I'll let you know if you do." Tony waved a hand carelessly. "Or Jarvis will."

"Alright," Avery said, still watching him. Something was up, she was sure of it, but she wasn't sure what. And it didn't seem immediately dangerous or harmful, so for now she would let it be.

Tony wandered away again with his coffee, content for the moment. Maybe that would make things better, for the moment anyway.

Avery watched him go and settled back in with some paperwork. He said magic was alright, but she wasn't so sure, so for the moment, she would hold back. Perhaps she would cast a couple of little things here and there to gauge his reactions to them before she really accepted the amendment to the rules.

Over the next few days, Tony kept an eye on her, and he noticed the little uses of magic. But he didn't mind. They were little things, and after magic had helped save him a world of pain, he was kind of rethinking some of his views. Some of. Not all.

Avery kept the magics very small, to begin with. Things like using magic to set a spoon to stir her coffee, or levitating things to free up her hands. Things that were convenient, but she could stop doing at a moment's notice. She was still cautious of where the boundary was between 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable' magic.

So far, Tony hadn't seen any reason to tell her to stop. The little things were fine, they didn't bother him, so he didn't tell her to stop.

Although he did, oddly enough, find that he didn't mind her company in the lab.

Avery had noticed she was allowed to spend more and more time in the lab, and she occasionally took advantage. Most of the time, she just observed, and that was fine with her. It was actually kind of interesting.

Tony didn't mind her being around, and occasionally he ran ideas past her because he wasn't always known for having the best ideas. Most of the time his ideas were awesome and the best, but sometimes he needed a second opinion, and her opinion was good because she could tell him how useful something like a cell phone with an equipped stunner would be.

Avery was surprisingly okay with the idea of a cell-phone-taser. The toaster-blender-coffee-maker, though, she nixed. Discreetly, she magicked some coffee from the machine into his mug, so nobody would have to get up and get it. She kept the magic as small and mostly unnoticeable as she could while she was in the workshop.

Tony never would have noticed the endless coffee, since he didn't keep track of his coffee in the first place except to note when it was empty. So that didn't bother him at all. Bruce just watched the two with a little smile.