[Billy sits down with him, cross-legged across from Loki's spot- not too close, but not exactly distant, either. For the first time he doesn't feel particularly intimidated in the presence of the Asgardian god, and while he knows how dangerous that is, how easily he could just be getting manipulated here, sometimes you just have to offer the benefit of the doubt. The alternative is too awful to do otherwise.]

You can't treat this incident exactly like the one before, with Hawkeye. That was- it was messed up. I'm not excusing him, or you, or saying things couldn't have been handled better, but that was an attack, a message, for both sides. This was... a misunderstanding. He attacked you for something you didn't do.

[Not yet. and he squashes that thought before it can reach his expression, because that's not fair. That's like assuming he'll go crazy and start killing his teammates because he shares Wanda's power. Like saying Tony will start the war or create the registration act because of what happened in Billy's own universe.

Alternate realities are complicated. You can't afford to make assumptions.]

It's... difficult to hold on to a stalemate when this world keeps introducing new players into the game.