#Thor can confirm Loki and the blue person sleep in the same room and that Loki only has 1 bed so Tony draws the 'logical conclusion'

[worstloki]

Loki: I have to go feed my Tesseract

Thor: ...you don’t have the Tesseract

Loki: They moved in last week. Here’s a picture

Thor: Loki, that’s... that’s a human person.

Loki, nodding solemnly: my Tesseract

[tokoyamisstuff]

Scandal Ch. 4 - Loki x Reader

Summary: Nothing can stop the wrath of the God of Mischief, when he realizes he had been deceived by the people he trusted more than his beloved wife.

Warnings: Angst, Violence

Words: ~1700

"But what the world fails to realize is a villain is just a victim whose story hasn’t been told.” - Chris Colfer

I Story Masterlist I General Masterlist I

Taglist: @hi-there-x @haloangel391 @misssilencewritewell @babayaga67 @accioremuslupinn @mochimommy2002 @just-someone-who-likes-to-write @damalseer @bethanystan @loser-alert @star017 @nina1800 @queenariesofnarnia @n1fangirlsblog @vengefulsokovian @lunamoonbby @freyagallileaevans​

A/N: This is a rather boring chapter, but we’re far from done!

“She already left several moons ago. It was her own wish, we did not force her.”

“Where to?” 

“Midgard.”

Loki was long back on Asgardian territory, yet his mind couldn’t find peace. Well, how could he, now knowing what Laufey told him?

His world had already crumbled to dust when he left you behind - but if Laufey spoke the truth, his whole existence had been built on lies from the very start.

Not knowing where to search for answers, the prince sneaked into Odin’s forbidden chambers, walking in the shadows protecting him in the midst of night.

There it was: The Cascet of Ancient Winters - the very relic that doomed the fate of your newborn, revealing it’s shameful blood to all of Asgard.

It just urged him to try and see for himself, even if the truth would shatter his heart.

“STOP!”

Loki wouldn’t even flinch at the Allfather’s words, already tightly holding the cascet in both hands.

“Am I cursed?”

The God of Mischief wouldn’t even dare to turn around and look at the person he always ever thought to be his father - for as soon as he laid fingers on the cascet, he began turning into that same shade of blue your son did.

Panic began to rise in the young god, fearing to be killed by the people he loved so dearly shall they lay eyes upon what he truly was. His chest began to tighten, fastened breath turning into a cold mist.

“No” was Odin’s firm but unsatisfying answer, to which Loki only responded by putting down the cascet.

“What am I?”

“You’re my son.” His words came from the heart, not even faltering as Loki turned around to present his Jotun form to the Allfather.

“What more than that?!” he almost growled in between gritted teeth, appearance slowly returning to his usual self.

At that deepest, darkest day in his life yet, Loki would be too blinded by betrayal and rage to see his father’s true love towards his adoptive son.

“The cascet wasn’t the only thing you took back from Jotunheim that day, was it?” The prince took firm steps towards the man that he had known all his life, but had become a complete stranger towards him through that sole moment.

Again, only a “no.”

Loki’s mind was racing, thinking about what else may have been hidden from himself - and what kind of consequences that revelation had for everything he had done up until now.

“In the aftermath of the battle, I went to the temple -- and I found a baby” the Allfather continued, “Small, for a giant’s offspring. Abandoned, suffering, left to die...”

“...Laufeyson” Loki completed Odin’s sentence. So every word the King of the Jotunns had said was indeed a fact.

“W-W-why?!” he almost whined, voice weak and defeated. “You were knee deep in Jotun blood, why would you take me?”

“You were an innocent child-”

“No.” The God of Lies himself had become so sick of being fed those, starting to snap. “You took me for a purpose. What was it???” 

For what felt like an eternity, there was only silence.

The image of that small, blue child in his arms had been painfully burned into his heart back then. But now that he knew the story behind all of this, it held a completely different meaning.

Just like he had been abandoned back on that frozen rock, he had abandoned his own child, as well as the love of his life.

Outcast, abused, left to die...and now, god knows what had happened to you...

That secret had destroyed more than just his own life. It had ruined the only honest happiness he was ever given - you, and his son.

“TELL ME!”

He just needed to know: The reason behind all the pain and suffering he had to endure - and caused to others as well.

“I thought we could unite our kingdoms one day, bring about an alliance, bring about permanent peace...through you.”

That was just too much for Loki to bear. “What?” he reacted with a barely-there voice, every word of his father shooting daggers through his heart.

“But those plans no longer matter.” No matter what Odin might want to explain, Loki wasn’t able to listen to any more, jumping into his own conclusions.

“So I am no more than another stolen relic, locked up inside of here until you might have use for me?!” he croaked, afraid of the answer.

“Do not twist my words.”

“You could told me what I was from the beginning!” he now yelled, furious at how virtuous Odin would still defend his own action. “Why didn’t you?”

“You’re my son” he repeated once again. “I only wanted to protect you from the truth.”

“Why, ‘cause I-I-I-I’m the monster people tell their children about at night?!” Loki clenched his fists, fingernails drawing blood to his palm.

“At least when my son was born, you should’ve dropped the charade!” Pure agony was dripping from every syllable, and for a mere second, his eyes were glistering bright red once again. “You’ve forsaken two innocent lives - the most important beings in my pathetic existence - and now you’ve burdened me with their suffering as well!”

That sure was a miracle - how a person so broken from the beginning wouldn’t collapse under pressure that huge.

“It all makes sense now, why you favoured Thor, all those years! Because no matter how much you claim to love me, you could never have a Frost Giant sitting on the throne of Asgard!”

But who cares about the throne, honestly? Not him. Not anymore. Ever since he knew you.

It all dawned to him now: What he could have, if only he had put his trust in you like so many times before.

All his life, he only ever remembers a shadow. At first, he thought it to be the shadow of his brother, or never being enough for his own father. Maybe the other Asgardians looking down on him, making him feel like he doesn’t belong.

Yet in the end, that very shadow was inside of his own mind.

But you?

You had loved Loki with all of your heart, banishing the darkness from his mind through your bright affection.

It didn’t matter to you what anyone thought of him - or even what he thought himself to be.

Because you saw him for what he really was, and he found peace with that.

And he was certain that it wouldn’t matter to you whether he called himself Odinson or Laufeyson - as had you loved his child dearly, ever since he took his first breath.

He could never make up for that greatest of his sins, Loki knew that much.

Or...?

“Where are you going, my son?”

Reluctantly, Loki made his way past the man he now only considered a stranger. Still, when Odin tried to reach out to him, Loki immediately ducked away, startled and afraid for his true nature to hurt anyone.

More than ever before, the God of Mischief despised himself to the core of his being. He was lost, confused, shocked - and still, determined.

“Creating a Kingdom for my family.”

___

[Earth, 2 months later]

On times like these, you thought your mind was betraying you.

Especially when you catched yourself reminiscing sweet, innocent moments - far back in the past, before everything you ever held dearly got destroyed.

You still felt his touch, feather-light on your skin, as well as his scent haunting your memories. And sometimes you couldn’t help but wonder how life would have been, well...if things were different.

Frantically shaking your head, you clasped the book closed and threw it into a corner of the small one-room-flat SHIELD had provided for you.

Your magical pockets were always almost empty, except for a few necessities - and that book. It held the first flower Loki ever gifted you, and you had dried it in between those pages so it would never lose it’s beauty.

But now, remembering meant pain - because Loki Laufeyson would never come back.

For he is dead.

Fell of the Bifrost, as confirmed by Heimdall, who secretly kept in touch with you all this time. So you knew it all: Of his grief and treason, which slowly led him into madness. 

And what did you do in the meantime?! Nothing at all!

You should’ve tried everything, anything to get back and help him go through that time of need, hel!

“Endure it, Y/N...you need to stay strong...for Liam.” After so many times of telling those words to yourself, you doubted them to have any effect on your broken heart at all.

Yet it would never fail to keep you going. For that wonderful child was proof of your love, and now your last memory of him.

Rocking the small Jotun to sleep, tears found their way to your eyes like so many times before, dropping to the baby’s face unnoticed.

So you tried to sing your pain away as you cooed that little wonder to sleep.

“Å eg lengtar så tidt dette landet å sjå, Og det dreg meg så blidt, når eg langt er ifrå. Med den våknande vår vert min saknad so sår, så mest gråta, mest gråta eg kan. Å eg minnest, å eg minnest, å eg minnest så vel dette land. Å eg minnest, å eg minnest, å eg minnest så vel dette land.”

*Translation:

“Oh I long so long to see this land, And it pulls me so gently, when I'm far away. With the waking spring host my missing so sore, so most cry, most cry eg can. Oh I remember, oh I remember, oh I remember this country as well. Oh I remember, oh I remember, oh I remember this country as well.”

[anagentinwriting]

Lifeline - Part 17

Summary: (First Responders!AU) Moving to Los Angeles and living with your brother, Thor, was never part of your plan nor was being a 9-1-1 dispatcher, but plans change when you are faced with your own emergencies. In your case, it was leaving behind a relationship that wasn’t as perfect as it seemed. Will this be the fresh start you were hoping for or will your past find a way to catch up with you?

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Odinson!Sister Reader

Word Count: 3800+

Warnings: Angst, violence, suspense, kidnapping

Lifeline Masterlist / Main Masterlist

Nat kept a watchful eye on Thor when he came back to the waiting room. He was twirling his phone in his hand when his eyes connected with hers; He shot her a hard glare before shaking his head. She grimaced, letting out a scoff and stood up a little straighter. She turned her attention back to assist Clint with asking routine questions to Bucky, Carol, and Val. Bucky’s eyes connected with hers, and he reached out, taking her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze before letting go. She nodded, putting a strand of hair behind her ear.

Nat tried to focus on doing her job, but she was too close to this. You were one of her best friends, and she was scared for you in this situation. She wanted to believe what Thor was saying about Jig and Billy being the same person, but she needed proof or some sort of evidence, pointing them in that direction. Steve’s phone was the key to this, but she couldn’t go through it in case they needed it to use against him in court. She didn’t have a problem with lying, but if the defense found out what she did, she would be screwed and possibly lose her job. Billy deserved to be locked up for everything he did to you, and that cell phone would be another reason on a long list of reasons to lock him up. She wanted to protect you like Thor did, but it needed to be done right. 

“Natasha,” Thor shouted, forcing her head to snap in his direction. He was heading their way with Sam behind him. “Sam can confirm Billy and Jig are the same person. He met Jig once.” 

She narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms across her chest. “Is this true, or are you making it up?” 

“It’s true,” Sam nodded. “I met him one night at Happy’s. It was a quick meeting, but you don’t forget that white boy’s pretty face.”

Nat’s mouth dropped open, covering it with her hand in shock. Bucky was beside her, placing a reassuring hand on the small of her back. She looked over at him with tearful eyes as her mind drifted to the worst-case scenario. Bucky pulled her into a hug, and everything around her became white noise.

Billy got to you; he abducted you and almost killed Steve in the process. She squeezed her eyes shut, pulling Bucky closer. How did this happen? How did he even find you? How long has he been here? What was going to happen to you? All these unanswered questions flooded her mind until everything went silent. This was what she needed, evidence to find you and bring you home safe. Her eyes snapped open, pulling away from Bucky. She smirked at him, and his blue eyes narrowed at her. 

“Keep me updated on Steve, will you?” She whispered, putting her hands on his cheeks.

He nodded. “As long as you do the same with YN.” 

She kissed him, turning around and catching Thor’s eye. “Thor, let’s go.”

“Wait, what? Where?” Thor was looking between everyone as if asking if they had the answers.

“To find your sister, but we may have to ask for a little help.”

“But, I thought you weren’t technically on the case?”

“Small technicality. Nick will forgive me; I’m one of his favorites,” she winked, and Clint nodded in agreement. “Besides, I’m also a concerned friend of the victim, and I’m just following a possible lead. It could lead to something, or it might not.” Nat shrugged, looking over to Clint. “Cover for me?” 

“It’s what I do best.”

“Let’s go get this bastard,” Thor stated, giving Nat a forgiving nod. 

__________

The soft melody coming from the radio woke you up, but you didn’t move. A breeze hit your face, and the smell of the ocean hit your nose. A calm sensation came over you as you moved ever so slightly, feeling your hands bound, restricting your movement. Taking in another breath, a hint of familiar cologne came to your senses. You gulped, turning your head to what you hoped was a window. A sharp pain hit the side of your face, making you wince, causing your eyes to flicker open. The car sat parked near the ocean, and you could see the sun rising in the distance, cascading a soft glow over the landscape. You glanced at your hands, seeing a zip tie wrapped around them. You gulped, looking over to the driver’s seat to find your ex-husband wrapping his wrist. Your eyes widened as your mind flashed to him on the other side of the door, Steve laying motionless on the ground, the struggle in your condo, Cosmo attacking, and a punch to your face that knocked you out cold. 

“Good morning, honey. Did you sleep well?”

“What… what did you do?” You stammered, feeling tears start to form in your eyes. 

He smirked, taping the gauze on his wrist. “I think the better question is what did you do?” You narrowed your eyes, wincing as a sharp pain traveled alongside your face. Your hand shot to your face, touching the tender area between your eye and cheekbone. “I warned you what would happen if you left. People would get hurt, but you didn’t listen.” 

“Is he dead?”

“Who? Steve? Would it make a difference if he was?” He quirked an eyebrow as your bottom lip trembled, staring out the window at the ocean. “I wouldn’t worry about him anymore.”

“Why did you do that?” Your voice cracked as a sob escaped from your mouth. “He was a good man.”

“Steve was a great guy. I didn’t want to hurt him. I liked Steve. He was one helluva pool player, and we were friends,” he paused, your head snapping in his direction. “But, when he put his hands on you. I wanted to kill him.” Billy clenched his fists, shaking his head. “Steve doesn’t deserve you. He was never good enough for you. Hell, he was just using you to get over his dead wife.” He let out a breath, his dark brown eyes connected with yours, sending a shiver down your spine. ��If you stayed home and didn’t leave me, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now. Steve wouldn’t be dead because of you.”

Your stomach dropped, with tears threatening to fall down your cheeks. You squeezed your eyes shut as the sharp pain radiating from your cheek was welcoming compared to what you were feeling inside. You swallowed down a sob, but your shaky breath didn’t dissipate. Your head clouded up, blocking out any other sound besides your racing heart. You slowly opened your eyes, trying to blink the tears away, but a few escaped down your cheeks and landed on your jeans. You stared at the wet droplets, unable to move, only being able to concentrate on your breathing. You sniffled, clearing your throat. “How long have you been watching me?”

“Does it matter?” He arched a brow at you. “I will give you some credit though, leaving that note saying you and Loki took an impromptu trip together. At first, I didn’t think much of it. I mean, you two are attached at the hip, so I knew you would be back in a few days, but you never did come home. Even after I saw Loki’s posts about being back home, but still no you. ” He leaned back in his seat, rubbing a hand over his mouth. 

“The most frustrating part of all was that you never returned my calls, which led me straight to Loki, and he told me you were staying with him for a few more days. I thought, ‘Alright. I get it. You want some time.’” He sighed, shaking his head. “After a few more days of no new texts and no returned phone calls. I decided to sneak into Loki’s and quickly realized you weren’t staying there. In fact, it looked like you were never there. Then I proceeded to go to your work, which I now realized I should’ve done to begin with because I discovered you quit.” He paused, hitting the steering with your palm, making you jump in your seat. 

“It was embarrassing to find out your wife left you in front of her co-workers.” He clenched his jaw, staring daggers at you. “This led to me tracking your phone, but it never did tell me where you were.” He smirked. “I am almost positive it involved an anti-tracker app. Smart play.” He nodded. “Nice to know you learned a few things from me during our time together, but I’m surprised you didn’t think I wouldn’t be able to find you?”

“Who's to say I didn’t,” you countered, wiping the tears from your cheeks. 

He cackled in the seat next to you, shaking his head, and in one quick motion grabbed your jaw and forced you to look at him. You tried to jerk away, but he tightened his hold. All the mischief in his eyes was gone, replaced with his harsh gaze. He clenched his jaw, making you gulp and stare into the depths of his emotionless eyes. “You think you’re so clever, don’t you? Running off to your big brother, thinking he would protect you. It’s cute really, but deep down, he didn't do his job the first time, let alone this time. He didn’t protect you. He didn’t keep you safe. It’s comical, just how easy it was to get you back.” He scoffed, licking his lips. “And Loki’s all the same. They’re both egoistic, self-absorbed, and out for themselves. It’s poetic, how you were always there for them, but they were never there for you like I was.” He reached over and dragged his fingers against your cheek. You clenched your jaw, pulling away from his touch.

“What do you want from me?” You mumbled, observing him from the corner of your eye. 

He sighed, dropping his hand. “Isn’t it obvious? I want you to come home where it is safe. Come home to someone who actually cares about you. My god, YN, you have no idea how much I have missed you and….and I’m sorry,” he confessed as his voice cracked. Your head snapped in his direction to see him running a hand through his hair. “I was an asshole for how I treated you, and I can’t believe I became that person.” His gaze caught yours, noticing his lips trembling. “I told you I would change, but I didn’t, and I don’t know why.” He paused, clearing his throat. “I want to change, but I don’t think I can do it without you. I need you. You have always believed in me more than I believed in myself. I don’t want to lose what we have together. Please come home to me. I forgive you for running. I want to start over, start fresh, start that family you always wanted. Anything; I will do anything,” he begged with tears on the verge of falling. 

You swallowed, staring wide-eyed at him, not knowing what to say. Billy has always been a confident talker, telling you what you wanted to hear and making all the right promises.  He could coax you into coming back every time you left him with his caring apologetic words. You believed you could trust him time and time again. He could persuade you into getting what he wanted, not what you wanted. 

You rubbed your lips together, knowing what you should say or at least what he wanted you to say. But, you didn’t need him anymore, like he needed you. You moved on, and in this moment, he couldn’t control you anymore. “I want to start a family, Billy.” His shoulders sank in relief as a smile crossed his features. “But, I don’t want it with you. I don’t want anything to do with you. Our relationship is a repeating pattern that causes both of us pain. I can’t do this with you anymore,” you breathed, your eyes flickering to his; they changed from sincere and honest to dark and destructive in a matter of seconds. 

He brought his hand down his face, shaking his head. “You don’t get to say when this is over. I do.” He let out a deep breath and slapped you across the face. You yelped, sending a shooting pain down your same cheek, bringing tears to the corner of your eye. You leaned away from him, reaching for the door handle, and tried to push it open, but he grabbed a hold of you and held a knife to your throat. 

 “STOP MOVING,” he grunted through clenched teeth. You quit squirming and stared at the blade against your throat. “It didn’t have to come to this. ” He clenched his jaw, grabbing the passenger seat belt and strapped you in. He leaned forward, his breath fanning against your ear as he whispered, “I have a plan, but unlike yours, it will work.” 

____________

Thor and Nat walked through the doors of your dispatch center. Thor’s eyes scanned the many individuals typing away at their screens and talking into their headpieces. It was a different scene than what he was used to. It felt calmer and less hectic, but on the other end of the calls, he could only imagine what people were going through.

Bruce made eye contact with them, holding up his pointer finger as he helped one of the dispatchers at their desk.  

“Bruce, busy man,” Thor chuckled, and Nat hummed in agreement.

“Thor, Nat, hi. Any news? Have the police found anything?” Bruce asked, walking over to them.

“Don’t get me started on the police. At YN house, they were walking around finding clues and placing their little yellow numbers by them, and taking pictures. Like, what is that going to do? They should be out looking for her since I already told them who abducted her, but no one believed me.” Thor shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Calm down, big guy, it’s called procedure, and we were finding evidence.” Nat patted him on the shoulder before turning to Bruce. “Anyways, we came to ask for a favor, and we think you could help us with it.”

“Name it,” Bruce nodded, putting his hands in his pockets. 

“We need to track this number, but the fastest way without a warrant is to go through dispatch, or so I heard,” Nat hinted, raising her eyebrows.

“What is it? Landline or cell phone?”

“Cell phone.”

“Cell phones are trickier since we don’t get an automatic address like we do with landlines. Our system has to digitally request the phone’s location from the cellular network. I will have to put in a manual request, which won’t be a problem, it will just take some time,” Bruce stated, going over to one of the computers. “What’s the number?” Thor read the number off his phone as Bruce typed it in and quickly filled in the necessary information.

___________

Billy pulled into a gas station and parked the car behind it. He reached behind your seat, hearing him shuffle around and come forward with a scissor, wet nap, and a baseball cap. He cupped your face in his hands, using the wet-nap to wipe your face. You squeezed your eyes shut, ignoring the pain on your cheek. “There’s my girl, all cleaned up.” He lifted your head with his finger and tilted it in all directions. He grabbed ahold of your bound hands, cutting the zip tie from your wrists. “Put this hat on, and just know, if you run, you don’t want to know what I will do.” 

You nodded, biting the inside of your cheek. He squeezed your hands before getting out of the car and coming around the front to get you. He opened the door, instantly putting his arm around your shoulder, leaning into you. You tensed up, smelling the all-to-familiar cologne that sent your nerves firing in warning. It was a cologne you loved, having picked out for him when you first started dating, but now it filled your head with many unpleasant memories. 

“Loosen up, hon, you can trust me,” he whispered in your ear, hitting the bill of your hat, making you readjust it. 

You gave him a hard nod, forcing a tight smile. He let go of you as someone was walking out, holding the door for the two of you. You looked the man straight in the face, hoping he would take a look at you and help in some way, but Billy mumbled a quick thanks and took your hand. You glanced at the guy behind the register, but he stared down at his phone while Billy dragged you to the drink coolers. 

“What do you want?” 

“Can I run to the bathroom? Can’t pick anything on a full bladder,” you smirked, squeezing his hand.

“Of course, make it quick,” he nodded, letting go of your hand.

You walked back up the aisle and down another, glancing at the man behind the counter, who was still staring down at his phone. Keeping a watchful eye on Billy, you snatched a set of permanent markers from the shelf and hid them in the front of your pants and under your shirt. You took one last peek over your shoulder to see Billy’s eyes following you and opened the door to the ladies restroom.

You locked the door and leaned against it, taking in your surroundings, but there was nothing that could help you. It was a single stall bathroom with no windows. How come the only bathrooms that ever seemed to have windows were in the movies. You sighed, rubbing your forehead. There weren’t many options left: leave a note and hope someone sees it and gets help. It felt silly, but what did it hurt? You pulled the markers from the front of your pants and grabbed a brown paper towel, scribbling out a message and placing it by the sink along with the markers. 

Gripping the edge of the bathroom counter, you let out a deep breath, staring down into the semi-dirty sink. You removed your hat, running your hand through your hair, and looked up at your reflection in the mirror. It was like you were right back to where you started, staring at the fragile woman you thought you left behind. The color around your right eye was changing to a dark black and blue, your cheek was puffy, and there was a small cut on your lip. 

“You can get through this,” you reassured yourself, splashing cold water on your face. “Someone is looking for you.” Splash. “Someone will find you.” Splash. “Steve isn’t dead because of you.” Splash. 

You stared at the water flowing out of the faucet as images of Steve started filling your mind. His signature smirk, his chest-grabbing laugh, his caring yet determined personality, and how he... Tears began forming in the corner of your eyes, blurring your vision. You squeezed them shut, sniffling, before opening your eyes to your reflection. “No crying; not yet at least; first, you need to make it out.” You cleared your throat, promising yourself with a nod. You slipped the hat back on and opened the door, jumping in surprise to find Billy waiting there.

“Grabbed your favorites,” he grinned, holding them up. You forced a smile, following him to the register. Billy placed the drinks, snacks, and a few wound cleaning supplies on the counter. You smirked, remembering Cosmo’s rescue efforts. The front door jingled, pulling your attention to a mother and her young daughter walking in.

“Okay, Monica, run to the bathroom, and I’ll grab us some snacks.” You let out a small sigh of relief, smirking at them going their separate ways. 

“We should start a family once we settle into our new home,” he whispered into your ear with a smirk on his lips.

“New home?” You questioned, narrowing your eyes at him.

“It’s part of my plan.” He wiggled his eyebrows, paying the man with cash. “You always wanted a family; why not start now.” He shrugged, leaning into you. He smiled at the clerk, grabbing the bag and holding out his other hand to you. You took it, fighting the urge to roll your eyes. 

Billy dragged you back out to the car and let go of your hand. He opened the back door while you headed for the passenger side door. “Wait, don’t get in; we’re switching cars. He should be here any minute.”

“Why?”

“I’m sure the police already have the make and model of this car through surveillance video or the license plate number from the note you left in the ladies room.”

“What note?”

“Don’t play stupid. I’m not an idiot, besides why else would you be smirking at a mother and daughter,” he sneered while a car pulled up beside them. “Speak of the devil, right on time.”

A Rolls Royce Wraith pulled up, forcing you to roll your eyes. This was his getaway car, more than a quarter of a million-dollar car, and he expected to get away with you. It was the same car he owned in New York, but this one had updated California license plates. A bald man got out of the driver's side, coming over to you and Billy. It was hard not to be creeped out by him, with a milky left eye and a scar underneath it. 

Billy’s phone buzzed once more in his hand. He looked down at it, letting out a quiet snicker. He read off the abduction alert, including your name, what you looked like, and what you were wearing last. “Turns out you got someone looking for you after all. It’s a shame they aren’t going to find you.”

You gulped, noticing the bald man smirking. “As requested, your new phone--” he handed Billy a flip phone while Billy handed him his smartphone “--with a few contacts that you can trust and help you if it’s necessary.  And everything you requested is in the back seat, but knowing you, Billy, you two have already disappeared.”  

Your breathing quickened at his words, your eyes darting between the two men shaking hands. Billy had the perfect plan, and you were stepping right into it. You were going to disappear, become a ghost, and no one was going to be able to find you. Your defeated eyes caught Billy’s, not missing the amusement dancing in his. You bit your lip, staring into the distance, hoping the daughter saw your note and called the police. But it dawned on you that help wasn’t coming, which left you with two options: start over and try to be happy with him, or adapt and overcome. 

“Thank you for your help, Agent Orange. I’ll owe you one.”  Orange nodded at Billy, walking over to the previous car before getting in and driving away. “Well, get in, honey. It’s time to go on our road trip.”

___________

AN: Thanks for reading Part 17! This doesn't sound like it will be a fun road trip, and from the looks of it, Billy seems to be one step ahead of her with every move she makes. How is she gonna out think him? If you haven't noticed already, Billy is a real piece of work, and I'm hoping he came off as a psychopath in this part. If not I tried my best, it's hard to tap into a dark mindset like that! Haha! I will say though, Ben Barnes, who plays Billy Russo, is an attractive man, but I will admit his brown eyes can get scary dark sometimes. Like when he's mad, you can just see it in his eyes, so I tried to play off that. And it seems like he has a buddy helping him, Agent Orange, I wonder how they know each other? Also, we kind of have a better understanding where Nat's head was at at the end of the last part. She was worried about her friend and wanted everything to be done right, and put Billy away for good. And what do you think of her and Thor teaming up to find her? And can't forget that little assist from Bruce, but will they be able to find her before she disappears forever or will something worse happen along the way? Is Steve gonna pull through? And man, I sure hope Cosmo is doing okay! Until next week, thanks again!

[make-me-imagine]

Red Roses: “I Love You” - Thor Ending

Valentines Special: Day Nine

Day One: Morning Glories  //  Day Two: Blue Salvias Day Three: Sunflowers  //  Day Four: Pink Camellias Day Five: Yellow Tulips   // Day Six: Violets Day Seven: Lisianthus  //  Day Eight: Daffodils (Post with rest of the character endings)

Plot: It’s finally Valentines Day, the day the reader will finally learn who it is that had been leaving them flowers and notes expressing their secret feeling?

Note: Reader is referred to as being immortal (As a power/mutation or something)

Pairing: Gen!Neutral Reader x Thor

Triggers: None        Words: 1,608

Requested Taglist: @aquariuslavenderhoney​​, @thebookbakery​​ , @fablesrose​​, @kitkatd7​​, @thefallenbibliophilequote​​, @beksib​​, @destynelseclipsa​​, @criminaly-supernatural​​, @tammythompson-singslikea-muppet, @belloangelus​​, @snarky--starky​​, @saintbootlegloras​​, @wecallhimbrowneyess​​, @empath-bunny​​, @okkulta​​, @katinthemoon,  @ravennight41​​, @youcancallme-rae , @radhumandragonclam, @unfortunateidiotinadilemma, @past3l-w1ngs​​ ,  @goinggoinggonzo​​, @mxxnmocha​​, @fred-deeks-ben​​, @groovyfluxie​​

February 14th

You yawned as you walked through the tower with Wanda, dodging various party decorators who were scattered around. “I need a nap” you said as you yawned again. 

Wanda chuckled “It’s only eight in the morning, did you not sleep?” 

You shook your head “Not really. I’m too...preoccupied.”

“Still thinking about your admirer? Do you think they will tell you who they are today?” she asked, an air of excitement in her voice. 

You eyed her “I know they will. They told me so in a note.”

Her eyes shined with excitement when you said this “How exciting” she mused “Do you still not know who it is?” 

You sighed “No. But I have my...hopes I guess.” 

“Thor.”

“Wha-, how did you know? Did you read my mind when I wasn’t looking?”

“What? No I was pointing out that he’s here.” She pointed down the hall. 

Looking you see Thor entering the room, boxes in hand as he smiled at the two of you “Hello!” he greeted as he approached. 

Wanda leaned towards you “Thor?”

“Shh” you said as he approached the two of you. 

“Morning Thor, you’re still here? I thought you went back to Asgard?” 

“I did, but I returned this morning. I wish to attend Tony’s Valentines Party” he smiled at the two of you as he reached out his arms, opening one of the boxes in his arms and revealing various pink and read donuts, all themed for the holiday “Doughnut?” .

You and Wanda looked at the Donuts with amused smiles as you both grabbed one “Thanks” you said.

“Do you know anything about Valentines Day?” Wanda asked.

“Yes. I’ve done research.”

“You researched Valentines Day?”

“Yes?” he answered, seemingly unsure of himself. You and Wanda shared a smile as Thor straightened himself up “I was just curious” he seemed to excuse “Anyway, I am going to go give these to the others, I hope to see you two later.” he smiled at you both before leaving. 

Wanda leaned closer to you again “He researched it...maybe it is him.”

You met her eyes for a moment before looking back down the hall at the elevator he had entered “Maybe” you said quietly, a sense of hope filling you. 

- - -

During the rest of the day, you couldn’t get the thought or hope out of your mind that the reason Thor researched Valentines Day was for you, and that it was him that left the notes and flowers. But, he hadn’t been on Earth, so it seemed more unlikely the more you thought about it. So maybe it was too good to be true. 

So when you had begun getting ready for the party, you tried to open up your mind, and become more accepting to whoever it might actually be. No matter how disappointed you would feel when it wasn’t Thor. 

You went to the party about twenty minutes after it started, not wanting to be there to have to greet every single person that entered, so instead you decided to slip into the already existent crowd. You found Wanda and Vision and spent some time with them before you began to feel a bit anxious. You kept catching some of the other Avengers watching you. You think they all knew, or expected whoever it was to admit their feelings to you tonight. But their eyes all being cast on you made you nervous. As if they knew something you didn’t. 

Growing tired of it, you decided to take a small break, leaving the main room and walking down the hall towards the more private bathrooms you could access. As you walked down the hall, Thor rounded the corner in front of you, when you saw each other he stopped and smiled at you “Y/n!” he greeted before walking towards you “Are you leaving already?” he asked as he stopped in front of you.

“No, I just wanted to take a break from the party.”

“Are you filling unwell?” he asked, concern evident in his voice. 

“Oh no, no, I just...felt a bit overwhelmed with the crowd” you told a half truth.

“Well, if you need a distraction I agreed to help Tony with a surprise for the guests, would you like to help me?” 

“Oh, yeah sure.” you agreed.

He turned back towards the way he came from “Great, it’s this way.” 

As you followed him down the hall, you couldn’t help the growing feeling of anticipation in your chest, your heart beating heavily. “What is the surprise?” you asked as you walked towards a doorway. 

Stopping at the door, he turned to you with a smile as he opened the door. Seeing the dark room behind him, you squinted as you walked past, trying to see what was in the room. Taking a few steps in, Thor turned the light on. After blinking a few times to adjust your eyes to the sudden brightness, your breath hitched in your throat when you saw a table with various types of red roses. 

“What are these for?” you asked, trying to sound calm, your heart was beating a bit faster as you walked over to the table. 

“I wasn’t sure which kind you would like more.”

You paused for a moment before turning back to Thor, who was watching you expectantly, a small smile on his face as he slowly took a few steps closer “I have been wanting to show you how I felt for a while now. And I know that you are a romantic, so I wanted to make a grand gesture. Once I learned about Valentines Day..I thought it would be perfect. So I confided in Romanoff, asking her what the best way to confess to you might be, and she told me that you liked flowers.”

“So your research about Valentines Day was all for this?” you asked, wanting to confirm what you and Wanda thought. Also noting to talk to Natasha later. You knew that she knew something. He nodded with a smile as he took yet another step closer to you “And you researched meanings of flowers?” 

“Yes. Did you like them? And the notes?” he looked down at you, hope in his eyes. 

A smile spread across your face “Yes. I really did. But how did you do it? You’ve barely been here.”

“I convinced Loki to help me using his magic.” 

You felt a sense of realization, now it made sense. “But...why me?” 

“Who else could it possibly be?” he asked a bit perplexed “I have been smitten with you since the day we met. At first I did not realize what it was I felt, but the longer I have known you, the more obvious it became. And, I thought, I hoped, that you felt the same...Was I wrong to think that?” 

You met his eyes and smiled “No, you weren’t. I’ve liked you for quite a while now. But I honestly thought you couldn’t care less.” you chuckled. 

He placed his hands on your shoulder gently as he stared into your eyes “Y/n. I have never cared about anyone, as much as I do for you. And I never wish to care this way about anyone but you. “ His eyes seemed to sparkle as he smiled at you.

“Are you sure you want to be with me Thor? I mean, it might be hard, living on different planets, I mean, talk about a long distance relationship.” 

He shook his head “I do not care. I came to Earth as often as I could excuse just to see you, and now, I can come more often with no needed excuse. And we do have forever after all, both of us are immortal, there is no need to rush. Besides, if you are willing, you are welcome on New Asgard as often as you want. I would love to show it to you. In fact, I’d like to come back with me soon, perhaps tomorrow?” You felt your heart swell at his words as he reached over to the flowers and plucking a red rose from one of the bouquets, handing it to you “What do you think?”

You looked at the rose in your hands and smiled, looking back at Thor “I think I should start packing.” 

His smile widened as he suddenly leaned forward and pressed a kiss to your forehead, pulling away his eyes flicked between your own and your lips “Do you know how much I’ve longed for this?” 

“I’ve got a pretty good idea” you said quietly, knowing yourself about how desperately you wanted to be with him.

He brought his hand to your face and stroked the side your cheek with the back of his hand before he leaned closer, meeting him halfway, you kissed. It was slow and delicate, but held a sort of passion you had longed to feel. 

When you pulled away, you both smiled brightly “Do you think Tony would notice if he didn’t return?” 

“I don’t know, why? What do you want to do instead?”  you asked curiously. 

He chuckled “You need to pack remember? I am taking to to New Asgard tomorrow.” his smile turned into a grin, which you reflected.

“Right. Okay.” you chuckled as he reached down and grabbed your hand, pulling you to the door. 

“How long do you wish to stay? I’m thinking a month would suffice.” 

“A month?” you scoffed “I do have work here you know.” you giggled. 

“Oh, right. Perhaps a week then?” he countered, you giggled again as he pulled you along, both of you excited about the start of your new relationship. 

xx xx xx xx xx

Sorry it’s such an abrupt ending, but ~~I’m really bad at endings~~

But I hope you guys like it!~ Please consider reblogging and reading the other endings as well!~

[cozy-the-overlord]

Dances and Daggers

Summary:   The Summer Festival is upon Asgard, as is the tradition of the dagger ceremony, where each unmarried gentleman chooses a lady to bestow with the honor of carrying his dagger for the night. As Prince Thor’s betrothed, Teki’s only goal is to accept his dagger with grace and hope that her violent stepfather doesn’t find fault with her in the process. But Prince Thor is unpredictable, and when he ignores his engagement on a whim Teki finds herself in a desperate situation. Luckily, Thor isn’t the only prince in Asgard…

Pairing: Loki x Original Female Character

Chapter 16: The Unveiling

Previous Chapter  |  Next Chapter

Word Count: 3,253

Chapter Summary: Loki’s back!

Thanks for reading!

TW: Mentions of violence, child abuse

Tags: @lucywrites02 @gaitwae @moumouton4 @berriemalfoy @whatafuckingdumbass @sophlubbwriting

if you want to be tagged, feel free to just send me an ask/message! :)

Read it on Ao3!

Teki groped blindly in the moonlit shadows. It had to be a dream. Frigga had told her he was gone, that he wouldn’t be coming back for years, but when her fingers found his he squeezed her hand too tightly to be anything but real.

Her eyes flooded with relief.

“Loki—” she rasped.

He hushed her softly. “Don’t hurt your voice.” He cupped her cheek with his free hand, his quivering fingers ghosting down the side of her face, leaving chills in their wake. He stopped abruptly at the metal brace around her neck, voice trembling when he spoke.

“Norns,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry, Teki.”

She squirmed, trying to get a better look at him without hurting her neck. “You—how—” Teki cursed inwardly at her broken voice. She had so many questions. How are you back? How are you here?

Luckily, Loki seemed to understand. “There’s—pathways, between the realms. Tunnels. I had read about them before, but I had never attempted to follow them. When I heard what happened—I had to come back, so I gave it a try.” Tunnels between the realms. That sounded vaguely familiar. Where had she heard about those before?

I put them on my map!

Of course.

Loki hesitated. When he continued, it sounded as if he was on the verge of tears. “Teki, they said—they said you were attacked—” he gulped, “It was him, wasn’t it?”

Teki took a shaky breath, giving the smallest of nods. Even that tiny confirmation seemed to break him. Loki exhaled, leaning forward to support his head against his arm on the cot.

“You have to tell someone, Teki,” he begged. “My parents will believe you, I swear it. They’ll stop—no, don’t shake your head!” He looked at her pleadingly. “He’s hurting you!”

She kept shaking her head. He doesn’t know the half of it. “Loki,” she gasped, even as her voice seared. “Loki, they killed him.”

He frowned. “What?”

“My father. They killed him. Both of them.” For a second, her father’s body crashed through her vision once more, and the strangled sob that ripped from her throat didn’t sound human.

She didn’t know how long they sat in the dark together, Loki rubbing her shoulder in gentle comfort as she fought to choke out the details he had missed: the letter in the journal, Asta’s vials, Heimdall’s vision, horrible images that Teki wished to purge from her mind for the rest of her life, but that she knew would follow her to her grave. The prince’s eyes grew wider and wider even as her voice grew weaker. By the end, she was hacking uncontrollably, that faint metallic taste poisoning the back of her tongue.

Loki helped to pull her into a sitting position, rushing off for a glass of water and helping her shivering hands hold it steady as she drank. Teki collapsed against his chest once she finished. Perhaps it was unrefined, but she was well past caring about refinement at this point. His leather vest smelled of the woods and the wild; wide, open fields where you could run for miles and never see even a glimpse of another person. It was soothing in a way that nothing else was, made even more so when Loki wrapped an arm around her torso and held her closer.

For a moment, they just stayed like that, listening to the sound of the other’s breathing.

It was Loki who spoke first. “We need to expose them.”

Teki looked up at his face, firm and decisive in the moonlight. Not for the first time, she envied his steadfast determination.

“How?” she whispered hoarsely. “It would be my word against theirs. No one would believe me.” Why should they? What was she to the court but a little girl who thought she could play queen, so sickly that she rarely showed up for dinner and so horribly dull that her own fiancé had no interest in interacting with her? What reason had they to trust her?

“It wouldn’t be just your word, though,” he said. “Didn’t you say Asta knew about it too?”

“She just sold it to her,” Teki hiccupped. “The—the poison. My mother didn’t tell her what—what she was planning.” Besides, would she even want to come forward with testimony? The old apothecary woman didn’t strike her as one to get involved with the law, especially if she was in the practice of selling poison.

Still, Loki mused. “But it could be something.”

Across the room, something creaked. It was nothing, and Teki knew it, but still she whipped around with her heart in her throat, expecting to see her stepfather leering in the corner with his glittering blue eyes.

Loki rubbed her arm reassuringly. “It’s all right,” he murmured. “We’re the only ones in here.”

Teki gulped. The darkness seemed to press around her cot, whispering cruel promises only she could hear.

She griped Loki tighter. “Can—can you stay? With me?” Her face burned—such a childish plea. She felt like Brant, sneaking into her room when he couldn’t sleep. Still, she had a horrible feeling that if she let him leave, he’d be gone again. “I don’t—I don’t like being alone.”

Loki only nodded. “Of course. Let me just—” He moved away for a split second, leaving her in the darkness while he dragged a chair across the room to her bedside. She lay back down against the sheets as he situated himself, resting his head besides her pillow so that he faced hers.

She closed her eyes. “I don’t know what to do,” she whispered.

“We’ll figure it out,” he promised. “Just sleep now.”

…

“How are you feeling, my lady?” the healer asked as she unlatched the brace from around Teki’s neck.

She rubbed the base of her throat. The healers had returned to finish her treatment just as the pinpricks of dawn were beginning to sneak their way into the room, Loki having slipped out only moments prior.

He had woken her up before he went, a gentle tap on her shoulder pulling her from the darkness of her dreams.

“It’s almost sunrise,” he had whispered. “They’ll be back soon. I should go.”

In the early morning haze, Teki had misunderstood. “You mean—you’re not going back to Vanaheim, are you?” she croaked. Panicked tears welled in the corners of her eyes. She couldn’t lose him. Not again. Not when so much was going wrong.

But Loki shook his head quickly. “No, no. I’m staying on Asgard. But there’s something I have to check.” He rose with a deliberate stretch before dragging his chair back to wherever he found it. “I’ll come back later today,” he promised before he slipped into the shadows.

Teki had barely been alone fifteen minutes before the women in blue were back with their magic at the ready. The healing process was quick, albeit exhausting, and once they were through Teki was half inclined to crawl back into the bed and sleep through the next week. Still, at least it didn’t hurt to talk anymore.

The Queen popped in just at Teki was finishing buttoning the front of her dress. She had been expecting her mother to saunter in with her hollow words and painted smiles, and so she jumped at Frigga’s warm greeting.

“Tekla!” she beamed. “I’m so relieved to see you up and about.” She sat down on the foot of the bed, and Teki was a bit shocked to notice the worry barely hidden under her kind smile. “How are you feeling today, darling?” she asked, studying her with the same maternal concern Teki had seen in her eyes when she was watching Loki in the Games.

Teki’s response was so instinctual it almost felt rehearsed. “Much better, Your Majesty,” she said, returning the smile.

Frigga shook her head somberly. “Such a horrifying experience. I can’t imagine how scared you must have been.” She reached out to hold Teki’s hand, in reassurance. “We have some of our best warriors looking for the man who attacked you and your brother. Don’t worry, we’ll find him.”

Teki couldn’t meet her gaze. She had promised herself that she wouldn’t allow her mother’s lies to continue any longer, but she didn’t know how to explain to the Queen that everything she thought she knew wasn’t true. Teki only could manage a nod.

Frigga, unaware of her inner turmoil, patted her hand delicately. “If you ever need anything,” she promised, “Please don’t hesitate to ask me.”

Again, Teki found that she could only nod.

If the Queen had noticed her discomfort, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she shifted the conversation. “Oh, I wanted to ask you, darling,” she said. “Have you spoken to Loki at all?”

Teki stiffened. “Loki, Your Majesty?”

“Yes.” Frigga was still smiling, but there was a wilder sort of apprehension beneath her tone. “His teachers said he vanished at some point during the night. I thought he might have contacted you—he considers you a close friend, I know—”

Guilt smoldered in her chest, but something told Teki to keep Loki’s midnight visit to herself.

“I haven’t heard from him, Your Majesty,” she lied.

Frigga nodded distractedly. “Well, I’m sure it isn’t anything to worry about. Just—if he does get into contact with you, would you please let me know?”

She hummed in agreement, eyes on the on the floor.

“Teki!” Both of their heads snapped to the doorway just in time to see Brant barreling through the room, past the healers and lines of cots. He crashed against Teki’s stomach in a snug embrace, ignoring her surprised “oof!”

Frigga laughed. She excused herself, leaving Teki’s bedside to chat with another healer. Meanwhile, Brant’s grip hadn’t loosened around her.

“Hey,” she whispered, pushing his hair out of his eyes. “Are you all right?” He nodded, rubbing his cheek against her dress like a cat.

“Was scared,” he muttered. His voice was so low, Teki barely heard it. The pained cry that had spilled from his lips when Osvald turned his fists on him echoed through her mind, and she held him tighter. He pressed something into her stomach, shielding it with his torso.

Teki frowned. “What—”

“Mama said to burn it,” he whispered.

It was her father’s journal, familiar and worn and newly singed along the edge, as if it had just barely been scooped out from the flames. There was a lump in Teki’s throat as she tucked it under her sash. Brant had witness first-hand how Osvald felt about this journal, seen what he was willing to do to her for refusing to give it up, and still risked everything to rescue it from the flames for her. She squeezed him tighter.

“Are you ready to go?”

She glanced up to find her mother standing over her expectantly, arms crossed elegantly over her perfectly pressed gown. Something about her face, looking at those same lips that had curled so sadistically as her father sat hunched over the dinner table gasping for his life, sent bile rising to her throat. Her mother raised her eyebrows. She was waiting, Teki realized, waiting for her daughter to straighten up and follow her out of the room with her head down like the obedient little mouse she had raised her to be, never to speak of this incident again.

Teki didn’t move.

Her mother sighed. “Tekla, we don’t have all da—”

“I’m not going with you.” The words cut through the air like the dagger under her mattress. Teki glared into her mother’s eyes, challenging her to look away first.

“Tekla,” she spoke through gritted teeth. “I swear, I don’t have time for you to be difficult—”

“I know what you did,” Teki said, relishing the way her mother blanched, then rushed to cover it. “I’m not going with you.”

“We’re not doing this here,” she snapped, grabbing at her arm. Teki avoided her grasp, still clinging to Brant.

“You killed my father.” Her brother looked up at her in shock, but Teki kept her gaze trained on her mother.

Deny it. Go ahead, lie right to my face again. I dare you.

“What are you talking about?” she retorted. Her eyes shifted across the room, to where the Queen was still locked deep in conversation with one of the healers. Teki followed her gaze, followed her line of thinking to a T.

Don’t make a scene.

We wouldn’t want to embarrass ourselves.

Teki only raised her voice.

“You poisoned his cup,” she said, more adamant with every word. “You made him write that letter.”

“Enough of this!” Her mother grabbed her wrist and yanked her forward. “We’re going home. Now.”

Teki wriggled free. “I’m not going with you—”

Their struggle had caught the attention of the Queen. She walked over, frowning. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” her mother said quickly. “I was just taking my daughter home.” She grabbed at Teki’s hand again, as if to emphasize her point, but Teki squirmed away before she even had a hold on her.

Frigga’s frown deepened. “Tekla, is something wrong?”

Teki swallowed. That familiar fear had returned, the horrible feeling that should she ever stand up and speak her truth her audience would only stare back at her with vacant eyes. That they’d defer judgment to her mother, to her stepfather, to the extorted letter written in a dying man’s shaking hand.

But she thought also of her father, pleading for her wellbeing as he choked on his own breath. She thought of Brant’s body limp on the floor, her stepfather glowering over him, her family’s judge, jury, and executioner. She pressed her hand against the journal hidden in her sash.

My parents will believe you, I swear it.

“There wasn’t an intruder,” she said, heart pounding. “It was Osvald.” She gulped. “It’s always Osvald.”

The Queen’s eyes widened.

Her mother gasped theatrically. “Tekla! How could you say such a thing?”

“That’s not all!” Teki’s breath was coming faster now, along with the frenzied need to keep Frigga’s attention for as long as possible. “She and him killed my father. My real father. They made it look like he left so they could sign off on my marriage proposal. She poisoned him.” The tears burned hot and harsh in her eyes; she tried to blink them away.

Áslaug was shaking her head wildly. “Your Majesty, I am so sorry,” she rushed. “I have no idea what she’s talking about. Perhaps her injuries—”

“No!” Brant had come out of hiding against her abdomen, trembling like a leaf. Everyone’s gaze snapped to him, and she fully expected him to wither at the attention, but instead he pulled at Frigga’s skirt, eyes wide. “Daddy hurts Teki. He gets mad and he hits her.”

“Brant!” Her mother’s carefully constructed control was unraveling at the scenes. She whipped back to the Queen. “He’s just copying Tekla. He always follows her lead. And I don’t know what could possibly have gotten into her—”

“Oh, don’t you?” It was as if someone had lit a fire in Teki’s chest. For years, her feelings had been muzzled, held back the tyrannical fear that ruled every other aspect of her life. She had bent to the will of her guardians because she had no other choice. But the emotions had always been there. Always. And now, one of those emotions seared brightly enough to burn through everything else: fury.

“I’ll tell you what’s gotten into me!” she snapped. “You took my father away from me and expected me to accept it. You let your husband hurt me and told me it was my fault that he did. You used my existence as a tool so you could climb to the top, without ever sparing a thought to what it did to me.” She heaved a sob, fully aware that all eyes were on her and not giving a damn. “I’m not lying for you anymore!”

“And neither am I.”

All four of them whipped to the entrance. For a moment, Teki thought she was hallucinating.

Old Asta the Apothecary limped down the hallway, her ragged clothing a stark contrast to the crisp sheets of the cots she walked by. Somehow she looked even more shriveled here without her cart trailing behind her.

Teki’s mother went so pale it looked as though she might pass out.

“How did she get in here?” she demanded in a tone that sounded akin to a screeching bird. “Who let her in?”

“The young prince. He came to speak with me today, about what happened here.” Teki perked up at Loki’s name. I have something I have to check, he had whispered in the morning darkness. He had gone to Asta?

She stopped just before the Queen, sinking into a respectful bow. “Your Majesty. For centuries, I’ve prided myself on the loyalty of my confidence, but I’ve realized as of late that I’ve held some things to my chest that never should have been kept secret.” She glanced at Teki, almost as if in regret. Teki frowned. When they had spoken, Asta certainly hadn’t shown any signs of guilt for what she had done.

What did Loki say to change her mind?

“Don’t listen to her!” her mother was shrieking wildly. “She’s not to be trusted—”

“Enough!” snapped Frigga. The Queen had seemed to occupy a shellshocked silence for most of the conversation, but now she turned to the apothecary with a firm conviction. “Asta. What have you to tell us?”

The old woman sighed deeply. “Several years ago, the Lady Áslaug sought me out. She was looking for a poison, fast-acting and tasteless, something to eliminate her husband quickly and quietly.”

“No!” screamed her mother.

“She wasn’t certain what it was she wanted,” Asta continued. “I sold her two vials—one of embers of frost, and one of hellion, so she could choose which to use—”

“No, no, you’re lying!” Áslaug shrieked, motioning at Frigga desperately as she pointed at the apothecary. “She’s lying! I never bought the hellion. I never touched it!”

“No,” agreed the apothecary with a wicked smirk. “No, you didn’t.”

It was a moment before it dawned on Teki’s mother what she had just admitted to.

“No,” she whispered. “No, no, I meant—I didn’t—I—” she glanced around in a frenzy, searching for a receptive face. She found nothing. With a pained sob, she collapsed into tears.

Teki looked away.  

Frigga whistled, short and piercing. In less than a heartbeat, two of her Queensguard rushed to her side, from where they had been standing at attention just outside the door.

“Guards,” she said, her voice even and emotionless. “Please, escort Lady Áslaug into custody. Have Lord Osvald taken in as well.” As the guards pulled her mother to her feet, the Queen turned to her. “Tekla, if you and your brother would come with me.”

Teki nodded in a haze, watching as her mother was removed from the room. Brant was gripping her hand so tightly she could barely feel it anymore. She turned back to Asta, hoping to thank her for her support, but the old woman was disintegrating, fading out of existence in a shimmering mass. Her bewilderment was quickly replaced by smile so wide it hurt her cheeks.

In the apothecary’s place, her dark-haired prince grinned right back at her.

[that-yandere-life]

Soulmate Series: How You Meet (Part One)

Tony Stark-

Not everyone has a soulmate, but those that do have various ways they are connected to each other.

For you it was that the rate of your heartbeats always matched the other.

So if you were stressed or in danger he would immediately feel it.

God you were terrified when you felt your heart basically stop when he was in Afghanistan.

The way the two of you met was actually really kind of sweet.

Somehow you were invited to a Stark party, whether it was by a friend or because of your work.

People were basically wall to wall covering the room, the conversation making it almost impossible to hear.

Accidentally you ran into someone knocking their glass out of their hand causing it to shatter on impact.

Apologizing profusely you bent down to help pick it up.

Hitting a particularly sharp piece cutting your finger slightly.

When your heart rate spiked due to the pain he felt it too staring at you with wide eyes understanding before you even met his gaze.

Upon explaining you questioned if it was even possible, that your soulmate was THE Tony Stark.

Taking you to a quiet room he asked FRIDAY to check if it actually matched, which she quickly confirmed.

Tony was determined to keep you by his side, there was no leaving him anymore even if you wanted to.

Not that he would tell you that in any way.

After all these years he finally found his soulmate, the one destined to be his.

Steve Rogers-

Steve had always seen the world in a blend of various shades of gray.

Sketching only in charcoal pencil when he did his little drawings in his sketchbook.

No point in using color you couldn’t see.

Believing that he was going to die not meeting his soulmate when he went into the ice.

Upon waking up in present day he was confused, but also had a sense of renewed faith that maybe he just didn’t find his soulmate before because they weren’t alive yet.

He will always remember the day he met you, having saved you from an alien about to eat you alive.

Feeling you shake in his arms until your eyes latched onto his, seeing the most brilliant blue you had ever seen before.

Quickly he set you down, only having time to get your name before he had to return to the fight.

That is what began his obsession with you, knowing that you both belonged together.

Watching you from afar initially to discover what kind of person his soulmate is.

Finding out everything you liked and disliked, determined to be the perfect one for you when he finally approached you.

Pretending to run into you again, he asked you out on a date.

There was no way at the end of the night you would be walking away from him again, he wouldn’t let you go a second time.

Clint Barton-

Clint had been born with a tiny arrow tattoo just behind his ear.

Legend had it that his soulmate would have the same one, in the same place.

Although he was sure that he didn’t have a soulmate, a man with a crazy life like his didn’t deserve one in his mind.

When his hearing was damaged, his hearing aids that Tony built him covered it up.

One day he got into a hand to hand fight with a Hydra agent during a mission.

His aids were knocked out and smashed under their boot as a part of the struggle, thankfully they could be replaced with an extra set he kept in his vest.

Ultimately he won but he definitely had some cuts and bruised ribs that would need tending to.

Luckily you had just started in the medical wing of the tower as an on duty nurse.

Getting your first patient you never expected that they would end up being your soulmate.

Talking to Clint it felt like you had known him your entire life, and in a way you kind of had.

Laughing at one of his jokes you tucked your hair behind your ear not thinking anything of it when your tattoo was showing.

You of all people knew how rare it was for even people with a soulmate to find the love of their life.

Catching your gaze he moved his replacement hearing aids showing that the two of you matched.

Gasping you touched it gently with the tips of your fingers, unable to believe that you were one of the special cases.

Clint would never let you go, not after being proven so wrong about you not existing as there you were in front of him.

Natasha Romanoff-

For as long as you could remember you had gotten various injuries when you least expected them.

When you were a child you were taken to the doctor where they revealed that you had a soulmate out in the world.

That when they got hurt, or vice versa the other got the injury in return.

Occasionally you would get hurt really badly, having apparent bullet wounds even from time to time.

That is what made you think that your soulmate worked a dangerous job, so you decided to do the same in return.

Training really hard to become one of the top SHIELD recruits in your class.

Meaning you got to do your final evaluation with an Avenger.

Of course you grew nervous when you discovered that you were assigned to Natasha Romanoff, her reputation preceding her.

Stepping into the sparring ring with her you began to move around narrowly avoiding her attacks.

Effectively fighting her off for the most part, doing exactly what you had been trained to do.

Unfortunately you got distracted when she asked you about a scar you had, allowing her to get a good punch in.

Falling back onto your ass you felt blood dripping from your nose, touching it as your eyes watered you didn’t notice her touching her own.

Looking up focusing you saw that she was bleeding from her own nose despite you not even getting close to hitting her.

Natasha wasn’t upset though, in fact she was almost starting to cry at finally finding you.

Kneeling down she took you into her arms, taking in the fact that she would never again have to be without you.

Bruce Banner-

You remember spending a lot of your childhood in a state of fear and anxiety most of the time.

As you got older you started to get angry for no reason at all.

One minute you would be fine, the next you were enraged like you had just witnessed your car being set on fire.

It was really starting to become a problem in your day to day life.

You couldn’t hold down a job for long before you would have an outburst and get yourself fired.

Going to a therapist you were told that likely your soulmate was the cause of your emotional state.

Having it explained to you that you can also help them by giving them your emotions too.

So if they were having a moment of rage you could give them relaxation or joy in return to counteract it.

Likely you taking on their emotions fully like you had been only projected it back onto them even worse.

Feeling confused about how you had gone this long without knowing you had a soulmate, you wondered if it was real or if the therapist was full of shit.

That was until one day you were watching the news at a local diner where you had managed to earn a temp job as a waitress.

Talking about an attack on the city, showing live footage of the situation showing all of the Avengers getting ready to attack.

Gripping the counter tightly you felt yourself start to get angry again, so you attempted to calm down.

However it was no use as you watched a man turn into a tall green monster on the screen, knowing in your heart and soul that he was the one you were meant to be with.

Rushing out of there you stupidly ran down to where the fighting was taking place, luckily getting there after it ended.

Following the roars you started to give out feelings of calmness and peace.

Turning the corner you saw a mostly naked man panting and heaving hunched over in a nearby alleyway.

When he suddenly felt joy he looked up seeing you standing there smiling at him, knowing it was really him when you experienced a brief bout of confusion at first.

“It’s you...you’re real.”

Nodding you rush over not even caring about his state of undress, throwing your arms around him.

For once Bruce didn’t let go, this was meant to be and he was going to let it take him.

Thor Odinson-

Thor was getting frustrated being stuck at the same body he was when he was 18.

A thousand years or more had passed and he still hadn’t found his soulmate.

It was only while working with the Avengers on Midgard did he find what he was looking for without even realizing it.

Being part of the team yourself you often interacted with Thor when he was hanging around.

Somewhere along the lines he became obsessed with you, taking in every bit of information you would give him when talking.

Learning much about the culture on Earth from you at the end of the day.

Seemingly over the next few years you got closer, to the point where you would say you were best friends… if not more.

One morning you were looking in the mirror and you saw something that shocked you beyond belief.

A silver hair in the midst of your natural color.

That meant you were finally aging, something you hadn’t really done in the last ten years.

There was only person it could be, the person that seemingly had your heart even if he didn’t know it.

Thor noticed his own aging for the first time around the same moment you did.

Crinkles had formed in the corners of his eyes, something that definitely wasn’t there before.

Rushing to find you, you both ran into each other... literally.

Luckily he caught you in his arms, you both starting to laugh at the coincidence.

Showing each other what you had discovered, deep down it was like he had always known it was you.

No one will ever love you more than the man who waited more than a lifetime to be with you.

Loki Laufeyson-

Most of your life you had your own dreams, that was until the attacks in New York.

Ever since then, there were times where you were just a spectator in the front row of a horror show.

After many nights with little to no sleep due to the terrifying sights you went to a sleep clinic to find out what is going on.

There you are told of a rare connection to a soulmate where you share each other's dreams.

However they couldn’t explain why it took so long for them to start.

The only explanation offered was that they came within close proximity of you and that jump started the connection.

A solution they offered was to attempt to lucid dream and bring them into your space to see who they were.

It took awhile but finally you felt like you wanted to attempt it.

Loki was sleeping and found himself sucked into your dream, something he always prefered over his own.

You provided his much needed escape from reality after all that had happened to him recently.

Quickly he realized that this was different than before, you seemed far more in control of the narrative than usual.

When you asked for his name he was shocked since normally you never knew of his presence.

Shocked as you were when you found out he was the man who had hurt a lot of people, connecting the dots between the timing your dreams started and when he attacked.

As you felt yourself starting to wake up you swore you heard him tell you he was going to come for you at the first chance.

Somehow you didn’t know if you were comforted or terrified by those words.

[Part one of How You Meet! If you want more soulmate scenarios with everyone let me know! <333]

[valeriethepussycats]

Assemble

Chapter 9

Pairing- Loki x Reader x Steve (one side)

Warning- cursing

Your thoughts and other characters are in italics.

Fury gathers Tony and Steve back into the briefing room everyone there has a look as if in a daze. A look of numb shock is shown on their devastated faces.

“These were in Phil Coulson's jacket.Guess he never did get you to sign them.”Nick throws Coulson's Captain America trading cards  on the table towards Steve. Steve picks them up, stained with blood.

“We're dead in the air up here. Our communications, location of the cube, Banner, Thor and I don’t know if Y/n will recover from this....I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming.Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier.” Nick told Steve and Ton. “There was an idea, Stark knows this, called The Avengers Initiative. The idea to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes.”

Tony gets up and walks off, not wanting to hear it anymore.

“Well, it's an old fashioned notion.” Nick finished.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Thor walks out far into the meadow. He looks down. Mjölnir.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Banner wakes up, in human form with Y/n words echoing in he’s head. He looks around and sees he is in a pile of rubble and looks up at the open ceiling he crashed in and is completely naked. A Security Guard stands there, amazed. “You fell out of the sky.”

“Did I hurt anybody?”  Bruce asked coming to.

“There's nobody around here to get hurt. You did scare the hell out of some

pigeons though.” The Security Guard  answered.

“Lucky.” Bruce replied.

“Or just good aim. You were awake when  you fell.”  The Security Guard told Bruce.

“You saw?”

“The whole thing, right through the ceiling. Big and green and buck ass nude. Here...”  He throws Banner a pair of big pants. Banner pulls on his pants. “I didn't think those would fit you  until you shrunk down to a regular size fella.”

“Thank you.”

“Are you an alien?”

“What?” Bruce asked.

“From outer space, an alien?” The Security Guard wondered.

“No.” Bruce answered.

“Well then, son, you've got a condition.”  The Security Guard disclosed.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Barton is strapped down. Natasha watches over him as Barton tries to shake off Loki's mind control.

“Clint, you're gonna be alright.” Natasha told him.”

“You know that? Is that what you know? I got...I gotta go in though. I gotta

flush him out.”  Barton stated.

“We don't have that long, it's gonna take time.” Natasha stressed.

“I don't understand. Have you ever had someone take your brain and play? Pull you out and send something else in? Do you know what it's like to be unmade?” Barton questioned.

“You know that I do.” Natasha replied.

“Why am I back? How did you get him out?” Barton asked.

“Cognitive recalibration. I hit you really hard in the head.” Natasha answered.

“Thanks.” Barton stated then Natasha unfastens the restraints. “Tasha, how many agents?”

“Don't. Don't do that to yourself,  Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for.”  Natasha explained.

“Loki, he got away?” Barton wondered.

“Yeah. I don't suppose you know where?”  Natasha asked.

“I didn't need to know. I didn't ask.  He's gonna make his play soon though. Today.”  Barton answered.

“We gotta stop him.” Natasha declared.”

“Yeah? Who's we?” Barton questioned.

“I don't know. Whoever's left.” Natasha replied.

“Well, if I put an arrow in Loki's eye socket, I'd sleep better I suppose.” Barton  remarked.

“Now you sound like you.” Natasha sits next to her partner and friend.

“But you don't. You're a spy, not a soldier. Now you want to wade into a war. Why? What did Loki do to you?” Barton  asked.

“He didn't, I just...”

“Natasha.”

“I've been compromised. I got red in my ledger. I'd like to wipe it out.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Y/n is in Coulson’s office or more like he’s room trying to calm the raging storm inside of her revenge and anger is never a good combination with her. She Angrily swipeseverything off of his desk breaking the laptop. Automatically feeling guilty Y/n been down to pick up the laptop and sees a briefcase under the desk Curiosity taking over her she pulls the briefcase out and sees that it has her name on it.

“What are you?”

Y/n opens the briefcase and see A sticky note that says play me. Y/n then moves the sticky note and play on the video. At first all you could hear is rumble and the  screen is black. Giving up on the video Y/n  moves to pick up the stuff she knocked off the deck. 

“You should cover up because it’s going to Rain.” Said Coulson’s voice.

Y/n turns to look back at the briefcase and see Coulson on the screen.

“No um time to bundle up because it’s going to rain no. Ohhh how about the  Red Wing Black bird soaring through the sky. Get it  because of the color of the wings  it reminds me of you and the Phoenix....The point is I had this uniform made for you because your a hero and every hero needs to dress the part and have a name. Now go save the world.”

The video stops an a Second part compartment from the briefcase opened up revealing a bodysuit that’s Blue, Red, with a Yellow. It’s like Funky and Radiant. The base of the suit is blue and it’s had a red vertical line going down the middle and two yellow diagonal lines on each side of the vertical line, and the sleeves and legs have the same design as the stomach but the sleeves go all the way down to Cover the two middle fingers. The top of the suit makes an ‘x’ separate each side of the chest, leaving the neck and a little cleavage showing.

Oh Phill this is beautiful

When Y/n turns the suit around to look at the back she see a Metal plate on her upper back.

What are you for?

Just as the thought ran into Y/n’s mind a small Wood sheath attached to the Metal plate. Y/n gaps in shock. She knows exactly what that is

Y/n goes to pull the handle of the Sword out of the Wood sheath  and see a small dagger that slowly start to unfold into a 65 cm Katana Sword.

“Oh my god...how could he had this made.” Y/n wondered as a slow smile creeped on to her face. She knew she could do it and so did Phill.

Red Wing has a nice ring to it

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Tony look at the hatch. He stands not saying a word. Steve walks in.

“Was he married?” Steve asked.

“No. There was a uh...cellist, I think.” Tony answered.

“I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man.” Steve  answered.

“He was an idiot.” Tony remarked.

“Why? For believing?” Steve asked.

“For taking on Loki alone.” Tony stated.

“He was doing his job.”  Steve voiced

“He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have...” Tony said looking at the spot where  Coulson die.

“Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony.” Steve started.

Tony walks away from Steve. “Right. How did that work for him?” Tony asked sarcastically

“Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?” Steve asked.

Tony turns around sharply. “ WE ARE NOT SOLDIERS! I am not marching to Fury's fife!”

“Neither am I! He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki does. Right now we've got to put that aside and get this done. Now Loki needs a power source, if we can put together a list...”  Steve trailed off.

“He’s in Manhattan and if I’m not mistaken I think he’s at your tower Tony. It’s the only power store in Manhattan that I can think of.” Y/n chimed in.

Tony and Steve turns around and see Y/n standing in the door waring a black and white suit.

“Y/n.” Steve said staggered.

“What do you think Phil had it made. I’ve never had a suit of armor before but this is kind of bad ass.” Y/n proclaimed while she was checking herself out.

When Steve saw Y/n’s suit he had to check himself. He know of Y/n’s powers before the rest of the team so he knows if he let’s he’s mind wonder it would go to ungentleman like place  and Y/n could pick up on that and he doesn’t want to make things awkward between them. Steve can really see Y/n being an important person in his new life. Steve clears his throat then asks. “Where you going?”

“To stop Loki but first I’m gonna find Thor.” Y/n answered.

“What about Banner?” Tony asked.

“I sent Bruce to Manhattan.” Y/n answered.

“Are you sure your ok to do this?” Steve asked in a  concern voice.

“Yes. Im 75% sure I can do. I just  had to take some time to clear my head because before fighting Loki To keep my emotions in check.” Y/n answered.

“Or you’ll  go Super Saiyan got it.” Tony remarked.

“I am so sorry about that...” Y/n trailed off.

Steve waves his hand. “It’s ok we understand anyone would be upset finding out that kind of news.”

Y/n smiles at Tony and Steve then opens the hatch. Clueless to what’s going on Steve and Tony backs up from the hatch.

“What the hell are you doing?” Tony questioned.

Y/n smiles. “You guys need to suit up I’ll see you there.”  

Y/n jumps in the hatch then it closes behind her. Steve and Tony look at the hatch wide eyes and their mouths slightly open.

“Did she just?” Steve asked.

“Yes. Yes she did.” Tony answered.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Erik works around the CMS device that has already been set-upon the rooftop of Tony's tower.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Steve walks in full uniform. Natasha looks at him, unprepared.

“Time to go.” Steve announced.

“Go where?” Natasha wondered.

“I'll tell you on the way. Can you fly  one of those jets?”  Steve asked.

Barton walks out of the restroom. Looks at Cap. “I can.”

Steve looks at Natasha and she nods her head to confirm Barton's on their side.

“You got a suit?” Steve asked Barton.

“Yeah.”

“Then suit up.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Y/n is flying in the sky searching the ground to see where Thor landed until a massive lightning bolt all most hits her, Y/n flys out the way and looks down and see Thor.

“Really you couldn’t killed me!” Y/n shouted as she flys down to Thor who is standing in a meadow of flowers.

“I know about Phill.” Y/n said with a hint of sadness.

“I’m sorry. I know he meant  the world to you.” Thor said as he gives Y/n a hug then placed his forehead on her for a moment of silence.

“I’ll deal with Loki I gave you my word.” Thor declare.

“What happens if you get hurt?” Y/n asked.

“You will not risky your life me Y/n not again.” Thor disclosed getting upset for his friend.

“I won’t but I won’t yet you get hurt knowing I can help...come on I know where Loki is.” Y/n voiced leaving  no room for an argument.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Captain America pulls on his Helmet and Shield. Tony welds his Iron Man helmet. Light slips down over Iron Man's eye holes. Black Widow attaches a glove gauntlet  with her rounds on her wrist and a blue light charges. Hawkeye slips on his quiver of arrows.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Cap, Widow and Hawkeye walk towards and into the Quinjet. A Young Shield Pilot looks and stands in their way.

“You are not authorized to be here...” The Pilot stated.

“Son... just don't.” Steve told the The Pilot.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Fury looks the window of the ship, contemplating. Agent Hill

walks up to him, knowing. “Sir.”

“Agent Hill?”

“Those cards, they were in Coulson's locker, not in his jacket.” Agent Hill disclosed.

“They needed the push.” Nick said  holding Coulson's cards.

A loud noise screeches. Fury looks out to see Iron Man flying off as well as the Quinjet.

“They found it. Get our communications back up, whatever you have to do. I  want eyes on everything.” Nick ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

Part 10

Kuddly Krab: @aesthethickks​

[lemonsandstrawberries]

Superhero Babysitting

fandom: Stony (Steve x Tony), MCU, 

summary: Since Steve became Captain America he had deal with many weird things in his life, but babysitting his de-aged boyfriend was probably in top five.

length: 2 984

a/n: sooo this prompt was sitting on my prompt list for waaaay too long, but I finally felt motivated to write it after seeing an alternative scene from IM2 between Tony and Howard, the scene was already deleted from youtube, but it was Howard’s message to Tony, where Howard records while holding sleeping Tony in his arms and tells him about his legacy (so basically everything he said in IM2), but adds little heartwarming things like ‘my son’ and ‘I love you’.  that kinda left the Tony fandom divided, but I loooved it, because for me, MCU!Howard wasn’t like his comic version, he was neglectful for sure, but not abusive. so, if you see Howard as an abusive person, you won’t like this fic! just a fair warning. in general, this fic is all fluff and sugar ;D. as always, feedback, reblogs and likes are appreciated and needed!

——————–

Superhero Babysitting

Steve sighed contentedly, the lukewarm water relieving his heated up body. It was a good way to end a training session. Feeling fresh and with a clear mind, he pulled on clothes and went to the common kitchen for an after training snack. The Avengers common kitchen was rarely empty, and usually, there was one or two of team members hanging out, either for a late meal or stealing someone's else snack. His granola bars better be where Steve left them, or there would be hell.

Steve entered the kitchen and smiled, greeting his teammates. Currently, in the kitchen were Clint, tapping something on the phone, Natasha, frying pancakes and a small, blonde boy, fidgeting in his seat.

Wait.

Steve's eyes lingered on the kid for a bit longer, as he opened the fridge and took a jug with orange juice, pouring himself a glass. The kid felt his stare and looked back at Steve, and Steve smiled in a way that hoped to be encouraging, but the kid looked away shyly.

"Cute kid," Steve said to Natasha, as she was flipping the pancakes. "Whose is it?" he took a sip of the cold juice.

"Well, seems that yours," Natasha answered with a half-smile, plating the pancakes.

Steve choked, some pulp going down his chin in a pretty disgusting manner before he wiped it with his hand. "Come again?" he asked, voice rising in panic. Natasha didn't pay attention to him, putting the pancakes in front of the kid and encouraging him to eat.

"You really can't tell who it is?" Clint asked, lifting his eyes from his phone, and looking very unimpressed. "Just look at him."

Steve didn't like this game. He locked his eyes on the kid. Or more like a child. Maybe five, top six years old. Blonde hair, big brown eyes, and pouty lips, when his request of putting both maple syrup and honey on the pancakes was denied by Natasha. Steve knew that pout.

"Why the kid looks like Tony?" Steve asked, feeling cold sweat on his skin. He and Tony started dating just six months ago, and Steve knew that his boyfriend had a long history of one night stands, and the only logical explanation was that a result of one of such nights was in front of him.

The kid looked at Steve, after hearing the mentioned name, but didn't say anything. Instead pulled his eyebrows together and pressed lips in a thoughtful pout. Just like Tony.

"Because it is Tony," Natasha answered, giving up to the kid's charm and going to fetch the honey from the cupboard.

"No way this is Tony," Steve answered, voice trembling a bit. That had to be some joke. It had to be.

"You want to see DNA results?" Clint asked, flipping his phone and briefly showing Steve some medical record on the screen. "Bruce confirmed everything."

Steve's mouth hung open. If it was a joke, his team was going through awfully a lot of trouble to make him fall for it. Tony was probably somewhere in the Tower, hiding, observing everything through a hidden camera and having a blast.

"If that's Tony," Steve started, eyes not leaving the kid, who after getting his pancakes slathered with honey and maple syrup, started to eat with appetite, "why is he so small?"

"Either this is some sort of speed up case of Benjamin Button, or I have one word for you," Clint made a pause, looking too serious when Steve looked at him, "Loki."

That just made a lot less sense with every passing minute.

"I am trying to track Loki down, Thor is already on his tail, but -"

"Tony, honey, use a napkin."

Steve's breath quickened. He watched Natasha wiping the boy's face from sticky syrup and half listened to Clint. If it was a joke, it should already end. Why wasn't it ending?

Unless it wasn't a joke.

"Where are you going?" Steve asked, noticing that Natasha and Clint stood up from the table.

"We got a signal. Maybe we can get Loki and make him reverse the spell," Natasha explained and Clint nodded to her words.

"Wait!" Steve panicked. "What I am supposed to do with him?" he asked, knowing that he worded himself wrong and technically shouldn't talk like that about someone present. Tony frowned, not thrilled with the perspective of being left alone with Steve either.

"Just ask him!"

"You will be fine, Steve. Good luck! Tony, I am going to leave you with Steve for a bit, okay?" Natasha petted Tony's hair, big brown eyes turning to her in question and she smiled, "don't worry, he is a nice person. Remember to brush your teeth after eating!"

Steve heavily sat on the chair across from Tony, after Clint and Natasha had left, not believing that his team left him like that. He didn't have a lot of experience with kids. Or like any. Stopping in the park when a group of kids and their moms surrounded him to get autographs or throw frisbee definitely didn't count.

Quiet, clinking and chewing sounds brought him back. Tony was slowly finishing his meal, not looking at Steve, but down at his plate.

"Uh, so, Tony," Steve said, noticing a brief twitch in the small boy. "What do you want to do later?"

Tony shrugged. "Dunno," he said, stabbing more pancake on his fork and putting into mouth in a messy, childlike way, some honey dripping down his smooth chin. The sad and hilarious thing was that Tony kept eating in the same manner in his adulthood too. That made Steve's heart tug with some longing feeling.

"Alright," Steve sighed, expecting this to be easier. "Then, what do you like to do in your free time?"

Tony took a moment to answer, his plate already clear and he kept smearing the butter and syrup around the plate. "Draw," came an answer in a small voice, almost as if Tony expected to get scolded.

Finally, some common ground. Steve smiled warmly. "What do you like to draw?"

"Robots," Tony answered, sounding a little more confident and happier, "and space."

"You like space?" Steve tried to keep the conversation going. Maybe it was a way to know something more about his boyfriend's childhood, as Tony generally avoided that topic.

"Yeah! One day I want to go to space and be an astronaut!" Tony said a little louder, smiling in excitement. Steve's smile dimmed a little when he realized that one day Tony's wish would come true and not in a way he had hoped for.

"An astronaut? That's a big word for such a small kid. You must be very smart," Steve praised, but to his surprise, Tony saddened at the words.

"Maybe," Tony answered, arms sagging down and he looked into his empty plate. At that moment, Steve realized that maybe because of his intelligence, Tony didn't have a lot of fun during his childhood, always being pushed to books about science and mathematic equations, instead of toys and games.

"You know, I like drawing too," Steve tried to change the topic. Much to his happiness, Tony looked up, seeming interested again. "You want to draw with me?" Steve's heart filled with a warm feeling when Tony nodded with a bright smile. It seemed he had a plan on how to keep the boy occupied. "But first, put your plate into the sink and go wash your mouth and brush teeth," Steve reminded, hearing a small whine of protest, that made him smile.

Some things didn't change.

It was surprising because Tony turned out to be a pretty calm kid. Steve gave him some pencils, crayons, and paper (all from his private supplies, he would restock later) and page after page, Tony created colorful pictures, barely speaking and moving, just sitting at the coffee table in the living room. True to his interests, Tony drew a lot of robots, in that childlike, rectangular way, but there was some wonderful attention to details, something Steve found almost startling.

"Wow, looks great, pal," Steve praised Tony's newest masterpiece - a robot in a rocket, on a background of a starry sky. Fun and colorful as Tony used every crayon he had. "I am gonna put this one on the fridge," he smiled, ruffling Tony's hair in praise.

Tony giggled, face beaming with happiness. It should be cute but was a bit alarming how such a small thing, something one's child should hear every day, brought so much joy.

It wasn't Steve's business. If Tony found out, he would get angry at him. Maybe even furious. But…

"Hey, Tony," Steve asked despite the warning signals going on in his brain, "do you draw often with your dad?"

Oh, there it was. Tony's hand stopped, eyes became startled. It lasted only for a second and Tony took a clean page and started a new drawing. He shrugged as an answer. "Dad's busy. It's fine."

Of course. Steve looked sadly at Tony. There was barely any emotions in Tony's voice or posture when he talked about Howard.

"Dad is busy all the time?"

"Kinda."

"So you don't spend time together too often?"

Tony shrugged, taking a blue crayon and doing some swirl in the middle of the page.

Steve bit his lip. He might regret it, but he had to know.

"Tony… does your dad-"

"He doesn't hit me."

The answer made Steve's eyes widen. "Uhhhh… I didn't mean that -" he tried to backtrack, but Tony didn't allow him.

"You are not the first one to ask me that today," Tony muttered, taking a red crayon and Steve's eyes widened in shock. Clint. Natasha. Bruce. Did they all ask? "Dad's often gone. Sometimes he yells when he gets angry, but that's all."

Steve frowned. That was a relief to hear, but still, didn't sound like a complete and happy childhood. "Is your dad-"

Steve didn't finish. He saw Tony grimacing horribly, eyes shining with tears. Suddenly he folded arms on the table, and curled, hiding in himself.

Steve sucked in a surprised breath. Did he make Tony cry? "Hey, hey, it's okay, I am sorry, I won't ask again -"

"I messed up."

"What?"

"My drawing. It is ruined," Tony sobbed out, clearly distressed. A minute ago, Tony showed some maturity surpassing his age, but it didn't change that he was still a kid.

"Hey, I am sure it is not that bad. Let me see," Steve said softly, walking to Tony and trying to look at the piece of paper under the kid's arm.

"Noooo, it is ugly," Tony said stubbornly, not planning to move and locking arms tighter around the drawing.  

"How it can be ugly? You did such a great job with every other drawing," Steve tried to encourage, but Tony just made some high pitched sad sound. "Come on, just show me," he tried again, leaning over the chair and softly poking the kid's side.

Oh, a reaction. Tony giggled, curling a little bit away from the finger. Steve smiled, poking some more, and then used his forefinger and thumb to very gently pinch the kid's side.

"Steheheeve! Dohahan't!" Tony asked, his laughter having a melody Steve knew so well, but sounding like little chirps. It was one of the cutest sounds he ever heard.

"Show me, show me, show me," Steve repeated time after time, moving his fingers and repeating the motion on boy's small belly. Tony giggled on a high note, and leaned back, escaping from the fingers, finally showing his drawing.

This day was already crazy and Steve thought nothing would surprise him. In the middle of the white page was drawn a very familiar shape drawn with red and blue crayons. Captain America's shield. His shield.

"That's-" Steve noticed that Tony was looking at him, all insecure and the previous smile gone from his face, only tears left. "That's beautiful, Tony! Wow!" Steve praised enthusiastically when the shock faded. The circles that made his shield were almost perfect and the star was exactly in the middle, all angles the same. Maybe it lacked a little bit on the coloring and Tony went out of the line a few times, but from a technical point of view, it was perfect. "You did a great job!"

"It's wrong," Tony argued, sounding sad all over again.

"How it is wrong? Looks great to me."

"Too much blue," Tony sniffled, wiping his eyes.

Steve looked closer at the drawing, now seeing it. Tony colored the circle that supposed to be white with a blue crayon. Honestly, Steve didn't notice, too much in awe of the perfect outline.

"It looks better like this," Steve decided, patting Tony's soft hair. "Seriously."

Finally, Tony smiled, some wet traces still on his cheeks, but sadness gone. Steve smiled back, somehow feeling proud that Tony sketched his shield.

"So, you like Captain America, huh?" Steve asked, trying to keep his voice nonchalant.

"Yeah!" Tony burst out, eyes shining happily, "he is the greatest hero ever and my favorite! I love Captain America! … Uh, Steve?"

Steve turned around, hand pressed to his mouth. He didn't expect that outburst of unfiltered, pure love and his face became heated and something he could only describe as a dopey smile took half of his face. Tony didn't need to see that.

"Steve, are you okay?"

"Yeah… I just need a moment, buddy."

Evening came sooner than Steve expected, none of the Avengers returned and it was high time to put Tony to bed. Steve tried to prolong that moment the longest possible, but Tony started to yawn and his head was bobbing dangerously down.

"Okay, kiddo, bedtime," Steve gave up, taking half-conscious Tony in his arms and carrying the boy to their bedroom.

"Mhhmm… Not tired."

"Sure you are not tired," Steve smiled, having another familiar moment. He put Tony down on the bed and pulled the covers over the boy's small frame. "Sleep well, pal. I will leave the night lamp on, just in case. I will be in the next room," Steve said in a hushed voice, brushing the hair off Tony's forehead. He didn't make it even half though the room when he heard a quiet voice.

"Steveee… Don't go."

Oh, dammit. Steve was afraid of that. Taking care of his adult boyfriend reverted to a kid was one, but sharing a bed was too much. That was like a sure romance killer.

But he couldn't say no to a kid. Tony had been denied too many happy memories by his parents already, and Steve didn't want to pile on that.

"Alright," he turned around and sat on the edge of the bed, "but only until you fall asleep."

"Okay," Tony agreed sleepily, scooting closer so he could feel Steve's warmth. "Can you tell me a story?"

"Sure," Steve smiled, "what would you like to hear?"

"Can you tell me about Captain America?"

And Steve's face became red again. Great.

"Uhhmm. You know what, pal? Maybe I will tell you about my favorite hero instead. Would that be okay?"

Tony nodded, not opening his eyes. It appeared that he just needed to be close to someone.

"Okay, so I will tell you about a very smart guy, who spent all his days designing and building machines, and one day, he built a gold and red armor - "

Somehow, Steve missed the moment when he fell to sleep on his own and slept through the whole night. He remembered when he woke up in the morning and the feeling of something scratchy on his face.

"Mhm. Go away," Steve muttered, fidgeting away.

"No."

He knew that voice. Steve's eyes snapped open and he saw brown eyes looking at him.

"Hi, sleepyhead," Tony greeted, casually spread on the top of the covers, all in his adult glory.

"Tony!" Steve smiled, feeling with all might how he missed his boyfriend. He scooted closer, wanting to lock their lips together, but somehow the memory of yesterday was too fresh and he placed his kiss on Tony's forehead instead.

"What the hell was that?" Tony complained, and Steve laughed, just taking in the moment, "give me a proper kiss!"

"No," Steve continued to laugh, moving away as Tony advanced on him.

"What do you mean no? I want my kiss, Steve!"

"I said no!"

"Bad news! We couldn't find Loki, but look I bought some games for Tony - aaaaw!" Clint stood disappointed in the doorway, not even cringing at the sight of Tony basically climbing over Steve. "You are an adult again!"

"What? What do you mean?" Tony asked, frowning at his friend. Steve took the moment to throw Tony off of himself (Tony squawked) and sat up on the bed.

"Never mind," Clint waved his hand but looked almost offended. Tony was a cute, polite kid. Unlike his adult version.

"What's that?" Steve asked, noticing some packaging under Clint's arm.

"New games," Clint said, showing the colorful covers, "now I have to return them," he complained dramatically.

Tony shrugged. "I will play with you."

"You will?"

"Yeah. You said you bought them for me, right? Let's play."

Clint beamed a smile and ordered Tony to come to the living room, solely to get his butt kicked during xbox tournament and sprinted out. Tony laughed and yelled something after the archer, but Steve didn't listen, too relieved with this whole mess ending just after one evening and one night. It was a nice experience, but he much more preferred his adult boyfriend.

"Hey, baby, we good?" Tony asked, still not understanding the morning chaos, but already moving forward.

"We good," Steve confirmed, smiling warmly at his boyfriend. They finally shared the good morning kiss and Tony hurriedly changed clothes to join Clint for some early gaming tournament and Steve decided to get some more sleep. 

Babysitting was exhausting.

--------------------

a/n was getting too long, so I am gonna add it here instead - although this fic was inspired by the prompt and that alternative scene from IM2, the true reason I am posting it, is because blue!anon send me a nice message. I didn’t post in a while, I have a back injury and I can’t sit for too long (seriously, proofreading and editing was a nightmare), but because I knew there was someone thinking about me and my fics, I wanted to go through with this and post something to make them happy, instead of sitting on this fic for God-knows-how-long. remember that likes/feedback are not only to make your creator feel good/ for ego boost - this is honestly the only way we can communicate, and hearing nothing just kills the joy of posting (not writing, as I mentioned, I write, I just don’t feel motivated to post). so, thank you again, blue!anon, for keeping me motivated, I love you and appreciate you so much  ❤️💙💛

[realityhelixcreates]

Lasabrjotr Chaper 16: First Steps

Chapters: 16/? Fandom: Thor (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Teen And Up Warnings: Mentions of war, mentions of past death Relationships: Loki x Reader (But not yet) Characters: Loki (Marvel), Reader Additional Tags: Post-Endgame: Best Possible Ending (Canon-Divergent), Art Thou Ready For More Worldbuilding, Here Have Some Headcanons, Loki Is Still Keeping Some Secrets, What Else Is New, Loki Might Be Inflating His Accomplishments, Just A Bit, And Loki’s Like: Hey I Like You, Have A Knife As A Sign Of My Affection, Reader Likes To MUNCH, Reader Needs To Pay Attention. Summary:  Loki may prefer words over action, but some things can only be conveyed by deeds.

Loki entered your room to find you pacing back and forth, frazzled and anxious. He noticed the knife bundle sitting on the desk, and the tear tracks on your cheeks as you turned to confront him.

“Your Highness, I might have been out of line before, but you just keep-“

“Sh-sh.” He interrupted, pressing a long finger to your lips. You pulled away with an irritated growl. “I have come to make up for Surtr.” He explained, and handed you a plate of bread, slathered with your favorite jams. So, he had finally recognized your fixation on food, and thought he could bribe you with it.

Well…he might be right. You accepted the plate, but said nothing.

“There are some things I would like to discuss with you. Sit. Rest. You’ll wear a rut in the floor.”

He sat you down on the bed, and took a place next to you, rubbing your back lightly. Why did he think that was okay? Why did you never have the courage to tell him otherwise?

“This is a Frost Giant.” He said, and the image of a tall, long limbed person with powder blue skin and bright red eyes sprung into being, next to an image of himself, for comparison. The giant would easily be around ten feet tall in life, somewhere between his previous images of Gerd and Ran. It had raised markings on its skin, a little like cracks in ice, and its features were sharp and chiseled.

“They live on a planet that is entirely frozen over. It has deep oceans, and no actual land, just ice all over the surface. I believe there is a moon in your planetary system that is extremely similar to Jotunheim, and it is speculated that the planet may have once been a moon itself, torn from its former orbit, and flung out into a new one. Jotunheim is as small as a moon, and rotates retrograde. That is, backwards, compared to all the other planets in its system. It’s also situated in a part of the system where no other terrestrial planets formed, held in place by the orbital resonances of two gas giants.”

A wave of his hand brought forth a beautiful blue-white orb, crossed with blue cracks. There was a terrible blackened scar partway around the equator, like an enormous canyon.

“What happened there?”

He paused, appearing to be thinking his words over carefully.

“There are some tremendous destructive forces in the universe. Jotunheim was unfortunate enough to find itself in the path of such a thing.”

Your astronomy book had mentioned things like solar flares and gamma ray bursts. And even Earth hadn’t been spared from things like giant meteor strikes.

“As you may already know, Jotnar like to colonize worlds just as much as Asgard did, and we encountered many kinds in many places. Some were hostile, some were not, often within the same group. However, the Frost Giants were entirely hostile to us, and we’ve never known anything but war with them. My father…” He shifted next to you. “My father thought to broker peace with them, but his plans…backfired.”

The illusory Frost Giant returned, as Loki continued on about the ecology of Jotunheim, but you found yourself wondering if this individual, with his sharp, craggy features, actually represented a real person.

“Does he have a name?” You wondered aloud.

“What?” Loki asked. You hadn’t actually meant to interrupt him, but so many of his little illusions represented real people: Freyr, Ran, Surtr.

“Is this a real person? Does he have a name?”

Loki paused. “He…was a real person. His name was Laufey. He was the king of Jotunheim.”

“The whole planet? How does one guy rule a whole planet?”

“Ruthlessly.”

“Sounds like he’s maybe not around anymore.” He’d said ‘was’ quite a few times.

“He is not. He attempted to murder the Allfather in his sleep, and I…I slew him.”

“Oh.” It was hard to think of. You knew, of course, that Loki had killed people. He’d done so on Earth, so naturally, he’d surely done so on other planets. Asgard had influenced the old Norse cultures for eons, and those cultures had become famous for their great warriors. As a warrior himself, it only made sense that Loki would have seen battle.

But with the tender way he handled you, it was just hard to think of. Like the Loki who came to Earth those years ago was a different person. Like the Loki in your mythology book was a different person. How many different people could exist inside the same man?

“Just as I slew Surtr. I dislike threats to Asgard.”

“What? That fire giant? He must’ve been as big as a mountain, how did you even begin to go about killing that?”

“Surtr was extremely full of himself and the importance of fulfilling his ‘destiny’. He didn’t seem to realize that his supposed destiny would end his life. Or perhaps he didn’t care. I simply set into motion the series of events that would lead to his death. You see, not every confrontation can be solved by a hammer to the face. Sometimes, finesse is the only real weapon you have. Sometimes the right word at the right time is far more effective than a frontal assault. And sometimes it is best to let your enemy destroy himself.”

Loki left your side briefly, to retrieve the little bundle from the desk. A gift? He’d said before that he wanted to present it properly, but you hadn’t thought much about it since, moments later, he had summoned a fire monster to wreck up the room.

So this was how Loki apologized. Not with words, but with capitulation. Every time he had done something that he later realized had wronged you, he then gave you something he thought you wanted or needed.

After kidnapping you, he gave you a room within his own quarters. How many Asgardians might jump for such an honor? After inflicting you with a magical bond that made you weak and sick, he gave you his own living energy. You had no idea if it was draining him, or if it was uncomfortable; he never once complained about it. After interrupting your lesson on Svartalfheim in the library, and arguing with you he gave you a private lesson on the subject, and after unleashing an illusory monster upon your room, he was giving you the information on the Frost Giants that you had originally wanted.

Now he had a gift for you, which he unwrapped and lay down in your lap. On the cloth was a knife in a black sheath. A weapon. He was actually giving you a weapon?

The book was wrong. It had to be.

But what if it wasn’t?

You drew the knife from its sheath. The leather that made it up was worn, and seemed a little mismatched, but the blade itself was shiny and clean, as if it were new. It felt a little big for you, a little heavy in your hand.

“This is the blade that failed to slay you. It is a cultural treasure, so I expect you to care for it well. It’s yours now, and I will teach you how to use it.”

This was the same knife? If it was a treasure, should you even have it?

“I shouldn’t keep something if it’s precious. And do you even have time to teach me anything else?”

You hadn’t had a lesson in magic for a while now. How could he tutor you in two subjects when he didn’t even have time for one?

“I will make time. Things keep coming up, but I will make time. Are you feeling well enough to accompany me to another meeting?”

“I don’t know.” He made it sound like a date or some kind of formal occasion. “It’s so boring that it hurts.”

“Oh yes, sometimes. That is one of the many burdens of my job. What if I promised a nice dinner afterwards? Something a little fancy?”

“What kind of fancy?” Everything you had eaten so far had been delicious, and, while simple, it was still miles above the ramen, processed cheese sandwiches, and condensed soup that made up your usual diet. What was fancier than that?

You hoped it wasn’t anything too weird. There were some foods associated with the rich that simply sounded unappetizing, like caviar or foie gras.

“Lamb is common here, and the first harvest of laukas should be served up tonight as well. Want to be the first Midgardian ever to taste an Asgardian vegetable? I’m sure you will like them.”

Yes, he had you figured out all right. Food had always been a weakness of yours; even moreso after the Event.

“Okay…” He was giving you choices, which would have been a good sign, except that he only seemed to give you choices that he knew you would agree too. He was obviously trying to make it easier for you to say ‘yes’ to him, than ‘no’.

Loki is a master manipulator, seeing everyone and everything as a game to be played. So clever is he, that he can maneuver anyone into the position he wants them to be in, and many might just thank him for the opportunity to be used. Or so the book said.

“Then come along. Here.” He helped you fasten the knife to your braided belt, then offered his arm to lead you out into the hallway. “Your interest in the other races of the universe is commendable, _____. You seem to have such an easy time accepting it all. But I want a promise from you. In the unlikely event that you ever cross paths with a Jotun of any kind, I want you to stay away from them and hide. At least until someone can confirm that they are safe. It’s true that many Jotnar are non-hostile or even friendly to Asgardians, but you are not Asgardian. And if you know what differences to look for, your humanity is obvious, no matter how much like us you may appear. Will you promise me this? You don’t have to hate anybody, just show proper caution. A Jotun might crush you without even knowing you were there.”

“I…I guess that sounds reasonable.” You conceded. “I mean, when am I ever going to meet one? They probably don’t even know Earth exists.”

“Would that that were true.” He said, leading you into a slightly different meeting room than the one you’d been in before. This one seemed prepared for large groups or presentations, with a horseshoe-shaped table setup, and an old projector, like the ones used when you were in school. You glanced up at him, waiting for an explanation. He sighed.

“You’re probably not going to like this. You’ve made your opinions on colonization rather clear, and I’m inclined to agree with you to a certain extent, however…”

“Oh. Oh, were we…?”

“No. But we did try. And we weren’t the only ones. All the nine realms know of Midgard, and most of them have tried to colonize this world at some point. It is a most tempting realm. And yet, all have failed. Humans are so numerous, and reproduce so quickly. You go to war eagerly, for any reason. And you adapt to nearly any situation, even though you are weak and fragile compared to all of the rest of the peoples of the Nine Realms. Eight. Eight Realms.”

“The way you describe us sometimes…Are we scary to the rest of you?”

He scoffed. “I have no fear of you, if that’s what you’re asking. But it rather depends on how you look at things, doesn’t it? Longer lived races have fewer numbers, by necessity. But humans come in hordes, always. The sheer number of you is nearly unfathomable. You progress quickly. A mere eight thousand years from copper tools to space travel? Unheard of. That’s barely three Asgardian generations. It would be like you learning how to flake obsidian into blades with no idea what a planet even is…and then your grandchildren are sending robots to Mars.

“I sometimes think Odin claimed this place as one of the Realms, just to keep you contained. You might take this amiss, but if I try to think from his point of view, the notion of humans colonizing other worlds would be terrifying. You move so quickly. You adapt to so many living conditions. You would spread so fast. You know, the Frost Giants were the last to try to colonize this place?”

He pulled a chair out for you, right at the head of the table, next to him. Were you going to be involved in something here? You didn’t belong in that chair.

You sat down.

“They used a very powerful device to alter the landscape around them into ice. Didn’t slow the humans down at all. Multiple human civilizations continue to live in frozen lands. Your entire species developed and spread during a glacial period. Humans caused the Frost Giants so much difficulty that it allowed the Asgardian armies to not only drive them back, but to invade Jotunheim itself. They stole some important things from the Frost Giants, including the device, and that allowed us to force a peace with them, as well as declare Midgard as off limits. And so the races of the Eight Realms just sort of ignored the place. Until now, of course.”

He took his seat next to you, riffling through a small stack of papers on the table in front of him.

“Were you there?”

He paused. “…Yes…Barely. I was no more than an infant at the time. I have no recollection.”

“Oh. Um, should I do anything while I’m sitting here? I shouldn’t talk to anyone, should I?”

“You just watch and perhaps learn something. Our first guest won’t cause you any real trouble.”

The first guest turned out to be Beli, the old skaldic teacher you had seen a few days ago. He hailed you both with an elegant bow, and launched into speech. To your surprise, Loki began to translate for you.

“There’s an Asgardian holiday coming up soon; Buridag, held in honor of my great-grandfather, who built Asgard. Normally, the royal family throws a celebration for it, but we are going to have to do things a little differently this decade. Beli here is suggesting that Thor and I align ourselves to that cause, since we too, are building Asgard. I think it’s a good idea. The people need pride, and a reason to celebrate the future, as well as the past. What do you think?”

He was asking you? You had no idea. You had just now heard of this holiday; you couldn’t really understand its cultural significance.

“That sounds like a good idea, to start with.” You said. “I’m assuming you can’t throw the customary celebration because of the costs?”

“Unfortunately.” Loki said. “Our finances are limited for now. We aren’t suffering on a day-to-day basis or anything, but supporting a nation-wide holiday is a bit beyond us currently.”

“Right. So maybe everybody has to pitch in, right? You could…you could make a special kind of participation event. It’s building Asgard right? So pick a building that needs to get finished. Everybody works on it. Everyone puts up one board, or lays one tile, or one shingle, or something. The whole community builds one building, and that’s the main holiday event.”

Loki stared at you like he’d never seen you before, subdued delight spreading across his features.

“You…treasure! I am never letting you go!” You flinched back from the words, but he was already relaying your idea to Beli, who took it up with enthusiasm.

“Yes, of course, with the supervision of the engineers.” Loki was saying. “Even someone with no building experience should be able to put a nail in a board with their oversight. My brother and I can do the foundations, yes that seems appropriate…”

You were never going home. You would never, ever get to leave this place again. Had he even planned to let you leave in the first place, or had he decided, somewhere along the way, that he wouldn’t allow you to go?

The flow of excited planning faded away as you drew further into yourself.   Could you really be sure he hadn’t put this mark on you on purpose? How could you possibly know that he hadn’t lied about everything? You didn’t feel as though you had a handle on anything in your life right now; it was all just him leading you along. He had never meant for you to go back to your home, your own life. He’d taken it all.

“-Would that be alright?” He was asking. You jerked your head to look at him, seeing his expectant expression. You hadn’t heard a word he had said.

“Uh, yeah. That would be fine.” Well, you had to say something!

“Excellent!” The delight remained on his face, suffused with pride. In you? In himself, most likely. “We will arrange something proper for you, something spectacular, don’t you worry.”

Crap, what had you just agreed to?

Beli tried once again to schedule his class appointment, but was interrupted by a stern Einherjar. He said something in a quiet, terse manner, staring directly at you.

Loki sat up very straight. “Unfortunately, esteemed teacher, this will have to wait a little longer. Our guest’s attacker may have just been found.”

[rose-gold-romantic]

Tesseract: Introduction

A Loki x reader that I started over 4 years ago in high school. I’ve done my best to fix it but please, I WOULD LOVE FEEDBACK! Takes place during the first Avengers. This is just the introuction, I have a whole story planned out but I need to fix what was already written and finish writing it! Photo credit to Google, if you know the original artist, please tell me so I can tag them!

I hadn't asked to be a part of the tesseract project, but just because I hadn't asked didn't mean that I wouldn't be placed there. I think that my older brother, agent Phil Coulson, had something to do with it. I was placed there as a part of security, working under special agent Barton to guard and monitor the tesseract. My name is Y/N Coulson, and this is the story of myself,  and the tesseract.

Though at first quite boring, and at times rather infuriating, I soon found small parts of my new job enjoyable. Dr. Selvig was friendly, though he often poked fun at the way I was constantly misplacing my glasses. It was never enough to cause any ill will. Erik also explained some of their findings to me in words that I could understand. I had never been a science person in school, but there was something about the way Erik would describe things to me that was soothing in a way. It made the mundane description of a simple electric current seem more interesting than what I thought possible.

Weeks into the research project, the Tesseract began acting very strangely, throwing off slight bursts of mild gamma radiation. I began to wonder if Barton wasn't smarter for sitting in the rafters, watching from afar. My post walking around on the floor wasn't exactly the safest position to be in. Suddenly, three large arcs of energy shot out from the Tesseract, all in different directions. Two went towards the cement wall, and one came straight for me, knocking me to the ground before I could dodge to avoid it. I hesitantly got up, not wanting to discover the hard way that I had been injured. Dr. Selvig and a few others rushed towards me as I stood up, Barton sliding down from his perch up above. Aside from a slightly bruised backside, nothing seemed to have hurt me.

“Coulson, are you feeling alright?” Barton asked, his face concerned.

“Yea,” I said, then joking, “Why, am I glowing, radioactive or something?”

“You should probably take a look at yourself.” Selvig said, gesturing for a reflective surface to be retrieved for him.

They handed me the stainless steel tray, and I peered at my reflection. For a moment, I noticed no difference. Then my eyes met those of my reflection. My blue eyes seemed to glow, a shade lighter to match the Tesseract. I stumbled back in shock, and my eyes dimmed slightly. Curious, I took a few steps towards the Tesseract, my eyes brightening with every step. I walked away from the glowing cube, and my eyes resumed their natural state when I was about a hundred feet away from it.

“What is this?” I breathed.

“I.. I don’t know.” Erik responded, “But I’ll try to find out.” he walked into his work station, muttering about finding some kind of meter gun.

“I’m calling Fury.” Barton said, beginning to climb back up to his nest in the rafters.

I sighed as I picked up my glasses and placed them on my face again. Perhaps the gamma radiation the cube threw at me had been enough to affect my eyes, but apparently it wasn’t going to fix my sight.

Dr. Selvig walked over, waving some kind of instrument around my body like a TSA agent at an airport.

“This makes no sense!” he scoffed, “This reads no different on you than it does on myself… and I wasn’t struck! I need to find out how to test this…”

A few days passed, the research team becoming more tense as time wore on. Barton’s retelling of the Tesseract’s fit had been enough to merit a visit from Nick Fury himself. Not wishing to look like a slacker, I posted myself between the main entrance and the tesseract, eyes shifting all around the room as I stood at attention with my hands behind my back. Dr. Selvig assured me that he would vouch for my usefulness, but I declined, insisting that I let my actions speak for themselves.

The PA system announced Fury’s arrival, and I began pacing slightly back and forth, noticing that Barton still calmly sat in his ‘nest’ in the rafters. Soon enough, Fury emerged, with my brother following, only to have Phil turn around and leave at a word from the director. As soon as Fury walked up to the scientific monitors, Dr. Selvig launched into a debriefing of the entire mission’s progression, including the unusual behavior of the tesseract itself. Barton descended from his post, speaking with Fury about what they might do.

Before Dr. Selvig could begin telling Fury of the accident with me, the tesseract began to flux and wane, energy again visibly arcing off of the small cube. I stepped to stand behind some equipment as the cube continued to throw off energy in increasing both volume and quantity.

Suddenly, the whole room seemed to glow with energy, the tesseract the brightest point of light in the room. A large, circular portal opened up in the research facility, around ten feet away from the cube itself. I could see what looked to be galaxies and clusters of stars in the portal, the world I lived in barely reaching into the strange doorway. Energy spread out, and the portal closed in a flaming flash, the energy rising and gathering at the high ceiling of the facility. The ceiling seemed to groan and crack, but I could not see well through the glowing blue energy field.

I looked down to where the portal had been, and saw a figure kneeling on the ground, slight traces of Tesseract energy still rising from him like tendrils of smoke. The figure appeared to be male, clad in dark black and green leather from his shoulders to his feet. In his hand was a long, golden spear, with a sharp silver blade. The spear itself also glowed blue from one point near the blade, as if it also had a small Tesseract attached. The man glanced up, long black hair slicked back behind his head, a menacing grin on his face. He seemed pale, and almost gaunt. His eyes had dark circles around them as if he hadn’t had sleep in years. Director Fury began to speak with the strange person. Instead of respond to Fury’s questions, the man slowly stood, smiling, and began to shoot energy blasts from his spear, the tip of which glowed like the tesseract.

I dove behind a computer lab station, taking my pistol out of it’s leg holster. Taking calculated aim, I fired at the strange man that had now leapt an impossible distance off of the ground and forward, and stabbed another security officer with his staff. Bullets bounced harmlessly off of him, and I shuddered, knowing this was getting hopeless.

As the man continued to take down security, I scooted around carefully to get between him and the tesseract while remaining hidden. I noticed Fury doing the same. I placed my pistol back into its holster, knowing that bullets could not harm this strange newcomer. I stood by the tesseract, watching helplessly as the man lightly touched people in the chest with the spear, their eyes darkening, then lightening to match my own when I was near the tesseract.

Fury took out a metal suitcase that he had taken off a shelf, and took the tesseract, placing it inside the silvery box. He winced as it burned him, closing the suitcase quickly. The ceiling began to crack more from the energy trapped there, small pieces falling to the floor. As we tried to leave with the tesseract, the man spoke up for the first time since he had appeared.

“Please don't. I still need that.” I couldn’t quite place his accent, it was unusual, like he had come from time past. There was confidence in his voice, but also the slightest hint of desperation, perhaps exhaustion.

“This doesn't have to get any messier.” Fury responded, stopping.

“Of course it does. I've come too far anything else.” the man said, his voice deep and intimidating. “I am Loki, of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose.” The room seemed to chill by a few degrees as the words left his mouth, a smile spreading across his pale face.

Dr. Selvig interjected briefly, “Loki, brother of Thor.”

At the Dr.’s statement, Loki glared at him with such an intense stare, I felt weak at the knees. The hatred seemed to radiate off of him at the mention of his brother.

“We have no quarrel with your people.” Fury said, and I slowly began to realize what was going on.

“An ant has no quarrel with a boot.” Loki responded, seemingly less irritated now.

“Are you planning to step on us?” Fury responded, confirming my theory.

Fury was stalling for time.

“I come with glad tidings, of a world made free.” Loki said, smiling a bit.

“Free from what?”

“Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart…” Loki answered, touching Dr. Selvig with his staff, turning the Dr.’s eyes the unearthly blue. “...you will know peace.”

The ceiling cracked further, the energy that had collected beginning to fluctuate as it had before Loki’s arrival. The room rumbled slightly, putting myself and Fury even more on edge.

“Yeah, you say "peace," I kind of think you mean the other thing.” Fury said. I realized that unless I wanted to die, I should probably play along that I had been changed by the staff. My eyes already glowed, all I had to do was stay close to the tesseract, or possibly even just the staff that Loki held. It was a foolhardy plan, but it was all I had. Better to live to fight another day than die pointlessly unable to prevent anything.

Barton soon spoke up, blue eyes in startling contrast from his normally brown ones. “Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us.”

“Like the pharaohs of old.” Fury said, resigning himself to his own death. He looked at me sternly, and I understood. I made like I was walking away from Fury, aligning with Loki, and hoping that the angered god would fall for the trick.

“He's right. The portal is collapsing in on itself.” Selvig said, checking a few monitors. “We've got maybe two minutes before this goes critical.”

“Well, then…” Loki said, nodding to Barton.

Barton took aim and fired at Fury, knocking Fury to the ground and leaving the tesseract defenseless. I followed Loki as close as I dared, hoping my assumption regarding my eyes and his staff was correct. It seemed that it was, as he merely glanced at me before moving on, Barton grabbing the case and following both of us out towards the vehicles.

We marched out towards the jeeps, passing a confused agent Hill. I tried to shoot her a warning look as I sat inside the backseat of the jeep, Loki climbing into the truck bed portion. Barton was the last to enter, taking the driver's seat after a few gunshots echoed in the area. We careened down the corridors, followed by several SHIELD vehicles.

Somehow, agent Hill got in front of us, slamming into us with her own jeep, trying to prevent our escape. Unfortunately, Barton was a skilled driver, and evaded Hill’s Jeep. Her vehicle was spun around, and we left it in the dust.

We burst out of the compound’s entrance just as the corridor behind us collapsed upon itself, leaving us no one to run from. That is, until Fury’s helicopter showed up. I expected to be shot down by my own, which was rather saddening, but a blue burst of energy flew up from behind the cab, and struck the helicopter. With the chopper careening out of control, I was only able to see one figure leap from the whirlibird before it came crashing down to the ground. A few shots were fired at us, but none met their mark. My bluetooth fizzled in my ear, signaling that my radio was out of range. I had no way to contact anyone within SHIELD. I yanked it out and threw it on the floor of the vehicle, silent tears streaming down my face.

I was officially alone.

[hazeinart]

Tour Around Town (Single Dad AU)

The first night in their home was a good night. Thankfully Sarah was a very generous neighbor and doesn’t like the idea of them sleeping with an empty stomach even Peter was given an Oatmeal Cereal which he seemed to really love if his empty bowl was any indication. Tony was even thinking about learning a thing or two of Sarah’s mad kitchen skills and Rhodey was really impressed. He didn’t think anyone could match up to his mother’s cooking.

The whole house was already complete with everything. It was well maintained by May so it was a fully functioning home. There were 3 bedrooms, a study room, a lovely kitchen, a cozy living room, a small laundry room, and even a laboratory. The laboratory was located in the basement. Although it wasn’t a fully functioning laboratory as Tony hoped it would be and the machinery were a bit outdated but he knows he could make it work. He’d love to tinker in here from time to time. Rhodey’s favorite part of the house was the backyard. It was spacey and had a grill and a pool. He thought about filling it up by morning and relaxing on a floating recliner while holding freshly squeezed lemon juice or just relaxing in general but Tony had other ideas.

“C’mon, Honeybear! I want to look around this the first time to be in a neighborhood like this!”

“But Poooool! It looks so relaxing!” Rhodey slumped back at the Sofa as he exclaimed.

Tony was already dressed with a red aloha buttoned up shirt tucked in jeans that were slightly rolled up on the bottom and rectangle rimless sunglasses with a orange hue. He already had set up light weight stroller with a retractable hood which was dark blue and patterned with Star patterns all around. Peter was already strapped snug in it and was wearing a cute red jumpsuit and a black beanie with 6 stripes following the rainbow. He was adorably clapping his hands and making baby noises.

“See! Even Peter wants to go out! C’mon! I can also look for jobs while we look around”

Rhodey looks at Peter and the little guys started a somewhat gibberish baby chant. He groaned and stood up and went straight up stairs. Tony made a little happy dance when he was out of sight.

It took only a few minutes for Rhodey to get his wallet. Tony took the responsibility to push Peter’s stroller around and Rhodey followed beside them. They walked following the side walk and passed by the Rodger’s residence where Steve was looking out of the window looking sullen. Tony waved at him catching Steve’s attention. He got out of the house and greeted them.

“Good morning Rhodey! Mr. Stark!” Steve lightly jogged towards them. He peered at Peter and gave him a bright smile. “Hiya Petey!”

Peter giggled and made grabby hands at Steve. He then took one of Peter’s hands and shook it gently. Peter then made gibberish noises.

“Are ya going to check out the towns?” Steve looked two young adults without losing the friendly smile on his face.

“Yeah” Tony gave him a friendly smile. “It’s a nice day out and I wanted to stretch my legs unlike a certain person I know”

Rhodey elbowed Tony and gave him a stink eye which made him groan a bit. The older one faked cough before softening his face. “Aren’t you going to play with your friends? Its summer isn’t it?”

“Yeah but Bucky has a summer job… He’s mowing at Asgard right now” Steve’s smile faltered.

“Don’t you have any other friends?” Tony’s smile faltered too.

“I’m…. not really… the most popular guy in school…”

Tony and Rhodey looked at each other feeling sad for the kid. And with just that one look they’ve decided.

“How about you give us a tour kid?” Rhodey laid a hand on Steve’s shoulder making him look up at the older guy.

“We’re not really sure where we’re going so how about helping us?” Tony gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m sure Sarah won’t mind. We’ll just be back before sundown”

Steve’s eyes brightened. “Sure! Let me just lock up first!”

He ran and almost tripped halfway to the door which made Tony and Rhodey nervously chuckle watching him. And he came back as fast as he went.

Composing himself he cleared his throat before opening his mouth. “Good morning Sirs! Welcome to your personal Marvel Town Tour! We start our tour in the good ol’ Shield neighborhood…”

**********

“…And this is our most famous diner! Happy Diner! Where the best food and milkshakes are served! Me and buck usually hang out here and we usually order a grilled cheese sandwich. And it’s really REALLY good”

“Well, how bout we test that declaration of yours? Hm? I don’t know about you guys but I’m really hungry… We’ve been walking for 2 hours straight” Tony rubbed his stomach as he grumbled.

“Pretty hungry too” Rhodey ruffled Steve’s hair. “Let’s have a break from the tour kid. Don’t worry it’s our treat”

“Sounds good”

They walked towards the Diner. Tony noticed the help wanted sign at the window. Maybe. He contemplated a bit before pushing it back for later. Rhodey opened the door and let Tony and Steve walk in first. The Diner had a 80s feel in it with neon colors all over, a juke box, classic diner waitresses & waiters, and posters & memorabilia from the 80s are hanged on the wall at every side. The Diner was packed but luckily the table by the window right beside the juke box was vacant. Tony and Steve went straight to the table while Rhodey asked for one of the waiters to bring them baby high chair for Peter and 3 menus for them. Rhodey and Steve sat on one side and Tony sat on the other while Peter sat on the high chair. Tony packed a small bottle of baby food for these situations although Peter didn’t look hungry at all. He was too mesmerized the lights and design of the diner.

A waitress with ginger hair and freckles on her face came up to the table. Her smile widen at the baby looking at her curious and mesmerized at everything.

“Hi! Welcome to Happy Diner, where everybody leaves with a smile!” She chirped. “I see you guys are new in town! Who are your friends Stevie?”

“Oh! Ms. Potts these are Mr. James Rhodes” He points at Rhodey.

“Rhodey” He shakes her hand and gives her a kind smile.

“And Mr. Tony Stark”

“Anthony Stark but I prefer being called Tony” He shakes her hand too. “And this is my little guy, Peter”

She took Peter’s hand and gently shook it. “Nice to meet you Pete” He giggles and shakes his arm like his shaking her hand. She then let goes of his small hand and stood straight.

“I’m Virginia Potts but everyone calls me Pepper. And I am your waitress for today so… What’ll it be boys?” She takes her pad and pen from the pockets in her apron and looks at steve. “Will it be your usual Steve?”

“Nah” Steve shook his hand. “Feelin’ like getting a turkey sandwich”

“Yah having one of those days?” She says as she scribbles down his order. Stevie just shrugs and smiles. “How about you guys?”

“Bacon and Swiss Chicken Sandwich sound good right now” Tony closes the menu and puts it down as he smiles at the waitress.

“I’m going for the All American Burger” Rhodey just shrugs at Tony’s raised eyebrow. “I’m feelin Patriotic and hungry right now”

“Drinks?”

“For this hot and sweaty day seems like a Pepsi is the best medicine for it”

“I second that motion” Rhodey places his menu on top of Tony’s.

“I’ll have the same too” Steve gave Rhodey his menu so he could stack it together for Pepper.

Pepper repeated their order letting them confirm everything before taking their menus and heading towards the counter.

Tony spots the two kids who were sitting across them. They were the kids he spotted yesterday. Doesn’t seems like their close but they’ve been spending a lot of time together. The blonde one kept on talking and bringing smile in his face. The one with black hair looks like he was tolerating him.

“Hey Steve”

“hm?”

“Who are those kids sitting across us?” Steve looks at where Tony was staring.

“Oh! That’s Thor and Loki. The Blonde one is Thor”

“Like the mythology?” Steve just looks up at him in confusion. “Nevermind… They don’t seem like they’re close but I’ve noticed them spending time with each other since yesterday”

“That’s because they’re brothers. Loki’s adopted that’s why they don’t look alike. Their Dad’s the mayor so everybody knows who they are. Mayor Odin Borson is a really good hearted man. Loki’s parents where in the politics too but they died when he was just a baby. He took him in when the accident happened.”

“That sounds awful… I can see why he became the mayor of the town.”

He looked away at the two boys and notice a girl with red hair was staring intently at him. He stared back and she didn’t stop staring. Her face was expressionless but she looked like a cute kid if she smiled. It was almost a minute and they haven’t stopped staring at each other. Tony scrunched his forehead in confusion at why the kid was staring.

“Uhh… Who’s the weird girl with red hair?” Steve’s eyes looked like his eyes popped out of his skull. He immediately shuffled to look at where and as he spotted he immediately sat back down.

“T-that’s Natalia Romanova! She’s the daughter of a Russian gang leader!!!”

Now Tony and Rhodey’s eyes where the ones popping out of their skulls. Tony looks back at where he saw the kid but she was gone. Creepy. Steve kept talking more about the scary kid about how she doesn’t talk to anybody and when she does the other kid start crying or screaming. There was even a rumor that anybody looking at her straight in the eye would get sick for a week which was ridiculous. Rhodey laughed at the statement but Tony was highly horrified by the rumor.

Tony was still processing everything when a toy arrow swooped in and stuck on his forehead. He only blinked in shock by the situation and Peter and Rhodey were giggling at the scene. Steve was equally in shock but covered his mouth to stop himself from rudely laughing at him.

A slightly taller ginger haired man (everybody is tall for Tony) walks over with a sheepish grin and a lean blonde kid with a toy boy in his hands walks over.

“Sorry bout’ that… my brother is kind of a brat but he doesn’t do it on purpose”

“Hey you told me to hit- OW! Hey!” The kid rubbed at his arm where his brother pinched him.

Tony just chuckles and takes the toy arrow from his forehead and hands it over to him. “s’all right. Kids are always active and loud mini people and he seems like to have a good arm. Probably be going to the Olympics with that arm” The kid takes the arrow from Tony with a smile and sticks a tongue out at his brother.

“I’m Clint Barton and everybody calls me Hawkeye” Clint loudly declares with a smile showing he lost one of his teeth.

“Nobody calls you that Twerp” The older brother rolled his eyes before giving Tony a flirty smile. “I’m Barney and everybody calls me the hot guy next door”

“Nobody calls you that either moron”

“Shut up”

Tony laughed. “Anthony. Anthony Stark and this little guy is Peter, my kid” Barney’s eyes widened a bit before maintaining his flirty face at Tony. Clint’s face was wide with shock.

“You had Se-!“ Barney covered the kid’s mouth before he could say anything inappropriate.

Tony chuckled before continuing. “This is-“

“James Rhodes. Call me Rhodey or maybe your worst nightmare” Rhodey grips his hand firmly making Barney wince and Clint to chuckle.

“Rhodey!” Tony slaps at Rhodey’s arm and giving Barney a sheepish grin. “Sorry… My best friends really overprotective of me”

“No worries! I’ll just have to flirt with you when he isn’t here” Barney winks at Tony and making him blush.

Rhodey clears his throat and eyes the guy.

“Oh! And this is-“

“Steve. Yeah. I think he is this Twerp’s classmate”

Clint just nods and doesn’t look at Steve. Steve on the other hand doesn’t say anything at all and just taps his finger at the table continuously and looks out of the window. There was a long awkward pause but luckily Pepper came up with the food.

“Stop harassing my customer Barton!”

“I’m not!”

“Yes you were!” Clint rolled his eyes at his older brother.

“Go sit down boys. There’s an open table there. I’ll clean it up when I’m done here”

“But-“

Pepper gives Barney a look which made him scramble towards the empty table with his brother. Tony stares at her in awe.

“Sorry bout’ the fuss..” Pepper puts the plates down one by one. “Barney’s playboy and a flirt but he’s a good guy”

Rhodey just grumbled and starts taking big bits on his burger.

“It’s no problem… He wasn’t really doing much harm. Thank you” Tony smiles at her as she places his order in front of him.

“No problem. A cute guy like you always need a knight in shining armor” She winks at him and gives another rush of blood through his cheeks. “Call me if ya need anything” She walks away and goes towards Barton’s table.

“My gawd Tones tone it down a little will ya? You’re making the overprotective brother situation even harder.”

“I’m not even doing anything!” Tony blushed even harder.

Steve just stares at them in shock with everything and suddenly blurts out. “Teach me”

Rhodey just laughs at Steve while Tony buried his face in his hands in embarrassment.

**********

If you haven’t read the Previous ones check out #Single Dad AU

Also if you have any dying questions about the story.... ASK ME!

@jadepc @maddogkanine

Ko-fi I Twitter I Instagram

[star-trekkin-across-theuniverse]

Shieldmaiden, pt5

Word Count: 2496 Tags:

Eira awoke to sunlight streaming across her, and knew without question that she was alone. She could hear Leif cooing and singing from the nursery, and rose to attend him. She pulled her tunic off the floor and pulled it over her head as she padded across the room. Loki had been frantic with need as they made love, and her clothes were scattered across the room, where he’d tossed them as he’d undressed her. She rubbed her face and yawned before picking up Leif and giving him a kiss. He squealed and pressed his own lips against her face in a messy display of affection.

“Come. Let us go find some food.” Eira changed his wet diaper and scooped him back up in her arms.

“Mmmmmm.” Leif’s response was appropriate, but Eira wasn’t sure if he actually knew that. She sat him on her lap and waited as they were served breakfast. It was quiet, no one else was out for the meal yet, and Leif’s giggles as he ate filled the room, echoing off the walls. Frigga entered and Eira struggled to her feet to bow.

“I have told you over and over Eira, there is no need for you to offer reverence to me. We are family,” Frigga chastised gently.

“Those closest to you should offer you the most respect, to ensure the rest understand the regard you are held in,” Eira argued. Frigga kissed her forehead and lifted Leif from her arms.

“For a woman who grew up away from court, you certainly have some strong opinions about courtly life,” Frigga commented.

“Mother chose to stay away from court to focus on serving your populace, but she knew that at some point I would need to attend court, and ensured I was properly educated,” Eira acknowledged.

“Your mother has always been a woman of strong principles. And a blessing to every Aesir. You ride out to her daily, do you not?” Frigga asked. Eira nodded.

���She loves Leif greatly. And had never anticipated being a grandmother.” Eira had no qualms about spoiling Leif with her mother’s affection. He would eventually know the story of his conception, and she wanted him to be able to look back on his childhood and never doubt how much he was loved. Frigga waved away the attendants and sat, gesturing that Eira should as well. She placed her free hand on Eira’s knee and leaned close.

“Loki has gone, hasn’t he?”

“Yes, he left sometime in the night,” Eira admitted, her eyes filling with tears.

“And you are hurt,” Frigga concluded.

“How can I not be? Leif and I are not enough to make him happy. He seeks comfort elsewhere.” Eira dashed the tears from her cheeks in embarrassment. Frigga brought a hand up and still Eira’s.

“Loki has always been mischief personified, Eira. He makes a show of taking little in life seriously, but I know my son, and he takes everything to heart deeply. He bottles his emotions and buries his wounds until he not longer can sleep, eat, function. And then he goes away, usually only for a few weeks, and he slays whatever demons haunt him. He comes home happy, strong, well-rested. And the cycle begins again,” Frigga offered. “And it is fair that you feel hurt. And he will be distraught for having caused it. But this is not something that Loki will ever seek for you to comfort because he fears harming you. Just as he’s never sought me to comfort him.”

Eira nodded. “I know part of his struggle has been making the transition to fatherhood. And I am the guilty party there, as I took Leif away.”

“No, Eira. You cannot blame yourself for doing exactly what you needed to do to make Loki recognize his responsibility to you. I love my son, but I am not sure that he would have even tried to be a good father and husband had you not gone to Vanaheim. You must not fell guilt for an action that has wrought good.” Frigga smoothed Leif’s hair out of his face and kissed his rosy cheeks.

“Frigga, you are a healer too,” Eira started. Frigga nodded. “What ails him that he is so constantly cold? I can find no way to heal him, but I worry for his well being when his whole body is always well below normal temperature. When I look into his body, he is like no being I’ve ever tried to heal before.”

Frigga’s lips set in a thin line and she let out a low huff air. “What I am about to share with you, even Loki does not know. And I would have you swear a blood oath to not repeat it.” She pulled out a dagger and pricked her finger before holding the dagger out to Eira. Eira repeated the motion and offered her hand to Frigga. Frigga pressed her finger against Eira’s, and Eira felt a sting of power at the contact. Frigga blinked and her eyes widened. “You are more powerful than I’d expected.”

“I am a healer.” Eira thought back to the enchantment on the scale from her armour. Frigga shook her head slowly.

“You are so much more, Eira. Untapped, raw potential,” Frigga breathed. “Swear your oath, child. Understand that the strength of your magic will bind it tightly, and should you break it the consequence could be death.”

“My magic is not that strong,” Eira protested.

“It is, Eira,” Frigga countered. Eira swallowed thickly, and looked at Leif. Whatever it was, it was worth the binding oath that would help her understand her husband better.

“I swear that I will not betray your trust, Allmother. And let the consequence of betrayal be the loss of my magic and ability,” Eira promised. Frigga blanched.

“That will kill you, Eira,” she argued.

“Then I offer it and seal it. This is my guarantee that I will not betray your trust, Frigga.” Eira could feel the surge of power through her body as the oath bound itself to her, right into her bones. Frigga released her hand and took a deep breath.

“Little more than a thousand years ago, Asgard was at war with Jotunheim. It was long, drawn out, bloody. Many were lost on both sides. But finally, Odin and the forces of Asgard gained the upper hand in battle, and soon, Jotunheim fell. While Odin surveyed what was left of the ice realm, he heard a babe cry. He followed the sound, sword at the ready, sure it was a trap. Instead, he found a Jotun babe. Small. Too small to be accepted by his parents. They had abandoned him at the temple, for the cold to take him. As Odin looked at him, he changed, and took on the appearance of the Aesir. Odin was so amazed by this tiny babe, that he gathered him up and brought him home to me. Thor was still in diapers, not much older than Leif. We decided that we would raise the boys as brothers, and not tell them of Loki’s heritage until it was necessary.” Frigga spoke slowly, as though each word bore a weight that made it hard to speak. Eira blinked in confusion.

“Loki is not Aesir?” She was unsure she’d understood what Frigga had told her.

“Loki is Jotun,” Frigga confirmed.

“Leif is half Jotun then?” Eira looked at her son’s blonde curls, light eyes. He looked every inch an Aesir child. Eira reached for him and took him back to her lap. She felt his skin, but it was just as warm as hers.

“You do not seem as troubled as I feared.” Frigga admired Eira’s composure. Eira shrugged.

“Should I be bothered? I have seen the inner workings of his body. I should have recognized that there were elements to him that were not Aesir. I’ve never held to the stories that the Jotun are nothing more than monsters.” Eira pressed a hand to Leif’s chest and let her magic flow through him. He looked like any other Aesir, with none of the peculiar markings she’d noted in Loki’s body. “My only question is why there is no sign of mixed blood in Leif.”

Frigga tilted her head and laid her hand atop Eira’s, doubling the force of the magic flowing through the baby. He giggled and tried to pull away, as though he was being tickled. Even with the amplified power, she couldn’t see anything to suggest Leif wasn’t completely Aesir.

“The night you conceived, Loki came to you in Thor’s form?” Frigga asked.

“I’ve long wondered if Leif will look more like Thor than Loki because of it,” Eira nodded.

“I think it’s possible that while in disguise, Loki may have suppressed his Jotun nature. Or it may be that Leif’s Jotun characteristics will not manifest until he is older.” Frigga seemed as confused as Eira was.

“Tis no bother, Frigga. My love for both my boys remains unchanged with this revelation. And it may help me to understand Loki more in years to come.” Eira had healed enough non-Aesir to know that each person on each realm bleed just as any other did. And if they bled the same, they likely carried the same hopes and dreams, fears and sorrows with them as well.

Loki stumbled through the Ironwood of Jotunheim, lost and beginning to feel the cold. It had taken all his will to slip from his marriage bed and leave Eira and his son behind, but he feared he would fade into nothingness if he did not. The Ironwood had been a place of refuge ever since he had first discovered the secret paths between the realms. There were few Jotun who lived in the wood, and Loki had always managed to steer clear of most of them. Except for one, who always seemed to sense when he had arrived, and would find him within his first few hours.

But today, Angrboda had not tracked him on arrival, and it had been long enough that the woods had become unfamiliar between visits. He found himself in an area of the woods that was unfamiliar. He decided that he needed to at least stop and build a fire. He was warming his hands over the flames when he sensed someone watching him, and spun around.

She was taller than he remembered, but maybe it was because she had grown. The rough pelts she wore as clothing hid a rather more womanly figure than he remembered. Her blue skin and stark red eyes always startled him the first time he saw her after being absent from the wood, but even now, he saw her jaw had changed, and her cheekbones had become more prominent. If it were possible for a Jotun woman to be beautiful, Angrboda had become just that.

“Stupid Aesir. Are you trying to call down all the wolves to let them know there is a fresh meal waiting?” She hissed at him, and kicked snow across the fire, smothering it.

“I am cold!” Loki protested.

“Then come warm yourself at my hearth, idiot,” she snapped, and turned away. Loki knew better than to argue and followed behind her, chastised. He could not help but notice the swing of her hips, or the gentle curve to her waist. He shook his head and tried to banish the appreciation of her figure, feeling traitorous to Eira. He watched her feet for the rest of the walk to her hut. She held the door open and bowed mockingly as he crossed the threshold.

“Your Highness, you are once again welcome in my home,” she sneered. Loki wondered what is was about him that drew her out. She certainly didn’t like him much, and spent most of her time mocking his manners, appearance and lineage. Loki looked around the spare cabin and noted the absence of the rest of her family. The last time he’d been, there had been scattered evidence of a busy life, well lived. Spare boots, extra bows, arrows on the fletching jig.

“Where have your parents gone? Are they well?” Loki inquired, determined to honour the etiquette he was raised with.

“It was a cold winter,” Angrboda answered.

“Is it not always winter here?” Loki laughed. “Did they find a warmer clime, then?” He couldn’t imagine what would qualify as warmer on Jotunheim, but maybe there was somewhere not quite as cold.

“When supplies are scarce and the winters are cold, the old sacrifice for the young, so that the Jotun may remain strong, Loki.” Angrboda’s words were a riddle.

“They went without so you would survive? I am sorry for your loss, Angrboda,” Loki offered. He hadn’t realized like was quite so harsh on Jotunheim, and instantly regretted his earlier jest. The circumstance of Angrboda’s family had never seemed particularly desperate when he’d previously visited, and she’d always insisted that they share meals with him. He felt a wave of guilt for taking from the less fortunate.

“It is no great loss. I carry their strength and spirit within me now, and we will forever be one,” she shrugged. “And they were delicious.”

Loki started at the comment, and then gagged. Surely she was not admitting to having eaten her parents. He stared at her, and she smiled. Her sharp, pointed teeth had seemed a curiosity before, but now they seemed more sinister, and he felt himself shrinking into his long leather coat.

“I had no idea life was so hard on Jotunheim,” he admitted finally.

“And why would you, pretty prince of Asgard? You come and go as you please, never stopping to consider that the worlds you play in are filled with people living real lives.” Angrboda rolled her eyes, and stepped close to Loki. She leaned in and took a deep breath, smelling him. “You smell weak. There would be shame in feasting on your bones, and no health would come to me. You are safe, boy prince.” She sniffed him again, and her eyes narrowed. She leaned in close to his neck and pressed her nose to the vein running beside his Adam’s apple and closed her eyes as she scented him.

Loki tried to step away, but Angrboda grabbed his arm and held him in place. She smiled, and then dragged her tongue up his neck, along the vein. 

“Angrboda, stop.”

“You may not be good eating, Loki, but I can think of other things to do with you. Tonight you rest. You are exhausted. It had been too long since you have run in the Ironwood. Tomorrow we will make plans.” She ran a finger along his jawline, and Loki flinched, and then flushed, embarrassed at the response of his body. The giantess just smiled and gestured to a bed on the far side of the cabin. “I will even give you your own bed, since you’ve come up shy since your last visit.”

[lokifiction]

Caught in the Crossfire

The day the Battle of New York occurred was a fateful one, especially for Camryn, who was caught in the crossfire of a Chitauri weapon and Loki’s Tesseract-powered scepter, the blast sending her into a comatose state.

When Thor returns to Midgard to assist with rescue efforts, he finds her, unconscious and close to death, though emitting a strong magical trace. Puzzled by it, the prince brings her to Asgard for medical care- and observation.

Over time, the mystery of what salvation or destruction she will cause because of her magical abnormality becomes harder and harder to solve. As she begins to lose control of herself, she must seek help from the only person that can teach her how to harness her newfound power and the one who happens to hate her the most.

Loki.

Category: Fanfic

Rating: T

Notes/Warnings: Just a small bit of blood, but nothing major. This chapter turns over a whole new part of this fanfic, and I’m very, very excited about it, so I hope you guys share my sentiment.

Masterlist

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

Chapter Fourteen

             Too startled to enjoy the kiss, I jerked away from Loki.

            “What the hell was that?” I demanded, voice still at the same shrill decibel as it was before I was cut off by someone’s mouth on mine.

            Loki breathed heavily, chest heaving noticeably, expression betraying that he himself had no idea. “I-”

            “Loki, you wouldn’t believe-” a growl announced Toril’s entrance into the chambers, but she abruptly halted with a start when she realized I was in the room. I gaped at her disheveled appearance, wondering why in the world she used Loki’s first name instead of an honorific.

            “Do you need any assistance, my king?” She corrected herself, voice wavering. “Is she trying to attack you? Shall I call the guards?”

            “No, Toril, I don’t think that will be necessary,” Loki replied, remaining dangerously calm, gaze trained at the floor. “Though, if you could leave us...:”

            “My king, do you think that’s wise?” Toril wrung her hands in earnest. “If she were to attack-”

            “I can very well handle myself, thank you.”

            As Toril’s lips shaped into a pout and she disappeared into a side room, Loki turned his attention back to me.

            “I need to collect my thoughts,” he declared in a low tone, almost as if he was talking to himself. “I have been harboring some complicated feelings towards you for a while, and I’ve been trying to riddle them out. I wasn’t expecting a confrontation about them so soon, however, so I need some time to figure out how to best verbalize those feelings. I suppose I’ll see to that task presently, and come find you when I’m ready.”

            I could make no reply, for the shock of the kiss had finally sunk in. I promptly turned away and left, occupied with the problem that my feelings should be going wild, yet I felt nothing. With the kiss, I finally got what I wanted desperately (yet never admitted to myself), so why did I feel so numb?

            As I made for the door of the chambers, Toril, apparently eavesdropping in her absence, swept back into the room, bumping into my shoulder harshly enough to jostle me as we passed.

            “This isn’t over yet,” she hissed in my ear, but I said nothing, the statement going in one ear and out the other as my suddenly clumsy fingers grappled at the doorknob.

            “We wondered where you’d gone off to!” Gerd exclaimed as I entered the hallway, for she and Inge were before the door, once again arguing as to what they should do regarding their runaway charge. “Toril managed to escape, and it was only when we were chasing after her that we realized you were gone. Why were you in there?”

            “I went to confront Loki,” I replied in a small voice, completely passing by the two handmaidens. They scurried to catch up and walk astride with me.

            “I told you not to drink all that mead!” Gerd scolded, rightly assuming that the drink was the cause for my rash actions, but Inge was eager for the rest of the story.

            “And how did that go?” she demanded.

            “He kissed me,” I stated calmly, crossing the threshold of my chambers and quite literally collapsing into an armchair.

            Both maids blanched.

            “He what?” Gerd whispered.

            My voice was like the crumbling parchment of an ages-old book buried under centuries of dust. “I went in there, demanding an explanation for his inconsistency, and after arguing back and forth a few times, he got quiet and said he was afraid of getting attached to me, and when I asked why, he just walked over and kissed me.”

            “What did you do?” Inge’s eyebrows shot to her hairline.

            “I broke away and demanded him to tell me what he was doing, but that’s when Toril came in,” I answered. “He sent her off, and then told me that he needed time to collect his feelings, and once he figured them out he’d come speak to me again.”

            “I’m getting the sense that those feelings aren’t necessarily one-sided.” Inge’s pale eyes scanned my body, noticing how my countenance softened yet my trembling increased when I spoke of the reconciliation.

            Gerd, as per usual, took the gentler approach.

            “Camryn,” she began, placing her hands over mine on the armrests and kneeling before me. “Did you like that he kissed you?”

            Not the question itself, but rather the feelings and recollections the question brought, sent a cold blade through my heart and a hot wave all over my body. My shock grasped me anew, and all I could do was breathe heavily for a few moments, eyebrows scrunching and stretching as I attempted to form an expression that reflected my feelings, before I bit my lip and gave the slightest nod.

            Gerd’s eyes shut as if she expected that answer, but her expression betrayed nothing of her feelings on the subject. She again rose to her feet, addressing Inge with motherly concern for me for the second time on that eternal night.

            “Inge, I think it would be best if we fetched Brenna, just to make sure all is well with Camryn’s health.”

            Inge was clearly frightened with my state and readily agreed to do so, but as she made for the exit, she was nearly barreled over by one of Loki’s personal Einherjar entering the room.

            “The king has just received an accusation that one of the palace handmaidens, Toril Aloadoittr, was assaulted and detained by ones Inge Kirdoittr and Gerd Seistdoittr,” he intoned, fixing each of us a piercing stare in turn. “Do you confirm or deny this claim?”

            “Oh, that little bitch,” Gerd spat under her breath, the uncharacteristic comment nearly breaking me from my state of shock. The guard took that as the affirmative.

            “I’m to bring the accused before the king for questioning,” he continued.

            “Let me go,” Inge declared. “I was the instigator.”

            “I’m to bring both of you.”

            “But you’re not going to,” Inge hissed. “Gerd had nothing to do with it, and she’s needed here right now. If King Loki has a problem with that, he can take it up with me, seidr-wielder to seidr-wielder.”

            The intensity in Inge’s gaze and the assuredness in her words was enough to make the guard relent, and he stepped aside to let her pass before him, leaving me and Gerd alone.

            “Will you be alright by yourself for just a moment while I go and fetch Brenna?” she asked in a soft voice. I gave another stiff nod, and she smiled sympathetically, squeezing my hand before dashing from the chambers.

            Left in solitude, I brushed my fingers over my lips, remembering how Loki’s cold and passionate mouth felt on mine. The kiss had been so hard, and he had clutched me with such need that the heat between us went far beyond sexual desire. That was what I’d been wanting the whole time: for my tentative attraction to him to be reciprocated so I could truly indulge in the feeling, along with a reasonable explanation for the fluctuation of his behavior towards me. I had gotten exactly those things, so why was I sitting there like an invalid, rattled to my core, instead of celebrating and relishing the event?

            I was just beginning to cry when Brenna burst forth into the room, Gerd trailing behind.

            “Kissed by the king, eh?” Brenna joked, tying the sash of her powder blue dressing gown. “It must have been good, to put you in this state.”

            “I think she’s still a bit drunk, Brenna,” Gerd said. “I believe that’s a contributing factor.”

            “Well, I agree with that,” Brenna conferred after a few pokes and prods, turning my head this way and that and staring into my eyes. “Still, she’s clearly rattled. She needs to sleep it off. I’ll give her a draught and put her to bed, but we’ll have to watch over her to make sure the alcohol in her system and the potion don’t react badly with each other.”

            Instead of giving me the vial directly as she usually did, Brenna dumped the contents into a mug of water and watched me drink it all, trying to flush as much mead from my body as she could. As she and Gerd helped me to my feet, the potion working instantly and causing my mind to wander, I recalled what Loki said about collecting his feelings before coming to talk to me about them, and realized I would have to do the same with my feelings for him.

            But how could I do that when I felt everything and nothing at once?

            With a single sob, I stumbled onto the bed and instantly plunged into a fitful sleep.

             The moment I closed my eyes, I began to relive the day that condemned me to Asgard; the day that banished me from my home in New York City forever. I felt the blast from Loki’s scepter pierce me anew, and anger flooded my heart. As my head hit the ground of the park I’d never see again, the scene shifted to the night I attempted to strangle Loki to death, and I relished the feeling of his bruising skin swelling under my fingers and the sight of his eyes rolling back in his head as he gasped for breath. The sheer intensity of the emotion drew me to enough lucidity for me to be unsettled, and I shook the dream away until I was alone in the darkness of sleep, rolling to the other side of the bed.

            No sooner had I found peace than I was rattled by another disturbing image. Somehow, I knew that in this dream, Loki and I had been together as a couple for some time. We were casually strolling the portrait galleries of the palace, hand in hand, exchanging light conversation and tender kisses. All the bliss, however, faded as we came before Frigga’s portrait, which had dripping blood smeared across the paint, a droplet leaving an eerie scarlet streak down the center of her face. Loki broke our hands apart and approached the frame with hunkered shoulders, and when he whirled around to face me, his face seeming much larger than normal in the dream’s logic, his eyes were bright crimson.

            “You did this,” he snarled, drawing closer. “You killed her.”

            He waved his hand, leaving me immobilized as he pressed forward still.

            “You’re the reason she’s dead,” he continued, a sinister dagger materializing in his hand. “It’s your fault.”

            With a mighty swing, the blade penetrated my stomach, the pain as sharp as if it were happening to my worldly body.

            “It’s your fault.” He stabbed again.

            “It’s your fault.” Another blow.

            “Your fault.” Another.

            The chant of “It’s your fault,” and the stabs continued until my life’s blood covered every inch of both Loki’s and my body. When the fear roused me from my sleep, the cold sweat that coated my nightgown rendered me unable to discern if the blood was real or imagined. I cried out, but a cool rag was suddenly dabbed on my forehead. I opened my eyes and saw that I was safe in my calm, candlelit bedroom, Gerd perched at my bedside.

            “It was just a bad dream,” she soothed. “Go back to sleep; it will be sweeter this time.”

            I wish she had been right.

            The moment I closed my eyes again, I was transported back to earlier that evening, when the kiss happened. Instead of pushing Loki away as I had before, I pulled him closer, draping myself across his body with the melodrama dreams tended to have.

            “Oh, I love you,” I gasped when we pulled away. “I always have, and I always will.”

            Loki stared at me for a couple of seconds, expression unreadable, until he burst into hysterical laughter. Toril entered the room to join him in cackling like a hyena, and together the two stripped me of my clothes, carrying me outside and parading me around town, hollering the story of an incredibly gullible girl to every citizen of Asgard, until the entire realm was guffawing in unison at my stupidity. The version of myself that was bound to the bed squirmed at that, groaning and punching a pillow, mercifully causing the dream to shift.

            The next time, I watched Loki from across the room as he stood shirtless, wiping dirt and blood from his sculpted torso with a cloth moistened with the murky water of a washbasin. He was so beautiful that an actual ache formed in my heart and stomach, and I could not resist approaching and tracing my fingers along his hard abdomen. He briefly glanced down at my hands and took them in his, pressing gentle kisses to my fingertips, raising his gaze to meet mine with eyes containing the intensity of a laser beam.

            I woke up panting, and for the first time that night, I was disappointed to have done so.

            “Do you need me to open a window?” Brenna asked, having taken Gerd’s spot at my bedside. “You grew hot suddenly.”

            I shook my head wordlessly, drifting back into my dream montage.

            Next, I was sobbing in an armchair, distraught over some unknown cause. After a few moments, I felt myself gathered in Loki’s arms, and he shushed me gently.

            “It’s alright, my love,” he assured in that persuasive, ambrosial voice of his. “I’ll make it all go away. You’re safe here with me.”

            In an instant, I was calm once more.

            The dream soon dissolved back to the kiss, but this time there was no melodrama involved. I merely took Loki’s face in my hands and kissed him back, and, suddenly self-aware, I pulled away and declared,

            “This feeling overpowers them all.”

            When I woke permanently, I sat straight up in bed, startling Inge, who had taken the last watch.

            “Are you alright?” she questioned, noticing how alert I was in comparison to the night before.

            “I think I’ve finally figured it out,” I replied.

            Without asking for an explanation, she rose and held a white dressing gown out for me to step into. “Well, that’s good, considering the king is outside, waiting to see you.”

            “Now?” I gasped. “Do I have time to make myself presentable?”

            “He was very insistent that he meet with you the moment you woke,” Inge said apologetically. “He’s already quite impatient.”

            “I can’t believe I have to meet him in this state,” I muttered to myself, then directed my words back to Inge. “The questioning last night...you weren’t harmed, were you?”

            She flashed me a reassuring smile. “The king’s heart wasn’t in his task. I could tell he was only making such a to-do about the incident because custom dictated. He was very mild.” She tied my dressing gown definitively. “Now hurry.”

            Despite Inge’s pushing, I paused in front of my full-length mirror, attempting to make myself as presentable as possible for an audience with a king, especially one I intended to divulge feelings of attraction to. I pulled my hair into a braid, the one thing I could do without a hairbrush, and wiped the smudges of makeup that I’d neglected to remove from under my eyes. Frowning in displeasure, I realized I couldn’t improve any further, and forced myself through the door.

            When I emerged onto the parlor, Loki was in an armchair next to a side table laden with a lavishly set breakfast tray, his back to me. He was dressed in an equally casually manner to the day before, his hair left soft and draped across his shoulders. His elbow rested on the arm of his chair, and from my angle I could tell his hand was cupping his face, index finger dragging back and forth across his lips.

            His countenance was different than I had ever seen it, for his form was tense and hunkered, yet he seemed very jittery, unable to stop moving. His finger went along his lips constantly, but in addition to that, he rotated between jiggling his right leg up and down, compulsively smoothing his hair, and letting his head fall back so that he gazed at the ceiling, exposing his Adam’s apple. The only explanation I could procure for the behavior was nerves, an emotion I never expected to witness from him.

            “I was told you were out here, wanting to speak with me.”

            He started at my voice, and moved much quicker than was characteristic as he rotated to look at me from his position on the chair. He regained his usual grace, however, when he stood to greet me, gesturing to the chair opposite the one he occupied.

            “You were told correctly. Please, sit.” When I did so, he followed suit, then motioned towards the table. “I’ve taken the liberty of bringing my own breakfast tray in for us to share. It’s always too large for me, so help yourself to anything you’d like. Would you allow me to pour you a cup of tea? It’s brewed from a particularly beautiful flower that grows on Vanaheim, and is said to have calming properties. It’s quite sweet and delicious, more like a nectar than anything else, really.”

            So he’s chatty when he’s nervous, I thought as I consented and he filled a cup with a green liquid with an underlying pink tint. Perhaps he should take some of the tea for himself. I barely suppressed a giggle as I took my cup from him, retrieving a slice of peach with it, shrewdly observing him over the rim.

            “I heard you treated Inge very gently last night,” I began before he could. “Considering her actions, it would not have been unreasonable to give her some sort of punishment, but you didn’t, so I thank you for that.”

            “Given the situation, her actions weren’t so severe.” Loki rolled his eyes. “Toril runs wild, and needs to be put in her place now and again.”

            “Still, things could have gone far differently, considering…” I broke off abruptly. When I began that sentence, I intended to jump right in and discuss the issue of his undefined yet suspiciously comfortable relationship with Toril, but I bit my tongue and decided it could wait until another time. My plan for our conversation involved various insults to his character and the proposal of a deal that could be asking a lot of him. I didn’t want to overwhelm him and seem greedy, so I put Toril away for a discussion to be had further down the road if the relationship between Loki and I developed as I planned, given that the situation didn’t resolve itself naturally because of it.

            “Considering what?” Loki prompted, realizing I was no longer in the present. I shook my head to clear it.

            “Considering what I’ve seen of your character in such situations,” I improvised. He inhaled sharply and clenched his jaw at the accusation, not in anger, but merely of acknowledgement.

            “Well, I suppose there’s no clever way to make this transition, so shall I jump right into what this meeting is about?”

            I nodded in reply, gripping my delicate cup so hard I feared it would shatter in my hands.

            “I was always intrigued by you,” he began. “From the moment I first saw you, when you had your hands wrapped around my neck, I felt no hatred, but rather interest. I thought to myself, what has given this mortal girl the rage to attempt to kill me, possessed her to think she could succeed, and why is she succeeding? My mother then began to speak of you occasionally in her visits to me, simply gushing over her new pupil, and finding out more about you only heightened the desire to know more.

            “Until, of course, the day my mother died. As you know, I was struggling with the thought that I was the one to blame for her death, and sought to place that burden on anyone else that I could. I passed that stage, but I still hated everyone involved; everyone that could have possibly done something to save her. It wasn’t as personal towards you as you might think, because I even blamed the doors of her chamber for not staying open so someone could hear her struggle and come to her assistance. But, personal or not, you still suffered greatly as a result of my quest for vengeance.

            “I kept wanting people to pay. No matter how many people involved in her death I killed, I was never satisfied. Once Odin was gone, you were the only one left, so I figured executing you would be the last step in wiping the slate as clean as it could come whilst I still walked this realm.

            “My plans changed, however, when you managed to break through the barrier in your cell. That was something not even I was capable of, and when I realized the potential of your power, I knew it was too great to throw away. I had much need for someone as powerful as you as my weapon, for reasons that are my own.

            “I knew that you would never help me willingly, though. I also knew that you were young and inexperienced, which worked in my favor, for you seemed impressionable, though in time I learned you’re very stubborn, you’re just very quiet about it.

            “It was obvious that your emotions, rather intense ones for a mortal, ruled your life and decisions. Every single one of your outbursts, though put into action by the Tesseract taking over your body, were fueled by your emotions. They had to be extremely powerful to take control of such a force, so I knew those were what I had to override to make you mine. Through unfortunate personal experiences, I’ve learned that isolation and negative reinforcement was the way to do that, so that was the plan I decided on.

            “The day came for the first time I was going to attempt to train you, and, well, you know how that went. When you managed to mind control me and force the truth out of my mouth, I actually started to see myself in you, a version of myself that I’d so desperately tried to bury. That vision took over, and suddenly I knew I had to get rid of anything that reminded me of that time of weakness. But when you started talking about Mother to stop me… that resonated with me in a way I was not prepared for.

            “As you know, I made my rapid retreat after that. I’d reached a point in my life where disappointing people was all I ever did, so I figured I’d better make the incidents worthwhile, but disappointing Mother, as I knew I had done… That was the thing I simply couldn’t bear. So, that night when I went to my chambers, I… prayed. For the first time in years, I prayed to my mother and begged her to help me make her proud again. She did so, removing the shroud of hatred and opportunity from my eyes, and letting me see the person behind the power for the first time.

            “That’s when I started to become attracted to you. When I really began to look, I realized that, though your emotions often got the better of you, you were so quiet and mild on the outside, but in a way that hinted there were many different things going on underneath the surface. You became like a puzzle to me, an epic quest to truly get to know you, and that kept me coming back for more. I’d seen you impassioned before, so I knew you were in no way one-noted, and I searched to find the way to reveal the emotional spectrum I knew you had.

            “Slowly, I began to get bits of it, and it only intoxicated me and kept me coming back for more. Interest is the first thing that attracts me to someone, and you certainly had that, but you also had intellect, a philosophical spirit and way about you that matured you beyond your years, and of course, your beauty contributed, as well.

            “Those feelings scared me, though. I had intended to make you a colleague, not a lover, and it frightened me that I was falling in love with a mortal, and I was afraid I would not be received well if I told you of my feelings, lest the reaction it caused trigger something dangerous with your power. So, I repressed those emotions, again searching for any excuse to reverse the process, but when I realized they couldn’t be undone and you demanded a reason for my behavior last night, I succumbed.

            “So, today I’m before you in the barest, most humble state I can manage, asking you if you would like to begin a romantic journey with me.”

            By that time, the precious tea was dripping onto the rug, for in my shock I had forgotten to hold the cup upright. I noticed Loki’s nervous expression as he watched my reaction, but I couldn’t yet bring myself to a reply, letting the cup drop to the floor and covering my mouth with my hands. The speech I had put together in the brief time I had to do so suddenly fled, and I took a few moments to regain it, Loki clearly growing more nervous by the second.

            “I can’t express to you how happy your words have made me. I, too, have had feelings for you for a while now, but I never let them show for fear that I would be ridiculed and my belief that there was no way they would ever be reciprocated. The fact that they are elates me, and I would love to accept your proposal.” I watched Loki deflate in relief, letting him have a moment before continuing. “However, before I can wholeheartedly do so, there are some things I would like to discuss.”

            “By all means.” He motioned to the space before him. “Please, discuss.”

            “I also have feelings for you that extend beyond romantic ones. Unlike you, though, mine did not go through a journey, but are rather all plaguing me at once.

            “The first feeling I ever had towards you was hatred. Don't take it personally, because what else could you expect? The first thing you ever did to me was blast a hole in my torso, which left me with an unpredictable, unsafe supernatural ability that banished me from my home forever. And, to add insult to injury, you intended to have me executed for a crime I didn't commit, and only retracted that sentence when you discovered that I could be of use to you. From there, you locked me in a cell and abused me profusely, trying to turn me into your mindless weapon. What you've told me explains your actions a bit, but nevertheless, you still did those things.

            "The other largely negative emotion permeating my mind is that of fear. You're unpredictable. One minute you're wonderfully civil and as charming as can be, and the next you're lashing out, yelling about how I killed your mother. I'm worried that if I engaged in a relationship with you, all would be fine and well until a night came where you'd particularly miss Frigga and decide to strangle me in my sleep.

            "Now, the case of these emotions being alleviated is not hopeless. I believe it can be done through terms I'll discuss once I've finished explaining everything.

            “I’m rather ashamed to admit that my initial romantic feelings towards you were not quite as deep as yours for me. Throughout the whole time I knew you, even when I hated you, I was attracted to you. It frustrated me near to tears, I will say. I thought to myself, ‘This person is awful, tried to kill me, and is abusing me, but goddamn he’s gorgeous.’ If anything, it made me hate you more, the fact that you had a sort of power over me, one that sometimes made me want to kiss you instead of killing you. But, once you let me out of my cell, I started to get to know you and I saw your gentler side, and that made the attraction go deeper than exterior appearances.

            “Keep in mind that my feelings are developing later than yours, for this last instance occurred just last night. I reflected on the kiss, and I began to fear. I feared your physical declaration was some plot made up to punish me; that you envisioned me throwing myself at you in response, as I so wanted to, and that you planned to scorn me and parade me around town as a stupid fool for doing so. I mean, how silly would I have to be to believe that a god would be truly attracted to a mortal, especially one that was like a ticking time bomb, that had both mind-controlled him and attempted to kill him?

            “But I looked further into my heart, and in you I found comfort; I found a new home. I found the beginnings of love, and a connection with a person I’d never thought I’d have in this alien place. I knew that reciprocating the feelings displayed in the kiss was a chance I’d have to take.

            “However, before I can completely agree to entering this new brand of relationship with you, I need you to tell me if you do something without question.”

            “Anything.” Loki leaned forward over his knees as my tone turned solemn and demanding, finger once again flitting to his mouth in his renewed nerves.

            “You can’t be unpredictable anymore,” I declared in earnest. “You can’t be kind and doting with me one minute and hate me the next. Yes, we’ll fight, I understand that. Everyone does, and I’m not trying to say that you can never disagree or get angry with me. But you must stop making random personality flips. You must stop blaming me for your mother’s death, permanently, and you must stop looking down on me because I’m a mortal. Despite everything else, those feelings of fear and hatred for you are still buried deep inside of me, and they will never go away if I sense that at any moment you’re going to explode and start to distance yourself from me or abuse me. They will, however, go away if I see that you’ve changed your thinking on those counts. Is that something you can do?”

            There was silence for a moment, and I feared I’d ruined everything. Loki didn’t look angry, to my relief, but he did look quite ashamed, and I was afraid I’d deeply offended him. His eyes shut and he dug his nails into his palms, but when he glanced up, a ghost of a smile found his lips.

            “It is,” he agreed, nodding slightly. “I sincerely wish I could, but I can’t guarantee perfection instantly, but I’ll work on it until it is. And if it doesn’t reach that point in a timely manner, I give you permission to leave me, because it’s not fair to you.”

            “It won’t reach that point.” Hesitantly, I reached out and cupped his cheek, but as he glanced into my eyes and we both grinned, my touch became surer. “I want this with you. Let’s start a new chapter of our lives, together.”

Next Chapter