Summary: Loki and Sigyn have known eachother since childhood. Tired of waiting, she gets engaged to another man, but Loki won’t accept it, and tricks Sigyn into marrying him instead. Married life is not bad, and for a long time they consider themselves happy. When the choices they make threaten with tearing them apart, an unbreakable bond and an everlasting promise could be the only things keeping them together.
Summary: Faith and Loki are fuck buddies. Someone who was there when no one else was. When Faith was sleeping with a married man who all of the sudden decided to grow a conscience right after his wife got pregnant with twins. When Loki was being cheated on by his fiancee only a couple of weeks before their wedding. It is a comfort thing and they were perfectly fine with it, why make it complicated with a baby? It’s ridiculous!
Rating: Mature Pairing: Loki/OFC - past Bucky/OFC Hospital!AU
Summary: Loki is capable of sweet talking his way into the bed chambers of anything with legs so successfully that you often wondered if his words were laced with magic. But after being yet another victim of his charm, you knew it was no magic, and only you were to blame for falling like an inexperienced pubescent girl into his trousers. You thought you could keep your heart out of it, but it doesn’t work like that. Is it too late to get out unscathed?
I looked around, sighing in frustration. It was not comfortable waiting for someone during the winter, in New York. And choosing a rooftop was definitely not a good idea.
I was waiting for Peter, a close friend of mine, I had told him to meet me immediately and told him it was very urgent. There wasn’t anything wrong, it was just that my paranoia had me under control, driving me mentally sick because for days, maybe weeks I had just one question in my head: could Peter…be Spider-Man?
It all had started when he ‘got an internship in the Stark Industries’. He constantly ditched me, showed up late everywhere, left me and Ned with all the work we had for our science project and Ms. Parker started asking me questions to see if I knew why Peter kept sneaking out at night. If he was Spider-Man, all of these would make sense along with some other small details I noticed. Maybe I was just watching too much Sherlock. But no matter what, I had to know. I just had to have an answer.
“(Y/N)!” Peter’s screaming made me jump in fear, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I turned to face him as he rushed in front of me. “What is going on? What is so urgent you wanted to meet here, in the middle of the night?” His voice reflecting his anger.
“I-I have to tell you something.” Ask you something. Ask! Why am I so nervous?
“What? What is it?”
“I know.” I was only capable of saying those two words. Even though I had this conversation practiced in my head a dozen times, I couldn’t help but be nervous.
“What? Know what?” He chuckled nervously, making me more confident of myself.
“I know Peter! So-so you better explain yourself before I-“
“(Y/N)! You know what? Just tell me!”
“Why you sneak out at night, why you always ditch me, have scarves all over you, a-and whenever you’re gone stuff, you know, happens! I am not an idiot.”
I saw the shock in his eyes as his mouth opened, no word coming out.
“Y-you, I don’t know what you’re saying. I have no clue. Zero, like-like none, you know what-“
“Peter! Just admit it.”
“Admit what? You’re freaking me the hell out.” He said, trying to act all cool.
“Admit who youare.”
“We’ve been friends since elementary school, don’t you kn-“
“Peter!” I shouted again. “I know you’re Spider-Man.”
“W-what? I-I’m not Spider-Man! What the hell?” He said, laughing nervously again.
“Oh you’re not?” I asked sarcastically.
“Of course not!”
“So you’re doing all those things becaausseee?”
“The Stark Internship! I’ve been saying- Do you even ever listen to me?”
“Oh, yeah, right, that! Why couldn’t I think of that! So what do you do in this ‘internship’?”
“(Y/N), you sound so crazy right know.”
“C-crazy? Me?” I took a few steps back, running my hands through my hair. I was freaking the hell out.
“Yeah you! You know what, I’ll prove it to you. Show you where I work, introduce you-“
“P-prove it to me?” I asked, as the words left my mouth, an idea popped into my head. I turned my back to Peter, facing the view up from the rooftop we were standing in.
“Yes! How about tomorrow? I promise.”
I didn’t answer, I just walked towards the edge. I saw the ground, God, how high is this building?
I turned back to face Peter, with a creepy grin on myself. “Peter, you’re telling me you’re not…”
“Not Spider-Man!”
I took a few more steps towards the edge.
“(Y/N) What are you-“
“So that would mean…” I looked down at the ground again before looking at him over my shoulder.
“You couldn’t do anything, you know, if I happened to slip and-“
“No no no no I don’t like where this is going.” He walked towards me, there were still a long distance between us.
“So if I jump,” I stepped on the sides.
“…You couldn’t catch me.”
“You are being insane! Get back down, please!”
“Not until you tell me who you are.”
He walked towards me, “N-no! Come any closer and I’ll jump.”
“Okay, okay!” He stopped, holding his hands up in the air. “Just please, for the love of god, get down from there.”
“Peter, admit it.” I said, my voice more confident. I knew no matter what, he could catch me. He was Spider-Man.
“I-I…(Y/N) I AM NOT SPIDER-MAN!”
“Well, I guess, I am going to die…” I took one more step. And that was it, there was no more space left.
“Get down there, please! I. AM. NOT. SPIDER-MAN.”
I took a deep breath. My heart was pounding in my chest. I heard him talking, but I wasn’t listening anymore. I knew there was only one way to find out.
I let myself go, backwards into the darkness. He shouted my name, and I caught a sight of him running towards the edge. That was the last thing I saw before I shut my eyes. Just in a few seconds, I found myself in his arms, my face buried in his shoulder. We were…up in the air. My brain couldn’t function what was happening. I opened my eyes when my feet touched the ground.
“Oh my god.” I breathed out as I looked at him. We were safe on the ground.
“Are you okay?” He asked as he held my face, looking into my eyes.
“Y-yes. I knew it.”
He wrapped his arms around me. “Don’t ever do that again. You scared the living shit out of me.”
I closed my eyes as I hugged his neck. “It’s okay. I knew you would catch me.”
WARNINGS:signs of depression, severe anxiety disorder, SUICIDE
A/N: Please contact me if you have any kind of problems or need help.
She tried to take deep breaths, holding onto the wall, trying to stop her hands from shaking. It was one of those moments where she stopped pretending, she wasn’t who she was portraying; a hero; a powerful member of the Avengers who always stood strong.
She was used to bad days. She knew loss, grief, dark days; she used to think she could overcome it all, it would all be okay with time. Time had been the cure for every single disappointment, or a sadness she had in her life. She had learned to heal, and to be strong with time. But she also learned that some days could be unbearable by the hard way.
Those days, were now more than just ‘bad days’. They had became her weeks, months…now her whole life.
Pain changed people and now, she was not who she used to be. She had started to realize that she couldn’t take what it takes to be a hero. All her friends, her family were heroes. They were strong. They knew how to live with pain, regret, sarrow, grief, loss…She felt like the weakest one in the team, she knew would make mistakes others had to pick up after her. She thought that she was a burden, everyone’s lives would be better off without her. And living with that thought, made her life unbearable. She had started to wake up every morning trying so hard to make it out of bed, and sometimes she didn’t.
She didn’t want anyone to know how she felt, because she was ashamed. So she always put on a mask, did her best to look as happy as she never could be.
When she felt like she couldn’t breathe, she stumbled into the terrace. She could feel her knees shaking, she just sat down on the floor, trying to stop her whole body from shaking.
What is wrong with me?
At first,it got harder to breath but she tried to stay calm, then she felt the air in her lungs, relaxing her in each breath.
Okay, there you go, you’re fine, you’re fine, you’re fine….
It was not her first time experiencing a severe anxiety attack. She got up slowly, walking around the terrace, trying to make herself forget about the pain by watching the beautiful view of the city from the tower. She unconsciously walked over to the edge, just to look down. It was too high, she had trouble seeing the street. She thought that it would be impossible to survive if she fell. She had thought about death before, but not like this. She had gotten to the point where she started considering it. She stepped up on the edge, feeling the wind, looking down; trying to see the ground clearly.
It would make things easier, for everybody. She thought.
“Sir, I think you would want to see this.” FRIDAY spoke to Tony as he was down his lab, buried deep in work.
“No just-“ When Tony looked up on the screen, he was shocked; paralyzed. It was (Y/N), standing by the edge, looking down on the ground. His brain froze for a moment, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Was she…considering to take her life?
He immediately ran out of his lab, straight up to the terrace. When the others saw him rushing outside, they ran after him, figuring out that something was wrong.
“Oh my god.” Natasha breathed out in shock when she saw her.
“(Y/N)!” Steve called out for her, they walked towards her until she turned to face them.
“DON’T!” She shouted, and they all froze in their places in panic.
“(Y/N)-“ Tony tried to speak, taking a step closer but she wouldn’t allow him.
“D-don’t move!”
“Okay- hey, let’s just calm down for a moment, okay?” Natasha said with a low, calm voice.
(Y/N) was now in tears, she didn’t even know when she did start crying.
Steve got so scared he didn’t know what to say, he tried pulling himself together, “J-just hear us out, okay?”
“Whatever is it that you’re going through, we can do it together…” Tony said, speaking too fast because (Y/N) was still looking down on the ground, scaring the hell out of him.
“Sweetheart,” Clint called out to her, adding; “This is not, this can not be the option.”
“You can’t leave us like this.” Wanda said, followed by Natasha: “You wouldn’t be the only one taking the hit, you know?”
“And you don’t have fight whatever it is, alone. We’re here-“
“You-you can’t fix this! Okay? There is n-nothing to stop it, I-I can’t keep waking every morning, feeling like a burden to all of you!”
“W-what? A burden? Do you have any idea, how fucking lost we would be without you?” Tony asked, raising his voice.
(Y/N) was like the glue holding the group together. She saw the good in everyone and brought out the best of them. She taught them how to be friends, family. She used to be a cheerful, hopeful girl filled with laughter, joy.
But it wasn’t the same anymore.
“Tony-“
“If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t be living together at all.” Steve said.
“You are the reason we stand together, more than a team.” Wanda added, taking a step closer.
“A family.” Thor said, he had realized how important each member of the team got for him lately, they had became something else.
“And you need a reason to live? It’s family.” Tony said, even stepping closer.
She took a step closer to them to, even though she still was crying, and shaking in panic. Steve noticed her getting farther off the edge, so he took it as an advantage, and moved fast to grab her by the arm. Steve’s sudden move made her stumble backwards in fear, when she almost lost her balance, she tried to stand still by opening her arms; but it was too late. Her heel slipped, it all happend so fast she couldn’t function it. She screamed at the top of her lungs as she fell backwards into the darkness; Steve tried so hard to hold her hand, but only their fingertips met lightly.
Without any hesitation, Tony ran to the edge and jumped after her, everyone was so scared they ran up to the edge to see them.
Tony didn’t have his suit when he jumped, but he had to risk his suit not being fast enough. It was (Y/N). She was worth all the risks, he didn’t want to think how his life would be without her.
Tony’s suit met his body part by part in the air, when he was suited up fully, he flew faster to grab (Y/N). When they almost hit the ground, Tony held her in his arms in the last second before rising up high in the sky, landing back on the rooftop.
He kneeled down on the ground as he layed her down, checking for injuries. Everyone gathered around them, sitting down in a circle. (Y/N) was terrified; shaking so bad and hardly breathing.
“Hey, hey it’s alright. You’re safe.”
“Just breathe, (Y/N)- breathe…” They calmed her down slowly, than took her inside to get her a blanket and warm her up.
They sat by her, trying to talk to her, holding her until she stopped shaking. After a while her body shut down from that much stress and pain, she fell asleep on the couch and Steve carried her up to her room. They decided that they weren’t going to leave her alone, so they took turns. In the first night, Steve slept on her floor. The next night, it was Natasha who fell asleep right next to her. It went on and on no matter how bad she protested they didn’t have to. They talked to her, helped her, make her feel loved, safe.
It was hard; beating depression, believing life was worth living again. But being with them, it got easier. She started thinking time wasn’t the solution, or the cure. It’s family, she thought.
It took weeks, maybe months but she was better each day. They started to notice that she was smiling, laughing. She had good days, even though her bad ones. Time passed, and none of them left her side until she got through it all.
One morning, when they were walking towards the kitchen to have breakfast, Natasha heard her. She was cooking again, mumbling lyrics to some old rock song.
“Sssh!”
“Ssh what?” Steve whispered.
They all stood silent to hear her.
“She is singing again.” Tony smiled.
It used to be their tradition, (Y/N) would cook pancakes on sunday mornings. She loved to sing while doing so, they all remembered it.
They gave each other looks and small smiles, she was okay. She was better, and that was all that mattered; things could go back to the way it used to be.
They walked into the kitchen.
“Smells good in here!”
“You have no idea how much I missed your pancakes!”
(Y/N) watched them messing around, laughing as they started to help her make breakfast. It was that moment she knew; I’m okay…I’m home.
••••
a/n:please tell me what you think, I would love to hear them
I skipped to another song as I layed back down on my sunbed, enjoying the sun warming my skin. It was a good day. We rarely had good days.
Tony had bought a yacht and he convinced us that we all should take a break to go on a little vacation. Everyone agreed, and I hadn’t seen any of them this happy in months.
Steve, Bucky, Sam, Peter and Thor were racing to see who could swim the fastest, Tony, Rhodey, Natasha, Clint and Bruce were at the bar preparing cocktails, Wanda and Vision were in the back of the yacht, watching the view. I was being me, laziest person in the team, laying down sunbathing with my earpods in.
“Thanks.” I said to Tony as he brought me a drink.
“You’re welcome,” He said as he threw himself on the sunbed next to mine.
“This is amazing.” I said as I took another sip from my drink.
I chatted with Tony for a while until Natasha called us to the water.
“Come on.” Tony said as he got up, everyone was now in the water, waiting for us to join.
“No-uh, I think I’ll stay here. I am getting really tan.”
“Come on (Y/N)!” Natasha shouted for me from the water.
“You can work on your tan after a swim, just get up.”
The reason I didn’t go in the water was that I actually didn’t know how to swim. When I was a little girl I had fallen into the neighbor’s pool and ever since that I would never go into a pool where my feet didn’t touch the ground and that I couldn’t see the bottom of. I knew it would sound ridiculous, I was a member of The Earth’s Mightiest Heroes but I couldn’t swim.
Tony kept insisting, “Tony…I- I don’t know how to swim.” I said quietly.
“What?” This is embarrassing.
“I-I am scared. It’s just that I almost drowned when I was a kid so-“
“That’s okay! This is the best chance you get to learn! We’ll teach you and you can overcome your fear. A good thing to cross off your bucket list.”
“I am good here. Thanks though.”
“Alright, no pressure.” He left and joined the others.
I put my earpods back in, laying down again. I closed my eyes, trying to relax, Just when I was about to fall asleep, I felt someone standing above me, blocking the sun.
I opened my eyes to see Bucky. He had just gotten out of the water.
“Hi honey-“ I noticed he had a evil smile on his face, and the others were silent, watching us. They looked like they were trying not to laugh.
Fuck. He was going to grab me and bring me to the water. I knew it.
I jumped up screaming, “No! Don’t you dare- Bucky I SWEAR TO GOD NO!” I tried to run from him but he caught me by my waist, wrapping his arms around me and picking me up. As he walked towards the edge of the yacht, I kept screaming and asking for others to help. He held me down and jumped inside the water, with me in his arms.
Luckily, I managed to inhale before we hit the water and hold my breath, but I was still terrified as fuck when the cold water hit my warm skin. When we got on surface again, I wrapped my legs around his torso and hugged his head, not knowing what to do. I started freaking out, there were even fish and all.
“Oh god-OH GOD! GET ME OUT, I-“ moved around in panick, splashing water all around me including his eyes. He tried to hold me steady, “Calm down babe, hey,” He held me gently and I just hugged him, I felt like my heart was about to pound out of my chest.
“I would do this sooner if I knew you would be all around me like this,” He said with a smirk.
“Now is no time to joke Barnes! I hate all of you.”
Everyone tried to calm me down and saying it was okay. They insisted that they could teach me how to swim, I really just wanted to go back to safety in my sunbed. But they wouldn’t let it go, so I had to say yes.
Natasha and Sam showed me how to move my legs and arms, I listened like a little kid.
“Okay, now try it. I am letting go.” Bucky said but I panicked, hugging him tighter, “NO!”
“Ssh it’s okay. I am holding you-fine.” He put his hand on each of my body, and I practised how to move my body.
“You’re ready. Just try to swim towards Steve, I’ll get you if something is wrong.” Bucky said after a while of me practicing.
Everyone cheered for me as I tried to encourage myself. Steve opened his arms, he wasn’t even that far but in my eyes it was really scary.
“Okay, here I go.” I said and Bucky let go. I moved my arms and legs fastly in panick, trying my best to swim towards Bucky.
Sam, Natasha, Clint, Tony and Thor clapped for me as I did my best to swim as fast as I could -I was ridiculously slow-.
When I finally reached Steve he let me hold onto him, I was out of my breath and my heart was pounding. After I rested for a minute.
“Okay now, swim towards me!” Natasha said and I did, hugging her.
I swam towards everyone so I could practise.
“You’re doing great!” Wanda stated when she let go of me and I swam back towards Bucky.
I had gotten tired and he must have realized, he swam towards me too and pulled me in his arms.
“Thanks guys, this is not so bad, I guess.”
We hanged out for a while in the water, then everyone except me and Bucky went back in the yacht.
He swam a little further from the yatch, to a spot no one could see us.
“You trying to take advantage of me, Mr. Barnes?” I asked playfully before resting my forehead against his.
“You caught me.” He said with a smirk before locking his lips with mine.
It was a slow, passionate kiss, I ran my hands through his wet hair as his hands rested on the back of my thighs.
We were really enjoying that moment before our team mates, the actual 5 year olds decided to splash cold water at us from the yacht with a big water gun.
I screamed after we pulled away, “TONY I SWEAR TO GUN I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU WHEN I GET BACK UP THERE!”
After that, the water fight began, and it lasted pretty much our entire vacation. It was a huge mess, but we all loved it. Those couple of days were the kind of days I would just look around and think to myself; I am happy. I love this family, I am happy with my life. Our lives always had been tough, but dayslikethis lighted it up.
Request from @shamelessmarvellove: What about tonynat in age of ultron at the barton farm instead of brucenat?
Sorry this took so long to write! I’ve come to the conclusion that Age of Ultron is a mess beyond fixing lol, but hopefully I made this scene a little less awkward and also addressed Natasha’s trauma a with a little more sensitivity.
Trigger warning for mentions of past child abuse (Natasha talks about her Red Room experience in less detail than in AOU)
– – – – – – – – – – – –
The Barton farm was one of the places Natasha felt the safest. But even now, sitting on the bed in the guest room she always stayed in, with her knees tucked under her chin and her arms around her legs, she couldn’t shake off the chill of the Scarlet Witch’s touch.
With a flick of the fingers and a few red sparks, she was transported back to when she was a little girl, at the mercy of a cruel headmistress and even crueler men. When she ran away from the Red Room, she promised herself that she would never let herself be terrified or out of control again. But now, seeing how easily her precious control could slip out of her mind’s grasp, she knew that the scared little girl would always be a part of her.
A footstep on the floorboard outside and a knock on the door, and Natasha immediately uncurled herself, affecting a more casual position with her legs crossed. “Yes?” she called, expecting Clint.
Instead it was Tony who opened the door. “Hey,” he said quietly. At the sight of her boyfriend she relaxed into her pose, inhabiting it more naturally.
“Hey.”
He stepped in awkwardly in socked feet, making sure to shut the door behind him. None of their teammates knew about their relationship, except for Clint, and Natasha only told him because she knew about Laura and it was only fair.
There was a cut on the bridge of Tony’s nose and a bruise beginning to form on his brow. Marks from his fight with the Hulk.
“How’s Bruce?” Natasha asked.
“In the shower,” Tony said. “It helps him decompress after Hulking out, I think.”
Like a sensory deprivation chamber, Natasha thought. That had been comforting for her, too, in her early days after the Red Room. “Good,” was what she said out loud. “He needs it, probably. How about Steve?”
“Pfft. Golden boy is fine. Totally unshaken by his encounter with the Maximoff girl. Laura has him helping with chopping wood in the front lawn.”
“And you?”
“You know me,” he said with bravado. “What’s a throwdown with the Hulk? Just another day at the office.”
Natasha would have chuckled but all she managed was a watery half-smile.
A shift in Tony’s expression—a slight softening of the features, a relaxing of the brow. He moved closer to the bed and sat on the rug at her feet, close enough to touch but respecting her space. She reached out to him, tracing her hand over the black bruise forming on his forehead, over the ridge of his brow and down his cheekbone.
“How about you?” he said in a low voice. “You okay?”
The answer was reflexive. “Always.”
“You sure about that? Cause you look”—he faltered as she withdrew her hand and fixed him with a cold look that would have cowed someone with weaker nerves or stronger self-preservation instincts—“like you’d seen some shit.”
“It’s fine.” Her lips quirked up bitterly. “I’ve lived through it once.”
“Lived through it—” Tony’s eyebrows shot up in realization. “It was a memory.”
Natasha nodded. “The Red Room.” She confirmed. Her fingers curled into a fist, tight enough to dig into her palms. The sharp pinch grounding her to the present, to the fibers of the bedsheet in the Bartons’ farmhouse. So that she wouldn’t be lost again in the cold, sterile halls she was raised in. Tony slipped his hand into hers and her grip fixed around his hand instead, a different, solid kind of anchor. She forced herself to meet his gaze—one more thing to tie her to the present. “I thought I was done feeling that way. So powerless. Like a victim.” She spat the word out.
“Natasha.” Tony knelt up so that their eyes were level. “Look at me”—he squeezed her knee—“you are not a victim.”
She regarded him with anguish, but he knew enough about self-loathing to see that it was directed at herself. “You’re not a victim,” he repeated. “You got away from it.”
“Yeah, but not before they did… everything they did to me.” Natasha’s grip around his hand tightened even more. “They made me into a killing machine. A monster of their making. And the worst part is, I let them.”
“We are absolutely coming here again,” you say as the two of you leave.
She walks ahead of you, turns back and smiles, “And next time, I won’t let you win.”
You stop walking, “Let me win?”
“Mmhmm,” she says, walking backwards away from you. You catch up to her easily, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her close to you. “You’re just lucky that I wanted to move in with you,” she smirks.
“I am very lucky,” you keep her close to you, smiling down at her. You lean down slowly but stop just before your lips touch hers, you wait until she reaches up but then you pull back. “But you forget, I like to win,” you wink at her and let her go.
“I hate you,” she says, rolling her eyes as she walks down the street.
“You love me,” you tell her.
You get to the intersection and wait at the light. She takes your hand and you look down at her. “Only a little,” she says with a smile, holding her thumb and pointer finger close together.
“A bit more than that I think,” you say as you cross the street.
“Maybe…” she pretends to think as you continue walking slowly. A sudden crack of thunder draws your attention to the sky. It was swiftly becoming much darker then it should be at this time in the afternoon. “I thought it wasn’t supposed to storm until late tonight,” she says as the dark clouds roll in.
“I thought so too,” you agree.
“Well that’s annoying…” she says to herself. Before you can say anything it starts to drizzle lightly and she groans. “And… there goes my plan,” she literally throws her hands up in defeat.
“What’s wrong?” you ask her. You try not to smile at how cute she looks when she is annoyed but it is hard not to.
“I wanted to take you somewhere but we can’t do it in this weather,” she says sounding upset but still not wanting to give away the surprise.
You pull her under the awning of a nearby store to get out of the encroaching storm. It has now gone from a light drizzle to a steady rain and you can tell it’s going to outright pour any minute. “We have the rest of the week. We can do it another day I’m sure,” you tell her.
“I know… but you were really going to like it,” she tells you.
“You could tell me what it is,” you joke and she elbows you lightly. “It was worth a shot,” you say and she shakes her head.
“We should get back, those clouds look awful,” she says, changing the subject. She peaks out from under the awning, “I think we should take the train. Walking half an hour back in this would be pretty horrible.” You agree and she takes your hand. “Ok, the subway is two blocks that way, hopefully we can make it before the sky really opens,” she says hopefully.
The two of you leave the cover of the awning and head quickly down the street, still holding her hand tightly. Before you get to the end of the block there is a flash of lighting followed almost instantly by the crash of thunder. A few seconds later the steady rain becomes a heavy downpour and by the time you reach the subway entrance you are both completely soaked. You follow Y/N down the steps quickly, glad to be out of the storm.
She wipes her face and laughs, looking down at herself. “I look and feel like a wet rat,” she says shaking her head.
“A cute one though,” you smile at her. Then you let the green glow flow around you and dry you off.
She stares at you, “What the heck was that?”
“I don’t like being damp,” you say with a smirk.
“Care to help me out a bit?” she asks, holding out her arms, letting the water drip off her shirt.
“Hmm… no,” you laugh and make your way over to the turnstile. “I like you all wet,” you joke.
“Wow… you said that out loud,” she says, obviously trying not to laugh. She follows you through the turnstile.
"I couldn’t help it,” you say to her with a smirk. You walk down to the platform and stand near one of the columns. Its nearly empty down there which is how you prefer it. You lean on the column and you can hear her water filler shoes squeaking on the ground.
She huffs and crosses her arms looking at you, “Dry me off Loki.”
You simply smile at her and shake your head no. She walks over to you, and stands directly in front of you. You look down at her and act as innocent as you can, “Can I help you?”
“Dry me off,” she says again and you shake your head no. “Fine, then we will both be wet,” she tells you as she closes the distance between the two of you. She puts her arms around your neck and pushes her body against yours while you lean on the column. You can feel the front of your shirt becoming soaked from being pressed against her. The cool water drips off her hair and onto your arms when you put them around her. She reaches up and kisses you, slowly at first then harder. You hold her tightly and only let go when you hear the train approach a few minutes later. You look down at her and smile, covering the two of you in a green glow that dries you both completely. “See, that wasn’t so hard was it Mischief,” she says with a smile as she takes your hand and you get on the train.
(Y/N POV)
“Good morning love,” Loki whispers in your ear. You smile at the sound of his voice but still don’t want to open your eyes. “I made coffee,” he says and you open one eye to see him standing next to the bed.
You sit up in the bed and Loki sets a tray down for you. “Did you make all of this?” you ask, not able to hide the surprise in your voice. The tray has a cup of coffee, a bowl of cut fruit and a plate with eggs and toast.
“Don’t get too excited until you taste it,” he jokes as he sits on his side of the bed.
You start eating and drinking your coffee, Loki puts an arm around you and kisses your forehead. You look up at him and kiss him, touching his cheek gently. “I love you Loki,” you tell him with a smile when you finally pull away.
“I love you too Y/N,” he says. “And no, I’m not telling you what we are doing today.”
“Oh come on!” you say laughing.
He laughs and shakes his head, “It’s only fair, you kept all of yesterday a secret.”
You groan, “You learn way too quickly.”
(A few hours later)
You take Loki’s hand as you walk down the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “That was so much fun, I really love this place,” you tell him with a wide smile.
“Me too, its one of my favorite museums in this city,” he says. When you reach the street he stops and you ask him where you are going now. “Feel like taking a walk through the park for a bit?” he asks you and you nod in response.
The two of you enter the park and wander the paths south behind the museum. He runs his fingers over your knuckles, never letting go of your hand. You walk silently through the park, heading around the great lawn. A few minutes later Loki asks you if you’ve ever been to the castle. “No, I’ve heard its beautiful though,” you tell him.
He smiles and says, “Its just over this way.”
“How do you know the park so well?” you ask as you head towards Belvedere Castle. He shrugs and smiles at you. “What did you memorize the map or something?” you laugh.
He nods and laughs as the castle comes into view, “I might have.”
You pull him towards you and kiss his cheek. As the castle comes into view you stop, look up at it and say, “Wow.” The two of you walk slowly around it, then you make your way to the top. When you reach the top you walk to the edge and peer over the wall. Loki stands behind you, wrapping his arms around you as you look out over the park. He kisses the top of your head and then rests his chin on your shoulder. A few minutes later, you put your hands on his and smile at him, but he doesn’t notice though. He seems zoned out, looking off in the distance across the park.
“Loki, are you ok?” you ask, trying to pull him from his thoughts.
“Hmmm?” he hums, blinking as he looks at you.
“I asked if you were ok. You seemed far away,” you say.
“Sorry… I was just thinking about the palace back on Asgard,” he says slowly. You turn to face him and wait for him to keep talking. “The palace is nothing like this of course but standing here, looking out over everything… sometimes when I couldn’t sleep I would stand on the balcony in my room and look out over Asgard,” he says.
“I’m sorry,” you say slowly looking down.
“For what?” he asks.
You shrug but don’t look at him, “That you’re so far from your home… and that you can’t go back.”
He puts his hand under your chin and slowly makes you look at him. “Y/N, of course sometimes I miss Asgard but I have no intentions of going back there,” he tells you.
“How can you be sure Loki? I mean its your home. Your mother is there, I know you want to see her and… I know you told Thor you wanted to go back home when-” you start to ramble but he interrupts you.
“Stop,” he says gently. His fingers move from under your chin to your cheek and you close your eyes, feeling a single tear sneak out. He wipes it away with his thumb, “Y/N I never should have said that, I didn’t mean it. Look at me love, please.” You open your eyes slowly and he continues, “I only said that because I was scared… I thought you would better for you if I left… but I promise, I’m not going back.”
“You better not… or I’ll have to follow you there,” you tell him, trying to smile.
“Y/N, I love you,” he says, laughing a little. Then he looks a bit more serious, putting his arms around you and holding you close to him. “Truthfully, I haven’t thought about Asgard being my home since I found out my father and… and my mother lied to me about everything I had ever known,” he tells you and you hug him tightly.
He kisses your forehead and says, “But tomorrow, you are moving in with me. We’re going to have our own home, and that’s all I need Y/N.” Loki then kisses you softly, his hands on your lower back and the back of your neck. Your arms are around him as you kiss him back.
When he pulls away slightly, you say, “I love you Loki.”
(LOK POV - a few hours later)
The two of you arrive back at your room and you are hopeful she likes her last surprise. “Close your eyes,” you say before you open the door.
“Are you serious?” she asks laughing.
“Yes,” you say nodding.
She shakes her head but puts her hands over her eyes. You wave your hand in front to make sure she can’t see and then you open the door. You tap her shoulder and guide her forward into the room. “Just wait here,” you tell her, leaving her standing a few feet into the room. You close the door and with a quick bit of magic, everything ready. “Ok… you can look,” you tell her.
She slowly uncovers her eyes and looks around, her mouth falls open and her eyes scan the room. “Loki…” is all she manages to say at first. “Loki, this is amazing,” she turns to take in everything around her.
You can’t stop smiling, you love how excited she looks. There are candles and flowers throughout the room and the table in the dining area is set for two with a meal waiting. You stand in front of her and let a green glow wash over you. You are now wearing a tailored black suit with a dark emerald green shirt and black tie.
“Mischief, you look… wow,” she says giggling and you hold out your hand to her. She takes it and you spin her, allowing a green glow to flow over her. She looks down at herself, gently touching the fabric of the emerald green dress you’ve conjured.
“You look beautiful Y/N,” you tell her, spinning her one more time. She blushes which you adore, you pull her tightly to you and kiss her. You then guide her to the table, pulling her chair out for her.
“Such a gentleman,” she says with a smile.
“Well, I am a prince,” you remind her. “And you should be treated like a queen,” you kiss her hand before sitting across from her. You pour wine for the two of you and use your magic to serve the food. The two of you laugh and talk all throughout the meal. You can’t remember the last time you had smiled as much as you had in the last few days.
When you finish eating, you stand, putting your napkin on the table. You wave you hand and the food and plates vanish. You offer her your hand and she takes it as she stands. “May I have this dance?” you ask her, bowing slightly.
She laughs a little, “You can… but be warned, I have no idea how to dance.”
You put on her on her lower back and turn her to face you. “Well, you are in luck. I have been to countless balls,” you tell her. She puts her hand on your back and you move it to your shoulder. The you take her other hand and you begin to move, following the rhythm of the music playing.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbles as she steps on your foot.
You laugh, “Its ok Y/N but it is easier if you look up then if you look at your feet.” She looks up at you and you smile warmly at her. She gradually falls into step with you. Occasionally you spin her or dip her, sometimes just to show off a bit. She giggles when you do and you kiss her when she is back in your arms again.
After dancing for a bit, she rests her head on your shoulder and says, “Loki, I love you so much.”
You run your fingers up and down her back, “I love you too Y/N.”
“You know… I was thinking,” she says a few minutes later.
You laugh, “Am I supposed to guess what you were thinking about?”
She laughs and says no. She pulls back a little so she can look up at you, “I was thinking about how I said I would follow you if you had run off back to Asgard.”
You kiss the top of her head, “I’m not going back.”
“I know, I know. But I’m just saying… if you did go and I followed you there… I would be in a lot of trouble,” she says.
“Why?” you ask.
“Because if I saw Odin, I wouldn’t be able to keep my mouth shut. I would tell him how horrible of a father he was to you. How he never should have lied to you or treated you the way he did when you were growing up. I’m pretty sure you would be visiting me in the dungeons really soon after I got there,” she tells you. She reaches up and kisses you quickly.
“You are absolutely incredible, you know that Y/N,” you say to her with a smile. You look at her smiling back at you and you know she means it. This little mortal would have barged into the palace to tell the king of Asgard he was a horrible father to you. You touch her cheek gently, and bring her lips to yours. You kiss her slowly, still swaying a bit but you stop as she bites your lower lip gently. You pick her up with one arm around her waist and she wraps her legs around you. You quickly carry her into the bedroom and kick the door closed.
“Are you really not going to tell me where we are going?” Loki asks as you put on your jacket.
“Nope,” you tell him with a smile.
He walks over to you, putting one arm around your waist and pulling you to him. “Are you sure?” he asks as he raises his eyebrow.
You try not to giggle and nod, “You’ll just have to wait until we get there.”
His hand settles on your lower back and he leans down slowly, his lips just inches from yours. You can feel his breath lightly as he ghosts over your lips with his. “I’m sure I could make you tell me,” he says in a whisper.
You look up at him an feel your resolve waiver, you can almost feel his lips. You put your hand on his chest and push him away slightly. “Oh, you are very smooth Mischief,” you say with a laugh.
He laughs and winks at you, “It was worth a try.”
“Just for that, I’m not going to tell you where we are going for lunch either,” you tell him, you reach up and kiss his cheek then untangle yourself from him.
Loki pretends to be upset, putting his hand on his heart as you walk away from him towards the door. “So rude, I thought you loved me,” he says.
“I don’t remember saying that,” you try not to smile.
“Hmmm, do I need to remind you?” he walks towards you again. You bite your lip as he corners you against the wall near the door. Your back against the wall, he’s careful not to touch your side, instead he puts his hands on your hips and lifts you. You instinctively wrap your legs around him and he kisses from your collar bone slowly up your neck, making sure not to ignore a single inch of exposed skin. You moan quietly as he bites your neck gently. “What was that?” he asks and you can feel his smile against your skin.
You shake your head, “I didn’t say anything.” You smile at him and try to sound innocent.
Loki keeps you pinned against the wall and looks you in the eyes, “We’ll see about that.” He puts his lips on yours, softly at first but then he kisses you harder. You kiss Loki back, feeling him run his tongue against your lower lip. He then leaves your lips and kisses up your cheek and jaw to your ear. Loki bites your ear lobe and whispers, “Tell me you love me.”
You try not to moan and shake your head no. You hear him chuckle lightly and your whole body is covered in goosebumps. His hands grip yours hips tightly and one of your hands tangled in his hair while the other grabs at the fabric of his shirt. He kisses you hard, his tongue pushing into your mouth. He finally pulls back to let you catch your breath and he whispers in your ear again, “Tell me that you love me.”
You can’t help it, you give in, “I love you Loki, more than anything.”
He smiles at you, as if he won a game, “See, that wasn’t so hard was it?” He sets you back down and kisses your lips quickly. “I love you too, Y/N,” he tells you as he runs his fingers through your hair, looking down at you. “We should go, don’t want to be late for this surprise, do we?” You shake your head no, still catching your breath a bit as he opens the door. He holds out his hand and you take it, walking down the hall together.
You and Loki walk through the city for about half an hour when you finally turn a corner and tell him you are here. He looks up at the building in front of you and stops. “Wait… really?” he asks sounding more excited then he probably meant to.
You smile and nod, “I figured you might like it.”
The two of you go inside and the man at the counter greets you both. “Hey, welcome to Damon’s Axe & Knife Range. How can I help you guys?”
“I have a reservation for Y/N,” you tell him. He checks his list and nods finding your name. The man at the counter calls for someone from the back office to bring you down the hall to your room. He gives you a quick explanation of the rules and leaves you.
The room is longer than it is wide and at one end is a table with an assortment of hatchets and throwing knives. At the other end is a wooden wall with several targets of different sizes. Loki walks over to the knives and runs his fingers over them, you can’t help but smile as he picks one up. You ask him what he thinks, he winks at you then he throws it at the target at the other end without looking.
The knife hits dead center in the smallest target and he says, “This should be fun. Its been a while since I’ve done this, Stark doesn’t like the idea of me having my daggers around the Tower.”
You laugh and pick up one of the knives as you walk over to the throwing line. You can feel Loki watching you as you take aim at one of the larger targets but the knife goes wide. “Damnit,” you mumble as Loki walks up behind you.
“Here,” he says as he uses his magic to bring the knife you threw to his hand. He gives it back to you and positions himself behind you. You take the knife and he puts one hand on your hip and the other on your arm, moving your body slightly. He presses himself against your back and adjusts your throwing arm. He runs his hand up your arm and moves your shoulder slightly. “Try that,” he says softly to you.
You throw again and this time the knife hits the target, but it still off from center. “Much better,” he says, sounding proud of you. He picks up another knife and stands at the line to throw it. The knife lands an inch from the first one he threw.
“I have an idea,” you say walking back to the throwing line with another knife.
“Hmm, what kind of idea?” he asks.
“How about we make a bet?” you suggest.
He raises an eyebrow, “What kind of bet?”
“Whoever gets the most points after ten throws wins. Winner gets… whatever they want,” you suggest as you set up for your next throw.
He smiles, you know he assumes he will win easily. “Very well, take another practice one and then we can start,” he says.
You nod and throw one more time, again hitting the target but not the center. Loki laughs a little and as he collects all the knives that have been thrown and places them on the table, he asks you what you would like if you win. He emphasizes the word if and you hit him lightly. “Mean,” you smile at him. “Ok… when I win, I want you to cook dinner without any magic. I see you sneaking it when you think I’m not looking,” you tell him and he kisses you.
“I’m sure I could figure that out,” he agrees.
“Ok Mischief, what do you want on the off chance you beat me?” you ask trying to sound over confident.
He takes your hands and he looks down at you. “When I win,” he says seriously, “I want you to move in with me.”
You feel your heart skip and all you can manage to say is, “What?”
He touches your cheek softly, “I want you to move in with me. You sleep in my room every night but all your things are still in your room. I don’t like when you leave… I want to come home to you everyday.”
“Loki…” you smile at him, “I would love that… but you have to win first.” You laugh a little and he puts his arms around you.
“I don’t think that will be a problem love,” he pulls you close and kisses you. "Do you want to go first?“
"Sure,” you say as you pick up one of the knives. Loki crosses his arms and takes a step back to give you room. You stand at the line and take your time aiming, then you take a deep breath and throw. The knife hits the smallest target right in the center and you hear Loki gasp from behind you.
“Did you just…” he looks at you in disbelief.
“Oh, that?” you ask pointing at the target. You smirk and tell him, “Beginners luck.”
“Mmhmm,” is his answer as he picks up one of the knives. He keeps his eyes on you as he makes his throw, his knife touching yours on the target.
“Show off,” you stick your tongue out at him as you trade places.
“Well, I intend to win,” he replies with a smile.
You pick up another knife, “I can see that… but you’re gonna have to work for it.” You throw again and add to the cluster of knives at the center of the target.
“Beginners luck again?” he asks.
“Nope,” you smile and hand him a knife. You wait until he is just about to let go of the knife and say, “Don’t mess up.”
His attention shifts for a second and his throw is just off from center. He looks at you clears his throat, “Are you trying to cheat love?”
“Me? Cheat? How could you ever think that?” you ask innocently. He shakes his head but you see a smile sneak across his lips. You throw again, hitting the center of the slightly larger target. Loki’s next throw lands next to yours. You each go two more times, both of you always hitting the center of the target. “Looks like we’re still tied,” you tell him as he uses his magic to pull the knives out of the targets and put them back on the table.
“Seems like it,” he says. “Interesting how you were so terrible at this when you were practicing,” he raises his eyebrow when you pick up your next knife.
“It is weird isn’t it?” you smirk. You throw, hitting the center for the sixth time. “Oh… I know what I forgot to tell you,” you say as you walk over to him.
“What’s that love?” he asks.
You stand on your toes and kiss his cheek, then whisper in his ear, “I used to come here all the time. The axes are my favorite, but knives are more practical you know.”
He looks at you in disbelief, “How did I miss that?”
You smile at him, shrugging your shoulders as you hand him another knife. He throws again, hitting the center. The two of you continue until it is time for your last throws. Neither of you have missed yet, always landing your knives in the middle of the target. As you step up to the line for your final throw, you look back at Loki. He smiles at you and you smile back, you face the target and aim. You let go of the knife and it sinks into the wood, inches to the left of the target.
“What was that?” he asked in surprise.
You look at him and say, “I missed… I guess if you make your next one, I have to move in with you.” You walk over to him, putting your arms around his neck as you reach up to kiss him. He kisses you back, his hands on your sides. “Don’t miss Loki,” you whisper to him.
“I don’t plan on it,” he kisses you again, then without letting go of you, he summons a knife from the table and throws it at the targets. It lands perfectly in the center.
“Oh no… I lost,” you pretend to pout as he strokes your cheek.
He leans down to kiss you then says, “I know, how terrible.”
You feel a hand on your shoulder and look up. Thor is kneeling in front of you on the street. “We need to find her,” you tell him as you try to stand but the wound on your side makes you wince.
“We will, I promise brother,” he says and you nod as he helps you stand.
The two of you get into the rear of the van and Nat drives you back to the warehouse to meet up with the rest of the team. You stare blankly out the window, not able to focus on what Thor is saying. When you pull up it looks like all of SHIELD is there. Tony and Fury are both yelling out orders to various agents and analysts. You watch as they bring out the Hydra agents, a few in cuffs but most in body bags.
“You should have someone take a look at you,” Thor suggests and you realize you are still holding onto him for support.
You stand on your own, “It’ll heal. We need to figure out where they took Y/N. I need to get her back, I can’t… Thor I can’t lose her.”
“I know,” he nods and gives you a sympathetic look.
Tony & Steve come over to you and Thor but before they can say anything you ask them, "How did we miss this? There were so many Hydra agents here… they knew I wasn’t Y/N and they knew which surveillance van she was in.”
Tony shakes his head, “I don’t know but we are going to find out. Hill has already started to look into it with a small team, people she trusts completely. Someone must have fed them information about the mission.”
“Do you think they set this up the same way they set up the escape on the raft? By blackmailing SHIELD agents?” Thor asks and Steve nods.
“Where is Sarah?” you ask looking around. “She would know where they took Y/N,” you can’t help but feel a bit hopeful. If Sarah knew anything, you would get it out of her. You look directly at Tony and say, “Don’t tell me she got away.”
Tony looks between you and Thor then says, “Come with me.” You & Thor follow him past the agents into the warehouse. “She’s just over there,” he points to the rear wall and you see two medics kneeling in front of someone. “They don’t think she is going to make it,” he says and you stop walking, you don’t know how to respond. Before you get much closer, one of the medics takes off his gloves and stands up. The other one turns towards you and shakes his head as he gets up.
Sarah is sitting against the wall, there is blood around her mouth and her eyes are closed. There is blood on the ground around her, it looks as if she dragged herself over to the wall before collapsing. A long piece of rebar sticks out of her chest, one of her hands is still resting on it.
“No… we needed her,” you say, mostly to yourself.
“We will find Y/N a different way, no one is going to stop until we find her,” Tony promises.
You nod and the three of you walk back out of the warehouse. Clint and Nat are talking to Sam who is sitting in the back of an ambulance. A medic is finishing up stiches on his arm and he has a bandage on his forehead. He stops talking when he sees you coming over. Nat turns to see what distracted Sam and then she asks the medic if she can come back in a minute. She nods and walks away.
“Loki, I’m sorry-” Sam starts but you hold up your hand and stop him.
The worried looks Nat & Clint give to Thor doesn’t escape your notice. You take a deep breath and let it out slowly, holding the wound on your side. You want to lash out, to cause pain and damage to the things around you but you know that’s not what Y/N would want. That wouldn’t help you get her back. Instead you look at Sam and tell him, “Its not your fault. I failed to protect her when she needed me. I should have been able to stop them.”
He doesn’t respond but Thor does, “We all failed her, Loki.”
(Y/N POV)
The truck takes a sharp turn and you wake up, you thoughts are fuzzy and it takes you a few seconds to figure out what is going on. When you open your eyes everything is dark, there is something soft covering them. You try to move your arms but yours hands are tired behind your back. When you pull on them you realize they are attached to the side wall of the truck. Your legs are free but there isn’t enough slack in the rope to get your feet under you so you remain seated against the wall. You can hear the people who took you talking but your head is still pounding and your are unable to understand them.
You realize you have no idea how long you were out or where you are. Focusing on your breathing, you try to keep calm. Loki and the rest of the team are going to find you, you tell yourself. You know Loki would never stop looking for you.
A few minutes later the truck takes another turn and the ride feels different. You aren’t on pavement anymore, the truck is on rough road. Where could they be taking you, you wonder. You pull and twist your arms, trying to free yourself from your restraints but every time you move, pain shoots from your shoulder down to your hand.
You think you are on the unpaved road for almost half an hour when they finally come to a stop. Your breathing picks up and your body gets tense. You hear the front doors open and both people get out. You rest your head against the wall of the truck and use it to help slide the blindfold off your eyes. Looking out the front window, you are horrified to find out you at a small, private airport. There is a plane waiting at the end of the runway and your heart starts to pound faster. You can’t let them get you on the plane, you have to fight back and get away.
The rear doors open wide and the same men who grabbed you climb into the back. You try to struggle and pull away from them but you have no leverage. You manage to kick out, catching one of them in the shin. He goes down and the other man hits you in the face. You scream and he puts his hand over your mouth to silence you but when he does you bite him. He curses at you and then reaches into the front of the truck to grab a black medical bag.
The man you kicked gets up and stands over you, staring down angrily. You try not to look afraid but you have no idea what is going to happen if they get you on that plane.
“Is it ready?” the one staring at you asks and you look at the other one.
“Hold her,” he responds as he comes towards you with a needle in one hand.
You scream for him to stop and to let you go but they hold you tight. You are unable to kick or struggle as he inserts the needle into your arm. Everything starts to get fuzzy again, your limbs feel heavy and your breath slows. You whisper Loki’s name just before you lose consciousness.
A metal door slamming shut in the distance wakes you suddenly and you sit up so fast you get dizzy. You close your eyes and wait for the room to stop spinning before opening them again slowly. You look around the room as you move to the edge of the hospital bed. Rubbing the bruises on your wrists from the restraints as you try to stand up. Your knees buckle and you catch yourself before you fall, sitting back on the bed.
The room is small and has concrete walls with a metal door. There are no windows and no clock so you are unable to decipher the time. You sit on the edge of the bed and put your head in your hands as you realize you have no idea how long you were unconscious for. It could have been hours or days… and no one had found you yet. Why hadn’t they found you? Was anyone hurt, is that what was keeping them? You sit quietly, wondering where you could be when your attention is pulled by a scream from one of the other rooms.
The scream fades and you hear a metal door opening and slamming shut. You watch the door to your room as you hear footsteps getting closer. You swallow hard and carefully but quickly get up and stand next to the bed. You listen to the electronic beeping of what must be a keypad outside your door and then the bolts unlock. You hold your breath and back up slowly as the door swings open.
“Good to see you awake finally,” Marc says as he enters the room. He is followed by three guards, two of them come towards you and the third closes the door.
“Get away from me,” you say, backing away from the guards but they each grab one of your arms. You struggle and manage to pull an arm free, elbowing one of the guards in the face. He grunts in pain and the other guard hits you hard in the stomach. You cough and fall to your knees, the man you hit grabs you again and they pick you up.
“Still a fighter, that’s good,” he smirks and comes closer to you.
You try to get free again but you can’t. Marc takes your chin in his hands and makes you look at him. “What do you want with me?” you demand.
“What do you think Y/N?” he asks and you try not to let the fear show on your face. “You are going to help us test a brand new project we are working on.”
(THOR POV)
You walk down the hall and into the kitchen. You sigh to yourself when you see Loki isn’t there. You had called him half an hour ago and asked him to meet you here, he had reluctantly agreed. You look around the empty room and are unsure if Loki actually forgot or decided against coming down, both were equally likely.
Steve & Bucky walk in while you are going through the fridge. “Hey Thor. How’s Loki?” Steve asks.
“How do you think? Its been over a week and we still haven’t found Y/N. Every lead we’ve chased has turned into a dead end,” you answer as you slam the fridge closed, harder than you meant to.
“Thor-” Steve starts but you interrupt him.
“Sorry… I’m sorry. You guys know I love her like a little sister and I want to get her back more than anything,” you say as you walk to the island where they are standing.
“So do I Thor. We’re going to find her, all of SHIELD is working on this,” Steve reminds you.
You rub your eyes and tell them, “We have to rescue her soon, I don’t know how much longer Loki can go on like this. He isn’t sleeping, he barely eats… He hasn’t been in their room since she was taken.”
“Loki’s still refusing to leave her office?” Bucky asks.
You nod, “I keep trying to get him to come out, even just for a short time but he won’t. He’s been working with Stark and Hill, spending every minute looking into anything he can on Hydra.” You shake your head and look down, “Everyday Y/N is gone, Loki becomes more closed off. He is coming apart and I can’t just stand around and wait for a lead. We need to do something.”
“We’re doing everything we can Thor,” Bucky says.
“It’s not enough,” you tell him loudly. You lean against the island and before you can apologize for snapping at Bucky he walks out of the room. “I didn’t mean-” you start to tell Steve.
“I get it, we all love Y/N Thor but taking our anger out on each other isn’t going to help us find her,” Steve says.
You nod and he leaves the kitchen. You stand there alone for a few minutes before deciding to go up and see Loki. If he won’t come down to eat, you’ll bring the food to him. You begin opening the cabinets and looking for something you know how to make.
(LOKI POV)
There’s a knock on the door but you ignore it, reading the latest email from Hill. A minute or two later, there is another knock and you tell whoever it is to leave. You continue taking notes, reading through the email about the SHIELD agents who were blackmailed into helping Hydra. You want to ‘talk’ to each of them personally even though you know Nat already interrogated them.
The door opens and you look up to see who it is. “Brother, I told you I would come down when I finished this,” you tell him, turning your attention back to the screen.
He closes the door and says, “That was an hour ago Loki.”
“I’m not finished,” you respond flatly.
You hear him sigh loudly as he takes a seat across from you. "You have to take a break,” he says.
“How am I supposed to do that? Do you think Y/N is getting breaks from whatever Hydra is doing to her?” you ask him angrily.
“I’m not suggesting you stop looking for her Loki. We are all doing everything we can but you are going to burn yourself out completely if you keep this up. You need to rest, you need to eat. You’ll be more help to her if you aren’t exhausted,” he tells you.
“I know but… I just can’t stop Thor, not until I know she is safe,” you say, looking at him.
“Brother, just ten minutes. Here, I brought you something to eat,” he tells you as he points to a container on the desk. You hadn’t noticed it when he came in.
Your mind drifts back to all the times you brought Y/N lunch or dinner while she was buried in work in this office. You smile at the flood of memories, including the first time you brought Y/N dinner… she had been avoiding you for weeks after you almost kissed her but you couldn’t stop thinking about her. You missed everything about her and you wanted her to know it. You had been so afraid you ruined things with her just as you were starting to become close. She had texted you after you brought her dinner and you thought your heart would leap out of your chest when she told you she wanted to see you. The two of you talked for so long that night and you could still remember how cute she was when she asked you to kiss her. You knew after that first kiss you were never going to let go of her.
“Loki?” Thor gets your attention and you realize there are tears running down your cheek.
You wipe them away quickly, “Sorry, I’m fine.”
“You know, it’s ok if you aren’t,” he tells you and you nod, telling him once again that you are fine. “I will believe you and leave you alone the rest of the night if you at least eat,” he slides the container across the desk.
You open it and just stare at the food inside. “I heard Y/N making fun of you for liking this so much-” he starts to explain but you pick up the container of mac and cheese and throw it at the wall behind Thor. “Loki what the hell?” he asks loudly but you feel all the anger you had been trying to push down bubble to the surface, you are unable to contain it any longer.
You scream as you lash out with your magic, not fully aware you are doing it. The glass in the window behind you shatters and the chairs slam into the walls. The maps that had been tacked to the walls are torn down and the filing cabinet drawers are ripped open. The files on her desk are thrown around the room and you sink to the floor on your knees.
As the violent outburst subsides, Thor kneels next to you. You look at him, tears in your eyes and unable to speak. He puts his hand on your shoulder and you look at the ground. Something in the pile of papers thrown around the office catches your attention. You shrug Thor’s hand off you and walk over to it without saying a word.
You bend down and pick up the picture frame, the glass is broken, so you take the picture out and throw the frame back on the ground. You stand in the middle of the office, smiling down at the photograph. You were standing behind Y/N with your arms around her waist, kissing her cheek as she took the picture of the two of you. You remember sitting in the library while she explained to you what a selfie was and the she insisted you take one. She ended up taking almost a dozen, some were like this and in others you convinced you to make silly faces with her.
You can feel your heart breaking as you wonder if you will ever see her again. Will you hear her laugh or make her smile, taste her lips and feel her arms around you? You couldn’t bare the thought of losing her, she meant everything to you and you would burn down the world if that’s what it took to find her.
“Brother?” Thor asks.
“I’m not fine, Thor…” you tell him, still looking at the photograph.
“I know,” he says.
You walk over to the trashed desk and put the picture on top of the disheveled pile of papers. You notice a piece of yellow paper taped to the bottom of the now upside down mouse pad. The paper has Y/N’s handwriting on it and you think that is a very odd place to keep a note. You peel it off and read it, then you re-read it.
“What’s that?” Thor asks, you hand it to him.
“I think Y/N left us a lead without even knowing it,” you tell him.
Hi everyone! So I know we are just getting to the really crazy part of Shadows of the Past but I need to slow down updating a bit. I have a pinched nerve in my shoulder blade and it seems to be getting worse, not better. I got steroids and muscle relaxers today so that’s going to slow me down. I’ll post as soon as I can! Thank you all for sticking with me so far, we are getting near the end and I promise it will be worth the wait!
Also…
I’m going to be starting a new story as soon as I finish this one. It will also be Loki x female reader.
The summary so far: You are a soldier in the palace on Asgard and you are already in an established relationship with Loki. After a tragic turn of events you end up on Earth with no memories and Loki, along with everyone else mourns you because they think you didn’t survive. You are picked up by SHIELD and they find your talents for fighting useful. A few years later you are sent on a mission to New Mexico when a hammer falls from the sky…. please let me know if you want to be tagged in this! There will be fluff and angst and some mild smut
You try to get free again but you can’t. Marc takes your chin in his hands and makes you look at him. “What do you want with me?” you demand.
“What do you think Y/N?” he asks and you try not to let the fear show on your face. “You are going to help us test a brand new project we are working on.”
You look down at yourself for a moment and realize you are wearing what almost looks like beige scrubs. You try not to let yourself be overwhelmed by the realization that you are now a test subject for Hydra.
“Another failed attempt at a super soldier serum?” you say sarcastically, hoping he can’t hear the fear in your voice.
He laughs, “Not exactly.” You look at him confused, what else could it be? He smiles, “Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough.”
He walks back to the door to leave, signaling the guard by the door to open it. Just as he is about the step out in the hallway be turns back to you. “Well come on, I’ll show you around,” he tells you. As he says that one of the guards holding you reaches for his belt and unclips a pair of handcuffs. He puts them on you quickly, keeping your hands behind your back. The two guards force you out of the room after Marc.
You struggle as they walk you down the hallway but they don’t loosen their grip. You look around, the hallway is long with metal doors on either side. There are guards posted at both ends of the hallway. You can hear screams and faint cries as you move past the rooms. They walk you to the end of the hall and then you turn left, there are more metal doors and an elevator at the far end. Marc pushes the call button and you wait in silence, you are sure they can hear your heart beating. You try to focus on your breathing, not wanting to give Marc the satisfaction of knowing you were terrified.
The doors open and they shove you inside. You look ahead of you and make eye contact with Marc briefly as he gets in. “So… where is Sarah?” you ask, hoping bringing her up might get you a bit more information about what is going on.
“Oh that right,” he says, “You wouldn’t know.”
“Know what?” you ask.
“Well it seems that prince of yours killed her,” he tells you.
“What?” you ask stunned. Loki killed her? What had happened after you were taken? you think to yourself.
“Don’t worry too much about her,” he tells you when the elevator stops. “We had run out of uses for her anyway.”
He steps out of the elevator and the guards force you to walk down another hallway. Towards the end of this hall is a pair of metal double doors with a small glass window in one of them. When you get closer, they swing open and you are met by a man and a woman in lab coats and another guard. You look beyond them, into the lab. You had seen photos of where Bucky had been kept and this room looked eerily similar. The guards pushed and dragged you to the chair in the middle of the room, strapping you down.
You look up at Marc, who leans down over you, “The more you struggle, the more this will hurt.”
He takes a step back and you watch as the man sits down at one of the computers. You try to see what he is doing but your attention is drawn to the woman in lab coat. You notice an IV stand and monitors next to the chair as she applies leads to your chest and begins to take note of your vitals.
You look over at the doors as another man in a lab coat enters, carrying a small metal container. He places it on the desk next to the scientist at the computer. When he opens it, a small cloud of cold air escapes and he removes a glass vial with red liquid in it. He hands the vial to the woman and she draws some of it into a syringe, then puts the vial back in the container.
You squirm and pull at the straps but it is useless. One of the guards turns your head to the side, exposing your neck. The woman stands over you then turns to Marc, he nods and she injects the red liquid into the side of your neck. It burns in your veins almost instantly and your heart races, your breathing gets faster. You squeeze your eyes shut as tightly as you can, trying not to scream but the burning is spreading throughout your body. You clench your hands closed hard and you can barely hear the monitor beeping frantically. The burning is now in your muscles and it is getting harder for you to focus your mind on anything other than the increasing pain.
The scientist injects you again, this time with a clear liquid. You can feel it taking the burn away but with it comes a heaviness. You feel drained and you fight to stay awake but it quickly becomes difficult. You force your eyes open and look around, everything is out of focus and you close them again, tears streaming down your cheeks. You wish desperately for Loki to find you, you want to go home. You open your eyes one more time and look towards the door, willing Loki to be there but he isn’t. You finally stop fighting, letting yourself slip into unconsciousness.
______________________________________
When you open your eyes you are alone in your cell again, laying on the bed. There is a slow steady beeping just to the right of you, you are hooked up to a monitor that is displaying your vitals. You sit up slowly with a light headache, your vision a bit fuzzy but it focuses quickly. You lift your hand to rub the injection site on your neck and realize there is a restraint around you wrist. Looking down, you see your other arm is free but the one with the restraint is attached to a long chain on the wall next to the bed. You tug at it gently and move to the edge of the bed. As soon as you start to move, you notice how tired you are even though you just woken up.
Before you can stand up, you hear the keypad outside your door beep and it swings open. Marc walks in followed by two guards and the woman from the lab. She has a tablet with her and seems to be taking notes on it. She walks over to you and without looking up, she asks how you are feeling.
You laugh at how ridiculous the question is and she looks up, lowering her glasses, she asks you again. “Freaking amazing,” you tell her as your roll your eyes and cross your arms, tugging at the chain a bit.
She writes something in the tablet then records the readings from the monitor. She nods at Marc. “Hold her,” he says to the guards.
One of them walks over to you and grabs your arm, holding it out in front of the woman. You try to pull it back but you are unable to. She takes a scalpel out of her lab coat pocket and drags it across your skin, making a shallow cut about three inches long.
You hiss in pain and curse at her but the guard doesn’t let your arm go. She takes out a piece of gauze and wraps up the wound. “What the hell was that for?” you ask when she tells the guard to let you go.
“I will be back to check on that in an hour,” she says, not answering your question. Marc says nothing, leaving first, followed by the scientist and the guards.
They slam the door shut and you sit up in the middle of the bed, holding your arm. Alone in the silence of you room you suddenly realize how hungry you are. The last time you know you ate was three hours before the mission, was that a day or two ago? Your mind starts to flood with questions as you look blankly around the room, you hold your cut arm over your stomach as it growls. What did they do to you? Why would she cut you like that? Where are you and why didn’t anyone find you yet? You couldn’t even tell if it was still the same day you had been brought to the lab or not. Your mind came up with more and more questions you couldn’t answer and then you heard the keypad again. Apparently it had been an hour already.
When the door opens the guards come in first and stand on either side of your bed. Marc stays by the door as the women from earlier walks over to you. She takes your arm and you don’t fight her, you are tired and weak from hunger. She unwraps the gauze and examines your arm, then she motions for Marc to come closer. You look down at your arm and you can’t believe what you are looking at. The three inch long cut was nothing more than a thin, barely visible scar.
“Well, it seems we can move onto the next phase of the experiment then,” Marc says happily.
You look at him horrified, “Next phase? What are you doing to me?”
He smiles and you feel a small pinch in your neck. You look up at the woman and see she had injected you with something again.
“No… no…” you start to say but everything feels heavy. You hear Marc laugh from far away as your vision goes dark and you collapse onto the bed.
______________________________________
“Y/N,” you hear a voice say.
For a second your mind tricks you into thinking it is Loki, telling you he is here to bring you home but you know it isn’t. You open your eyes slowly, blinking into the bright lights above you.
“There you are,” Marc says with a smile.
You look up at him and you can barely move, you’re strapped down on a table in the lab. You think it is the same one as before but you can’t be sure.
“Its ready,” you hear one of the scientists say. You don’t recognize either of these scientist, how many of them worked here?
“Good,” Marc replies.
“What are you doing to me?” you demand but your voice is weak.
“We’re going to fix you… or kill you,” he shrugs, seemingly not attached to either outcome.
“Fix me?” you ask worriedly, trying to sit up but you are unable to.
He nods and points to two screens to the left and you turn your head to look at them. Both are displaying several x-rays and you recognize the ones on the right screen immediately. It’s your left leg, you can see all the metal and screws from your surgeries. When you look at the other screen you’re filled with fear. It’s your leg, but all the hardware has been removed, the breaks and displacements that never healed properly are visible.
“No….” you whisper as you look down at your leg. Your left pants leg has blood on it and pain sears up your leg when you try to move your foot.
“I wouldn’t move around too much,” he says. “The surgeon did a decent job removing all the metal.”
“Why?” you ask, trying to understand what’s going on.
“Oh don’t get me wrong Y/N, I don’t care if you ever walk again. We just needed to see if this serum would works on something bigger than a few cuts,” he says as one of the scientists comes over to you with the red liquid in a syringe.
You try to struggle against the restraints but its no use. The scientist injects you with the red serum and your veins feel like they are on fire again. The pain and burning spreads faster than last time. You close your eyes tight and fight against wanting to scream.
When you open your eyes, you look towards the doors, once again praying Loki would come. You eyes start to feel heavy as the pain increases, traveling from your veins to your muscles. Your heart starts to pound faster and your breathing becomes fast and shallow.
You feel a sharp pain in your arm and realize you were injected again. Just as before, the burning starts to fade but you are slowly losing starting to feel your energy level drop. All you want to do is close your eyes but you fight it as long as you can.
The doors open and you feel hope flood your body but it leaves just as quickly when you see who enters the room. You blink slowly, it is getting harder to focus but just before everything goes dark again you see Marc walk over to the doors to greet the man who entered. He reaches out and shakes Pierce’s hand, they both look over at you as you close your eyes.
Summary:On a rare Avengers team trip, you and Buck find yourself getting closer and closer. What could this mean for you and him?
Warnings:none; absolute fluff
It was incredibly rare to have a day out with the entire team.
Tony did some research and found a city with low engagement with the Avengers online, so there was less of a chance of being mobbed by people. Tony didn’t say so, but you knew he did the research mostly for Bucky, who wasn’t exactly on the public’s good side lately. You caught him wearing a glove over his left hand more and more when he’d go out, and he cut his hair, surprising everyone when he casually walked into the kitchen one morning, his hair shorter than anyone had ever seen it. He was hiding himself away from everyone, and it worried you more and more every day that you found him punching away at a bag in the weight room, or up on the roof, looking down at the city below. All he wanted was to be accepted, and you could tell he wasn’t sure what to do anymore.
But as you all walked down the sidewalk of the small downtown area, you saw the slight smile on Bucky’s face, shoulder to shoulder with Nat, who was relaying in detail the many drinks she was planning to have tonight (it had been a while since we had gone out). Bucky caught you looking at him and gave you a little wink, the small lift of his lips growing bigger, and you were rewarded with a full smile, which made your insides flutter.
“I saw that,” Wanda whispered to you quietly, snapping your attention back to the sidewalk, your cheeks reddening. It wasn’t a secret that you had a large crush on the former soldier, but still, being caught didn’t help the anxiety you had about whether or not Bucky felt the same way. Some days you were sure he liked you, especially when he sought you out at movie night, or went out of his way to bring you your favorite bagel from the bakery down the street. But other days? It felt like he wanted nothing to do with you, his brooding silence effectively ripping your heart out of your chest.
“Was I that obvious?” You asked Wanda quietly, who gave you a knowing smile.
“Yes,” she giggled, wrapping your arm with hers, “but it’s not like everyone doesn’t know! Well, everyone but Bucky that is.”
You heard Sam snicker next to you and you shot him a look that begged and demanded that he keep his mouth shut. He held up his hands in surrender, and you faced forward again, following behind Tony’s perfectly tailored suit in front of you.
“Hey,” you heard a voice close behind you, and felt Wanda’s arm slip out of yours as she fell to the back of the group next to Natasha, taking Bucky’s spot. You glanced up into blue eyes, the little flecks of gold in the corners standing out in the afternoon sun. Bucky’s deep voice sent shivers through your body, and you tried to keep it together as you smiled brightly at him. His eyes crinkled up at the corners, as he walked to catch up, both of your shoulders brushing against each other as you continued to follow Tony, who was talking Bruce’s ear off about the latest science whatever, words you couldn’t even begin to understand.
As you walked, you were reminded that one of your favorite things about Bucky was his ability to make people feel comfortable even in complete silence. You both continued to walk quietly, content to simply be in each other’s company, something that both comforted and confused you. You were focusing on the brush of Bucky’s shoulder against your own when you heard the scream. The rest of the team continued walking, but you and Bucky stood still, both unsure if you had heard the scream in the first place, with your enhanced hearing. The second scream, had you both sprinting in the opposite direction, Wanda, Natasha, and Sam whipping around to follow you both without question.
You kept pace with Bucky, flying down a grass hill toward a tall building on the horizon, Bucky pulling a knife out of nowhere, unsure of what you were heading toward, and all of you woefully unarmed. As the building grew closer, you noticed a group of people crowding outside, a woman crying loudly, while the man next to her held on to her tight. Nat stopped to talk to the couple, as you and Bucky rushed inside of the building, neither thinking about what you might find inside of the doors. You glanced around quickly, the carpet damp, water pouring from the floor above down the walls and onto the floor beneath your feet.
“Pool on the top floor flooded!” Nat shouted through the open doors, “Woman’s 3-year-old son is in the building somewhere.”
You nodded at Nat silently, grabbing Bucky’s hand and pulling him quickly to the staircase, water rushing down the stairs. It reminded you of the sinking scenes from the Titanic that the team had just watched last week, both Bucky and Peter having not seen it. You hesitated, glancing at the heeled boots you were wearing, and Bucky smirked down at you, before squeezing your hand and taking the stairs two at a time. You followed carefully behind, trying to not slip and fall backwards down the stairs. You might be a super soldier, but you weren’t immune to gravity.
Bucky rushed through the doors to the pool room a step ahead of you and glanced around surveying the scene. Nat had been correct, the pool room was in fact flooded, every surface slippery, as the water rushed out the open door from an unknown location. Bucky looked at you with confusion on his face, and you shrugged, glancing around to find the woman’s son. This was definitely not the situation you were expecting when you heard the scream minutes ago. You strained your ear over the rush of water and heard the soft sniffling from over in the corner. You nudged Bucky, and headed toward the sound, noticing the small boy huddled in the corner, arms wrapped tightly around his legs as he shivered, sitting in a puddle of water. You approached slowly, not wanting to scare him.
“Hey sweetheart,” you murmured, the little boys head lifting, scared eyes focusing on you. His lips began to quiver, and he let out a quiet, “mama,” that broke your heart. You nodded in understanding, reaching a hand out to him slowly.
“Yeah, honey, let’s take you to go see mama.” The boy seemed to consider your words, before nodding, a pout on his face, choosing to stand fully and grab your hand. You grasped it tightly and walked with the boy, splashing lightly through the water. Bucky held the door open for you two, and the boy eyed Bucky curiously, as you gripped his hand harder, guiding him through the water and to the stairs, careful to keep him from getting swept away by the rushing water. You could feel Bucky behind you, but you kept your eyes on the stairs, so you didn’t trip, finally making it to the bottom floor and back out the door, toward the crying mother and father, and your team.
“Johnny!” The woman cried, rushing toward the little boy, who let go of your hand and waddled quickly toward his mother. Bucky came to stand next to you, as the woman cried out “thank yous” toward you two, soft applause erupting from the crowd, murmurs of “it’s the Avengers,” rustling from person to person.
“So much for anonymity,” Tony signed, clapping Bucky on the shoulder, and repositioning his sunglasses, leaving to speak with the sheriff who had pulled up moments ago.
“Nice work you two,” Sam said, coming to stand next to Bucky. “Sorry it took us a second to figure out what was going on, not all of us have super hearing and super speed.” You stuck your tongue out at Sam in response, feeling Bucky chuckle next to you. The crowd was beginning to thin, people going back to their lives, as the police sorted out whatever was happening in the rec center that caused it to flood, and Tony returned to the group, reporting that the sheriff offered his thanks.
“Let’s get a celebratory drink!” Natasha offered to the team who all nodded vigorously, and took off back toward the downtown area, Nat and Wanda practically skipping in excitement. You glanced at Bucky and smiled wide when he took your hand lightly in his and tugged you with him to follow the others.
The bar Nat and Wanda rushed into was small, but had plenty of booze for the team, and Nat began practically vibrating with excitement that they had one of her favorite Russian vodkas that for some reason or another you couldn’t get in New York. Before long the bottle had appeared on the table, and Nat was serving up warm shots that had your stomach turning. After the first four you started dumping yours in Bucky’s glass, giving him a lazy smile, that you hoped hid the fact you were already a few sheets to the wind. You would have felt much more self-conscious if everyone else at the table wasn’t just as drunk if not more than you. It seemed as if only Nat and Bucky were able to hold their liquor, super soldier serum be damned! Before long, games started to break out across the table, Tony and Peter engaged in an arm wrestling match; Bruce and Wanda yelling over everyone about some sort of book they apparently disagreed with each other about; and Nat and Sam fighting over a microphone that someone decided to give to the table, a karaoke machine appearing up on a little stage in the corner.
Nat and Sam finally agreed on a song, both heading toward the stage as the slow music began.
“it’s late in the evening,” Sam drawled into the microphone, surprising everyone with the velvet baritone of his voice. “She’s wondering what clothes to wear. She puts on her makeup, and brushes her long blonde hair. And then she asks me do I look alright?”
Couples began to flood the dance floor, holding each other close as Sam and Nat perfectly harmonized.
“And I said yes, you look wonderful tonight.”
Wanda started to drag Peter to the dance floor, the skinny guy crying that he didn’t even dance at school dances, and Bruce and Tony began to sway back and forth at the corner of the dance floor, drunk enough to not feel an ounce of embarrassment, arms wrapped tight around each other’s shoulders.
You watched on with love for each member of your team, and as the second verse began, you looked up at Bucky, who had been watching you the whole time.
“Dance with me, Buck.” You meant it to sound more like a question, but it came out more demanding than you expected, and Bucky let out a soft chuckle, grabbing your hand and leading you to the dance floor.
“And then she asks me, do you feel alright?”
You were a bit unsteady on your feet, and Bucky pulled you close to him, gripping your waist tightly with his gloved hand to keep you upright, as you held on tight to his right, swaying to the beat of the music.
“I haven’t danced since 1943,” Bucky whispered, placing his lips against the skin behind your ear making you shiver, and you rested your head against his chest, breathing in what could only be described as Bucky’s distinct scent. Something like vanilla and spices.
“And I say yes, I feel wonderful tonight.”
Bucky held you tight to him as he gently turned you both in perfect circles, making you a bit dizzy, both by the movement and the feeling of being in his arms. You moved your hands up to wrap around his neck, resting your head on his shoulder, feeling like you were at your high school prom again. Only with your dream date. A man who saved lives for a living. And liked way too much sugar in his coffee, and watched westerns and Taylor Sheridan movies religiously. You adored this man and the thought had you smiling into his shoulder, pressing your face to his shirt to hide your grin.
I feel wonderful, because I see the loving light in your eyes, and the wonder of it all is that you just don’t realize how much I love you.”
You and Bucky continued to sway to the soft guitar instrumental, loving the feeling of Bucky’s arms wrapped around your waist, and you hoped this moment would never end. You glanced up from Bucky’s shoulder and met Nat’s eyes as she sang into the microphone, Sam standing at her side giving you an obvious thumbs up. You groaned internally, hoping Bucky wasn’t watching the two on stage.
“So I give her the car keys, and she helps me to bed. And then I tell her, as I turn out the lights…”
You glanced up into bright blue eyes that hadn’t stopped looking at you, and Bucky surprised you with softly singing the final few lines of the song.
“I said my darling you are wonderful tonight. Oh my darling you are wonderful tonight.”
And before you knew what was happening, as the final beats of the song wore down, Bucky was leaning forward, pressing his lips to yours in a soft kiss that took your breath away.
Author’s Note: I stole some of this concept from another fandom, gave it a face lift and here we are.
Summary:Clint’s young son makes assumptions about how Loki feels about you, but when confronted will Loki finally say those three little words?
The fire crackled softly beside you as you curled up further into your blanket on the couch, deeply immersed in your book. The compound was unusually still and silent with the team out on a mission, the only noise coming from the sound of toy cars clattering together as Clint and Laura’s youngest, Nathaniel, played on the carpet in front of you. “Vroom, vroom” he muttered softly as he raced the cars beside each other. You smiled tenderly at him, distracted briefly by his play.
You were more than happy to be bundled up inside while snow and ice flurried outside. Further, you were completely content to be watching Nathaniel for Clint and Laura; he was an incredibly sweet and intelligent boy.
You had just turned your attention back to your book when Nathaniel broke the silence. “Where do babies come from?” He asked nonchalantly, still transfixed on his cars.
The question caught you completely off guard and you stuttered for a moment before supplying the textbook response, “A big white bird carries little blue and pink bundles to mommies and daddies and –“
“You’re wrong.” He interrupted abruptly, breaking his attention and challenging you with his gaze. “That’s a lie,” he continued, “Auntie Nat told me that’s a story that grownups made up.”
‘Shit shit shit.’
Cursing Nat under your breath, you plopped down on the floor beside him and began tickling him in the hopes that he would forget the question. His giggles echoed through the deserted compound as his cheeks flushed a rosy pink.
“No, really! I want to know! Where do they come from!” He insisted.
“Alright, alright,” you conceded, thinking furiously of another story to weave that would be appropriate for 4-year-old ears. “If you really want to know, when two people love each other very much a small piece of that love goes into the mommy and the more love there is, the piece gets bigger and bigger until it turns into a baby.”
He stared at you, eyes wide and filled with wonder as he processed this new information. He blinked a few times, his forehead creased in concentration, before looking back at you and poking you in the stomach. “So, do you have that little piece?”
At this point, you were totally confused, tilting your head slightly and wordlessly responding with a questioning glare. He held his gaze, clearly waiting for some sort of answer.
“No, why would I have it?” You responded.
“For you and Loki.” He said matter-of-factly.
You heart skipped a beat and you could feel it begin to race in your chest, as a deep blush rose to your cheeks. You unconsciously gaped at Nathaniel who had returned his attention to his toys, satisfied with having solved the mystery, smiling to himself.
“It’s because you and Loki love each other.” He added, taking in the look on your face and assuming you needed the extra explanation.
He wasn’t wrong.
You and Loki had been together for several months now. What had started as playful flirting and a clear mutual attraction had grown to something much more, and while you hadn’t actually said the words to him, you knew you had fallen in love with him. And you’d hoped he felt the same way too. You could feel it in the way that he looked at you, drinking you in with the soft smile on his lips, or the way he stroked your cheek and kissed your forehead gently each night before you fell asleep in his arms.
Completely lost in your thoughts, you climbed back onto the couch and stared blankly at the same page for what felt like an eternity before realizing it was well past Nathaniel’s bedtime. You scooped him up and began walking towards the bedrooms when you heard some commotion coming up the stairs – the team had returned and Clint and several of the others trickled in, looking worn.
“Daddy!” Nathaniel yelled, wiggling to get out of your arms so he could run over to Clint.
While Clint scooped him into a bear hug, you caught up quickly with Steve and Nat and were happy to learn that the mission was a success. Your chat was interrupted, however, as Nathaniel breathlessly recounted your earlier conversation to his Dad, voice rising over the other conversations with excitement as he finally pointed to you and exclaimed, “She’s pregnant!”
And suddenly, you understood the meaning of a “pregnant pause” as the room quieted, and the team turned their attention to you.
“What was that?” A voice murmured behind you, breaking the silence. You turned to find Loki coming up the stairs, his face pale with shock and eyes wide trying desperately to take in the situation.
“Ok! Time for bed!” Clint exclaimed, taking the initiative to carry Nathaniel towards the bedrooms and motioning the others to follow in an attempt to give you privacy.
“I-I can explain.” You started, turning to Loki. But before you could say anything, he closed the distance between the two of you and embraced you in an all-encompassing hug, one arm circling around your waist and the other cradling the back of your head as he nuzzled into your neck. You melted into his arms as you drank in his smell, forgetting just how much you had missed him. He began peppering you with light kisses up your neck, and across your cheek, before meeting your lips with his.
“Loki-“ you started again, breaking the kiss in another attempt to explain yourself, but before you could finish he put his hand up, in an effort to silence you.
“I promise.” He began, his eyes trained on yours with such a deep sincerity you felt your bottom lip start to quiver uncontrollably, “No. I swear on my life, and on the life of my mother and of my father that I will support you unconditionally and I will do everything I can to provide for our child.”
“Loki-“ your voice broke as you choked up listening to him pour his heart out. “Loki, I’m not actually pregnant.”
His face searched yours desperately for some kind of indication of what was going on.
“Nathaniel - I told him that babies come when two people love each other very much and a small piece of that love grows inside the mom. He took that to mean that I was pregnant. He thinks that you love me…” you trailed off.
Loki exhaled deeply, taking a step back and rubbing his hands over his face before he reached out, intertwining his fingers with yours. A blush had crept up to his cheeks and he laughed awkwardly, avoiding your gaze.
“Look at me.” He said abashedly. “The God of Mischief… so utterly in love with you and so scared to admit it, that a 4-year old Midguardian beat me to it.”
You both laughed at the total awkwardness of the situation, but his words weren’t lost on you.
“Yes.” He said resolutely, finding the courage to meet your eyes properly, as he squeezed your hands. “I am very deeply in love with you.“
He could hardly finish the sentence before you were in his arms, crashing your lips to his as he lifted you up, your legs circling around his waist. You lost yourself in his deep kisses, pausing only momentarily enough to open your eyes and drink in the wide smile on his face, “I love you too, Loki.”
He responded with another passionate kiss while twirling you around the living room.
“What do you say we get a head start on validating the kid’s rumor?” He growled quietly, nibbling on your bottom lip as he carried you back to his room.
Summary: How will Loki react when he comes face to face with your cheating ex-boyfriend?
You had done the right thing.
Right?
While it hadn’t been easy, ending your two-year relationship with your egotistical and selfish ex needed to be done. And while you certainly didn’t miss his demeaning attitude or the way his eyes wandered when you were among other women, you missed his presence. You missed having someone to talk to.
To fill the void left in his wake, you threw yourself wholeheartedly into your work as Tony Stark’s intern. He kept absurd working hours, and to avoid dwelling on your loneliness, now you did too. When he stayed up until 4 a.m. tinkering with his suit, you were right beside him, handing him the tools he requested and taking notes. When he didn’t sleep for three days in a row, whether on a mission or on a party binge, you too remained awake; not missing the sleep that was so hard to come by anyway.
It was during one of the first of these sleepless nights that you gave up and crawled out of bed, wrapping yourself in a fuzzy sweater to wander Avengers Tower. Your quiet footsteps padded the floor in the dark. The silence was both eerie and calming in a place that was normally so full of commotion. You were so zoned out, lost reliving a series of painful memories that began and ended with walking in on your ex and your best friend, tears blurring your eyes, that you hadn’t noticed the presence that appeared beside you.
Loki was so quiet and standoffish that you were visibly shocked to see him next to you, walking so close to you, you could feel the cool presence radiating off his skin. He was hardly ever seen outside of his room, and when he was, he made such an effort to ignore everyone that you forgot he even lived here. Well, sort of. It was no secret that you were intrigued by this mystery man, this God of Mischief.
“Do you mind if I join you?” He whispered quietly, as a gentle smile spread across his lips.
You nodded slowly, not sure how else to respond or what to say.
And so began the tradition.
Every night for two weeks, you would crawl out of bed and meet Loki for a nightly walk. It was simple and it was easy. Most nights you walked together in amiable silence. It was never awkward, never forced. And though you hadn’t realized it at the time, his presence, his being there, was slowly filling the void your ex had created. In time, you eventually told Loki about him. He listened quietly and calmly at first, a sincerely pained expression on his face. When you got to the part about him cheating on you, Loki stopped walking, his fists balled and his teeth clenched, “Gods help me if this pathetic, mewling quim ever dare cross you again.” He whispered.
The intensity of his anger caught you off guard. He soon calmed down and you resumed your stroll, not thinking much about it until the very faint signs of dawn began to glimmer and you made your way back to your rooms. You turned to open your door when Loki caught your hand gently in his, and pulled you towards him, wrapping you in his embrace. You were so close to him, you could see the speckles in his dark eyes as they danced over your lips. His hand came to rest gently on your cheek and as you began to close the distance between the two of you, you both heard Thor’s thundering voice echoing down the hallway, “BROTHER!” – You separated quickly though reluctantly, dipping into your room before Thor could see you. You closed your door quietly and leaned against it, your heart beating furiously in your chest.
You heard the brothers walk down the hallway as you crawled into bed, unable to wipe the ridiculous smile off your face as you drifted into the first restful sleep you’d had in weeks – filled with dreams of Mischief.
For several days your dreams were the only place you saw Loki. It turns out that that very morning, he and Thor had returned to Asgard on emergency business, with no immediate plans of coming back. Great.
Natasha, catching on to your extreme moping, but mistaking it for lingering sadness over your ex, immediately planned a night out for the team. She insisted on dressing you, and doing your hair and makeup and while you claimed to hate every second of it, the end result was actually stunning. You wore a short black dress that hugged all of your curves in just the right way and your hair was teased down over your shoulders in soft curls.
“You can pick your jaw up off the floor, Cap.” She teased him as you both walked by, hopping into the cab. He threw his hands up in defeat, laughing to himself as he and the rest of the guys joined you.
You had been at the club for a couple of hours and all things considered, you were having a great time.
Were.
You were on the dance floor with the girls, blissfully singing along to one of your favorite songs when out of the corner of your eye, a familiar face caught your attention. You stopped dancing, turning fully to see your ex wrapping your best friend seductively in his arms as they teased and taunted each other, hips moving in sync to the beat. You were overcome with so many emotions, all you could muster was a choked sob, inaudible over the thumping music. You were so angry, so infuriated that you began to shake, wiping the tears forcefully from your cheeks, willing yourself to stop the inevitable waterworks to come.
You realized that the girls, unaware of the situation, had moved over to the bar for another drink, leaving you stranded in the sea of bodies, unable to avert your eyes from the scene in front of you. Suddenly your ex, feeling your eyes boring into him, looked straight at you. Without missing a beat, he kissed your friend deeply before taking her by the hand and beginning to walk your way.
“No no no no!” was all you could think. One look at the sly grin on his face told you that he was coming to gloat, to make a point of the fact that they had each other and you were here alone.
You began to backpedal, desperately trying to put distance between the two of you when you walked straight into something rock hard and you felt a pair of arms wrap themselves casually around your waist. They held you firmly in place as Loki brought his lips to your ear, “I’m here,” he whispered. His voice was steady, but you detected an undertone of pure rage and something else, possessiveness?
Your ex stopped short, as he noticed the towering presence behind you. The color drained from his face and the nasty retort he had prepared caught in his throat as Loki nuzzled closer to you.
The look of overwhelming defeat on your ex’s face, right there, was enough to last you a lifetime.
It was the part that happened next, though, that you’d never forget.
“Kiss me.” It wasn’t so much a suggestion as it was a demand.
You were sure you hadn’t heard him right. Had you?
Suddenly, you felt strong arms spinning you around and then his hands rise up to cup your face as he crashed his lips to yours, longingly and passionately.
It could have gone on for minutes, it could have gone on for hours. Time and relativity were lost on you as you were engulfed in the moment, Loki sweeping you up as your legs wrapped around him. You were so caught up, you completely ignored the onlookers, including but not limited to your ex standing shell-shocked, jaw gaping as your now-very-sincerely-ex friend berated him for abandoning her. Eventually the two of them slinked away, defeated. You broke your kiss just long enough to smile bashfully at Loki, taking in the moment.
“Whilst I enjoyed playing the part of your lover tonight. I’d like very much to continue this ruse in earnest.” Loki said as he curled a piece of stray hair behind your ear.
“I think that can be arranged,” you responded coyly, as you sank back into his embrace.
Summary:Things with Steve have been going great, but what happens when you start to feel like you’re not a priority?
Word Count: 1921
Warnings:Just some angst, little bit of language.
A/N:Okay, I’m really proud of this. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to crank out something that wasn’t one hundred percent fluffy, but I did it. Let me know if you liked it!! Also, letting @whiskeyandwashitape&@thelostswan this exists!!
Not my gif, credit to the owner.
This was getting ridiculous.
So far, in your opinion, at least, you’d been a very supportive, easy-going girlfriend. It had been a little over two months with Steve, and you really were falling for him. You loved the way the corners of his mouth flickered upward when you said something stupid, and his dumb, old-fashioned jokes. You loved how the longer you looked into those deep, oceanic eyes, the more lost you got. You loved how he did things just for the sake of being good. And you knew that dating a super soldier was going to be complicated- and it wasn’t his fault. He couldn’t help it that terrorists and aliens and bad men existed and that it fell on his shoulders to take care of it.
That one night - that date at your house that had ended with the two of you sleeping on your couch - had been wonderful. But since then, no date between you and Steve had ever really ended.He would get a phone call or a text or something, and just give you that look, like, I don’t want to go but I have to. And you would insist that everything was fine, that you understood that he had a job to do.
You finally cracked one night when he took you to a carnival. It had been lots of fun - he wore sunglasses and a hat so he wouldn’t get recognized, and won you this cute little red, white, and blue teddy bear. You split a churro with him, and he kissed you at the top of the Ferris wheel. It was very sweet, very When-Harry-Met-Sally-Sleepless-In-Seattle-Rom-Com cute.
You were walking hand-in-hand with him, towards the cotton candy booth, when it happened. His phone beeped, and he glanced down at it. You’d grown accustomed to silently praying every time he looked at his phone - praying that it wasn’t SHIELD or Nick Fury or someone in danger. And he gave you that look, lips slightly pursed and eyebrows knitted in a frustrated kind of way. “I’m sorry, Doll. Duty calls,” he said, shoving his phone back into his pocket and releasing your hand from his.
“Yeah, whatever,” you muttered, running a hand through your hair.
Steve looked slightly taken aback. Usually you were understanding, and you said you weren’t upset and he had to do what he had to do. But this was the second time this week this had happened, and what felt like the millionth time since you’d started dating him. You couldn’t help but be irritated.
“Y/N,” he sighed, looking at you. “I can’t not go. I have to go.”
“I know,” you snapped, rolling your eyes. “Believe me, I know.”
“Don’t be mad,” He said, eyes fluttering towards the exit. “Please, don’t be mad. I’ll… I’ll call you when we’re done, okay?”
“Whatever, fine,” you said, turning your back to him. And when you turned around again, he was gone.
Three days passed until you heard from Steve again.
It was four in the morning, and you woke up to the sound of your phone ringing. Disoriented, and partly blindly since you didn’t have your contacts in, you pulled the charger out and looked at the screen. It was Steve, calling you. What the hell?
You answered it with a hoarse and slightly incoherent, “Hello?”
“Hey, Y/N,” Steve’s voice relieved you. You often went a few days without hearing from him when he went on missions, but you couldn’t help but worry about him. “I just wanted to let you know that we’re all alright. I’m on a plane right now, heading back.”
You slowly sat up, and reached over to turn on your bedside lamp. Even though you were kind of angry at him, you were happy he was alright. “Well, that’s good,” you said with a yawn, leaning against the headboard.
“Oh, god. Did I wake you up?” Steve asked.
“Well, yeah, it’s…” you lifted the phone from your ear to check the time, “It’s 4:17 here, but, I mean…” You rubbed at your eyes. “It’s fine. I’m glad you’re alright.”
“Yeah, me too. So, look, about the other night-”
“You know what, Steve? Just forget about it, okay?” You said, crossing your legs Indian style and pulling a blanket closer to you.
“No, I can’t forget about it, Y/N. You’re unhappy, and I want to fix it.”
“You can’t fix it,” You said, shaking your head. “And honestly, I’m too tired to even talk about it, alright?” This was the first time you’d ever been mad at him, and you didn’t want to deal with it.
“Okay,” he said, sounding defeated and submissive. You hated that he sounded like that. You hated that you were the reason why. “Well, do you want to go back to sleep? I’ll let you go if you want.”
“Actually, yeah,” you said, sighing. “I have a big day at work tomorrow- buy one, get one half-off on heels. Gonna be packed.” You yawned again.
“When do you get off?” He asked, a hint of sadness in his voice. He hated you being mad at him almost as much as you did.
“Six. Come over anytime after that, if you can, alright?”
“Okay. Get some sleep, Doll.”
“I’ll try. Bye, Steve.”
You didn’t sleep.
Work that day was awful, and not just because of the sale and all the people. You couldn’t stop thinking about Steve, and about all the times he’d ditched you to go be a superhero. Your head was in the wrong place, and you couldn’t focus on anything. You even knocked over a display of shoes that one of your subordinates had spent a whole hour putting together.
You were drained, and over it all by the end of your shift. You just wanted to go home and shower and sleep for three days.
When you opened the door to your apartment, you saw Steve sitting on the couch, reading a book. You had given him a key in case of emergencies. You let a lazy, exhausted smile rise to your face. “Hey,” you said quietly, shutting the door and locking it behind you. It was hard to remember that you were mad at him when you missed him so much.
He shut his book and looked at you, that goofy grin on his face. “Hey, Doll,” he said, standing up and walking over to you. He looked cautious, like you were a ticking time bomb. You shook your head and took a step towards him, giving a long, well-needed hug.
“I missed you,” you sighed, dropping your bag at your feet and burying your head in his chest. “I was worried about you.”
He stroked your hair for a moment, and you just stood there, breathing each other in. He smelled like Old Spice.
“I missed you, too, Y/N.”
Finally, you pulled away, and took in a deep breath. Your heart hurt without him, but it didn’t change the fact that you didn’t feel like a priority in his life.
You crossed the room and sat on the couch, feeling relieved to finally be off your feet for the day. Steve sat on the opposite end of the couch from you, leaning against the armrest.
“Can we talk now, Y/N?” He asked, turning to look at you. You crossed your legs, leaning back against the couch.
You sighed. “Yeah,” you said, already wishing this conversation was over.
Steve took in a deep breath, and ran a hand through his hair. “Do you… do you want to break up with me?” he asked, quietly, scared. Like a kid. Fuck, you thought.
“No!” you exclaimed, eyes widening. You grabbed his hand across the couch. “God, no, I don’t want to break up with you. I-I… I’m just…” You groaned, and ran your free hand over your face. “I’m just irritated, because I feel like I’m not a priority, and I know there’s nothing you can do about it. You have a job to do and you have to do, and I feel soguilty about being mad at you for it, but I am, y’know? And maybe I’m not even mad at you. Maybe you’re just the only person I can take it out on.”
“You can be mad at me,” said Steve, pulling his hand away from yours and tangling them in his hair. “I don’t want you to feel like you can’t be mad at me. It’s healthy for couples to argue - I read that somewhere, I think.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to be mad at you, Steve,” you said, crossing your arms over your chest. “I don’t get very much time with you when you’re around, and I don’t want to spend it fighting with you, y’know?”
He nodded. “I’m sorry I’m never around, Y/N,” he said, sighing and looking over at you. “But you know I have to-”
“I know,” you cut him off, standing up and walking into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. “I know. I’ve heard the speech a million times, Steve. You have to protect the people. You have to do what’s right. And I know you can’t, but I wish you could just blow it off sometimes, and no one had to die or anything for you to be able to spend some time with me.”
He followed you into the kitchen and leaned against the doorway as you scoured leftovers for something that seemed appetizing. “Are you ever going to be okay with this?” he asked as you settled on the rest of the sesame chicken you’d had yesterday.
You opened the lid of the Tupperware container and put it in the microwave for forty-five seconds. “I don’t know, Steve. I guess I saw this coming in, and I figured I would just get used to it. But it’s hard, you know? Like, I drop everything for you when you’re in town, and I just feel like I’m the only one trying sometimes.”
“There’s nothing I can do about that, Y/N-”
“I know!” you exclaimed, groaning out of frustration. “God, I know, Steve! You’ve been telling me the same things for the past two months- it’s like you have a script memorized for when you have to leave. And I feel so bad for being angry at you for it, but I am. I’m angry, okay?” The microwave dinged, but you made no move to open it.
“So, what, then?” He asked, irritated, crossing his arms over his chest. You took a sip of your water. “Do you want to call it quits or something?”
“I don’t know,” you sighed, sinking to the floor and leaning against a cabinet, rattling the door with your weight. “I…God. It’s impossible for me not to be happy with you. And we have such a good time together. But I can’t decide if…” you trailed off, deciding not to say it.
“You can’t decide if it’s worth it.” He finished for you, and you looked up at him, nodding slowly in response.
He shook his head. “How about we take a break then?” He said, and your eyes widened. “It makes me sad thinking about not talking to you, but I think you just need some time to think. We both do.” You said nothing. “Call me when you can decide, okay, Y/N?” You just stared at him.
And then he was gone. This time he wasn’t coming back.
Warnings: Just tooth rotting fluff and a kid with a big mouth.
Summary: Fluff. Your niece is spending the night at the tower and the two of you take over the movie room for a Frozen marathon.
“Hey Carley.” You greet your best friend as you pick up your phone.
“Hey sweetie. I have a huge favor to ask you.” Carley sounds nervous.
“Okay. What’s up?” You ask.
“Nina was supposed to spend the night with a friend but she’s got a virus and now Nina can’t go and she’s heartbroken. And… and I was supposed to have Nick over for dinner and some alone time tonight. Is there… I’m sorry, but is there any way she can spend the night with you? I know I’m asking a lot.” Carley was practically babbling. Nina is her 5 year old daughter and your “niece” whom you adore.
“Hang on a second. Lemme check into it.” You had been heading for the common room in order to get some lunch and you were glad to find Steve and Bucky there. “Steve, Bucky, hey, would anyone have a problem if my five year old niece, Nina, spent the night and we took over the movie room?”
“You have a niece?” Bucky asks.
“She’s my best friend’s daughter.” You say.
“I don’t see that being a problem.” Steve smiles at you while Bucky nods.
Summary: Fluff. Just fluffy fluffiness. I am surrounding myself in fluff at the moment.
——————————————
Sandwich, check. Bottles of water, check. Trail mix, check. After all, what’s a hike without trail mix? You pack your lunch into your knapsack. Today was a perfect day. You had finished your work early and were eager to get on your way. You had found a high rated hiking trail less than an hour’s drive from the compound and you were excited to get going. The weather was outstanding. Warm without being hot and the outdoors was calling to you. Before leaving, you informed FRIDAY of your plans. In the garage, you made a beeline to your motorcycle. Excited to have an excuse to ride.
“Where you headed, doll?” Bucky’s voice pulls you to a stop.
“Oh, He..Hey, Bucky.” You stutter like an idiot. You are always so nervous around him. He was a nice guy and everything but for some reason he set you on edge. No, not for some reason, for one particular reason. The man is simply gorgeous. He makes your mouth water. The idiotic school girl crush you harbor for him drives you crazy and makes you a stuttering mess around him. “Found a trail a little ways from here I want to hike. Seemed like a good day for it.”
“You like to hike?” He asks.
“Yeah. Love it. You?“
"Yeah, I do.” Bucky smiles. “I was thinking of taking a ride myself.”
“Perfect weather for it.” You say, turning back to your bike.
“Would you, uh, mind some company? It’s been a while since I’ve been on a hike.” Bucky asks.
New update to Home, A Place Where I Belong. I know it’s been a while, still I’m gonna try and post the rest of the story in the next few days. I’ve had a rough time the past couple of weeks guys, so even though it’s been a long time since I last updated or posted I hope you enjoy!
Hey guys! Sorry this chapter is a week late! Finals are finally over, so now I can focus on writing again! I’ll be posting TWO chapters today, to make up for the lost week! Thanks for hanging in, commenting, reblogging, etc. It means a lot! Enjoy and let me know what you guys think!
PS! I have not forgotten the one shot requests (Sick!Kamala & Avengers finding out about Bruno!) I’ll be tackling those at some point this week, now that I have a little oomph back in me! ❤️
Been a while since I posted a one shot, but this story helped me get through the worst of my studying. It takes place a little after the events of Home, A Place Where I Belong, but there are NO SPOILERS for that fic (as long as you read the first chapter). I had a request for a Bruce and Kamala Sick!Fic and this will go hand and hand with that story (after finals are done ) Hope you guys like it!
“You know, Clint brought Natasha here about fifteen years ago.” Laura passes the one-armed man beside her another plate, and he takes it willingly, setting it on to the counter to wipe it dry. She plunges her hands back into the warm sudsy water and keeps washing. It may have been a long time ago, but she remembers it like it was yesterday.
