be grateful

"Ah, so it does?" Loki smirks, drumming his fingers on the rim of the glass. He takes a sip, all the while smirking. 

"Sit on the couch, mutt, " Loki says. It wasn't the first time Elliott had heard something condescending like that, but it was the first time someone had a dog whistle. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't curious where this was going, but he'd be speaking from his heart if he said he wanted to tear this god limb from limb.

Elliott crossed his arms, staring at the man with harmful intent. How dare he order him around? He wasn't even a dog really- he was a wolf. Wolves aren't supposed to be domesticated. Wolves aren't supposed to follow orders, they are wild beasts. 

"You're not very well trained, are you? That's fine." Loki shakes his head, disappointed. "Sit," Loki commands and the whistle is blown again by his clone. 

It's starting to cause Elliott a headache. He did not want those sickening memories swimming around in his mind. He covers his ears, face twisting into hatred. What- why was he doing this? He's training him, for what? 

He resented that idea, being trained like a dog, that is. He hated the thought of people treating him like a pet, but that ringing was starting to hurt. 

He was not some animal to boss around, but here he was; being bossed around. Loki held a smug smirk as he watched the dog boy struggle through the discomfort. 

After a couple of seconds, Elliott couldn't take the sound any longer. He begrudgingly sat down on the couch with a cold facial expression. The moment he did, the whistle stopped. He glared at the man with rancor, ears turning back aggressively. 

Loki cackled at the expression and drew closer. Elliott grabbed the dagger out of his holster again, then informed Stark. 

"He got the scepter," Elliott says, irritated. He watched the god stalk closer as he sat upright on the couch, ready to take action.

"What? How?" Tony says quickly. He sounded out of breath. 

Elliott took a moment to mentally prepare for the next year of teasing. Tony was not going to let him live this down.

"Dog whistle." He murmured quietly. Tony broke into a fit of laughter, making the younger man groan. He fumbled with a piece of torn fabric on his thigh with his free hand and held the knife tightly in the other. 

He was somewhat on edge from how easily the dog whistle thing worked, and knew if they were (they most definitely were) to brawl- that whistle would make things much harder. 

"Do you see how easy that was? Letting someone tell you what to do?" Loki begins with an unreadable look in his eye. He walks in front of the man and crosses his arms over his chest. "I plan to rule Midguard, I plan to give these people the peace that can only surface when freedom is out of the equation."

"Freedom is.. a construct.. a lie," he continues, "the biggest lie mankind has ever told. But your people shall fret not. I will turn you obsequious, I will make your world obey. Then, when I shall rule- it will be better. All will be better." 

He is insane. 

He is positively insane, Elliott says to himself. His eyes were wide in shock and disbelief. Freedom, the very thing this world has fought over for years, is a lie? What is this guy blabbering about? Elliott gripped his knife tightly, ready to spring up. 

Loki took another step closer, and Elliott took this as a sign to engage. He sprung up, bolting to the gods' side and getting himself out of the focus of the scepter. 

Elliott took a jab at Loki's side, and Loki quickly flinches out of the way of the dagger. Loki took a step back, and Elliott followed. Elliott swiveled his fist, aiming his blade at the taller man's stomach. 

Loki stopped his attack by grabbing his wrist. Elliott twists his hand around, stabs into his wrist, and Loki lets go with a low growl. The Raven-haired man stepped back, and Elliott kept advancing.

If you tried hard enough, you could faintly see it as a sort of lopsided tango- where really only one party wants to dance; and that party was Loki. The taller man loved regular dances and the more dangerous ones. There was beauty in the most spiteful of glares and in the simple dance of two friends. 

Loki had a grin on his face as he aimed his scepter at Elliott. He loved that expression. Anger was his favorite emotion to witness. It was intense, and with the right amount; could be felt radiating through the whole body. Sadness was more of an ache— dull and bitter— but anger? Anger consumed your whole being in a pulsating grip. 

Such a complex emotion to comprehend. For some, it makes you dumb and rampant, not thinking before speaking or even doing, but for others, it turned you cold and calculated. Elliott was an odd mixture of the two, he had noted. He was an odd fellow altogether, to be honest. 

Elliott watches as Loki winds his scepter back, and quickly jumps to the side to get out of the blast. He watches with wide eyes, landing in a somewhat crouched position.

No way he did all that for a blast. It seemed too dramatic. The grunt too? Did he really need all that? 

Aside from that thought, his ears hurt. It was a sound he had never experienced, not at all like a gunshot. Elliott's ears tilt backward, and he narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him. Elliott wanted to tackle him. What would his response be? Would he be angry? Confused? Regardless, it would be absolutely hilarious. 

Elliott widened his stance, placing one hand on the floor as he stared at Loki. He waited for him to wind up again, and let his stomach be exposed enough to strike. 

When Loki looked over at the crouching Avenger, he was extremely confused. Nonetheless, he fell for the cheap trick and started the process of shooting the scepter. 

Without missing a beat, Elliott put all the power into his legs and launched himself at Loki's stomach. He wrapped his arms around the taller man's torso, and when they land on the floor, Elliott scrambles to take control of his weapon. He pins down Loki's arm with a knee, and promptly kicks the scepter out of Loki's reach, but within his own. 

Loki's other hand rests on Elliott's thigh for a moment, but he quickly recovers from the initial shock of the blow and takes his hand away. He was still a little shocked by that action, obviously never dealing with someone like this. It made his curiosity spike exponentially. 

"If you wanted a hug, you could've said so darling." Loki hums, trying to get up. He failed and got visibly upset. He was also trying to act like the tackle hadn't done any damage on him, but Elliott could hear (and sorta feel) the short breaths he had to take. 

Loki glares at the man on top of him and makes a clone to blow a dog whistle. Elliott, who is fed up with his shit, punches him in the jaw. The punch was hard, as hard as he thought the god could handle, square on the right side of his jaw. The god's face was turned to the side, and a look of utter disbelief played on his face. The noise stops hastily. 

This was Elliott's way of 'training' him, and Loki seemed to catch on to that factor. Elliott desperately wanted Loki to blow that whistle again. He wanted to bruise and ruin his pale, narrow face, but Loki was smarter than that. Elliotts' dagger hovered close to Loki's neck. 

"Ooh, nice punch," Loki started to grin, and he put his unpinned hand on Elliott's thigh. His fingertips slipped under a torn piece of material, stroking the dark ink on his skin. Loki ripped some of the suit on accident (or maybe on purpose), and looked up for a reaction. Elliott didn't mind too much about the tears, he was due for a suit upgrade anyway. 

What he did mind though, was the gods' hot skin on his. Loki's fingers were tracing along his thigh tattoo with a gentle pressure. He wasn't used to that type of softness from him or anyone really. Elliott's eyes narrowed, and his ears turned back. He bore a small scowl as he took Loki's wrist into his hand and tore it away from himself. Elliott let go of his wrist once it was away from him and scooted his leg back slightly. It didn't do much, since he was still seated on the taller man's stomach, but Loki got the hint. 

Loki continued to stare and assess the shorter man's tattoos, one of which features two of his sons, and the other was Medusa. As much as he hated to admit it, Elliott was interesting. He was different, he had a different fighting style- almost as if he had taught himself- while the rest of the Avengers seemed all similar when it came to hand-to-hand combat.

As Elliott was glaring at the male, a loud crash resonated through the air. His ears twitched, and he grimaced at the loud sound. That made his ears ring. He looked over at what made the sound and watched as one of those giant space snakes blew up. 

"You're not a very good guard dog. You get distracted too easily." Loki comments, making Elliott snap back to his face. Loki had a weird look on his face. Elliott threw him a judging glace. 

Distracted. He did tend to get distracted. First Starks flying, then the explosion. Those were normal things to get distracted by though. 

"It's normal," Elliott grumbles, and his tail flicks in an annoyed manner. He stared down at Loki with a cold expression. Stoic and unmoving. 

There was no whistle, he couldn't summon any clones— unless he wants the dagger drawing blood from his neck—, and he couldn't reach his scepter. Elliott wanted to call it checkmate, but he knew from experience that cockiness does not belong on a battlefield. 

"You're so tense," loki comments, tapping his fingers on the ground beside him. He was somewhat tense, but that was to be expected when your sitting on top of a god who kills people for the fun of it. Elliott narrowed his eyes, studying the man, before his gaze quickly flits to the hulk. He was smashing through a building, flinging the Chitauri off the building. Elliott suppressed a chuckle at that. 

Elliott looked back and saw the twitching corner of Loki's mouth. He watches in annoyance and slight astonishment as the body he was just sitting on, practically evaporates. He looks back to see loki standing behind him, and his eyes go wide. Elliott ducks as loki swings the blunt end of his scepter at him. 

Elliott was getting tired of the constant clones. At least if they were going to fight, he could make it fair; but Elliott supposed Loki didn't really care about fair. 

Elliott scrambles to get up, keeping an eye out incase Loki decides to swing again. Instead of swinging, Loki stomps on Elliott's tail, drawing a pained yelp out of the man. Elliott curses under his breath as Loki twists his foot into the ground. 

"Awe, does that hurt?" Loki sneers, pressing his foot down impossibly harder into the floor. Elliott let out a small whine at the sharp pain shooting up his spine. He tried to wiggle his tail out of his grip, but it only succeeded in fueling Loki's laughter. 

Elliott snarls, kicking at Loki ankles in a feeble attempt to make him step off. He kicks Loki's knee, making him buckle and fall forwards with a strange sounding grunt. Elliott's tail was let go, and he landed a heavy slap on Loki's right cheek. The both of them stood. Elliott had a sour mixture of pain and anger on his face, while Loki held his red cheek with a shit-eating grin. 

"Bitch ass bastard," Elliott snarls, picking up his dagger from the floor, more than ready to stab him. He twisted the dagger in his hand a couple times, teeth grinding together as he glared at Loki. 

"God's, you are a feisty one." Loki smirked, tilting his head to the side. He stared at Elliott, rubbing his cheek. The younger male liked using his hands, it seemed. 

"fuck! you suck ass. You don't even know how much that hurts," Elliott growls, quickly dropping into a fighting stance and swinging his blade at Loki. 

The other male blocked, only focused on the blade, thinking it was the only immediate threat. Noticing this, Elliott throws a punch right into his stomach.

Loki groans, bending over slightly, but doesn't react further. 

With anger still bubbling deep in his chest, Elliott snarls and swings his blade at Loki's face. "Shit eating," He growls, cutting some skin on the older man's cheekbone. 

"Cock sucking-" He continues, a flame burning in his eyes. He throws a punch with his other hand, hitting Loki in the jaw again- just on the other side. 

"Little bitch." Elliott huffs, bearing his sharp, dog-like teeth. His gaze was predatory, pupils blow wide as if hunting. His breathing is heavy as he takes another swing. Loki catches his arm, and Elliott Land's a kick to his groin. 

Loki, grimacing, and slightly astonished at the sudden outburst of the man (the fighting and the volgar language), takes a step back. Elliott eyes were somewhat unsettling, though Loki would never admit it publicly. His stance was wide, and his body moved with each heavy breath. His teeth were on display, and his eyes seemed animal like. 

"You are an insolent little creature," Elliott huffs, hands twitching at his sides. 

Loki grins. He was still alert, with his head slightly tilted. 

"You all are beneath me. How do you expect me to act?" He keeps his wide smile, unbothered by the cuts and punches. "None of you could ever beat me-" Loki is cut off guard by a large body slamming into his at a high speed. 

A flash of green meets Elliott's eyes, and he hurriedly steps back to allow the large green man to throw Loki around, watching with an unchanging face. His tail flicks at the tip, and he tilts his head slowly. 

Loki stands, breathing raggedly with an angered face. "ENOUGH! You are, all of you, beneath me!" He yells, nose twitching with the amount of rage he says it with. 

"I am a God you DULL creature, and I will NOT be bullied by some-" Loki is, again, interrupted my Bruce yanking him by his foot. He is slung into the floor repeatedly by Bruce, each hard impact making Elliott grimace. 

With a grand smile, Bruce starts to walk off. "Puny god." He grins. Elliott watches with a blank face as the large man walks off, then his gaze flicked back to Loki. 

Loki let's out a long, drawn out groan of pain, and Elliott's ears flick as they pick it up. 

"That must've hurt." Elliott mumbles just loud enough for Loki to hear as he walks to the bar on the other side of the room. He grabs a beer from the fridge, and sits on the steps.