Shattered

"You better have a damn good explanation for this, Thor," you mutter from your seat on the couch.

It had taken some convincing from the other Avengers to get you to fully calm down, although Tony and Clint seem to be just as angry as you are.

Bucky shifts to the left of you. He had insisted on sitting next to you on the couch, giving your hand a tight squeeze with his own. Nat sits on the opposite side of you, occasionally making crude jokes and comments about your anger towards Loki.

"It's been almost 5 years since Loki's attempt to take over New York," Steve begins, but you hastily interrupt him with a cough.

"Failed attempt to take over New York," you correct, glaring at the trickster who had been forced into a chair across the room from you.

Tony begins to chuckle at your remark, but quickly realizes his mistake and unsuccessfully tries to cover it up with a fake cough.

"Right. Thank you for the correction, Y/N," Steve continues before turning to Thor, who is munching on a strawberry Pop-Tart with crumbs already in his beard. "Why bring Loki back to Earth now?"

Thor finishes chewing on his Pop-Tart and dusts the crumbs off of himself the best he can.

"The Allfather has deemed that Loki's punishment in the dungeons seemed to not be working as effectively as he had hoped, and Mother suggested an alternative method."

"Seems more like a punishment for us than it does for him," you grumble, shifting your glance from Thor back to his brother.

You fight the urge to jump in shock as you turn to find the god's cold gaze already on you. You try your best to read his emotions from his facial expressions, but it is pointless. His face is as emotionless as possible, not even his eyes giving away any hints of any underlying thoughts.

"Ah, La- Y/N," Thor corrects himself quickly. "Not a punishment. What did Mother call it? Ah, yes, rehabilitation is what I believe she said," Thor finishes, obviously proud of himself for managing to remember the word.

"So, let me get this straight," Stark finally speaks up, rising from his seat on the armrest of the couch. "Rudolph's punishment in the dungeons on Assberg isn't working, so Papa Thor ships him off to the city he tried to destroy instead?"

This earns a snicker from Pietro, but Wanda quickly silences her twin with an elbow to his side.

"Ow!" Pietro exclaims. "What the hell was that for?" You hear more commotion behind you, which you deduct to be Wanda stomping on his foot with her own, properly shutting him up this time.

"I think what Stark is trying to say," Steve interjects, "is that we don't really understand why you had to bring Loki here."

"What better place to bring him?" Thor asks. "We can all keep an eye on him from here while going about our normal duties."

Peter, who had been silent during this entire conversation, finally speaks up. "I think Mr. Thor is right. I mean, it's been five years, right? What if Mr. Loki really has changed since then?"

And then, to your surprise, a voice to your left speaks up as well. "I have to agree with Thor on this one." Your eyes widen as Bucky continues to speak, "you all gave me a second chance when Steve first brought me here. It would be unfair of me to sit back and not allow the same to happen for Loki," he finishes.

You turn to him, your eyes meeting his, "But Bucky, that was different and you know it. HYDRA had control of your mind, you didn't know what you were doing at the time."

He lowers his voice, now speaking just so that you could hear him. "You gave me a second chance when no one else did, Y/N. It was your kindness and affection that helped me become more comfortable with everyone else. Please, do the same for Loki. For me."

You close your eyes tightly, heavily weighing what Bucky had just told you. At the end of the day, Bucky was your best friend. He knew you better than you knew yourself. And if Bucky trusted Loki, then you trusted his judgement.

"Fine," you finally speak up. "But I'm not doing this for him," you send a death stare over to where Loki was sitting. Bucky sends you a warm glance, saying 'thank you' without actually speaking it. 'You owe me.' You mouth back to him, and he chuckles.

Stark sighs before standing up and clapping his hands together theatrically. "I'll be damned. Welcome to team, Reindeer Games."

-----

"No. No fucking way," you huff, earning a 'language' from Steve, but you ignore it. "Why does his room have to be next to mine?"

"Because, Princess Plum," Tony says, "the only spare room is next to yours. Something about Pietro 'not wanting to have to put up with your awful music taste in the middle of the night'".

"HEY!" You shout to the speedster, his face paling after having been ratted out by Tony. "Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance are NOT awful!" (change this to whatever music you like lol).

"It's not that, it's just..." Pietro trails off, and you look at him expectantly, urging him to finish his sentence. "Would it kill you to play some Taylor Swift once in a while?"

You roll your eyes at him, and turn back to Tony. "There's really no other rooms?" Tony shakes his head, and you angrily storm away onto the balcony to let off some steam.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter asks once you're out of earshot. "Aren't there two free rooms next to Steve's?" Wanda quickly shushes the boy, her and Tony's eyes glinting with mischief.

-----

After taking some time to cool off on the balcony, and I mean a lot of time, you walk back into the kitchen to grab a snack. You roll your eyes as you spot the back of Loki's head, hunched over reading a book.

With a scoff, you open up the fridge, looking around for anything to snack on.

And then, you get a brilliant idea.

You grab a random drink from inside, and close the refrigerator door slowly, as to not raise suspicion.

Seeing Loki hasn't moved from his original position, you set the drink onto the counter quietly and close your eyes. You delve into his thoughts with your powers, intending to project a jumpscare from a horror movie to scare him shitless.

However, before you can manage to conjure up the best scene from your favorite horror movie, your head erupts into a searing pain.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" You shout angrily, immediately leaving Loki's mind and snapping your eyes back open to see him staring angrily at you.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" You press your fingers to your temples, rubbing to try and relieve some of the pressure.

"Get out of my head," he hisses, as Wanda and Sam enter the room to see what all the commotion was about

"Y/N! What happened?" Wanda rushes to your side, wrapping you in a tight hug. Instead of answering, you just stare at daggers at Loki, not breaking eye contact with him for a second.

Sam sees your angry gaze and seems to understand, but remains silent as Wanda continues to fuss over you.

Finally, Wanda releases you, but her brows were still knit in worry and confusion.

"I'm fine, Wanda. I just need to lie down for a bit, I think," you look at her, an edge in your voice directed towards Loki, whose gaze you could feel on your back.

"Of course Y/N, let's go back to your room," Wanda says, letting you lean on her for support as you made your way back to your room.

Sam chuckles as the your bedroom door shuts behind you and Wanda.

"She's got nerve, I'll give you that," the Falcon murmurs to the god before returning down the hallway that he and Wanda had emerged from.

"That's a new look for you, Brother," Thor says as he emerges from the elevator.

"What in the Nine Realms are you talking about?" Loki sneers back.

"Lady Y/N managed to make it into your mind, even if it was only for a second. That's pretty impressive, is it not?" Thor asks his brother as he rummages through the kitchen cabinets. "I don't think I've ever seen you so dumbfounded."

Before Loki could bite back a remark, Thor spots what he is looking for. He grabs the box of sweet treats, and walks over to his brother's seat on the couch, patting his shoulder.

"You're getting crumbs on me, you oaf," Loki murmurs, dusting off the pages of his book.

However, he makes no attempts to move, which makes the God of Thunder break out into a huge grin before taking another bite from his Pop-Tart.