Shattered

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

The time on your alarm clock reads 5:30 AM as you groan and roll over in your bed, shooting a streak of purple magic at the beeping device, smiling in satisfaction as you hear the small sizzling of machinery after a moment.

Letting out a small sigh, you re-adjust your sheets before closing your eyes again, intending to go back to sleep.

If there was one thing you should have learned by now after living with the Avengers for almost 5 years, it was to cherish any moment of peace and quiet that you could get.

As if on cue, Steve burst through your bedroom door, flooding the room in bright and unwanted light.

"Five more minutes, Cap," you whine, pulling your pillow over your head to try and shield your eyes from the bright hallway light.

"No can do, Y/N," Steve says before walking over to your window and throwing open the curtains. You groan again, and throw your pillow at him with a satisfying thud.

"Training starts in ten minutes," the soldier chuckles before exiting your room and closing the door softly behind him.

"Fuck this," you groan again, pushing yourself up into a sitting position in bed.

"Language! I heard that!" Steve's voice rang from down the hallway.

-----

Five minutes later, you shuffle out of your bedroom, dressed in simple black leggings and a dark purple t-shirt. You grumble a "good morning" to Sam as you make your way into the kitchen, headed straight towards the pot of coffee that was freshly brewed.

"What's the matter, Y/N, not a morning person?" Sam chuckles as your disheveled figure passes by him.

"I'm not a wanting-to-be-around-Captain-Sunshine-this-early-in-the-morning person," you roll your eyes, opening the kitchen cabinets in search of your favorite mug. After a few seconds of searching, you could see that it wasn't in it's normal spot next to Pietro's retro My Little Pony collector's edition mug.

"Who the hell took my mug?" You shout, not caring if it woke up any of the still-sleeping team members. Sam chuckles knowingly before nodding his head towards the hallway, Loki entering the room, dressed in his Asgardian battle armor.

Your eyes narrow as you see the contents of his hands. A book in his left hand (Shakespeare, you guess), and your mug in the other.

With a flick of your wrist, the mug tips over towards Loki, scalding hot coffee pouring all over his shirt in the process. You march over to him and pry the mug out of his hands, relishing the furious look he gives you in the process.

"Oh, relax," you say to him, only angering him further. "You and I both know you can clean yourself up in an instant with your magic." Loki narrows his eyes at you for a moment, but sighs and rolls his eye after a few seconds. A green wave of magic shimmers over him, ridding his clothing of the coffee stains.

"See? All better." You send him a sarcastic smile and turn on your heel, heading back to the sink to wash out your mug. Steve enters the room, practically glowing at the excitement of getting ready to train.

"I thought you promised Bucky you would be nice, Y/N?" the soldier asks, frowning at the scene unfolding in front of him.

Pouring the fresh coffee into your mug, you turn back to face Loki and Steve. "I promised that I would be civil," you correct, taking a big sip of your coffee.

"Now, are we going to training or what? I didn't wake up at the ass crack of dawn just for the hell of it."

-----

Making your way down to the training center, you eye Loki's choice of apparel. "There's no way you're going to be able to train in that," you gesture to his green and black Asgardian armor. "Steve and Nat are gonna kick your ass within fifteen seconds."

"This is fine Asgardian leather, you mewling quim," he shoots back bitterly.

"I didn't ask what it was, I told you that it's only going to hold you back in training." You enter the large training room, waving to Nat who was stretching beside Steve.

Loki scoffs, but after a moment of consideration, a green wave of magic sweeps over him, now wearing black pants and a dark green t-shirt.

"Alright, now that we're all here, let's start off with an easy 10 laps," Steve announces, before taking off on the track with Sam doing his best to match his pace. Evidently, Bucky was smart enough to figure out an excuse to avoid training today.

"He is jesting, right?" Loki turns to you, watching the two men start down the track.

You shift your gaze over to Nat, who sighs and starts running, catching up to Steve and Sam in no time.

"I wish he was," you huff. "Last one to finish is a rotten egg."

You take off sprinting behind Nat and the two men, Loki standing bewildered behind you for a moment before shaking himself out of it and taking off after the rest of the group.

Steve managed to lap both you and Sam several times, but eventually you all finished and took a quick rest. You and Sam gulp down your waters, although Nat and Steve barely seem to be breaking a sweat.

"Alright, let's partner up for some combat training. Loki," Steve turns his attention to the trickster, who was still attempting to catch his breath after trying to keep up with Steve and Nat's pace. "Y/N is going to be your partner, so we can try to get a gauge on where your skill level lies."

You bite your tongue, wanting to argue with Steve, but you know that any argument would be futile. Loki frowns, but doesn't say anything in reply.

You take one last gulp of water before standing back up, turning to face Loki. "Alright Antlers, let's see what you've got," you taunt, making your way to the center of the room where some mats were set up.

You both get into a fighting stance, waiting for Steve to signal for you to start.

"Go."

You position yourself into an defensive stance, signaling to Loki to make the first move, not intending to go easy on the god. Loki was on you in an instant, but you blocked his strike quickly. You feign an attack to his right, almost striking him before turning and landing a kick square to his stomach.

Loki stumbles backwards slightly, and you take advantage of the momentary weakness. You knock his legs out from under him, and when he tries to stand back up, you quickly grab his shoulder and use your momentum to launch yourself over him.

You snicker as he turns to face you, trying to provoke him slightly. It works. He launches forward at you, his fist connecting with your jaw with a gruesome noise. Apparently, he had not expected his attack to work as well as it did, and his eyes widen slightly. You could have sworn you saw some sort of emotion flicker across his eyes. You shake off the thought instantly.

Using his distraction to your advantage, you knee upwards into his gut, and crouch down to sweep his legs out from under him once again. You didn't estimate how much force it would take to knock him down, and your legs tangle with his as he comes crashing down to the floor. You land on top of him, his face just inches apart from your own.

You hear a snicker come from behind you, and you turn to see Nat unsuccessfully trying to hold back a laugh. Steve stood by Sam's side, his arms crossed with an unreadable look on his face. Sam just stared at the two of you in amusement.

Quickly realizing the position you were in, you hastily stand up, casting an illusion over your face to hide the blush that was quickly creeping up into your cheeks.

You extend your arm out to Loki to help him up from the ground. He eyes it suspiciously, but takes it slowly, his grasp feeling surprisingly cold against your own hot, sweat-soaked skin.

Turning away awkwardly, you make your way back to the door. "Well, that was great, but I'm starving," you announce, looking for any excuse you can to leave before Nat starts teasing you.

"I'm gonna head back upstairs for some breakfast," you conclude before grabbing your water and heading out the door.

Once you were back alone in the elevator, you let down your illusion, feeling the warm blood still rushing to your cheeks. You shake your head slightly before heading back to your room to shower.

-----

After having a refreshing shower and grabbing a bit of food from the kitchen, you decide to make your way up to the library. You knew no one else in the tower would be caught dead around books (besides Bruce, but he was always in the lab anyways), so the library was your perfect place to relax without being bothered. Plus, the library was huge, and had every book you could ever dream of.

As soon as you entered the library, your mood changed. The smell of old books and faded pages was an instant comfort to you, reminding you of your days as a kid. As a child, you spent most of in and out of various foster homes, never staying at one for any longer than six months, and you were never really sure why. You were a well behaved child; you listened to adults and played well with other children. For whatever reason though, you could never find a permanent home.

So you read. You spent your nights dreaming of an escape from your cruel, cold reality. Whenever you opened a book, you were transported to a whole new world. Sometimes you were a pirate, sailing with your crew on daring voyages. Other times, you were a princess, playing in the royal gardens with your friends without a care in the world.

Books were your home when you didn't have anywhere else to go.

And now, you finally had what you had dreamt of so long as a kid. A real family. Sure, it wasn't traditional. Hell, it was far from it. But it was finally a place you could call home.

You let your fingers trail gently across the bookshelves as you scan the long rows, untouched by anyone in the tower besides yourself. You let your mind wander, thinking of the book Loki had been holding onto this morning. Shakespeare. You headed towards the classics section, picking out a few books as you went along.

You couldn't help but smile as an idea popped into your head.

But this time, it wasn't a mischievous one.

-----

"Open up, Antlers!" You demand from the other side of the trickster's bedroom door. Your hands were full of books, so you didn't have a spare hand to knock. "I know you're in there, Loki."

You heard a small sigh from inside the room. Loki knew you wouldn't stop bothering him until he did what you wanted. A few seconds passed, and then the door to his room swung open.

"What do you want?"

"Jeez, no 'Hey Y/N! How's your day going?' or 'Wow Y/N, you look great today, is that a new shirt?'" You tease. Loki simply rolls his eyes, and his gaze shifts down to the contents of your hands.

"What is all that?" He asks, gesturing towards the stack of books in your hands.

"A peace offering," you answer simply, not bothering to explain any further. "And quite a heavy one, so I'd appreciate it if you could help me out a little bit."

Raising his eyebrows slightly, Loki takes half of the books from the pile in your hands into his own hands and carries them over to the small desk in his room. You follow along behind him, getting a good look at his room for the first time before setting the books down on his desk.

It was fairly simple; the walls were a cream color and there wasn't any furniture, besides a bed, a nightstand, and a small desk and chair. His bedsheets sport his classic green and gold color combination, and you noted a small book on his nightstand. You tried to read the cover, but it was in a language you didn't understand.

You shift your focus back to the god and the new pile of books on his desk. "I figured it was getting pretty boring for you, you know, with the house arrest and stuff."

His facial expression doesn't change, still blank canvas free of any emotion.

Seeing as he doesn't make an attempt to speak, you continue: "Alright, so I picked out some Shakespeare and Dickinson, as well as The Iliad and The Odyssey," you told him, pointing to each correlating book. "I figured you would like those. Oh, and I threw in some Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, of course."

You give him a half smile and turn to make your way back out the door. Before you can make it to the doorway, however, Loki reaches his hand out quickly and grabs your own, surprising the both of you at the uncharacteristic gesture. You remember his cold touch in the training center this morning, but this time his hand was warm and comforting.

Immediately regretting his impulsive action, Loki drops your hand just as quickly as he had grabbed it. "Y/N..." he says, not meeting your eyes. "Thank you."

You can tell that he wasn't used to thanking people. You want to make a joke about it, to tease him, but you just smile warmly instead.

"Don't mention it."