Chapter 9
“What else can the mind stone do?” Natasha repeated.
Loki didn’t answer. Wide eyes grazing along the ground, he brushed past her, stumbled to his room, and closed the door behind him.
He took a deep, shaky breath. Sinking to his knees at the edge of the bed, he pressed his forehead against the mattress, leaning on it for support while he tried to silence his mind.
The ground shook. A record-breaking jolt in the earth, but nothing in the room was disturbed.
He closed his eyes. Tears pricked at the edges of them.
“You’re not dying,” he thought frantically to himself, “It’s just another attack.”
Someone touched his shoulder. He flinched, hard. Immediately, Natasha drew her hand back. She must’ve known something was up.
Loki wanted to look up at her, but the panic kept her eyes locked on the sheets in front of him.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Loki managed to grit out, “I’m fine.”
He hoped she would just go away.
She didn’t.
For a moment, silence settled in the room. More thoughts came flooding in. Mercifully, Natasha spoke, briefly pushing them aside.
“Should I call Bruce?”
Loki shook his head, struggling to stand up again as the surge of panic slowly receded. He sat down on the bed. Grabbing the nearest pillow, he hugged it to his chest, trying to remember how to breathe.
Loki was vaguely aware of when Natasha sat down next to him on the bed. A small, firm hand rubbing tiny circles on his back in an attempt to soothe him. He didn’t flinch this time, letting Natasha’s hand travel slowly down his back, before stopping midway when Loki started to tense up again.
Loki was grateful that she chose not to comment on that. Instead, she merely started traveling back up his back and to his shoulders.
The tears were streaming down his face at this point, slowly dripping into the fabric of the pillow, but his breathing had finally evened out.
Natasha let her hand fall away, “Are you okay now?”
Loki nodded, though not entirely confident. He finally looked up at Natasha. Her expression was not of disgust, but of concern and understanding. She spoke gently, something he wouldn’t have thought possible if Steve hadn’t suggested a softer side to her before.
She scooted a bit away from him, gently moving to squeeze his forearm and give him a little smile, before standing up and leaving.
Huh.
Maybe Steve was right.
“Oh!” Natasha appeared in Loki’s doorway again suddenly, apparently realizing something, “By the way, has anyone told you about Movie Night?”
Loki shook his head.
“Well, every week, we take turns picking out movies to watch as a team,” Natasha explained, “Since you’re part of the team now, I guess you get to pick the movie for tonight.”
Loki ultimately picked out a horror movie. If he was lucky, one of the Avengers would chicken out and insist on turning the movie off.
Maybe if he was really lucky, they would ban him from movie nights all together, and Loki wouldn’t have to worry about giving the Avengers time to find more of his weaknesses.