Toleration
You and Loki trained together every morning at seven am for the next week, getting a feel for each other’s fighting styles. Together you moved away from your powers, focusing more on the physicality of fighting. There was still some unfamiliarity between you two, as you never talked about anything personal, but gradually you were warming up to him and him to you.
One morning however, as you went to collect Loki from his room, he shook his head at you.
“I don’t feel like training today,” he said solemnly, staring into the fireplace. A stack of books, a discarded bookmark beside them, sat on a small table next to his armchair.
“Did you finish all your books?” You asked, and his eyes flickered towards you, surprised.
“I did attempt to pace myself.”
You could imagine what it must feel like to be stuck in a room all day and having depleted your only source of entertainment. For a second, you felt truly sympathetic towards Loki, pity welling in your gut. You could relate.
“Let’s go to the library instead.” You knew one of the floors of the tower had been turned into a library, and you’d been meaning to visit it. According to Bruce, the bookshelves stretched from floor to ceiling and almost every spot was filled.
“I somehow doubt that is permitted,” Loki said, slight notes of dejection creeping into his voice despite his attempts to remain indifferent.
“I’ll say it was my idea if anyone asks,” you said, jerking your head towards the door. “Let’s go.”
You could’ve sworn a smile flitted across Loki’s face, for the shortest of seconds, before his face was neutral once more. Only there was a little glitter in his eyes he couldn’t quite quell.
“You’re forgetting something,” he said as you both reached the door and you fiddled with the little electronic pad that would allow Loki to pass through the seal, his eyes flicking towards the cuffs that sat conveniently on the table.
“If you wanted to kill me, you had plenty of time to do so in training. I think we’ll be fine,” you said, leading him out the door.
The two of you managed to avoid the other Avengers through the hallway and into the elevator as you pressed the button for the library floor. You felt slightly absurd. As usual when hanging about the tower, you were dressed in soft sweatpants and a graphic t-shirt advertising a band you’d listened to maybe once or twice. Next to the tall Asgardian in his ornate outfit, your reflection in the elevator made you look ridiculous. The elevator ride was so silent, you couldn’t possibly hold in your giggle.
Loki turned to you, creasing his brow, perhaps suspecting you were about to keel over. “What?”
“Nothing.” You sucked in a breath, attempting to correct your posture to match his. This seemed to concern him more, and he shuffled away from you slightly. Now you felt like you had to provide an explanation.
“Standing next to you, I look completely stupid.”
“I think you can attribute that to the fact that you’re inherently preposterous.” He looked down at you as the doors slid open, letting the golden glow of the library’s lights hit the side of his face.
Your gaze lingered as he turned back towards the library, eyes widening as he took in the sheer amount of books, lips parting ever so slightly. He moved forwards as though in a trance and you followed him, uncertain of where he would gravitate to first but happy to go along.
He paused in front of a shelf, reading the expanse of titles, and you braved a question.
“What sort of books do you have on Asgard?”
To your surprise, he didn’t brush you off as he removed a copy of ‘The Collected Works of Shakespeare’ from the shelf. It was a massive book, but he held it with ease.
“We have some of the same classics you have on Earth, and plenty of our own Asgardian literature. I used to love The Lady of Shalott by your Lord Alfred Tennyson.” He hefted the book up to show it to you, as though you had somehow missed it. “I could probably recite all of these in my sleep.”
“Really?” You raised an eyebrow, suspicious. “Let’s hear some Hamlet.”
You had been joking, but Loki took it upon himself, straightening up and cleaning his throat. “To be, or not to be, that is the question: whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them.”
His voice held a bit of a theatrical element to it, one that captivated you. Of course you knew the famous soliloquy by heart, having enjoyed Shakespeare quite a bit earlier on in your life also, and you couldn’t resist continuing it.
“To die – to sleep, no more; and by a sleep to say we end the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to: ‘tis a consummation devoutly to be wish’d.” His eyes met yours and for a moment you felt like you’d known him your whole life, like he had been a friend since before your souls were forged. You smiled at him and he smiled back, quickly leading into a different soliloquy.
“Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding fro the heat-oppressed brain?”
“Macbeth,” you said, nodding in recognition. “You know, Loki, you’re actually-”
“Y/n?” Thor chose that moment to pop around one of the bookshelves, apparently looking for the source of your voice.
“Thor?” You turned away from Loki, frowning slightly as you greeted the other Asgardian.
“Brother dearest,” Loki said drily.
“Brother! What are you doing in the library?” Thor’s gaze dropped to Loki’s wrists, evidently noticing the lack of cuffs.
“I could ask the same of you,” Loki shot back. “I wasn’t aware you knew how to read.”
“I insisted,” you said quickly, taking the book out of Loki’s hands. “I’ve been dying to check out the library since I got here and Loki was kind enough to agree to skip training for one day to come down here. I took the cuffs off since it wasn’t fair to bring him somewhere he didn’t want to go in the first place, then restrain him throughout the ordeal, you know?”
Thor and Loki blinked at you.
“Anyways, Thor, what brings you down here?” You gave Thor your most dazzling smile, and he seemed obligated to return it in full.
“I saw Loki’s room was empty and you two weren’t in your usual training room. I thought something may be amiss. No matter, though, it appears it’s all settled!”
You hurried through goodbyes as Thor left, and Loki gave you an oddly appreciative glance.
“I think you could’ve sold him if you hadn’t called me ‘kind’,” he said as he took the book back.
“You seem pretty nice to me, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you said sarcastically, dancing around him to find another book. “Here, I think you’d really love Twilight.”
He wrinkled his nose, forcing the book back into your arms. “Unfortunately we do have that series on Asgard.”
“You’re kidding.” It was the best thing he could’ve said. “You’ve read Twilight?”
“I was intrigued by the premise of vampires. I’m sorry to say I was sorely disappointed. I much preferred Interview with the Vampire.”
“You would.” You rolled your eyes, sliding the book back onto the shelf. “I guess a sappy love story isn’t really your sort.”
“Au contraire, any book – if written well – has the potential to be enjoyed by me. Your little Twilight simply didn’t captivate me in the way I’d hoped.”
“Have you seen the movie?” You couldn’t help but laugh at his expression and cavalier tone.
“I have never seen a movie. On Asgard we have proper theatre.”
“Oh my god, we have to watch Twilight together.” You were laughing uncontrollably now, Loki watching you with confusion and disdain. It was slightly surreal, joking around with a man who, a few short months ago, had been the most wanted man in the world. Now he was almost…a friend?
“Did you not hear the part where I plainly stated that I had no interest in the book?”
“Okay, but the movie is different,” you emphasized as he continued to pick his books out. “Books and movies are completely separate art forms, two different mediums used to explore the fluidity of-”
“Let me stop you right there,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Please do not attempt to lecture me on the differences between literature and your barbaric recording systems for the illiterate.”
“Says the god who wanted to rule Earth.”
“Midgard had potential, you humans are just far too disorganized. The insolence! The immaturity! You’re the worst.”
“Yeah, why’d you attack New York? Why not go for the United Nations or at least Washington DC? Seems like an amateur move to me.” You pretended to wince, pulling your face into an over-exaggerated grimace.
“I may be carrying a lot of books, but I will not hesitate to draw my knives on you in this library, y/n.”
“Challenge accepted, Loki,” you shot back, watching as he seemed to pull on the air on either side of the books, causing the stack he’d accumulated to disappear into thin air before pulling out his knives.
He backed you against a bookshelf that was firmly attached to one of the walls, careful not to cause any harm to the books even while he was threatening you. You let him, staring up at him for a long moment before feeling your physical form dissolve, floating straight through him and heading for the elevator and returning to your solid form.
Loki spun around, knives disappearing as he looked for you, finally spotting you as you moved to close the elevator doors. He raced over, easily shoving his way in as the elevator attempted to close. “Rude.”
You raised your eyebrows, feigning ignorance as you looked over at him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He tongued the inside of his cheek, eyeing you out his peripheral vision. “Mhmm.”
“Come eat dinner with us tonight,” you blurted before you could second-guess yourself. Nick Fury had said to be nice to him, right? Surely inviting him to dinner was considered nice.
“What?” Loki turned fully to you, frowning in confusion.
“You know. You’re always eating in your room alone. Come eat with us for once. If you can get through a meal without killing anyone, I’m sure you’d be allowed to roam around the tower.”
“They’re going to be trying to kill me. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I won’t let them. Please, Loki, just for one dinner. If it goes horribly, then you don’t have to try it again.”
“A valiant effort, but I simply don’t think it can be done.” He turned back away from you, squaring his shoulders. Oh well, at least you’d tried.
That evening at dinner, you spread out two plates to take upstairs. It had been your day to cook, something you did fairly well at, so you’d made some lovely pomegranate mutton and charred radicchio.
“Help yourselves,” you told the other Avengers.
“Where are you going?” Nat asked, watching as you grabbed the two plates you’d set aside.
“Loki always eats alone. I asked him to come eat with the rest of us, but he thought he’d be met with hostility, so I’m going to go join him in his room. And I’ll continue to do so until we all agree to put the past in the past and begin to mend things.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, y/n?” Cap looked at you, almost like a concerned father. “Loki is dangerous.”
“I can deal with dangerous. But right now, Loki’s just lonely. We as a group should make more of an effort to be civil towards him, because that’s how being a team works. We put our differences aside for the greater good.” You turned away and marched up the steps, carrying the dinner to your new friend.
Loki sat up when you barged in, putting the two plates down on the table in his room, his eyebrows raising when you flung yourself into one of the chairs.
“This is a new experience,” he stated, hesitantly taking the seat opposite you.
“I told them to be nicer to you.”
“I know. I can hear you through the floor.”
“Oh.” You chewed your lip thoughtfully, eyes falling to your plate as you stabbed at the radicchio with your fork.
“Did you make this?” Loki’s question brought your eyes back up to meet his as he delicately chewed his meal.
“Yes? How’d you know?”
“Those oafs wouldn’t know what arugula was or how to cook with it if they were given step-by-step instructions,” Loki said matter-of-factly, taking a sip of water.
“Is it good?”
“For Midgardian food, I suppose.”
You raised your eyebrows suspiciously. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that was a compliment.”
“The fact that it has yet to give me food poisoning is nothing to crow about. It is ridiculously simple to make edible food. It just so happens that you are the first in this building to do so.”
“Whatever you say. All I’m hearing is that I’m the best cook here.”
“Oh y/n. If someone in this room is the best cook, it’s definitely not you.”
“Prove it.” You grinned at him. “You make the dinner tomorrow, and we’ll settle it once and for all.”
“Please,” he fixed you with an unimpressed look. “Your delicate stomach would not be able to handle a true Asgardian feast.”
You did your best to school your features into one of challenge, doing your best to ignore your feelings of victory. Loki was so caught up in the contest, he’d breezed right past the fact that he’d have to leave his room (and run into the other Avengers) in order to cook said feast he was boasting about.
Leaning forwards on the table and tucking your hands under your chin, you looked expectantly at him. “Try me.”
You awoke the next morning to a gentle light spilling into the room, painting everything gold, including the man seated in your armchair, watching you with an interested gaze.
“Ah!” You threw a pillow at Loki in your surprise, but the pillow passed straight through him with a little fizzle of green light. “What are you doing?”
“Stark is currently attempting to remove the seal from my room,” Loki stated plainly, rising from the chair and smoothing out the front of his rather crisp black suit. It was the most ‘Midgardian’ thing you’d seen him wear yet, and made you hyper-aware of the fact you were still in your pyjamas. “While it is undergoing its modifications, I cannot leave my chambers, but I figured it would be rather rude to stand you up when you would certainly be expecting me for training.”
“So you projected yourself into my room to watch me sleep?” Judging by his expression, he didn’t seem to find anything wrong with it. “And you’re sure you didn’t like Twilight?”
“I don’t see what that infernal book has to do with anything,” Loki frowned. “I was merely being polite.”
“I’m assuming you already tried to talk with Tony and he told you to shut up.”
“In a less succinct manner, yes.”
“He’s moving the seal, though, so I guess that means they trust you a little more!” You sat up in the bed, rubbing your eyes. “That’s good, right?”
“Their opinions of me mean absolutely nothing to me. I simply want to return to Asgard.”
“Loki, you do realize you did kind of try and take over the world, right? There are repercussions for that sort of thing.”
“Well, I’m not doing that anymore! I already tried and it didn’t work. There’s no other reason to keep me here.” He spread his arms for emphasis.
“Listen,” you sighed, not really wanting to explain to him how justice worked while you were still half asleep and recovering from the near-heart attack you’d had upon waking up to see him sitting there. “I didn’t ask to be here either, but we just have to make the best of it.”
“Sage advice,” he said sarcastically. “What debt are you repaying by being here?”
“Are you kidding?” You looked at him incredulously. “I can literally summon ghosts at will and you think my life has been all sunshine and rainbows?”
“On the contrary.” His eyes bored into yours. “No one is missing you while you’re here. That tells me something in itself.”
Letting out a deep breath, you swung your legs over the edge of the bed, past the initial embarrassment you’d felt at having Loki see you in your pyjamas. He’d chosen to be there, after all. “Let’s just say Nick Fury and I have had a complicated past and leave it at that, huh? Now you need to go, I have to take a shower.”
Loki rolled his eyes but disappeared in a little rain of golden sparkles, leaving you to your own devices. Now that he was gone (and not talking) you could hear the sound of Tony Stark’s machines whirring just down the hall, dismantling the shield that confined the god to his room.
It was just after breakfast when Tony called a meeting, all of you gathering in the spacious living room. He wasn’t alone, however. Loki, cuffs returned to his wrists, had carefully spaced himself so that not a single thread of his outfit was touching Tony, looking thoroughly annoyed.
“Fury wants us all to get along,” Tony started, only to be met with groans from the other Avengers, and had to raise his voice to speak over them. “I’ll be the first to admit I’m not Reindeer Games’s number one fan-” Loki gave him a look of loathing that seemed to suggest that, should the opportunity present itself, Tony would be the first to come face-to-face with his blades “-but he’s not going to be the last major threat we face together. So we need to learn to work together. And as of now, the God of Antlers here will no longer be stuck in his room.”
As a show of goodwill, Tony removed Loki’s cuffs, and everyone in the room seemed to wait with bated breath as the god rubbed his wrists, icy eyes inspecting the occupants. After a painfully long period of silence, Loki moved to stand next to you, clasping his hands behind his back. You weren’t sure whether to be proud he’d aligned himself with you – after all, it proved your attempts at friendship were somewhat working – or worried that he had taken to tolerating you more than the others.
“Tony? Can I talk to you for a moment?” Bruce asked, eyes darting between Loki and the man he was addressing.
“You can air your grievances in front of me, I assure you I do not remotely care how afraid you are.” You glanced at Loki as he spoke, and you could swear he was having fun.
Bruce flinched, yet obeyed Loki immediately. “Are you sure he’s not going to kill us in our sleep?”
“That’s boring,” Loki said loudly. “Coward’s play. Why skip out on the glory of a fight?”
“I’m like, seventy-four percent sure,” Tony said, eying his nemesis. “If he does, then my apologies in advance.”
Nat and Steve shared a look you couldn’t decipher, and your gaze slid to Thor, only to find him staring directly at you, as though you were a particularly difficult math problem he was trying to work out. You frowned at him, tilting your head in a silent question. Loki looked down at you as you moved, following your line of sight to see what you were looking at. Thor quickly glanced away.
“You’ve confused him, bless his heart,” Loki leaned down to whisper to you. “He’s not used to seeing people willingly interact with me.”
“Great, now that we’ve cleared that up,” you spoke to the group, clapping your hands together. “Loki’s going to make dinner tonight. A sign of goodwill.”
“Goodwill?” Loki had the decency to look affronted. “I’m proving to them all that they are incompetent when it comes to culinary endeavours.”
“Y/n, supervise him,” Cap said. “Make sure he doesn’t poison anything.”
“I’ll do my best,” you said sarcastically as the group dispersed, heading off to tend to their various projects; Thor literally flew out a window, off to do who knows what. You turned to face Loki, who hung back, as if waiting for some sort of instruction.
“How long will it take you to prepare dinner?” It was barely afternoon, but all his talk of feasts had made you slightly hesitant.
“No more than two hours. You’re speaking to a god, madame. We aren’t subjected to usual time restraints.”
“Forgive me, my liege. What would you like to do in the meantime?” You planted your hands on your hips. “You’re dressed like you’re ready to go to a funeral.”
“We could go to the grocery store, get the ingredients for dinner,” he suggested, ignoring your jab at his outfit.
“That would be great,” you said, scowling as you remembered the slight issue with his suggestion. “Unfortunately if I step outside this building, my blood will turn electric, thanks to some miniature robots Fury injected into my veins.”
Loki’s brow creased, and he held out a hand, gesturing for your arm. Confused, you raised a hand and placed it on his forearm. His arm skittered slightly away from you at first, but he steadied himself so fast you thought you might’ve imagined it.
“Hold still,” he instructed, one of his knives appearing in his other hand.
“What are you doing?” You asked, voice slightly panicked as he lowered the blade to your arm.
“I presume you want the robots out?”
“Obviously,” you breathed.
“Then hold still. And stop it with the fog.” You hadn’t even realized that fog was creeping out from your sleeves and feet until he pointed it out, and after a moment’s concentration it receded. “Just breathe,” Loki whispered, drawing the knife across the top of your arm.
You hissed in pain, gripping his forearm tightly as blood spilled out from the cut. Loki’s eyes never left yours as the knife disappeared and his hand hovered above the gash, green tendrils of magic bridging the gap between his fingers and your blood.
For a moment, it seemed as though nothing was happening, then as you watched, tiny little black dots clumped together as Loki’s magic pulled them out of your arm. The result, once he was done, was a collection of nanites the size of the palm of your hand. Loki pulled a container out of thin air, unceremoniously dumping the robots into it as you let go of him, tending to your wound.
Just as you had with the IV in the med labs, you waved your hand over the cut, watching as it healed itself, the skin smoothing over like nothing had ever happened. When you looked back up, Loki was watching you, most interested.
“You have healing powers? Those don’t generally go with necromancy.”
“I don’t have necromancy powers.” You rubbed your arm self-consciously. “Necromancy by definition implies I can commune with the dead. I can’t. I can only harness their spirits for a short time.”
“Power like that cannot be learned, not by humans anyways,” Loki mused. “So how did you gain this power?”
“That is a story I am unprepared to tell,” you said honestly. No one knew the full story. You didn’t really want the God of Mischief to be the first one who heard it. “Are we going to the grocery store or what?”
Loki looked like he wanted to argue, but followed you to the elevator, wisely choosing to keep his mouth shut for once.
“You sure you don’t want to change?” You glanced at his suit. “That doesn’t really scream ‘casual outing’.”
“Sorry, I don’t have any outfits that ‘scream’-” he made air quotes with his fingers “-‘pitiful mortal’.”
You were dressed slightly better today, in a turtleneck, blazer, and flared pants, but he still looked pointedly at you as he spoke.
“Wow,” you said, shaking your head as the doors opened, revealing the first floor of the tower. “I can’t go two minutes without being attacked by you, can I?”
“I am merely a vessel of the truth.” Loki paused by the door that lead to the outside world, eyes flicking up to the seal that Stark had moved from his bedroom door to here, apparently. Reaching for the small screen by the door frame, you quickly inputted where you and Loki were going, assuring the little machine that Loki would remain under your supervision the entire time.
Pushing through the door, you stepped out into the street, taking a deep breath of outside air for the first time in over a month.
“You missed the stench of the city that much?” Loki asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You,” you jabbed a finger into the centre of his chest, “don’t get to talk. Let people enjoy things.”
“Which way is it to the grocery store?” He grabbed your hand to shove it off his chest, stepping around you and looking down the street.
“This way.” You led him through the crowd of people milling about. It seemed people didn’t recognize Loki without his ridiculous helmet, or maybe the attack of a few months past had already dissipated from the public conscious. Either way, people barely looked your way as you strolled along.
“Here we are!” You came to a triumphant stop in front of a grocery store, and Loki squinted at the sign in displeasure before turning his scorn to the produce laid out at the front.
“I’m not sure this will have everything we need,” he said, but nevertheless was the first to duck into the supermarket.
He made a beeline for the meat department at the back of the store, inspecting the various packages of meat by the time you caught up.
“These won’t do,” he mumbled, unceremoniously dumping a package of chicken breast back into the cooler. An attendant passed by and Loki flagged them down before you could stop him.
“Where do you keep the goats?” He asked, dead serious, and the attendant looked at you, then back at Loki, before carefully answering.
“We don’t…have goats here… We have veal? Or lamb? But no goats.”
It wasn’t the answer Loki was looking for. He frowned. “What kind of store is this? Do you know where I could find a whole goat?”
“On a farm…maybe?”
“Thank you for your help,” you said to the attendant quickly, giving them a smile and mentally imploring them to leave. They took your nonverbal cue, darting off before Loki could ask anything more of them.
“They don’t usually sell entire goats in grocery stores here on Earth,” you informed him, doing your best not to laugh at his displeased expression.
“Barbaric,” he muttered, returning his attention to the prepackaged meats. “There go my plans for a civilized meal, all because you humans don’t know what constitutes as food! Look at these portions! My brother could swallow these whole!” He hefted a turkey for you to see.
“Could you?” You couldn’t help but ask. “What do you even eat on Asgard, anyways?”
“Oh, all sorts of things,” Loki answered absentmindedly. “We don’t really need to eat for sustenance, we do it because we enjoy it. Why are these lemons so small?”
The lemon he was holding was actually one of the largest you’d ever seen, but apparently wasn’t up to Loki’s princely standards. Maybe Asgard was just larger than life in all aspects. Either way, this grocery trip was going downhill fast.
“You know, it doesn’t have to be as much of a feast as you’d usually have on Asgard,” you suggested lightly, steering him away from anything you might cause him disappointment. “How about we get some more cereal while we’re here?”
“Absolutely not. That stuff is disgusting. It’s so sweet, it gives me a toothache just thinking about it. Is your taste always this bad?”
“Okay! Loki!” You were fed up. “We don’t have the food you want here on Earth! Sorry if that makes us all incompetent losers, but you’ll have to make do!”
He blinked at you slowly, waiting for you to calm down before speaking. “It’s really not all that serious, y/n. I’m simply thinking of how much my brother will consume. He has very little regard for others’ needs. No need to become irrational.”
You gave him a look of displeasure. “You get what you want, I’ll just follow you silently.”
“Works for me.” He turned away, strutting off to collect his various items. When he was done, he attempted to march towards the doors before you jumped in front of him.
“We have to pay for those things,” you hissed, shoving him in the direction of the checkout.
“With what money? I don’t exactly have any of your human currency.”
You hadn’t thought of that, furrowing your brow as you deliberated for a moment. Your wallet was somewhere amongst your belongings back at the Avengers tower, as you had incorrectly assumed that Loki had a credit card or something. It was the same issue with your phone.
“Do you have any like…magical way of sending messages?” You looked at Loki imploringly. “Maybe we can send a message back to Avengers tower and have someone bring us money.”
“No need. Miss Romanoff has been following us since we left the main floor.”
“What?” You turned around, catching a glimpse of Nat in a baseball cap and sunglasses, lurking near a juice display. “You didn’t think to mention this before?”
“I thought you were aware,” Loki said genuinely, shifting the basket to his other hand.
“Come on.” You dragged him over to Nat, who hadn’t moved, apparently aware her presence had been recognized. “Why are you following us?”
She looked at you over the top of her shades, eyes flicking over to Loki. “Neither of you are technically supposed to leave the tower, you know that, right? Him because he can cause mass panic, you because Fury says you’re not allowed.”
“Well we both know how flawed Fury’s judgement can be,” Loki stepped forwards, fixing Natasha with a cool stare. “Y/n and I were just here to get groceries. No shenanigans, I swear.” He hooked the basket over one thumb, spreading his hands in a gesture of peace.
“So you weren’t about to steal all those groceries?” She looked skeptical.
“I was just explaining to Loki how buying things on Earth works when I realized I forgot my wallet,” you said semi-truthfully.
“Give it here.” She held out a hand for the basket, and Loki passed it over, careful not to make physical contact. “Go back to Avengers Tower. I’ll bring it to you when I’m done.”
“She’s mad at me for claiming Barton when I had my spear,” Loki told you as the two of you headed back to the tower, his hands in his pockets. “It’s not my fault his mind is so easily compromised.”
“Of course not,” you scoffed sarcastically. “She should really be more understanding. It was practically like he was walking around with a sign on his back labelled ‘please possess me’!”
“Exactly!” Loki spread his arms, bowing his head slightly before opening the door for you, following you into the lobby of the tower. He seemed not to hear your sarcasm, or he simply didn’t care.
The elevator ride back up to the main floor was a mercifully silent one, Loki citing a visit to the bathhouse that apparently occupied one of the floors on the massive building when you arrived back at the main level. You told him to have fun and headed back to your own room, hoping you could take a nap and catch up on the sleep that your early training sessions had been depriving you of.
Of course, Nick Fury had other plans, you realized as you pushed open the door to your room to see him standing there, silhouetted against the window. Around and around it went.
“I heard you found a creative way to remove the nanites,” Fury said, holding up the container of the little robots.
“I’m not your prisoner, Fury,” you spat, mood instantly ruined. “I’ll go where I please.”
“The grocery store? With Loki?”
“Where I please, with whomever I please.”
“I’m not mad.” He turned towards you, face as unreadable as ever. “I expected as much from you, y/n. Although, I didn’t think you would become friends with Loki so fast. It’s impressive, honestly. How’d you do it?”
“Treated him like a fucking being worthy of respect?” You stalked over to your bed, throwing yourself down on it. “Don’t know why that’s so hard for you all.”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Fury said, tone implying he was tired of your antics. “Since you removed the nanites, I’m sending you on a mission tomorrow.”
“With who?”
“Captain America and Thor.”
You rolled your eyes. “Bringing out the big guns, are we? What’s the mission?”
“We’ve located an illegal weapons manufacturing plant out on an abandoned warehouse in Arkansas. You’re going to shut it down. Bring in the employees there for questioning, if any survive.”
“If you openly approve of such harsh methods, stop pretending to be disgusted by Loki’s actions.” You pulled a pillow over your eyes. “Hypocrite.”
“Don’t lose sight of what’s important, y/n. Loki killed to further his own ‘glorious purpose’. We only kill for the greater good.”
You bit back a retort, ready to criticize his idea of the ‘greater good’, but you restrained yourself. Nick Fury was well aware you weren’t a superhero by any means. He’d probably anticipated the pushback. It seemed almost ironic that a man with such dubious morals attempted to command a whole group of people who saw themselves as the arbiters of justice and morality.
“Anubis must make her official return,” Fury said, and you could hear his heavy footsteps as he walked over to the door. “Don’t hold back.”
“Easy for you to say,” you muttered from under your pillow, listening to the footfalls fade as he left down the hall.
As soon as you were certain he was gone, you threw your pillow aside, sitting up. Maybe joining Loki in the bathhouse wasn’t such a bad idea. You could use a good soak and possibly some champagne.