“This is not what I had in mind when I warned him to keep an eye on her.”
T'Challa huffed at the sight in front of him, his hot breath fogging up the glass separating him and the room he watched over at the moment.
“Just admit it, brother, you were never expecting it to turn out like this,” Shuri teased him, giving him a soft nudge, before muttering, “and now your internal wig has been snatched.”
T'Challa cut a soft look at his sister, his crossed arms around his chest unfolding a bit so his hand could curl up in a ’really, Shuri’ before shaking his head and turning back to the scene. Shuri snickered before patting him on the back and turning to the intern who brought her a clear tablet displaying charts and vitals, all being measured to the accuracy of one-thousandth of a second.
The machine sending Shuri the outputs beeped a soothing tone every twenty-one seconds as you lay comfortably in the bister crib that designed itself to hold your spine in the most comfortable and correct position. The protruding headrest that went over in an arch scanned your vitals while supporting the necessary IVs by its side, that were connected to your veins, everything automated by the system the princess had designed for the Wakandan hospitals.
T'Challa could see the heavy scarlet wound by the side of your face even when the medical ventilator covered half of your face partially, watching the tissue regeneration lasers work with great precision at the open wounds, replicating your cells artificially as they stitched the opening together, while the programmed nanoparticles in your blood imitated the platelets, covering the cut and increasing the pace of the healing process.
The entire procedure was being carried out for the wound on your arm, the fractured bones of your rib and the reasons for heavy bruises in your abdomen without even the presence of a person- precisely a doctor- having to cut you open for the process.
Well, there was a person present next to your unconscious, medically drugged sleepy self.
Loki had been vigilantly observing every tiny maneuver of the needles, the lasers, the beep of the machines, the screen on the arch of your resting place displaying your vitals and your concerning sluggish breaths all this while, standing at a considerable distance, his one hand inadvertently gnawing at the skin over the palm of the other. He had been standing there, his feet frozen into the tiled floor beneath him ever since you were brought inside, unconscious and bloodied.
Shuri had taken one look at him- covered in the white guts and liquids of the aliens they had just fought- and shouted at his filthy self to either get out or get changed if he did not want to infect you. Okoye had gripped her staff with all her strength in case the God would lash out at her princess, but had genuinely been taken aback to watch an illuminated flutter wash over him the very moment Shuri had uttered those words, cleansing himself and the soldiers surrounding you of any grime, alien or not, present on them.
“I’m not leaving her till she tells me to,” he had announced calmly, standing at the spot he stood at now, never moving an inch.
T'Challa could hear the layers in his statement even now.
Loki was not leaving your side until you woke up. He was still never going to leave your side if you didn’t wake up. That could have been a good while if it were anywhere but here.
The king watched the God and his completely hollow pale face standing in the room like a phantom.
“I do not trust him yet,” he finally exhaled.
“And he doesn’t care,” Shuri mumbled, never taking her eyes off the tablet.
T'Challa turned towards his sister, frowning at the minimal concern she showed for the trickster’s presence.
“How can you be okay with that being standing in there beside a friend?”
With one final sweep of her hand over the screen, the machine inside completed the no-cut surgery and gently locked away the needles and lasers along with the respirator.
Pushing a button over her tablet, she moved closer to the glass. “The operation is complete Mr Loki. Her vitals are fine and her body is recovering at a very good pace.”
The siblings watched Loki finally turn to them, the visibly worked up veins in his arms and neck relaxing along with his shoulders, as his dark smaragdine eyes changed a hue to a much lighter and silvery shade.
All he responded with was a dignified nod the royal siblings were quite familiar with, having only ever witnessed it amongst the tribe leaders, before stepping away and plopping down into the umber sofa, a tired exhale leaving his lungs.
“Now, coming back to you,” Shuri stated, turning to her brother, “do you remember the time when Nakia had been sent to her first recon mission?” She wiggled her brows at him as he tried to maintain his composure but failed.
“It was a recon. She was not supposed to infiltrate until help arrived. Nearly got herself killed,” he quipped at the memory before resting his hands at the back and automatically touching the priceless platinum-vibranium band, moving it around the girth of his finger, feeling the cold metal of the ring over and over.
“And what was the first thing that you did when you found out?” Shuri sang the words playfully, making T'Challa glance at her with terrified look veiled by a stern gaze.
“I was worr-are you comparing me to him? Do not compare me to that self-proclaimed God. I was by her side with no hidden ulterior moti-”
“Princess-” Loki’s figure standing near them on the other side of the glass nearly made him jump, but he never showed it over his face- “if it isn’t too much trouble, can I ask you to arrange for a few things?”
Shuri simply nodded with a warm smile while T'Challa narrowed his eyes at the God of Mischief who’s brows had started turning up in a concerned look.
“It would be great if you could arrange for a mildly soft pillow, a cotton blanket that’s fluffy to the touch, a bottle of water, glass not plastic, your best pleasantly-scented potted plant and a…what do you call that…plush toy, yes, a plush toy. A small one would do it.”
Both the siblings showed completely opposite reactions to the things Loki had just listed for them. While T'Challa’s brows constricted at the raven-haired Asgardian as he tried his level best to keep himself from expressing his sass, Shuri beamed at the request Loki had just made.
“Anything else you would like to add to your demands apart from a plushie, your holiness?” T'Challa threw the words at him in a monotone.
“Oh, my king,” Loki said as a bowed his head a little while putting his hand gracefully on his chest. “These aren’t for me,” he added before turning to look at you, making the frustration rising inside the Wakandan king dissolve within seconds.
“Even the plush toy?” T'Challa was genuinely curious to know that it wasn’t for Loki.
“Well,” Loki continued, “unless you could fly her pet here to help her ease the anxiety she’s going to feel on waking up, I reckon a plush toy would be good enough to cuddle with.”
“Oh, I could suggest a very good companion she could cuddle up with-” Shuri mentioned as she nodded at her own statement in satisfaction.
“Shuri,” T'Challa warned.
“-but I’ll tell someone to arrange the things for her.”
“Thank you, princess Shuri.” Loki bowed a bit with his hands clasped together and a warm smile lighting up his eyes before going back to the sofa to watch over you.
Shuri leaned in towards her brother. “Still think he has ulterior motives?” She whispered.
T'Challa inhaled as he looked at his sister from the corner of his eyes. He turned to the guard standing by the door, straightening his arms before raising them in disbelief at the words he was about to say.
“Get this man a plushie.”
__________
The periodic beeping of the machine-cum-resting platform was turning out to be less bothersome than Loki had thought, making it sure for him that you were okay.
Your languid breathing was somewhat a comforting sight as he sat right next to you- the sofa five feet away seeming a lot distant- on a chair that someone- possibly Shuri- had sent for apart from the things you had requested of the princess.
You had been resting for twenty-eight hours now save for the two times you had groaned in pain, never opening your eyes, and he had held your cold hand in his- fluctuating his temperature to a much warmer touch- while he grazed his fingers over your forehead to bring your thoughts drowning in the replaying pain at ease.
Steve and Bucky had stood outside a couple of times- watching the God absentmindedly bite his fingers as he watched you carefully, continuously, even while he rested on the sofa- wondering amongst themselves who would go inside to relieve him of the self-imposed uninterrupted watch. Even when they finally did, Loki thanked them but never stirred from his spot, making the Captain and Sargeant worry for him- quite appalling, for they never thought they would find themselves doing this for him of all the beings.
And when forty-eight hours passed, he was still there, by your side, his tired, bloodshot eyes looking for anything out of the ordinary in your features while you slept peacefully- the only thing keeping him sane at the moment. Steve knew if it hadn’t been for personally witnessing you heal to better health, Loki might’ve created a portal to an abyss to personally push every last one of those white mucus covered scums who had and hadn’t hurt you.
By the seventy-second hour, his body finally started raising gongs that he very much ignored. But the birds perched outside the window behind him sang a tune too mellifluous for his ears, making his head resting on his one arm heavy, his eyelids no longer being able to take the weight of the post-battle tiredness he could’ve easily recovered from had he allowed himself a moment of rest.
And with the rhythmic beeping of the machine and the sound of the brightly coloured visitors by the window, Loki finally let go and fell into the honey-heavy dew of slumber.
__________
You ears woke up to the sound of an unfamiliar cooing. It was not the usual song that you were accustomed to waking up to at home.
Home. I’m… I wasn’t home.
And the memory of your visit to Wakanda came back in flashes; the images of you cornered by ridiculously bulky aliens played back, forcing you to draw out ragged breaths, your eyes to open hastily and your hands to clutch at your blanket and something soft near your neck.
You turned to look at what was in your grasp, pausing the troubled rush inside you for that instant, allowing your accelerated heartbeat to find some ease.
A rhino plushie lay by your side in your hand forcing out a confused ‘huh’ followed by a hefty silent laugh as you brought it closer into your embrace, feeling the softness over your cheeks and breathing in a familiar essence.
That’s…
Loki’s essence.
And just like that, you turned your head from over your soft pillow, letting your eyes shoot over to the figure draped in black sitting on the sofa, one hand resting over his feet- crossed and resting over the warm surface of the sofa- holding a rhino plushie similar to yours while the other holding his dozing head in place, his thin pink lips parted as light snores escaped him, making your heart flutter and your cheeks heat up at the site of the God by your side at your most vulnerable.
“Yeah,” a soothing whisper came from beside your footrest, making you turn and gape at the rest of the scene, leaving your mouth wide open, “he’s been sitting there for seventy-eight hours now.”
Shuri smiled, her face resting over her fists as she looked at you take in the sight of Steve, Scott, Natasha, Clint and Peter spread around the room over couches, some drooling, some grumbling in their sleep, everyone holding a plushie Shuri had just planted in their embrace as they slept.
“Once he dozed off a few hours ago, everyone came in to continue watching over you on his behalf but since none of them got any sleep ever since you went into surgery, they all passed out the moment they sat down.”
Your tears nearly broke above the surface as your eyes went back to your raven.
“He’s been sitting there for…for…”
Loki stirred at your words, making you pause for the fear of waking him up.
He brought the rhino closer to his chest, a low grunt leaving his throat as his brows furrowed. He adjusted his face on his palm before exhaling.
“Shhh…” He mumbled groggily, “let her sleep.”