Frozen By Love (A Stoki Fic) {UNDER EDITING}

Chapter 16

The first thing I see is white. Bright, piercing, excruciating white light.

Am I dead?

The thought makes my heart run faster, blood running faster through my veins.

A machine starts beeping faster along with the speed of my heart.

A machine?

The beat of my heart.

So I'm not dead?

Then where the hell am I?

My swimming thoughts send a stab of pain through my head, causing me to wince.

"Easy there, Big Boy." A voice says to me, the tone cautioning yet sultry, like a soft piece of silk against the skin.

I focus on the voice, commanding my eyes to clear from the harshness of the lights.

To my surprise, I'm sitting in a white stationary hospital bed, the source of the harsh white from the large ceiling tile length lights adorning the entire ceiling, not in justly room, but every room.

At the closer end of the room to me, leaning adoringly against the guest chair is Loki, a relieved yet passive expression making up his features.

He gets off from his position, and I watch him, jeans and all, walk over to me.

My eyes look up and down his body, one of my eyebrows raising itself. "What happened to me and why are you wearing jeans? Where did you get the jeans is the more important question? I thought I told you to stay home?"

Another stab of pain. Another wince.

Another stern look from Loki, the expression making my limbs go twitchy with need.

"Don't worry about that. And I didn't need to leave the house to acquire clothing you know." He raises the corner of his mouth into a smirk.

The machine hooked up to my heart beeps faster, causing heat to flood my cheeks.

"Calm down Cap. We don't need you to have an heart attack at your age. It could be fatal."

A sentence I thought Loki would have said isn't done by Loki, but by a sarcastic millionaire playboy philanthropist.

"Stark." The coldness in my response makes the machine beep slower, more rhythmic.

The unmasked man of Iron walks further into the room, his hands in the pockets of his blacked striped grey suit, a grin forming inside his goatee. "Good to know you're still you and a floor to the face didn't change that."

"Floor to the face...? Is that what happened? But how?" My hatred for Stark at the moment momentarily falls at his words, my throbbing skull trying to piece missing pieces together.

Another stab. Another wince. More gritting of teeth.

"Do you really not know what happened?" This time, from Loki.

I nod. "I truly don't remember anything after looking for you in the battlefield to kick your vain ass." I glare coldly at Tony, who gives me an innocent 'who me?' look as Loki turns and glares at him as well.

Stark takes a heap of air and let's it out, his chest heaving up and down noticeably with the action. "Look, I didn't mean harm back there. Fury wanted us to find a reason to get into an actual fight like training session, and I took the opportunity with the topic we were talking about." His ice eyes flicker to Loki for an iota of a second and then back to me to finish his spiel. "And I'm also not the one who conked you in the head with a hammer from behind. If you were looking at me, how could I have hit you from behind? Exactly, I didn't."

Tony's words cause me to think for a moment, giving enough time for a cape wearing God to enter the room, an apologetic look on his face.

"Speak of the Devil." Tony says as he looks at Thor.

"I don't understand. Why were you discussing the Devil?" Thor responds to Stark, his brows furrowing hard with the confusion.

In response, Tony noticeably rolls his eyes as he shakes his head. "Never mind the reference. I'm not going to take the time to explain it to you."

Thor just shrugs, as he then turns to me. "Captain..." he stops, clearly at a lost for words when he looks up a little further and sees Loki standing beside me.

"Look, I don't want to fight, and I truly didn't mean to put you in this white place. I guess things got a little out of hand. When I fight, I always do it full force. So I apologize." Thor finishes, a sheepish grin on his face.

Tony interrupts quietly before I can speak. "You could say he got...hammered."

I smile at him as I ignore Tony's smart remark and Loki's soft snickering. "Don't worry about it big guy. It was all for the training and experience, right?"

The god nods, clearly relieved I forgave him and accepted his apology.

"Alright, well we should be getting going. Come on Thor, we should report to Eyepatch that he's ok." Tony walks towards the door, not seeing if Thor follows or not.

Thor gives me one last nod of respect before leaving the room. Leaving Loki and I alone.