Loki, my darling

XI

When we pulled apart again to breathe, I realized I was shivering. Sunrise and the moments right before it are the coldest part of the day and I was sitting there, outside on wet grass, with nothing but PJ-s on. I was freezing, since the first bigger rush of adrenaline was wearing off too and didn't keep my blood flowing anymore. My teeth started chattering and I tried to create some warmth in the air around me with my powers, but the air is not actually that easy to heat up. Liquids are easier. And my focus was all over the place anyway. Loki quickly realized I was cold, "Oh shit, you're freezing aren't you?" he then said, mostly to himself I think as it didn't seem like he was expecting an answer. He got up and proceeded with picking me off the ground as well, "Let's get you inside," he said, carrying me to the door. Before we made it quite to the door I shook myself down and stood up myself, he looked at me a bit confused. "You okay?" he asked, "Yeah, just, I don't think we should tell others about what's going on between us, at least not yet," I said, with my voice being intermittent from the cold. "You are still new and others are still learning to trust you, I am still technically new too, us being together would come as a shock to everyone and I am not sure I am ready to deal with that kind of attention right now," I tried to explain, to find the best words and make sure he doesn't misunderstand and get hurt or leave me because of it. With the fear of what he might think of it in my heart, I looked up at him to see whether or not he was mad. He wasn't, instead, he pulled me to the corner that no windows looked at, in case anyone was already awake inside, and placed his hands around my face, "Cass, there is no pressure," he said gently, "I won't tell anyone anything unless you tell me you are ready. I mean secrecy is kind of fun actually, isn't it? We're like spies, have secret missions and stuff?" I laughed, feeling the weight of worrying lifting from my shoulders. He gave me a quick kiss and then we headed for the door to go back inside.

The house was still dead silent, nobody seemed to be around. We walked into the living room, because that was on our way back to the bedrooms, but were stopped by Bucky's confused stare. I guess after pulling an all-nighter and then sleeping all day yesterday his sleep schedule was so messed up that he woke up early by accident. "Well you're up early," I said, raising my brow. "Got fed up with sleeping, I never thought that was possible before it happened now," he explained with a little laugh, "But my question is, where are you and Loki coming from this early, with you all shivery and cold-looking?" The question I had been afraid of. "Well," started Loki saying, looking at me in a way that said he had no clue what to say. "I had a nightmare," I interrupted before he could continue, "so I needed a bit of fresh air and went outside to look at the sunrise." It wasn't technically a lie. I had had a nightmare and I had gone outside for a bit of fresh air and the sunrise. "I was awake already, reading here in the living room," said now Loki, who had figured out what to say for his part, "and I followed her when she rushed outside, to see if she was okay, which she wasn't, so I tried to help calm her down and then she started shivering from cold so now I forced her inside before she'd catch a cold." Also technically mostly true. "Now, if you don't mind, weirdly early awake Buc, I'd like to go get something warmer on and then maybe catch a few more hours of sleep," I said, to which he replied with "That sounds like a good idea, but first," he stood up and gave me a hug, which confused me "I hope the nightmare wasn't too bad, I know they can be pretty harsh," Right, the nightmare, I had actually almost forgotten about it. I forced a smile and said, "I'm fine, it was just a bad dream after all, thanks though," then waved to him and headed up to my room. I looked back as I was leaving the room, Bucky was now talking with Loki, probably asking about what I had seen in that dream. I trusted him to say the right things and headed to my room. I was still shivering and didn't feel like changing, I just wanted to get under the blanket, so I did, laying there and staring out the window. It was peaceful, both in the room and inside my mind.

A few moments later there was a silent knock on my door, so I forced myself to climb back out. I opened the door and as my gut had told me, it was indeed Loki. I let him in and closed the door after him, "I see you escaped Bucky," I said jokingly and he nodded "I told him I was going to take a shower, which I will do later, but I wanted to make sure you're all warmed up and stuff first," he said, "which you obviously aren't, WHY in the world are you still wearing the wet pajama shorts and the thin shirt?" He had a point, I guess, but instead of accepting it I said "I was beneath the blanket before you came, you know, technically YOU made me climb out." He raised his brows in disbelief, "Oh so that's how it is, well in that case I better make up for the trouble I've caused." He placed his hands on my waist and the next minute I was hanging over his shoulder with him carrying me to my closet. He placed me down on the chair in there and started going through my clothes, looking for something warm for me to wear. "This should work, and, let's see.." he talked to himself "yes, this one too." He handed me a big jumper and thick leggings, "Put these on," he said, "I'm gonna go and change out of my pants which are also wet from the dew-wet grass, and then I'll be right back." "Oh, don't bother," I said before he even had time to move, "I'll help you with that." I pointed my palm at his pants and used my water powers to pull out every drop of water that was making his cute butt feel cold. It gathered into a flowing water-ball floating above the tips of my fingers. "Better?" I asked while grabbing the clothes he had chosen for me with my free hand. He, still in a bit of a shock, gave me a slight nod and followed me as I walked to my bathroom to drop the water into the sink. I then turned around to look at him, he was still in awe. "And why didn't you dry your own pants like that, Darling?" he then asked, to which I replied "Eh, getting to concentrate onto my butt to dry it is far less fun than concentrating on yours," "Oh really, he said, stepped closer to me and wrapped his hands around me so that they landed on my butt. He then quickly took them away, as the touching reminded him that my bottom was still wet and cold. "Yeah, like I said, my pants have not yet been dried, and since you were kind enough to pick out a full new outfit for me I'd gladly change into it," "Go ahead," he said, giving me a mischievous look, I guess he was the god of that trait after all. "Yeah, not happening, out you go," I said, pushing him out the bathroom door and closing it behind him. I laughed to myself and then quickly changed out of the wet PJ-s. I then realized, my undies were wet as well and Loki hadn't picked me another pair of those. I considered having him bring me a pair but then the chances of him wanting to come in would be even bigger. I wasn't ready for that big of a step yet and definitely wasn't ready for him to see scars on my thighs as he didn't know about those yet. "Oh to the hell with it," I thought to myself and decided to go commando instead. I would put on a pair later when he had gone back to get his own stuff done. A few moments later I stepped out of the bathroom and gave Loki, who was sitting on the edge of my bed, a little twirl. I then asked, "Satisfied?" "Almost," he replied, stood up and gave me a kiss, then took my hand and pulled me towards the bed. He pulled away the blanket, picked me up, and placed me in bed, put the blanket back on, and tucked me in. "Now I am," he said and gave my forehead a soft touch with his lips, "now, try to get a few more hours of sleep and keep yourself warm, okay? I gotta go and take that shower I was talking about." And so he left, leaving me feeling warm and comfy, and after just a few minutes, sleep came, without even knocking first.