Woodland Whispers & Loki's Love

Part 10- Getting closer

The rumble of the Quinjet landing woke me up from my resting place on the sofa. It had taken me a moment to realise I wasn't in my bed, and to remember that the team were out on a mission. I jumped up, grabbing my tactical cloak from the back of a chair where I had left it last night and rushed to the lift entrance, ready to help in any way.

As they all tumbled into the room I breathed a sigh of relief, they all seemed absolutely fine, if not a bit exhausted. Clint had a small amount of blood coming out his right ear, I hopped to his side to inspect it, "What happened to you?" I laughed as I stood up on my tip toes to look at the wound. Clint grimaced "a brick got thrown at me and it knocked my hearing aid out". "A brick!" I yelped as I had a look, it just needed a big of cleaning, and it should be absolutely fine.

In the commotion I had forgotten how I'd fallen asleep, I looked around the living space. No Loki. I wondered if I had dreamt seeing the god snoring softly on the sofa besides me.

As I looked over the room I felt someone throw their arms around me, the familiar warm and excited embrace of Wanda pulled me out of my thoughts. As we sat down she ran her fingers through her hair getting the knots out. "What happened out there?" I whispered to her. She rolled her eyes.

She told me about the mission; some climate change activists had been protesting in the streets about a new bill being passed, causing disruption, and they had met with some climate change deniers. Tensions had been running high until someone threw a brick and a huge fight broke out. The police were totally overwhelmed by it all.

"That's why Tony didn't want me there?" I sighed, things coming together. I hadn't been on earth that long when I found out the problems Midgard was in. When I first arrived I reached out to speak with the plants, and found that humans had been doing a great deal of damage to their own realm.

If Tony had told me what the mission was I would have never let them leave without me, but I would not have been an effective peace keeper against Midgardians who denied the issues with their own planet.

Wanda gave me a sympathetic smile and hugged me, pressing her forehead to mine, a greeting I had explained the significance of for my people. "Don't worry" she smiled conspiratorially, "you might say I was a little more heavy handed with the crowd control towards one side than the other". She winked at me and jumped up to make a drink before she crashed into bed.

As everyone trickled out of the room I found myself alone, tidying up the mess the team had just made. As I wiped down the surfaces a familiar voice boomed out "Lady y/n! You beat me to it! I have just been to inform my brother of our return and then was planning on cleaning up the mess" Thor chuckled as he joined me at the kitchen counter. "Would you care for a snack?" he asked as he reached up to the box of pop tarts.

I sat across the table watching Thor stuff his mouth, he was always exceedingly hungry after missions. "How are you finding being back on Midgard?" I asked him, nibbling at my own snack. "Oh it is most wonderful y/n" he grinned "Loki has provided the most excellent excuse to spend time with all my friends!".

I smiled as I felt the warmth coming from the God of Thunder. "Thor, can I ask you a question?" he looked up from his food and nodded "Of course y/n" he said covering his half full mouth. "Can you tell me a bit about Loki? I want him to feel welcome here, but getting to know him isn't the easiest of tasks."

Thor leaned back in his seat, swallowed his food and took a long swig of his coffee "Oh Lady y/n , there is a lot to learn about Loki, but there is little I feel it is my right to say" he looked troubled. I could feel how worried he was about saying something wrong, but I could also feel his hope and desperate want to indulge someone who wanted to get to know Loki better.

I stopped to think about what Thor had said, how Loki had been silly when they were little. "That's very fair, I would never want to invade his privacy" I hesitated, "But do you at least have some good childhood stories?" Thor grinned and laughed "Oh yes! Loki was quite the trickster from a young age!" He thought for a second, I could see he was trying to find one of his favourite stories. "This one time when we were children, he transformed himself into a snake, and he knows that I love snakes, so I went to pick up the snake to admire it and he transformed back into himself and he was like 'EEEY IT'S ME' and then he stabbed me. We were eight at the time."

I snorted so hard that my tea sprayed from my mouth. I looked up at Thor and behind him I noticed Loki was leaning against the wall, with a small, and frankly adorable smile, across his face. "Loki is this true!?" I managed between laughs.

"Oh yes, I have tried to stab this oaf many times" Loki grinned as he patted Thor's shoulder. It was wonderful to witness one of the rare moments of affection Loki showed towards his brother. Thor looked between the two of us and tilted his head to the side, like a confused puppy. Suddenly Jarvis spoke up "Master Thor, Mr Stark requires you in the meeting room for a debrief". Thor got up and nodded to us, as he walked past Loki he placed a gentle hand on his shoulder "behave yourself brother" he whispered, I don't think I was meant to hear.

Loki sat down across from me, taking Thor's now empty seat. "Enquiring about my childhood were you lady y/n" he said, looking down at me with a smirk, and a glint of mischief in his eyes. "Why yes" I replied with the sweetest expression possible "I want to know all your secrets".

I saw Loki tense for a second, before relaxing, composure spreading over his face again. "and how would a God of Lies survive if he gave away his secrets?" Loki said, with a slightly darker expression behind his eyes. "I hardly believe that mischief and lies are the same thing Loki" I said as I reached over the table and gently rested a hand on his. For a moment he tensed again, but relaxed and gave me a soft smile. "Haven't you heard? that is what the Midgardians call me" his head was hanging slightly low, as he did not make eye contact with me.

"Oh well, if the Midgardians say so it must be true!" I exclaimed trying to lift his mood slightly. "I am not of Midgard Loki" I smiled at him, "and besides, there's plenty of time to prove them wrong".

He sighed, pulling himself up straight as he stood, a smirk covered his face. I felt some kind of fake incredulity ebb out of him, "and who said I wanted to prove them wrong, a little bit of fear is good for the soul y/n!" as he snapped his fingers and left the space.