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

Chapter 17

"How do you feel?" His words cut through the silence like a concerned and precise sword, slicing the thick air.

I give a short chuckle, resulting in a weight pressing down on my lungs, my breath hitching in my esophagus. I cough, clearing my airways to let my vocal box speak. "Eh, I've been better. Guess I deserved it though." I shrug.

Loki scoffs in clear disgust, his whole body moving with the fierce movement. "To Asgard you deserved that! What exactly did you do to supposedly "deserve" getting your arse kicked and put in a hospital?"

"I pissed off Tony...and Thor"

"Screw the man of iron, he probably just wanted to find someone to hit and a petty reason to jusify his childish actions. And that Asgardian, he's a mundane warror, a puppet to his father's wishes." The anger in Loki's voice takes me off guard, the snarl following it bringing my thoughts to the man Loki really is, a villian. The thought frightens me, not sure how to respond to him.

Just nodding, I stay silent, looking at my hands collected in my lap, my Adam's Apple bobbing up and down as I swallow hard, a lump stuck in my throat, the weight pressing on my lungs again, another stab of pain shooting through my brain.

"Steve..." Loki interrupts my thinking mind, his hand going for the clump resting on my legs, his cold hand another reminder of the beast resting inside this dark haired man.

I want to change that. Supress the beast inside, warm the heart of this cold prince. From winter to summer. From a frozen heart of hatred to a warming heart of compassion.

I look at him, this thought chanting throughout my head, a smile forming on my dry lips.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Loki tries to look down at his face, causing his ice cold green eyes to cross, making his features look ridiculous.

I bellow out a laugh, a hearty and true one, the organ pumping the blood throughout my body feeling lighter, my lips cracking as I taste blood. Loki laughs at my laugh, the sound musical, like a siren sining to men out on the sea, instantiously warming the situation from moments before.

It captivates me, and I know the reason why all those months ago I started visited him. No, it wasn't because I enjoyed seeing him locked up like the caged beast he was, no that wasn't it at all. Actually, it was the fact that I wanted to see this caged beast free, to see his wings unfurl and his fangs retract. I wanted to free him. I wanted to love him, show him what it truly meant to love and be loved, not hate and be hated.

And I got my chance.

I smile at the laughing Loki, the soft pale skin around his mischievious green eyes crinkling, his always curled up lips completely unfurling and opening, revealing two rows of gorgeous white teeth, his tongue peeking through them, the sound emmiting from the opening marvelous and wonderful, a reel of a song that I instantly am hooked on all over again. I know fully why I defended myself and Loki against Stark and Thor. It's because I love him.

I...love him?

Yes, yes I do.

And I believe that with all my heart.

"What? Cat got your tongue as you Midgardians say?" Loki pokes me, the icy touch not feelig so icy anymore, instead a few degrees warmer, as if the laugh was a hot liquid raising his temperature. Or my realization making his coldness not seem as cold.

"No, just admiring you."

"Admiring me, hm?" He stands, modeling for me, familiar jeans and a shirt hugging his features making him appear more human and fit in.

"I could admire you all day and night and still not get enough of you." The words are out of my mouth as I barely have enough time to even think about them. The fire of embarrasment does not come this time, the words filling the air between us ringing with the pure honesty of love and compassion.

Loki stops, my words suprising him, his features contorting into an expression I never thought I would see on this Jotunheim born son: a look of pure happiness. He clicks his tongue after a moment, the air filling his lungs allowing him to speak. "Even with months of looking under your belt and you're still not sick of me yet?"

I sit up, taking the effort to attempt to stand, wincing witht the pain in my skull as I approach him. With a foot of space between us, I staggeringly stop and I look at him, putting out my hand. He takes it, a little hesitant if anything. "Loki, no matter how many days and weeks or years I get to wake up and see your face, I will never get tired of it. I love looking at the way your eyes twinkle with mystery and mischief, the way the skin around your eyes crinkle when you just laughed, the way your body perfectly fits in my clothes and the way you look completely exposed. I love the way you analyze people and situations, learning from your part. Hell, I love how much of a badass you can be. There isn't anything I don't love about you. Loki, I love you."