A Tale of Mischief and Mutants part 2

Overzealous

—-Sam—-

I try to keep my mind off the throbbing pain in my leg and my building anxiety over whatever doctor Thor's retrieving as I lay snuggled up next to my man. I've made myself very comfortable underneath the covers of the hospital bed getting as close to Lo' as I can. I find myself absentmindedly tracing the dark sapphire markings that decorate the cerulean skin on his arm that holds me close.

I jump startled when the door opens I feel Loki flinch too. He does something unexpected then and quickly pulls away from me turning away from the doorway with his head down. 'Ashamed to have anyone see him this way.' I frown too upset by his reaction to even look to see whoever is at the door. I hear the sound of two separate pairs of footsteps come into the room. I then hear Thor sounding cautiously optimistic.

"Brother?"

Loki apprehensively looks up realizing at least one of the two people who came in aren't going to be completely taken aback by his appearance. Thor studies Loki's expression for a second noticing the distinct lack of fear on Loki's face. He smiles realizing his brother's not only back home safely but back mentally as well.

Thor runs over and before Loki can get a single word out embraces him. Loki gives in and doesn't object, in some sense though he's uncomfortable with it he's still equally enjoying it. Thor, knowing Loki's likely uncomfortable with hugging both in front of a doctor and while he's in this form keeps the hug relatively short.

He only did it because he really, really, needed it. Thor's been so incredibly, albeit silently, distressed by Loki's disappearance that he couldn't help himself but to hold his little brother tight now that he's fully back with us. Thor's also undoubtedly being so emotional due to seeing his brother act normal again after what happened yesterday. He's still shaken by how Loki responded to him and I completely understand, it was gut wrenching for me to witness too.

I look from the two brothers to find Strange is in the room. I breathe a sigh of relief both for myself and because it'll help Loki's anxiety with this form if there's nobody in here that's never at least in some sense seen him in this form before. Now he'll know he's not going to shock or scare anybody. Strange smiles lightly trying to cut the clear tension in the room from his presence here. He addresses Loki.

"It's good to see you awake and lucid again."

Loki looks like he wishes the earth would open up beneath him and swallow him whole. Embarrassed and ashamed of his appearance he hates that Strange is seeing him like this.

"...Strange..."

Loki can't think of anything to say to Strange that will make himself less uncomfortable or break the tension in any way so his sentence goes unfinished leaving an awkward silence in the air. Strange's smile falls and he decides to fill it.

"I'm so sorry this happened, that I didn't prepare you at all for something like this... if I'd taught you some basic defensive spells against dark magic-"

Loki shakes his head cutting Strange off feigning arrogance in an attempt to try to distract Strange from his perceived incompetence.

"If not for the runes I would've been able to hold my own well enough without need of your realm's inferior magic..."

He takes a breath his shoulders slumping as he decides to drop the act at Strange's genuine concern over him.

"besides, It's not your fault I couldn't be trusted."

Strange ignores the first half of Loki's statement having known Lo' long enough to know his attitude is a defense mechanism he uses when he feels embarrassed or vulnerable he shakes his head looking at Loki pointedly.

"But it's obvious you could have. The Tesseract has been safely stored with minimum security just a stroll down the road from your place of residence for six years now, and you never made a move for it, not once. No matter how difficult things got for you, that proves your plan was never to fall back into old habits.
You can be trusted.
...I should have been able to see that but I ignored all the evidence of that and stubbornly refused you critical knowledge... and- and now you've had to pay the price for my mistake. I will do whatever I can to help you get back to normal, and when you're feeling better I'd like you to come by the sanctum so you can both, begin some training on Eldridge Magic, and so you can check some selections out of our library, it's long overdue. Sam is also welcome to train with us of course."

Loki looks shocked. He seems lost for words. He's always acted above Midgardian sorcery which if I know my husband probably means he's always been incredibly interested in learning it.

"...Stephen ....thank you."

Strange smiles.

"Of course."

Loki smiles slightly at this looking a bit uncharacteristically timid at Strange's offer. Strange then addresses me.

"On another note, Sam, I hear you're taking painful injuries from unconscious people now."

I smile slightly and attempt humor hoping to crush the tension even more than Strange has already managed.

"Only the ones lucky enough to be my husband."

Strange nods slightly taking the seat next to the bed.

"Care if I have a look?"

I nod slightly and move the covers off my injury. Loki sees the wound now and looks shocked at how bad it is.

"Sam-!"

I cut him off before he can get any more words out.

"-Shh I don't want to hear a word about it. I wanted to do it. I wasn't gonna let you feel it again when I'm right here. You were kidnapped right in front of me and ended up almost dead and in the hospital, I'm allowed to be a little overzealous for a while."

Loki still doesn't look too happy about my decision to take this wound but he sees no point in arguing further and just shuts his mouth deciding I'm too stubborn and it's not worth arguing over something I'm not going to budge on. I look back at Strange.

"What's the verdict doc?"

He looks it over one last time before looking up at me again.

"Well, it's quite a deep wound with some heavy bruising around the edges as well. Luckily Loki already healed it to the point of clotting over that's the most dangerous part of this kind of injury that and the risk of infection if left untreated that is. The laceration's at an artery, not a major one but one that's significant enough to cause some concerning blood loss if not properly dealt with.
Nothing extremely life threatening, but nothing you'd want to take your chances with either. I recommend stitches which I'll unfortunately be unable to do due to my hands, an anesthetic for the pain, elevation, a cold compress, all the other usual treatments I'm sure you know by now, and lots of rest. Oh and stay off that foot when you can avoid it for a week at the very least."

I nod now slightly nervous at the prospect of having another doctor come in to do the stitches I try to deflect from my anxiety with humor to keep myself calm. I halfway steal a quote from one of the best Disney 'villains' of all time.

"If I had a nickel for every time I've been told to stay off my feet I'd have like 25 cents which isn't a lot but it's still weird that it happens this often."

Strange chuckles.

"Not many injure themselves as often as you do Samantha."

Exchanging just a bit more conversation Strange soon leaves promising to figure out some options for getting Loki back to normal. Loki says he'll do the same to which Strange tells him it's not a bad idea but to make sure he gets pleanty of rest too. I nod at him as he glances at me before wishing us goodbye and leaving knowing he's halfway instructing me to make sure Loki gets enough rest too.

It'll be a challenge Loki's going to want to get back to looking 'normal' as soon as possible but I know if anyone can convince him not to worry about it till he's feeling better it's me.