Strangers on this Road

Chapter 7: Goodbyes and Flowers

Loki and I spent the rest of the night in my room, talking about my favourite books, some of Loki's fun adventures and I got him to watch the second How To Train Your Dragon movie. I don't even know how late we stayed up, but once we started getting tired, Loki respectfully moved to his bed. I don't know what I expected from asking Loki to stay with me, but last night was definitely what I needed.

Right now, we're sat in the kitchen eating breakfast, I just made a simple jam on toast. I'm a young Avenger, alright, not a chef. Loki seems to be enjoying it, we're sat opposite each other at the kitchen island. I hear footsteps come into the kitchen, I slowly look up to see Steve wander in and head straight to the fridge. He pulls out the carton of milk, ready for his morning coffee. As he pours his coffee into his usual mug, he looks over at me, "so...Tony says you two had a fun training session yesterday." 

I start to lightly choke on my toast as he puts emphasis on the word 'fun,' but I'm lucky enough to quickly calm down my coughing. As my eyes shoot up to Steve, I swear I can see Loki's cheek flush ever so slightly. He's back in his 'Asgardian' form and I swore to not tell the rest of the team about his true heritage, "why would you say it like that, old man?" I ask, trying to put some humour into the conversation.

He puts the milk into his coffee before putting the carton back in the fridge, I notice that both Loki and I have finished our food so I use my magic to lift the plates up and put them in the dishwasher. Steve keeps glancing between me and Loki, I flick my hand and a cabinet door opens on his head. He yelps in shock, causing me and Loki to bursts into fits of laughter, "Uh huh, okay, very funny," Steve can't help but chuckle with us, "it's nice to see you warming up to this place, Loki."

"Well, we have the little witchling to thank for that," Loki shoots a quick smile at me, "you're all lucky to have her in this team."

Steve starts to drink his coffee, but I notice his sudden avoidance of eye contact, "yeah, so...speaking of the team. We think we've found the HYDRA base we've been looking for," my back suddenly straightens along with my eyes slightly widening, "everyone's being brought on for this one...except you."

My heart drops into my stomach, "but you guys promised me that when you find it, I'll be permitted to come with you. You know, show those bastards what they're dealing with. Those were your words, Steve. Why the hell have I been pulled from this," he makes eye contact with me, I notice a hint of sadness in his eyes and that tells me all I need to know, "Tony did this, didn't he?"

"Look, kid, he just feels like...you know, you haven't got full grasp of your powers and this is a dangerous mission. We don't want you hurting yourself or any-"

He stops mid sentence, hoping that we wouldn't catch onto what he was going to say, but even he knows it's too late. I slam my fists on the counter, all the cabinet doors fly open causing Steve to duck his head and Loki rushes to his feet, "you know what, that's great. It's nice to see that you and Tony are finally on the same page about something. That's fucking fantastic."

I force all the cabinet doors to slam shut before storming out of the room.

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I slam my phone onto the floor, I luckily don't hear a crack, and I shove my face in my hands. I try to control my breathing, anything to stop my brain from screaming at me. I love Tony and Steve to pieces, I really do...which is why it hurts even more when they doubt the control I have. That loneliness feeling starts to set back in. I can't seem to understand how this all can be happening right now. How so many things can go wrong in so little time? 

I hear the familiar sound of a spider web come towards me and I look up to see Peter staring at me with concern in his eyes. As he makes his way to sit next to me, we stay in a still and comfortable silence, he  slowly starts to reach for my hand and I let him take it. I lean my head on his shoulder, trying not to let go of all the tears built up in my eyes, "I've been pulled from the teachers aid program. Tony thinks it's just putting me in more stress."