Flightless (LokixReader)

Chapter Nineteen

(Your Pov)

"So, how'd it go?" Tony started the conversation, directing his question toward the Asgardians despite how it was meant for a certain human-shaped vault of secrets.

Thor piped up, setting down his second bowl of stew before most of the team had started into their first. "Wondrous! We have found a new heading that I believe will be quite favorable." Natasha had made the dinner tonight; somehow corralling the entire team to gather at the table at once.

Once the first spoonful brushed your lips, the flavor infused into the meat drew you in for a second heaping, then a third and fourth until you were gorging yourself in search of the sensation of lightning dancing on your tongue. You didn't know, even as you had piled on the salt on your eggs the morning before your journey, that this was the flavor you had been craving.

Then the others tried it.

"Holy- Gah!" Tony wheezed, reaching for the milk Natasha strategically brought out and set at the other end of the table. Steve and Bruce had a similar reaction, even Clint who had become accustomed to such dishes over his time spent in the widow's presence. "I swear I will start breathing fire if I take another bite."

Romanoff smirked, taking a bite herself to prove her strength. She glanced at you and Thor, who were moving onto your third helpings. "It's not that bad, is it?"

"It's very good." You brave the compliment, nodding sheepishly. Since you joined the princes' quest, your reputation with the team has skyrocketed. You felt as if you were passed the 'tolerating' stage, finding that they welcomed your opinions and presence at the table.

"I'm actually surprised that you can handle it." Clint chuckled, taking small bites of his first bowl. The team looked on curiously in agreement, until the soldier intervened.

Steve guffawed, "Did Nat give you a warning?"

"Something of the sort."

The team laughed, circling back to Tony's new favorite topic. "So what is the new heading?"

"They're human." Thor announced nonchalantly.

The table dropped to silence. "Human?" A dragon turned human? Living amongst their kind without as much as the smallest suspicions upon them? How far had humanity failed not to see an imposter? How much suffering in the world had been caused by such a violent creature hidden within something you never thought could be a threat? "You're sure?"

"It's a new heading." Thor smiled, explaining how they had come to this conclusion in the first place. With every word spoken, as the events were replayed and the questions pointed in a direction so uncomfortably close to the truth, you forced yourself to remain calm. To sit silently and tolerate how the assumptions sailed so close to your hideaway beneath the surface of secrets.

When you dared glance up from what little of your meal you pushed around the bowl, you found a pair of eyes locked on your movements. His irises like the forests that had surrounded your hideout on your outing, thick with trickery and intrigue. You wanted to think that he didn't connect the topics. That this was simply some 'are you alright' response to the expression you knew you couldn't hide a moment longer on your own. Not without magic or any other means to escape this pressure that tied knots in your gut.

Loki raised a brow, his message clear to you now. You know.

"Do you think Shield would know something about this?"

Oh god...

All eyes fell on Banner, who knew a thing or two about monsters hiding behind human façades. "I'm just saying that they tend to keep an eye on anything that could be... Well, that could be a disaster."

"Wouldn't hurt to ask Fury." Clint surmised, and you couldn't help but drown in the waves of dread that crashed over you.

Loki finally decided, in his inquisitive and absentminded state, to take a bite of this dangerous meal.

He sputtered and spat as if his very lungs were on fire; downing his prepared glass of milk before summoning another. "Are you alright?" You asked.

"What- Why do humans have such poison?" He complained in reply, fighting to catch his breath. The team laughed, offering no further solutions to the prince's issues.

But it hadn't been that spicy, had it?

*

(Tony's Pov)

What the hell.

What. The. Hell.

Tony stared at the ceiling, awaiting her arrival. He didn't believe that anyone at the table had missed Y/N's absolutely dread ridden expression at dinner, and the genius assumed that each team member assumed as much for different reasons. And perhaps his own suspicions were wrong: perhaps she simply was dreading the same thought of a dragon walking among them.

But it didn't seem that way. Not how all the clues were lining up.

However, Stark had never taken to jumping to conclusions, and he refused to do so now. He needed to test his theory.

"Stark?" Natasha appeared at the doorway, long after the others had resigned to the residential floors. "What's going on?"

Tony's eyes never left the screen, but his attention split to accommodate the spy's presence. "How is your standing with Fury nowadays?"

"We have an understanding." Natasha said, moving further into the room to catch a glimpse of his work. "Why?" Her eyes landed on the screen, studying the different temperature points.

"Do you think he would be up for dropping by next week?" He glanced back, finding the same confused expression on her face as he had when this data first appeared. Most of the tower glowed with a blue light, save for the labs, servers, or Loki's room at a touch cooler of a temperature.

But as for heat sources?

"What makes you think she would talk to him?" Romanoff asked, crossing her arms.

"Oh, not for her." Tony chuckled, inspired by the Asgardians' plan. It should have worked: to lure a dragon to protect its possessions. Only... they had had the wrong hoard in mind. "I want Fury to bring all the king's horses and all the king's men to question Loki."