Sad green eyes

9

Knock knock

"Come in," Loki said quietly. He was sitting on the floor, next to his bedside table, back against the wall and his head against the window, watching the busy city streets below.

"Hey reindeer games, I..." Tony stopped in the middle of the room and looked around. "Where are you?"

"Down here," Loki mumbled in reply. Stark was not the person he had been hoping to see.

Tony walked around the bed until he saw Loki on the floor. "Ahh, watcha doing down there?"

"Plotting to take over the world," Loki said dryly.

"You better not be, because I brought you something and I don't want this peace offering to go to waste."

Loki looked up at him and then down at the book that was in his hand. "I figured if you had something to do, you'd have less time to plot against us," he said as he crouched down and handed Loki the book. Loki took the book and looked over the cover as Tony made himself comfortable on the floor by the bed. "It's called Harry Potter, it's a series about this boy who goes to a school of witchcraft and wizardry. Figured it might be up your alley."

Loki's lip curled ever so slightly at the corners. Had Tony not been watching him carefully for his reaction, he'd have missed it. "Thank you."

"There's seven books in total, so if you like it, let me know and I'll get you the rest."

Loki was still starring at the book as he ran his thumb up and down the spine of the book, lost in thought. Tony took the moment to analyse him. Something was wrong. Something had been wrong with Loki since the moment he got here, he could feel it, but he couldn't work out exactly what it was.

The sound of someone clearing their throat broke both Tony and Loki out of their thoughts. Nat was standing next to them with a bowl of fruit cut into little pieces. So she's still having to feed him he noted to himself. "I best be going, lots of work to do in the lab," Tony announced as he got up and made his way out the door, leaving the two of them to their morning routine.

"I got a little surprise for you today," Nat said whilst placing the bowl on the side table. Loki looked up at her, he felt a little nervous but himself that the widow was a good person (on the inside at least) and this surprise wouldn't be like the surprises He used to give. He eyed her up and down, noticing something protruding in the front pocket of her hoodie. His eyes rose to meet hers a questioning look in his eyes. "Come on," she said offering her hand out to Loki to pull him up. He didn't take it, but he did stand up, despite the effort it took for him to do so.

Nat walked around to the desk and picked up the desk chair and walked with it to the bathroom. This got Loki's attention. What was she up to? She used the lever to lift the chair to its maximum height and patted it, indicating that Loki should sit. "What are you doing?" he questioned.

"I'm going to wash your hair in the sink." She pulled out a hair brush from her pocket, "and brush it."

"My hair is fine", he said standing in the doorway to the bathroom.

"No, your hair looks fine," she corrected. "Now sit." Loki walked over to the chair and sat down but immediately started to pick at his nails. He was tense and nervous, that much Nat could see. She sat down on the edge of the bathtub and looked at Loki. "Hey, you don't have to be embarrassed," she said gently.

Loki let out a shaky breath then leaned back against the sink positioning his head so Nat would be able to wet his hair. Though his eyes were shut tight and he obviously wasn't relaxed, he was willing to let Nat help him.

She stood up and grabbed the shampoo and conditioner bottles from the shower, placing them on the vanity. She turned the tap on, adjusted it to a warm temperature then started to wet the end of Loki's hair. He didn't pull away so Nat scooped some water in her hand and wet the top his hair too. As she worked the shampoo through his hair she could feel the knots that she'd have to untangle. This is going to be hard if I can't see she thought to herself.

When she looked back towards Loki's face, she saw that his eyes were still closed, but he seemed less tense than before. As she worked the shampoo into his scalp, she visibly saw the tension lessen in his shoulders. At least he's relaxing a little bit. Next she added a generous amount of conditioner, hoping that it would make it easier for her to brush through his hair later.

When she was done, she gently lifted his head and towel dried his hair. "I think we should sit on the bed for the brushing. It might take a while, may as well be comfortable." Loki agreed and followed her to the bed. Nat sat cross legged in the middle of the bed and motioned for Loki to sit in front of her. He did so, but she noticed the tension had returned to his shoulders. "Would you be able to drop the illusion for me? I don't think I can do this without looking at what I'm doing."

Nat thought he was tense before, but now he was twice as tense. He basically became a statue, Nat was worried for a few seconds that he had even stopped breathing. Then Loki broke the silence in a quiet and small voice. "It's not an illusion. It's... a glamour." Nat didn't understand the difference until Loki summoned two glowing orbs that floated just above his open hand. He brought his other hand to the green and grey orb and pried it open a smidgen with his fingers. Immediately Loki's appearance changed. It wasn't instantaneous like she'd seen him do during the battle. He had to summon those orb things. Is that how's it's different to an illusion?

She filed the thought away for later as she looked Loki over. His hair was clearly knotted now and she noticed bruising around his neck. She couldn't see the rest of him as Loki made sure that all his sleeves were pulled down to cover himself as much as possible. She also noticed how his green sweater seemed to hang a lot looser on him too.

Nat was pretty sure Loki wouldn't want to talk about it, so she passed him the bowl of fruit she had prepared and got to work on detangling his hair.

After about 15 minutes, Nat had finally finished detangling the knots. "There we are. Silky smooth again."

"Thank you," Loki said quietly, looking down at his half eaten bowl of fruit, letting the hair fall over his face.

Nat moved to sit next to Loki, dangling her feet off the side of the bed. She reached out slowly to tuck a piece of his hair behind his ear. As she did so, the hair revealed Loki's sharp cheek bones, dark circles or maybe bruises, around his eyes and healing lacerations across his face. He didn't look up at her, but he let her look. She gently cupped his face and ran her thumb over his cheek bones. "Let us help you," she whispered.

"I don't want help," Loki whispered back whilst slightly pulling away from her touch. 

"You're hurt. I know you are. All I'm asking is that you let Bruce look you over." This made Loki snap his head up. "He's a healer and we won't do anything without your permission," she assured. Loki seemed to contemplate the request but Nat could see the nerves painted on his face and through the restless movements of his hands. She reached out and held his hand to still him. He stopped fidgeting and starred at her hand. "You'll be ok Loki."

Loki released a resigned sigh, "I'll never be ok," he whispered so quietly that Nat almost couldn't hear it. She didn't expect that response from him. It was so raw and full of pain and vulnerability, she didn't know what to do. Luckily Loki continued, "you can assess me if it will put your mind at ease. But only you and Banner can see."

"Ok. I'll let you read your book for a while first. Banner's out for a walk in the park at the moment. We'll do it in a few hours when he's back."

Loki nodded and summoned the orbs back. He pinched the cracked opened green/grey orb back closed and his appearance went back to the healthier looking disguise he had previously been adorning. "Thank you. For brushing my hair. It was very kind of you," Loki said as he settled on the bed, book in his lap.

"You're welcome," Nat replied and left Loki to his reading.