Psych the Avengers Out

Vanir Queen

Jay wakes up to bright sunshine and Thor's pacing. She rolls over in the bed and winces as her head pounds a bit. Too much went on yesterday. Ow, her body. Ow, her brain. After all of the drama in the throne room after the arrival to Asgard, followed by the drama with Steve, Jay went looking for the training rooms. She'd found an old training dummy in the back that looked padded enough and after asking some of the warriors nearby if she could use it, she pounded at it until her knuckles cracked and bled. At first, the warriors had scoffed at her, telling her the training dummy was for kids, but after they watched her beat its face into a pulp, they stayed quiet.

"What are you doing in here?" Jay mumbles to Thor, trying to wake up. He stops his pacing and comes over to her with quick steps, and kneels down in front of the bed, closer and staring into her eyes more intensely than he ever has before.

"You don't have to do this," he says fervently. "You don't have to take the barrier down and let Loki mess with your mind. It's not a good---"

She puts two fingers over his mouth to shush him. "Dude, just woke up," she grumbles and swings herself into a sitting position. "If you think I'm more susceptible to mental coercion since it's morning, then sorry to disappoint. Give me a minute to wake up before you start to try and convince me not to do something I've already set my mind to." Thor smiles sheepishly as she gets up and stretches. Every joint and muscle in her back and shoulders pops and expands as she reached upwards.

"Oh, holy ow, that feels great," she purrs. Thor spots the broken and scabbed skin on her hands and raises an eyebrow at her when she spots him looking. "What?" she says defensively. "The punching dummy needed his face rearranged so I happily obliged."

Thor snorts. "Sure," he says, clearly not believing her.

"True story," she quips and goes behind the changing screen to suit up for the day. While she's behind there Thor tries to think of the best way to talk Jay out of this. He's about to start in on the reasons she should never meet Loki, but her voice beats him to it. "I'm doing this Thor and you can't convince me otherwise," she says, sticking her head around the screen. "Besides," she says as she pulls herself back behind the screen. "It's the best way to figure this whole mystery out."

"It's not that I don't want to know what is going on, Jay," Thor sighs. "I just don't want it to be at the expense of your happiness."

The noise of moving clothing stops behind the screen momentarily and then Jay comes around the other side. Thor doesn't understand the look on her face at first. She looks shy and more vulnerable. "Do....did you really....mean that?"

At first, the question surprises him and he answers without thinking. "Of course I do Jay, why would I say any different?" Then he realizes. She's never really had anyone who cares about her in her life. Happiness and its safe-keeping in her life are new concepts to her. She's never had anyone who puts her needs ahead of their own. She's used to sacrificing her happiness and safety to just survive. He now understands why that upset Rogers so much. Rogers is the type of guy who cares about all of the things that Jay has always had to live without. Happiness, loyalty, and a safe place to call home. Here is why Rogers was so upset when Jay kept putting herself in tough situations. Rogers cares and Jay isn't used to that and her lack of sense of self-preservation scares Rogers.

But Thor understands in part. But unfortunately, only because he knows it's the same with Loki. A shiver of premonition runs through him. Is this how his brother was underneath all the jokes and wit? Was he this broken inside as well, so broken that he didn't care what happened to him? Jay's recklessness takes on a new meaning now.