Loki was overprotective all day and growled when anyone came to close to you. You jabbed him hard when he tried to growl at Tony. "Behave," you scolded him lightly and bribed him with a chocolate to stop growling at everyone. "They're not going to hurt me," you told him and popped another chocolate in his mouth when he opened it to protest.
When even the chocolates didn't help, you dragged him down to the training room to beat up on dummies until he worked out some of his rage. He finally burned off most of his rage when Thor came down and sparred with him. His rage didn't burn the rest of the way out until Thor pulled a nasty trick on him, with a quick wink to you ahead of time as your only warning. Thor grabbed you, holding you to him with a blade to your throat. You shrieked in surprise and shocked fear. You logically knew that Thor wouldn't hurt you, but he had never acted like this before either. Loki's rage flared and he lunged for Thor. Thor pushed you behind him to safety. You scrambled further away staring in awe at the furious battle. You realized then that you had never seen either of them truly fight. Loki wasn't a match for Thor physically, but he fought with speed, magic, and cleverness, where Thor faced his battles head-on. Thor would still win this match, you knew, but Loki was making him work for it. The battle was almost faster than your eyes could track and vicious, this wasn't sparring or a battle against mortals. This was Loki legitimately trying to kill Thor.
You saw the moment Loki burned out the last of his rage, saw him stumble, his magic flickering. You rushed between them, blasting Thor away with one of your repulsors, though the shot was at nearly the lightest setting, just enough to shock him and keep him from smashing you with Mjolnir. You steadied Loki when he started to crumple, exhausted after the furious battle.
Thor came over calmly and took Loki's weight from you. He threw Loki over his shoulder, though he was gentle about it, despite Loki's weak protests. "Brother, you were never a physical fighter, you would have your first experience with battle fury on Midgard," Thor commented gently. Loki just groaned in reply. "Apologies, Lady Y/N," Thor told you formally. "It was unkind to include you in this, but Loki needed to burn off the last of the battle fury in a safe manner and this was the best way,"
"Battle fury?" you asked, following Thor from the room. Loki seemed nearly unconscious draped over Thor's shoulder.
"It is not a common problem with my brother. He is generally a magician and a scholar. It can sometimes be hard for our warriors to disengage themselves from battle, especially if the battle is for something, or someone, they love. They get lost in the fear and rage and lash out at anyone and anything around them. It was safe for him to burn off the last of his fear and rage against me, and much preferable to him hurting someone on the team or any of the Midgardians. He should be back to normal when he wakes," Thor added kindly. You walked with him all the way back to Loki's room and opened the door for him. Thor laid the unconscious Loki in his bed, but you pulled the blankets up around him. "If you would like to do him a kindness, make sure you are here when he wakes. And please, try not to be too hard on him for this. It was not his fault,"
You nodded. "Thanks, Thor. I'll take care of him,"
"Thank you, Lady. Make sure he eats something when he wakes." You rolled your eyes.
"After living with you for years, I think I know how much you two eat," you teased him. He laughed, gave you a small bow, and left you to care for your Loki. You brushed his hair back from his face before you searched his bookshelf for something to read and curled in the chair next to his bed to watch over him while he recovered.
*
Loki shot bolt upright a couple hours later. You rushed to his side, sitting on the edge of his bed. "Shh, love, it's ok," you told him gently, trying to ease his panic.
"Where's Thor? What-?" you pulled him to you and rested his head on your shoulder, petting his hair until he calmed.
"Thor said you were caught in something called battle fury. Everything's ok. You've just been sleeping it off," you told him gently. He finally calmed, but you kept running your fingers through his hair, until he melted and purred softly. You smiled warmly at him, knowing that it was cheating to use his weaknesses against him, but his happiness was contagious and warmed your heart whenever you saw his true happiness.
He pouted when you tried to get off of the bed. "I'm hungry," you told him. "We should go find something to eat." You offered him a hand. He took it and let you lead him from the room. He still seemed drained and off, not enraged anymore, but he was unsteady and trying to regain his emotional balance. You settled him on one of the stools in the kitchen where he could watch you cook. You didn't want to wait for takeout and he was fascinated by watching food be prepared. You made a giant pot of seafood fettuccine and garlic bread to go with it. You didn't cook often, but this was one of the things you could handle making. You dished some out on a plate for yourself, and tripled the portion on the plate you handed to Loki. He looked at you incredulously, but didn't argue. You sat with him at the dining room table and you lit a single candle between you with a smirk. He laughed at your mock-romantic gesture. With his laughter and food in his belly, he was finally back to normal.
