Brotherhood - Loki & Thor ♡

50. cold skin

In Loki's belief, Thor was not capable of getting himself hurt. That was just... a simple untrue statement. Thor was strong. Thor was invincible. Which was why Loki was having an extremely hard time wrapping his head around the fact that Thor had been injured.

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He'd been pacing back and forth around his brother's medical ward for a good half an hour, feeling like he was losing his mind. There must be some - must be some misunderstanding. But what misunderstanding could it be when lying there unconscious, on a bed, under a layer of blanket with an IV drip hooked to the vein in the back of his hand, was Loki's brother.

A cruel joke, perhaps. Because Thor wasn't the type of man who would get hurt. In the past, it was Loki. It had always been Loki who was weak enough to get hit during a mission or an adventure to another realm while Thor was the one who would make a fuss over his injuries and lecture him how he should be more careful, then Thor would tend to Loki's wounds. That was how it always was, ever since their youth.

Loki knew how to act when he was hurt. He didn't know how to act when Thor was hurt.

What happened today happened in an instance, in the blink of an eye. There was a mission, he and Thor went with the rest of the Avengers. When things were messy, Loki heard Thor groan, when he turned to look he saw blood. Which shouldn't be so alarming — because Thor was a warrior, shedding blood wasn't something that was so unusual but a part of what Thor did every day — hadn't it been so much flooding through Thor's hand, that was pressed against his abdomen, until his armor was soaked in dark shade of red, sticky liquid. Almost black. And Loki knew right away this was bad. This wasn't normal. Thor had bled before, sure, but it was never this much, never this fast.

Loki didn't remember slaying each and every single one of their enemies in one quick, rage-filled, swipe of his hand — with the ancient seidr he had never been confident enough to chant its spell before, and an animalistic cry from his lungs. One by one, they all dropped to the floor like puppets cut from its strings with a hole in their chests, pierced through their hearts.

Loki didn't remember the drive back to the compound, but he did remember making quite a scene when Bruce Banner and Stephen Strange tried to pry Thor away from his possessive hold. How dared they, thinking they could take Thor away.

But in the end he let go, reluctantly, only because Thor told him to.

Thor wouldn't let Loki heal him. That was frustrating. Loki was no healer nor a doctor, but his magic could still at least make things better. If Thor could just let him. That stubborn oaf.

A groan from Thor's bed brought Loki back to reality. He stopped pacing and when he turned to the direction, Thor was waking up. Hopefully it wouldn't take the oaf long to get accustomed to that huge white gauze wrapped around his abdomen where the deep slash was, according to Doctor Stephen, the gauze wasn't going anywhere soon except for the daily replacement.

"They're very specific that you stay in bed," Loki's voice was sharp, like knives. Though it seemed to do the trick, for Thor stopped his attempt at trying to get on his feet. They looked at each other, on Thor's end it appeared Thor hadn't expected Loki to be here — that he thought Loki would be out causing whatever mischief Loki liked causing, and on Loki's end it appeared he was struggling to keep the feelings at bay, and he wasn't doing a very good job at it. Both of them were tense, guarded, because opening up and expressing sentimental emotions so openly had never been the Odinsons' strength.

In the end it was Loki who broke the silence with a fierce hiss. "You idiot," he snarled while Thor's expression remained stern. "You could have died. You nearly did die," there was a crack in Loki's voice. His vision, must to Loki's own dismay, was getting clouded with tears welling up in his eyes.