Marvel And Melanated Imagines (ongoing)

cough | loki laufeyson

You opened your eyes to the big of sunlight streaming through the window and yawned while your muscles stretched and twitched. You then cuddled back up to Loki's chest, resolving yourself to five more minutes in bed before you would get up and begin working on your to do list for the weekend. He snuggled against you and you noticed something odd, he was much warmer than usual. He wasn't ever really warm, him being a frost giant of course, but today his temperature seemed too high.

You moved your hand to his forehead to double check, but wondered if that even applied to him. Would his forehead be the right place to check? Does a warm temperature even mean he was sick? What kind of sickness did frost giants even get?

He looked at you strangely, "What are you doing?" You could tell his voice was hoarse and his nose was clogged - definitely sick. He immediately reached a hand to the bridge of his nose and pinched, "My head hurts". 

You replied, "I was checking your temperature, I think you might be sick. It kind of seems like the flu, there's always a lot of sick people out during this time of year."

He scoffed, "I would never contract some puny Midguardian ailment. I am fine". You rolled your eyes at the stubbornness, not believing him but knowing better to argue, and started to get out of the bed. He quickly stood but immediately sat back down and clutched his head. 

"The symptoms of the flu are a stuffed up nose, a headache, general aching, and a sore throat. Some people experience more or less than that, it kind of depends on the person and the strain". Loki opened his mouth to protest but closed it when he was reminded of his sore throat. There was a chance that he might be sick.

"Just stay in bed and I'll get everything you need, okay?" Loki just made a noise in agreement. You quickly went downstairs and started to make some brown sugar oatmeal. You also grabbed a powdered vitamin C packet, two glasses of water, a few cough drops, and an ice pack wrapped in a rag. First you brought him the oatmeal and both drinks. Initially he refused to even consider consuming the bright pink liquid, but you convinced him that it would help him feel better so he gave in. 

After forcing him to eat and drink, you had him lay back down and put the cold rag on his forehead. "If your throat hurts or you start coughing, take one of these," you gestured at the cough drops, "let me know if you need anything, I'll be right downstairs. I know you just woke up so you can read if you must, but you should probably get as much sleep as possible".

Loki laid back, feeling completely like shit. How could he feel so weak? How did humans even survive this if it reduced a god to this state. He slowly slipped off to sleep.

After a while, you decided to make him some lunch, his favorite soup, when you heard something from the stairs. You turned around to see Loki carefully making his way down the stairs. 

"Lunch is almost ready, why don't you lay on the couch while you wait?" He seemed to consider your suggestion before agreeing and sitting on the couch. You brought him a bowl and sat in the chair. You filled the time with stories you thought he would enjoy and at the end, you fetched a blanket and pillow, another cough drop, and the TV remote and set them on the coffee table next to the couch. 

"Want to sleep down here babe?" You asked him. "Yes," he replied and laid down.

You continued to work on your computer close to the couch. Suddenly you heard movement, and you decided to stand up and go over to Loki to see if he had woken up or if he was having a nightmare. 

You heard him call out your name. "Don't leave me. I love you." Stunned, you paused for a second before rubbing his back to gently wake him up. Although he was sharing your apartment, because they needed someone from S.H.I.E.L.D to watch him when he first came and you had experience dealing with sorcerers and you hadn't been in New York at that time so you wouldn't abuse him, you hadn't been dating for an extremely long time and you both hadn't said the L word yet.

Loki woke up scared. His eyes seemed to be panicked and frantically searching for something. They stopped when he found your face and he jolted up to wrap you in a tight hug. Both of you just stayed in that position for a bit before breaking apart, "Wanna tell me about it?" you questioned softly. 

He nodded, unshed tears shimmering in his eyes, "I had a dream where you were injured. You were dying and I was too weak to help you. I couldn't save you and you hated me for it. I wasn't good enough."

You sighed, "I promise I would never leave you because you were sick. I would kiss you if I didn't want to catch the flu, and also..." you got more serious, "I love you too."

His eyes widened and his face broke out into a smile. You spent the rest of the day sitting together on the couch, laughing and watching your favorite TV show. Thanks to his frost giant body, the flu had hit him hard but it was over quickly.

...

The next day, you woke up achy and sore. You groaned and then fell into a coughing fit before attempting to sit up. You felt a cool hand push you back into the pillow. "I'll take care of it," Loki assured you, "go back to bed." Maybe being sick wouldn't be so awful with such a handsome nurse.