Disclaimer: This story is based on characters of The Marvel Universe and all characters thereof belong to them. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended and no money is being made.
AN: Set after the Avengers, but alludes to Loki's experiences in both movies. Darcy is not a character for the Avengers, so this story is here in Thor.
8/18 AN: I just want to thank scarletwitch0, Sara60691 and two guests who took the time to review my story. I wasn't sure how this would read. Your reviews and questions helped me to add a couple of details and add inspired the second chapter. I appreciate it!
She purposely takes no notice of it for as long as she could, which wasn't long at all. It niggles at her brain, worming inside her conscience until it flares a bright light. With a huff, she shuts her lids against the night and counts one hundred forty-eight heart-beats, hoping for a few more moments of calm and feigned ignorance. It doesn't work though. Like the familiarity of her taser, she just knows he is there. It brings little comfort. She feels paranoid and irritated all in one go. "You're obscene staring is disrupting my serene setting."
Thirty-three heart-beats in, her hand tightens around her taser. She wonders if her imagination has gone haywire. A soft chuckle assaults her ears.
"Pray tell, how is laying on an edge of the tallest building in this sprawling metropolis a calming endeavor."
"Don't knock it, 'til you try it." Stillness. She feels that unwavering gaze. It is unnerving. Seventy-one heart-beats. Her survival instincts burn, aching to react. Her body twitches with a rejected tremble. She lets words cover it lest he suspect her unease. "Up here one would almost think they could fly." The silence gapes, an unending space of heart-beats, fraying on her annoyance. "Tried it once you know, took that leap. A scientist I am not, but it led to questions I should never have analyzed." She is ambiguous in her meaning, but he picks it up anyway and she knows this too. Gambling her emotions on him is the scariest thing she has ever done; imprudent too, if she listens to her friends.
"Trial by fire has always been a penchant of mine. What did you conclude from that foray into the unknown?" His voice sounds closer, but she refuses to verify that observation.
"My ability to fly was an emphatic no." Her eyes remain steadfastly shuttered. "However, I fall quite spectacularly." Twelve heart-beats this time and then:
"So why chance the ledge?" She can hear the slight curiosity in his smirk.
"I am ogling the marvel that is our universe." The resounding 'duh' is heavily implied. Her words push forward without thought, covering the soft click of the switch purposely flicked by her thumb. His gaze never wanders. She wonders if this is what animals in a zoo feel like. She remembers, randomly, that she never liked zoos. Twenty-one heart-beats.
"Yet your eyes are closed." He is annoyed now; his voice conveys it in spades though he attempts to veil it with amusement. She is savvy enough to catch it. Forget the zoo; an ant under a magnifying glass had to feel safer than this. She continues on, as if unfazed. In for a penny . . .
"Of course, how else would one pay homage to its overwhelmingly beauty. It's frighteningly complex in that façade of twinkling simplicity; an intriguing duality one must confess." Five heart-beats.
"And if you were perchance to drop into dreams, a sleepy slip to your left would have you in dire straits."
Her reply is immediate: "Yes, but the few seconds of freedom are a magnificent view. Might be worth it to fall." His brain churns, she can feel it. An eternity of heart-beats. She has lost count. . . . In for a pound. "Did you fly?"
"No."
The air shifts around her, grows heavy. She breathes it in and opens her eyes. His own swirl in anguish above hers, before becoming obscured by a blinding rage. "My fall," distaste flavors the word as it leaves his mouth, "was a dramatic prelude to self-destruction and continued self-loathing" The rage vanishes in a blink and his gaze finally lifts past her into the night beyond. The emptiness now apparent in his eyes becomes more alarming than the emotion that preceded it. Her left thumb creeps upward. His voice continues, mirroring the apathy of those eyes that shoot back down to meet her own. The green depths flash red. "It was terrifying in its bloody splendor, the duality of it not unlike your own." He speaks with certainty of her life as his head moves, lowers slowly, red eyes closer.
His short shout echos her own as jolts of high-voltage energy shove him up and back, onto the rooftop's floor. Her repressed tremble cascades into violent shakes as she slides to the right, over the ledge and huddles against the short wall. Ninety-seven heart-beats; the hum of electricity and ragged gasps are the only sounds in the motionless night. Then, her body stills; her breathing evens; her thumb turns off the taser.
Forty-six heartbeats.
Cloth scraping ground assaults her ears once, as he gets up; twice, as he slides down the wall to crouch beside her.
Sixteen heart-beats.
He is staring again.
She purposely takes no notice of it for as long as she could, which wasn't long at all. It niggles at her brain, worming inside her conscience until it flares a bright light. With a huff, she shut her lids and counts one hundred forty-eight heart-beats, hoping for a few more moments of calm and feigned ignorance. It doesn't work though. Like the familiarity of her taser, she just knows he is there.
Thirty-eight heart beats in and his hand tightens around her taser. She opens her eyes to see him toss it over the ledge; a grand gesture for a being that can vanish it instantly. His jade gaze searches her own before tugging her into his embrace. She tenses, a fraction of a heart-beat, before relaxing into his space. Her head snuggles against his chest. "Loki, I'm sorry," whispers into his shirt.
Two heart-beats.
His sigh ruffles her hair, arms tightening around her, his salvation. Lips brush against her ear as he replies in kind, before sliding their bodies down to rest comfortably against the wall. His head tilts back against the ledge, gazing up towards the cosmos, mutely praying in desperation to the only Father he has known. He must fly this time if they are both to survive another fall.
In the stillness of the night, she falls asleep to the sound of his heart beat.