All My Windows Still Are Broken
I recognized Tony's sparkling clean black Mustang GT from the bench where I was sitting and sighed in relief. Walking up, I waited until he stopped before climbing into the car.
"Thank you, Tony. I'm sorry if I interrupted anything. I just didn't know who else to call." I apologized.
"Anastasia, it's fine," Loki promised me from the back seat. "Did you eat?"
"No," I answered, remembering that we were supposed to eat after going ice skating and I sighed, wishing the pain away. "Not yet."
"There's a really good bakery not far from here." Tony offered. "I get soup from there all the time."
"That sounds great," I murmured gratefully, the heat from the car sinking into my fingers and toes. Tony nodded and glanced back at Loki for his approval, before turning on the next street. The bakery was small, but looked homey from the outside, the kind of bakery I'd always dreamed of having.
"They have the best potato soup here." Tony bragged, a little excited as he got out of the car and waited for my door to close before locking his car. "C'mon, let's sit down and you can tell us what happened."
I followed Tony and Loki inside, grateful for the warmth and tried not to grin at them when they slid on the same side of the booth, sitting a little too close together. After we ordered our drinks and soup, Tony looked at me expectantly.
"What was going on?" He asked.
"Ashley and the girls invited me to go to the Botanical Gardens and see the trains, then we were going to go ice skating." I started, rubbing my hands together. "I was excited. You know that I've never been here for Christmas. So, we left to see the trains and everything was going well. Then I looked up from the trains and they were gone."
"Gone?" Loki asked sharply. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I looked everywhere for them. I called them and no one answered. I even had the office announce over the intercom and they were nowhere to be found." I sucked in a breath. "I've never been left in a city this large before and it was dark and I was scared."
"You should have called us right then," Tony admonished. "Anya, New York City can be really dangerous if you're out by yourself like that."
"I just knew that you could come get me from the station." I reasoned softly. "It was dark and I didn't want to get on the subway by myself. I didn't know who else to call."
"Have they even called?" Tony asked, and he frowned when I shook my head. "Those bitches never give a damn about anyone else."
"No," I murmured. "They haven't."
"Forget about them." Loki demanded suddenly, startling me a little bit. "And don't go anywhere else with them again. Do you understand, Anastasia? Don't leave campus with them again. I don't want them leaving you anywhere else."
Loki's sudden possessiveness made my blood run hot, but I knew as passionate as he was with me, he loved Tony. He would never be mine.
"I won't."
"After we get done, you're coming back with us." Tony decided, glancing at Loki as they shared a look I couldn't decipher. "We'll watch a movie or something. You can pick."
By the time that the scene with Goodbye Love ended, Loki was lying across my lap, sleeping, and Tony was constantly rolling his eyes on the other side of me.
"You said I could pick the movie." I told him with a shrug. "So suck it up and get over it."
"I did, didn't I? I didn't expect you to pick RENT." Tony groaned, running a hand through my hair. "You deserve so much better than what happened today."
"Thank you," I murmured, and before the words left my mouth, Tony's mouth was on mine. I relaxed into the kiss for a moment, before panicking. My body went stiff and I realized that Loki was still lying across my lap. "Tony," I hissed.
"Don't worry, babe, he knows." Tony assured me. "He suggested it."
"What?" My eyebrows shot up and I glanced down at Loki; he hadn't moved. "What do you mean he suggested it?"
"Anya, those girls have been treating you like shit since you got here." Tony told me softly. "Loki told me about the beginning of the year."
"What does that have to do with seducing me?" I hissed back.
"You need someone to treat you right love," Loki's muffled voice came from my lap and I looked down at him. "We want to treat you right. We want to love you. Why not?"
"But a triad? Three of us? Will it work?" I wondered, stalling a moment for time to think.
"We'll make it work, Anya," Tony promised me, gently turning my head to face his. "This isn't just a half-assed suggestion; we thought about it. We've been talking about it since I met you at the movies."
I stared at him for a moment, before the word passed my lips. "Really?"
"Of course," Tony insisted, dropping another kiss on my lips. "You're so worth it, baby. I want both of you."
His words struck me hard, and I sighed softly, closing my eyes. I never expected a chance for a relationship, let alone a chance like this with anyone, or for anyone to understand my need for this dynamic. I'd wanted a polyamorous relationship since I'd read about one online. The dynamic was everything that I had ever dreamed of.
"Okay," I nodded, and Tony studied my face for a moment, before pulling me to him.
"Let us take care of you." Tony requested, his breath hot and moist against my lips. "Just say yes, Anya."
"I-," The word had barely slipped past my lips before Tony was kissing me again, rough and sure. I couldn't help moaning as his tongue licked the seam of my lips because I'd never felt like this. I couldn't even tell him that he'd been my first real kiss. Loki shifted out of my lap to move behind me, his hands resting at my waist. "You really want this? With me?"
"How long have you doubted yourself like this, Anastasia?" Loki wondered aloud, running a gentle hand through my hair. It was almost a one-eighty from the kiss Tony had just given me.
"Always." The word was quiet on my lips and Loki sighed at the sound of it, resting his cheek on the curve of my shoulder. "It wasn't this bad until seventh grade."
"Seventh grade?" Tony questioned.
"Worst fucking year of my life." I responded seeing scenes flashing behind my eyelids: walking down the hallways alone, the teasing, the tricks, the bullying. Loki was touching my wrist before I realized it and I winced at the thought of him seeing the scars, seeing how weak I was.
"Oh Anastasia," Loki murmured softly, running his fingertips over my scars. Tony glanced at Loki with a frown of confusion, before seeing the light scars on my wrists.
"Baby," He leaned in to press a kiss to my wrist. "When did this happen?"
"Four years ago," I answered softly.
Conversations echoed down the hallway of Jefferson City High School, and I kept my gaze to myself, praying not to draw any attention here. I just wanted to go to class, hide in the library for lunch, and then go home. A familiar head of pixie short brunette hair caught my attention and I tried to hustle past, hoping and praying that she wouldn't see me.
"Anastasia!" Her grating voice called my name above the dull roar of the hallway conversations and I forced myself to keep walking. Emilee was surrounded by a small crowd of boys, mostly football players and I could not risk glancing to see the looks on their faces. "Anastasia, I've got some boys that would definitely be interested in double-teaming you, I mean if you still want that."
The hush that fell on the hallway was deafening and I took a deep breath, continuing towards my Spanish class and ignoring the blatant stares coming from the other kids in the hallway. My Spanish teacher, to her credit, said nothing about the hallway, just told me 'Sea fuerte, Ana,"
When Emilee walked into that class, I thought that I'd found my own personalized hell.
"I didn't mean to bring on bad memories," Loki's quiet accented words made me blink and I sighed, letting my body lean onto the back of the sofa. I didn't remember being this tired earlier.
"You didn't." I lied, but Loki just gave me an intense look, like he could see through the lie I'd just told. "I get used to it."
"You shouldn't have to." Tony interrupted, and I could see the frustration and anger on his face. "You shouldn't have to deal with that."
"I always thought that something was wrong with me. That I was fucked up, not normal." I admitted softly. Loki made a quiet choked off noise, before sucking in a deep breath.
"I'm adopted." He blurted. Tony squeezed his hand, and I could see the apparent distress in his face. "I knew that I was different from my entire family my whole life. My father adopted me off a door step in Norway."
"Loki," I murmured softly, running a gentle hand his hair. "That's not fair to you."
"We're all as fucked up as you, baby." Tony promised, pressing a kiss to my forehead. "Don't feel any different with us."
"Okay," I murmured softly.
"Stay with us tonight." Loki decided, leaning his head against my shoulder. I nodded, letting the two of them cuddle with me.