A/N: So, screw Infinity War, it's a fixed headcanon of mine that Loki joins the Guardians after Thanos is killed, because Loki and Gamora are COMPLETELY FINE. I've already got this all written up, so I'm aiming to post one chapter every week. Preferably the same day every week, but idk, Tuesday feels weird me (I just really, really needed to start posting this, I've had it finished for weeks now), so chapter 2 might have either a shorter or longer wait than the rest.
And this is post-IW, but seeing as I wrote this whole thing before I saw IW, it's not canon compliant.
Anyways, I'm excited to finally start sharing this, so I hope you guys enjoy!
Loki sat at the Milano's table, holding his book with one hand and eating Lucky Charms with the other, having pushed the others' dirty dishes aside to make room for his bowl. Someone – probably Peter – had crossed out "Lucky" and written "Loki" instead, adding horns to the leprechaun. It happened to every box they picked up, and Loki had stopped fighting it months ago. At least it was good, as far as human cereals went. A decent early morning meal when the insomnia struck.
Lumbering footsteps coming down the stairs announced Peter's arrival. "Morning," the leader greeted through a yawn, heading straight for the coffee machine. "God, how do you wake up this early all the time?"
"Practice," Loki replied, flipping the page.
Peter filled his mug and came to sit opposite Loki, cradling its warmth in both hands. Loki's nose wrinkled at the acrid scent, but he said nothing as Peter sipped at it, closing his eyes as he savored the caffeine as if it held the secrets of the universe. He set it down when it was half empty, still cradling it, and finally brought himself to look at Loki's set-up.
"Please tell me you didn't just finish off our last box of those," he asked in dismay.
Unwilling to put either his book or his spoon down, Loki shook the box with a little telekinesis. "…And if I did?"
"Damn it," Peter groaned, looking around the cluttered eating area. "There go my breakfast plans."
Loki picked up a spoonful and slowly ate it, holding eye contact with Peter the whole time, smirking at the longing in the human's gaze. "Relax, Peter, there's another box in the cabinet."
"Yes!" Peter exclaimed, jumping up to get his own bowl. Loki shook his head, returning to his book to savor the last moments of peace before his energy fully kicked in.
Which it did when Peter was about halfway through his breakfast. "So, what kept you up this time?"
"Who says I was kept up?"
"Because when you actually fall asleep, you're up last – well, besides Groot – and you're grumpy as hell that we woke you up," Peter responded through a mouthful of cereal.
"Fair point," Loki conceded. He shrugged a little, setting his book down. "I just miss Thor and Val a little more than usual tonight."
"Ah," Peter said. "I get that. I miss them, too. I mean, not like you do, but- yeah, I wish we could get over there more."
"Yeah," Loki agreed quietly. They only really made it back there for the annual Christmas party, and another random time or two.
"It's not a special occasion, is it?" Peter checked suddenly.
"No," Loki assured him. "We've just been out of communications range for a few weeks now."
"Right," Peter realized. "Well, we're just about done with this planet, so we can turn around later today, if you want."
"Thank you," Loki said. "I'd like that."
"Consider it done, then, buddy," Peter decided, holding his hand out for a fistbump. Loki obliged, flaring his fingers and making the little whoosh sound effect as they pulled back. "I still can't believe I actually convinced you to do that."
Loki aimed his spoon at him. "If you tell anyone-"
Peter arched an eyebrow. "Are you threatening me with a spoon?"
"Are you testing me?"
"…No."
"Excellent."
They shared a laugh, then returned their attention to their breakfasts. Loki finished off his last few mouthfuls, pushing the bowl aside and asking, "So, why are you awake so early? You never get up if Gamora's still in bed."
Peter sighed, setting his fork down with a gentle clink. "I dunno, man. My home is here, with Gamora and Groot and the others, but… I guess I'm a little homesick tonight, too."
"Perhaps we should just go back to Earth entirely," Loki suggested wryly. "We could all use a vacation anyway."
"Ye-"
The monitor beeped, Nova Prime's image popping up underneath the flashing words "Incoming call." Peter wiped his mouth on his sleeve and leaned back to press answer, swinging the screen around to face them. "Greetings from the Milano. You're speaking with Star-Lord."
"And Loki," Loki added, rolling his eyes at Peter.
"Yes, I can see that," she said with faint amusement. "You don't have to answer the phone as Star-Lord every time, Mr. Quill."
"I beg to differ."
Loki shoved his shoulder. "Stop begging and let her talk."
"Ok, ok, sheesh, no need to be so pushy," Peter grumbled, rubbing his shoulder. "Ow."
"Oh please, I barely touched you."
"You-"
"Boys," Nova Prime interrupted, her smile genuinely amused with a side of exasperation.
"Sorry," they apologized together, straightening up and giving their full attention to the screen. "What's the news?"
She sighed heavily. "I know I promised you some free time after your latest mission, at least from missions on our behalf, but I'm afraid there's been a small prison break."
"How small?" Loki asked.
"Only three prisoners. However, all three are extremely dangerous women, and I would like your team to track them down. Quickly. You'll be compensated handsomely, of course. Will you do it?"
"Yeah, of course," Peter answered. "Just send us the deets."
"Already on their way. Thank you, Guardians. Nova Prime out."
The call ended. Loki and Peter swung out of their seats, moving to the stairs. "I guess Earth'll have to wait," Peter said. "Time to wake the others."
They paused suddenly. Exchanged a glance. Then, simultaneously, they blurted, "You get Rocket!"
And then they were fighting their way upstairs, struggling to not get scratched by an angry raccoon.
-MCU-
Twenty minutes later, the whole team was grouped around the table. Mantis and Groot sat next to each other, the tree playing one of his videogames – thankfully with the sound muted this time. Gamora and Drax sat opposite them, with Rocket at the head of the table. Loki was at the other end, leaning on the back of the chair. Peter stood next to the screen, his hand now scratched up, the fresh injuries on display as he pointed out the information.
"Three women escaped from Xandar's maximum security prison yesterday at about midnight," he was explaining. "They killed the warden and twenty guards, then disappeared. After conducting a thorough planetwide search, the Nova Corps determined they weren't on Xandar, nor any of the nearby inhabited planets, which is when we were called. Our job is to recapture them, for which we're gonna get paid a shipload of units."
"That sounds quite simple," Drax remarked, pleased.
"Who are they?" Gamora asked.
Peter huffed at Drax, perpetually annoyed that he didn't understand the concept of Don't jinx us, flicking a finger across the screen to bring up the first set of images. It was a woman with navy blue skin and elegantly styled sky blue hair, her unnaturally bright green eyes sparking with a disdainful leer even in a mugshot. She'd twisted her bland orange prison outfit into something skintight and alluring, the shirt drawn up and tied off in a bow on one side, exposing a piece of immaculate skin over defined abdominal muscles.
"Damn," Rocket commented. "I ain't never seen someone look good in prison orange."
Peter started to make an appreciative noise, froze with a glance at Gamora, and quickly swiped the images away, bringing up data instead. "Says she's Kutral, a Moarian. Those guys can move real fast, right?"
"Top speed of a hundred miles an hour in short bursts," Loki replied. "Not quite Quicksilver, but enough to give us problems."
"Wonderful," Peter sighed. "Says here she's… an art thief. They locked up an art thief with a bunch of mass murderers and terrorists? I'm- Oh! Never mind. Turns out she murdered a bunch of people to steal that art. Her style is quick and clean, in and out with minimal literal bloodshed, but she murdered even when she didn't have to. Lovely."
He scrolled again, revealing next a stocky, heavily muscled maroon woman. She'd torn off her sleeves, revealing a mess of battle scars and tattoos that extended beneath her shirt, reemerging at her neckline and twining up to cover her bald head. She glared at the camera with beady yellow eyes and sported clenched fists in every photo. She just earned a nervous fidget from Mantis.
"Bodyguard?" Loki guessed.
"Bingo," Peter confirmed, swiping again. "Erebu, a Jestridean, bodyguard and hitwoman for hire. Not clean kills, either, like her new buddy Kutral. Her victims were found missing… uh…" He gulped a little. "…parts."
Even Groot looked up at that, disgust and horror evident on his twiggy teen face.
"And she's got some Asgardian-level strength. Lovely. Moving on," Peter said quickly. The third woman was catlike in appearance, with large pointed ears atop her head, her body covered in brown fur. Her face was a mess of blackened scars, one eye socket dark and sealed shut. Her remaining eye was red, its pupil a creepy slit, her snarling mouth exposing sharp and yellowed teeth. A thick tail twined around one of her legs.
"She looks familiar," Loki realized aloud, slowly, trying to figure out why.
Peter blinked, moving along to look at her data. "Beb, a Bleloter. Says she's-"
"My sister," Gamora whispered, looking back at Loki.
"Crap," Rocket muttered.
Loki clenched the chair, its metal squealing as it bent beneath his grip. He forced himself to let go of it, straightening up and crossing his arms tightly instead. Her cackles echoed in his ears, her voice a sickening purr as he screamed under her touch, her magic scorching through him as her claws trailed almost seductively down his exposed skin before sinking in abruptly, stabbing through skin and muscle down to the bone, ripping, tearing, healing as she went so she could keep going-
He gasped in a breath, the memories shoved away by a different mind. Loki slammed back into the present, stumbling backwards, saved from falling by Drax's steady hand. Mantis clutched his hands in hers, her antennae gradually dimming as Loki collected himself.
"Better?" she asked quietly, trembling, a tear sliding down her cheek.
Loki yanked his hands away, shoving aside Drax for good measure. "Yes," he muttered, swiping at his own tear. Mantis backed away, sitting back down quickly, her head ducked. Drax glared at him a moment before bending over her, giving the top of her head a light kiss as he checked on her in a soft voice.
"Loki," Gamora said, her voice low in rebuke, but quiet in understanding.
"Sorry, sorry," he mumbled, rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes, fighting back the unwanted images. "Sorry."
"I take it that was from the year you don't talk about," Peter surmised, banishing anything about her from the screen.
"Part of it," Gamora answered when Loki didn't. "Though her usefulness to Thanos ended when Loki got his revenge."
Peter's eyebrows flew towards his hairline. "You- you did that to her face?"
Loki nodded, his hands dropping, leaving colorful spots in his vision, and twisting together as he stumbled through an explanation. "Yes. I… she, um, she used… She was pulled in when Thanos realized I'm Jotun, and Bleloters have exceptionally high body temperatures and most of their magical strength lies in… in manipulating heat. I don't remember much, but I guess one day I just… snapped, turned Jotun, and grabbed her face and didn't let go."
"I am Groot," the tree gasped.
"Language!" Rocket scolded.
Gamora got up, carefully approached Loki, rested a hand on his elbow. "Are you all right to do this mission?"
Loki stared for a moment, voice lost in his throat. For the first time in years, he looked into her brown eyes and saw an enemy, the woman who had rounded him up and thrown him back into his cell after he lost control. Her grip was light as a feather, but it felt like a cage, bruising strength coldly preparing to shove him back into the darkness he now lived in.
"Loki?" Peter asked, his concerned tone rooting Loki back in the present.
Still, he shifted his arm away from Gamora. "I can do it."
Gamora backed up a step, eyes narrowing. "Loki-"
"I said I'm fine," he snapped, beginning to turn away. "I'll be in my quarters. Alone. Just tell me when I'm needed."
With that, he hurried away, barely slamming his door behind him before the familiar tears started flowing.
