Well thank you one and all for all the lovely reviews! So here's the next chapter folks! Thanks for all the support!
Loki couldn't quite believe it either. He swallowed thickly, his hair sodden and wet. He winced a little when he felt his spine ache again. One last surge of magic coursing through his veins. The lethal look slowly seemed to leave the boys face. He looked up at Thor with wide shining eyes. "Where's my Mama?" He whispered, his body finally reacting to the freezing December chill of the duck pond. Steve glanced over at Clint, who was holding his bow so tightly his knuckles were turning white. Natasha placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Clint…he's just a child." She said quietly. Glancing around as Police and SHIELD Agents calmed down civilians in the area. Clint shook his head bitterly. "You don't know. You don't know what he told me. What he made me d—" He was broken off by Natasha slamming him against a tree trunk. "Clint stop it right now. Are you listening to me Agent Barton?" She had adopted her 'I am a higher rank than you' tone again. "I know what he did to you and I know how much it hurt but as far as we know that is a little boy. " She gestured to the shivering boy in the duck pond. "Now I know all you want is to shoot an arrow into Loki's eye. Hell, I'd hold him down for you. But that isn't him. That is a scared little boy. You wanna know how I know? Because I know that look in a childs eyes Agent Barton and you know that better than anyone else. So keep it together and stop feeling so damn sorry for yourself."
It pained her so much to treat him like this. But Natasha was smart. She knew how to do the right thing. Even if it hurt along the way. But yet she felt her eyes softening. "….For me Clint…" She said quietly, squeezing his shoulders.
The redhead took it all in her stride when he hid his face in her shoulder wordlessly. She closed her eyes, one arm circling around him as they stood in the snow. She glanced around, checking that no-one was watching, before she quietly placed a small kiss on his head. "….It's okay Hawk…"
Thor couldn't stand there any longer. With what he hoped to be a gentle smile, he scooped the soaking boy into his arms. "It is fine, young one. I have you. All is well, Loki." He said softly. The little boy seemed to frown, before he inhaled slightly, recognition slowly seeping in to his emerald eyes. He rested his head on the strong chest before him, letting himself be wrapped up in Thor's red cape. "B-Brudder Tor?" He mumbled. Thor smiled a little. "Yes small one. It is Brother Thor."
"Got big,." Loki stated, shivering a little. Thor laughed in his usual way. "Yes little one. I do believe I did."
Tony had no idea what the hell was happening. He looked down at Bruce. "We're taking the damn kid in?" He asked incredulously. "Am I the only one who remembers the fact that he completely destroyed New York?"
Bruce closed his eyes, taking off his glasses. "….So did I." He muttered to himself. "But we're all ignoring that."
Steve still had a short fuse with Tony. Something that he was sure would never change. "He's just a child Stark. Are you honestly going to hold what happened in New York in summer against him?"
"Uh yeah" Tony muttered. "Am I honestly the only one who remembers that this guy is the freaking God of Lies and Mischief.? And you think this is legit?"
"Stark I am not familiar with this term Legit but this is a small boy we're talking about here." Tony gritted his teeth at the Soldier's words. He stepped forward, nose to nose with him. "We're also talking about the son of a bitch who killed Phil Coulson. You remember that? Or are you too full or pride?"
Steve felt his fists clench. He swallowed down any anger he had because they were in a public place. "Stark…look at him. He's clinging to Thor for dear life. He's. Terrified." He gritted out .
Tony had just had enough by then. "Fine. When he comes and tricks you all into certain death don't come winging to me." He muttered, his visor clanging down. He muttered something under his breath before he shot off into the sky. Steve had a strange urge to punch a tree. But he knew that if he did, with all this anger he would probably have to replace the damn thing. He rubbed a hand down his face, calming himself as much as he could. Forcing himself to just think about the simple things. Going to see the film Arsenic And Old Lace in 1942. Quoting the film weeks afterwards in appropriate situations with Bucky, and then having a chuckle with Bucky about their inside jokes. Vera Lynn's voice relaxing him on the radio before the experiment…humming the tune in his head as he angled the plane downwards-
That was enough of that.
When they finally returned to the Avengers Tower, Loki had drifted off in Thor's arms. Still wrapped up in his cape. Thor shook his head a little in bemusement. "I have no idea how this could have happened."
"Think it's a trick?" Clint asked spitefully. Thor shook his head again, setting his hammer down with a loud thunk. "My brother had no magic at this age and I sense nout on him."
Clint's lip curled a little, but he stopped himself from saying anything, keeping his head in Natasha's lap. She was actually just letting him sit there with her for once. Bruce was looking down at Loki curiously through his thick rimmed glasses. Before he carefully placed his hand on Loki's forehead. Loki whimpered a little, his eyes opening slightly before he nosed his way back into Thor's chest. Thor looked up in confusion. "Dr Banner?" Bruce whipped his glasses on his shirt. Speaking in his normal quiet tone. "H-He has a fever." He informed the room. "Probably from falling in that pond."
Thor looked down at the small boy sadly. "I have never seen him like this." He mumbled, holding the cape a little closer around the boy when he noticed he was shivering. Loki whimpered a little, curling up in the soft fabric. "Tor…when Mama n' Papa home?" He asked sleepily. Thor sighed, closing his eyes. "Soon small one…Soon."
Natasha lifted her head. "How does he know who you are? Surely you were a mere child when he was at that age." Thor smiled a little "A good question, fair maiden. My cloak contains my smell and sense. Something that will not have changed since when I was small. It is unique to every one of Asgard. It is through this that he knows I am of family and that I mean him no harm."
Steve was very confused, but he wasn't in the mood to voice it. It was the December evenings that he liked the best. When they all just sort of sat there. Clint and Natasha were lying there, Natasha curled against him in a rare moment of dependence. Rare moments that were slowly becoming more and more frequent.
Bruce was alternating from writing in his notebook, to staring at his laptop screen to watching the snow slowly drift down on the city that never sleeps. Thor on the other hand was walking up and down the hallway repeatedly, bouncing and rocking his sick brother, humming and old Asgardian lullaby. Loki was sucking his thumb, tear tracks staining his cheeks as he fretfully slid into a feverish sleep. Steve got up from where he was reading, and walked over to the two Gods. "Thor? Everything okay?" Despite everything he was worried. Even after what had happened, Loki was a small child that needed looking after. And Steve wanted to help no matter what. Thor managed a small smile, keeping his voice hushed as not to wake his younger brother. "Yes thank you, man of Stars. I have just managed to get him to drift off to the land of the Sandman. Yet alas I think his dreams will not be good ones."
Steve bit his lip, looking down at the small boy sadly. "Anything I can do?" Thor nodded, shifting Loki in his arms. "Could you direct me in the way in which I can place my brother down for rest on this winter night?"
Steve chuckled a little, opening one of the doors. "In here, Thor. I thought God's didn't need to sleep."
"We do." Thor nodded. "More so when we are ill." He looked down at his brother sadly, shushing him when he stirred a little. Steve nodded, not wanting to wake the boy as he took a small step back, lingering in the doorway. "You're staying with him?" He asked with a small smile .Thor nodded. "I believe it is wise to keep a vigil on my younger brother. Goodnight Man Of Stars."
Steve rolled his eyes, doing a mock salute before he closed the door behind him.
Thor rested the small boy down in the bed, pulling the covers over him. Smiling a little to himself when he realised how long it had been since he had had to do this. Loki was blinking up at him sleepily, his jet black fringe in his eyes, falling to one side when he moved his head on his pillow. Thor smiled at him, pulling a chair up to the bed. "Sleep child. I'm not going anywhere."
Natasha hugged her knees to her chest. She slowly slid down the tiled wall of her bathroom until she was on the floor. She was shaking, her head buried somewhere in her arms. She had turned the shower on. But hadn't gotten in it yet. She was just sitting there on the cold floor, a towel wrapped tightly around her. She slowly lifted her head, clipping her red fringe back with a slide she found near the bathroom sink. She slowly looked down at her wrists, looking at the ugly, thick scars that littered them. She swallowed down a lump in her throat, which alarmed her as much as it amazed her. She wasn't one for emotion. Clint was on the bed, probably watching Neighbours or something. He was like that. Thinking she was just in the shower. Natasha rocked a little, re-tucking in her towel when she felt it slide from her dry body again. She wanted to tell him. But she couldn't. She just couldn't.
Oh pull yourself together, Romanoff. You stopped being a teenager a long time ago. "Ради бога"
She felt her breath catch in her throat as soon as she saw it. Suddenly she wished she brought her guns into the bathroom. She looked around the misty room, the steam from the shower making it hard to see. She felt her heart beating hard in her chest. It was all becoming too much.
She couldn't breathe.
Why the hell couldn't she breathe?
She whirled around again, looking back at the one thing that had caused her panic in the first place.
Writing.
Writing on the bathroom mirror.
Two simple words that all together made her hair stand on end.
….
'I know.'
