DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the events or characters from the film Thor, nor MARVEL'S The Avengers – I am just borrowing them for play.
WARNINGS: This pairing will contain Dom/sub elements, simply due to the nature of their respective roles and also because of the perspectives I perceive as present in the relationship. Though unsure about the extent of Mature Content this fic might delve to include, the elements aforementioned above include:
petting, hand-feeding, irrational possessiveness, public displays of ownership, and subservience
These chapters are excerpts from my series Compare and Contrast the Following – they cannot be read without the context provided there.
Despite Circumstances
-~S~-
This excerpt is from Enlightening Nuances, Chapter Twenty-Seven: Denouement. A scene from one of the nights Loki was secluded in his quarters.
-~S~-
Chapter Nine: Reinforcing
Two nights before the Avengers would be faced with the day they returned to Earth, and likely a lecture from SHIELD on everything they could have handled better, Clint gave up on restraining his frustration and internal fretting over Loki and separated from the team after dinner to threaten him himself. The couple of weeks had been filled with each exploring the resources in the lounges and libraries of their floor and that above, the air charged with apprehension and discomfiture as they whiled away the time, so the parting was not unusual.
He climbed the stairs to slink through the silent halls to the doors that obstructed his intrusion, the sheen of magic glimmering when his hand neared the surface telling of the residual wards. He fleetingly considered knocking before his mind recalled the memory of his first visit, and, though it would be taking advantage of Loki's weary state at the time, laid his palm on the metal.
The doors creaked open.
I may know squat about magic, but there wasn't a reason for me to put my hand on the door once He'd opened it last time, Clint thought as he slipped inside and shut it behind him, He had to have been doing something with the magic and me. Which I'm not going to ask about.
I can't force Him to eat, but I can sure as hell knock Him out.
He paused for a minute and scowled at the sight before him. Loki was curled cross-legged on his seat, back bowed over the desk, with dark circles around his eyes and muttering under his breath as he wrote on the scroll laid before him. There were large texts open on his right, another on his left the pages of which he tore through in reference of something before roughly shoving it off the edge to fall to his feet and deftly grasping another from one of the stacks on the floor. From the middle, those above swaying, some of the unstable piles of tomes seen before toppled. He stepped closer through the disarray and saw Loki note a long string of runes around a sketch that might have depicted the curves of the Bifrost, but there were too many energy signatures and equations over it for him to tell.
"Hey," he called, the short sound ringing through the still air of the space. Loki blinked as if rising out of a stupor, glancing towards him in the illumination cast from a suspended light before returning his attention to his work.
"Taking advantage of an error in judgment, are you?" he commented.
"We all figured you'd be working yourself to death," Clint retorted.
"That's obviously what you were aiming for when you decided on these ridiculous terms," Loki murmured.
"How much have you done, do you think?" he queried.
Loki pushed his chair back as he stood and threw his hands in the air, answering tersely, "I don't know because I think I have enough here for them to build most all of it and extrapolate from the design to finish – but it will probably take them weeks to sift through and understand the information before they touch anything!" He crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at the material before darting his gaze onto him.
"So you're done?"
"No I'm not done," he said, moving to stand in front of him and towering over the shorter archer, "because now everything I have I have to supplement with commentary because 'we're not telepathic, Loki,' 'show your work, Loki,' 'no one can follow this, Loki.'"
"Have you slept at all these two weeks?" Clint asked warily, the god having tilted with his final gesture of mocking as he quoted the memory of others before correcting his balance.
"It's for you- all of you, so what does it matter? I'm not yours to look after!" he responded. Then his eyes dulled in sober thought and he pulled back slightly, articulating, "And you're not mine."
"You're tired – sleep," Clint urged, gingerly reaching out to take his arm and point him towards the bed. "You need your strength." He froze as Loki collapsed onto the mattress, and, realizing that he was paraphrasing some of the god's words to him during the invasion, hurriedly added, "Wouldn't want you to lose any of us between the Realms."
"If I feel it's possible I'm sure your stay can be extended," he replied.
"Yeah, some of us are valuable to Fury," he said.
The round, self-contained orb that served as a lamp over the desk glided through the air to attach itself to the ceiling above them, shedding light to see by as Loki lifted himself upright on the bed. "Self-reproach doesn't become you."
"Look," Clint started, "I'm still not sure what you see in me that has you all…" -possessive, controlling, clingy, wanting- he gestured at Loki to encompass his behaviour, "but after these discs threw off everything I thought I knew and then having to get you from Hel I'm not going to let you waste away 'cause you're working yourself to death because no one loves you or whatever."
That didn't really come out right, he thought. Doesn't seem very encouraging- "I mean, yes I know Odin did this to you and is forcing you to ferry us all back, and you're going to be on Earth in another contract with SHIELD that exploits you, but they're, like, the faceless overlords no one cares about. It's me and Natasha and Tony and Bruce, Steve and Thor, and Pepper, who you're living with that you should be thinking about."
"And they, what, care for me?" Loki asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Did you miss the part where we sort of came to Asgard to put your magic back in your body so you wouldn't die?" he questioned sarcastically. "You would've been cackling in a corner if you'd seen us freaking out over if you were dead or not, half of us getting into a bar fight trying to get information so we had the upper hand on Odin – and, right now, biting our nails, not sleeping, and turning on each other 'cause we're so worried you killed yourself from overwork in here and are just rotting."
"You're worked up-"
"Hell yeah I am-"
"Clint," he called, and the archer crossed his arms over his chest. "Sit here."
He narrowed his eyes at him before sitting cautiously on the edge of the mattress.
"It seems to me you're embellishing things-" 'I'm not you blind son-of-a-' "but the truth of that will come when I see them the day after next."
"If you're not too sleep-deprived to-"
"What I want to know is why you're seeking me out now, and why you ventured to Helheim for me."
It was easier when You weren't wounded and weak and just told me what I was thinking, Clint considered. "I told you, Sleipnir would only let me go."
"You wouldn't have been blamed if you returned without me – it was a precarious plan," 'I probably would've been.' "Yet you seemed rather… impassioned when you fetched me."
Clint conceded, "I've gotten used to you – we all have."
"And now?"
"With all your stalking I figured you'd sleep better with me here – I'm egotistical that way," he answered quickly. "My other plan was to knock you out."
Loki smirked at the quip before dimming the faint light and sending it back to his desk to darken completely, settling down on his side. "Stay with me then," he cajoled, encircling the other's wrist with his fingers and pulling him closer.
Clint tensed, but closed his eyes and admitted to himself that he would rather not sleep here than leave with the knowledge that Loki was going to continue working. He laid on his back and tried to become less aware of the god's gaze on him, until it was abruptly absent. He glanced to the side to find the other's eyes closed, which makes sense – even if He wanted to keep an eye on me, He's been up for over a week.
If I move now I'll wake Him, He still has my wrist. I'll work it off during the night and slip away before He's up so the others don't notice I'm gone- He rolled his eyes at the situation that paralleled a one-night stand and attempted to suppress the connotations that arose with the comparison.
As the minutes slowly passed, whether by the certainty Loki was finally resting or the amount of concentrated ambient magic, Clint fell asleep.
When the agent's pulse steadied and his breathing calmed, Loki opened his eyes. His vision in the dark was practiced enough that he could see the outline and starker contrasts of the other's form. He carefully shifted closer and released Clint's wrist, laying the hand on his chest instead.
Always justifying your actions through the emotions of the group, Loki asserted, indicates that you're struggling to agree with your acceptance of me. He smiled. At least vocally.
He closed his eyes and focused on the crippled magic thrashing through his veins, the bonds to the wards of the room clear. The connection to Clint was weaker, but he found the connecting threads after a moment.
He coaxed them nearer to his core, strengthening the measure of it and the roots on either end.
-~S~-
Clint woke just as the sun was rising, though no daylight managed to work into the room. He remained immobilized with the understanding he had actually slept, eyes widened. After he managed to motivate himself into moving, his eyes had adjusted and he identified the trivial weight across his chest as an arm. He gently lifted the limb and slid from the bed, lingering at the side of it for a moment.
He's a lot skinnier, Clint thought as his sharp eyes noted the decrease in weight, from when Loki had been in a coma for a few days nonetheless. He shook his head and turned away. One more day, then we're back on Earth.
He exited, Loki's eyes opening as the doors shut. The Trickster moved back to his desk.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: So close to acceptance on Clint's part...
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