Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to The Avengers or any of its associations.
''Join you?'' she repeated slowly, carefully, as if the words would break. Her shock was palpable, and Loki was frozen in front of her, waiting for her to process his words.
After a long while he broke the silence. ''I am the God of Mischief, of lies and trickery and manipulation. Yet you managed to win at my own game, on the helicarrier two years ago. And several times since then. It has put me in a terrible position.''
Natasha looked down, away from his beautiful green eyes. She flickered through the possibilities, of this being a manipulation of its own, of how she could get out of this situation with her life.
''You will not trick me this time,'' Loki snarled at her suddenly, and her eyes jumped back to his. ''I will have your loyalty or I will have your life.''
''You won't kill me.''
The words spilled from her lips before she could think to stop them.
''You would be a fool to believe that, Agent Romanoff,'' he said. ''And much to my dismay, you have proved yourself time and time again that you are not one.''
''Then take my life.''
Loki moved back from her, and stood at his full height. ''Would being my ally truly be worth giving up your life to avoid?''
''I want my ledger wiped clean. It was you who threw it in my face that it's dripping, gushing red,'' she reminded him. ''If I were to join you, I'd just be adding more red.''
''I killed my own father,'' Loki said, and his eyes were suddenly brimming with tears. He was not angry as she had expected him to be, or not as completely. ''I killed Laufey. I can kill you.''
There was something about the way he said the words, it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than her. ''You won't kill me,'' she said softly, lowly.
''Why not?'' he asked her, his voice wavering slightly.
''You know why,'' she replied calmly.
''Why not?'' he pressed again, his voice raising.
She was silent.
''Tell! Me!'' he screamed at her. Natasha felt her own eyes well with tears, at his raw expression of anger and pain. He was suddenly so close, his hands on the arms of her chair and his cold breath ragged on her face.
''You're in over your head,'' she said. ''You have all this power now and you don't know what to do with it. You don't know what you can do that you can recover from later, after we stop you. You're going to crash and burn, and you're scared. You want me alive, with you or against you, because you know either way I will be the one to hold your hand when it's all over.''
His eyes widened slightly, and then narrowed again as he searched her face for lies, for some proof of her manipulation. But there was no evidence to be found.
His eyes met hers again, and they were open and vulnerable. It was so different than she had ever seen him, and she wondered if this was the face of the man that had had his heart broken when he'd found out his true parentage.
The tears fell free from her eyes, and Loki moved back in surprise. ''You... For me?''
Natasha did not say anything, but she didn't have to.
Loki moved forward the next moment, and pressed his mouth against hers.
It was rough and bruising, and his silver tongue was desperate as he deepened the kiss. It took Natasha a moment to recover from her shock before she responded, as much as she could with her body restrained on the chair.
As if reading her mind, the ropes were cut in a moment, and her hands were on him instantly, pulling him closer. He growled, deep in his throat, before tangling a hand in her hair. His other, with the gauntlet, reached under her thigh and lifted her from the chair. He turned them both around, and dropped her roughly on the bed.
He put his knee on the bed beside her hip, and reached down to the zipper at the front of her jumpsuit. He kept his back straight, his eyes narrow and clear as he pulled it slowly down. The suit was like a second skin, but the way she slipped the rest of the way out of it made his heart skip a beat.
The anticipation made the breath catch in Natasha's throat, and she watched his face as he looked over her exposed body. Impatiently, she sat up and started pushing his coat back from his shoulders, but he shoved her back down on the bed and stepped away. She went up on her elbows, and watched him as he started peeling off the layers of his Asgardian armor.
She was mesmerized as he took it off piece by piece, each intricate and delicate in design. He never looked at her, and she knew he was only doing it to anger her. He did not remove his boots or pants, only unfastened the top button before finally looking at her once again. He drew slowly to the bed, each step small and precise and taunting.
He smirked at the twitch of her jaw in anger as she watched him, and the flickering of something much more in her eyes. He watched her eyes fall down his body, as they had the day she had woken him and Thor. His body responded immediately, as it had then.
His eyes fell to her breasts, covered only slightly by the thin black lace of her bra, entranced by the rapid rise and fall of her chest. He went to a knee on the bed again and looked down at her, and met her wrathful eyes.
Fear flickered in her eyes when he raised his hand with the gauntlet to her chest, but it disappeared when he used it to cut the middle string of fabric holding the cups of her bra together. He froze for a moment, and it was Natasha's turn to smirk as his eyes hesitated on her chest.
But when she tried to move, he was suddenly aware again, and he forced her back down onto the mattress.
Where the initial events had been slow and drawn out, the next ones transpired quickly. Loki shoved her legs apart with his knees while his fingers swept over the remaining buttons of his pants. Then he was suddenly off of the bed again, standing at its edge, and he latched his hands beneath her thighs and lifted her hips off of the bed and level with his.
He did not rip her panties, only pushed the black lace aside. With no warning or preparation, he was suddenly pressing inside of her, filling her.
She cried out in pain, and his hands were unrelenting on her hips, not allowing her to move away from it. Her cries died out a few moments later, replaced with breathless gasps as he rolled his hips against her. But her eyes were still angry as he moved slowly in and out of her, giving her time to adjust to his body's intrusion on her own.
Loki lowered her back to the bed and followed her down, resting his forearms on the bed beside her head to keep the weight of his chest off of her. He lowered his face to hers and kissed her deeply, just as his body resumed its movement over hers.
Moans replaced gasps, and Natasha twitched her hips to meet one of Loki's thrusts. He hissed against her lips in response, and shifted his weight on the bed to slip his hand into her hair. She made a small, pained sound in her throat as he tightened his grip, pulling the hair sharply. His other hand went to her hip, and his grip was steel as he kept her immobile against the bed.
Natasha's eyes widened in surprise. In both her line of work and her personal life, she was always the one in control. It was always something she prided herself on, to always have that much awareness of herself. But something about having it taken away from her, at least in this situation, made her body respond in ways it never had before.
Loki barred his teeth as he increased his pace, and Natasha's eyes narrowed from both the pleasure and the pain. She writhed against the bed under his thrusts, and his eyes flickered to her chest, watching the soft flesh there rise and fall rapidly as he continued his vicious assault on her body.
Natasha's hand gripped at Loki's chest, and her nails caught at his flesh. It healed immediately under her touch, but the surprise of it caused Loki's rhythm to change, and Natasha's body responded accordingly. Loki groaned through barred teeth as he came, his eyes flickering closed, and it was just those last few moments before he did that spilled Natasha over the edge with him.
He kept himself up on his forearms as he fought to catch his breath, watching the small woman beneath him still writhing slightly from her orgasm. Her skin was burning beneath him, and her body twitched toward the cold of his own.
Loki leaned down and pressed his mouth to hers. She sighed when his silver tongue slipped into her mouth, and the kiss was gentle and sweet and intimate, everything the other kisses had not been.
After a few moments he moved off of her and laid on his back at her side, both of their bodies encased in a light sheen of sweat and their chests heavy. They laid there for a long time, staring at the ceiling and saying nothing.
After a while, Loki turned his head to looked at her.
Natasha's face was neutral, but her mind was working hard behind her eyes to think of a way to escape. Loki's options for her had been few, and she had to think of a way to get away and return safely to the Avengers.
Loki was not completely lost on the workings of the woman beside him, and he returned his gaze to the ceiling.
''Go.''
Natasha jerked upright in surprise and turned to look at him, her face questioning and frightened. But his face gave her nothing, and he did not look to her as she slipped off the bed and into her jumsuit, before making for the door.
Natasha hesitated in the open doorway, before looking back to Loki on the bed.
''I'm sorry,'' she said, her voice wavering.
When he did not respond, she pulled the door shut behind her and ran.
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! This was kind of a vacation away from the plot, but I suppose it does have its contributions as well. Please continue reading, and please review!