1st Person POV:
The sun had started streaming through the window the next morning causing both Clint and I to tense. I shifted in his arms so I could look up at him only to find him gazing back down at me.
He spoke softly, "are you sure you wanna do this? It's not to late to change your mind."
I sent him a sad smile, "yes it is. But it's okay. I'm ready." I pushed myself up and planted a lingering kiss on his lips, "we should get going."
He nodded and without another word we both got up and dressed in our armor.
After about 1/2 an hour there was a knock on the door. I opened it to reveal Samantha, "good morning M'lady."
"Good morning Samantha, are you here to escort us?"
She nodded and led Clint and I towards the throne room. Clint's hand slipped into mine, and I laced our fingers together. Upon our arrival we saw our teammates waiting outside the grand doors. They rushed and greeted us, all stating that they didn't like the arrangement but that they would be there to protect me anyway.
They each pulled me into hugs. Stark, Tasha, Bruce and Sierra each kissed my forehead before they released me. I smiled at the group, my family. I slipped back into Clint's waiting arms before the massive doors opened and we entered. I stood at the front of the room before Odin, next to Loki. Frigga, Clint and Thor all stood off to one side of us, and the rest of the Avengers stood in a line behind us. Guards lined the walls, but besides that the room was empty.
Odin looked towards me, and I nodded for him to begin. He took one of my hands, and one of Loki's hands before speaking in an ancient dialect. He took an dagger and sliced my palm, letting the blood drip into an old bowl before repeating the process with Loki. Odin spoke a few sentences before a silver flame floated on a slight breeze and encircled Loki and I, tying us together. I felt a small shock that chorused through my body, and I knew Loki felt it too. It was silent in the room, but I still heard Loki's voice in my mind. It took me a moment, but I realized that it was his thoughts I heard.
Odin studied us both for a second before his commanding voice filled the room, "it is done."
I glanced down to where I could still see the silver flame connecting Loki and I, "Shouldn't that disappear or something?" I motioned to the flame while talking to Odin.
He glanced at it, "it remains visible for those bound, and the master of the bonding. To anyone else there is nothing there."
I nodded in understanding before turning to Loki knowing he would have words to say to me.
"It seems you and I are to be close for awhile. I look forward to it." His voice slid easily through the silence.
I knew that had caused my family to tense, and Clint moved to stand behind me, "Loki, I should warn you now, I can see through all your lies. They won't effect me at all. If you behave then you'll get off house arrest so much faster."
He glared at me, but Odin interrupted us, "Lady Aura, remember what you have learned here. I believe it is time for your Champions to return home. I'm sure they miss it greatly." I nodded at him, "it is known that the Avengers are allies of Asgard, as such you are welcome here anytime, and feel free to call upon us should you require assistance." With that he waved forward a guard, who handed me a small bag of stones.
I glanced up from the bag in confusion, and Frigga explained, "those are whispering stones. They can communicate with each other through realms. You must simply think of who you wish to speak to and the stone will glow."
I nodded, "thank you my Lord, my Lady. And thank you for your hospitality."
They both nodded and then surprising everyone Frigga pulled me into motherly hug, "thank you for looking after my sons. Please feel free to contact me at anytime with the stones." She had whispered this in my ear, so I was the only one who heard. Out loud she spoke, "it was a joy to see you and your sister, Celu, again."
I nodded, and Frigga moved on, she hugged Sierra before embracing her sons, and trying not to cry at both of them leaving. I could feel Loki's fondness for her, and his regret when she embraced him. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, and beg her forgiveness, but he felt unworthy. Instead he stood as still as a statue until she released him. Odin had hugged Thor, and bid everyone else farewell before they left. Samantha entered the room followed by a few other servants and I noticed they each had a suitcase in their hands. Samantha handed me mine, and a gentleman handed Clint his.
I smiled brightly at Samantha, "thank you for your service lady Samantha."
She looked shocked for an instant, "of course M'lady."
She bowed slightly to Clint and I, before the group made our leave.
Loki was walking, now unchained, next to Thor and ahead of Bruce. Tasha was next to him then Clint and I followed by Steve, Sierra, and Tony. Walking out of the palace I looked around, and tried to commit this place to memory. I breathed deeply, enjoying the fresh air that held the scents of apples, and freshly baked bread. After a moment of walking we each mounted a horse, and rode off towards the bifrost. Along the way we were joined by Lady Sif and the warriors three.
It was silent, and tense but we eventually made it to our destination. The four Asgardian warriors bid us farewell, and I heard through Loki's mind the warnings they gave him. Each threatening to kill him if he plots against Thor, Midgard or me. They then departed, taking our horses with them back to the palace stable. We entered the golden dome after Heimdall, and he bid us each safe travels before saying that he'd be watching. He placed his sword into the console and before I knew it we were back on the Stark towers roof.
"It's good to be home." Stark spoke first, and the rest of us agreed.
I spoke something that had been on my mind, "Thor, how long has it been here? I know time is different here then it is in Asgard."
He grinned at me, "here it has only been a few hours."
I nodded, "well lets get inside, and find the girls. They'll want to know what happened."
I could tell Loki wanted to know who these 'girls' were, but he had guessed one of them was Thor's Midgardian woman based on his brother's excitement.
We all walked through the roof door and down the flight of steps to the penthouse before I paused, "I'm gonna take my bags back to my floor. Clint do you mind me bunking with you for awhile?"
He grinned at me, "of course not." He sent me a flirty look and I grinned, "I'll join you. I need to get changed too."
I nodded, and the both of us led Loki into the elevator. He had been silent since Asgard, but he spoke now, "where will I be sleeping?"
I glanced over at him, "well each person has a floor that they share with another, I share a floor with Clint. You will be staying in what was my room, but I'll be staying with Clint."
"Where does everyone else stay?"
"The top floor is the penthouse, it has a living room and a kitchen area. Under that is Tony and Pepper, then us, then Sierra and Steve, Thor and Jane, then Natasha and Bruce, and Darcy."
"Who are Pepper, Jane and Darcy?" He asked, unfamiliar with the names.
"You'll meet them in a bit. Then I'll give you a tour, For the time being you will only be able to be in the main areas like the penthouse, the theater, the gym, and places like that. The labs are off limits, as are the other bedroom floors. It shouldn't be to difficult since you can't get further then 200 feet from me."
He didn't reply, but at that moment the elevator opened and we all climbed out. I let Clint take my bag from me so I could show Loki his room. I pulled out a set of keys from my pocket, and handed one to him before using an identical one to open the door.
"Thats your key to your apartment, I have the spare so I can get in too. This is the living room area, through that door is the bedroom and a bathroom, you have a small kitchen over there but most meals are up in the penthouse kitchen." I said as I led him through the space.
I walked over to the bedroom and grabbed my bags from the closet before packing the rest of my things into them. "We can go out in a bit and get you clothes so you'll fit in here. I'm going to take these over to Clint's room, you can look around here."
He nodded once and I hauled my bags next door. Clint was in the bathroom getting a shower so I started unpacking. I put my clothes in the big closet, and stole a drawer in the dresser for my stuff. Then I set about placing my Knick Knacks around the space. Some were my mothers, or family heirlooms, but a lot were tokens from my travels. I also put up my pictures. Some of my actual family, or of my childhood home. Some of my friends growing up. Then pictures of me and my team: the one of Tasha and I in Scotland, Clint and I in Paris with a mime, Thor and I smiling like dorks, Tony and Bruce doing science, Tony pinning me down and tickling me (taken my Bruce after they'd discovered the previous picture), Bruce reading intently, Steve cooking breakfast, Steve and I at the museum, Sierra and I dressed up to go clubbing, me cuddled up with Clint on a couch, (Tony had taken that picture). All good memories. I was musing over them when Clint wrapped his arms around me from behind. He rested his chin on my shoulder and grinned at the sight of the last picture.
"Those were the days," he said softly.
I nodded, "yeah. I miss that. I miss the pranks we got on each other and on the group."
He laughed as he recalled some of them, "we may have to start a war soon. Diffuse tension."
I grinned, "definitely."
Just then Jarvis spoke up, "Mister Clint, Miss Brittney. Master Stark has requested your presence in the penthouse. They have located Misses Jane, Darcy, and Pepper."
"Thanks J. Let's go. Bring your guns." I spoke to Jarvis then to Clint.
He nodded in understanding and strapped two guns to his hips, then we left the room. I knocked on Loki's door, and waited a moment before he opened it.
"Tony wants us all in the penthouse. It's time to fill everyone in on what happened." I spoke coolly to him.
He just nods and follows us into the elevator where Jarvis takes us up to the penthouse. We step out and the room falls silent until Darcy, bless her, runs forward and pulls me into a crushing hug. Pepper and Jane follow more slowly, but I still get hugs from them.
Thor's booming voice fills the space, "I've explained the time difference to them, but I didn't go into further details."
I nod at him with a 'thank you' then I launched into the story giving a quick recap of the Battle of New York, then I told them of the events in Asgard. The others filled in for me when I was missing some details, but eventually we ended with Loki being bound to me, and how he was supposed to learn how to be human. I introduced Loki to Pepper and Jane as they both hovered by their men. Darcy however was standing not far from us when I introduced her to Loki.
She did something no one expected, she strode forward and slapped Loki across the jaw, hard. His head snapped away from the blow, and I winced slightly as I heard his thoughts. He was angry at first but then he was overwhelmingly curious as to who this Midgardian woman was. I made a mental note of that, hoping that his curiosity of Darcy would keep him from scheming.
After everyone untensed from the atmosphere I spoke up again, "well, now that we all know Loki why don't we go get dinner, and go shopping? Loki needs normal clothes."
They all reluctantly agreed, and after everybody got ready we all met in the garage. I spoke up, "Loki you're with me, Clint, Cap, Sierra? Y'all wanna join?"
They all agreed, and I heard the others divvying it up, Tony was gonna drive Bruce, Tash, and Pepper, Jane was driving Thor, and Darcy. My group climbed into my Impala, I was driving, Sierra was next to me, Clint was behind me and Loki was between Clint and Cap. Tony led the trail of cars to a decently nice place about 5 miles away from the tower.
We all walked in and Tony got us a table for 12. Tony and Bruce were at the heads of the tables. To Bruce's left sat Natasha, Sierra, Steve, Darcy and Pepper. To Tony's left sat Jane, Thor, Loki, me, and Clint. We all picked up our menus and I discovered it was a Chinese restaurant.
I was trying to explain some of the dishes to Loki, who was just getting annoyed that he didn't understand them. On Thor's other side Jane was doing the same. I was able to see that a majority of our group were laughing at the brothers matching pouty faces. It was funnily adorable. When the waitress came back around to take our food and drink orders Tony started with whiskey and kungpao chicken, everyone else got wine except Darcy who got soda. Clint got red wine, fried rice and a shrimp dish. I got a white zin wine, chow mein, orange chicken and mushroom chicken. Then came Loki. He sat there pouting and grumbling to himself about Midgardian food. I rolled my eyes and ordered a red wine and a sample platter for him. He then started grumbling about me. I was laughing a bit at him and he just glared, making me laugh harder. Others at our table joined in.
The rest of our meal went off easily, including Clint and I stealing each others food. Everybody had gotten a kick outta that, and Nat made a comment about that being what we've always done. Clint and I unanimously called her a traitor making everyone laugh.
After that there were increasing amounts of conversations, the science bros (Tony and Bruce as we had taken to calling them) were talking about making a hulk proof fabric. I had suggested we talk to Reed Richards from the fantastic four about his stretchable fabric.
They all dissolved into individual conversations after that. Loki was silent but I heard in his mind that he actually enjoyed both the wine and the meal that I had ordered for him. He did find it entertaining watching Thor try and use chopsticks, until he himself had to try as well. Jane took over teaching them both with Darcy modeling the correct use of them.
After that we all loaded back into the cars and mine headed to the mall. The others had followed us simply because they didn't trust Loki. We all ventured inside and gained a lot of attention, mostly because of Thor. Then people started recognizing us as the Avengers and before we knew it cameras were out. I rolled my eyes and grabbed Clint's hand before we pushed through the crowd. Luckily Tony had enough connections that he got the store we were in to close just for us.
We each ventured around the room and grabbed likely clothes for Loki before we sent him into a dressing room.
He came out a minute later in jeans and a plain black T-shirt, "are these pants supposed to be this restricting?" he asked the room.
Darcy tilted her head at him, "turn around." She commanded and he did, she nodded her approval after checking him out, "yep, they're good."
Loki looked at Clint and I, we both just shrugged and he went to change. He came back out in a pair of slacks and a green button down top.
The top looked like it was huge on him so I ordered a sales woman, "go get the next size down, same color. and grab the other colors as well."
She nodded to me before rushing off. When she came back she had an armful of clothes. She handed them to Loki and he disappeared into the changing room. When he came back out he was wearing the green top in the smaller size and it fit him much better.
"Loki, what do you think?"
He glanced at me, "It fits much better then the other."
"Good, do you like the feel of it?"
He nodded, and after another 30 minutes we were ready to go home without incident. Loki's new wardrobe was packed in the trunks of the cars, and each of us were tired after an eventful day.
We all helped him move his stuff into his room, at my insistence, and then we left him to get everything settled the way he wanted it as everyone else went to bed.
I had decided to get a shower before I went to bed, and when I exited the bathroom an hour later my long hair was still soaked. I had wrapped it up in a towel to try and keep clint's t-shirt (that I stole) and shorts dry. Clint was just getting ready for bed himself, after unpacking our bags. I slid into bed beside him and snuggled into his warm embrace.
After a moment Clint spoke, "Loki seems to be doing well."
I nod, "yea, Frigga had a conversation with him before we left. Something about her wanting him to be able to go back to Asgard as a free man. Loki loves her dearly, so he's trying."
Clint looked down at where my head was pillowed on his bare chest, "the bond tell you that?"
I glance up at him, "yeah, is that okay?"
Clint looked up toward the celling, avoiding my gaze, "I don't like that you're bound to another guy."
I heard a different tone in his voice then before, "Clint? Are you jealous?" He didn't answer me except to huff testily, "Clint, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. You are my One, I've known basically since we've met. You know after the whole fire incident. You are sarcastic, and witty and fast as a whip. You're the strongest person I know, not just physically, and I love you for it."
I froze at what I just said. I knew I cared for him, but even I didn't fully realize that I loved him. Clint's body tensed for a second before he relaxed under me, "I love you too, why else would I be as protective over you as I am?"
I smiled and pushed myself up so I could kiss him. His soft lips met mine, and I knew that even though our confessions of love weren't like my childhood dream, they were absolutely perfect. I wouldn't have it any other way.
