Chapter Ten: Please
Barton loitered outside Natasha's door, lazily trying to muster up the courage to knock. After Fury called her into the hallway the night before, she never came back, not even to say goodnight. He had slept in short spurts, at times thankful he was obsessing over a pleasant memory rather than his usual routine as of late.
When he finally raised his fist, Fury turned into the hallway. "Nice to see you out and about," he joked stoically as he passed by. Barton clenched his teeth, sick of that man's flawless ability to pop up when it was most frustrating. Without even turning to look at him, his director spoke coolly. "She's not here."
Elsewhere
Loki felt Eve's hand relax in his and stole a glance at her. She was fighting back a smile. That's it, he thought, sink into your delusions. He just needed her to be calm and collected for this one thing-and then she was no longer a necessity. Her actions from the previous day could not be forgiven, and she would pay for them. It would be too easy to make her believe she was safe, but he saw now that it was the approach he should have taken all along. She was clearly longing to feel a closeness with someone, whether it be because of the state of her mother or her borderline pointless relationship with that...he looked at Sam. He was a useless, pathetic and weak being. For his amusement, he would break them both.
"How long have you two known each other?" Natasha asked as though provoked by her own curiosity. Loki made confident eye contact with her, knowing that any questions coming out of her mouth were part of the interview.
"We met a few months ago through a mutual friend," Loki smiled professionally through every word, "it wasn't until recently that we saw it fit to pursue a romantic relationship." Eve giggled convincingly at this.
"What mutual friend?" Sam barked, overeager.
"You don't know her," Eve appeased him, "her name is Julie."
"I've never heard you talk about a Julie before."
Loki laughed. The boy was already cracking. "Why would she lie about such a thing?" He planned to poke and prod at whatever little confidence rested in Sam until every ounce of hope was consumed by something black. A negative, toxic sludge to eat at him from the inside out. "Why would she lie to you?"
"I wouldn't," Eve interjected, sounding legitimately hurt.
"You know what else the Eve I know wouldn't do? Hook up with some random-" Natasha cleared her throat and leaned forward to catch Sam's vision. She widened her eyes at him and pursed her lips, begging him to reel it in. He didn't finish his thought, but he didn't particularly need to.
Loki squeezed Eve's hand once more. The action seemed to draw her back into the moment, pulling her from thoughts he couldn't waste energy to read. When her eyes met Sam's after his brash statement, there was a ferocity behind them that he rather admired. Despite himself, his classic wicked smirk spread across his lips.
"Things seem to be going well," Natasha tried to cut the tension by gesturing toward their interlocked hands.
"Oh, yes," Loki grinned and brought Eve's hand up to his lips to kiss it softly. Her heart fluttered in the way it would be expected to, had the intention been pure. She managed to smile at Natasha and chuckle, becoming dizzy from her own internal debate. He was just putting on a show for them, a very convincing one at that, and she was falling for it too.
"That's wonderful," Natasha remarked before moving on. "We're not in the business of wasting people's time, so if it's okay with you I'm going to get right into it."
"Yes, please do," Eve encouraged her.
"Our only real question revolves around something very simple," Natasha began, "the use of one word-Chitauri. This isn't the type of word that should be on any household tongues. We are in the business of dealing with the sorts of happenings that your local police force may not be equipped to handle. This includes the attack on the city a few days ago. That was us that cleaned everything up in a timely manner, to avoid unnecessary panic."
"With all due respect, everyone saw what happened," Eve commented, "even if the threat is neutralized, so to speak, what if there are more? Shouldn't you be the people answering our questions?"
"That's fair. I'm going to level with you. A lot of things we encounter aren't explainable yet. We have limited knowledge-we don't even know what questions to be asking at times. We get by, we save the day-but in the meantime it's not our job to make sure the public is informed. It's our job to make sure the public is safe. May I move on?"
Eve nodded. She didn't know enough about the topic to be arguing with an expert.
"All we need to know is where you heard the word Chitauri," Sam interjected.
"Eve told me you nearly lost your mind when she used the word on the phone!" Loki laughed. "Didn't realize it was so serious."
"Well," Eve looked at him, trying too hard to hide her consternation, "tell them where you heard it. Tell them just what you told me last night." There were a lot of ways this whole thing could go completely wrong. She wanted to appease them and then spend her time appeasing Loki until he left. No more outbursts, no more acting first and thinking later.
"I heard someone use it while we were out two nights ago, just a stranger in a bar. I thought it sounded completely terrific when he said it and have just been using it to refer to those aliens ever since. I didn't realize it would result in such a debacle."
Sam rolled his eyes so hard that he looked apt to lost his balance and slide off the chair.
"What?" Eve snipped in his direction.
"It's just," Sam searched for the proper words, "it's a pretty lame story."
"Lame, huh? What did you expect, some epic poem about how he had to blow a guy in a back alley to learn the word?"
Loki tried to hold back, but his laughter boiled over. He looked to Eve, who was being completely serious, and gave her a look of baffled amusement. "Epic poem?" He repeated, far more enthralled by the statement than anyone else seemed to be. "About oral sex?"
Eve struggled to maintain her genuine rage at Sam-who was, indeed, being unreasonable. Yet the sight of Loki truly enjoying himself overpowered her and soon she was laughing as well. "I'm sorry," she turned to Natasha, biting back an onslaught of giggles, "this is very unprofessional."
"That's quite alright," Natasha chuckled politely. "Just be sure you're not leaving anything out. If you did know the man who said it, it would help us immensely."
"No," Loki affirmed, "I did not know him. He seemed rather drunk in any case, no one was listening to him. I doubt anyone else absorbed his statement."
"If you remember anything, please contact Sam and let him know. If that's truly all, we'll be on our way," Natasha stood and beckoned Sam to join her.
Sam stood with her but leaned to whisper too loudly in her ear. "I don't think we're done here."
"We are for now," Natasha answered him and attempted to douse his concerns with experienced eyes.
Loki stared at the boy who was so desperate to find flaws in him. His face resembled that of a man who felt discouraged, as though all had been taken from him. Still, he saw deep inside his young frown and the gentle curl at the edges of his lips, the will of a man not yet broken. "You seem keen to accuse me of something," he stood as he spoke.
"If I can be candid," Sam's words came out with caution at first, "there's just something about this setup that doesn't sit right with me, in the pit of my stomach. Eve tells me everything. And since you've been around, she'd been distant and, well," his eyes met Eve's, "cold."
Eve was hit by a heavy wall of emotion. She thought to stand with them but couldn't bring herself to. She wanted more than anything to tell him everything, and she would, when it was all over. She just had to live to tell the tale, as she had been.
"Have you considered," Loki started in on him, "that she wants some space from you?"
Sam's eyes snapped back to his. "I had not considered that, because that thought is obnoxious, preposterous and any other synonyms you can think of."
"Absurd? Unthinkable? Excessive?" Loki rattled off.
"Yes, those and all the others."
"Strange. Those are the words I'd use to describe your immediate dislike of me. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had a thing for Eve here."
Eve's eyes grew wide and she found the strength to stand. She locked her arm into Loki's and stood on her tiptoes to speak directly into his ear. All she could think to say was, "Please," and force her tone to convey her despair. Natasha stood idly by, waiting for everything to blow over-and maybe hoping the emotional outburst would reveal something more.
Sam drank in the sight of them arm in arm and his face fell, the way it had days ago, and the week before. He walked over to Eve and sighed. He was more forlorn than she had ever seen him. "Eve," he whispered, and he sounded broken, "you would never lie to me, right?"
Loki broke his arm away from hers and moved to get a better view of her face. The way she looked at Sam disgusted him to his very core. It twisted up his stomach and heated his chest. She loved him. No, not in the way he wanted. But she did. That fact alone was enough to spark something in him he'd long thought dead. Before Eve could answer, he moved Sam away from her with a firm hand. Then he took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply.
Eve had no time to react. Her body molded into his intuitively, ready to act in whatever play he was putting on.
Natasha pulled Sam away and nodded her head toward the door. Sam blinked until he realized no amount of it would erase what he'd seen. His heartbeat quickened. He unclenched his fists and let the unbridled sadness cascade through his body in waves. Much like the tide, someday the weight on his chest wouldn't be so heavy.
A/N:
Man oh man. This chapter really fought with me. I'd love to know what you guys think-especially if you see an issue with pacing or anything that simply doesn't sit right with you. This is my first story and I've never really done anything like this, I want it to be as good as it can be and your feedback helps! Oh and let me know if you see typos too. Editing your own work is annoying :P
