They Come on White Horses: Chapter 8
Requested by: NoVacancyMind and many wonderful others
Sequel to Knights.
This story is moving along nicely. These three really are adorable. Whenever I wish someone would write a certain kind of fanfic and can't find a good one, I decide to write my own. I wished there was a story about Loki taking care of turned-child Avengers, couldn't find one, so I write this. Glad to hear that you all enjoy it. :)
Please enjoy and review!
Disclaimer: Don't own. Never will. So sad.
Recognizable
Loki woke slowly, his eyelids feeling heavier than normal. He panicked for a moment, when he felt a pressure on his chest, but the sound of soft snores brought back memories of the night previous. Sunlight was streaming through the partially opened curtains and landing across the expanse of the bed. Loki lifted one arm, the cold bracelet sliding down, and rubbed across his eyes. The buzzing in his skull seemed to have amplified overnight, and his bones ached as if racked with fever.
"Jarvis? What time is it?" The raven haired man did his best to not jostle the two little ones using him for a pillow as he reoriented himself.
"It is eight forty-two, Mr. Loki." Jarvis kept his volume considerately low for Tony and Bruce. Loki nodded, and though he hated the thought, he knew he must wake them. Ever so gently, he rubbed their backs and shook them.
"Anthony, Bruce, it is time for you to wake. There is a new day ahead of us." It took a few more gently shakes, before either boy started to stir. Tony lifted his head rather quickly, and Loki deftly avoided getting his teeth smashed by the four year old's flying head and ignored the drool on his night shirt.
"Hmm?" Loki chuckled softly at the boy's half aware eyes and wild curls.
"I said it is time to wake up, child." Bruce stretched before he slowly lifted his head and took in his surroundings. It made Loki unspeakably happy that even as the boys became completely aware of their situation, neither of them pulled away from him. They seemed content to stay curled up in his sides forever. And to be perfectly honest, Loki would be just fine with that.
"Are you two hungry? It is time for breakfast." That got Tony bouncing out of bed, fully awake and ready to go. Bruce hung back. Loki gave him a curious look.
"Are you not hungry, Bruce? Are you feeling well?" Bruce looked up at him, and Loki was startled to see tears in the boy's eyes in conjunction with the brightest smile Loki had ever seen on Bruce's face. Loki was stunned even more, when Bruce hugged him as tight as those Midgardian constricting snakes, and buried his face in Loki's neck.
"Thank you," he breathed out. Loki slowly wrapped his arms around the boy and they sat there for a few moments, enjoying each others embrace. That is, until Tony bounced back on the bed, jostling them.
"Come on, Bruce, Loki! Breakfast!" Loki chuckled, and Bruce smiled as they let go, and the six year old slid off the bed. Tony jumped off and ran to the door. Loki shook his head at the younger boy's antics and slowly got out of the bed to guide them to the kitchen. He would have gone faster, but his body protested even small movements. The two boys raced down the hallway together, giggling as they went. Loki walked after them, trusting them to wait for him if they got lost.
Apparently, they didn't need his help, as they were seated at the team dining table by the time he reached the kitchen. Steve was showing Thor how to make pancakes without imbedding them into the ceiling, and Natasha and Clint were seated together at the counter bar, drinking coffee and observing. Black Widow had a faint smile on her face as she watched the boys chat excitedly with each other.
Steve turned and flashed Loki a smile when he entered.
"Geez, what did you do? Those two are practically bonkers." Clint snorted at the Captain's turn of phrase while Thor looked at him curiously. Loki, seeing Thor's confusion, clarified for him.
"He means they are very excited and, 'hyper' I believe the modern word is." Steve nodded, and Loki gave up when Thor just got more confused at the Midgardian slang. "I merely made the mistake of making sure they got an appropriate amount of sleep. They are sure to be little bilgesnipe today." It sounded exasperated, but Loki's fond smile took any offense from the words. Steve came over with some pancakes and set them in front of the boys.
"Is that true? You two get some good shut-eye?" They nodded, smiles growing bigger upon seeing the pancakes.
"Yeah. Loki slept with us." Loki had to bite his lip to keep from laughing when Clint spewed his coffee across the counter.
"He, what?!" Natasha rolled her eyes and shoved a roll of paper towels at her fellow SHIELD agent. As Thor walked over with two plates piled high with pancakes and bacon and eggs, placing one in front of his brother and the other in front of himself, he turned to Barton, confused once more.
"Is it that unusual for children to sleep together with their parental figure? Loki and I snuck into bed with our parents for as long as we could growing up. Loki was often plagued with nightmares." Loki jabbed Thor's arm with a fork, though it did nothing but bend his utensil.
"So it was always me that called for the guards and Mother and Father when I had a nightmare?" Thor laughed and hit Loki on the back, jarring the younger's body painfully.
"I was convinced more than once that Frost Giants were in our room." Loki snorted.
"Well, you weren't wrong." There was a bit of an awkward silence between the two for a few moments.
"Yes…well, that is no longer a concern! You are my brother and a prince of Asgard, no matter your heritage!" Loki suddenly found himself wrapped up in a bone crushing hug, and he had to bite his lip to contain a groan of pain. Thor thankfully released him quickly, and Loki mock-scowled at Tony and Bruce who were giggling at the funny display.
"Oh? What do you two find so funny?" Tony and Bruce laughed harder at Loki's silly expression. Steve came over and sat next to Tony, ruffling the boy's hair.
"Stop laughing at Loki, you two. I bet you'd look silly if your big brother hugged you like that." The two boys stopped laughing, but the smiles never left their faces.
"But was everything alright last night? Why did you have to sleep with them?" Loki ran his fingers through Bruce's hair as the boy's got quiet.
"The encounter with Director Fury yesterday scared them, and caused them to have nightmares last night. Jarvis woke me up and told me they were asking for me." The other adults (sans Clint) nodded their understanding.
"How do you know they weren't having nightmares about you?" Loki opened his mouth to retort, but Tony beat him to it.
"We didn't have nightmares about Loki, 'cause Loki's nice. Bruce and I love Loki. Stop being mean to him!" Loki's jaw dropped as both boys were now actively glaring at the archer. Steve and Thor were struck speechless, while Clint was left opening and closing him mouth like a fish. Natasha on the other hand was biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing. She really cared about Clint, but sometimes he didn't know when to shut up. And now he got his butt handed to him by some toddlers. The archer slowly stood and left the room without another word.
Tony went back to eating his pancakes, satisfied that he had gotten his point across. Bruce smiled at Loki and patted him on the arm. The trickster was still a bit in shock, but was shaken out of it by Thor laying his hand on the back of his neck and leaning in so only Loki could hear him.
"You aren't a monster, if you can inspire such small children to stand up for you." Loki cleared his throat, shook his head and smiled at the boys.
"Once you two are finished, I need to do some…work downstairs in the lab. You can play with Steve and Thor for those few hours, and then I promise we can do whatever you want." Loki thought about his words for a moment. "As long as it doesn't involve going outside." Tony seemed to deflate when Loki said that, and Bruce gave him the most pitiful puppy dog eyes the trickster had ever seen (and he lived with Thor for centuries, so that's saying something).
"But why can't we go outside?" Loki sighed, set down his fork and ran his fingers through Bruce's curls.
"I know you two would love fresh air, but I am saying this only to keep you safe. Do you trust me?" Both boys looked saddened, but nodded to the question nonetheless.
"Then you can trust that I would never keep such a beautiful day from you unless there was a very good reason. Now, finish your breakfast. Anthony, don't play with your food." The boys did as they were told, but no longer in such good spirits. Seeing that even the prospect of playing with Captain America wasn't cheering Tony up, a new idea popped into Loki's head.
"Captain, how about in three hours you bring them down to the lab. Then they can be with me, and I can show them a lot of science." Bruce and Tony perked up immediately, and Thor slapped Loki on the back again.
"That is a wonderful idea, Loki! They love science!" Loki hid his grimace as best he could as he stood. He placed his plate in the Stark dishwasher before saying goodbye to the boys and heading downstairs. However, the prospect of stairs, even if they were going down, did not seem like a good idea.
So, Loki took the elevator down, getting him a raised eyebrow from Thor, which he waved off before the doors closed.
"Jarvis, can you find out what exactly Anthony and Bruce were working on before the explosion?"
"Of course, Mr. Loki," the AI responded, a bit indignantly. Loki only had to wait until he was in the lab for Jarvis to start giving him the requested information.
"Dr. Banner was working on isolating the infected gamma cells in his blood. He was going to try pulling them apart and seeing if the internal compounds could be used for something, some sort of antidote or medicine perhaps, as the Hulk never gets hurt in battle." Loki wandered over to Bruce's station as Jarvis spoke. There wasn't much left of the equipment, but there were still traces of his blood that he had been testing. Loki moved on to Tony's area.
"Mr. Stark was still working on replicating your bracelets. He was hoping to be able to incorporate them into his suit, in case they had to fight more magic wielding enemies in the future." Most of the lab was intact (it was Stark grade equipment after all). The explosion seemed to be directed towards the two scientists. The yellow powder Loki had found the other day was in between both stations and had obviously not been caused by anything either of the two men were working on.
There was a third party. With magic that he recognized.
So...Loki doesn't seem to be feeling too good...hmmm...andy ideas where that might lead? ;) More adorable fluff! Stay tuned.
Please review! :)