XXI

John nervously made his way up the stairs to Sherlock's flat, skipping steps as he went. He had been slightly concerned about Sherlock when he called about Loki's midnight panic attack. But this morning the doctor had woken to a text from the detective stating that his presence was required at 221B ASAP. Since John still didn't trust Loki as far as he could throw him, he wasn't too optimistic about what he would find. Luckily, he still has a key from when he originally lived here. "Sherlock?!"

"Keep it down, John. Loki's asleep." That was definitely not the response John was expecting. Now was he expecting to find the detective in the middle of a trashed living room, nursing one hand close to his chest and the other running through a passed out Loki's hair. Sherlock seemed ridiculously calm for the rubble and bruises and cuts surrounding him. "You took your time."

"I only got your text an hour ago, Sherlock."

"I sent it four hours ago." As usual, Sherlock looked genuinely surprised that it took so long for John to get it.

"I was asleep four hours ago."

"Really?"

"Yes. Haven't you slept yet?" The broken furniture and sleeping god probably gave him the exact answer he was looking for, but John was honestly still processing what the bloody hell could have happened.

"No. Loki only collapsed a few hours ago. Didn't think it was a good idea to take my eyes off him if I could avoid it."

"Looks like that was a smart idea. What the hell happened here?" Sherlock went strangely quiet, eyes flitting to Loki before answering.

"We had a bad night." John's eyebrows knit together in confusion at the rather vague answer.

"A bad night? Sherlock, a bad night would be waking up in your best mate's yard in nothing but a sombrero. This looks more like a hurricane."

"To normal people, perhaps. Ah!" Sherlock hissed as he bumped his wrist against a broken table leg getting up. "I imagine this would be an Asgardian equivalent. If I wasn't understating things, that is. Did you bring your med kit like I asked?"

"Yes, of course. What the hell do you mean 'undersating'?" As Sherlock ushered him into the kitchen, John was able to catch a good glimpse of his injured wrist. A distinctly hand-shaped bruise encircled his wrist like a bracelet which was not helping Loki's case much. He had already begun to suspect the god's involvement in the destruction of 221B but this plus what the idiot genius was saying only confirmed his suspicions. "Sherlock, did Loki do all of this?"

"To an extent. I think some of it might have been me. It was a bit of blur last night. Any chance you can help me wrap this?" He held out his half-bandaged wrist expectantly before casting a – dare John say – worried glance at the sleeping deity. The doctor shook his head in irritated disbelief and began to wrap up his friend's wrist.

"Did he break it?"

"No, pretty sure it's just a sprain. More likely a ridiculously deep bruise."

"How the hell are you so calm? Obviously, Loki attacked you last night." Sherlock rolled his eyes.

"Knew I would regret calling you. Loki wasn't in his right mind."

"Oh really?"

"Really." Sherlock's eyes never left Loki until that moment, filled with annoyance and at least a touch of anger. "And please, keep your voice down. I don't want to wake him if I don't have to."

"I see. Of course, he's not injured the?" John knew he was starting to piss Sherlock off but the genius was quite thick-headed. Sherlock rolled his eyes.

"He probably has a good sized knot on his head from me clubbing him."

"Oh?"

"Oh, don't sound so surprised. Or please, for that matter."

"All I said was 'Oh.'"

"You're already suspecting this is not the first incident."

"Well, he's not the most trustworthy bloke, Sherlock."

"Neither am I, John." Sherlock was glaring at him now. "Loki did not attack simply to knock me senseless. Someone was attacking through him." John blinked a few times at that, genuinely surprised.

"'Through him?' How the hell is that even possible?"

"I'm not quite sure yet. But the best bet so far is some form of mind control. For God's sake, John, don't look so shocked." The doctor in question was shaking his head in disbelief. It had been almost 3 years since this whole mess started and John still found it hard to believe half the things they encountered. "This is hardly the strangest concept we've come across."

"Still weird."

"Well, yes. Even I can admit that." Sherlock, injured wrist now properly tended to, plopped into a nearby chair, still facing the sleeping god. John had to hide a smirk at the typically stoic detective. He didn't have to like or trust Loki, but it was quite refreshing to see Sherlock care for another person. Given that the closest he had seen Sherlock get to a romantic relationship was the Woman, falling for Loki probably made more sense than John gave credit for.

"So Loki didn't have a panic attack at all last night then?"

"I wouldn't say that. My guess is someone took advantage of it to access his mind. It's not too big a jump to assume Loki is not the only one with such magical knowledge." Sherlock steepled his hands and rested his chin upon them, staring into space as he often did when contemplating a case.

"So the question is, who did it?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"I have no way of being sure… but I think this may be connected to his disappearance a while back." John took a seat across from his friend, bracing himself for the stream of deducting that was no doubt about to spew from the detective's mouth. "Hard to be sure since he refuses to talk about it."

"Or he'd lie about it." When Sherlock looked confused, he elaborated, "Well, he's not called the God of Lies for nothing, Sherlock. Even if he did tell you everything, you can't be sure he's telling the truth."

"That's… actually a very good point…" The detective opened his mouth to say more but was interrupted by a distressed noise from Loki. Sherlock was up instantly and by his immortal beloved's side, running his uninjured hand through Loki's hair soothingly. John heard him mutter something to the semi-conscious god, presumably encouraging nothings to go back to sleep. Loki shifted a little but did not wake, nuzzling in Sherlock's hand and releasing a contented purr in his sleep. "There we go…" Sherlock whispered with a smile, pressing a kiss to his lover's forehead.

"You know, Sherlock," John began in an attempt to slice the thick wall of awkward he felt. "That still doesn't answer the question of who did this." He tried to be quiet enough to not wake the mischief god but loud enough for the consulting detective to hear. "Unless he's told you who kidnapped him."

"Well, not directly. He has a habit of talking in his sleep. Unfortunately, I'm not finding anything on this 'Thanos' character."

"Makes sense, assuming he's not from earth."

"Exactly. Luckily, I do have a way to access certain parties who would-"

"Don't, Sherlock." Sherlock shot him a confused look at the very stern tone to John's suggestion. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is a very bad idea. You can't join with them."

"They may have the information I need. It would hardly be the worst decision I've ever made." While Director Coulson had been adamant that Sherlock keep his recruitment a secret from Loki, nothing was said about tell John Watson. Unfortunately, John had not been as receptive to the idea as Sherlock had hoped. Hell, his wife had once been a secret agent/assassin.

"They don't have the best record, Sherlock."

"Neither do I, John." John sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"You've already made up your mind haven't you?"

"Yep."

"And nothing's going to change it?"

"Nope."

"Of course not…" There was a long silence between the friends that would have been tense were it not for Sherlock's sweet soothings in Loki's ear to help him sleep. Seeing the God of Mischief being coddled really made him less fearsome. "He won't like it." If the detective wouldn't listen to his best friend, maybe he would for his lover. "You know he won't, Sherlock."

"He won't know. I'm not allowed to tell him."

"Like that will stop you," John countered with a smirk. Sherlock chuckled softly, returning the grin.

"True. But it will at first."

"Sherlock, I know you're new to this relationship thing, but you should know that keeping secrets is a very bad idea. Especially something like this."

"Perhaps." Sherlock stood, seemingly satisfied that the god would remain asleep, and began to pick up bits of debris left all over the floor. "But it's not like Loki doesn't keep his own secrets. Oh! There you are, Elsa. I was wondering where you were hiding." The tiny red dragon had tucked herself under an overturned bin, trembling so hard John was certain he heard her scales clinking. The poor creature cautiously crawled her way out before slinking over to the sleeping god. Sherlock smirked as she tucked herself into Loki's arm.

"I don't really have much choice in the matter, John." Even though the detective was turned to face John, Sherlock's fingers had somehow managed to weave its way back into Loki's hair. If the consulting blogger had never have been in love himself, he'd probably wonder if there were magnets between them. "If I didn't think it could help ensure Loki's safety, I probably would not accept."

"But you think it will help."

"No. Not really." John wasn't quite sure what shocked him more. The fact that he was so blunt in his answer or the fact it came without much thought. Before John could even get a good read on Sherlock's thoughts, the detective turned away, hiding his face. "But being a lowly mortal… my abilities are somewhat… limited. John bit down a joke about the Great Sherlock Holmes finally admitting he's human. Said detective cleared his throat before continuing, "S.H.I.E.L.D. has access to weapons and data I doubt any of Mycroft's people could even begin to imagine."

"That's probably true. I'll give you that." He really wanted Sherlock to realize what a bad idea this was since the organization was still recovering from being torn apart. But 1) fighting a determined Holmes was a losing battle and 2) he couldn't find fault in Sherlock's reasons to take the risk. A smile actually formed on the retired army doctor's face as an impish thought came to mind. "Well, one good thing will come from this."

"And what's that then?"

"Just imagine how pissed Mycroft will be when he finds out." That caused Sherlock to suppress a ridiculously loud laugh.