Forty
I groaned. Everything hurt. That dream seemed so real. I stretched, but there was a painful tugging in my hand. My eyes flashed open to see an IV in my hand. I sat up, and immediately regretted it. I coughed and spit up blood. The pain in my chest was excruciating.
"No, don't move. There's still a lot of internal tearing." A voice came from the corner. I turned towards the voice to see Loki putting a book down. He was dressed very causally in jeans and a green long sleeved shirt. His shoulder length hair tied back with a ribbon.
"Lo…" I started and ended coughing up blood.
"Don't, your lung was punctured. That's why it probably hurts to breathe." He sat next to me on the bed adding something to my IV. I looked at him questioningly. "Morphine. Jarvis says it will dull the pain and let you sleep."
I mimed a keyboard, hoping he'd get the hint.
"Mr. Laufeyson, I believe he needs a Stark Pad. There's one on the desk in the lab." Jarvis chirped. Leave it to Jarvis to know what I mean. Loki got up and disappeared for a moment. He reappeared a few minutes later with a Stark Pad and a glass of water. I took both, grateful for his intuition. I was able to wash the blood out of mouth. The cool water felt good.
"What happened?" I typed.
"You were shot at close range by a Hydra agent. You're lucky I was here, keeping an eye on you. I managed to remove as much of the bullet as I could. It shattered in your chest. Jarvis talked me through reinstalling your Arc Reactor." He explained. I suddenly felt the familiar hum of the magnet working in my chest.
"Before Mr. Laufeyson was able to get the reactor in your chest, you were dead for three minutes, twenty-eight seconds." Jarvis added. I gasped.
"When did you and Jarvis become such good friends?" I typed out.
"Ha. Your computer tried to kill me first. Only when it realized I was trying to save you, did it let up. It then happily talked me through human anatomy and rebuilding and reinstalling your Arc Reactor." Loki smiled. It was good to see him smile.
"Jarvis talked you through placing an IV?"
"Jarvis and something called YouTube."
"How long have I been out?"
"About a week. I never knew how incredibly fragile Midgardian lives were." He mused looking at his hands.
"Why didn't you use your magic to heal me? Like you did yourself?" I continued typing.
"I didn't know how it would affect you. Do you want me to try?" Loki asked. I nodded.
He placed hand on my chest and closed his eyes. I felt an energy surging into my body. I watched the concentration on his face until the color drained from his face, a blue replacing the porcelain skin. His face was painted in dark blue lines. I reached up to hold his chilled cheek, running my thumb over one of the swirls. He leaned into my touch, opening his eyes. Scarlet replaced the familiar green. I pulled my hand away in shock. He had spoken of his true form, but I didn't expect the large changes.
He looked down at his own blue swirled hands and leapt to his feet. He backed into the door.
"I'm sorry. I know I'm a monster." He wept into his hands. I wanted to tell him he was beautiful in his Jotun form, but it still hurt to speak.
"Loki…" I gasped horsely. He looked up and reached my hands out to him. His blue faded back to his Aesir form. I typed quickly as he approached. I patted the bed next to me. He sat next to me gingerly and I thrust the Stark Pad into his hands.
"You're not a monster. You're beautiful." It read.
"Stay." I croaked before settling down to sleep, energy still running through my veins, healing the torn tissue.