Dark heart

Chapter 3

I decided to train a while longer but most of the others went back upstairs. Only Natasha stayed and started some exercises as well. " That was pretty cool," she said after a moment's silence. " Thanks, I hope I didn't catch you off guard too much by just getting into your head like that," I replied with a smile, which she just dismissed with a wave of her hand. Usually people didn't like it when someone strange poked around in their head but I had only accessed perception and she didn't seem to mind. Silently we continued our training until she went upstairs after a while. I decided to devote some more time to the punching bag and after a while I saw out of the corner of my eye how Thor and Loki came down the stairs.

They took some knives from a shelf and started to fight each other. I watched briefly the elegant back and forth of their bodies before returning to my own training. Suddenly I heard a loud curse, which seemed to have come from Loki. Curious, I turned around and found that he was holding his upper arm with a distorted face while Thor was handing him a towel with a guilt-conscious look. " Are you okay?" I wanted to know when I saw the towel turn red after Loki had pressed it on her arm. " Everything's fine", he said, but his quiet cursing told me something else so I crossed the room and stood with the two.

"Let me have a look", I asked him, reaching out to the towel, with our fingers briefly rubbing. His skin was cool and soft and I was briefly distracted by it before I put on a professional facial expression and waited for him to pull off the now-blooded towel. I gently pushed away the edges of his cut shirt with my fingertips and was careful not to touch the cut. It was deep and obviously painful. " It has to be sewn", I determined after closer inspection and let go of him again. " It's okay, it's not that bad", he waved off, but his brother only gave him a warning glance and he sighed. I just took that as an agreement and led him into an underground passageway that connected the main building with the hospital wing.

Once in the lab, I motioned for him to take a seat on an examination table and began to gather the necessary materials. Once I had everything, I pulled on my gloves and tried to avoid his gaze as I asked, "Could you please take your shirt off so I can get to the wound?" Normally I had no problem asking patients to do this, it was perfectly normal. But there was something about Loki that made me nervous and the way he was always looking at me didn't make it any better. Without a comment, he did as I asked and dropped his shirt next to him. I couldn't stop my gaze from wandering over his naked torso. Although he was much slimmer than Thor, muscles were clearly visible under his pale skin and I had to force myself not to keep staring at him like that.

I numbed the area and after a short wait began to tend to the cut. It took a few stitches and so I sat at an angle in front of him for quite a while, literally feeling him looking at me. " I'll have to take the suture out in a few days but other than that it should heal fine," I explained and continued to stare at my hands as I began to put everything away again. " Thank you Alex," he replied in his dark voice and I really had to pull myself together not to stare at him again. " No problem," I only said and lifted my gaze again. Loki had dressed again by now and had his back turned to me. The brothers left and I lowered myself back onto my stool. Something about this man just drew me to magically and made me feel like melted butter around him.But then again there was this darkness surrounding him that reminded me of Tony's words that I shouldn't let him get too close to me.

On the way up I ran right into my brother who grined at me cheerfully. " Why are you in such a good mood?" I wanted to know, and he only looked at me conspicuously. " Well, you know me, I'm always looking for something to celebrate. And your admission to the Avengers is my reason to throw you a party. Tomorrow", he explained to me and I shook my head with a laughed face. Tony was really always looking for an excuse to throw big parties, but I didn't really have a problem with that. I had always had a lot of fun at his events and it would be no different this time, especially when the whole team was there. " Do the others already know?" I wanted to know and he nodded as we walked side by side towards the living room, where Wanda met us. " Hey Alex, you're the one I've been looking for", she greeted me with a smile and I just looked at her in amazement. "Nat and I wanted to go shopping later for tomorrow and we wanted to ask if you would like to join us", she explained and I nodded eagerly. I liked them and besides, they were the only women here except me. " Great! We'll meet here in an hour", she matures to me and hasted further.

Just an hour later I was finished, but I didn't see either of them downstairs yet. However, Bucky stood in the kitchen and greeted me with a beaming smile. " Hey there", he said, coming up to me and wimpering through my hair before I could even intervene. I acknowledged this with an insulted look and tried to get my hair back in order while he clearly had to stop laughing. " Where are you going?" then he wanted to know. " Shopping with Nat and Wanda", I replied, and on the cue the two came around the corner. " Shall we?" asked Wanda and got in with me. I nodded and said goodbye to Bucky, who wished us a lot of fun, then I let them pull me to the car.

It took us all quite a while to find something suitable and make our way back. The day with the two of them had been great. We had talked about all sorts of things and I was sure I had found good friends in them. " We should definitely do that again,' Nat said, already saying what I was thinking and Wanda and I agreed with her enthusiastically. It would be a while until dinner would be ready, so I went upstairs to my room. Startled, I pulled up from my thoughts as the door opposite mine suddenly opened and Loki stepped out. " Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he apologized but judging by the amused grin on his lips he found my reaction rather funny. I hadn't even known that his room was directly across the hall, so I cast a curious glance over his shoulder. The furniture was dark and I could spot books everywhere.

I tore myself away from the sight of him still looking at me with amusement and quickly changed the subject, "How's your arm?" He followed my line of sight to where the bandage came out the bottom of his sleeve. " All right. You have to know, we heal faster than you humans," he explained and I nodded. I'd read about it before but after everything they were saying about his kind around here by now I wasn't sure about anything. " In that case I might be able to remove the stitches tomorrow, depending on how well it heals by then,' I added and this time he was the one who just nodded. That seemed to be the end of the conversation for him because he walked past me in the direction of the stairs and I also went on to my room.