Loki one-shots fanfiction ♡

32. unlikely friendships

Loki brought home a creature in which, to his belief, was a puppy. To everybody else's belief, the creature wasn't a puppy. And really, Loki didn't think the 'puppy' was going to cause so much a trouble. No one agreed with him.

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Trigger warning for violence. I didn't intend for it to get dark, but some of the content could be triggering to some.

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At first he didn't tell anybody, even Thor, about what he brought home with him from their trip to Alfheim. The animal was small, like those baby dogs from Midgard. So he doubted it was a big deal -- there was no need for Thor or anyone to know. He could take care of it on his own.

Loki found it by accident on his way back to their ship. Walking alone -- because Thor and the rest of the Avengers had already finished their duties and was waiting on said ship -- through Alfheim forest, he heard an animal's yowling. He paid it no mind at first, but the yowling got louder and he could tell the thing was in pain. He wasn't much of an animal lover, he only had two pets growing up on Asgard, and he'd been on hunting trips with Thor and Thor's friends often enough (even if he wasn't particularly a fan of the sport, Thor usually managed to drag him along most of the times) Natural selection, Loki thought. He wasn't here for a rescue mission. They weren't here for a rescue mission.

Why they were here, was because Alfheim had resources for Tony's research. And Tony couldn't travel across planets on his own, or if he could, he'd never been on Alfheim before; there were hunters, dangerous species only the Odinsons had experience with, thus Thor offered to help, thus Thor and Tony dragged Loki and the rest of the team with them. Which was, in Loki's opinion, kind of ridiculous and unnecessary, the fact so many people tagged along. They were mortals, after all, even with the Avengers title -- they were all tiny little mortals who couldn't resist the opportunity to travel across planets.

Loki lifted the hood of his cloak over his head, attempting to quicken his pace so he got to the ship as fast as possible. It was getting dark and Loki knew hunters mostly preyed at nighttime. The yowling somehow stopped him in his tracks. He had no time for searching, but it looked like he wouldn't even have to, because the noise came from somewhere near, probably only a couple feet away.

Loki looked to the right and there it was; a shadowy figure twisting in a bush. He hadn't gotten a good look at it, but it was the size of a cat and it kept yowling. Walk away, he told himself he should just walk away. It wouldn't survive, anyway. The thing was clearly injured, perhaps stuck, couldn't move, and with it keeping crying like this, it'd attract predators soon enough. Then it'd be out of its misery.

"I'm sorry," Loki said, like it could understand him. He turned his back toward it and started walking away.

Abandoned, suffering, left to die.

Loki stopped after three steps away from the creature. Do you think you also cried like that when Odin found you there, on Jotunheim? When Laufey left you exposed to the cold out there like that to die.

It could have been you.

You were it.

He turned back around.

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They all made it home alive and well, and with another new member -- a tiny crew mate -- hiding away in Loki's cape. The magic -- the seidr his mother had taught him -- helped shield the creature from anybody's sight and silenced its continuous yowling from anyone's ears.

Loki, despite Thor's invitation for him to join the team in celebration for a mission gone well, went straight to his room. He hoped Thor or anybody didn't see his parting for the evening as a red flag as to what he was up to. No, they wouldn't. Loki had never been the one to socialise, so this was, in its own right, not unusual.