The moment your feet hit the pavement in front of Stark Tower, you take off. Running as hard and as fast as you can, you relish the sting in your lungs from the cold night air, inviting the pain into your body.
You make your way quickly around the wide base of the tower, leaving behind the well-lit entrance in favor of the darker back lawn. But you don't stop, running through the lawn and further back until you reach the craggy cliffside, the crashing of waves below.
You finally stop on the edge, breathing heavily as you recover from your quick and ill-advised sprint through the dark. Finding that familiar, jagged rock you climb on top, allowing your legs to dangle over the edge.
One slip, and you'd be gone. Lost beneath the waves below.
Despite the dangerous surroundings, this is your safe place. You find yourself grinning at the irony of this thought, before realizing that life is irony. Laying back on the damp rockface, you shiver as you watch the stars above, and begin to think about the sedate practicality of your situation.
Thinking about Anthony. Thinking about Loki. Thinking about the family.
You're not sure how much time has passed, but you're nearly ready to go back inside when you hear footsteps jogging down the path behind you, causing you to sit up.
"Y/n?"
"Steve," you say, smiling as you watch him running towards you in his full uniform, shield on his back and all. "What are you doing?" you ask.
"Training," he says, veering off the path and making his way towards you, hands on his hips as he tries to catch his own breath. "Tony upgraded a few things for me and I wanted to make sure I could still...well, move."
You nod in understanding, still slightly distracted by your own thoughts. You turn your gaze back to the cliffside, and look out over the inky waters.
"Are you okay?" you hear Steve ask from behind you. "I usually only see you out here when you're upset."
"My son was kidnapped, Steve. So yeah. I'm upset," you say crossly, immediately regretting your tone. You hadn't meant to snap at him.
You're about to turn around and apologize, but before you can, Steve takes a seat on the empty rock next to you, and places a comforting hand on your shoulder.
"But he's safe, right? He's with Loki's mother?"
"So he says," you say.
"You really think Loki would lie to you about something like that?" Steve asks.
As soon as the words left your mouth, you felt guilty about them. You know that Loki would never lie to you. And you also know he must genuinely believe in the safety of Anthony with Frigga. Although irritable, Loki hadn't killed anyone or thrown either of you through a portal to get back to Asgard, which is what he would have done if he truly believed Anthony to be in even the slightest bit of danger.
YOU ARE READING
Undaunted (Loki x Reader)
Fanfiction'The end may justify the means, my Valkyrie - but only if there is something out there that justifies the end itself.' With the nine realms now facing a threat far greater than you could have imagined, you and Loki are sought by those once considere...
