Fear & Desire ❤️‍🔥

Morning sunshine

Waking up, you felt yourself smiling. It had been a while since you had woken up with a smile on your face but since speaking to Bucky, you were quickly finding a reason to smile again. You both spoke every day and it had been just over a week since you had your first date. It was drinks at a bar in town and the both of you couldn't stop laughing at one another's jokes. After the date, you and Bucky stole another kiss from each other but nothing else happened. You had arranged to meet up again but between Bucky going on missions and you settling into your new place, whilst dodging Tony's texts about you joining the team, it was hard to find the perfect time for you both to meet up. Bucky joked about you joining the team because at least you'd be at the tower so you could both see each other more and in all honesty, you had been considering it.

Occasionally, you'd be called into the tower or to S.H.I.E.L.D HQ to retrieve information. It felt good being back, you had taken a long break but working again felt good. Powerful. You were back to helping people. Being at S.H.I.E.L.D HQ yesterday was what earned you the sight of a sleeping god on your couch as you walked out of your room and towards your kitchen.

You and Loki had spoken more since that night you decided to reintroduce yourselves to one another. You'd sometimes see him around the tower or at HQ. Whenever you were doing an interrogation, Loki would usually be the one supervising it. He seemed to have warmed up slightly towards you and it was nice having a new friend.

Unlike Bucky, Loki was into literature which was something you both definitely agreed on. He'd always have a short poem that he'd surprise you with whenever he saw you and you'd always reply with a short Haiku. Anyone who saw the interaction would comment on how it was puerile, but you liked it. It was great that you and Loki were getting along despite the fact that he clearly still held ill feelings towards Bucky which you noticed every time he saw Bucky's name pop up on your phone or whenever you'd see Bucky and hug him. If you were going to join the Avengers, it would be good to have Loki as an ally and it would be good if Loki and Bucky finally got along.

"Loki?" You whispered walking towards him.

"Hmm" he grumbled opening his eyes. "Oh y/n, good morning" he greeted beginning to sit up.

"Hey what are you doing, lay back down" you said gently pushing him back down.

"I'm fine I'm fine" he assured throwing his arms up in the air trying to sit back up.

"Loki" you said sternly with a hand over his abdomen "lay back down."

He obliged causing you to smile as he gave a defeated sigh.

Yesterday, whilst you were at HQ, you saw some of the team coming back from a mission with a few people they had captured operating a HYDRA base. After they dropped the prisoners and said hi to you, they began retreating and going back towards the quintet. You and Loki were still talking as everyone was leaving and that's when you noticed him wince as you playfully punched his stomach. As he tried to straighten himself up, you saw that he was clearly in pain.

"Loki what's wrong?" You asked, worry evident in your tone.

"N-nothing I'm fine, I should go" he breathed out clearly in discomfort as he placed a hand over his stomach.

You grabbed his cheeks as he tried turning away forcing him to look at you. He tried his hardest to keep a blank expression but you knew something was up. Grabbing his hand, you lead him towards the empty room opposite you. When you stepped in, you lifted up Loki's shirt earning a gasp from you both. He was bruised. You ran your fingers lightly over the bruised skin before looking up at Loki with a disappointed expression. He must have been in a lot of pain because his cheeks were bright red as were the tips of his ears.

"Loki, why didn't you tell anyone you were injured?" You scolded.

"I'm not hurt it's fine".

Loki didn't meet your eyes as he spoke and you realised you still had his shirt up with your hand on his bare skin. Feeling slightly sheepish, you quickly removed your hand and pulled down Loki's shirt. You saw him bite his lip as your fingers brushed over his lower abdomen as you pulled his shirt back down, clearly he had noticed that you noticed because he gave a shy smile.

"You're hands are cold."

"Sorry" you said looking away from him.

"It's fine" you heard him whisper.

Loki explained to you that he had been having trouble sleeping and that a lack of sleep could sometimes interfere with his Seiðr. He explained that during the mission, Thor had somehow managed to accidentally hit him with Mjölnir causing the bruising. Usually it would have healed by now but as Loki's magic was depleted, it was taking longer than usual. He said he didn't want Thor to feel worse than he already did for his mistake so he didn't mention it. Seeing that Loki clearly was in pain and knowing he didn't want Thor to realise, you offered that he stay the night at yours giving him time to recover so that when he returned to the tower, he was right as rain.

Looking down at him laying on the couch, you thought it best to check the bruising.

"Do you mind?" You asked gesturing to his shirt.

"Go ahead" he said lifting his shirt up for you.

The bruising had definitely subsided which was good but now your attention was on his abs. They were striking. It was erotic thinking about the fact that yesterday your hands had ghosted over them yet you hadn't even noticed them. This felt like something straight out of wattpad. Clearing your throat, you straightened yourself out before speaking.

"They look go— it seems the bruising has subsided. How do you feel?" You asked trying to focus on Loki's eyes as he slowly pulled his shirt down.

"As I said I'm fine" he replied before licking his lips.

"Good" you stated turning around trying to not look at him anymore.

Hearing your phone vibrate, you saw a message from Bucky.

B: Morning sunshine

Y/n: Morning Bucky

B: Would you do me a favour please?

Y/n: of course

B: open the door, I bought breakfast x