Normal, Or Anything But? (Loki x reader)

Can't Things Stay Normal For A While?

Your and Loki's secret dating had become completely public to the rest of the team by accident a week after adopting Cookie. Nat, Clint, and Thor knew already, but during a random game of Truth or Dare caught you and your mischievous Prince off guard. When Loki got dared to kiss his favorite person in the room the first go around, he had conjured a mirror. It was funny, but when you had been dared to sit in Loki's lap until he pushed you off (to which he never did), more and more started getting revealed. You both were in a rather intimate looking position by then, and it clicked with the rest of the team that you two were very much used to doing that, and possibly more. And when Loki had chosen the truth towards the end, Tony asked if you and Loki had been doing the do. To which he responded smoothly with 'And so much more', causing quite the small uproar of whoops and I knew it exclamations.

And, Cookie had officially become Loki's fur baby for three months now. She was definitely becoming a mini him. You didn't even think it was possible to train a dog how to fold napkins and clean up after themselves properly, but leave it to Loki to do the impossible.

Not that you were complaining! It was just both adorable and astounding that Cookie would clean up after herself when she ate from her bowls.

But she was also being trained on search and rescue, considering she was a naturally calm dog with therapeutic tendencies already. She was rewarded, too, with homemade dog treats and really good food (that Tony bought. Seriously, Cookie was getting the best food there was).

Now that she also had her own spot in Loki's room by his already overfilled bookshelves, she was constantly curled up in her bed whenever you two would settle in for the night.

However, tonight turned out completely different.

A late night mission, emergency fueled and slightly nerve-wracking. Everyone had jumped up, yourself and Cookie included from the sudden blaring alarm. Loki had managed to coax your sleep riddled mind back to bed, promising to be back soon.

You could only nod, and slowly fell back to sleep after the tower quieted from the lack of bodies.

But, your dreams were anything but peaceful. Due to the adrenaline still in your system, you were given pure nightmare fuel. Running from fires that turned into pitch black darkness, and disembodied voices telling you that you'd be the death of everyone, you awoke with a terrible scream and an endless amount of tears.

Besides Cookie, Jarvis was the only other person (AI) that was there to help you calm down. But, you couldn't.

It was barely four in the morning, and no amount of calming tea or music helped. Your head was pounding and your heart was still racing. And with that, another problem came from it.

~~~~~~~

Cookie was whining softly when everyone had come back with exhaustion present in their expressions, her tail only wagging a small bit as she quickly went to greet Loki first. And as soon as he had knelt down to pet her in greetings, she gently gripped the wrist cuff of his shirt and pulled. This he knew meant trouble, and this was also alerting to Bruce and then Tony.

You had taken yourself to the medical bay, slightly hunched over from your lack of sleep and wearing one of your thicker jackets, your fingers gripping the ends tightly. Your eyes were closed to keep the lights from hurting them, but you could also feel the little bouts of sleep that were wanting to come back. You didn't even notice the multiple footsteps approaching you until you felt cool fingers brushing over your cheeks for a second, ones that slightly jerked back from your skin before a cool palm was on your forehead next. "She's burning up.."

You opened your eyes carefully as you heard the murmurs of the guys talking, lifting your head up a bit as Loki was kneeling down in front of you to be at eye level, concern written all in his expression. "Y/N..." You couldn't even give him a smile to reassure him, your expression failing in putting on a fake one as well. "I.. I don't think you're going to be happy with me..." You quietly tell him, lowering your gaze back down to his hands that were on your knees. You could see him stiffen up, watching his hands disappear from your legs before you felt your jacket getting pulled down gently.

And the collection of gasps confirmed your fears, as you allowed Loki to pull your jacket further down.

Almost resembling cracks through concrete, broken lines covered your arms, going through your skin and with your veins glowing in different colors. If you had been made of glass, you would look like someone had broken you with a bat. "Don't touch her arms with your bare hands..." You tune them out, keeping your gaze until Loki was gently cupping your face and making you look back up to him. "When did this start, Y/N?" He asked softly, and you could feel the tears in your eyes brimming over. He was so worried, but he was trying to stay calm for you.

"After the nightmare..."

(Very short chapter in my books, more to come!)