One and the Same (Loki Fanfic)

Chapter 8: Welcome to Asgard

Taylor woke the next morning sore overall, and sprinkled here and there with sharp pains from her healing cuts. Her ankle had healed up overnight, thankfully, and was mostly just stiff when she tried to walk on it. Stumbling from the bed, she ripped each and every bandage off with a grimace and crept reluctantly into the shower, allowing the feeling of the water running over her skin to soothe her troubled mind.

While she'd been exhausted the night before, after nightmares and then their impromptu Battle Royale, Taylor's mind hadn't left her in peace to sleep. She'd been plagued with dreams of a certain temperamental Asgardian (ex) prince with a slight superiority complex. Not the fun, "you got hit by a bus and I laughed" type of dream either, or the "I killed you and had to the hide body" as she would have expected. No, they were the types of dreams that made a wicked blush rise to her cheeks at the mere thought of their contents.

She groaned and allowed her head to meet the shower wall with a dull thud. Perhaps Loki had been responsible somehow, with his super magic powers or whatever. Yeah, she doubted it. He'd looked as dead on his feet as everyone else, and as far as Taylor knew, he had practically negative number of reasons to torture her with erotic dreams. Her traitorous subconscious then, she decided. It had found yet another way to torment her, and these were not something she could shake off with some soothing tea and pat on the head from her teammates.

"I'm an asshole," she said to herself in the shower, "or at least deep down I am."

With a resigned sigh and a brief shake of the head, she wandered slowly back into her bedroom and donned her just-got-my-ass-kicked uniform. The just-got-my-ass-kicked uniform consisted of a pair of loose workout shorts that she'd never actually exercised in, and an old tank top with the words "at least I'm pretty" written backwards in fake, glued-on rhinestones.

Barefoot, she padded towards the kitchen, too tired and pained to do something productive like make breakfast for everyone. Instead, she snatched a frozen waffle from the fridge and heated it between her palms while the coffee machine went about enabling her caffeine addiction. Once her coffee was done, she began downing it without a second thought, pausing only long enough to take bites out of her waffle. First cup down, she made a second and, feeling human enough to understand English again, wandered into the living room where Bucky, Steve, Bruce, Natasha, and Clint were watching TV.

With a yawn, she nestled herself between Steve and the arm of the couch, murmuring a barely coherent "good morning" to everyone. The screen was split in half, one side broadcasting news coverage of a "disturbance" in Greenland, the other playing the classic Looney Tunes—not the slightly irritating new version. Taylor settled her sleepy attention on Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam while her coffee kicked in.

The rest of the Avengers slowly began trickling in, one at a time. First came Pepper, sleeping in for once, good for her. Next came Loki, who couldn't seem to decide what to watch and settled for the news—probably because it made actual sense to him. Then came Thor, who Taylor had to help in working the coffee machine. Finally Tony, true to style, joined them last.

By that time, Taylor felt like a functioning human being again and was engaged in a conversation with Steve about cartoons. The dilemma from night before came up slowly, and then finally they couldn't put it off anymore; they had decide on the next course of action.

"We must return to Asgard," Thor said, "so that we may ascertain how the fire giants are able to travel without the use of portals or the Bifrost."

"When you say 'we' who exactly are you referring to?" Taylor asked.

"Loki and I, of course," he answered, "but also you, my friends. The Bifrost is the best way to travel between realms, and I will need your help to defeat these creatures."