The Bridge Between Us - Loki X Reader

13 - "I wouldn't ask you if I wasn't interested, would I?"

The excitement and adrenaline from running to escape the storm wore off quickly, and within a few minutes, the awkward atmosphere of tension between both Y/N and Loki had returned once again. With the way back blocked and nowhere else to go, Y/N could already feel herself getting frustrated. Knowing that she couldn't do anything about it, though, she finally relented, dropping to the floor with an angry sigh. A quick attempt to lean back against the rock of the cave wall resulted in her back being painfully poked at by the rough surface.

"Great. It could be hours now until it clears up." Another flash of lightning accompanied her comment. She leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand, deciding that it wasn't worth trying to find a spot where the wall wouldn't jut into her spine.

Loki didn't respond. He hadn't said anything, though it wasn't as if he would without being prompted. He only looked back outside and gave a slight shrug of his shoulders before returning to his thoughts as he shifted uncomfortably from side to side.

"You seem worried."

"Hm."

His one-word and sometimes no-word answers were impossible to glean anything from. She thought perhaps that their situation would warrant something more than a glorified grunt, but clearly not.

Y/N shook her arms in a vain attempt to dry off, but it only ended up scattering droplets everywhere and didn't do much good. She settled for wringing out what she could and leaving the rest, hoping it would dry off on its own sooner than later, but seeing how humid it was in the cave, she doubted it would. Loki, however, didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that he too was dripping rainwater and instead just stared forward with a rather morose expression.

For a while, Y/N was wondering if he was readying himself to go back out, what, with the way he was standing, but after a few minutes she realized that he was just tense. She might have felt the same after everything that had happened that day, but even thinking about it all required way too much energy. She let out another sigh, folding her arms tight against her chest to preserve what warmth was left.

Minutes ticked by slowly, the only telling of time being the cycles of lightning and thunder that followed each other in succession every once in a while. Meanwhile, Loki just continued to stand there, back half turned to Y/N as he rested his forearm up against the cave roof. He was clearly thinking about something, of which she has a few guesses. Several times she considered asking him about it but ended up keeping quiet the first few times the urge arose, knowing that he probably would just get annoyed and snap at her. She could only stand it for so long though.

"Loki."

A slight furrow of the prince's brow was the only sign that he had heard her, but he didn't say anything.

"Loki," she tried again, this time earning a glance and another small grunt of acknowledgment. "Do you have a plan, or—?" She trailed off as he seemed to consider the question for a few moments. He absentmindedly tapped his fingers against the roof of the cave, shaking his head.

"No, not really," Loki admitted, turning back towards her and away from the storm outside. "But to be honest, even with all of this going on I would still rather be here than back home." Y/N considered pressing him further for a reason, but after a second thought, she figured she knew what he was thinking and he didn't look like he was in the mood to talk about it.

The prince resumed his contemplative sulky silence, seeming to be content with where he was, but she had had just about enough of being slammed with a wall of rain every time the wind decided to blow their way.

"Alright, I'm going farther in," she announced, climbing to her feet and pushing off the cave wall. The surface of the rock poked at the soft skin of her palm, making it itch. It was a lot sharper than it had looked, and she scratched at her hand as she turned towards the black maw of the tunnel before her.