Hidden Troubles

Chapter 26

"You wanna go out?" Natasha didn't even bother knocking as she walked into Loki's room. He looked almost disapprovingly at her from the book in his hands.

"God you're inhaling these," she muttered, picking up The Tempest from the bedside table. She'd only lent it to him yesterday.

Loki frowned and took back the book. How did she confuse his perusing of books as breathing them into his lungs?

"It's slang," she said with a crooked smile.

Well, that made everything more understandable, didn't it?

"You definitely need to get out of here. You're turning into an anti social butterfly."

"I'm not allowed out," Loki said quietly. Factually. He'd just accepted that he was to be trapped here in the tower forever. Like some caged princess.

"Well you can now. And you'll be with me. No one'll question me." At Loki's apprehensive expression, she continued. "No one will recognise you. And we won't be out for long. I promise."

Loki looked up at her. Can I hold you to it?

"I promise," she repeated.

You are humanity's greatest liar.

"I need to run an errand for the others as well. And I'd rather not go alone. Please?"

Loki's eyes fluttered shut before reopening. A sign of his reluctant admission.

"Meet me near the doors in ten then."

***

Natasha didn't have to wait long before Loki appeared. She remembered having to wait for him to take him out for his punishments. It felt like some distant memory, when in reality it'd been a reality for her four months back. And so much had changed between now and then. She almost couldn't understand how she disliked someone so much she'd been so ignorant to their suffering.

Loki seemed oddly out of breath as he exited the elevator, something Natasha filed away for thinking about later.

"Ready?" Loki nodded, eyes darting around the glass doors. It had been a while since he'd last left the tower, she realised. A long while.

Loki almost shrunk in on himself the second the cool September breeze hit him. He wanted nothing more than to retreat back into the tower and finish reading Richard III, but he knew the stubborn red-head wouldn't allow for that. He had to forcibly restrain an oncoming smile.

They walked through the New York streets, Natasha pointing out both personal and more famous landmarks. Loki only nodded quietly, trying not to lose his guide in the overwhelming crowd. He'd visited the village ground beyond the palace and watched the busy market days, but he decided nothing could compare to New York.

"You haven't been down here have you?" Loki shook his head. "Well you might not have had time to appreciate the view flying above everyone but it's pretty fine down here too."

Loki walked forwards suddenly, mindlessly crossing the busy New York streets, ignoring the angry honking of enraged drivers as he crossed their path. Natasha found herself running to catch up, for a moment wondering if Loki had some sort of death wish or if he was finally trying to run away. The thought that he'd run broke her heart a little.