Drift (Loki x Reader)

IV. The Envoy

"You're telling me that's he's coming here!"

"No, of course not," the man with the eye patch chuckled as he spun on his feel to face a frenzied Stark. "That would spell catastrophe for the entire planet. I'm very well aware that the last time Loki of Asgard or wherever the hell he's from tried to conquer the Earth and enslave all of humanity. That's why I'm dispatching an envoy."

"An envoy?" Rogers piped in. "I don't understand, if you pardon my interjection, sir." This earned an eye roll from Stark. "What is the bother with involving Loki in the first place? He was in a cell in Asgard's dungeons half a universe away. What's his connection to all of this?"

"I don't know," Eyepatch Man shook his head. "Asgard isn't exactly the best at communication. They've got sticks so far up their galactic assholes that they think that all worlds within their 'jurisdiction' will answer a summon without question."

"Well I've got questions," Romanoff snarled, jumping to her feet. "And I'm not going to walk to the throne room in Asgard like a servant whenever Odin decides to ring his dinner bell."

You remained in a transient state, your eyes floating from person to person. The migraine had been short, nothing as long as it had been two days ago. But there was always a sort of buzz that tended to follow like a really bad hangover, the feeling that your mind was not entirely connected, two different consciousnesses existing inside the same skull. You knew it was because you had been idiotic enough to use your 'Friends without benefits,' let your emotions get the better of you. 

It wasn't like you did it on purpose! You were like a closed soda can with a whole box of Mentos dumped into it, ready to explode but kept at bay. It was hard to sneeze and not set the entire Stark Tower flying. Every second of every minute of every hour could you feel the energy coursing through your veins, a constant state of heightened awareness that never left. Trying to fall asleep in under an hour was a real challenge. It had been a temporary slip up, the news of Thor's death had ripped the lid from the soda can and your emotions began to run your mind, allowing your 'Friends without benefits' to come pouring loose like a flood, nearly ripping out the whole floor and endangering the lives of your friends. 

You could see it in the way they looked at you, the way that even Stark kept his distance, though you knew he probably didn't do it with intention. It was rooted within their DNA, even yours. Powerful, dangerous things, no matter what intentions they may have, would always be feared. Fear was the instinct that had preserved the human species for millions of years, to shy away from the unknown and hide in a corner to live another day. You lived with several individuals that had less fear than your average Joe down the street, but they were human nonetheless and every human was afraid of something. You thought sometimes that you were afraid of yourself, afraid of the power that was inside of you, afraid of the migraines and the consequences that might await if you dared explore your abilities even further. 

"You alright kid?" 

Your eyes flitted upwards to meet Barton's, briefly wondering why he even bothered to involve himself with the Avengers Initiative. You knew he had a family, a hidden life somewhere in a remote corner of the planet. You hadn't read his mind to figure that out, it was obvious if you knew how to read a person. The way he always cast anxious glances over his shoulder, the way he seemed to take threats towards loved ones a lot more personally. 

"I'm fine," you replied with the trademark phrase, indicating that you were anything but that. "I just had a slip-up and let my emotions get the better of me. It won't happen next time."

"You don't have to act like that's a bad thing," Barton frowned. "Your powers are still new to you and you haven't figured out a way to put a lid on them yet. But trust me, you will. We all were in the same position as you at one point." When noting your sarcastic eye roll, he replied, "Well, I mean we weren't all zapped with an unknown space laser, but you get the point. What I'm trying to say is that you don't need to feel like you have to bottle yourself up all the time."