Infatuated with a God

Chapter Eighty-One

A/N: Content warning: theme of assault, reference to sexual assault

I spent every day with Loki for the next week. He would come into my room in the morning, usually before my shower was over, and we would spend time before training and after. I taught him some of the board games I had, or we would read. Usually the night ended up in one of our beds and he would be gone before I woke up. However, I began to notice that my bed wasn't exactly cold in the morning. I suspected he stayed longer than he cared to admit, but I wasn't going to ruin that by confronting him about it. It was nice to know for sure, but it seemed that no matter how early I would wake up he would be one step ahead. Still, I tried my best not to ruin a good thing. Didn't seem like I needed to do anything to accomplish that goal. The world worked against us. Loki was increasingly called on by Fury to report about the worlds out there and what he knew about the people who encouraged his actions in 2012. As well as that, he was training Wanda more whilst teaching me how to take over that responsibility. At the same time I was brought on to the trafficking case Natasha was meant to be on whilst actively trying to help Steve track Bucky leads from the comfort of the Compound. It was becoming a lot to juggle. Days got longer, rest got shorter, and we were all exhausted. Then as summer approached it began to get hot, the A.C was running overtime every day, powered by Stark technology. The issue was that Tony liked to tinker with things that were better left alone. It hit 91 Fahrenheit when the AC broke and FRIDAY went down.

It was right at the start of a heatwave and temperatures in the building were hotter than outside due to the amount of machines and people. It was a lot to cope with. We'd all stopped training that day, opting to spend as much time outside as despite the sun beaming down on us it was cooler. Still, Loki struggled more than anyone. He tried to hide it well, and I'd assumed to begin with that he was just frustrated about losing a day. It was easy to forget he was Jötunn when he didn't look like an ice giant. Thor took me aside to whisper in my ear that he was worried when I realised. I found him hidden in the shadow of a building clutching the final tub of ice cream, clearly struggling. Silently I sat down next to him, keeping my distance and using my seiðr to cool us. It was a difficult thing to do, but possible to create a small current. I angled it to him, but tried to not make it too obvious. He gave me a brief smile and I noticed how exhausted he looked.

"If you need some of my seiðr–"

"No. I won't ever do that again." I frowned slightly. I'd need to ask Tony to remove the cuff as he was using too much of it to cool himself. "Can we just stay like this for a while." I tilted my head down, smiling behind the blanket of hair that protected me the way his mask did. I would stay like this for the rest of my life if he asked me like that.

He tried not to show how much he struggled the rest of the evening, but I noticed him drifting into sleep several times. Not wanting to cause him any further embarrassment I didn't say anything. I didn't understand why he wouldn't take help, but he was insistent on not mentioning it to Tony even if I could get the cuff lowered. So instead I sat next to him, watching over him so he knew he was safe. Around 1am I teleported him to his room and left him, casting shields around his room to keep him safe but not wanting to provide any unnecessary heat. I decided I would inform Tony when I could, regardless of how angry he would get with me. His safety was more important, and I had no idea how damaging prolonged exposure to the heat could be for him. I doubted that anyone slept soundly that night. Tony was still unable to figure out what was wrong in FRIDAY's systems and by the time morning rolled around it had only grown hotter. Without being able to sleep much myself I took a cool shower and set up to leave just after 6am. We'd run out of ice and frozen treats, and I knew that Loki would only suffer greater without them. Hydra were in the wind, only a small number being seen around central Europe and they were being tracked so it was relatively safe out. With my powers growing stronger I knew I could make it to the city in around two max range teleports. So as soon as 8am hit I took the opportunity.