Never Alone Again

Part Sixteen - Brain Games

You pushed the doors to the dining space open. Loki, sitting in his usual seat, gave you a sweet smile. You returned it, and sat down in the chair next to him. Tony was in the kitchen, his back turned to you.

"Good morning, Tony." You greeted him.

"Hey, kid." He responded, turning around to look at you.

You noticed his eyes trail down to your neck for a moment. Your eyes widened and you quickly brought your hand up to your neck, covering the mark Loki had left on you the day before. Tony eyed you suspiciously.

"Busy night?" He asked.

"Something like that." You muttered.

You could see Loki smiling to himself out of the corner of your eye.

You just live for the drama, don't you?

Oh, you know it.

You just gave a slight laugh. Tony sat down at the table, across from you and Loki.

"You two seem to have gotten... close." Tony said.

This caught you very off guard. "Well, we have been training together and all." You explained.

"Right..." He replied.

You didn't say anything else and looked away.

Do you think he knows?

I think he's waiting for something to confirm his suspicions.

Yeah... we should be more careful.

Or I could just tell him.

You kicked Loki under the table. He grunted.

"Okay, Brain Games," Tony said, "Stop having secret conversations in front of me."

You smiled sweetly at him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Tony sighed. "Well I'm glad you're having fun. Give me an update on your training after today."

You nodded, and then Tony was on his way. You turned to face Loki.

"Not yet." You said. "I just need a little more time."

Loki nodded. "I wasn't actually going to tell him."

"I know." You replied.

Once the two of you had eaten and gotten yourselves ready for the day, you met down in the sparring room to train. Today, you were going to practice using your telepathic abilities whilst fighting. You had a pretty good grasp on your powers at this point, but you'd never tried to use them while exerting yourself so hard.

You readied yourself. Loki lunged at you, and you dodged to the side, feeling the wind as he flew past you.

Okay, here we go.

You threw a punch.

That was good. Solid.

You went back and forth like this for a while but your vision suddenly went white and you felt your legs give out on you. You could barely hear Loki calling out to you as he ran over to you. Your head was pounding harder than it ever had before.

After a moment, it started to fade. As you began to take in your surroundings, you found yourself laying on your back, with your head in Loki's lap.

"Y/n?" He asked quietly.

You groaned in response. Loki stroked your hair, trying to comfort you.

"Take your time." He said.

You rubbed your eyes and your vision cleared. With a deep breath, you uttered "I'm okay."