The Ides of July // Loki - Book 1 ✓

Bonus Chapter #2: Confronting Clint

Anna slams her fist into the punching bag, her rapid left uppercut transitioning smoothly into a powerful right hook, and she whirls around to complete a twisting combination of movements that send the black bag swinging from its chain. The training room in the Avengers' tower is blissfully empty, a rarity since she arrived, and she's been taking advantage of the silence to pound out her frustrations.

The last two weeks without Loki haven't been easy. Add to that a bunch of superheroes and a long-lost sister, and you've got a recipe for emotional turmoil. Luckily, no one blames her for being frustrated, nor do they expect her to be at her best.

They do, however, frequently question her sanity with regards to her feelings toward Loki, but she ignores them. Natasha has been surprisingly understanding, although Anna's convinced she's scared of losing her baby sister again, while Tony makes no attempt to hide his distaste for the Asgardian god. Unfortunately, his jokes and sarcastic comments are nothing compared to Clint Barton's rigid silence in Anna's presence whenever Loki is mentioned.

Shaking her head, she resets her position and sends another combination of punches and kicks toward the punching bag. Sweat drips down her forehead, but she ignores it as the sharp pain in her knuckles distracts her from the pain in her heart.

Her mind drifts to Loki once more and her fist glances off the edge of her bag, sending a searing pain through her hand. Even though she's wearing thick handwraps to protect her skin, the force of the punch connecting at the wrong angle damaged the knuckle at the base of her pinky. Swearing, she shakes out her hand then clutches it to her chest.

The door to the training room swings open, and Anna is embarrassed to see Clint stroll into the room while she clings to her injured hand. Despite similar advanced training from her childhood, pain tolerance like Natasha's is a learned trait. She wipes the tears from the corner of her eyes just as Clint looks up to meet her gaze.

"I'm done," Anna tells him. "I'll leave you the room."

He frowns, "You don't have to go."

Grabbing her water bottle with her uninjured hand, she shrugs, "I get the feeling that you don't like to be alone in the same room as me."

Clint sucks in a breath, and Anna starts to make her way toward the door. The pain in her knuckle has decreased, meaning it probably isn't broken, but it's bad enough that she knows it will hurt to unwrap it. The risk of tears is great, especially since crying over something small is likely to be a gateway to crying about her broken heart. It's been a few days since she'd stopped bursting into the tears at the thought of Loki, and her sleepless nights are only making her tears build up like a ticking time bomb waiting to erupt.

Thus far, Anna's done a decent job of avoiding public tears, and she'd like to keep herself from falling apart in front of Clint.

"Anna," his voice is soft as he touches her shoulder, stopping her from passing him.

The concern is enough to encourage a small trickle of tears to leak from her eyes, and Anna sniffs as she curses inwardly at her weakness. Damn Loki for making her fall in love with him, and damn herself for letting it happen. Then again, she wouldn't have had it any other way.

"What's wrong?" Clint asks, spotting the tears instantly and pivoting her to face him. "Anna? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she nods, squeezing her eyes shut to prevent the floodgate of tears from opening wide. "I just...I hurt my hand."

He hesitates, glancing down to see her clutching her right hand in her left. Black cotton handwraps protect her knuckles, so he can't tell if there's any serious damage. Taking her by the arm, he guides her to a bench at the side of the room and sits next to her before gingerly unwrapping the injured hand.

Anna keeps her eyes shut, focusing on her breathing instead of on the pain stabbing through her heart. She can barely feel Clint's hands unwrapping the boxing wraps from her fingers, and she doesn't even jerk when the fabric catches on her pinky finger and sends a jolt of pain up her hand. Instead, she focuses on her breath and pushing out the heavy weight sitting on top of her lungs.

"It's not broken," Clint tells her, testing the joint carefully. "Just fractured."

He glances up, noticing her strained expression, and grimaces. Clearly, the hand injury isn't the cause of her pain. Anna is Natasha's sister, after all, meaning she's no weakling even with her lack of practice. No, this probably has something to do with that bastard of an Asgardian. Clint's blood boils at the thought of Loki, and he resists the urge to shiver at the memory of Loki's control over his mind.

Sighing, Clint pushes away his anger. Now is not the time to focus on his grievances toward Loki, not when Natasha's sister is clearly shattered by the man's absence. He might not understand why she loves him, but he'd have to be heartless not to feel some sympathy for her.

His voice is low as he asks, "Do you miss him?"

"Every second," Anna replies without thinking.

*****
AUTHOR'S NOTE

Another bonus chapter for your enjoyment! I've already decided which Avenger will appear next, but you can still vote for who you'd like Anna to interact with after that.

More will follow!

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