Behind Locked Doors

Chapter Two

Two days. Your dad hadn't been home in two days. The only thing he'd sent to you was a text that said, 'Please tell me if you have any problems'. That was it.

He didn't care about you, just about your problems. Just in case someone found out, because it could make him look bad.

You sank back into cutting the morning of the second day of his absence. You didn't text him at all, of course. It gave you a feeling of power to be able to do what you wanted, what you needed, and what he wanted to keep you from. And he didn't know.

The afternoon of the second day was when he came back. You were in your private bathroom, in your bedroom. The door was locked to your bedroom, and the bathroom door was locked as well. You could hear your father talking to someone, and then later someone being slammed to the ground repeatedly. You set down your razor and loosely wrapped the cuts. You stood up, feeling a bit light-headed. You quickly undid both the locks and ran out to the living room, to see a man lying in a crater in the marble floor. He was dressed in a way that you had only ever seen in your Norse Mythology book. You cleared your throat.

He looked over at you. His eyes were startlingly green.

"Do you- would you like any help?"

He rolled his eyes. "No, thank you, mortal... I am doing perfectly well on my own."

You started to walk over to him, but he disappeared as you reached him. He appeared across the room, dressed in full golden armor with an enormous horned helmet.

He stood facing out the window. You walked up next to him, feeling very short compared to him. He looked down at you, raising an eyebrow. "I was unaware that Tony Stark had a daughter."

You sighed. "Yeah, and a son, too."

He didn't say anything for a minute, but then he suddenly stated, "You look nothing like him."

"He's not my biological father, I'm adopted."

"And your brother?"

"My older brother is biologically his. Since he's gone off to college, I thought I would start getting the attention that he always got, but no. Now my father's all, 'Busy with work! Sorry, Sage! Can't talk!'"

A moment of silence.

"I'm sorry," you said, blushing. "I shouldn't've burst out like that..."

Loki was looking at you with a strange expression on his face. Almost like sympathy.

"Don't be sorry, Sage," he said quietly. "I know entirely how you feel."

"How do you know my name?"

"You said it earlier. 'Sorry, Sage! Can't talk!'"

You turned away. "It's what he says. All the time. I guess I'm just not good enough-"

"Don't say that!" Loki grabbed your wrist, making you flinch and pull your wrist out of his grip. "Don't let them win, Sage. You're important."

He looked down at your wrist, which had been loosely wrapped and was soaking your sleeve through with blood. His hand was now red and slightly sticky from grabbing your wrist, and he was looking cautiously at you. "May I look at your wrist, please?"

You turned and walked towards your room. "No, Loki."

"Sage."

"SAGE!"

You ran into your room and locked the door, curling up into a ball on your bed and sobbing. You suddenly felt a weight over and beside you, like someone was holding you. Opening your eyes, you were face to face with Loki, with his arms wrapped around you, comforting you. He gently took one of your wrists and pulled the sleeve back, breathing in sharply when he saw all the cuts. Hundreds of cuts, some of them fading to scars. At least twenty of them were still bleeding, and looked very deep. He got up and ran to the bathroom, aware that you would collapse from blood loss very soon. He ran back to you, wrapped the cuts, and used his power to heal them as much as he could. He couldn't heal mortals completely, so you still had obvious, bleeding cuts underneath the gauze but you weren't suffering from blood loss anymore.

He picked you up and carried you to the living room, looking out the window at the Chitari that were all over the city.

"Loki," you said softly. His healing had made you weak and tired. He looked down at you, still holding you in his arms. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because we have so much in common. And you've been... Kind. Unassuming. No one else has done that for me."

He sat down on the black leather sofa, looking at you with an honest, unshielded expression. And in that moment, you fell for him completely. Sitting up, you moved forward so that your face was an inch and a half away from his. You'd never kissed anyone before (except for goodnight kisses from your father), but then again, you'd never really wanted to...

And Loki closed the gap, so your mouths were pressed together, moving in sync. He kept deepening the kiss, until you both finally had to stop for breath.

"I've only met you today, and yet..." He didn't finish the thought, but you knew what he was thinking. He looked straight at you, and you nodded. He picked you up and carried you back to your bedroom.