Weakness | Loki [Book One]

Chapter Five

The tower was so much bigger on the inside than it looked. Sure, I'd climbed the side of the building a few times, but looking at it from a typical standpoint, it was huge.  Like, "how did this dude get so rich" huge.

"Hey! Reindeer Games got a girl!" I heard Stark yell from a fancy sports car. Apparently, he was just returning from some event or another. 

Loki rolled his eyes and glared. "Unlike you, I don't take advantage of every female I can get my hands on. Delta needs a temporary house, and considering the superfluous amount of rooms you have, I assumed you could spare one for her."

"You two don't want to share?" Stark suggested deviously.

"No."

"Well, then yes, I have a room." Stark led us up and elevator to the infinity-eth floor. I lost count around the time the people became ants. He showed me to an empty and bare room with nothing but a bed, a small bookshelf, and a floor-to-ceiling window complete with a window seat. 

"Do you know when Thor will return?" Loki asked Stark.

"He said sometime in the next century, so who knows when that will be," he said offhandedly. "I'm guessing before the end of the day since it's movie night."

"Movie night?" I asked. I'd read about that, but the books hadn't made movie nights completely clear, especially since they always involved normal kids, not superpowered adults.

"We fight over what movie plays in the background while we drink, argue, and sleep. Or in Loki's case, avoid interaction at all costs." He left. 

Loki took a seat on the windowsill as I scanned the room. No obvious exits other than the window and the door. I would need to drill the air vent closed. Didn't need any unwelcomed guests breaking in through there. 

"Why didn't you tell him?" I asked Loki. 

"Tell him what?"

"That I was with Hydra."

"He does not need to know that," Loki said simply. 

I shrugged. "I thought you would tell him."

"I'm the god of lies, love," he said. "I don't tell the truth unless I need or want to."

"I'll keep that in mind next time you tell me something."

"Brother!" Thor must have returned. 

Loki sighed. "Please, shout louder. I don't think they could hear you in Muspelheim."

I snickered.

Thor ignored him. "I heard you finally found a lady that interests you!"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" He opened the door and walked out of sight down the hallway. I could faintly hear Thor and Loki arguing as I laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I was about to leave and search for Loki when Thor barged in with him in tow. 

"So you are the one Stark speaks of?"

"Probably," I said without emotion.

"I'm Thor," he said. 

"Delta."

"Interesting name."

"One could say the same about your's."

"Cheer up!" he said. "I presume you are joining us for movie night?"

"I wasn't planning--" 

"You're going." He walked out of the room. I sighed and followed after him and Loki.

When we walked into a new room, the first thing I noticed was the enormous television on the wall to my left. The second thing I noticed was all the Avengers sitting on the various couches. 

"Who's this?" a woman, who I later learned was Natasha, said. 

"Delta," I said before Thor could say anything else. "My lease on my room is nearly expired, and my friend, Loki, told me I would be able to stay here for a little while." 

"Well, welcome," Steve Rogers said. Freaking Captain America! 

After the general commotion of having a new person in the room died down, I sat on the floor next to Loki's chair, since sitting in chairs wasn't really my thing. 

I listened to the superheroes bicker for a good twenty minutes about what movie to watch. Some wanted action, some wanted sci-fi, and one of them wanted to watch a romance movie. Eventually, I opened my book, which I had brought from the library. 

"I didn't know you could read Asgardian," I heard Loki say above my shoulder.

"What?"

"That book is written in the ancient Asgardian language. I didn't realize you could read it."

"I didn't know this was Asgardian. It reads just like English to me."

"What do you mean?"

"I mostly just get the general idea of languages other than my native language. The more I read it, of course, the more specific I know. With what you call 'Asgardian,' I understood it completely when I started reading it."

"Interesting." Loki turned back to his book.

The Avengers had decided on a movie, some type of sciency-apocalypse thingy. When they were about half of the way through the movie, I finished the book, which had been an interesting story about the fall of Asgard. Obviously, Ragnarok had never happened because Asgard was still standing. 

I guess I had dozed off because I woke up to a different movie. I froze for a moment when I felt Loki running his fingers through my hair, but it was calming, so I pretended to still be asleep. I would never admit it to anyone, but the little gesture had meant more to me than most since I had never really had anyone care about me unless it was to run tests and experiments on me. 

I was about to fall asleep again when I heard Stark yell from across the room, obviously drunk. 

"Hey, Lackey! What do kings do in Asgard? Oh wait, that's right, you've never been a king!" He laughed. I knew this was a sore spot for Loki, just from the intel I'd gotten from hacking Stark's systems. Loki had always wanted to be King, and Stark mentioning his failures was all Loki needed to, for example, throw him out a window. 

I was surprised when Loki tensed, but he didn't move from his chair. 

"What, too much of a coward to fight for your honor? If you have any?"

Stark had crossed the line. We all knew it. The Avengers were holding their breath, I was doing my best to continue to sleep, my head resting against Loki's leg. I could feel his heart rate quicken with every word Tony said, and it only made me more nervous about what was going to happen. 

And yet Loki just continued to read his book. 

Stark was about to start talking again when Natasha told him to shut up. "You'll wake Delta," she said. I wasn't asleep, and I'm sure she knew that, but Loki's bad side was worse than Hell if his reputation was worth anything.

Soon enough, Stark passed out, from alcohol or exhaustion I don't know, and the Avengers caved and watched the romance movie. Loki went back to playing with my hair, and I eventually fell back asleep.