Winter's Hearts

Chapter 10

Intruder!

The nearly silent turn of the doorknob. No knock. The door sliding gently, carefully open.

Intruder.

Someone with honest intentions would have knocked.

"What the hell? I told Point Break you could use this lab, but-" a man's voice in the doorway.

In an instant you were out from under the blanket, had leapt over Loki, and were making your way toward the intruder with a dagger in your hand. Your brain hadn't woken enough to recognize anything except that your charge was in danger.

"Smurfette, wait! It's me! Fuck! Are you even awake?" the intruder demanded. "THOR!" he called, backing away from the door. Was he after Thor too?

A hand grabbed the back of your tunic and hauled you backwards, back toward the couch. You'd only made it a couple of steps toward the intruder. Loki's arms wrapped around you, pinning your arms to your side as he pulled you onto his lap, holding you there firmly. "Kyrie-love, there's no danger. I'm here and perfectly safe," he purred softly and kissed the spot where your neck met your shoulder.

"There's an intruder," you protested as you blinked quickly to try to wake properly. You finally took in the scene and realized that Tony had snuck into the lab that you and Loki had taken over. Thor was running up to see why Tony was yelling for him. "Oh," you flushed when you realized that you'd nearly skewered Tony just for entering the room. You vanished the dagger immediately.

"Awake now, darling?" Loki chuckled as his grip around you loosened. He kissed your cheek, reassuringly. He wasn't surprised at your reaction. He was your charge and you had woken enough to sense the danger. The reaction had been automatic and wouldn't have happened at all had Tony bothered to knock. You would have woken at a proper knock.

"Sorry," you murmured. Tony just stared.

"Is there a problem?" Thor asked from the doorway as you scrambled off of Loki's lap and stood with him, keeping him a step behind you, just in case.

"Smurfette decided to try to kill me," Tony growled, glaring at you.

"Shellhead decided to try to sneak up on a sleeping Valkyrie," Loki countered coldly, using his icy bored court tone he took when he was upset with the person he was speaking it. He looked calm, but you saw his hand was curled in the perfect position for a dagger to materialize there.

"I just wanted to see what he did with my lab!" Tony protested.

"So you entered without knocking or announcing yourself and snuck inside, probably to see if something embarrassing was going on in here," Loki's voice was still cold. You reached out and touched his arm, reminding him silently that he couldn't kill Tony either.

"Stark, it is not wise to sneak up on a Valkyrie. They will attack first and ask questions later, especially if they feel their charge is in danger. Knock next time," Thor told Tony. "You are lucky that Loki managed to stop her." He was luckier that Loki had felt like stopping you and didn't just let you kill the moron.

"What the hell did you do to my lab?" Tony demanded as he stared in awe at the room, investigating the magic that had created the replica of Loki's sitting room. "It's so...real,"

"It's magic, Stark," you told him stiffly. This was supposed to be your safe space and you wanted him out. Thor must've seen your expression because he grabbed Stark's arm and started dragging him from the room.

"The magic will fade and your lab will return to normal," Thor told him while Tony spluttered and wanted to stay to investigate. Your attempted stabbing of him was already forgotten. He wanted to investigate the science behind the magic. Thor shoved Tony from the room and turned to you and Loki. "Have your apologies been accepted, Brother?" Thor asked, really asking the pair of you. You both nodded and Loki kissed your cheek again.