I carry band-aids: steve x loki

marred heart

Steve Rogers is not having a good time. He got rid of Loki once and he'd spent a great deal of effort trying to search for him -- after he'd been praying to rid himself of his House Guest problem -- but now that Loki winded up in his apartment, Steve wished they had never met.

Or, to short it up, Steve's life became a lot more difficult ever since Loki stumbled into it. And it continued to keep getting more difficult.

///

"The hell happened to you?" Steve knew Loki couldn't answer; he'd been out cold for the past three hours, after showing up at Steve's doorstep and pulling that little stunt of his (by falling into Steve's arms and deciding to go out like a light) "Is this... some kind of a joke?" Steve shot with a hiss, he was... pissed, sure, the way Loki had been messing with his head, was messing with his head even unconscious. He felt like, whatever game Loki was playing, he'd been playing along just the way Loki wanted -- the thought alone irritated him greatly.

Wake up, he wanted to shout, to shake Loki by the shoulders until he opened his eyes and so they could get this over with. But Loki didn't so much as stir. As a matter of fact, he'd been cocooning in Steve's blankets on Steve's couch, in Steve's old shirt, too. Because the one he was wearing was too torn out and covered in blood to be in use. Steve didn't think he was as noble as Loki had given him credit for (as Loki had mocked him) but he was a decent enough man that he knew to tend to Loki's wound the best he could so he wouldn't bleed out all over the floor. That didn't make him... noble, whatever Loki liked to call it, it just made him... human.

"What happened to you?" This time the anger seemed to fade away from Steve's voice, replaced by tiredness and confusion. He flopped down on another piece of furniture next to the one where he'd so carefully lied Loki down. Call Natasha. Or Tony. You've betrayed them once, don't make the same mistake again.

Maybe it was the right thing to do -- no, it definitely was the right thing to do. Alert the team and end this madness. So they could hand Loki over to the government... where they would... do to him the same things HYDRA had done, if not worse. You didn't rescue him from HYDRA just so you could send him to another round of endless torture, just by different hands, did you?

He was unaware of the moment he reached for his phone and picked it up. He, however, was aware of himself putting the phone back down before he could make the call. Stupid, now the voices once again sounded awfully lot like Loki. So naive and stupid, Captain. You're going to regret not taking your second chance and finishing your enemy right on the spot.

He glanced at Loki, part of him was uncertain if this wasn't all a hoax; Loki actually being conscious and was waiting for a perfect opportunity to strike. But the wounds, they were real. Steve was certain of that because he was the one tending to each cut, lots of them needed stitches (who else would do the job when it was just the two of them.) Someone had done Loki a number, someone out there. Steve wasn't sure if he should be worried, knowing Loki must have a lot of enemies wanting to take him down and knowing someone was able to hurt him this bad. HYDRA could. He'd seen that; their monstrous work.

Loki's groaning and shifting brought Steve out of his little trance. He almost flinched, reflectively preparing himself to make for his shield, he stopped when he saw Loki shiver under the blanket, curling in on himself until he looked surprisingly tiny.

"Loki?" Steve tried, but it seemed he was still under. He wondered if Loki heard him, if he was pretending. Normally when someone wanted to trick the other into believing they were sleeping, they would most likely hold still instead of... moving, which Loki just did. Though Steve was sleeping when Loki surfaced from his unconsciousness the first time in the cottage, he'd like to be awake and alert when Loki woke up this time. "Can you hear me?" Steve didn't know what he expected, but Loki groaning back almost caught him off guard. So that's a yes?