(A/N: So, so sorry for the wait until this chapter; I've been in a bit of a writing slump. Any tips to get me up and going again are much appreciated! Also, thank you all so much for the 700 views! I never imagined 500, but 700? This is amazing! Thank you all for reading! hope you like this chapter! XD)
Dinner arrived too quickly in your opinion. And yet, not quickly enough. The anticipation of seeing everyone was eating you up. You were dreading it, yet you wanted to get it over as quickly as possible.
So when J.A.R.V.I.S. finally announced that Nat and Clint had finished cooking, you headed straight down to face the team. Hopefully they wouldn't bombard you with questions on sight.
You were wrong.
"Glad you chose to come down. Everything going alright?" Steve asked you, trying to break the ice. How ironic.
You nod, and take a seat at the table. Natasha gave you your bowl of chili first, before handing some out to the rest of the team. She was always so considerate.
"This is some great chili you guys." Bruce said, trying to break the silence some time later. You hadn't really touched your food, not having much of an appetite tonight, while everyone was scarfing down the delicious meal. Even Loki started to dig in.
Until he realized exactly how spicy this dish was.
You could actually see the exact moment his mouth caught on 'fire'. He sprinted to the sink, and started downing glass after glass of water, to the laughter of the team. Even if it was hilarious, laughing at someone's suffering was a cruel thing to do. You speed into the kitchen as well, pulling out the milk carton.
"Here. It'll cool the heat better than water." You hand him the newly poured glass of milk. He gulps it down, and practically sighs in relief- Before breaking into another coughing fit. You leave him to fix himself back up, and head to sit on the barstools across the counter. If something happened, you needed to know right away.
Was this incident considered your fault? Technically it could've been much worse, and there was an obvious way to prevent it... So maybe not. You didn't need to feel guilty over this anyway. Sympathetic? Absolutely.
It's not like you didn't have tons to worry and feel guilty over instead.
"Can't handle a little spice, Frosty?" Tony calls, and you simply roll your eyes. He could be so childish.
"My brother has never taken to foods with spice well, as you can clearly see." Thor answered the obvious, trying to help his brother but probably only embarrassing him further.
"At least he has a weakness." Tony was going to wake up with green hair tomorrow. You didn't even have to chance it. You knew he was.
With the ice mostly broken, Clint had a wonderful idea. Absolutely fool-proof plan, to interrogate his already emotionally unstable savior.
"So, I was wondering if we could talk about earlier today. When I almost died- which is not your fault, Y/N; but we have a few questions."
You tensed the slightest bit. You knew this was coming, just... well, there was no excuse. You didn't want to talk about it, even though you now obviously have to.
"Sure. What's the first question?" You turn to face the table of Avengers.
"What exactly happened? Or, what was your perspective on the accident?" Steve started the interrogation.
You took a breath, steeling yourself. You absentmindedly started playing with your locket, rubbing it in between your fingers.
"I had reached the halfway point in the training course, when Leo came sprinting in. You all saw that. Then he crashed into one of the towers, which inevitably led to Clint almost getting squashed. Sorry about that, by the way. I tried to get you all to move, but Clint was still under it. I chanced that he would survive with no injuries, and it seemed to do the trick." You pause, trying to decide how much more to tell them. You recall what had happened, and the amount of emotional stress over the flashback.
"And?" Nat asked, obviously knowing there was more to it, but not wanting to pry too much.
"And apparently that situation was extremely similar to something that has happened before. Because right after everything, I had a flashback..." You trail off, hinting that you didn't want to talk about it. By this time Loki's coughing fit had stopped, so it was dead silence in the room.
"Did you know you were using magic?" Thor asked, probably testing the reliability of something that Loki said earlier.
"No. I had no idea, but I'm not completely surprised by it." It didn't seem completely surprising that you had magic, Loki's magic at that, it just seemed... wrong? Like it was a mistake.
"Why aren't you surprised?"
"I don't know. I wasn't expecting it, but I've had my fair share of surprises, so..."
The team chuckled at your self-tease, and the interrogation seemed to slow. Dinner was finished, and everyone spread throughout the tower.
*
The rest of the night passed quickly, with no incident. Which was suspicious. And annoying. Why couldn't the universe just give you a break!
So, you try to stay up as late as possible, knowing very well that the last time this happened, you had destroyed your own room over a nightmare.
You did not want that to happen again. And given that the memory was still fresh in your mind, and the amount of charge... It would happen if you fell asleep.
So you stayed up, as long as possible. Reading, cleaning, organizing, and rereading, among other things too. You did the same thing the following day. And the day after that. Nothing too big happened, and you could tell the team was relieved by it. You, on the other hand, were low-key panicking.
You didn't want anything to happen to the others, so you tried to make your social time short. Which worked for a few days. Natasha invited you a few times to training, since you've never learned how to even punch, but you refused. Last time... you didn't want a repeat of that. Besides, you were solely running on coffee. Training would be horrible right now, or in the near future.
So you bide your time, trying to prevent anything drastic happening.
*
(Loki's Pov)
It's been a week since the training incident. Nothing's happened, or- well, at least nothing major. He did spell the tincan's hair bright green.
He was growing suspicious. Suspicious of Y/N's behavior. She seemed to be more reclusive, hiding in her chambers most days. The others attempted to draw her out, although nothing has seemed to work.
There were other clues as well. She had consumed at least a gallon of that brown bitter liquid Stark seemed to drink so much of, as well as not eating as much. It seemed someone had taken notice of this as well, since a basket of snacks appeared on the counter overnight.
It was worrying. Much to the point that he had considered confronting Y/N about this on numerous occasions, although he always convinced himself out of it. She was simply adjusting, or some other Midgardian thing.
But this didn't seem normal. The others didn't think this was normal.
He had to double check.
Just in case.
So he headed to Y/N's room one night, when he was sure she was still in there. He had taken notice that she hadn't been down for dinner yet, and bought her some. Simply as a peace offering.
It's not like he made sure to leave out the little green bits he had seen her picking at the night before. He definitely didn't do that... they simply fell out. Without any intervention from his side at all.
Definitely.
He knocked.
"Come in!" Her voice shouted from behind the door, and he did. "Hey Loki."
"Hello, Lady Y/N."
"Honestly, just call me Y/N. Everyone on the team does. Or, you know, anything else you'd like. I doubt it could be worse than 'leprechaun'."
"Well I'm not like the others on the team," He emphasized, not yet dropping the formalities, at least until further notice. "I brought you dinner, since I doubt you've eaten yet."
She smirked at his light, now confirmed, teasing. "Thank you." She took the bowl from him, starting to eat.
At least the first part of his mission was done.
"I had a question." He started, testing how stable she actually was. She had become quite skilled at hiding her emotions since she arrived.
She nodded for him to continue.
"You had mentioned that you cannot remember your past, and I do not mean to pry- but I am able to help if you would like." Did she know what he was talking about? The extent of his abilities? How easy it would be for him to help her?
"How would you do that?"
"I know a range of spells, although I do specialize in my telepathic abilities. These spells would enable me to retrieve your memories, or at least attempt to. I cannot be certain that I will be able to retrieve them all, or none at all, for I do not know how or where they have gone."
"So it either flies or flops?"
"Ye- Yes. Although I must admit that's an interesting expression." He thought about her comment. It made sense... for all that it was never used. Not even by Stark or the captain.
"I made it up... a while ago, I think. I haven't used it in a long time though."
"It's most interesting."
"So can you do it now?" She requested.
"I can certainly try."
They set it up. It was a simple spell, yet a finicky one. He was retrieving lost memories, if they were still there, and even rescuable. He really didn't know much about her abilities.
She sat in front of him, he placed two fingers on her temples, and dove in. Until he remembered that she had somehow been able to block his magic earlier, the same as now, and politely walked her through taking her guard down. Then he ventured in search of her forgotten past.
None.
Nothing.
Not a single damn memory in her entire mind, at least not before she woke up on the beach.
Something was off. He knew it was. Everything about this situation. He could sense the strong magic covering up her past, and it felt eerily familiar. Although he couldn't place his finger on it. It was just... familiar. But not his own either. He would have to look into it more.
Then he did something extremely rude, yet extremely necessary. What he planned to do afterwards was even more so. Right before he left her mind, he quickly peeked at Y/N's past sleep schedule. Nothing more than that, but he needed to know, even if it was considered rude.
She was a wreck.
Less than ten hours collectively over the past week.
Why did she do this to herself? He had had a hunch about it... But not to this extent!
He finally left her mind, with his final mission fresh in his mind. She needed to sleep. And she obviously was avoiding it for a reason...
"I don't feel anything different." She was the first one to talk, as he blinked back to reality. She was onto him now for sure.
"You wouldn't, since I couldn't find anything. A strong magic is blocking your past from yourself and I, and I cannot break it. There is hope though. If I were to teach you the spell, perhaps you could aid me in removing the magic from your mind."
"Maybe..." She replied, obviously torn on the matter. He supposed it was the argument of pros and cons. He often had the same argument while reminiscing on his heritage, on whether his father was right to keep the truth from him. He always ended up with a different answer.
"Although there is a more pressing matter that I must discuss with you." He paused when a confused worried look crossed her face. "You haven't been sleeping as much as you should, little one." He pulled the nickname out yet again, since it worked to convince her last time. Eventually it would lose effect, but hopefully not yet. Hopefully she would listen to him for once.
"I know... It's just- I see them every time I close my eyes. And the last time I had a nightmare, magic happened. I don't want to panic everyone again."
"What if I could help with your problem?"
"You can do that too?"
"I can. It's a simple, yet effective spell. I can deliver you into a dreamless sleep, which will act exactly as if you were sleeping normally, except that you shall not be plagued with nightmares."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" She questioned, and in all sense it was a good question. Of course, people were often blinded by lov-
But he didn't think of her that way. Never has, never will. They had only begun their friendship, if that's what you could even call it. Right?
Maybe?
"It'll be fine. I'm glad to be helping." He was simply helping a friend. His friend.
Why did that sound so underwhelming? Why did he want more? He didn't actually consider that... did he?
"Alright. I'll be right back though." She said, running into the bathroom attachment to change. Even with the door closed, being the gentleman he is, he turned his back towards her, facing the entryway.
"I'm perfectly decent, Loki." Y/N replied when the door reopened. She started heading to the far side of the bed.
He admired her form, although making sure not to make it obvious. She was absolutely perfect in her sleepwear.
Where did these thoughts even come from?
"Are you ready?"
She nodded, and he began. He was planning to make sure the spell was firmly in place, and then leave back to his own room.
That was the plan.
Apparently, in his focus, he completely forgot that their minds and magic were still connected, so that a spell, like the sleeping spell he was using now, would put them both under.
It was too late when he realized.
Her spell was perfectly set in place, and he had turned to leave. She would be falling asleep in a moment, and he had wanted to assure her that he was gone. But before he could, an overwhelming exhaustion hit him. He nearly collapsed, had it not been for Y/N to catch him, and help him sit down-
Within seconds, they both had passed out, unknowingly sharing a bed.
How unfortunate.
(A/N: How did you like the ending? Please leave your opinions in the comments, thanks for reading!)