Loki made no reappearance for a while, even when I started dinner. The light under his door was off and all in the room was silent, so I assumed he was taking a nap or something.
I cooked myself dinner, a salad with salmon, a few hours after I had left Loki's room.
As I cooked, I pictured Loki's wound again, bubbly and black, large veins stretching across his body. It looked like his skin was burned and charred. I had never seen anything like it, so unhuman.
I slid the salmon onto a plate before adding the salad to the side. As I did this, I heard my phone buzz and glanced over to see the small screen all lit up. I put down the full plate on the counter and picked up my phone.
It was a text, from Bruce.
Go out to breakfast with me tomorrow?
I smiled, forgetting all about Loki and the predicament Nick Fury had put me in.
I responded,
Ok
I bit my lip and put my phone on the counter next to me, a bright smile now on my face. The smile continued to linger as I sat at the table and took my first few bites of dinner, but vanished when I herd footsteps coming down the hallway toward the kitchen.
I sighed when Loki rounded the corner, taking another bite despite my sudden lack of appetite as he appeared.
He looked more refreshed, the color that had drained from his face hours before had returned.
He looked at my food and then at me but didn't say anything. Feeling awkward, I spoke first, "How are you?"
"Better, I think."
"Do you need your bandage changed? I have another wrap." I said, standing up and moving toward the cabinets.
"I'm not sure," he said, touching his lower right abdomen. I watched as he flinched and then relaxed.
I opened a cabinet that had different types of medicine, cough drops, and bandages, and grabbed another long wrap like the one currently wrapped around his wound.
I walked back over to him and indicated the bandage in my hand. Placing it on the counter, I quickly grabbed a towel and soaked it with water. I turned back around to see Loki pulling his shirt over his head and draping it over one of the chairs. My eyes flickered away from his bare stomach as I pretended to be busy unraveling the new bandage. I could already feel the heat in my face.
When I finished I looked to see him watching me. His right arm was raised slightly in the air so I could see the bandage wrapped around his stomach and waist. One part of the bandage, on his right side, was soaked with black blood.
I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist to untie the bandage in the back. He raised both hands to the top of his head to leave me room to work. I tried not to feel self-conscious, but my heart was drumming painfully in my chest. I was so close that I could hear that his was too.
I began to unwrap the bandage while talking, "so how did you get hurt?"
"I still can not tell you." He mumbled.
I let out an angry sigh while I focused on my own work. As the bandage unwrapped, it became stickier and harder to pull away from his skin. Finally finished, I let the bandage go and observed the wound. The veins were gone and it was no longer bubbly or bleeding. It just looked like dried, black blood. A healing, but uncleaned wound.
I grabbed the wet towel and cleaned the blood away to see a pink, healing cut.
"How...is that possible?" I asked, looking up at his face. He, too, seemed surprised. The wound had been torn open just hours before. How could it already be mostly healed?
"I do not know." He whispered, tenderly touching his side.
"Do you... even need another bandage?"
"No, I do not believe that I do."
He looked away from the wound and met my eyes and I realized how close I was to him.
"Loki, you can tell me what happened when you fell from Asgard." I whispered, finding myself becoming lost in his icy blue gaze. It was like I had a knot in my stomach as he stared back.
"Nothing you could do would get me to tell you anything." He growled menacingly, his voice soft but dangerous. He took a small step away from me, but was still in reach
"I'm sure I could convince you," I responded, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling his face close to mine.
I had never felt so uncomfortable. With blood rushing in my ears, I barely heard his next words.
"Try as you might," his breath mingled with mine as he spoke, slow and soft. "to seduce answers out of me, it won't be that easy." He pulled back slightly and moved his finger along my jawline. I felt my blood run cold at his touch. I was extremely uncomfortable, even though I was used to uncomfortable situations and being touched by bad people - villains - there was something different about being touched by Loki. Every time I was in his presence, I wanted to be out of it. I broke his gaze, no longer in his trance, and stared at his bare chest as he traced my jawline, lifting my chin so I faced him again. "I won't give up my secrets to just another...pretty face."
He then grabbed my shoulders roughly and shoved me away before picking up his shirt from the chair and pulling it over his head.
"I would like dinner to be brought to my room." He said, before turning his back on me and heading back down the hallway.
"Get your own damn food," I mumbled when he was out of sight before returning to my own plate.
After I finished I added my plate to the dishwasher and finished cleaning before heading to my room to get ready for bed.
I lay in my bed, imagining Loki waiting for his dinner that would never come. That thought brought a smile to my face and helped me go to sleep. The thought of my date with Bruce the next morning also calmed my brain until I was swept into sleep.
I woke up the next morning to cabinets slamming closed outside of my door.
I climbed out of bed wearing my white nightgown. The hardwood floor felt cold under my bare feet.
The slamming outside continued and I heard a huff of frustration. Loki.
I looked down at my outfit and wondered if I should change before going out, but decided against it. This was my house.
I opened the door to see Loki looking through cabinets. He seemed to sense my presence because he turned toward me and I gasped.
His eyes were all white, all the colour was drained from them. They bore into my soul and I felt like screaming as he smiled, his teeth like sharks, pointy and horrifying, rows and rows of them.
When I blinked, Loki was gazing at me intently with his normal, icy blue stare. He frowned, his eyebrows furrowed together.
"You alright there, Romanoff?" He asked me, calming me slightly and making me question if he was still angry about last night. My heart rate slowed and I wondered if I was fully awake yet. I must have just imagined it. "Where is the food in this place?" He then asked when I continued to stare at him.
"Um...there are some apples in the fridge." I saw his gaze flicker down to my thin, revealing, white nightgown and I immediately regretted not changing.
He nodded and looked in the refrigerator, taking out a bag of apples and setting them on them on the island.
He pulled out one and took a bite.
"You should probably wash...no, never mind." I said as he continued to eat the apples while ignoring me.
A knock at the door made Loki jump, but I just smiled. I rushed over and opened it to see Bruce, smiling back at me.
"Hey, Nat. Ready?" His gaze remained on mine, not even looking at my revealing outfit like Loki had, and I felt my smile grow at the thought.
"Um...no. Not quite." I glanced at my outfit and then at Loki. He was staring at Bruce, and he didn't look happy. "Please, Bruce, come inside." I said, casting Loki a silent glare as if to say, not a word from you.
He stepped inside, giving small nods at the guards standing post outside of the door.
Bruce glanced over at Loki munching on his apple. Loki smirked but looked nervous. Bruce was staring daggers at Loki. I wondered quickly if Loki was afraid of "the other guy." Of course he may be nervous in Bruce's presence.
I walked into my room and quickly got changed into a white blouse with black jeans. Before opening the door I heard Loki ask through bites of his apple, "so, Bruce, you're taking Romanoff out to breakfast?" Followed by Bruce's stiff reply, "yes."
When I walked outside of my room, I saw that Loki was on his third apple, the cores piling up on the counter next to him. Bruce glanced away from him and smiled shyly at me.
I didn't say anything, just smiled back at Bruce and led the way out the door, Loki watching us all the while.