"Kyrie darling, you might want to wake up before the oaf comes looking for us again," Loki's voice was warm as his cold hand was on your shoulder, shaking you gently awake. It didn't take much, you were usually a light sleeper. You opened your eyes and saw that Loki was sitting against the headboard propped up with pillows, a book in his hands. For a moment it was just like old times.
You sat up a little shyly, 900 years had passed, you weren't kids taking a nap after lessons anymore. You had both changed over the centuries. The question was how much? The more important question was if there was still enough of a spark to rekindle your relationship or even your friendship after all of this time?
You gave him a mischievous smirk. "I guess I have some skills that are useful to you in the bedroom after all," you teased, testing the waters to see if your friendship was still welcome after all of this time.
"So it appears," he replied, but the smirk and glint in his eyes gave his amusement away. You both burst into laughter. Maybe, just maybe.
"Thanks for letting me stay. You really didn't have to," you told him as you got out of the bed. You did need to leave before Thor came looking for you again. Explaining why you were in Loki's room first thing in the morning was not something you really felt like doing. To anyone. But most especially not to Thor who would completely misunderstand.
Loki stood too, setting his book aside. "It was no trouble. The least I could do was make sure you were safe while you slept, you did me a couple of large favors last night, for which I thank you as well. Mother's magic was difficult and tricky, as I would expect from her. The assistance with it was much appreciated," his voice was bordering on too formal, too shy, as if you were strangers. Which you essentially were again...
It was so hard knowing him so well and not at all.
"Of course. Though I really should sneak out of here before we have to try to explain to Thunderhead why I spent the night here. That is not a conversation I wish to have..." you teased. He flushed a little.
"Nor I," he replied. With a smirk he waved his hand and there was an explosion somewhere in the tower. "That should buy you some time," he grinned at you.
"Thanks, Lohk!" you replied and darted from the room with a wave. "See you at breakfast!" you added and closed the door behind you before he could protest that he wasn't hungry or wasn't going to hang out with Thor and his idiot friends.
You ducked into your room, changed into clean clothes, and grabbed your phone before strolling downstairs to see what the plans were for breakfast.
Since everyone else was dealing with the explosion, you made breakfast. You also made sure to mark it on the tally next to the stove that you had made the meal. You tried to take turns and the tally board was to make sure things didn't get too unfair with everyone's hectic schedules. There was a separate tally board next to one of the windows in the window which currently read '5 days since last defenestration'. Bruce had stubbed his toe, which pissed off the Hulk, which led to Tony being thrown through the window while trying to calm him down. No one ever said life in the Avenger's tower was peaceful or normal.
The team started filing in just as you set the ginormous stack of pancakes and overflowing plate of sausages on the table. Seriously, you could have fed an army with how much food you made. It should be barely enough to feed three Asgardians, two super soldiers, one Bruce who ate like the Hulk half the time, and the two humans who somehow ended up on the team. Loki was the last one to file into the room, looking put-upon at having to come downstairs and completely disinterested in everyone and everything. You saw it was a facade, an overexaggeration of his natural shyness.
The platters of food were passed around the table after everyone had taken their normal seats, leaving Loki to take the empty chair next to yours. "Do either of you know how Stark's lab mysteriously blew up this morning?" Thor asked calmly, suspecting Loki first, and you by association.
"No," you and Loki lied blandly. The trick to a good lie was to keep it simple. The entire table looked at you, but since you two were the human-shaped lie detectors and you weren't telling on the other, they were just out of luck. They didn't trust either of you, but they couldn't prove either of you were behind the mysterious explosion either.
"Kyrie, what is this mortal food?" Loki asked you as you handed him the plate of pancakes. His tone had a sneer of disdain of anything Midgardian to it.
"They're called pancakes, and you will say you like them if only because I made them," you told him too pleasantly. He looked over at you, surprised by the threat, but inclined his head and gave you the very barest of smiles.
"Verily. I am sure I will thoroughly enjoy them," he replied, accepting your threat at face value. Smart man.
"Are we sure she didn't poison them?" Stark asked softly. You threw a dagger down toward his end of the table.
"I'm a warrior Stark. If I'm going to kill you it won't be by poison," you told him calmly, vanishing the dagger before it actually hit him. He still fell out of his chair to avoid it. You calmly set to work eating your pancakes. You saw Loki's look of pleasure and that was before you pointed out that they were better with syrup. He looked suspicious, but tried it and agreed with your assessment that pancakes were better with syrup.
"Loki, Y/N, after breakfast you have training downstairs," Cap started. You both glared over at him. "We need to know the extent of your skills so we can see how you'll fit in the team. Y/N, we know some of your abilities. I want a proper benchmark,"
So after breakfast you made your way down to the training room grumpily. You didn't want to do this. Thor and Cap came with you. You had a feeling the others would be down shortly to see the display. Loki was trying to show he'd made amends or was at least not evil, or else he would just be hiding somewhere with a book. You didn't blame him either. Hiding somewhere with a book sounded way preferable to letting them see your actual skills.
You changed to yoga and a sports bra as you walked and tied back your hair. You didn't bother with gloves, you were sparring Loki or Thor. They'd be fine working with you. "Have you been practicing, your highness?" you asked Loki, almost teasing but there was seriousness behind the question too.
"Have you?" he countered defensively. He was in sweat pants and a t-shirt. You gave him a tentative smile. He didn't return it, so formal and stiff, an air of anger and hurt around him.
So you began the first move of the warmup drills that you had been practicing since you could stand. They could be practiced alone or with a partner. You waited after the first move to see if Loki would jump in with the counter move, like he had done so many times before. His body moved without conscious thought and the dangerous dance began. You started slow, but the speed increased quickly as you both proved your skills had only improved over the centuries. You actually saw Loki smile in front of the others as you sped your way through the warmup drills.
The daggers came out seamlessly between two sets of drills. Cap started to say something, but Thor clapped him on the shoulder. "They're fine," Thor told him. You barely registered the words, focused on what you were doing with live blades. "These are just warmup drills. Neither of them are in any danger from this,"
"These are warmups?" Cap asked incredulously as the speed increased yet again, your blades blurring they were moving so fast. You grinned in delight at having a proper partner for the drills. The daggers vanished, replaced by bladed sticks between one move and the next. Wood and metal clacked and clanged as you moved.
"Asgardians are warriors, and Y/N is a Valkyrie, one of our most elite. I would not expect Loki to win in a true fight against her. She'll hold back for warmup drills, even though they look like they're fighting full out, neither of them are," Thor explained. The pace slowed with the drills switched to swords. The sword wasn't Loki's weapon, or your best, so you slowed the pace for the sword drills.
The drills ended and you vanished your blades. You gave Loki a small bow, which he returned. Thor tossed you both towels, which you used to wipe away the sweat. "Show him what you can really do, Kyrie," Thor bid you loudly.
"What about me?" Loki demanded grumpy that Thor was paying attention to you and not him.
"I know what you can do, brother," Thor boomed his laugh. "I am sure your bout with Kyrie will be spectacular." You knew there was no way out of this, so you stepped back to the middle of the training room, vanishing your towel. Loki joined you, looking equally resigned. The bout was as spectacular as Thor imagined. You and Loki fought with extremely similar styles, since you'd learned to fight together. You matched his speed and power, but knew that you had the edge. For the sake of the demonstration, you held back. "Faster, Kyrie. Stop holding back!" Thor called, calling you out on your hesitation to fight full-out.
"This is just a demonstration," you growled back at him as you spun and dodged and jabbed. You were keeping magic out of this match, that wasn't the point of the demonstration.
"Like you mean it!" Cap ordered.
Loki snarled and moved faster, forcing you to as well. He wouldn't be able to keep up the pace, not against a Valkyrie. For all that he was an excellent fighter and had done nothing but gain skill over the centuries. He couldn't win this. You had only improved over the centuries as well.
So you pushed your body to limits you hadn't had to use since the trials, but you remembered and your body remembered. Remembered the speed and power that lived at the edge of desperation. You remembered it and used that power to end the bout. Loki was on his back with you straddling his chest, a dagger to his throat.
"Yield," he said, anger and resignation in his tone. You vanished your blade and got off of him, offering him a hand when you stood. He ignored it and you and got to his feet on his own. You made your way over to Thor and the collection of water bottles.
"Satisfied?" you asked Cap seconds before you downed the entire bottle of water in one gulp.
"Yes, that's enough for today. Good job," Cap replied. Thor's arm was over your shoulders in an old friendly gesture. You kissed his cheek automatically.
"I'm need a shower. I'm gross now," you told him, as you ducked out from under his arm before he got gross too. You looked through the big window of the training room and saw that the rest of the team was standing there staring open mouthed. "How long have they been there?" you asked Thor.
"Since you started the first warmup drill," he replied jovially. "Our friends are impressed with your skills, little Valkyrie," he added with a smile.
"So it appears," you weren't sure that look of shock quite equated being impressed. It more looked like terror. Except Nat. She was impressed.
"You'll have to teach me some of those moves!" she called as you walked past to head back up to your room and its shower. She was grinning with excitement at the prospect.
"I will!" you replied with a grin as the elevator doors slid shut. A short trip upstairs and you were back in your room under a way too hot shower. It took that way too hot shower to make sure your muscles wouldn't seize up after that bout.
Clean and dressed again in boring jeans and a t-shirt. You skipped the gloves. The others knew not to touch you, so you didn't have to wear the uncomfortable things. You headed back downstairs with your book.
Thor and Loki were having some kind of fight in the kitchen. Typical. Stark jumped in, taking Thor side and saying something rude about Loki that you didn't quite catch. Something along the lines of getting beaten up by a girl maybe? Or some snide comment about New York. Either way, you could tell from Stark's expression the moment he said it that even he knew it was beyond a reasonable about of hurtful. You saw the hurt in Loki's eyes, hidden behind anger and his court mask as he stormed from the room. You grabbed his arm when he started to storm past you. "Lohk, wait, Stark's an ass, but doesn't really mean it. Just ignore him," you told him when he turned and glared at you.
"Why won't you just leave me alone!?" he snarled at you with such venom and anger in his voice that you dropped his arm like he had shocked you, though that was Thor's power, not his. "I'm not a child any longer. I'm not a puppy that needs coddling and constant care. I am a prince of Asgard!" he snarled, the reign on his temper completely gone. You'd seen him lose his temper before of course, but not like this, and never at you, not in earnest.
"I-" you started to protest that he was your best friend and of course you wanted to make sure he was ok, but the sigil on your arm burned and flashed a warning. He was so angry and didn't want you. He didn't want the reminder of the childhood he should have remembered, of the happiness that had been taken from him. Not right now, maybe not ever... So you did what you had to, what duty and honor demanded. "Yes, of course. My apologies, your highness," you stammered the apology, automatically taking a step back and bowing your head. The sigil on your arm burned and flashed again in warning. "A-as you wish." You didn't bother gathering your book before you fled with as much dignity as you could muster.
Maybe that spark wasn't as there as you'd thought...
You knew it had been wrong to hope.