Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In a world full of superheroes and villains, she was one of the ordinary folk. Every morning after a round of jogging around the neighbourhood, she’d get ready for work, hop into her car and go to the bus depot, where she worked. She’d park her car, go into the office building, have a coffee and a quick chat with the fellow drivers before taking her bus and start the day of picking school kids up and bringing them to school. During the day she’d either spend the time chatting with the other drivers, or she’d get some other things done, like appointments and whatnot. Then in the afternoon she’d be driving the kids back to their homes before heading back to the bus depot and heading home herself.

She’d come home, wash, change into home clothes and start making dinner. She’d have dinner in front of the TV, since she didn’t own a dining table. The small apartment she lived in didn’t have the needed space to get one and quite frankly, she didn’t need one to begin with.

She never had any visitors. Ever since she moved to New York, she hadn’t gotten the chance to go out and make friends. Being a bus driver, her social circle consisted of the fellow drivers and none of them were her age or showed any interest in socializing outside of work. Which was okay. She didn’t mind it, though she craved the social contact every now and then. It would be nice to have someone to call in the evenings and gossip about Mrs. Anderson who had been doing the walk of shame two days ago. Or about the next door neighbour who had a new TV delivered, which apparently had resulted in his wife getting pissed at him for not getting the correct extension cables to connect it.

Even though she felt lonely sometimes, she also felt lucky she didn’t have to deal with a lot of people. Socializing could be tiresome if you and the others didn’t really click. She’d had so much drama in her teenage years, she was grateful she had grown out of that phase of her life.

She had only graduated highschool and after that she immediately started working. First it was random jobs at supermarkets, then she was a waitress for a while, until one day she saw a massive school bus passing by and it had caught her interest. After which she had started gathering the needed information and qualifications to become a bus driver.

She had been working her current job for a couple of years. She had started right after the blip that brought the people back to life. There was a shortage of bus drivers with the sudden doubling of number in school kids. It kind of paved way for her to finally get the job and after only a month of supervised work, she was allowed to officially start.

She was grateful for the job. She loved the kids on her route. They were teenagers and there was never a dull moment with them. She figured her knowledge of pop culture helped in that matter. While her co-workers would often complain about the kids on their busses being spoiled brats, Frankie never had a bad word to say about hers.

After dropping off the last kid for the day, Frankie waved at him and closed the bus door before driving towards the bus depot, humming to the music from the radio and gently bobbing her head to the melody.

As she got closer to the depot, she noticed the streets to be blocked and she was directed towards another path, basically making her take a large detour in order to enter the needed street from the other side.

It was weird that the roads were suddenly blocked, since they haven’t gotten a warning that there would be any roadwork that day.

Humming a song that was stuck in her head, she took the turn and drove along the street that would lead her to the one that would finally bring her to the depot.

Frankie stopped humming when she heard gunshots around. While it wasn’t unusual to hear those in some neighbourhoods around the city, the one where the bus depot was located was a relatively calm one. She kept her eyes alert on the road before her, careful to not hit someone if people had decided to start a chase or something. The other cars around her started speeding up. She figured she should do the same, since the shooting sounds didn’t seem to want to stop and she had no desire to get caught in the crossfire. But given that she was driving a school bus, she couldn’t just do that. Especially not in a street with a limited space.

“Damn it.” She mumbled as she took another turn. At least she was getting closer to the depot. One more turn and she’d be there. She could wait at the office area for the shooting to stop before she could safely head back home.

As she started turning the steering wheel, she did not see the black SUV coming her way from her blind spot. Nor did she see the other cars chasing it.

It all happened too fast. The SUV crashed into the bus. Frankie hit the breaks with all her might and tried to gain control of the bus that tipped over violently.

There was an explosion. The Avengers headed to the source of it and saw the SUV they were chasing had crashed into a school bus and it was burning. Tony flew over it, scanning the vehicles for life signs. The SUV driver seemed to have escaped, but his scanners detected someone inside the bus. “Guys, bus driver still inside. Need to get them out.”

A cloud of smoke opened inside the bus and Loki walked through. As it dissipated, he climbed over the seats and made his way to the front. “I’m already in.” He spoke through the comms.

“Hurry up, then. Seems another explosion is coming.” Tony responded and flew off, knowing Loki could handle whatever came his way.

The driver was hanging limp from the seat. The seatbelt being the only thing that kept them from flying out of the windshield. As Loki approached, he noticed the driver was a young woman. Blood covered most of her skin, possibly due to the shattered glass. He couldn’t tell what other injuries she sustained, but he needed to get her out fast. Holding her with one arm, he unfastened the seatbelt and she dropped onto his chest. He quickly teleported out, seconds before another explosion followed.

“That was too close for comfort!” Steve yelled into his ear.

“I appreciate your concern, Captain.” Loki mumbled, rolling his eyes. Carrying the unconscious woman towards an ambulance that arrived at the scene, along with the fire brigade. He set her on a gurney and the paramedics took over, then he left to join the rest of the team.

“Guys, need some back-up here!” It was Natasha who spoke. Gun shots were heard through the communication channel and everyone headed that way.

Later that day, when the fight was over, they all headed back to the Avengers compound. After a debriefing, they all went to their rooms to get cleaned up. Some went to med bay to get treatment for the injuries they sustained. Luckily, none of them were serious.

As the evening rolled over, Tony had ordered pizza for dinner and they were all gathered in the common room, watching TV and eating. Tony was on the phone, a slice of pizza in his hand. Loki eyed him, impatience written all over his face as he tapped his foot, while he waited for the man to finish.

“It’s normal.” Natasha said, coming to sit next to him on the couch and grabbing a slice of pizza for herself.

“There’s nothing normal in talking on the phone during dinner time.” Loki said, grabbing a slice as well and sitting back.

“When you’re in his position, you don’t get to decide who calls when. He’s got a business to run.” She shrugged, taking a bite and chewing.

“I’ve had a whole kingdom at my disposal. Dinner time was sacred.”

“You had phones on Asgard?” She raised an eyebrow.

Loki rolled his eyes. “Of course not, silly.” He shook his head, a little smile forming on his face. “If Thor and I dared to get distracted during dinner, we would get punished and be sent to our chambers. We wouldn’t even be allowed to continue dinner.”

“Huh.” Natasha eyed Tony, who was deep in conversation about one of the Stark Industries offices in Europe. “I wonder if that’d work here.”

Loki chuckled. “Given that the person in question is an adult and not a child, I doubt it would.”

“A man-child, mind you.” She turned to look at him, smirking.

“That one is true.” He grinned.

Steve finally came to join them, grabbing himself a box of pizza and sitting on the floor, next to Natasha’s legs and leaned against the couch.

“That comfortable?” She asked.

“Not in the slightest, but I need my back against something stiff and the couches feel too soft.” He took a slice out and started eating.

“Anything broken?”

“Just bruises.” They sat in silence for a while, with only Tony’s voice filling the room while they had their food. Steve turned to the team, who seemed to be absorbed by the show they were watching.

When Tony was finished, he soon received another call and he groaned as he picked up. It was Pepper. Loki rolled his eyes at the man’s inability to go five seconds without his devices.

As Tony hung up, he turned to the team. “Sooo... we’re expected to make an appearance at the hospital tomorrow. Check on the injured and whatnot. Another publicity thing to make up for the fact we’ve totalled a whole neighbourhood.” He gave Loki a pointed look, which the god ignored with a shrug.

“I don’t think all of us showing up at the hospital would do them any good.” Sam said before he took a bite of his pizza.

“I agree.” Steve said, finishing the pizza in his box and reaching for another slice from another box. “I suggest two of us go instead, representing the whole team.”

“I’m down with that. Cap, you’re it.” Tony said with a grin. “Loki, you’re with him.”

“And why would I do that?” Loki put one knee over the other as he sat back.

“Because I know you don’t want to.” Tony gave him a shit eating grin as he bit on a slice of pizza.

As Loki opened his mouth to protest, Natasha chimed in. “It would be good, though, if you think about it. A national icon and a former villain, both visiting the injured at the hospital. Puts Loki in a positive light and shows the world that the Avengers aren’t that careless.”

“Absolutely not.” Loki said, now crossing his arms over his chest in protest. What was it with these humans and wanting to show him off in positive lights all the time? He was doing pretty good at being the dark prince, thank you very much. Leave the spotlight for Thor, so he could have some proper fun without any insinuated political correctness getting in the way.

“I’ll treat you to chocolate ice cream after?” Steve said, biting on pizza and giving Loki an innocent look, with raised eyebrows.

Loki really should have never expressed his favouritism to chocolate and especially chocolate ice cream. Now it came back to bite him in the ass. “Fine.” He sighed, rolling his eyes. “This is the last time I let you bribe me into doing something I do not want.”

“Sure.” Steve grinned. He found Loki’s company pleasant. He was a tell it as it is kind of guy, never tip-toeing around a subject when he spoke to him, which Steve favoured over the sparing his feelings approach the team tended to use with him a lot of the times.

The next day Steve and Loki made their way to the hospital. Selected press representatives followed them around as they went from one ward to the other, greeting those of the injured who were awake and able to speak. Loki kept silent most of the time, only offering words of comfort when needed. He didn’t particularly feel any empathy for the people they were visiting, but he did have a feeling of responsibility to what had happened. No guilt, though. He did what he had to do and in battle, collateral damage was basically just a part of the whole package.

As they stepped into the hallway, the reporters following them around surrounded Steve and the doctor accompanying them for a short interview. Loki slid away and walked the hallway, wanting to get away from the camera crew and the inquiring reporters.

He found himself standing in front of the window of a room that seemed to resemble an intensive care unit. There was a single bed inside and he recognized the young woman he carried out of the bus the day before. She was attached to machinery. Her face was bruised and the small cuts were taped with little plasters.

As a nurse passed him, Loki turned to her, making her stop. “I’m sorry to bother you, but could you tell me how she’s doing?” He turned his gaze to the window.

“Are you family?” The nurse asked.

Loki shook his head and turned to her again. “I’m the one who took her out of the bus.”

“Oh.” The nurse nodded. “Well, technically I’m not allowed to give you any information, Sir, since you’re not family.” Before Loki could protest, she raised her hand to stop him from talking. “But, you’re one of the Avengers and if it weren’t for you, she wouldn’t be here. I can make the exception.”

Loki’s gaze darkened as he turned to look at the unconscious woman. If it weren’t for them, she wouldn’t be laying in a hospital, fighting for her life. He sighed and looked at the floor, before looking back into the room. Of all the others injured, this particular one didn’t sit well in his mind. Maybe because she wasn’t in the direct vicinity of the battle. Maybe because her injury wasn’t collateral damage and it was, in fact, an accident they didn’t account for.

The nurse seemed to have caught up on how she worded her sentence when she noticed Loki’s clenched jaws. “What I meant to say is that if it weren’t for you, she’d be dead. You saved her in time.” She spoke softly. “She’s on heavy sedatives right now, but her vitals are good. Bruised like there’s no tomorrow and cracked a rib. Broken clavicle. All in all, she’s doing better than expected.”

Loki found himself sighing. “Any family members?”

“We couldn’t find any.”

“How long would she remain unconscious?”

“We’re going to let the meds take their course. She’s not in a coma, so she should be awake by tomorrow. We’re keeping her under constant observation for now.”

He nodded, turning to look at the nurse with a tight smile. “Thank you.”

“Glad to be of service.” The nurse replied and went on her way.

Loki looked through the window one more time before he turned and went back to join Steve. He hoped the good captain was done with his interview and they could finally leave this place.

He was also owed a chocolate ice cream.

-*-*-*-*-*-

The next day in the afternoon, Loki found himself going back to the hospital. On a normal day, he wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about checking in on people they would save. The way he saw it was, basically, they were alive, job done, move on. But for reasons unknown to him, he decided he wanted to go and check on the woman he pulled out of the bus.

The hospital staff didn’t question his presence there. He was an Avenger, after all. So whenever an Avenger would make an appearance, people were delighted. They’d go out of their way to make said Avenger feel welcomed and appreciated. Loki was grateful his status on this realm had granted him the freedom to go wherever he liked, though it never came without the pesky individuals that seemed to pop out of nowhere to take photos of them and especially him. Good thing he could burn the film in those cameras with a flick of the wrist and if they were using digitalized ones, FRIDAY was on it instantly, deleting them the moment a device connected online.

He reached the room he had found the woman in the day before. She was awake and there was a nurse with her inside, helping her with the pillows. Loki conjured a bouquet of flowers, knowing that’s what humans did when visiting someone at a hospital, and softly knocked on the door before going in.

Both nurse and patient started at him with wide eyes. Well, the patient had one eye taped shut with bandages, but the other was open.

“I apologize for the intrusion.” He spoke with a friendly smile on his face. “I did not mean to startle you.”

Both women remained silent. The nurse didn’t even dare to move.

“I came to check on you.” He looked at the patient as he took a tentative step closer. “I’m glad to see you’re awake.”

“T-thank you... I guess.” Frankie figured she must have hit her head hard, because right in front of her was Loki. A former villain and a current Avenger. With flowers in his hand.

The nurse finally composed herself and cleared her throat. “I can put those in some water.” She walked over to Loki, who handed her the flowers and murmured a thanks. “Visiting hours a bit later in the afternoon, but I guess we can make an exception for an Avenger, especially the one who got you out.” She turned to look at Frankie, who just blinked at her, still not processing what happened around her.

The nurse excused herself and left the room and Loki came to stand at the foot of the bed, hands behind his back.

“You’re the one that saved me?” Frankie asked, looking like she was seeing a ghost.

Loki nodded, smiling with a shrug. “I am.”

“Thank you.” Frankie whispered, smiling timidly as she sighed.

“You’re welcome. I’m L-”

“Loki, I know.” She finished for him. “Hard to not recognize the man who had been on TV more than Tony Stark in the past couple of years.” She chuckled.

“You’d be surprised.” Loki grinned. He was glad he wasn’t always recognized by the public the way Tony and Steve were. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been run over by a bus.” She snorted, smirking. “Ironically.”

“I’m glad you seem to be in a good mood. Humans tend to wallow in your situation.” Loki seemed to want to stay for a bit, since he pulled a chair to the bed’s side and sat down. Frankie found herself not minding the company.

“What’s the point? It’s not going to do me any favours if I go all dark and gloomy just because I was almost killed.” She shrugged, but immediately regretted it when pain shot through her shoulder. “I shouldn’t have done that.” She winced, automatically bringing her hand to her shoulder.

Loki eyed her, somewhat concerned by the pain she had caused herself, but did not say anything. The concerned look on his face disappeared at the same speed it had appeared as he sat back, putting one knee over the other. “Why were you in the area?”

“Bus depot.” When Loki raised an eyebrow, she explained. “It’s where the school busses are parked when not in use.”

“So you’re a bus driver.”

She nodded. “How did you find me?” She asked. The nurse hadn’t told her much, other than she was saved after an accident.

Well, technically, Stark had found her. He had only taken her out. “Scanners.” He simply answered.

“No, I mean, was I thrown out? Though I don’t think so. I’m awake with only a cracked rib and a broken collarbone. Lots of bruises, according to the nurse. Though I don’t need to see them to feel them.

For someone who had just been injured, she was quite talkative, Loki thought. It amused him.

“You were hanging from your seat. The belts keeping you in place.”

“Like a ragdoll.”

“More or less.” He nodded.

“Wicked.” She grinned, wincing as stretching her mouth pulled at some of the cuts on her face, but she smiled nonetheless.

Despite the cuts and bruises on her face, that smile made Loki’s heart skip a beat. It somehow made her look exceptionally beautiful. He couldn’t help but wonder how she’d look like without all the bandages and plasters over her face.

“You were close to death and all you can say about it is wicked?” Loki chuckled.

“I’m usually more reserved. I blame whatever they’re pumping me with.” She raised the arm housing the IV tube. “Once the effect wears off I promise to panic. How does that sound?”

Loki smiled and shook his head. “As long as it pleases you.” A buzz in his pocket alerted him of a text message coming in. He fished out his phone and read the message, after which he stood up. “I must be going now. Duty calls.” He shrugged. “Do you require anything? Someone to call? Family, friends, significant other?”

It did not escape him the flash of melancholy he saw appear and instantly disappear on her face as she smiled and shook her head. “No need. Thank you. Thanks for coming, by the way. You didn’t have to.”

“I know I didn’t. I simply wanted to.” He smiled. So she was alone. Well, that was unacceptable. Why, he didn’t know. But there was at least something he could do about it. “Would it be acceptable if I visit you again?”

Frankie blinked her eye, but quickly nodded. Why would he want to do that? Not that it was creepy. Or maybe it was. She wasn’t sure. Damn those pain meds playing with her head. This whole thing must be a dream. She must be in a coma or something. Yeah, that was it. She was in a coma and this was a coma-dream. But why would Loki be in her dream? Why not Captain America or even the Black Widow? She loved the Black Widow, even though she didn’t know much about her, since she was known to be a former secret agent or something of the sort. One of the only two women in the group of men. Yay for Girl Power!

And then there was Loki. There was practically not a single woman or a gay man on the planet who wasn’t at least intrigued by Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome. Something about him was alluring, captivating. While he wasn’t much for media presence, most people, including herself, were drawn to the face whenever it was on the news. The high cheekbones, sharp jaw, jade green eyes and jet black hair. Combine all those on a pale, porcelain skin and you’ve got yourself the Prince of Darkness.

When a hand was being waved before her face, she blinked again and realized she hadn’t answered him yet.

“Are you alright?” Loki asked, a hint of concern on his face. Now where did that come from?

“I’m fine.” Frankie nodded with a smile. “And yeah, sure. You can visit if you want.”

“Alright.” He smiled. “I’ll see you again soon, then.” He said before turning to leave.

“Sure.”

This was definitely a dream, Frankie told herself. This was too crazy to be real.

Chapter Text

The following days had been weird, to say the least. It seemed that Loki had made it his personal mission to visit Frankie every day. She was grateful for it, of course. But she still couldn’t believe this was happening. The God of Mischief, an Avenger, was at her side every day. Always coming in the moment visiting hours started. He would stay for about half an hour each day, they would talk about how she’s feeling, how the treatment is going before he would bid her a nice day and would leave. She didn’t even know why.

The nurses told her she had apparently landed on his radar, though she was convinced this was all a dream in her coma-induced mind. It couldn’t be real, even though she didn’t mention it and simply played along. How long it would take her until she would wake up to the reality she seemed to have been absent from, was still a mystery. The pain she felt in her body told her that this was real, but she still couldn’t believe it.

She had received flowers from fellow bus drivers. Her boss had even paid her a visit once. Something she had never expected, even though her boss was actually a decent man. While she was on good terms with everyone she worked with, she never had close relationship with any of them. So she was pretty much floored when the flowers and well-wishing cards kept coming in.

At the mark of one week, the doctor informed her she would be discharged and advised to have a friend or family member stay with her for a couple of weeks. Since she would need help with the basic things. With her shoulder and arm in a slinger, which was to be kept on at all times for the duration of healing, it made it difficult -if not impossible- to carry out certain tasks during the day.

She simply nodded at the doctor, giving him a nervous smile. Maybe her insurance can hook her up with some nurse to come and help her once or twice a day. Even if insurance couldn’t help, she’d manage on her own. She has managed her whole life, after all.

After the doctor had left, Loki knocked at the door and stepped in. She smiled instantly, trying to hide her nervousness about the fact that she was going to head home and will try to adjust to using only one arm for a while. Not to mention, she was supposed to take it extremely easy, because of the cracked rib she had. Well, life knew how to throw lemons at her, it seemed.

“What’s wrong?” Loki said, slightly frowning at the way she was smiling at him. He knew someone was hiding something when he saw it. It was his field of expertise, after all.

“Nothing is wrong! I’m being discharged today.” She chirped and Loki knew there was something else behind it. Though he didn’t know her long, he knew enough of her that this was not the way she usually spoke to him.

“I can sense when someone’s lying to me, dear.” He gave her a knowing look as he walked over to the bed and took seat at the side of it.

Frankie sighed, dropping her gaze to her lap. “I’m just nervous, I guess.”

“Whatever for?” Loki eyed her hand that was on her lap. He really wanted to hold it, but refrained from doing so. Why did he want to hold her hand, though? She was just a person he came to visit every day, to make sure he wasn’t alone, since she seemed to not have any family members who would do so. Though he knew the flowers and cards around the room were from colleagues, he had never seen any of them take the time to come visit her. She really was alone.

“It’s nothing, really.” She smiled, looking at him. Now that smile Loki had come to recognize during the past week he had been visiting her. It was a smile of uncertainty, of worry.

“What’s worrying you?” He spoke softly.

She hesitated at first, contemplating whether she should tell him or not. Though he had been the only person to visit her on a daily basis, he was still a stranger to her. But... maybe she could see this whole thing as a new friendship of some sort? She was still in a coma, after all. No harm in making friends in a delusional world, now, was it?

“I have no one at home.” She finally said, keeping her voice low. “The doctor said I should be resting at all times and I’d be needing assistance for basic daily activities.” She sighed. “And I have no one.” She added the last bit in a whisper, but Loki had heard.

He finally gave in to the urge to hold her hand and placed his palm over the hand that was over her lap, wrapping his fingers around hers and giving it a little squeeze. Frankie froze for a moment and stared at their joined hands. When she carefully raised her eyes to look at him, she was met with the most beautiful smile a person could have.

“Do you really think I’d let you go fend for yourself knowing full well you do not have family around?” He still spoke softly, with all the care in the world.

“But why?” The hesitance was evident in her voice.

“Why not?” He tilted his head.

“I don’t wish to be a burden.”

“Would it be wrong of me to assume we are becoming friends?” When she shook her head, he continued. “Well, friends do help each other.”

It would be nice if they became friends. He was nice and pleasant to talk to. He indulged her stories about the kids she drove to school and back, he visited her every day even though he didn’t have to do that at all. And all of a sudden, realization hit her like a slap in the face with a metal chair and she gasped.

Loki frowned. “Did I say something wrong? Are we not friends?” He let go of her hand, feeling a bit disappointed for assuming he had a chance at a new friendship.

“It’s not that.” She shook her head and winced, bringing her hand to her collarbone. “Damn it. Ow...” She closed her eyes for a moment, waiting for the pain to subside. She should be more careful in her movements as to not agitate anything.

“Should I call for a nurse?”

“No, no.” She said with a sigh before opening her eyes and looking at a worried Loki. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten worked up like that.” She was about to shrug when she remembered not to do that. “I simply realized that during this whole time, I haven’t told you my name.” She gave him a guilty smile.

“Well,” Loki chuckled, a bit relieved that it wasn’t something serious. “I kind of read your name on your chart a while ago.” He pointed his thumb at the end of the bed where her medical chart was.

“Oh... right.” She smiled, looking a bit disappointed.

“But, if it makes you feel better, we can reintroduce ourselves?” He reached over to hold her hand again.

“That would be nice.”

“Hello, I’m Loki Odinson.” He said, grinning.

“Hello, Loki. I’m Francesca Morelli. Everyone calls me Frankie.” She grinned back.

Loki took her hand and raised it to his lips, keeping his eyes on her as he placed a soft kiss over the back of it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Frankie.”

Frankie could feel her cheeks burn as he kissed her hand. The room suddenly felt too warm and it took all her strength to keep herself from melting right then and there. Apparently there were still men who kissed a woman’s hand when being introduced to each other. It made her lose the ability to speak for a moment.

As he let go of her hand, he watched her gain all the shades of pink over her cheeks for a moment with a smile on his face. Something about her was very appealing to him. Despite all the bruises, she still looked beautiful and Loki found himself actually wanting to get to know her better. He was looking forward to it, in fact.

A nurse walked into the room that moment with a bundle of clothes in her hand. She looked at Frankie with an apologetic look on her face. “I’m sorry to inform you, that when you were brought her we had to cut through your clothes. Is it possible for you to call someone to bring you other clothes?”

“Oh...” Frankie’s gaze darkened and she looked into her lap. She had no one to go do that for her and she couldn’t possibly ask Loki to go to her home and go through her clothes for her. They weren’t that close of friends just yet.

“I’ll take care of that.” Loki said as he stood up, taking the bundle of ruined clothes from the nurse.

“Okay. Thanks. I’m really sorry about that.” She looked from Loki to Frankie. “You can technically leave whenever you’re ready. The needed paperwork is done. Your insurance will handle the rest and if anything, you’ll hear from them.”

“Yeah, kinda not looking forward to that.” Frankie chuckled nervously. The week stay at the hospital was going to cost her a fortune that she couldn’t afford and she wasn’t going to be able to work while her bones hadn’t completely healed. Good thing her boss was nice enough to give her all the time she needed until she was well enough to go back to work.

“I’m sorry.” The nurse said before leaving room.

Frankie sighed, feeling defeated. She tried to think of what to do about the clothes. The insurance will have to wait until she received the bill. Then she can try to get an advance on her salary from work or something. She’ll deal with that when it happened.

Loki was still holding her clothes in one hand and he moved the other over them. A gold shimmer rippled over the bundle and Frankie just gaped at what was happening. She had never witnessed magic happening before her eyes. Like, real magic and not the kind birthday magicians did.

“All fixed.” Loki said, grinning. He handed her the clothes and put his hands behind his back.

Frankie stared at the bundle in her lap and grabbed her shirt and held it before her. It looked as if she had just bought it a moment ago. “Wow...” she mumbled and picked her pants up, which also looked as good as new.

“Should I call a nurse to help you with getting dressed?” He offered.

“Uh, I’d like to try it myself first. If I fail, then yeah, a nurse would be helpful.” She smiled.

Loki nodded and helped her off the bed, then he pulled the curtains around it to give her some privacy. “I’ll be nearby.”

“Okay.” She nodded, before he closed the curtain and disappeared behind it.

She decided to start with the pants. She sat down at the edge of the bed and with one hand, she tried to get them on. It was easier said than done. She got one foot in and then the other. Slowly pulling it up, alternating her grasp between both sides. When it finally reached her hips, she mumbled a curse as she realized she couldn’t pull the zipper up with one hand.

“Everything alright there?” Loki called from the other side after he heard her cursing.

“Y-yeah.” She mumbled and stood up. She could leave the waist open. They won’t fall off... hopefully. She carefully took the slinger off and after freeing her healthy arm from the hospital gown, she carefully pulled it off the other arm she wasn’t supposed to use.

As she stood there half naked, she carefully looked down her chest and her eyes widened at the bruises all over. Her chest was wrapped in bandages, to protect her ribs and limit unnecessary friction, but even with that it looked like she had been beaten up. Did she have any internal bleeding? They haven’t told her about it, though.

Taking a deep breath she grabbed her shirt and gently put her injury-side arm in first, then her head and finally the other arm as well. “Yes!” She mumbled, smiling triumphantly. At least something she didn’t need help with. Though her smile faltered as she realized the next hurdle before her. The slinger. It needed to properly be attached and she couldn’t do it on her own.

“Uhm, Loki? You can come in now.” She said, using one hand to hold her arm against her chest.

Loki poked his head through the curtains, eyes closed. “Are you decent?”

“I am.” Such a gentleman! Her heart fluttered in her chest she could fell her ribs protesting.

He opened his eyes and smiled at her. She was blushing again. He could get used to that, he thought to himself.

“I need help with getting the slinger back on.” She said.

“Of course.” He nodded and immediately, with all the care in the world, helped her put the slinger back on. “You did well with getting dressed using one arm.” He smiled, but then his gaze turned serious. “You did use only your healthy arm, right? You’re not supposed to put any pressure on this one.” He pointed at the one being held inside the slinger.

“One arm only.” She grinned. “It’s why my pants are still unzipped, but no one would notice. The shirt is long enough. I have sweatpants at home I can wear later.”

Loki eyed her hips for a moment. The shirt was covering the front, indeed, but the corners were poking through and it didn’t look comfortable.

“I can help, if you’d allow me. I’ll keep my eyes closed.” He found himself offering, not even knowing where that came from. Since when did he help anyone get dressed? Undressing, sure. Getting dressed? Never.

She gave it a moment of thought and nodded. It seemed harmless enough not to call a nurse for it. “Sure. Yeah, okay.” She said and he came to stand in front of her.

“Guide my hands.” He smiled at her before he took her hand in his and closed his eyes.

Frankie guided both his hands to the corners of her pants. “If you could lift the pants a bit, it would help. Couldn’t get it all the way up.”

Loki nodded and moved his hands to her sides, grabbing the waistline of the pants and tugging it upwards once. “Good?”

“Yep.” She smiled, but he couldn’t see it because he still had his eyes closed.

He moved his hands back to the front, his fingers gently grazing over her skin. Whether he did it on purpose or not, neither of them knew. The soft inhale of breath didn’t go unnoticed by Loki and he found himself stepping closer as he first buttoned the pants. He could feel her warm breath against his chest as his hand travelled down, blindly looking for the zipper. At some point it felt like Frankie was holding her breath as he held the waistline with one hand and the other practically cupped her groin for a moment before he found the zipper. He pulled it up slowly and when he was done, he let his hand linger there as he opened his eyes and saw that she had closed her eyes as well.

“Done.” He spoke softly.

She opened her eyes and looked up into the green orbs that were looking into hers. She could feel her heart thumping against her chest. His hand was still holding the waistline of her pants. He was so close that she could almost feel his breath. If she stood on her toes, she’d be able to kiss him.

But no. That was inappropriate behaviour. Where the hell did that come from? She cleared her throat and looked to the side for a moment before looking back at him with a smile. “Thanks.” She mumbled.

“You’re welcome.” He replied. He felt frozen to the spot. Something was pulling him to her and he was surprised to admit that he didn’t mind it at all. His brain told him to lean down and kiss her. She was so close. She didn’t shy away from his touch. Kiss her.

But he didn’t. He reluctantly pulled his hand away and adjusted her shirt over her pants before he took a step away.

“So...” He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. “I will need your address to take you home.”

“Yeah...” She gave him her address and he tapped it onto his phone to check the location on the map. “Shit... I don’t have the keys with me. My stuff must have remained in the bus. And the spare keys are... well... at home.” She sighed.

“Not an issue.” Loki smiled. “I’ll get Stark to find out where your items are, so they can be returned to you. As for the spare keys, we don’t need them. Hold on to me.” He reached out for her and she reluctantly put her arm around his waist, while he carefully wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Hold on tight, since I cannot put any pressure on your shoulder. This will be quick and you might feel disoriented. Do not let go until the dizziness is gone.”

“Okay.” She held on tight, pressing herself to his side. “But what are y...”

Her question was cut short when she felt a pull in her navel and in the next moment she was standing in the middle of her living room, which was spinning violently all around. She clung to Loki for dear life and closed her eyes tightly. Her legs felt they would give out at any moment. “Make it stop. Make it stop!” She kept saying, grabbing Loki’s shirt in a tight fist.

“It will be over soon. The first time is always difficult.” Loki said, still holding her. Though this time he brought his other arm around her and took her into his embrace and stood with her there while they waited for her dizziness to stop. “I’ve got you.” He added in a whisper.

After two long minutes, Frankie finally opened her eyes. The room had stopped spinning, thank goodness. But what almost sent it spinning again was the fact that Loki was holding her between his arms and looking at her with a gentle smile on his face.

“Welcome back.” He said, softly.

“Thanks.” She replied, returning the smile. “That was... scary, for a moment.”

“Only because it was the first time.” He grinned. “Next time it would be easier.”

“Bold of you to assume there would a be a next time.” She chuckled, not even attempting to let go of him. He didn’t really seem like to want to let her go any time soon, either. “Well, next time we’re taking a car like normal people.”

“Bold of you to assume I’m normal.” His grin widened, making her giggle and Loki’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Chapter Text

“You should get into comfortable clothes.” He mumbled, though he didn’t make any attempt to let her go.

“I should.” She replied, her voice merely a whisper, while still looking into his eyes. Even if she wanted to move, she didn’t. This was too comfortable for some unknown reason. They barely knew each other. Hell, he knew more about her than she did about him. It had only been a week since they’ve met, but the way they were standing there, with her within his arms made it feel like they’ve known each other longer.

The way he looked into her eyes, it felt like he gazed into her soul. His eyes of jade green scrutinizing things inside, of which she could only dream about seeing in herself. He was a mystery to her. A tall, handsome mystery and Frankie found herself trapped in the eyes that looked down onto her.

Neither knew how long they had been standing there, motionless and silent. The only sound being heard in the small apartment was that of the passing cars outside. When those were not present, in the few minutes of silence only their soft breaths could be heard.

Loki wet his lips, his eyes moved down from Frankie’s eyes to her lips. If he would bend down just a little bit, he could press his own lips to hers. He could have a taste of her. He would know how her lips would feel against his.

An insistent buzz in his pocket was all it took to break the spell they seemed to have found themselves in. Loki sighed, feeling warmth spread through his body as he finally let go of her and stepped aside. “My apologies, I need to answer this.” He said, taking his phone out and seeing it was Tony calling him before he brought the device to his ear. “I’m not available.” He said.

“Good day to you, too, asshole. Where have you been?”

“None of your business.”

“You know I can track your location, but I’m giving you the chance to tell me yourself.”

“Stark, get to the point. I don’t have time for your games.” Loki turned to Frankie, giving her an apologetic smile and mouthing a ‘sorry’, to which she responded with a smile of her own and nodded. She motioned for him to take a seat on the couch and she went to sit down as well. Her apartment was so small, there was no place for Loki to go to for privacy.

“Need you back here, buddy. SHIELD has some alien technology and needs your expertise on the matter.” Loki could hear Tony’s sigh from the other side.

“Not today. In fact, I’m rather occupied for the upcoming days.” Loki replied. He didn’t feel like assisting Fury with anything and even if he did, he wanted to first make sure Frankie would be doing alright on her own before he would go to SHIELD.

“You don’t have to stay on my account. I’ll be fine.” Frankie spoke softly from his side. She didn’t want to meddle, but it seemed that Loki had meant her when he said he’d be occupied for the upcoming days.

“Rudolf, you sneaky bastard!” Tony laughed upon hearing a woman’s voice next to Loki’s. “You’ve found yourself someone and didn’t tell us? Way to go!”

Loki felt his blood boil inside of him at Tony’s insinuation about what he was doing there. How dare he make such indecent accusation against his friend! Sure, he was fantasizing about her lips literally a moment ago, but that didn’t give Stark permission to make the assumption!

He hung up the phone and tucked it into his pocket. His nostrils were flaring and he clenched his jaws. He took deep breaths to calm himself before he exhaled slowly and put a smile on his face before he turned to Frankie.

“I will have to go to the compound for a few minutes. I will be back after I had a few words with Stark.” Though he spoke gently, Frankie could clearly see the anger behind his eyes. Stark must have said something that upset him. She wanted to say something, but she figured it wasn’t her place to do so.

Or maybe it was? They have just decided earlier that they were friends. “Is everything alright? I didn’t cause you any problems with the Avengers, did I?”

“No, no, absolutely not. Stark is being his usual pain in my behind self. I’ll go deal with him and then I’ll return.” He smiled softly. “Would it be acceptable if I bring dinner with me?”

“I can cook?”

“And how do you propose to do that?” His phone was buzzing again. He took it out, turned it off and put it back into his pocket and looked back at her, grinning.

“Okay, good point.” She chuckled. “But don’t go overboard or something, okay? Anything simple is good. Even a sandwich.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” He gently placed his hand over hers before he stood up. “I’ll be back soon. Don’t do anything to exhaust yourself, alright? I’ll come and help.”

“You d-“ Her protest was cut off when he disappeared in a green smoke. She sighed, lightly shaking her head. Was he going to do that every time? Cutting her off by teleporting suddenly? She hoped not. She’d very much prefer to finish a sentence before she was cut off. Maybe she should tell him that. But what if he took it as an insult? What if... she sighed again, carefully leaning back against the backrest of the couch and grabbed the remote to turn the TV on.

-*-*-*-*-*-

Tony practically jumped out of his seat when Loki suddenly appeared before him in the lab. “Jesus, dude, a little warning next time!”

Loki advanced at him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and lifting him up with little effort. “You have crossed a line.” Loki growled.

Tony gave Loki’s wrist a couple of taps. “Being happy for you is crossing a line? Good to know.” He said, shrugging. While he knew Loki could easily throw him out of the window if he wanted to, Tony was also sure he wouldn’t do that. Loki was a changed man and though he had his moments of anger, he was always capable of not taking it too far.

“You need to word your sentences better, then.”

“If you could let go of my shirt and explain which part I had wrong, I’d appreciate it.”

Loki let go of him with a huff and started pacing before he stopped before Tony once more. “For starters, she’s a friend.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his hips against desk. Tony sat back down on his chair. “So your ‘you’ve found yourself someone’ was out of place.”

“Well, I’m sorry it was perceived the wrong way, Loki. I didn’t mean to insult your friend.” Tony smiled. “What I meant with what I said was that I’m happy you know someone outside of the team. You’ve been kind of secluded since you started working with us.”

Loki nodded. For as far as apologies went, this was good enough.

“So, who is she? How did you meet?” Tony grinned.

“The driver we saved a week ago.” Loki smiled.

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? Didn’t expect you to care enough about the rescues.”

Loki shrugged. “I can’t explain it. I was intrigued. Went for a visit, ended up visiting more often. She was discharged from the hospital today and I took her home.” He sighed, looking into Tony’s eyes. “Stark, I really cannot be bothered with Fury for the time being. Frankie needs help and she has no one.”

Tony’s smile simply widened. “She has you now and by extension, count me in as well. I bet the team would be on board to help as much as they can as well. She’s your friend, you say.”

“True.”

“Well, you know how we treat friends of friends around here.”

Loki smiled. He was quite relieved to get this sorted out. He would have hated it if his friends and teammates had gotten a wrong impression about Frankie. Tony has always been friendly and helpful to him, even though Loki had thrown him out of the window of his former penthouse at the Stark Tower. Hell, the man had even forgiven Barnes for killing his parents. Tony Stark had a heart of gold and Loki kept being reminded of it constantly.

“Speaking of which,” Loki said, uncrossing his arms and tucking his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I would like to help my friend with her at-home recovery. While I could help her with most things, there are certain aspects I am not entitled to do.”

“I’ll get Pepper to send over a nurse on a daily basis for as long as needed.” Tony didn’t even have to consider the idea before he offered it.

“Take the costs off my paycheck.” Loki said immediately.

“Nonsense. This one’s on me. I’m just nice like that.” Tony grinned with a shrug.

“Where’s the catch?” Loki eyed him sceptically.

“No catch, buddy. Seriously.” He scratched his beard for a moment before turning to one of his screens. “FRIDAY, I need a copy of...” he turned to Loki, “what was her name you said?”

“Frankie.” Loki raised an eyebrow, wondering what Tony was doing.

“I need a copy of Frankie’s hospital bill.” Tony turned to the screens.

“Stark...” Loki started, but was cut off by Tony raising a hand to shush him and FRIDAY speaking.

“Boss, there’s no record of a Frankie in the hospital’s database.”

Tony turned to Loki again. “You sure her name’s Frankie?”

Loki rolled her eyes. “It’s Francesca Morelli. But why do you need to see her hospital bills?”

“FRI, you heard the name.” Tony said, eyes back on the screen.

Almost immediately, a hospital bill appeared on the screen and Tony checked out the numbers. “Damn, that’s a pretty big number for a bus driver to pay. FRIDAY, take care of that. Send the information to Pepper and have her handle it.” He turned to look at Loki as he continued instructing FRIDAY. “Miss Morelli had ended up at the hospital because of the Avengers, so the Avengers will be taking care of the costs. In fact, cover the costs of all injured on that day.”

“Right away, boss.”

“Stark,” Loki didn’t know how to feel about Tony’s generosity right now. Moreover, he didn’t know how Frankie would react to that. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I don’t usually go pay the hospital bills of the collateral damage we leave behind.” Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh wait, I do.” He grinned. “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to it. We break it, I fix it. It’s how it’s always been.”

“It shouldn’t be.” Loki sighed, pushing himself off the table. “Nonetheless, thank you. Also I’m sure Frankie would be sending her gratitude once she found out.” He smiled.

“If she gets mad or something, because some women do, tell her everyone’s bills have been taken care off. Takes the burden off the shoulders for those who do not take well to other people helping them.” He gave Loki a knowing look and Loki just rolled his eyes.

“A sound advice, but I do not think it would be required.” Loki nodded. “Say, could you hold Fury off for a while? Or do I need to do it?”

“Nah, I can take care of him. You go check on your friend. Tell her we look forward to meet her one day.”

“As if I’d let her anywhere near you.” Loki huffed, smirking.

He disappeared in a green smoke and after a quick stop at a nearby deli to pick up dinner, he was standing in front of Frankie’s apartment door. He figured he should teleport right outside the entrance, as to not startle her by showing up in the middle of her living room.

He gently knocked the door and waited for her to open. Once she did, he grinned at her and held out the bag that held the food. “I come with food.”

“Bribery with food will get you far.” She grinned, stepping aside to let him in.

“Good to know.” Loki’s face glowed with mischief. He went on and placed the food on the coffee table, then helped with getting the cutlery and some glasses for the drinks he brought along. They settled on the couch and started eating almost immediately.

After the last bite, Frankie sat back on the couch and rubbed her stomach. “That was delicious.” She gave her stomach a tap. “I’m so full I might explode at any minute.”

“Glad to hear that.” Loki had finished eating as well and was wiping his mouth with a napkin.

“Thanks for the food, by the way.” She smiled at him.

He smiled back, feeling good about himself. “It was my pleasure.”

After cleaning the table and putting the leftovers into the fridge, they sat back down on the couch. This time Loki opted to sit a bit closer to her, though he kept an acceptable distance. He simply felt drawn to her.

“So how did the talk with Tony Stark go?” She asked as she lifted her feet to put them on the coffee table.

“We worked it out. He simply needed to be reminded to be careful with his word choice.” Loki smiled fondly at her. “Also, as an apology for getting you accidentally injured, from all of us, actually, he’ll be sending a nurse over to help you on a daily basis for as long as you require while you’re healing.” Frankie just stared at him in disbelief. “There’s only so much I can help you with. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable, especially not in your own home.”

Frankie still remained silent as she stared at him. She was shocked. It was a pleasant shock, a very helpful gesture, but a shock nonetheless.

“There’s also another thing I believe you should know.” He lightly scratched the edge of his eyebrow as he spoke. “He’s taking care of the hospital bill.”

Frankie gasped. “Absolutely not! I mean, yeah, sure, money is always on the tight side, but I can manage. I can accept a nurse coming to help. But I’ll be damned if I would accept charity.” She sighed as she closed her eyes and inclined her head, her pride was getting the best of her. “I’m sorry, Loki. I know you and Tony Stark mean well. But,” she opened her eyes to look at him, “I cannot accept that.”

Loki tilted his head as he watched her struggle with the idea of financial aid. Pride can be destructive at times, but in this case it wasn’t needed, even though it did make him puff his chest inwardly. He liked this side of her. A lot. “Would it ease your worry if you knew he was paying the costs for everyone who had gotten injured that day?”

Frankie gave it a thought for a moment. If it wasn’t just for her, it meant it was either guilt or because it was the right thing to do. But then, he had arranged for a nurse to come take care of her. Did the others also get that?

“That does make it sound better.” She nodded. “But then I don’t require the nurse. That would be like taking advantage of his generosity.”

“I promise you, you’re not. Stark doesn’t know you, yet. He wouldn’t have agreed to it if he felt he was being taken advantage of. His life has been full of people deceiving him, taking advantage of him, so much that he had developed a sixth sense of sorts. He knows when and whom to offer his sincere help.” Loki reached his hand out over the couch and without thinking, Frankie slid hers onto his palm. “To him you’re a friend of a friend. The Avengers have a thing about that. They’ve got your back.”

“I wish I knew what I’ve done in my past or present life to have me end up here.” Frankie smiled, her eyes twinkling. “I don’t know how to thank you, Loki.”

“Just get better, that would be all I require.” He didn’t realize how he was tenderly running his thumb over the hand he was holding, like it was something he’d been doing for so many years as if it was a habit.

Chapter Text

A nurse started coming over every morning. She’d help Frankie with shower and getting dressed. She offered to come in the evenings as well, but Frankie told her getting out of clothes on her own was much easier than getting into them, so her help wasn’t required. But she was quite thankful for the morning visits.

On the first morning when the nurse was supposed to start, Frankie had wanted to put on some clothes before the nurse’s arrival, only to fail because of her shoulder giving her trouble when she tried to put a shirt on. After fumbling with a few shirts, trying to figure out which one was easiest to put on, she gave up and pulled her robe on until the nurse was there. Even putting on a button up shirt wasn’t a success. Apparently she hadn’t learned to button it with one hand. They should teach that at school, preferably during Home Economics class. Would have been quite useful now.

Thankfully the nurse was good spirited and only smiled when Frankie told her about her failed attempts. She promised to teach Frankie how to do it at some point. Shower was a whole other ordeal. While Frankie didn’t have any reservations about taking her clothes off, she wondered how they would manage it without getting the nurse all soaked, especially since her showerhead wasn’t the removable kind.

To her surprise, the nurse had a solution for that as well. She seemed quite prepared for that particular task. She had brought a foldable bathroom chair with her, a wash bowl and a pitcher. She set up the chair inside the bathtub and helped Frankie get in and sit. After filling the bowl with warm water, she started bathing Frankie. Pouring water over her head with the pitcher, taking her time in washing her hair before she moved on to her body. Frankie felt like she was being bathed in the middle ages. It was nice when there was someone doing it for you. Though she wouldn’t bother doing it herself.

“We could have just filled the tub with water, you know?” Frankie had told the nurse.

“Filling the tub with water every day could make your water bill run high, you know. This way is more economical.” The nurse smiled, pouring water over Frankie’s back. “Besides, sitting in the tub would mean putting some strain on your shoulder and ribs when getting in and out. A chair is more convenient.”

“You do have a point there.” Frankie chuckled.

The nurse would help Frankie get dressed for the day, make her some breakfast and then would leave. After breakfast, Frankie would turn on the TV and flip through the channels. The morning programs were always dull and meant for housewives. She didn’t have cable, but even without it, the channels she had were full of infomercials. She seriously wondered how many housewives got trapped into buying the overpriced and pointless products that were being advertised every morning.

The highlight of her days would be when Loki would come for a visit. He would always arrive around lunch time, bringing some food with him. He always knocked in a specific way, Frankie had noticed. Three gentle knocks, as if being careful not to wake anyone up, even though there was no one else living with her at the apartment.

Loki would stay for most of the day and Frankie did not mind it at all. In fact, she enjoyed his company. She liked listening to him when he talked. His Asgardian accent coming through whenever he was telling her about his home. His eyes would shine whenever he mentioned Asgard, a look of fondness almost instantly showing on his face. Frankie found herself quite often comparing the person who was at her home with the person being presented on TV. If she would have only relied on what the media had to say about him, Loki would have been a non-talkative, brooding, mysterious kind of a guy. Someone who would gladly kill you if you dared to look his way.

The person sitting with her was quite talkative. He was caring, gentle and quite open about various topics they would discuss. For the most part, Frankie had no clue what he was talking about, especially when it was about something intellectual. Like science, architecture or literature. In those cases she’d simply smile and nod. Sometimes asking questions, just to show him that she was paying attention to what he was talking about, as if she had any form of knowledge about the topic.

Loki knew what she was doing and he didn’t care. While she hadn’t blatantly told him she didn’t know what he was talking about, she hadn’t explicitly told him that she did either. But he could see the uncertainty in her eyes during certain topics, though she covered them masterfully. He thought it was extremely adorable and it somehow made his heart swell.

Loki would stay with her until after dinner. They’d either order in or they’d cook together. While neither of them was any good in the kitchen, cooking together seemed to deliver a tasty variety of dinner options.

The Avengers have been noticing Loki’s continuous absence from the compound. He used to keep himself to either his quarters or the common area, sitting in a corner either brooding or reading book. He wasn’t much of a talker, but even his silent presence was known. Nowadays he would disappear for the whole day, leaving around noon and coming back only in the evening. While most of them didn’t notice much, Natasha would catch him smiling to himself as he would pour himself a drink before either joining them for the evening or retiring to his quarters. He would, of course, mask his expression immediately the moment he caught himself smiling. Though she figured he hadn’t noticed that he’d been caught by someone else.

She wanted to get to the bottom of it. Needed to know where he was going every day. Everyone knew Loki wasn’t hostile to the universe as a whole anymore, but when prompted, his hostility would immediately make itself known. Natasha wondered if that was still the case. Ever since the incident with HYDRA, which resulted in quite a few accidental injuries, Loki has been behaving a bit differently. No one seemed to notice, but Natasha being Natasha, she had. You had to be a trained spy-assassin to notice the subtle changes in people.

Instead of asking FRIDAY to track Loki, she decided the best course of action was to confront him with her questions. One evening, while everyone else was going to bed, she decided to stay in the common room and wait for Loki to return from wherever he was.

As he stepped through his portal, the smile on his face disappeared when he saw her looking at him with a smirk on her own lips.

“What’s got you all smiling?” She asked, looking at him with calculating eyes.

“Is one not allowed to smile around here?” He said, his clothes shimmering from the button up shirt and jeans he was wearing to a sweater and sweatpants he liked to wear in the evenings. He walked over to the bar and started pouring himself a drink.

“I didn’t say that.” She nodded when Loki raised a glass and silently asked her if she’d like one as well. “You’ve been awfully absent from the compound lately. Don’t think we haven’t noticed.”

“Are you telling me the group of daft individuals could notice things that are beyond their own noses? Well, Agent Romanoff, colour me impressed.” He smirked, handing Natasha her glass before taking a seat across from her.

“Thanks.” She said, taking the glass from him. “You know what I mean, Loki. Where are you disappearing to every day?”

“Is this an interrogation, Agent Romanoff?” Loki took a sip of his drink, sitting back and crossing his legs at the knee.

“More like concern for the wellbeing of whomever you’re probably holding hostage.” She shrugged, her piercing gaze followed the movement of each and every facial muscle he had.

Loki frowned at her words. “I’m not holding anyone hostage, Widow.” He voice was dark with resentment. “Do not try to accuse me of things you know nothing about.”

“Then why not tell me where you disappear to every day?”

“Can’t I just have something that’s purely for myself? Do I have to report to the Avengers on every step I make now?”

“Of course you can.” Natasha smiled. “And you don’t have to report everything to us. I just want to know where you’re going every day, since you haven’t been the going out type for the past couple of years you’ve been living here.” She shrugged. “So I figured I’d ask you, instead of having FRIDAY track your whereabouts. That should count for something, right?”

“Well, thank you for being so considerate.” Loki rolled his eyes, raising the glass to his lips once more.

“So?”

“So?”

“Where do you go to?”

“It’s safe to assume you’re not going to drop the subject until I tell you.” Loki eyed her as she shrugged. Stark already knew about Frankie and it appeared he hadn’t told anyone, otherwise the Widow wouldn’t be asking him about his whereabouts right now. With a sigh, he averted his gaze to look at the glass in his hand. “I’ve made a friend. I visit them every day to help with their daily chores.”

“Why do they require help?” Natasha’s face was neutral, not betraying the curiosity that had risen within her.

“They’ve sustained an injury a while ago. I decided to help while they recover.” Loki shrugged, looking at Natasha. “Does that quench your thirst for information, Agent Romanoff?”

“Not completely, but it’s a start.” Natasha smiled in a friendly manner. This was indeed a start. Loki didn’t really care for having contacts outside of the team. Hell, while they were friends, he rarely acted like it. So to hear him say he’d made a friend and was helping them, it was quite something. She was sure the team and especially Steve, would flip. In a good way, of course. They’d want to know who that person was. Whether they were a civilian or not. If they were a decent human being, she was sure everyone would take them under their wing. It was an unspoken agreement among them, caring for friends of friends.

“Is this one of your tests, Widow?” Loki leaned forward in his seat, eyes boring on Natasha, waiting for an answer he wouldn’t like so he would have an excuse to lash out.

“It’s simply curiosity.” She shrugged.

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

“Well, good thing I’m not a cat, then.” She grinned.

“Indeed.” Loki smirked, leaning back in his seat once more.

“Why are you keeping it a secret?”

“I’m not.”

“Then why haven’t you told anyone about this friend of yours.” Natasha raised an eyebrow.

“No one asked.” Loki shrugged, smirking. “Until now, that is.”

He finished his drink and stood up. For him, the conversation was over. He knew the Widow had more questions up her sleeve, but he wasn’t in the mood to answer them anymore. He had nothing to hide, he knew Frankie wasn’t in danger from the Avengers. If anything, they would actually be concerned for her, because she was associating with him. Loki didn’t like that one bit, but he was tired of defending himself and his motives at every step, so he had given up on that long ago, which resulted in making him the secluded person who wouldn’t socialize with the others unless necessary.

“I’ll be retiring now.” He simply announced and took his glass to the kitchen sink before he went to his quarters.

-*-*-*-*-*-

“What’s wrong?” Frankie asked the moment she opened the door for Loki the next day he came for a visit. He had a stern look on his face, eyebrows knitted in the middle and jaws clenched. His knuckles almost chalk white around the bag of lunch he was holding.

He simply shook his head and Frankie decided to wait with further questioning until later. She had never seen him like this before and she was worried. “Come on in.” She stepped aside as he walked in. He set the food on the table and sat down. She came to sit beside him, put her hand on his shoulder, which made him turn to look at her.

His gaze softened immediately when he looked at her, like she radiated calming magic of some sort, even though he knew she was only human. “I apologize for causing you worry. I usually manage to conceal my anger a bit better.” He gave her a tentative smile.

“Loki, we’re friends, you don’t have to hide anything from me.” She smiled back at him, feeling there was something really wrong for him to be acting like this. “If you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll understand. But know that I’m there for you whenever you need an ear or even a shoulder.” She gently rubbed his shoulder for a moment before bringing her hand back to her lap. She had meant what she said, if he needed someone to talk to about whatever was bugging him, or even a shoulder to cry on, she’d be there for him. Though she wondered if Asgardians cried at all. From what she had learned about his culture so far, they were warriors. Some sort of a macho race that basked in battles and praised achievements in said battles. Though Loki didn’t seem like the completely macho type. Sure, he was quite masculine, a warrior, but he also had a vulnerable side. She’d seen that whenever he spoke of his childhood or his mother. The fondness she saw in his eyes betrayed the masks he tried to put on to appear heartless.

Frankie was convinced he had a heart of gold beneath that stoic and composed exterior. If there wasn’t, why would he even care to visit her that often, if at all? Why would he even consider becoming her friend?

Loki had a heart of gold and no one would be able to convince her otherwise.

“The Widow was asking questions yesterday. About where I disappear to on a daily basis” He finally said, looking down into his lap. “When she starts putting her nose into something, she doesn’t back off until she has all the answers.”

“So I gather you haven’t told your team about coming here every day.” It was a statement and Loki shook his head. “How come?” Something at the back of her mind tried to plant a seed of doubt within her, but she refused to give voice to it.

“The Avengers, they share everything. Living space, work space, friends, acquaintances. It’s a miracle they haven’t started sharing significant others at this point.” He chuckled, then looked at her with a fond smile on his face. “When I was asked the same question, I told the Widow it was because nobody had asked. Your friendship is no secret, Frankie. I cherish it immensely and I would want the world to know that you’re my friend.” He took her hand in his and squeezed it gently. “I will introduce you to the team at some point, but for the time being I merely wanted to have something that was solely my own. After all, I do not like to share.” He smiled at her.

Frankie smiled back, quite relieved she hadn’t given in to the thoughts poking at her mind. “Well, you’re in luck, I don’t like to share either.”

Loki fought hard against the temptation to gather her face into his palms and kiss her. He really wanted to be more than just a friend. The thought sent a wave of warmth through his whole being and he had to avert his gaze to keep those thoughts at bay. He turned to the food on the table before letting go of her hand. “We should probably eat before this gets cold.” He said, his voice sounding a bit hoarse to his ears.

“Let me grab some drinks and glasses.” Frankie was about to get up, but he lay his hand on her thigh, making her heart leap to her throat at how warm and gentle it felt.

“I’ll get them.” He got up and went into the kitchen. By now he knew where she had everything and he didn’t need to ask where something was. It kind of felt like he was living there. The only place he hadn’t set foot in was her bedroom. To him, that was off limits. It was private. Until such a time when she would invite him in, he would stay out of it. Even at moments when she would go into the room to grab something, Loki would remain standing at the door, leaning against the doorframe until she would join him back into the small living room.

He sometimes wondered how she can manage living in such a small space. The palace in Asgard was massive. So were all rooms, whether living spaces or not. He knew the common folk had smaller houses, but even those were massive compared to the small apartment Frankie lived in. His own bedroom at the compound was probably twice as big as her whole apartment.

Maybe that was something to talk about. He was curious to know more about her and he had been talking a lot about his home in the past weeks, while he knew little about her. Since when did Loki Odinson freely give information without receiving any in return? If she were not of this realm, he would have been sure she had put him under a spell. As he brought the drinks and glasses, he sat down next to her and started unpacking the food. He figured it was her turn to tell him stories over lunch and to his relief, she wasn’t against the idea.

Maybe he was under a different kind of spell. One that didn’t require magic to be cast.

Chapter Text

For the first time in weeks, Loki didn’t come for a visit. He had informed Frankie over the phone he was going on an unexpected mission and that he would be absent for two days. While he had no desire to leave her side while she still had the slinger on, he had no other choice but to go assist the Avengers in taking down another HYDRA base somewhere at the Canadian border.

Frankie had assured him she would be fine for two days. In fact, her collarbone and ribs were healing nicely and she was in lesser pain than before. That still didn’t make Loki feel any better about leaving her, so he told her he would send someone to come and check on her.

“You just make sure not to get hurt, okay? I’ll be fine. I promise.” She had told him over the phone.

“I have an idea for when I return.” He told her. “I’ll tell you about it when I return.”

She could feel the smile on the other line when he spoke, making her smile as well. “Looking forward to it. Be safe, Loki.” Whatever idea he had in mind didn’t matter to het at the moment. Her priority was his safe return.

“I will.” He replied before Stark had called for him to hurry up. “I have to go now.”

“I’ll wait for you.”

The two days turned into a week. Frankie hadn’t heard from Loki at all. The nurse that came to assist her in the mornings had claimed she did not have any information about him or the Avengers, but Frankie had a feeling she was hiding something from her. Maybe she was sworn to secrecy or something, what with being a Stark employee and all.

She had tried calling Loki’s cell, but it didn’t go through. It seemed that he had turned the device off, which was understandable. If he was still on the mission, the phone could act as a tracking device and it might put him in danger. But God damn it all to hell, she was worried about him. She couldn’t help but wonder if she had scared him off by telling him about herself the other day. She didn’t have a tragic background or something. Though she did lack education. Maybe Loki realized he’d rather surround himself with more intelligent people?

But that didn’t sound right. She felt like slapping herself the moment the thought crossed her mind. If that was the case, Loki wouldn’t have called to tell her he was going on a mission. He would have simply ghosted her.

And now Frankie was close to panicking while another thought crossed her mind. What if he had gotten injured during the mission? What if something happened to him?

The doorbell ringing startled her. She clutched at her chest for a moment as she tried to collect herself. Taking a deep breath, she got up and went to answer the door.

She froze on the spot when she saw a familiar face at the door. The red, braided hair. The full pouty lips. The strikingly green eyes that could rival Loki’s own with their colour. Natasha Romanoff, THE Black Widow, was standing at her doorstep and Frankie couldn’t move a muscle.

“Don’t forget to breathe.” Natasha said softly, a little smile tugging the corner of her lips.

“Y-yes... breathe...” Frankie replied, still frozen in shock.

Natasha waited until Frankie started blinking. She could see the aftermath of shock slowly disappearing from her face, so she smiled.

Frankie took in a deep breath and exhaled. “I’m sorry... I didn’t... I mean... wow... I love you... I mean... sorry! Shit... oh crap, I cursed in front of the Black Widow. Crap, I did it again! Oh my God I can’t stop cursing!” She covered her face with both palms to hide her blush and to keep her mouth shut before she could start babbling more nonsense.

Natasha chuckled softly, grinning at the star-struck woman before her. Her reaction was both amusing and endearing. So this is what the guys felt when they met a fan. Not a bad feeling. She could definitely get used to it.

“I was wondering if we could talk for a moment?” Natasha asked, her hands clasped in front of her.

“Oh, yeah, sure! Please, come in.” Frankie stepped aside to allow Natasha to get in.

Natasha looked around as she stepped into the living room. It was small, almost crammed, but cosy. It seemed to only house necessities. No unnecessary decorations or bookshelves full of books even the owner hadn’t read. There was only one little shelf with just a few books. A TV that was at least 10 years old. A DVD player. Who used a DVD player nowadays? She was subconsciously assessing the place, while her gaze fell on the woman living there.

“Judging from your reaction, I guess I don’t have to introduce myself.” Natasha smiled in a friendly manner.

Frankie felt blood rush to her cheeks as she blushed. “No, I already know your name, Miss Romanoff.” She smiled shyly.

“Please, call me Natasha, or Nat. Whichever suits you.”

“Natasha.” Frankie said, her smile growing. Her favorite hero was standing in her own living room and she was allowed to call her by her first name! By her nickname, even! Frankie was internally squealing.

“Loki never told me your name, though.”

“Let me guess, because nobody asked?”

Natasha grinned. “Exactly.”

“I’m Frankie.”

“Nice to finally meet you, Frankie.”

“Likewise.” Frankie grinned, but then her grin disappeared as she realized the Black Widow wouldn’t show up at her place without a reason. “Is everything okay? I mean, you probably have more important things to do than coming all the way to this side of the city to see me. Is Loki alright?”

Natasha pursed her lips and took a deep breath. “That’s why I needed to talk to you.”

“Please, take a seat.” Frankie said, motioning to the couch. “Drinks?”

Natasha sat down and turned to face Frankie. “None for me, thanks. I don’t have much time, anyway.”

“Okay.” Frankie was getting nervous as she sat down.

“Has Loki told you where he’s been this past week?”

“Only that he was going on a mission at the Canadian border that was supposed to take two days. Haven’t heard from him since.” Frankie looked at Natasha, her heart beating frantically against her chest. Was Loki hurt or did he send Natasha to tell her on his behalf that he wouldn’t be coming to see her anymore?

“Well, we were expecting it to last two days. Unfortunately, it took longer. Basically four days. The mission was successful, thanks to Loki’s efforts, but as a result he got badly injured.”

Frankie gasped and couldn’t help the tears filling her eyes. “Where is he? Can I see him? How bad is it? Is he awake? Can it be treated?”

Natasha raised both hands to stop Frankie from going into panic. It was nice to see someone other than Thor caring so much about Loki. It was a nice change of pace.

“He’s fine now. We managed to get him to med bay in time. Let me tell you, he’s a horrible patient. The doctors had a hard time trying to get him to remain still while they were stitching him up. They had to use a tranquilizer to sedate him, since regular sedatives do not work on Asgardians, it seemed.” She shrugged.

“Can I see him?” None of what Natasha had just told her had registered. All Frankie could think about was seeing Loki. He was injured and she needed to be at his side, the same way he was at hers.

“That’s why I came here. I figured you’d want to see him. He wouldn’t talk to any of us. He’s being extremely grumpy since he woke up yesterday. More than usual.” She chuckled.

“Loki? Grumpy?” Frankie blinked. He’s never been grumpy around her, so that was news.

“Oh you have no idea. He’d put vampires to shame with his brooding abilities.” Natasha grinned.

“I... honestly can’t imagine him like that.” Frankie was quite surprised, to say the least.

“You mean, he doesn’t do the misunderstood dark prince thing when he’s with you?” Natasha raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

Frankie shook her head. “He’s a normal guy with a lot of interesting stories to tell. Sure, he’s reserved, respectful and sometimes even shy, but never a misunderstood dark prince as you called him.”

“Well, that’s new.” The boys will have a blast teasing Loki about this. She wondered what he was playing at. “Anyway, do you need to get ready? We can go right away.”

“Oh yeah, no I’m ready. Just need my bag.”

She quickly went into the bedroom and grabbed her bag, Natasha was already on her feet and they both left the apartment.

Upon arrival, they were greeted by Steve who was coming back from a run. As they stepped out of the car, Frankie jumped at how the car suddenly drove off on its own. “What the...”

“Stark’s AI controls everything around here.” Natasha said, smiling, then she turned to Steve. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Steve came to a halt in front of them, trying to catch his breath.

“This is Frankie.” Natasha said and turned to Frankie. “Frankie, this is Steve.”

Frankie just stared at him, quite shocked at how handsome the man was in real life. “Cameras don’t do you justice.” She blurted out before she could stop herself. She quickly slapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide in shock and embarrassment at her forwardness.

Steve simply chuckled and shrugged. “Thanks, I guess. Nice to finally meet you, Frankie. You look quite different than the time I saw you at the hospital.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t have recognized me on that day either.” She smiled, tucking her hand into her pocket.

“How’s recovery treating you?”

“So far so good. Only a couple more weeks and I can take the slinger off.” She smiled and he nodded.

“Let’s go in, then. I have a feeling Mr. Darkness has scared off even more nurses.” Natasha said and they all headed inside.

“Scared off nurses?” Frankie asked. It felt like they were talking about a completely different person and not the Loki that she knew.

“Whatever they hit him with,” Steve spoke, “we think it contained some sort of a chemical that’s affecting him. We ruled out magic, since HYDRA doesn’t do magic. Though we’re not 100% sure.”

“They poisoned him?” Frankie’s voice was low and fear crept inside her mind. Will Loki be alright?

“No, not poison. Let’s say it’s comparable to having a wound infected and you get a fever so high you start hallucinating.” Natasha explained.

“Does he have a fever?” Frankie could do fever. Fever was easy to deal with. Cold, wet towel over the forehead and behind the neck. Change every few minutes. No biggie. He’d be well before dawn.

“He didn’t when I came to get you. He’s being monitored on the clock. So far his vitals are normal, only his behaviour has changed.” Natasha said.

“Okay...” Frankie was silent the remainder of the way, that is, until they reached med bay and they heard yelling.

“Okay, someone’s gone and pissed him off.” Steve said. “You think chocolate ice cream would help?” He looked at Natasha, who shrugged.

“Chocolate ice cream is good when you want to bribe him.” Frankie said and both Avengers gave each other knowing looks. “I need to see him.”

“I would rather you wait until he calmed down.” Steve said. “Could be dangerous if you went in right now.”

“Not for me it’s not.” She looked at him with a smile on her face, though both Steve and Natasha could see she was concerned. They assumed she was concerned for herself, whereas in reality, Frankie was concerned about Loki’s wellbeing.

Being injured, under the influence of some chemical and angry? Never a good combination. When Natasha pointed her to the room, Frankie thanked her and stood in front of the door. She waited until Loki stopped yelling for a moment before she knocked three times, the same way he knocked on her door.

When there was no more yelling, the turned the doorknob and opened the door, closing her eyes as she walked in. Steve and Natasha just stared at each other, wondering what the hell had just happened there.

Frankie kept her eyes closed as she gently shut the door behind her.

“Leave.” Loki said. She could hear him breathing heavily, soft groans escaping his throat as he tried shifting his position in bed. She wasn’t sure he could see her, because she was confident for some reason that he wouldn’t just ask her to leave with that cold tone he had used. Not her Loki. Never her Loki.

“Are you dressed?” She simply asked, feigning ignorance to his request.

Loki gasped and Frankie made a victory dance in her head. So he couldn’t see it was her inside the room and the order to leave was meant to anyone else.

“I am.” He replied, his voice softer than earlier, but the irritation was still there.

She opened her eyes and saw that the curtains were pulled around his bed. “Did you pull the curtains closed?”

“Told the nurse to do it. I’m not an object to be ogled at by anyone who passes by.”

Okay, this definitely did not sound like the Loki she had gotten to know for the past few weeks. Frankie clenched her jaws and dropped her bag to the floor before walking further into the room and stopping right at the curtains surrounding Loki’s bed.

“May I come in?” She asked softly.

There was silence for a moment, a bit of shifting, then a grunt from Loki’s side. “Yes.” He finally said.

Frankie pulled the curtain just a tiny bit aside before she passed through, making sure to pull it closed again behind her. If he didn’t want anyone else seeing him, she wasn’t going to change that for the time being.

She fought the urge to gasp upon seeing him. His face and body was covered in bruises and his torso was wrapped in bandages. There was some blood seeping through and it made her worry even more.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Really? I didn’t notice.” He snapped and rolled his eyes and Frankie was taken aback by the retort. He’s never talked to her like that before. She kept reminding herself it was the chemical doing that to him. He was under the influence and wasn’t being himself.

“You’re brave to come in here alone. Are the Avengers waiting outside for the moment you scream to come and save you?”

Frankie frowned at him. “Why would I need saving from you?” She asked and stepped closer to the bed, standing at an arm’s reach from him. “Do you think I need saving from you?”

“Everyone thinks that.”

“That’s not what I asked. Do you think I need saving from you?” She glared at him. Maybe she was being an idiot right now by confronting him, but she didn’t care. Her friend was in distress and she’ll be damned if she didn’t try to help him through it.

Without waiting for an answer, she reached out and grabbed his hand. Loki gasped at the touch, his eyes locking with her and she could immediately see the change behind the jade green orbs staring into hers.

When his facial expression softened, she knew he was back, even if it wouldn’t last long. “Hey there.”

“Frankie... I’m sorry...” his eyes were glazing over and Frankie shook her head.

“It’s okay, whatever chemical you’ve been hit with, it’s doing all that. I know you don’t mean it.” She smiled.

Loki’s expression changed once more back to neutral and he pulled his hand away. “You should leave.” He said, looking away from her.

“Not gonna happen, buddy. I’m here to stay.”

“Had I not been confined to this atrocious bed, I would have thrown you out myself.” He told her, venom dipping in his speech.

Frankie felt her heart clench. Hearing him talk to her like that hurt. A lot. But she wasn’t one to give up. She wouldn’t have survived being a bus driver to a bunch of teenagers if she couldn’t handle people snapping at her at any given moment.

“Well, good thing you’re confined to bed, then.” She shrugged and looked around for a chair. “What, no chairs around? Only outside the curtains?”

Loki simply glared at her.

“Oh well, you’ll have to deal with me taking up your space.” She said and went to sit on the edge of the bed, failing miserably at getting up to sit with only one hand free to support her. “Damn it. I knew being short would come and bite me in the ass one day.” She huffed, talking to herself.

Loki didn’t say anything. He simply stared at her with a raised eyebrow. What the hell was she on about?

Frankie was not going to give up. She was going to get on that bed even if it took her all day.

After several failed attempts, she decided to take a different approach. She leaned over the bed, her hair brushing against Loki’s chest, which made him gasp softly. She lifted herself up, laying sideways on the edge and once she felt secure enough, she pushed herself up from his side into a sitting position. “Yes!” She pumped her fist into the air in triumph and looked at Loki with a wide, toothy grin adorning her face.

“Pathetic.” He huffed, averting his gaze to look to the side.

“Takes one to know one.” She challenged him.

Loki’s eyes snapped back at her, his nostrils flaring as he glared into her eyes. “How dare you speak to me in such way, mortal?!” Loki raised his voice, trying to intimidate her, but she remained seated still.

“You’re not being yourself.” She mumbled, looking into her lap. While she didn’t move, she was terrified on the inside. Loki could simply kick her off the bed, though she was grateful he hadn’t done it so far. It was a very bold move of her to just get up and sit on the bed, but it had to be done and she wasn’t going to grab a chair.

“Really now?” Loki scoffed. “And who might I be? Do tell.”

The sarcasm didn’t go unnoticed. Loki had told her about this. When he was feeling angry, he’d revert to sarcasm and petty insults. He’d rarely regret them, but he’d cringe later at how uncreative he got when angry. He handled anger better in a physical fight, going for brutal and instant kill. She was grateful he hadn’t attacked her, yet. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that. She wouldn’t want to be killed by her only friend.

Loki had told her in the past what usually calmed him. His mother’s singing voice. He had told her she’d take him to his room, sit at his side with his head resting against her chest. She would start singing to him while running her hand through his hair.

His mother was long gone now. But the memory remained. Frankie was determined to use that memory to help calm Loki’s anger down. But would it help when the cause of it was a chemical substance? It was definitely worth a try.

She hopped off the bed and went to his other side. “Move over.” She said softly.

“Why.”

“I want to sit there.”

“No.”

“Loki, move over, please.”

“Leave.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“Don’t make me repeat myself.” She noticed his irritation rising.

“Move over, Loki. I need to sit.”

“You can sit outside.”

“Loki.”

“LEAVE!” He yelled into her face. Frankie was startled at the intensity of his anger that came pouring out from that one word.

Any other time she would have been running out of the room crying. But right now? She was determined to be at Loki’s side and let the chemical flush its way out of his system.

“No.” She replied, clenching her jaws and staring at him. She could feel her insides trembling.

He brought his hand to her neck, wrapping her fingers around it. “I could kill you right now.”

“True.”

“It will only take me a moment. The human body is fragile and no match for Asgardian strength.”

“Also true.” She replied. While she knew he could do it even in the state he was in, she also had a feeling that he wouldn’t. “But you wouldn’t.” She blurted out.

“Why not?” He smirked.

“Because you’re weak right now.” She declared with a smirk, even though his grip tightened around her neck. Instead of resisting him, she simply poked at the injury at his side. Loki instantly let go of her, wincing at the pain and closed his eyes for a moment. “Now move, please.” She still spoke softly.

Loki only moved an inch or so, purely out of spite. There was still a lot of space left on his other side. Frankie rolled her eyes and tried climbing the bed. After a few tries, she finally managed. Why did they have to prop his bed so high? Or did he do it himself just to be a pain in the ass?

She settled at his side and put her arm around his shoulders. Loki tried to move away, but she was persistent. “Stop fidgeting, you’re bleeding as it is and you’re gonna make it worse, damn it!”

Loki looked away from her, making a huffing sound like a child who was being denied extra play time. Frankie simply sighed and made herself comfortable at his side.

She then started singing, her voice soft and melodious. She opted for a calm and soothing song she remembered from her childhood.

“What are you doing?” Loki interrupted her.

“You’re no fun to talk to today, so I’m entertaining myself.” She told him and continued singing in a hushed tone.

By the time she finished the first verse, Loki leaned back against the propped pillows and her arm. Frankie didn’t move and closed her eyes as she continued singing softly. Soon she felt him move closer, carefully shifting in his spot until he lay his head over her chest. While he was putting some pressure over her broken ribs, she didn’t mind it at all. The pain was minimal and the fracture had almost healed anyway. She idly started stroking his hair as she continued singing.

Loki closed his eyes as he listened to her voice. His agitated nerves slowly calmed down until he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

It was late in the evening when Loki opened his eyes. The room was dark, illuminated with only the subtle moon light from outside. The silence in the room was deafening, but his ear caught the sound of a heartbeat. The rhythm calm and steady, the surface his head was resting on was warm and soft. His arm was wrapped around something... or rather, someone.

Slowly, his sleepy mind cleared up and he remembered the happenings of the day. He was angry, furious. Then Frankie came for a visit, he yelled at her, demanded her to leave. That particular part sent a jolt of guilt through his whole being. She didn’t deserve to be at the other end of his wrath. He cared for her. He liked her, even. He would never be angry at her, but he wasn’t in control of himself and he hated that the most.

But she had stayed despite that. She had shown how stubborn she could be, which was something he could definitely admire in a person. Loki closed his eyes again, not wanting to move just yet. She hadn’t seem to notice he had awakened. From the steady heartbeat that played in his ear, he knew she was asleep. He could lay there forever. Her body heat was pleasant. She felt pleasant. She smelled pleasant.

He could see himself waking up like this every day for the rest of his life.

Frankie took in a deep breath and sighed, slowly opening her eyes. She looked around the dark room, then down to the man still having his head against her chest. She smiled idly, thinking him asleep. She gently ran her hand through his hair, being careful not to wake him. His injury had taken a toll on him, she thought. She’d let him sleep like that for as long as he needed. It was the least she could do for her friend.

It felt good, having him asleep like that. Resting within her embrace with his head over her chest. She wondered how it would feel if the roles were reversed. If she could lay next to him with her head over his chest. His arms around her and holding her tight against him.

Loki could hear the heartbeat become faster. He felt the light touch through his hair, but he didn’t move. He feared that if he did, she’d stop stroking his hair.

Then, without thinking, Frankie leaned her head down and placed a soft kiss over Loki’s head.

The body laying against her stiffened, which caused Frankie to freeze. He wasn’t supposed to feel that. He wasn’t supposed to be awake.

Loki felt his heart was about to burst outside his ribcage when he felt the kiss over his head. As simple and innocent as it was, it didn’t stop the heat from rising within his body. When the hand stroking his hair stopped moving, Loki sighed. Frankie was aware he was awake.

He moved slowly, not wanting to lose contact with her. It felt good. She felt good. He pushed his legs to prop himself to a comfortable sitting position, but remained leaning against her. This time he leaned his head against her shoulder and closed his eyes.

“Comfortable there?” Frankie asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

“Very much so.” He replied, a little smile tugging at his lips.

“Well, my arm fell asleep.” She chuckled. “I’ll just move it a bit. Let me know if it’s uncomfortable for you.” She said in a hushed tone, as if talking louder might disturb someone in a room where only the two of them were staying in. She moved her arm from his shoulder down to wrap around his waist. She could feel the blood flow again. “How’s this?” She asked.

“Perfect.” Loki sighed. His arm was still laying across her waist. “What of my arm?”

“What about it?”

“Is it alright?” He moved his thumb idly against her waist, the fabric of her shirt being the only barrier in between.

“Perfect.” She replied, leaning her head to rest her cheek against his head. “Just perfect.” She sighed. She wished her other arm was free, so she could put it over his own, but it was trapped in the slinger of doom. Only a couple of weeks and she’ll be able to take it off.

“Just perfect.” Loki repeated in a whisper, closing his eyes again and letting sleep consume him once more.

-*-*-*-*-*-

The next time he woke up, the sun was shining outside and it seemed that he had moved in his sleep. Frankie’s head was leaning against his shoulder and he had his arms around her. She was even under the covers, her body pressed against his side.

He smiled as he brought his hand to her cheek, gently running his thumb over the warm skin. He softly traced the lines of the healing wounds over her jawline, which were caused by her accident. They were all healed and the pink lines remaining showed signs of fading. He was glad there would be no visible scars to remind her of that atrocious day.

Frankie slowly opened her eyes, taking a deep breath and yawning. She pressed herself further against the warmth that was radiating from Loki, while she slowly tried blinking the sleepiness away.

Loki pressed his lips tightly together as he felt the stinging pain at his side when Frankie pressed onto him. He tried to be quiet about it, as to not alert her. But the sharp intake of breath made her quickly sit up, panic evident in her eyes.

“Oh shit, Loki, sorry! I’m so sorry! Did I hurt you?” She looked at him for a moment before she turned her gaze down to the bandages around his waist. The sleep was promptly gone from her head and she was worrying she had bust the stitches open. For weeks Loki had been at her side and he didn’t let her move a finger, lest she does something to irritate her fractured bones. She spends one evening with him and she manages to cause him pain. Brilliant!

“I’m fine, Frankie. It was just an unexpected movement.” He smiled, trying to ease the worry off her face.

“I should call someone to have a look.” She started looking around the bed for the call button.

“It would hurt more if you called someone right now.” Loki said, sheepishly raising an eyebrow. “I’d rather have you back where you were a moment ago.”

“But...”

“I promise you, I’m fine. I heal fast.” He figured it would be a bold move, but he ran his hand through her hair, tucking a strand behind her ear. “Come back?”

Frankie could feel the blush creeping up to her cheeks, but she nodded. Then, she carefully lay back down at his side, making sure she didn’t put any pressure against him, but to her surprise, Loki pulled her close and held her within his arms, gently kissing the top of her head. “Much better.” He murmured.

“You sure this is okay?” She asked, laying her hand over his thigh, palm up.

“Yes.” He replied, putting his hand over hers and running his thumb over her wrist.

Neither of them spoke for a long moment. The only sound in the room being that of the air conditioning and the machines monitoring Loki’s vitals.

After a while, Frankie turned her head slightly to look at him. “Seeing as you’re not yelling at me to leave or threatening to choke me, is it safe to say whatever you were exposed to has left your system?”

Loki wished the ground would open and swallow him whole. He felt embarrassed and guilty about how he treated her the night before. “It does indeed feel like it,” he nodded, “and I’m truly sorry about my behaviour last night. I was not in control of it.” He nuzzled her head without giving it a thought, but then immediately stopped. “I’m sorry. I’m being a bit too forward.”

“I... like it...” Frankie mumbled with some hesitance in her voice. Was she diving into something way over her league? She couldn’t tell. But being so close to Loki didn’t feel foreign. It was new, that’s for sure. But it also felt familiar. It reminded her how much she missed being held by someone this way. It had been a while since her last steady relationship and even though she was in her late teens back then, she still remembered it fondly. She only had to break it off because her boyfriend had to go to college at the other side of the country and neither of them was fond of long distance relationships.

Loki resumed nuzzling her head, while at the same time his fingers drew random circles inside her palm. Frankie closed her eyes and sighed, enjoying the feeling he provided her with. She absentmindedly moved her face to the side and their lips accidentally brushed against each other.

Loki stopped drawing invisible circles into her palm and opened his eyes. She had her eyes opened as well and they stared at each other in total silence. Two hearts were beating frantically against their respective ribcages. Frankie thought if she didn’t have a bandage around her chest, her heart would have burst a hole through her chest at that very moment.

Loki lightly licked his lips as his eyes went down to focus on Frankie’s lips. He felt the hair at the back of his neck stand as he lost his will to fight against the temptation. He looked into her eyes again, their faces so close, their noses were almost touching. Loki slowly leaned in, closing his eyes as he gently pressed his lips against hers. Frankie’s eyes closed on their own as she sighed, giving in to the kiss and letting the feelings it evoked to consume her.

Loki pulled her closer with the arm that was around her, and brought his other hand to her cheek as he gently kissed her.

When they pulled apart, both sighed and smiled at each other. Frankie buried her face against his chest, not sure whether she was hiding or seeking closeness. Loki wrapped both arms around her and held her close, kissing the top of her head.

“That was nice.” He spoke in a hushed tone.

“It was.” She agreed.

It was left unspoken, but they both knew they wanted more of that. Each knew they weren’t opposed to more. Whenever and however that would happen. But for the time being, a gentle kiss was more than enough to put a start to a flame that burnt inside the both of them.

A few floors above them, Natasha Romanoff smirked as she watched the surveillance of Loki’s room. “FRIDAY, delete the footage from the last hour.” She said, standing up. “Some things need to remain between two people only.” She turned the monitor off before leaving the room.

“Of course, Agent Romanoff.” FRIDAY replied before executing the request.