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You felt the tickle start in your throat in the middle of the night. You winced as you drank your water, hoping it was just dry in your room. But by the time you woke up, the body aches and fever had kicked in. You were definitely sick.
You sat up, rubbing your aching head as you looked at the time. You had also slept through your alarm. Groaning, you picked up your cell and saw that you had a flurry of messages from the others wondering where you were. You had missed training and team meeting, which wasn’t like you.
You texted back Wanda first, who judging from her messages, was about to burst into your room at any moment now if you didn’t answer her.
You sniffled as you typed a response to her, I woke up sick. I don’t think I’ll be leaving my room today.
It was only seconds later that Wanda had responded; she was clearly worried. A cold? Bucky had a nasty one last week. You must have got it from him…. What are you going to do about your date tonight?!
“oh shit,” you cursed out loud, you were so exhausted that you completely forgot that you had plans with Loki tonight. To your immense surprise, he had asked you out the other night. You were excited, it had been months of back and forth teasing and flirting until finally Loki had shyly (which wasn’t like him at all) asked you to have dinner with him.
You felt your heart sink, what were the chances that Loki was going to believe that you were actually sick and not just ditching him? You hummed, typing out another response to Wanda. I can’t go obviously, I’m a mess, but I just hope he doesn’t think I’m flaking out on him.
Yeah, he’s going to be crushed, you should call him so that he knows that you’re sick. Wanda responded.
Ugh. This is the worst. He finally asked me out and now he’s probably going to think I’m bailing on him. You sent, feeling your heart sink. You knew that Loki was sensitive when it came to rejection. You didn’t want him jumping to conclusions and thinking that you were lying about the reason that you’re cancelling, so you decided to call him, despite your throat being on fire.
You found Loki in your contacts, pressing the call button, and waited for him to answer. To your surprise, he didn’t pick up. Instead, it went to voicemail. “Hey Loki,” you began, cutting off in a fit of coughing. “it’s me, I don’t think I can make our date tonight, I woke up pretty sick. Call me back when you can or text me. I’m really sorry.” You apologized, ending the call before laying back down.
You hoped that he wouldn’t take your cancelling to heart, you had been wanting to go out with him for months but weren’t sure if he’d even be interested. When he finally asked you out, you were over the moon so you were hoping that this wouldn’t ruin your chances.
***
Loki felt his heart sink when he listened to your voicemail. He had been in the shower and hadn’t heard the phone ring. Typically, you never called him, usually it was texting. You sounded rough on the phone, and he felt uneasy that something was wrong with you. Without thinking, he threw on some casual clothes and headed out of his room and down the hall to yours. He knocked gently, and when he heard you call out to come in, he carefully opened the door, calling out to you.
You greeted him by sitting up, seeming surprised that he had come to see you. Loki made his way over to you, taking in your appearance. Your hair was disheveled, your nose was bright red, and your eyes appeared glazed over. You were clearly suffering from illness.
“You’re unwell.” he said with concern, reaching out to feel your forehead.
You leaned away from him, “Don’t, I don’t want to get you sick.”
“This might sound odd, but a small part of me is relieved.” Loki said, placing his cool hand on your forehead.
You let out a small sigh of relief at his touch, his cool skin felt lovely on yours. “You are?” you asked, wanting him to keep his hand where it was.
He brought his other hand to your neck, smiling when you leaned into his touch. “What I mean is, when you said you weren’t able to make it today. I’m rather glad it’s due to illness and not that you had second thoughts.”
You looked at him, giving him a puzzled look. “No, of course not. I’ve been looking forward to our date. Why would you assume that I’d cancel?”
He bit his lip, his gaze lingering on his hands touching your skin. “I know that my presence here is bothersome to some of the others.”
“Yeah, but they need to get over that.” You said bluntly, making him chuckle. “I mean really, it’s been forever, and you’ve been nothing but nice since then.”
Loki smiled at you, gently stroking your feverish cheek with his thumb. “You are very kind,”
You did your best to smile back at him, completely exhausted from even this small interaction because of your cold. You couldn’t stop your eyelids from drooping, and you felt your head beginning to dip before Loki placed his hands on your shoulders to steady you. “Lay back down,” he instructed gently.
You made a small sound of agreement as you curled back up in bed, feeling Loki tuck the covers around you. “Have you eaten anything?” he asked with concern, touching your forehead again.
“No,” you sighed, settling into your pillow, not since lunch yesterday.
“Midgardians need regular meal breaks in order to keep their strength,” Loki said, “how are you supposed to feel better if you aren’t eating?”
“I’ll eat something, after this nap.” You replied sleepily, not feeling any sort of motivation to get up and move.
“I’ll take care of it.” Loki said, gently caressing your cheek again before turning to leave.
***
Loki sighed contentedly as he quietly shut your door before heading towards the compound kitchen. He was grateful that you hadn’t cancelled your date with him because you had changed your mind. He was nervous when deciding to check on you, half-expecting that you’d sheepishly answer the door, perhaps adding in a fake cough or sneeze for effect, but when he realized that you were indeed quite ill, he was relieved.
The relief then quickly turned to worry when you were hot to the touch and were sleepy and sluggish. He was glad that you didn’t make a fuss about him offering to care for you. Even if you did, he could be quite persuasive. He didn’t think he could leave you alone, knowing that you were suffering. He felt this need inside him to comfort and care for you, which was a new feeling for him.
His feelings for you had developed seemingly from thin air one day and had been persistent ever since. Plaguing him despite his best efforts to keep away from you. He didn’t think it was possible for anyone here to become romantically attached to him, and he wasn’t going to hold out hope that you’d return his affections.
But eventually, his feelings had become too much to bear, and he found himself giving in and playfully flirting with you more and more and couldn’t help the sprout of hope in his chest when you’d respond in kind.
You were his, even if you didn’t know it. He watched you come and go, kept careful tabs on you during missions, daring anyone to try to lay a hand on you. He kept enough distance so that you wouldn’t catch on, or perhaps just thought he was friendly. He was overjoyed when you agreed to a date with him, and he had been planning exactly how to properly win your heart all week.
Except Barnes’s cold had other ideas.
Loki reached the kitchen, immediately heading for the pantry and digging out ingredients for soup. He had only learned how to make a few things during his time here, as most of the meals were prepared by Stark’s machines. Funnily enough, when Banner had caught a nasty cold and mentioned offhandedly that chicken soup was helpful in aiding in recovery, Loki had memorized a recipe so that he could use it if you ever fell ill.
He hummed quietly to himself as he began chopping vegetables as fresh chicken was frying in a pan.
“Something smells good,” Wanda said as she skipped into the kitchen, heading to the cupboard for her coffee mug. “What are you cooking?”
“Soup. For the invalid.” Loki chuckled, adding the vegetables to the pan.
Wanda flicked a few buttons on the coffee machine, smiling to herself. “How is she doing? She seemed pretty sick when I spoke to her this morning.”
“she’s a bit lethargic, but I’ll ensure she gets well soon.” Loki said, picking out some spices from the cabinet behind him. “I’m sure some food will help.”
She turned to him, smiling smugly. “When are you two going to finally admit that you’re obsessed with each other?”
Loki felt a spark of hope in his chest but was careful to mask it, stirring the contents of the pan. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t gaslight me. I know you’re in love with her. It’s obvious.” Wanda snorted. Loki was about to argue with her when she raised a hand to cut him off, “Don’t get all in a huff, she likes you too. A lot.”
Loki paused, trying to keep his composure. He thought surely you must have liked him at least a little in order to agree to a date. But he never assumed your affections would be as strong as his.
“Don’t tell her I said anything,” Wanda said, taking her coffee cup from the machine and spooning sugar into it. “But, as her best friend, I want her to be happy.”
“And you feel like I can make her happy?” Loki asked, the question immediately exposing his vulnerability.
“Don’t you want to?” Wanda asked, stirring her coffee before dropping her spoon into the sink. “You protect her enough.” Loki raised an eyebrow, which prompted her to chuckle. “Two dozen missions… and not a scratch on her. In fact, no one even comes close enough to her to manage one. Seems odd to me.”
“I haven’t…” Loki began protesting when Wanda shook her head again.
“I think it’s sweet.” She said, “and I think you’d be a cute couple.”
Loki’s lips quirked into a half smile, breaking Wanda’s gaze to focus on stirring the soup base.
“Enjoy your date,” Wanda said, “it’s still dinner together, even if it’s soup.” She added, before turning to leave.
***
“This is delicious.” You praised as you tasted the chicken soup Loki had made for you.
“How are you feeling?” Loki asked, touching your forehead again.
“Still terrible,” you admitted, taking another spoonful of soup, “but this is helping.”
Loki cracked open a bottle of water, setting it on the tray in front of you with your soup and crackers. “I also got this medicine from Banner,” he said, opening a bottle of cold medication. He gestured for you to hold out your hand and he shook out your required dosage, watching you take it, relieved that your fever would dissipate soon.
“Thanks,” you added, “I’m so sorry you’re doing this, I know this isn’t really romantic.”
“I’m happy to do it,” Loki smiled, grabbing his own bowl of soup and tasting it. “I’m grateful that I can do at least something to help.”
“Well, I appreciate it.” You said, feeling your sore throat ease with each sip of soup.
You didn’t have the strength or brainpower to talk much but you and Loki made light conversation while you ate, and you complimented him on the recipe and asked where he had learned to make soup.
He gave you a sheepish smile, “I heard that it was a useful recipe for when Midgardians were ill, so I memorized it.”
“That’s nice,” you said, “so you can make everyone soup when they’re sick.”
He looked away from you as he took your empty bowl, stacking it on his before placing it on your desk nearby. “that’s…. the idea.” He nodded. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” you nodded, “sleepy though.”
“Still warm?” Loki asked, this time gently pressing his palm to your neck, checking your temperature.
You sighed contentedly, taking your hand and holding his in place, enjoying how cool his hand felt. You felt him tense and you met his eyes which were wider than usual. “Sorry,” you apologized, not letting go of his hand, “your hands are cold, and it feels nice, I could use a bit of a cooldown.”
“I run colder than most,” he nodded, not pulling his hand away.
Unable to contain your inner thoughts, partially due to the fever and exhaustion, you smiled. “If we were dating, I’d ask if you wouldn’t mind cuddling me for a bit.”
After the words left your mouth, you realized what you had said and immediately went to apologize but Loki spoke first. “If it would aid in your recovery now, I’d be happy to do it.”
“Really?” you asked, surprised by his offer.
“If you wish,” he said, gently running his thumb along your jaw.
You were half convinced you were dreaming all of this, but you nodded, lifting back the covers and sliding over to the other end of the bed, patting the open space for him to crawl in beside you. Loki carefully laid down, gesturing for you to lay on his chest.
You snuggled into him, breathing in his scent when he wrapped his arms around you. His body was colder than most, but it was such a welcome relief to your feverish state. “Is this alright?” He asked, and you could hear his heart beating rapidly in his chest.
“Are you nervous?” you asked groggily, already feeling yourself about to fall asleep. “Your heart is pounding.”
“a little,” he admitted, “are you alright?”
“I’m much better now,” you said, nuzzling his chest. “Thank you, Loki.”
“Anything for you,” he said, almost breathless as he traced soothing designs on your back, making you even more exhausted.
“Not a bad first date,” you mumbled sleepily, “but we’ll do something more romantic for our second one.”
“You want a second date?” Loki asked, beginning to play with your hair.
“of course.” You chuckled, “I haven’t even gotten to kiss you yet, and I’ve been dreaming about those lips for weeks.”
You felt him suck in a sharp breath and bury his face into your hair. “You’re going to be the death of me, pretty mortal.” He groaned. “Rest and recover and I’ll show you exactly what these lips can do to you.”
You smiled, “looking forward to it.”