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This solo mission was going to hell. Coulson thought grimly as he ducked an attack from one of three men surrounding him in an alley. Sure he has amazing reflexes, but that doesn’t help when you’re circled in like this. This is why he hates fighting in alleyways.
The man attacking him let out a hissing yell as his hand collided with the brick wall behind him and Coulson kicked at the man, making him fall into the other. Coulson blocked a punch from the last man standing and threw the bastard to the ground and pulled out his tazer and shocked the bastard. He’d been disarmed earlier in the fight and that in itself had pissed him off. They were down for the count. Or so he thought as he went to fetch his gun, only for one man to suddenly grab his foot and send him sprawling onto the ground. Coulson growled and started to get back up onto to hear a gun cock. Shit the man had gotten his gun.
“Who the hell are you?” The man snarled, Coulson chuckled.
“That is classified information,” The man growls and starts to pull the trigger, only for there to be a sudden black blur and the man is letting out a yell and there’s snarling and growling as Coulson gets up and sees a black Labrador retriever attacking the man that had been going after him. Coulson shoves the dog off of the man, the dog quickly calming itself as Coulson handcuffs the guy and his friends and leaves them cuffed to a pole out front and places a call with the police. They’re goons from Doom’s gangs, he doesn’t doubt that they’ll be released soon but the point of this was, he stopped the punks from raping a woman…
He goes back to the alley and picks up his gun and pauses to look at the dog. The dog who’d given him a distraction…
He smiled at the dog, watching as it approached slowly, limping slightly, light flashed across the alleyway from the light of a car passing by and he sees the dog has breathtaking green eyes. Coulson felt something twist in his gut as he knelt down and clicked his tongue a bit, the dog taking it as an encouraging sound and comes closer. Coulson smiles and pets the dog’s head, the dog nuzzling close and ending up pressed up against him, shivering.
Coulson keeps petting the dog, hand brushing down the dog’s neck. No collar…
The dog whined and Coulson frowned and brought the dog’s snout into his hands and looks at sad green eyes.
“You’re alone aren’t you?” He mumbled and the dog whined once again and licked his hand. Coulson couldn’t help it, his heart kinda melted and he got up.
“Come on then,” He leaves the alley and looks back to see the dog tilting his head.
“Come on boy,” He said, patting his leg, hoping the dog got the message, and he did, trotting over to Coulson who noticed the limp and frowned a little. He’ll have to check on that when he gets home.
He leads the dog to his Acura sudan and gets a blanket out of his trunk and puts it on the back seat.
“Okay buddy, time for you to hop in,” Coulson says as the dog obeys and hops in and gets carefully onto the blankets. Coulson smiles a little before getting in front and starting the car, getting away from the scene. Downtown New York at eleven pm is actually pretty quiet.
It took him about ten minutes to get to the small condo he owns. He could go for bigger with his salary, but he didn’t have anyone to really have in there so this small two bedroom two baths and a large kitchen and front room with a moderate backyard is good enough. He has a bedroom on the ground floor and upstairs where there’s also a room that he uses as an office that has a bay window and it’s pretty peaceful. So when he steps inside, letting the dog in, he watches as the dog sniffs around, tail wagging in the process.
Coulson smiles and closes the door; locking it behind him before turning on the lights and watching the black lab roam around. Coulson went to the bathroom and opened the door, revealing a large bathtub and he led the dog inside into the bright lighting.
The dog sniffed at the tub then at Coulson as he looked the dog over then went to the leg that he saw the dog favoring.
The dog whined and Coulson’s hand came away bloody.
“That bastard hurt you didn’t he?” Coulson heard how angry he is and the dog hung his head and whined. Coulson grumbled as he turned on the bath and made sure it was warm as he got out his soap, not having any dog products for the black Labrador.
Coulson let the water run for a minute before turning it off and quickly changing into something casual upstairs before coming down in sweatpants and a white t-shirt.
“Alright buddy, lets do this,” he says to the waiting dog, who steps in calmly and lets Coulson wash him without a fuss. He whines a little when Coulson reaches the wound and carefully cleans it, the blood showing faintly in the water.
Twenty minutes later and he’s toweling the dog dry and gently wrapping his back right foreleg. The dog gave a soft woof and nuzzled his snout against Coulson’s hands.
“You’re a good dog, how did you end up on your own huh?” He asked softly, getting up and leading the dog out of the bathroom and heading toward the fridge. He pulled out a package of bacon and starts cooking it as he grabs two bowls, filling one with water and setting it down for the dog, who immediately went to it and lapped up the water.
The sound of sizzling bacon filled the air and he knew the dog was waiting, Coulson chuckling softly. He hasn’t had a dog since he moved into this place twelve years ago. He frowns a little and remembers he had never gotten rid of the stuff when the dog had died three years ago. Well, the non edible stuff anyway. He’d thrown out the dog food.
He finished the bacon and set it on a plate after cutting each piece in half. The dog eagerly went to the plate and ate the food fast. Coulson smiled and went out to the garage and got out a dog bed from his packed stuff and pounded the dust out of it before heading back inside, the dog waiting and licking his chops.
“Hey you,” He chuckles and the dog wags his tail and gives a soft woof.
“You want to sleep huh? I figured you would,” He leads the way to the guest room and puts the dog bed down in there and strips to his boxers, getting into the bed. The dog sniffed at the bed and sat on it.
“Hm, what should I call you while you’re here hm?” The dog watched him with those impossibly green eyes. Eyes that reminded him of Loki.
“I’m not calling you Loki that would be too mean, even though your eyes remind me of his…” He trails off, the dog had stiffened a little, but he was muttering to himself before saying another name.
“How about Gabriel? That’s a good name,” He asked, looking to the dog, who tilted his head then barked once.
“You like it huh?” Gabriel barked again, tail wagging before he settled in his dog bed. Coulson grinned then got up and got a blanket then came back.
“Up, you’re getting a softer blanket there,” Coulson said, and Gabriel obeyed, getting up and watching as he put the plush blanket down on the dog bed then he went to his bed and watched as Gabriel sniffed at the blanket then got settled.
“Night, Gabriel,” Coulson yawned as he turned off the light then went to bed.
--
When he woke seven hours later it was to find himself cuddled up to the large black Labrador he’d named Gabriel. He had his arms wrapped around the dog, holding him firmly but not enough to hurt him. He chuckled and gave the dog a light kiss on his head before getting more comfortable, nuzzling his face into his neck fur.
Gabriel let out a soft woof and snuggled closer to him as Coulson let out another chuckle and pet the dog for a while before getting up and Gabriel whined before jumping down onto the floor, yelping a bit when he put too much weight on his injured leg.
“Easy there Gabe,” Coulson says as he slips out of bed and gives the dog a reassuring pat before leaving the room. He comes back with a green collar from his bag of dog stuff and puts it on Gabriel.
“There, that’ll do for now…We can go on a brief walk then I’ll take you to SHIELD, I don’t trust you here alone…” He clipped on a green leash too, one of the retractable ones. He took the dog out, letting him lead the way, Coulson looking at the current surroundings and the time of day. During that time, out of the corner of his eye he notices Gabe do his business, Coulson stopping and taking out a plastic bag and scooping the crap in there and tossing it in a trash can. He got an odd look from Gabriel and he frowned at the dog.
“What? There’s a law about that boy…not like you’d understand, but still…” Coulson trails off wondering when he became so lonely that he started talking to a dog. Coulson knelt down next to Gabriel and scratched under the dog’s chin, the black Labrador’s eyes closing, Coulson smiling as he kept this up for a minute before getting the dog to his house as his home phone rang and he let the leash drop and let the dog trot around the house to sniff at his food bowl again as Coulson heard Fury on the line.
“Coulson, I need to you report to base. Loki’s missing and we need to find him, NOW. He got hit while fighting Doom and just vanished,” Fury says calmly as Coulson sighs.
“Why do you care exactly? Remember Loki’s our enemy, not an Avenger,” He says as he walks over to the fridge, past Gabriel who is waiting for his food and Coulson searches the fridge and finds some left over pizza and puts Fury on speaker so he can fish it out and heat it up.
“No, but he and Doom were fighting and I would like to find out why, not to mention Thor is beside himself and demanding we start a search or he’ll go through the streets himself,” Fury sounded annoyed as Coulson’s microwave beeped and Gabriel whined impatiently.
Coulson sighed and hushed the dog before getting out the pizza and cutting it up.
“Alright alright, I’ll be there as soon as I can be. I may have someone else with me though,” With that he hung up and fed Gabriel some pizza as he went to go get changed.
--
An hour later there’s a room full of Avengers, a shouting Fury and a cowering Gabriel whose hiding behind Coulson’s legs.
“Don’t you dare try and kick this dog out!” Coulson spat at Fury, livid, “Has it occurred to you that I have this dog here for a reason and not for kicks? You wanted to find Loki, why not use a dog?” He asked sharply, Fury glared, Thor frowned and Tony was trying to coax Gabriel over to him.
The dog seemed to think about it before going to Tony, limping a little from his injury last night. Tony started to spoil the dog as Coulson kept arguing with Fury until finally he dropped it and slid the file to Coulson, who opened it, hearing Tony mumbling to Gabriel and then yelp when the dog tried to bite him.
“Don’t touch his leg, Stark, it got injured last night. Pretty sure it happened when he was helping me take down some punks,” Coulson says calmly as he looks over the report and pauses. Loki had been injured on his right foot… Last place he was seen was actually about seven blocks away from where he had been in the encounter with the wannabe Hydra recruits.
Tony scowled behind his back but left the dog’s leg alone and went back to just petting his head and back. Gabriel eventually got tired of it and went back to Coulson.
Thor got up and started to leave when he paused and looked to Gabriel.
“Loki?” He asked with a frown. Gabriel ignored Thor, curled up in a happy ball of tired dog, eyes closed.
Everyone else however looked to Thor then to the napping dog and back.
“What makes you think he’s Loki?” Coulson asked, aware of the dog’s ear twitching, pretty sure the dog is very aware of their conversation.
“His eyes,” Thor says calmly as he starts to go near Gabriel, who lets him, nose twitching and opening his eyes as he pets the dog’s head, the labrador’s tail wagging slightly.
“But then again…he seems far too kind to be my brother…perhaps I am mistaken…” Thor says as Gabriel gets up, whining a little bit at straining his injured foot and got up fully and then got pet by Thor, who hummed and prodded at the injured foot. Gabriel lets out a loud yelp and Thor frowned.
“I am sorry canine,” Thor sounded it, but Gabriel growled at him and fled under the table.
“Thor, stop harassing my dog,” Coulson sighed and Thor looked sad but nodded and Coulson left the room with Gabriel following.
He makes it to his office and sits down in his chair while Gabriel wanders around and jumps up onto the couch, not seeming to care about where he is as Coulson goes about getting through paperwork until he opens the Loki file some more.
“What are you playing at, Loki?” He asks with a frown as he makes the video play from the several different angles the Avengers had gotten. He focused on it for a long time, not noticing time go by even as he came to a conclusion. Either Loki had been teleported elsewhere and been knocked off course by the blast or he’d been incapacitated and landed in another alley. He really wasn’t sure.
“C’mon boy…we got a Demi-God to find,” He sighs as Gabriel looks up and follows, Coulson keeping his leash on him. Gabriel trotted after Coulson, the lab following Coulson’s commands as they went to the alley where Loki had been fighting. Coulson had a scrap of one of Loki’s capes and he offered it to the dog, who sniffed it a bit before leading Coulson to the end of another alley nearby and coming across clothes piled in a corner, more or less, all of Loki’s armor, which Coulson found rather odd.
Coulson took a few pictures before he praised the dog, Gabriel’s tail wagging happily, the dog licking Coulson’s hand. Coulson knelt down next to Gabriel and hugged the dog close for a moment before he grabbed the armor and went back to his Acura, putting the armor in the back as Gabriel rode shotgun and Coulson called the base.
“Fury? Yes, well Gabriel and I found Loki’s armor….Gabriel’s the name of my dog….anyway I’m bringing the armor back to headquarters. There was no sign of Loki…I’m thinking he really was hit by some sort of spell, because Loki wouldn’t leave his armor behind on purpose…” Coulson kept on talking as he drove, eventually getting to the SHIELD building. He hung up, promising to be upstairs in a bit as he gathered up the armor and Gabriel followed him, leash dragging along behind him. This dog really was a smart one…and Coulson couldn’t help his warm smile when it came to his face. This dog in less than 48 hours had wormed his way into Coulson’s life and…Coulson liked it. He’d missed his old dog…he’d forgotten the companionship that dogs gave.
“I don’t get why they’d think you’re Loki,” He says to the dog as they get into the elevator, Coulson picking up the leash to make sure it didn’t catch in the doors, “You’re such a gentleman, you know…I can’t help but wonder who owned you before…you’re so well trained..” Coulson said as the dog looked at him, mouth open and tongue sticking out a bit, looking the picture of innocence.
When the door opened, Coulson made his way to Fury’s office and shifted the armor in his arms.
“Where do you want me to put this, sir?” He asked as Fury looked up then at the armor.
“In the lab down the hall, we’re going to see if Stark can get a reading on it.” Fury said as his one good eye went to the dog as Coulson nodded and went to the lap, dumping the armor on the table.
Coulson left with his well behaved shadow following him every step of the way before they went to Fury’s office again.
Once Coulson sat down he watched Gabriel sit down next to the chair, Coulson reaching out and petting him as he looked up to Fury, who was eyeing his every move.
“Coulson…mind my asking just how you came across the dog here?” Fury asked, brow raised slightly as Coulson took in a breath and explained that Gabriel had helped take down some idiots on the street and one of those idiots had injured Gabriel, so he took him home and decided to help the dog.
“Did it ever occur to you that this dog could be Loki trying to learn all he can about his enemy?” Fury asked, raising his brow as Coulson narrowed his eyes.
“I’m sorry sir but I find that ridiculous. Gabriel here has been nothing but sweet and obedient and very helpful. He’s the one that sniffed out Loki’s armor,” Coulson says firmly as he scratches behind Gabriel’s ears, the dog’s leg kicking as Coulson got his ticklish spot.
“I still say you have that dog scanned by one of Stark’s machines, just as a safety precaution,” fury said as Coulson shook his head.
“No. Gabriel’s just a dog, Fury…I’m not going to put him through Stark’s tests,” Coulson says stiffly before getting up, “Is there anything else you wanted?” He asked as Fury sighed.
“Yes. I need you to help run the face recognition software on Loki,” Fury said dryly before Coulson nodded and went to his office, closing the door and unclipping Gabriel’s leash, the dog jumping up onto his couch and getting comfy, watching him from the couch.
--
A month went by in which they didn’t find Loki. Stark had even scanned the armor, saying it had a magic residue on it. At this point everyone was looking towards Coulson’s new four legged companion with suspicion. Despite the Avengers and Fury wanting him to turn the poor dog in to them for tests, Coulson refused.
Coulson had grown close to the dog, happy to see the dog’s wound heal so well. He walked the dog, played with the dog and let the dog sleep in his bed.
He talked to the dog and on his bad days he told his problems to his canine friend, Gabriel always coming to him and nuzzling his muzzle up into his hands and sprawling out so his head would be on Coulson’s lap.
Gabriel filled a hole he hadn’t realized he’d had since his last dog passed away.
But when the Avengers still hadn’t found Loki going on two months…he finally agreed to bring his dog in to be looked at, if anything to shut them up…
Needless to say, when Tony sucked in a breath when the readings came up, Coulson felt his heart drop.
“Coulson I am so sorry…” Tony whispered as Gabriel started growling at Tony, backing up into Coulson who knelt down next to the dog and pulled him into a warm hug, the dog calming down.
“He has the same magic residue on him Coulson…” Tony said even as Thor came into the workshop and stopped at the words.
“So the Son of Coul has harbored my brother without knowing it?” Thor asked as the dog in Coulson’s embrace whined and Coulson pet the dog, despite knowing he could very likely be Loki.
“Yes,” Tony said as Coulson got up.
“Well I’m not letting you lot do tests on him,” Coulson growled, pushing past Thor as Gabriel quickly followed along side him, the dog glancing back at the two as Coulson shoved past the other Avengers at the top of the staircase and Coulson went to his car, letting Gabriel…or Loki really, ride shotgun.
When Coulson got home, Loki whined and jumped up onto the couch and looked at Coulson, who paced back and forth, letting out a sigh before sitting down next to Loki and pulling him into a light hug.
“I’m going to make you an extra special meal and then we can call it a day alright? I don’t care if you’re Loki or not…you haven’t tried to kill me and I appreciate that…Besides you’ve been great and…honestly? I still don’t plan on giving you up to them.” Coulson saw the tail start wagging and got a few doggy kisses from Loki.
Coulson smiled at Loki and pet his head, “Well I’m not about to kick you out, Loki…you’ve grown on me,” Coulson smiled once again and he went to the kitchen and started making the food for Loki, the god turned to dog came and watched him as Coulson avoided calls and spoiled Loki rotten.
Later that night he let Loki into his bed and he held the dog god close to him, Coulson falling asleep thinking he couldn’t love the dog any less…
When Coulson woke the next morning it was to find his arms wrapped around Loki who…was naked. Coulson blinked at that and noticed that Loki was starting to wake as well and…Coulson sighed and took the collar off of Loki, unfastening it quietly.
The feel of the collar coming off seemed to wake Loki completely. The god stiffened and then looked back at Coulson, clothes materializing onto the god’s body. They were both silent for a moment before Coulson let out a sigh.
“Can we just…stay like this for a few more hours?” Coulson asked, surprising Loki who nodded and smiled lightly before settling again and the two fell back asleep…
When Coulson woke again it was to find Loki gone…and Coulson couldn’t help it…his heart seemed to break at that. It felt like the hole Loki had filled up as a dog had just been made empty again. Coulson swallowed and got up, leaving the room to go out to his kitchen.
When he came out, it was to find Loki sitting at the table, eating, and the table was set for two. Coulson sat down at his spot and watched Loki, who seemed at ease for the moment.
“Thank you,” Coulson said softly as Loki looked to him and nodded before swallowing his mouthful of food.
“I should be thanking you. You took me in, fed me, made sure to entertain me and…well I felt appreciated… I will admit I did not quite peg you for a dog person.” Loki smiled a little at Coulson and it was a smile that reached his eyes, a smile that was warm and held no trace of insanity.
“It didn’t feel right, to leave you out on the streets after you helped take down some idiots,” Coulson said with a shrug before eating his food, mostly in companionable silence with the Trickster God. When they both finished, Coulson looked up to Loki.
“If you need anywhere to stay, no questions asked….you can always come here,” Coulson said as he stood, surprising the god.
“Really? After what I did to you?” Loki didn’t hide his shock too well and Coulson chuckled.
“You had plenty of chances to kill me as you were, Loki. Keeping me company and not running off and helping me out on cases these last few weeks…You’ve more than made up for what happened. Just don’t let the Avengers know I’m offering you sanctum, hm?”
With that Loki smiled a bit and nodded, the god vanishing with a soft goodbye.
--
They had ruined everything. This Loki knew as he appeared, enraged in Tony Stark’s workshop where he knew the Man of Iron held his armor hostage and subjugated it to testing.
Loki blasted Stark across the room as he summoned his armor to him, magicking it onto his body where it belonged.
Loki had been happy these last few weeks. He’d been the happiest in as long as he remembered. He had been trusted, loved and welcomed with no ounce of hesitation. He had been told secrets he had promised himself he would not use against Coulson. He had learned just how loyal humans could be to their animals and he had loved that this loyalty had been shown to him.
“You ruined everything!” Loki shouted at Stark, who’s eyes widened as Loki started trashing his equipment, “I had something new and wonderful and you foolish mortals ruined it all!” Loki yelled as green magic exploded from him and trashed the workshop even as Thor came into the room, eyes wide as he saw Loki in his rage.
“Brother? Brother calm yourself…please…” Thor started to say as Loki looked sharply to him, “Is this what the Son of Coul would want?”
“Shut up, Thor. You know nothing of what happened!” Loki growled as Thor held Mjolnir up defensively.
“I know that in order to break the spell Doom cast on you…that your caretaker had to accept who you are for the spell to break. Think about it brother…Coulson did not care that his dog turned out to be you…he still wanted to protect you…”
“SHUT UP!” Loki screamed as he sent one of his more powerful spells at Thor, slamming the other god against the wall even as the other Avengers came. He would fight them all. He would prove that he had not gone soft…even if he knew it was mostly a lie…
When the fight ended, Loki was panting hard in a crater he’d made around himself, and the Avengers were all out cold.
Loki smirked before he vanished and he found himself appearing in Coulson’s front room…this was the only place that truly felt like home to him now…
--
Two weeks later..
Coulson was half asleep on his couch watching TV when he heard the knock on his door. After pausing the show, he went and opened the door, blinking when he found Loki there in casual clothes.
“Loki….what?” He started to say as there was a bark and Coulson looked down and he found that the god had a black Labrador retriever with him, and the dog was wearing a bow.
“I have a present for you…I believe you both will enjoy each other’s company,” Loki said with a small smile as Coulson knelt down.
“C’mere boy,” He said as he watched the dog come to him and sniff him before he started licking him, tail wagging. Coulson looked up and grinned at Loki.
“Thank you Loki, I appreciate this,” He said as he watched Loki , who nodded his head before he vanished.
Coulson decided to call the dog Gabriel.