Acceptance - Loki/Bruce + Tony/Steve (PG)
Title: Acceptance
Fandom: Avengers
Pairing(s): Loki/Bruce, Steve/Tony
Rating: PG
Warning(s): Wildly AU; canon was thrown out of the Stark Tower window
Summary: When Loki fell from the rainbow bridge, the All Father banished him to Midgard as he had to Thor. This is what happens when Loki is found by SHIELD.
Word count: 5233
Notes: Written for Summer 2012's Avengers Reverse Big Bang challenge over at avengers_rbb. The wonderful tipitina did some amazing artwork, which you can find here and here. Oh my this was nuts to write. I kept going round and round in circles, and I might have driven my poor beta crazy. Plus at one point, my computer had to be sent away and my back up copy was eaten by my hard drive and I had to begin rewriting this the day before my posting date. Yay! Many thanks to the amazing tipitina for her fantastic art, to msmeryl for putting up with my crazy and looking this over, and to the mods for hosting this amazing event.
Thor stared at his brother in disbelief, too shocked to be properly hurt at the way his brother outright rejected him. “No? What do you mean no, brother? You refuse to accompany me home? You have been mourned all this time!”
A bitter half-smile formed on Loki's face as Tony and Steve watched the other two worriedly. That bitter little smile was an expression neither Tony nor Steve had seen on Loki's face since he first joined them and helped with the beginning efforts of the Avengers Initiative. His voice was soft as he answered simply, “This is my home now. These men here are my brothers, too, Thor. I cannot and will not leave them.” At the genuine hurt that flashed across Thor's face, Loki stepped forward and placed a hand on his adoptive brother's arm, his voice still soft as he added, “Let me explain.”
~*~
When Loki let go of his staff on the remains of the rainbow bridge, he heard the All Father shout in a way he had only heard once: when Thor was banished to Midgard. That particular the thought did not occur to him through the haze of betrayed anger clouding his thoughts; all he could think about was a re-run of everything that had occurred over the past three days. It was almost unthinkable that merely three days ago, he had been beginning the stages of a plan that would help Thor and everyone else realize how much Thor still had to learn.
Instead, he was falling into a black abyss between the realms. There was something wrong with that abyss, however, as he turned away from Thor and the All Father to look at it. There was a blinding point of light in it that had not been there before, and he was falling straight towards it.
~*~
Sheets rustled, whisper-soft, beneath his restless shifting, and the movement sent a twinge across his ribs. Before he could take stock of whatever other injuries he may or may not have acquired, Loki looked up at the sound of the door to his left opening and closing. A well-cut suit framed the body of the man who stood in front of the closed door, the man’s voice was smooth as he spoke. “I see you’re awake, Mr. Odinson.” Loki flinched almost imperceptibly at the name, but the man continued speaking as if he had not noticed, “You’ve been asleep for the two days since you fell. Your body sustained some rather alarming injuries, but they began to knit almost immediately. I’m Agent Coulson; welcome to SHIELD.”
The man’s name triggered the rest of the memories Loki had of the times he watched Thor’s adventures on Midgard. This was the man who captured Thor when he was at his lowest and let him go in the end. Hoarsely, Loki asked, “Where exactly am I?”
“You’re in a secure facility.”
“I had gathered as much myself, Agent. This means I’m to be told nothing until my level of threat has been assessed.” The smirk that curled Loki’s lips was barely there, and his eyes were flat. Agent Coulson nodded mutely. Loki took a moment to turn his head to the left, making sure his face looked just thoughtful enough as he turned his senses inward, reaching for the powers that normally crackled just below his skin. What he encountered nearly broke his careful facade: his powers had been bound. They were not completely gone, but nor could some of his more useful powers be used. He could no longer move between the realms with ease as he had before. His power was limited once more to simple illusions and explosions, which, while useful were going to do him little good. He had his strength as well, but that was not quite as strong as his brother’s. Than Thor’s, he reminded himself.
Coming back to himself, Loki turned his head back towards the man standing in front of him calmly watching him. Dipping his head slightly, Loki looked up at Agent Coulson from under his eyebrows and smiled.
~*~
Weeks passed and the most exciting thing that happened to Loki in the “secure facility” was a visit by a man who introduced himself as “Tony Stark and none of that Mr. Stark crap; it’s Tony” who was quite easily one of the smartest humans Loki had met so far in this realm. He had met more than his share of “brilliant minds” sent to dissect how he thought and what he planned to do for whatever amount of time he was on Earth. When he told them quite calmly, for what had to have been the fifteenth time since he had been there and asked the same question over and over with different wording, that he had no plans to do anything to anyone while on Earth, they sent in Tony.
“So we’re starting something up here, and since your brother, yeah I can see your little movement there, and I’m ignoring it, helped us out, they wanted to see if you’d help us, too. Unless you’re the reason he needed to help us in the first place.” Tony smiled all through this small speech, muscles loose and arm movements easy as he spoke.
Loki decided quickly that this Tony was the most interesting Midgardian he was likely to meet. Tilting his head, Loki narrowed his eyes slightly as he considered how to answer. There was a tenseness that ran through Tony underneath his careless manner that reminded Loki of the one underneath his own facade. Betrayal had touched this man and wariness could be seen in the lines around his eyes and the slight hardness in his eyes. “And if I were the reason?”
Tony grinned briefly before settling back into his generally amused smile, his eyes flicking first up to the camera and then down to meet Loki’s. “Well I’d ask what the hell you had against He-Man, but the guys who asked me to come and see you would decide you’re a threat after all.”
Loki returned the grin, his lingering for a moment longer than Tony’s, before asking, “So what do I have to do to?”
Tony’s grin resurfaced. “Well, we’ve got a cold case we’re working on, and we need some more people for this team that’s getting put together. Think you can help with that?” Loki merely quirked an eyebrow and Tony chuckled. “Welcome to the Avengers Initiative.”
~*~
Loki learned quickly. That was a fact of his life from before the time Odin told him and Thor that only one of them would be king. He learned then what his place was in Asgard, but his place in the Avengers was an uncertain one until their first mission together. That mission changed many things about the team’s dynamic and added another member.
An ambitious agent in SHIELD decided, about a year after Loki’s arrival on Earth and the advent of the Avengers, to send in a task force to bring in Bruce Banner. Before they had only kept tabs on him, watched his movements but otherwise let him go his own way. When word reached Coulson and the Avengers of this task force, Loki was intrigued by the various reactions he saw. Coulson was quietly furious, Steve, who joined around the same time Loki did, and Tony were both sporting frowns, and Clint and Natasha, who seemed to have always been there, were as ready as ever.
When they reached Calcutta, where Banner had been helping the residents for some time, the Avengers were relieved to find that they arrived before the task force had. It was rather handy to have a technical genius who enjoyed making fast vehicles sometimes, Loki thought. The only problem they faced when they arrived was that someone seemed to have tipped off Banner. He met them outside the building their intelligence told them was his home for the time being, looking over all of them warily.
They had at least had the sense not to come in full battle gear, though it was not too far from them. Tony had his armor with him packed away into its briefcase form, and Steve had his shield strapped to his back. Loki’s power was always humming just beneath his skin no matter the clothes he wore, and he knew that both Clint and Natasha had their weapons of choice on them somehow beneath their casual clothes. They were all battle ready, but they at least tried to appear non-threatening.
Banner had his hands clasped together in front of him, wringing them without paying attention as he watched the group of people in front of him. No one moved or spoke for a few long moments until Banner broke the silence. “So where are we going?”
Steve and Tony shared a look between them before looking over at Clint and Natasha. On receiving no help from the two assassins, the two leaders of the Avengers turned to Loki who nodded. “How does anywhere but here sound to you, Dr. Banner?”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Did I say you should?”
Banner paused before answering, gaze firmly fixed on Loki. “So where is anywhere but here? Custody so that SHIELD can study me?”
“Not so they can study you, no.”
Banner watched Loki a little less warily than he did the others. “Not so they can study me, huh? What about you?”
Loki could not help the smirk that flitted across his face, nearly a smile. “Well, I could if you like, though I promise it will be an entirely different sort.” Banner looked surprised, and Tony let out a snort. Loki looked over at him with a smile and caught the full force of one of Steve’s disapproving eye-rolls.
Tony chimed in, his voice amused. “Yeah, we’re here because some idiot decided they wanted to bring you in, and we got here ahead of the task force. And we should really be heading out because they should get here-”
“Now.” Natasha’s voice had the rest of the Avengers turning to face the strike team that had come up behind them when they were talking to Banner. Clint and Natasha already had their weapons pointed at the agents they had to race to Calcutta in an experimental jet to beat, and Loki’s power shimmered around him as it changed his casual suit into his armor and helmet while the clanks and hisses of Tony’s suit assembling around him and Steve removing his shield from the straps on his back.
Steve stepped forward, intimidating even in casual clothing with his shield on his arm, and looked at the men and women in front of them. “Back away now. Your orders aren’t sanctioned, and you came here to attack an unarmed man.” His voice was hard, and he heard his team falling into place behind him, knew from the sounds of their movements where each of them was positioned. All of them had moved to flank Steve and guard Banner.
Loki was closest to Banner, having moved within an arm’s reach just in case he needed to get them out of there quickly. Quickly is how events progressed from there. The team sent to retrieve banner refused to back down, and Steve gave the order to subdue them but don’t damage them. The team opened fire with most of the bullets aimed at the two leaders. Tony dove out of the way, using his earpiece to call for JARVIS to activate his suit. Some of the team was effectively distracted as the suit formed around Tony, starting at his wrists and closing around him, and Loki easily subdued them without moving, using his projected selves to knock them out.
The remaining team whirled around, trying to find a way to get rid of this new threat. They had obviously not been briefed that well, just pointed at a target and let loose without learning of any other possible scenario. Loki almost felt sorry for them. Almost. Any sympathy he had for them disappeared as one of them abandoned his now useless rifle and took a shot with his handgun, aiming for Steve’s unprotected left side when he was moving one of the strike team’s unconscious members out of the line of fire. Steve had not seen the man take the shot, so he would not be able to move out of the way in time. Without thinking, Loki closed the short distance between himself and the soldier, tackling him to the ground and trying to wrestle the gun away from him.
The other members of the strike team had already been either bound or knocked unconscious or the latter then the former, so the rest of them watched as Loki rolls with the last free team member. Steve was about to move forward to try to break it up when a shot rang out, the gun having gone off between Loki and the other man. The other Avengers shouted out, crying Loki’s name, and Steve moved to the where the two fighting men had frozen, shield still in hand. The strike team member stared up at Loki in shock, and Steve breathed a sigh of relief. That relief was short lived as Loki stumbled back from the man, the weapon on the ground and the Asgardian’s hands red with his blood where they covered his abdomen.
In the scuffle, Loki’s leather shirt had shifted only minimally, but even the tough leather could not stop a bullet at point blank range. Steve did not even hesitate; he knocked out the last soldier with a sharp blow from the shield before picking Loki up despite his protests. The medical team was on its way, but it was too far, nearly twenty minutes away. Steve looked almost helpless as he held Loki, having put together that if Loki had not jumped the soldier that Steve would be the one down with a bullet in the side or worse. He knew of Loki’s healing ability, but he was fairly certain that Loki’s body would not be able to push the bullet lodged inside of him out all on its own.
“Inside, get him inside. I can take care of him there.” Banner’s voice was shaking slightly, though his hands were still, neither shaking nor wringing together as they had been. Steve moved to comply while Natasha and Clint took care of the agent that had shot Loki, knocking him out and tying him up with the rest where the two assassins watched over them while Loki was carried inside. Tony followed Steve inside after deactivating and disassembling his suit, leaving the case with Clint, worry making his brows furrow and mouth twist.
Tony arrived to see Steve holding Loki down on his stomach on top of Banner’s kitchen table by his shoulders, the Asgardian’s hands clenched tight around Steve’s wrists as he shuddered. The wound was trying to heal, the edges of it sealing before Banner had to reopen it once the flesh started to close around the bullet. Loki’s jaw was clenched shut and Tony looked to Banner, knowing that Steve had Loki well in hand. “What do you need, Doctor Banner?”
“Bruce. I need you to sterilize the tools in my bag then hand them to me when I ask for them.” Bruce busied himself with sterilizing his hands as Tony soaked the tools in alcohol in a bowl he had found in one of Bruce’s cabinets before he moved to sterilize his hands as well. Moving to Loki’s side, Bruce cursed as he realized that his quick hand washing was not quite quick enough, and the skin had begun to close over the bullet again.
Tony moved back to the table at the sound of the curse, and he cursed as well, handing over the scalpel without even waiting for Bruce’s command. When the area was sterilized and the incision was made once more, Bruce held it open with one hand while holding the other out. “Forceps.” Bruce glanced up at Loki for a second as he grasped the tool, their gazes catching and holding for a brief intense moment. “This is going to hurt, Loki. Just hold tight to Steve, and it’ll be done soon. The bullet isn’t that far from the surface of your skin, so it won’t take much to get it out.”
Loki nodded, clenching his eyes and jaw shut, bracing himself for it. He did not have long to wait as Bruce wasted no time. Slipping the thin forceps into the opening and wincing at every pained sound that escaped Loki through his clenched and bared teeth, Bruce steadily pressed the tool deeper until it came in contact with the edge of the bullet. Carefully, he opened the forceps enough that he had a grasp on the bullet and pulled it free. Loki groaned, the sound tapering off into a hiccoughing sob of relief and pain. His voice was rough as he spoke haltingly. “Next time I decide to... wrestle with a man who... has a gun... hold me back...”
Tony and Steve both chuckled quietly, though Steve’s turned a little ragged at the edges as he leaned down to touch his forehead to Loki’s temple, relief surging through him and making him almost boneless where he stood. “I’d tell you how stupid that was, but that would be really ungrateful of me. Thank you, Loki.” Loki smiled weakly as he nodded, squeezing Steve’s bruised wrist gently as he closed his eyes. As the wound began to close once more, slower this time, Loki’s breath evened out into the rhythm of sleep. Steve looked up at Bruce. “Is it safe for him to sleep?”
“He doesn’t have a concussion since there was no major head injury. It’s probably better to let him sleep off the healing he’s going to have to do.” Bruce washed his hands as he spoke, waiting until his hands and tools were cleaned and dried before speaking again. “So do we leave when he wakes up?” Bruce watched, amusement making his lips curl slightly at the corners, as Steve and Tony exchanged a slightly wide-eyed glance with each other before looking back at him. “Well, I’m not going to say no to you guys after you defended me like that. Your friend here even got himself shot fighting off guys who came to take me by force.”
“You know he took that bullet trying to save Steve, right?” Tony glared at Steve when he made a shushing motion. “Well, he’s gotta know, Steve! We’re not letting him come with us thinking that if it’s not right.”
Bruce smiled. “I know he did. I’m not under any delusions, Mr. Stark. Yeah, I know who you are. Who doesn’t know Iron Man?”
Steve rolled his eyes as Tony practically preened at that, though a fond smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth. Shaking his head, Steve looked Bruce in the eyes. “You’re coming with us even knowing that who we saved you from is who we’re taking you to.” Bruce nodded in answer even though they knew it was not a question, not since Bruce seemed to have made up his mind. Steve held out his hand with a serious expression on his face. “Welcome to the Avengers, Doctor Banner.”
“Bruce.”
~*~
It took two days for the bullet wound to heal completely and scar over, two weeks for Loki to stop favoring that side of his body, and two months for Loki and Bruce to become a little bit more to each other than friends. Loki never treated Bruce as if he were about to change into “the other guy” as Bruce kept referring to the Hulk, always dropping by casually when Bruce was working in the research labs at Stark Tower where the Avengers were being housed just to bother him. He included Bruce in his game of “Let me see how many times I can startle you in a day” that he played with the other Avengers when he was bored.
All of them had gotten used to Loki turning up right next to them when they were least expecting it, but Loki did not do it to Bruce until after he had made sure that Bruce saw him do it to their teammates a few times. Loki liked to see their faces when he startled them, and Steve never failed to be startled no matter how many times Loki did it. He had never managed to startle Natasha, but she turned the tables on him and startled him as he was leaving the research lab, Bruce having cheerfully kicked him out when he became too much of a pest. A startled Loki was an amusing sight as he usually tended to freeze where he stood like a rabbit in the headlights for the moment it took for his brain to catch up with what was happening.
Loki never tried to play that game against Natasha again.
Steve had caught him once after a long day when Loki was playing his game with Bruce some weeks after the first time, and he had flown off the handle, accusing Loki of trying to make Bruce shift into the Hulk. Bruce and Tony had come out of the lab at the sound of Steve yelling at Loki, who just stood there with a blank expression on his face, eyes cold as he took the abuse. When Steve was finished, demanding, “Well? Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” of a still silent Loki, the Asgardian said nothing and disappeared without a word.
That was the cause of the first screaming match Tony and Steve had since the very beginning of the team’s formation. It was a very silent tower that night with Steve and Tony avoiding each other, Loki nowhere to be found, and Clint, Bruce and Natasha caught on the sidelines. Bruce eventually found Loki on the top of Stark tower the next morning, sitting with his back tucked into a corner and his knees drawn up to his chest. He was silent as Bruce sat next to him and still silent as Bruce put an arm around his shoulders to pull him closer.
Loki did not resist, laying his temple against the top of Bruce’s head. Quiet for a moment, Loki spoke in a voice barely above a whisper. “You know I wasn’t try-”
“I know. Steve does, too. He just had a bad day. Not to excuse what he did, but he was doing some publicity stuff today at a children’s hospital, and this one kid really wanted to see him, this skinny little kid with all kinds of allergies and a bad case of pneumonia. By the time Steve finished talking with him, the kid was tired and said he wanted to go to sleep.” Bruce sighed. “He didn’t wake up. Flatlined right in front of Steve just as he was walking out of the room and there was nothing any of the doctors or nurses could do to bring him back and keep him that way.” Loki nodded but did not say anything, so Bruce changed the subject. “How did you get out here anyway?”
By way of an answer, Loki stood up, taking Bruce’s hand to pull him up with him, a shadow of a mischievous smile curling his lips. When he had a tight hold of Bruce’s hand, Loki disappeared, taking Bruce with him, and reappeared in the kitchen where the rest of the team was sharing a silent meal. On seeing Loki, Steve and Tony both stood up from their chairs, on opposite sides of the table rather than next to each other as they usually did Loki noted, though they froze not too far from him, unwilling to look at each other. Loki rolled his eyes and went to the two of them, letting go of Bruce’s hand by necessity and not choice. Taking each of their hands, Loki looked at them each in turn.
“Steve, Bruce told me what happened to that child you visited, and I am sorry for your loss.” At Steve’s stricken look, Loki squeezed his hand before turning to Tony. “I appreciate your defense of me, Tony, which I could hear on the roof by the way. A little less volume next time.” He paused at the light laughter that earned him, a smile breaking out on his face. “One argument is not going to drive me away. It took far more than that for me to leave Asgard.” He quietly marveled at how little that hurt to say, but dismissed it as he squeezed both Tony’s and Steve’s hands. “Do not let this fester. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. No more than that.” Loki pinned them both with a look before walking over and sitting in Tony’s vacated chair, leaving the only free seats next to each other.
When Tony and Steve sat down without another word, Loki smiled and stole one of Clint’s waffles.
~*~
Thor showed up the day the team was holding a celebration of being together for two years. He had shown up in the middle of the small gathering, grabbing a hold of Loki and demanding he come home. To this Loki’s answer had been simply “No.” When Thor pressed, Loki explained what had gone on in the two years he had been on Earth, but Thor was having none of it, insisting that he come home. “Come back when you can accept that this is also my family, as I have accepted that you are mine, and that this is my home now,” Loki said to him before walking away.
A week had passed, and Thor had come back to try and talk more sense into his brother about coming back to his true home. Watching from outside on the balcony of tower and listening through the partially open door, Thor looked in to see the Avengers settling in together around a couch. The Captain sat at one end while Loki sat at the other with the genius inventor in between them fiddling with something.
What gave Thor pause was the way the inventor was sitting: his back was to the Captain’s side with the Captain’s arm across his chest and his knees were bent so his feet were underneath Loki’s left thigh. Loki did not seem bothered by this arrangement, and Thor could hear him teasing the inventor. “Why must you always put your ice block feet under my legs? And don’t argue, I know ice!” The rest of the team laughed as Loki shifted to his Jotun form to prove his point, making the inventor yelp at the sudden temperature change.
Thor’s eyes were wide with shock as he saw the exchange, and he could hardly believe that Loki would show that form to these people despite the two years he had spent with them. In the centuries Loki was in Asgard with him, growing and learning and fighting together, he had never been that close or comfortable with anyone except Thor. Even then, it seemed as if he was holding something back, some part of himself, behind the mask of his tricks and playful deceits.
Thor’s thoughts were scattered once more as he saw the man who became green come into the room with a bowl that seemed larger than he that was overfilled with what Thor thought might be that popcorn that Darcy had shown him when he had been banished to Midgard. The man passed the bowl to the archer, who had been resting his arms and head against the back of the couch, before settling on the floor in front of Loki, his back against the couch and one of his arms around Loki’s legs. Loki had shifted back to his more recognizable form when the shifting man came into the room, and he moved one of his hands to absently twine his fingers into the shifter’s hair.
None of the other team members seemed to notice or care except the red-haired assassin who was watching the two of them with a quirked eyebrow and a fond smile. Loki looked and saw her expression, making him roll his eyes with a smile of his own, though he did not stop playing with the shifter’s hair. The popcorn bowl was passed around, and the inventor and the archer took turns throwing pieces of it at each other to try and catch it in their mouths, much to the amusement of the rest of the team. It did not seem like they were actually paying attention to whatever was on the screen, but they were all paying attention to each other and playfully teasing one another just as Thor did with his friends.
The realization struck him then that Loki was right. This was his home, and these people had done more for Loki in two short years than Asgard ever could. Thor turned away, intent on leaving before any of them noticed him, and came face to face with Loki. When Thor looked closely, however, he saw that the Loki in front of him was a little faded around the edges in the way Loki’s projections only ever were. “Come inside, brother. You are my family, too,” the projection bade him, a crooked smile on its face that Thor had not seen on his brother’s in so many years, making his heart ache to see it. He turned back to the partially open door, opening it the rest of the way and stepping inside.
The Avengers turned to look at him, surprise registering on all of their faces except for Loki’s and the red-haired woman’s. She gave him a frosty look, getting up from where she had been sitting astride a backwards chair and moving to stand next to where Loki was still seated on the couch. No one spoke for a moment before Loki gestured to the floor in front of the Captain with a small smile. “There’s always room for one more, brother.”
Thor moved to the space indicated, his armor clanking and leather creaking as he sat. He looked around at the other people, his brow furrowed slightly and mouth turned down a little at the corners. Loki laughed quietly and snapped his fingers, changing Thor’s uncomfortable armor into more comfortable clothes. Th team laughed at the look on Thor’s face, and the Captain spoke up, a smile curving his mouth. “That’s better than what he did the first time Tony decided he was going to leave his armor on after a fight in a rain storm. He was tracking water and mud everywhere, and an accident with Bruce had just been cleaned up-”
Tony moved quickly, covering Steve’s mouth before Clint laughed and took up the story, “So Loki changed his armor bright pink with rainbows until he took it off!” Thor’s laugh was booming, and he looked at his brother, who was smiling at him. The two brothers exchanged a look before they each smiled and turned away.
This was Loki’s home, and his family, but there was always room for one more.
Fin.
Fandom: Avengers
Pairing(s): Loki/Bruce, Steve/Tony
Rating: PG
Warning(s): Wildly AU; canon was thrown out of the Stark Tower window
Summary: When Loki fell from the rainbow bridge, the All Father banished him to Midgard as he had to Thor. This is what happens when Loki is found by SHIELD.
Word count: 5233
Notes: Written for Summer 2012's Avengers Reverse Big Bang challenge over at avengers_rbb. The wonderful tipitina did some amazing artwork, which you can find here and here. Oh my this was nuts to write. I kept going round and round in circles, and I might have driven my poor beta crazy. Plus at one point, my computer had to be sent away and my back up copy was eaten by my hard drive and I had to begin rewriting this the day before my posting date. Yay! Many thanks to the amazing tipitina for her fantastic art, to msmeryl for putting up with my crazy and looking this over, and to the mods for hosting this amazing event.
Thor stared at his brother in disbelief, too shocked to be properly hurt at the way his brother outright rejected him. “No? What do you mean no, brother? You refuse to accompany me home? You have been mourned all this time!”
A bitter half-smile formed on Loki's face as Tony and Steve watched the other two worriedly. That bitter little smile was an expression neither Tony nor Steve had seen on Loki's face since he first joined them and helped with the beginning efforts of the Avengers Initiative. His voice was soft as he answered simply, “This is my home now. These men here are my brothers, too, Thor. I cannot and will not leave them.” At the genuine hurt that flashed across Thor's face, Loki stepped forward and placed a hand on his adoptive brother's arm, his voice still soft as he added, “Let me explain.”
~*~
When Loki let go of his staff on the remains of the rainbow bridge, he heard the All Father shout in a way he had only heard once: when Thor was banished to Midgard. That particular the thought did not occur to him through the haze of betrayed anger clouding his thoughts; all he could think about was a re-run of everything that had occurred over the past three days. It was almost unthinkable that merely three days ago, he had been beginning the stages of a plan that would help Thor and everyone else realize how much Thor still had to learn.
Instead, he was falling into a black abyss between the realms. There was something wrong with that abyss, however, as he turned away from Thor and the All Father to look at it. There was a blinding point of light in it that had not been there before, and he was falling straight towards it.
~*~
Sheets rustled, whisper-soft, beneath his restless shifting, and the movement sent a twinge across his ribs. Before he could take stock of whatever other injuries he may or may not have acquired, Loki looked up at the sound of the door to his left opening and closing. A well-cut suit framed the body of the man who stood in front of the closed door, the man’s voice was smooth as he spoke. “I see you’re awake, Mr. Odinson.” Loki flinched almost imperceptibly at the name, but the man continued speaking as if he had not noticed, “You’ve been asleep for the two days since you fell. Your body sustained some rather alarming injuries, but they began to knit almost immediately. I’m Agent Coulson; welcome to SHIELD.”
The man’s name triggered the rest of the memories Loki had of the times he watched Thor’s adventures on Midgard. This was the man who captured Thor when he was at his lowest and let him go in the end. Hoarsely, Loki asked, “Where exactly am I?”
“You’re in a secure facility.”
“I had gathered as much myself, Agent. This means I’m to be told nothing until my level of threat has been assessed.” The smirk that curled Loki’s lips was barely there, and his eyes were flat. Agent Coulson nodded mutely. Loki took a moment to turn his head to the left, making sure his face looked just thoughtful enough as he turned his senses inward, reaching for the powers that normally crackled just below his skin. What he encountered nearly broke his careful facade: his powers had been bound. They were not completely gone, but nor could some of his more useful powers be used. He could no longer move between the realms with ease as he had before. His power was limited once more to simple illusions and explosions, which, while useful were going to do him little good. He had his strength as well, but that was not quite as strong as his brother’s. Than Thor’s, he reminded himself.
Coming back to himself, Loki turned his head back towards the man standing in front of him calmly watching him. Dipping his head slightly, Loki looked up at Agent Coulson from under his eyebrows and smiled.
~*~
Weeks passed and the most exciting thing that happened to Loki in the “secure facility” was a visit by a man who introduced himself as “Tony Stark and none of that Mr. Stark crap; it’s Tony” who was quite easily one of the smartest humans Loki had met so far in this realm. He had met more than his share of “brilliant minds” sent to dissect how he thought and what he planned to do for whatever amount of time he was on Earth. When he told them quite calmly, for what had to have been the fifteenth time since he had been there and asked the same question over and over with different wording, that he had no plans to do anything to anyone while on Earth, they sent in Tony.
“So we’re starting something up here, and since your brother, yeah I can see your little movement there, and I’m ignoring it, helped us out, they wanted to see if you’d help us, too. Unless you’re the reason he needed to help us in the first place.” Tony smiled all through this small speech, muscles loose and arm movements easy as he spoke.
Loki decided quickly that this Tony was the most interesting Midgardian he was likely to meet. Tilting his head, Loki narrowed his eyes slightly as he considered how to answer. There was a tenseness that ran through Tony underneath his careless manner that reminded Loki of the one underneath his own facade. Betrayal had touched this man and wariness could be seen in the lines around his eyes and the slight hardness in his eyes. “And if I were the reason?”
Tony grinned briefly before settling back into his generally amused smile, his eyes flicking first up to the camera and then down to meet Loki’s. “Well I’d ask what the hell you had against He-Man, but the guys who asked me to come and see you would decide you’re a threat after all.”
Loki returned the grin, his lingering for a moment longer than Tony’s, before asking, “So what do I have to do to?”
Tony’s grin resurfaced. “Well, we’ve got a cold case we’re working on, and we need some more people for this team that’s getting put together. Think you can help with that?” Loki merely quirked an eyebrow and Tony chuckled. “Welcome to the Avengers Initiative.”
~*~
Loki learned quickly. That was a fact of his life from before the time Odin told him and Thor that only one of them would be king. He learned then what his place was in Asgard, but his place in the Avengers was an uncertain one until their first mission together. That mission changed many things about the team’s dynamic and added another member.
An ambitious agent in SHIELD decided, about a year after Loki’s arrival on Earth and the advent of the Avengers, to send in a task force to bring in Bruce Banner. Before they had only kept tabs on him, watched his movements but otherwise let him go his own way. When word reached Coulson and the Avengers of this task force, Loki was intrigued by the various reactions he saw. Coulson was quietly furious, Steve, who joined around the same time Loki did, and Tony were both sporting frowns, and Clint and Natasha, who seemed to have always been there, were as ready as ever.
When they reached Calcutta, where Banner had been helping the residents for some time, the Avengers were relieved to find that they arrived before the task force had. It was rather handy to have a technical genius who enjoyed making fast vehicles sometimes, Loki thought. The only problem they faced when they arrived was that someone seemed to have tipped off Banner. He met them outside the building their intelligence told them was his home for the time being, looking over all of them warily.
They had at least had the sense not to come in full battle gear, though it was not too far from them. Tony had his armor with him packed away into its briefcase form, and Steve had his shield strapped to his back. Loki’s power was always humming just beneath his skin no matter the clothes he wore, and he knew that both Clint and Natasha had their weapons of choice on them somehow beneath their casual clothes. They were all battle ready, but they at least tried to appear non-threatening.
Banner had his hands clasped together in front of him, wringing them without paying attention as he watched the group of people in front of him. No one moved or spoke for a few long moments until Banner broke the silence. “So where are we going?”
Steve and Tony shared a look between them before looking over at Clint and Natasha. On receiving no help from the two assassins, the two leaders of the Avengers turned to Loki who nodded. “How does anywhere but here sound to you, Dr. Banner?”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Did I say you should?”
Banner paused before answering, gaze firmly fixed on Loki. “So where is anywhere but here? Custody so that SHIELD can study me?”
“Not so they can study you, no.”
Banner watched Loki a little less warily than he did the others. “Not so they can study me, huh? What about you?”
Loki could not help the smirk that flitted across his face, nearly a smile. “Well, I could if you like, though I promise it will be an entirely different sort.” Banner looked surprised, and Tony let out a snort. Loki looked over at him with a smile and caught the full force of one of Steve’s disapproving eye-rolls.
Tony chimed in, his voice amused. “Yeah, we’re here because some idiot decided they wanted to bring you in, and we got here ahead of the task force. And we should really be heading out because they should get here-”
“Now.” Natasha’s voice had the rest of the Avengers turning to face the strike team that had come up behind them when they were talking to Banner. Clint and Natasha already had their weapons pointed at the agents they had to race to Calcutta in an experimental jet to beat, and Loki’s power shimmered around him as it changed his casual suit into his armor and helmet while the clanks and hisses of Tony’s suit assembling around him and Steve removing his shield from the straps on his back.
Steve stepped forward, intimidating even in casual clothing with his shield on his arm, and looked at the men and women in front of them. “Back away now. Your orders aren’t sanctioned, and you came here to attack an unarmed man.” His voice was hard, and he heard his team falling into place behind him, knew from the sounds of their movements where each of them was positioned. All of them had moved to flank Steve and guard Banner.
Loki was closest to Banner, having moved within an arm’s reach just in case he needed to get them out of there quickly. Quickly is how events progressed from there. The team sent to retrieve banner refused to back down, and Steve gave the order to subdue them but don’t damage them. The team opened fire with most of the bullets aimed at the two leaders. Tony dove out of the way, using his earpiece to call for JARVIS to activate his suit. Some of the team was effectively distracted as the suit formed around Tony, starting at his wrists and closing around him, and Loki easily subdued them without moving, using his projected selves to knock them out.
The remaining team whirled around, trying to find a way to get rid of this new threat. They had obviously not been briefed that well, just pointed at a target and let loose without learning of any other possible scenario. Loki almost felt sorry for them. Almost. Any sympathy he had for them disappeared as one of them abandoned his now useless rifle and took a shot with his handgun, aiming for Steve’s unprotected left side when he was moving one of the strike team’s unconscious members out of the line of fire. Steve had not seen the man take the shot, so he would not be able to move out of the way in time. Without thinking, Loki closed the short distance between himself and the soldier, tackling him to the ground and trying to wrestle the gun away from him.
The other members of the strike team had already been either bound or knocked unconscious or the latter then the former, so the rest of them watched as Loki rolls with the last free team member. Steve was about to move forward to try to break it up when a shot rang out, the gun having gone off between Loki and the other man. The other Avengers shouted out, crying Loki’s name, and Steve moved to the where the two fighting men had frozen, shield still in hand. The strike team member stared up at Loki in shock, and Steve breathed a sigh of relief. That relief was short lived as Loki stumbled back from the man, the weapon on the ground and the Asgardian’s hands red with his blood where they covered his abdomen.
In the scuffle, Loki’s leather shirt had shifted only minimally, but even the tough leather could not stop a bullet at point blank range. Steve did not even hesitate; he knocked out the last soldier with a sharp blow from the shield before picking Loki up despite his protests. The medical team was on its way, but it was too far, nearly twenty minutes away. Steve looked almost helpless as he held Loki, having put together that if Loki had not jumped the soldier that Steve would be the one down with a bullet in the side or worse. He knew of Loki’s healing ability, but he was fairly certain that Loki’s body would not be able to push the bullet lodged inside of him out all on its own.
“Inside, get him inside. I can take care of him there.” Banner’s voice was shaking slightly, though his hands were still, neither shaking nor wringing together as they had been. Steve moved to comply while Natasha and Clint took care of the agent that had shot Loki, knocking him out and tying him up with the rest where the two assassins watched over them while Loki was carried inside. Tony followed Steve inside after deactivating and disassembling his suit, leaving the case with Clint, worry making his brows furrow and mouth twist.
Tony arrived to see Steve holding Loki down on his stomach on top of Banner’s kitchen table by his shoulders, the Asgardian’s hands clenched tight around Steve’s wrists as he shuddered. The wound was trying to heal, the edges of it sealing before Banner had to reopen it once the flesh started to close around the bullet. Loki’s jaw was clenched shut and Tony looked to Banner, knowing that Steve had Loki well in hand. “What do you need, Doctor Banner?”
“Bruce. I need you to sterilize the tools in my bag then hand them to me when I ask for them.” Bruce busied himself with sterilizing his hands as Tony soaked the tools in alcohol in a bowl he had found in one of Bruce’s cabinets before he moved to sterilize his hands as well. Moving to Loki’s side, Bruce cursed as he realized that his quick hand washing was not quite quick enough, and the skin had begun to close over the bullet again.
Tony moved back to the table at the sound of the curse, and he cursed as well, handing over the scalpel without even waiting for Bruce’s command. When the area was sterilized and the incision was made once more, Bruce held it open with one hand while holding the other out. “Forceps.” Bruce glanced up at Loki for a second as he grasped the tool, their gazes catching and holding for a brief intense moment. “This is going to hurt, Loki. Just hold tight to Steve, and it’ll be done soon. The bullet isn’t that far from the surface of your skin, so it won’t take much to get it out.”
Loki nodded, clenching his eyes and jaw shut, bracing himself for it. He did not have long to wait as Bruce wasted no time. Slipping the thin forceps into the opening and wincing at every pained sound that escaped Loki through his clenched and bared teeth, Bruce steadily pressed the tool deeper until it came in contact with the edge of the bullet. Carefully, he opened the forceps enough that he had a grasp on the bullet and pulled it free. Loki groaned, the sound tapering off into a hiccoughing sob of relief and pain. His voice was rough as he spoke haltingly. “Next time I decide to... wrestle with a man who... has a gun... hold me back...”
Tony and Steve both chuckled quietly, though Steve’s turned a little ragged at the edges as he leaned down to touch his forehead to Loki’s temple, relief surging through him and making him almost boneless where he stood. “I’d tell you how stupid that was, but that would be really ungrateful of me. Thank you, Loki.” Loki smiled weakly as he nodded, squeezing Steve’s bruised wrist gently as he closed his eyes. As the wound began to close once more, slower this time, Loki’s breath evened out into the rhythm of sleep. Steve looked up at Bruce. “Is it safe for him to sleep?”
“He doesn’t have a concussion since there was no major head injury. It’s probably better to let him sleep off the healing he’s going to have to do.” Bruce washed his hands as he spoke, waiting until his hands and tools were cleaned and dried before speaking again. “So do we leave when he wakes up?” Bruce watched, amusement making his lips curl slightly at the corners, as Steve and Tony exchanged a slightly wide-eyed glance with each other before looking back at him. “Well, I’m not going to say no to you guys after you defended me like that. Your friend here even got himself shot fighting off guys who came to take me by force.”
“You know he took that bullet trying to save Steve, right?” Tony glared at Steve when he made a shushing motion. “Well, he’s gotta know, Steve! We’re not letting him come with us thinking that if it’s not right.”
Bruce smiled. “I know he did. I’m not under any delusions, Mr. Stark. Yeah, I know who you are. Who doesn’t know Iron Man?”
Steve rolled his eyes as Tony practically preened at that, though a fond smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth. Shaking his head, Steve looked Bruce in the eyes. “You’re coming with us even knowing that who we saved you from is who we’re taking you to.” Bruce nodded in answer even though they knew it was not a question, not since Bruce seemed to have made up his mind. Steve held out his hand with a serious expression on his face. “Welcome to the Avengers, Doctor Banner.”
“Bruce.”
~*~
It took two days for the bullet wound to heal completely and scar over, two weeks for Loki to stop favoring that side of his body, and two months for Loki and Bruce to become a little bit more to each other than friends. Loki never treated Bruce as if he were about to change into “the other guy” as Bruce kept referring to the Hulk, always dropping by casually when Bruce was working in the research labs at Stark Tower where the Avengers were being housed just to bother him. He included Bruce in his game of “Let me see how many times I can startle you in a day” that he played with the other Avengers when he was bored.
All of them had gotten used to Loki turning up right next to them when they were least expecting it, but Loki did not do it to Bruce until after he had made sure that Bruce saw him do it to their teammates a few times. Loki liked to see their faces when he startled them, and Steve never failed to be startled no matter how many times Loki did it. He had never managed to startle Natasha, but she turned the tables on him and startled him as he was leaving the research lab, Bruce having cheerfully kicked him out when he became too much of a pest. A startled Loki was an amusing sight as he usually tended to freeze where he stood like a rabbit in the headlights for the moment it took for his brain to catch up with what was happening.
Loki never tried to play that game against Natasha again.
Steve had caught him once after a long day when Loki was playing his game with Bruce some weeks after the first time, and he had flown off the handle, accusing Loki of trying to make Bruce shift into the Hulk. Bruce and Tony had come out of the lab at the sound of Steve yelling at Loki, who just stood there with a blank expression on his face, eyes cold as he took the abuse. When Steve was finished, demanding, “Well? Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” of a still silent Loki, the Asgardian said nothing and disappeared without a word.
That was the cause of the first screaming match Tony and Steve had since the very beginning of the team’s formation. It was a very silent tower that night with Steve and Tony avoiding each other, Loki nowhere to be found, and Clint, Bruce and Natasha caught on the sidelines. Bruce eventually found Loki on the top of Stark tower the next morning, sitting with his back tucked into a corner and his knees drawn up to his chest. He was silent as Bruce sat next to him and still silent as Bruce put an arm around his shoulders to pull him closer.
Loki did not resist, laying his temple against the top of Bruce’s head. Quiet for a moment, Loki spoke in a voice barely above a whisper. “You know I wasn’t try-”
“I know. Steve does, too. He just had a bad day. Not to excuse what he did, but he was doing some publicity stuff today at a children’s hospital, and this one kid really wanted to see him, this skinny little kid with all kinds of allergies and a bad case of pneumonia. By the time Steve finished talking with him, the kid was tired and said he wanted to go to sleep.” Bruce sighed. “He didn’t wake up. Flatlined right in front of Steve just as he was walking out of the room and there was nothing any of the doctors or nurses could do to bring him back and keep him that way.” Loki nodded but did not say anything, so Bruce changed the subject. “How did you get out here anyway?”
By way of an answer, Loki stood up, taking Bruce’s hand to pull him up with him, a shadow of a mischievous smile curling his lips. When he had a tight hold of Bruce’s hand, Loki disappeared, taking Bruce with him, and reappeared in the kitchen where the rest of the team was sharing a silent meal. On seeing Loki, Steve and Tony both stood up from their chairs, on opposite sides of the table rather than next to each other as they usually did Loki noted, though they froze not too far from him, unwilling to look at each other. Loki rolled his eyes and went to the two of them, letting go of Bruce’s hand by necessity and not choice. Taking each of their hands, Loki looked at them each in turn.
“Steve, Bruce told me what happened to that child you visited, and I am sorry for your loss.” At Steve’s stricken look, Loki squeezed his hand before turning to Tony. “I appreciate your defense of me, Tony, which I could hear on the roof by the way. A little less volume next time.” He paused at the light laughter that earned him, a smile breaking out on his face. “One argument is not going to drive me away. It took far more than that for me to leave Asgard.” He quietly marveled at how little that hurt to say, but dismissed it as he squeezed both Tony’s and Steve’s hands. “Do not let this fester. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. No more than that.” Loki pinned them both with a look before walking over and sitting in Tony’s vacated chair, leaving the only free seats next to each other.
When Tony and Steve sat down without another word, Loki smiled and stole one of Clint’s waffles.
~*~
Thor showed up the day the team was holding a celebration of being together for two years. He had shown up in the middle of the small gathering, grabbing a hold of Loki and demanding he come home. To this Loki’s answer had been simply “No.” When Thor pressed, Loki explained what had gone on in the two years he had been on Earth, but Thor was having none of it, insisting that he come home. “Come back when you can accept that this is also my family, as I have accepted that you are mine, and that this is my home now,” Loki said to him before walking away.
A week had passed, and Thor had come back to try and talk more sense into his brother about coming back to his true home. Watching from outside on the balcony of tower and listening through the partially open door, Thor looked in to see the Avengers settling in together around a couch. The Captain sat at one end while Loki sat at the other with the genius inventor in between them fiddling with something.
What gave Thor pause was the way the inventor was sitting: his back was to the Captain’s side with the Captain’s arm across his chest and his knees were bent so his feet were underneath Loki’s left thigh. Loki did not seem bothered by this arrangement, and Thor could hear him teasing the inventor. “Why must you always put your ice block feet under my legs? And don’t argue, I know ice!” The rest of the team laughed as Loki shifted to his Jotun form to prove his point, making the inventor yelp at the sudden temperature change.
Thor’s eyes were wide with shock as he saw the exchange, and he could hardly believe that Loki would show that form to these people despite the two years he had spent with them. In the centuries Loki was in Asgard with him, growing and learning and fighting together, he had never been that close or comfortable with anyone except Thor. Even then, it seemed as if he was holding something back, some part of himself, behind the mask of his tricks and playful deceits.
Thor’s thoughts were scattered once more as he saw the man who became green come into the room with a bowl that seemed larger than he that was overfilled with what Thor thought might be that popcorn that Darcy had shown him when he had been banished to Midgard. The man passed the bowl to the archer, who had been resting his arms and head against the back of the couch, before settling on the floor in front of Loki, his back against the couch and one of his arms around Loki’s legs. Loki had shifted back to his more recognizable form when the shifting man came into the room, and he moved one of his hands to absently twine his fingers into the shifter’s hair.
None of the other team members seemed to notice or care except the red-haired assassin who was watching the two of them with a quirked eyebrow and a fond smile. Loki looked and saw her expression, making him roll his eyes with a smile of his own, though he did not stop playing with the shifter’s hair. The popcorn bowl was passed around, and the inventor and the archer took turns throwing pieces of it at each other to try and catch it in their mouths, much to the amusement of the rest of the team. It did not seem like they were actually paying attention to whatever was on the screen, but they were all paying attention to each other and playfully teasing one another just as Thor did with his friends.
The realization struck him then that Loki was right. This was his home, and these people had done more for Loki in two short years than Asgard ever could. Thor turned away, intent on leaving before any of them noticed him, and came face to face with Loki. When Thor looked closely, however, he saw that the Loki in front of him was a little faded around the edges in the way Loki’s projections only ever were. “Come inside, brother. You are my family, too,” the projection bade him, a crooked smile on its face that Thor had not seen on his brother’s in so many years, making his heart ache to see it. He turned back to the partially open door, opening it the rest of the way and stepping inside.
The Avengers turned to look at him, surprise registering on all of their faces except for Loki’s and the red-haired woman’s. She gave him a frosty look, getting up from where she had been sitting astride a backwards chair and moving to stand next to where Loki was still seated on the couch. No one spoke for a moment before Loki gestured to the floor in front of the Captain with a small smile. “There’s always room for one more, brother.”
Thor moved to the space indicated, his armor clanking and leather creaking as he sat. He looked around at the other people, his brow furrowed slightly and mouth turned down a little at the corners. Loki laughed quietly and snapped his fingers, changing Thor’s uncomfortable armor into more comfortable clothes. Th team laughed at the look on Thor’s face, and the Captain spoke up, a smile curving his mouth. “That’s better than what he did the first time Tony decided he was going to leave his armor on after a fight in a rain storm. He was tracking water and mud everywhere, and an accident with Bruce had just been cleaned up-”
Tony moved quickly, covering Steve’s mouth before Clint laughed and took up the story, “So Loki changed his armor bright pink with rainbows until he took it off!” Thor’s laugh was booming, and he looked at his brother, who was smiling at him. The two brothers exchanged a look before they each smiled and turned away.
This was Loki’s home, and his family, but there was always room for one more.
Fin.