fic: nightmares, clint barton, loki, r
title: Nightmares
pairing: Mostly Gen, but hints of Loki/Clint (I'm sorry)
fandom: The Avengers '12
rating: R
warnings: SPOILERS FOR THE 2012 AVENGERS MOVIE. Bad language
word count: ~820
summary: From this prompt on the kink meme: Loki infiltrates someone's dreams.
That someone is Clint, and it's not much fun.
And when Loki appears behind his brother, dressed in the full regalia of an Asgardian king, Clint fights and fights and fights his body to wake up.
For a little while, Clint's dreams aren't too bad.
They aren't great, either, but they're mostly shadows. Natasha's cognitive recalibration must have done him some real good because nothing's very... clear. Lots of darkness and sometimes flashes of blue light but nothing truly terrifying. Still, he wakes up in a cold sweat, shaking and panting, and Steve has to hold him for quite some time, rubbing his back and hushing him gently, before he sleeps again.
But Clint's been through a lot of shit and a lot of training for worse shit and really, he's better than this. So it's not long until the dreams are infrequent, and then until they've stopped.
But then Steve moves out of his room, because Steve's a good guy, he really is, and he was the first to volunteer after it was finally dragged out of Clint that he wasn't sleeping well (no doubt it would've been Natasha, had she not been so sorely wounded only a few days after the initial battle) but still, he's a grown man and Clint kind of... snores a bit. So he waits until Clint has assured him a grand total of six times that he's much better now, Captain, and then he moves back to his own room.
And Clint is vulnerable again.
First, he dreams of Barney. And when Loki appears behind his brother, dressed in the full regalia of an Asgardian king, Clint fights and fights and fights his body to wake up. But it doesn't happen, his mind won't do it - not for a few more moments, not until Loki's pierced him straight through with those eyes, and smiled at him, fucking leered, and then Clint is sat bolt upright in bed, mouth bitter as bile rises in his throat and he gasps for breath.
“Motherfucker,” he spits, and he can almost hear the bastard laughing.
But this time, he doesn't let the others find out. Natasha still isn't healed and there's much more to the world than his unconscious mind having a bit of fun. So it continues.
To start with, Loki appears only in his nightmares (and they aren't nightmares really, not until he arrives) and he only watches, smiling, until Clint is able to haul himself back to consciousness. But then he starts moving, he starts talking, and Clint can only watch in horror as his dreams twist and warp into something he dreads throughout the day. As soon as the sun begins to set, the fear sets in. By the time he climbs into bed, he's sweating, shaking, barely able to sleep, convinced he won't, hoping he won't... But something, whether inside or outside of himself he doesn't know, pulls him in regardless.
And Loki is always waiting.
Sometimes he kills Barney. Sometimes, he has Barney kill Clint. Everytime, they're nightmares, and Clint wakes up in a very painful head-space.
It's starting to affect his game, too, and he can't have the others finding out, not like before. So he decides this is something he has to figure out by himself. He needs to take the control back.
He starts this by learning to speak.
“Why are you here?” he manages the first time. Loki looks surprised, and then he just looks gleeful.
“Agent Barton, always a pleasure. Have you missed me as much as I've missed you?”
This time, Clint fights the natural desire to wake up.
“Leave Barney alone. Do that and we'll talk.”
Loki sighs and snaps his fingers. Clint wakes up.
*
The next night, when it happens again, Barney isn't there. Loki sits alone on a white background, sprawled in a throne, looking unhappy.
“This isn't anywhere near as much fun, Agent Barton.”
“I prefer it,” Clint replies. “What are you doing here?”
Loki smirks and leans forward. “We have unfinished business, I think,” he says, and Clint wakes up again, his questions unanswered and his responding thoughts... He doesn't want to think about those, not right now, he's not comfortable with that. The sun is coming up. Today, he will find Thor.
*
Thor is furious when Clint tells him, but he begs the god to keep it a secret.
“Where is he, Thor?”
“Imprisoned on Asgard,” Thor answers.
“Can you bring him here?” Clint barely even thinks about what he's saying; it's selfish, and potentially threatening, to himself and the whole world, but he can't deny the strange worrying fact that he needs some closure.
“Not possible,” Thor replies apologetically. “But I can visit him and ask him of his intentions.”
Clint nods and waits.
A few days later, when Thor returns with the news that Loki has been dreaming of Clint, too, and is both confused and a little worried, Clint only grows more scared.
What's worse is that after this, it gets harder and harder to sleep, and what Clint fears, more than the dreams themselves, is never finding out what the hell is happening to him.
pairing: Mostly Gen, but hints of Loki/Clint (I'm sorry)
fandom: The Avengers '12
rating: R
warnings: SPOILERS FOR THE 2012 AVENGERS MOVIE. Bad language
word count: ~820
summary: From this prompt on the kink meme: Loki infiltrates someone's dreams.
That someone is Clint, and it's not much fun.
And when Loki appears behind his brother, dressed in the full regalia of an Asgardian king, Clint fights and fights and fights his body to wake up.
For a little while, Clint's dreams aren't too bad.
They aren't great, either, but they're mostly shadows. Natasha's cognitive recalibration must have done him some real good because nothing's very... clear. Lots of darkness and sometimes flashes of blue light but nothing truly terrifying. Still, he wakes up in a cold sweat, shaking and panting, and Steve has to hold him for quite some time, rubbing his back and hushing him gently, before he sleeps again.
But Clint's been through a lot of shit and a lot of training for worse shit and really, he's better than this. So it's not long until the dreams are infrequent, and then until they've stopped.
But then Steve moves out of his room, because Steve's a good guy, he really is, and he was the first to volunteer after it was finally dragged out of Clint that he wasn't sleeping well (no doubt it would've been Natasha, had she not been so sorely wounded only a few days after the initial battle) but still, he's a grown man and Clint kind of... snores a bit. So he waits until Clint has assured him a grand total of six times that he's much better now, Captain, and then he moves back to his own room.
And Clint is vulnerable again.
First, he dreams of Barney. And when Loki appears behind his brother, dressed in the full regalia of an Asgardian king, Clint fights and fights and fights his body to wake up. But it doesn't happen, his mind won't do it - not for a few more moments, not until Loki's pierced him straight through with those eyes, and smiled at him, fucking leered, and then Clint is sat bolt upright in bed, mouth bitter as bile rises in his throat and he gasps for breath.
“Motherfucker,” he spits, and he can almost hear the bastard laughing.
But this time, he doesn't let the others find out. Natasha still isn't healed and there's much more to the world than his unconscious mind having a bit of fun. So it continues.
To start with, Loki appears only in his nightmares (and they aren't nightmares really, not until he arrives) and he only watches, smiling, until Clint is able to haul himself back to consciousness. But then he starts moving, he starts talking, and Clint can only watch in horror as his dreams twist and warp into something he dreads throughout the day. As soon as the sun begins to set, the fear sets in. By the time he climbs into bed, he's sweating, shaking, barely able to sleep, convinced he won't, hoping he won't... But something, whether inside or outside of himself he doesn't know, pulls him in regardless.
And Loki is always waiting.
Sometimes he kills Barney. Sometimes, he has Barney kill Clint. Everytime, they're nightmares, and Clint wakes up in a very painful head-space.
It's starting to affect his game, too, and he can't have the others finding out, not like before. So he decides this is something he has to figure out by himself. He needs to take the control back.
He starts this by learning to speak.
“Why are you here?” he manages the first time. Loki looks surprised, and then he just looks gleeful.
“Agent Barton, always a pleasure. Have you missed me as much as I've missed you?”
This time, Clint fights the natural desire to wake up.
“Leave Barney alone. Do that and we'll talk.”
Loki sighs and snaps his fingers. Clint wakes up.
*
The next night, when it happens again, Barney isn't there. Loki sits alone on a white background, sprawled in a throne, looking unhappy.
“This isn't anywhere near as much fun, Agent Barton.”
“I prefer it,” Clint replies. “What are you doing here?”
Loki smirks and leans forward. “We have unfinished business, I think,” he says, and Clint wakes up again, his questions unanswered and his responding thoughts... He doesn't want to think about those, not right now, he's not comfortable with that. The sun is coming up. Today, he will find Thor.
*
Thor is furious when Clint tells him, but he begs the god to keep it a secret.
“Where is he, Thor?”
“Imprisoned on Asgard,” Thor answers.
“Can you bring him here?” Clint barely even thinks about what he's saying; it's selfish, and potentially threatening, to himself and the whole world, but he can't deny the strange worrying fact that he needs some closure.
“Not possible,” Thor replies apologetically. “But I can visit him and ask him of his intentions.”
Clint nods and waits.
A few days later, when Thor returns with the news that Loki has been dreaming of Clint, too, and is both confused and a little worried, Clint only grows more scared.
What's worse is that after this, it gets harder and harder to sleep, and what Clint fears, more than the dreams themselves, is never finding out what the hell is happening to him.